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February 21, 2019 | Vol. 6 No. 8
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| Shir Tikvah's Rabbi Latz to Preach this Sunday |
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Rev. Justin Schroeder
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This Sunday, my dear friend, Rabbi Michael Latz, will be our guest preacher at both services. I've known Rabbi Latz since I began my ministry at First Universalist and we quickly built a deep and powerful bond. We regularly met for lunch, shared notes on leading communities of faith, and cared for one another's spirits. He and his partner, Michael, were some of the first people to visit Juliana and I in the hospital after our son, Jesse, was born. They brought us food and offered a blessing for our newest family member. The following year, Rabbi Latz and I traveled to Israel and Palestine together; we've been involved in a variety of justice efforts in the Twin Cities, and we have shared Passover Seders together. My life is richer because of his presence in it.
During this year of discernment about First Universalist and Shir Tikvah co-locating at 3400 Dupont Ave, we have been working to build authentic relationships and connections between our two communities. Last November, Rev. Jen Crow and I spoke during a Shabbat Service at Shir Tikvah, and we're delighted that Rabbi Latz will be speaking this Sunday at First Universalist.
The title of his message is "What We Build Together," and he will share some of the history of Shir Tikvah, and why Shir Tikvah is excited about the possibilities of co-locating and what that might mean for all of us. Don't miss this! Rabbi Latz is one of the most pastoral, prophetic, compassionate, and moving speakers I have ever heard.
I'll see you in church,
Justin
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| SUNDAY WORSHIP AT FIRST UNIVERSALIST CHURCH |
Sunday, Feb. 24, 9:30 & 11:15 a.m.
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Rabbi Michael Latz |
"What We Build Together"
Rabbi Michael Latz
This Sunday, Shir Tikvah's Rabbi Michael Latz will be our guest preacher in worship.
Rabbi Latz has been Shir Tikvah's Senior Rabbi since July 2009. He brings to the congregation boundless energy, heartfelt compassion, and commitment to fostering an authentic and engaging Jewish experience. Previously, he was the founding rabbi of Kol HaNeshamah in West Seattle. A Wexner Fellow during rabbinical school, Rabbi Latz was ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2000.
Join us for worship at 9:30 or 11:15 a.m.
February Worship Theme: Vision
"What will mess you up most in life is the picture in your head of how it is supposed to be" (Author Unknown). It's not the place one usually starts when it comes to the topic of "vision." Most often, conversations about vision tell us to hold on tightly to our pictures of how it is supposed to be, not be suspicious of them. We're encouraged to "stay true to your vision." We're told, "Without vision, the people perish." We're warned that without a clear vision, we're vulnerable to whatever winds blow. And let's be clear: all of that is true. A clear vision anchors us. It gives us direction and hope. It is, indeed, a precious thing to which we should hold fast. But as our quote of the month makes clear, every vision distorts even as it clarifies. Knowing when to stay true to your vision and when to let go is a very tricky task. This month we explore vision - when to keep your vision front and center and when to de-center it and make room for others.
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Sunday, March 3, 9:30 & 11:15 a.m.
Lead Minister: Rev. Jen Crow
Music: First Universalist Choir & Chalice Choir
Sunday, March 10, 9:30 & 11:15 a.m.
Lead Minister: Rev. Karen Hutt
Music: First Universalist Choir
Sunday, March 17, 9:30 & 11:15 a.m.
Lead Minister: Rev. Ruth MacKenzie
Music: Lynn O'Brien
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February 17, 2019
"The Purpose-Driven Church, Part 2"
Rev. Justin Schroeder
February 10, 2019
"Wake Now Our Vision"
Rev. Justin Schroeder
February 3, 2019
"When Vision Fails"
written by Rev. Jen Crow;
delivered by Rev. Elaine Aron Tenbrink
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Learn About the Minnesota End of Life Options Act: Presentation by Harlan Limpert
Thursday, Feb. 21, 7-8:30 p.m.
Learn more about the Minnesota End of Life Options Act! This proposed legislation is modeled on Oregon's Death With Dignity Act and would allow a mentally competent adult with a terminal illness the right to request from their doctor medication they would self-administer to end their life so they can die peacefully in their sleep. Rev. Limpert shares: "When my uncle took his own life due to extreme suffering towards the end of a long and difficult regimen for lung cancer, I knew I needed to be involved in efforts to reduce suffering at the end of life. My experience has inspired me to become involved with Compassion & Choices, which is committed to improving care and expanding options at the end of life."
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A Conversation with a Peacemaker:
Dr. John Davies
Friday, Feb. 22, 7-9 p.m.
The First U Peace Circle invites you to
a conversation with Dr. John Davies about his life as a peacemaker, the spiritual underpinnings of his work, and how we might all walk through the current time from a place of peace.
Dr. John Abd al-Qadir Davies
has led peace initiatives in over 30 countries, co-developed conflict and genocide early warning systems for the US government and international coalitions, and trained UN peacekeepers. He uses integrative mediation, spiritual practices and coaching methods to help individuals, families, and organizations walk through conflict situations, and leads classes, retreats and workshops.
This is the introductory evening for a weekend workshop at Sufi Center Minnesota
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"I Am Not Your Negro" Film Screening
Sunday, Feb. 24, 1-3:30 p.m. in Room 203
Thursday, Feb. 28, 6:30-9 p.m. in Room 200
Join us for a screening of the film "I Am Not Your Negro" with facilitators from our Racial Justice Education Team. Based on James Baldwin's unfinished novel recounting the lives and assassinations of his friends Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr, the film uses rich archival footage of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements and connects these historical struggles for justice and equality to present-day movements.
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Racial Justice & Our UU Faith Workshop
Saturdays, March 9 & 16, 9-11:30 a.m.
Join us for an interactive, reflective workshop exploring a framework and tools for understanding race, racism, and whiteness and the spiritual imperative that drives our racial justice work. We offer this workshop several times each year and encourage every member of our community to participate. This is a two-part workshop, offered on March 9 and 16, led by Channing McKinley and Jeff Sylvestre. To sign up, contact Sandy DiNanni at sandy@firstuniv.org or 612-825-1701.
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Gathering in Gratitude: Wednesday, March 13
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 Join us for a free community dinner (we'll be serving enchiladas prepared by El Norteño again this year), fellowship, and family-friendly fun (including a bouncy house) in celebration of our community, and in gratitude for your generosity and timely response to our annual giving campaign! All are welcome to join us on Wednesday, March 13, 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.
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Space Reservations at Church: New Procedures!
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Are you responsible for reserving meeting space for a church committee you serve on? Are you a volunteer planning a church-sponsored event?
Our Events Coordinator, Lucia Webb, has set up a new way to request rooms online, and with it, a few new policies to clarify how to best share our space.
The First Universalist facilities are an important resource for both the congregation and the wider community. Spaces are available on a first-come, first-served basis, and setup requests must be communicated to Lucia in advance.
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Singers Needed for Leading Hymns
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 Do you have a strong voice? Do you sing in the choir? Have you had some musical training or sing in other settings? Our worship team is looking for 10 to 15 strong singers willing to lead the congregation in hymn singing two or three Sundays each month. This will be an auditioned group who will lead the congregation in small groups of three or four singers on any given Sunday. Each singer needs to have a strong sense of pitch, rhythm, and presence. A group audition will be held Sunday, March 17 at 1 p.m. in the sanctuary.
Our Hymn Singers will be trained in a workshop with Rev. Ruth on a Sunday afternoon to be decided. We hope to begin mid April. So if you're interested, and/or excited, and/or a little nervous, give it a shot. Please fill out this
Hymn Leading Application and you will be contacted for the audition.
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A Congregational Asylum Sponsorship Team
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Over the past few months, a particular vision of what racial, gender, and immigration justice combined might look like for First Universalist has begun to take shape. A small group has been meeting to consider sponsoring an asylum seeker. We invite you to imagine being a transgender person of color fleeing violence in your home country, traveling to the U.S. border to seek asylum, then spending nine months in detention. Imagine needing a 'parole sponsor' in order to live semi-independently in the United States while awaiting your asylum hearing. Imagine a congregation saying 'we will do it.'
We are that congregation! We will find housing, raise money, locate physicians, dentists, therapists, help with transportation, help you to be self-sufficient in our hometown. We will learn from you, share with you, be challenged to be changed by you.
The Asylum Sponsorship Team (we actually don't have an official name, yet, but that describes us) invites you to join us. A First Universalist family is readying their home for a transgender woman who will arrive here at the end of March. Another family is coordinating the needs of the asylum seeker (compa) and the host family.
For more information about why we are moved to serve in this way, we invite you to read these articles: "Trans-Gender Parole Release" "Life After ICE detention for Transgender Asylum Seekers," and listen
to Rev. Justin Schroeder's February 17 sermon "The Purpose-Driven Church, Part 2."
Next week we'll let you know lots of ways you can help, and invite you to sign on. In the meantime, we invite you to imagine yourself on her journey, finding yourself in Minnesota. Imagine being the congregation who says, "We will do it!" You are welcome to provide financial support right away if you like here.
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State of the Church Meeting Highlights
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We reviewed our Visionary Goals and themes for the year, shared an update on finances, and shared
information about the possibility of co-location with Shir Tikvah.
Eric Cooperstein, Board President, presented the powerful vision, developed by our clergy, for what it might mean to co-locate with Shir Tikvah.
The key themes include opportunity for: environmental stewardship, disrupting white supremacy, healing justice impact, increasing financial stability, and becoming a brave space to model the partnering, collaboration, and communication that is needed to meet the challenges we face today. Read the vision statement and recommendation from the Change Team
here.
In the Q & A time, congregants raised many important questions and issues about co-location, and expressed a desire to learn more about Shir Tikvah and what co-location would mean for our mission, our building, and our relationship with the community. Key questions and comments that were surfaced at the meeting are summarized here.
There will be an update session after the second service on March 10, 2019 at 12:45 p.m.
We strongly encourage every member to become well-informed and attend one of the following information sessions:
Thursday, April 11, 10 a.m.-noon, hosted by Daytime Connections
Monday, April 15, 7-8:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 25, 7-8:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 5, 12:45-2:15 p.m.
Sunday, May 19, 12:45-2:15 p.m.
In addition, a session for
choir members will be held on Wednesday, May 8. An opportunity for
congregants coming from a Jewish background to share thoughts and feelings that may be prompted by co-location will be held on Sunday, March 17 after the second service.
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All In 2019-2020: Why I Give
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Our family has been attending First Universalist for 13 years. When we started, our children - Ryan, Lexi and Maya - were very young. People may know us mainly through our kids' participation in Religious Education. Or they might know us because we got involved as volunteer teachers, Circle participants and Welcome Committee members.
But we'd like to share the even deeper personal meaning that First Universalist holds for us. We started coming to church when Lexi was just 4. A few months later she was diagnosed with leukemia, kicking off a long cycle of hospital visits and chemotherapy. We were not even members when the diagnosis came, but during that entire challenging time the support we felt from the church was phenomenal. We received meals, visits, offers of assistance, and countless anonymous positive thoughts. Our family was thrilled to share a "No More Chemo" celebration cake in the social hall two years after Lexi's diagnosis. A comfort shawl, knitted by members of the congregation, was truly a source of comfort then and still provides warmth in our house a decade later.
First Universalist's Religious Education program was such a formative experience for Ryan, who's now in college; Lexi, who soon will be a healthy high school graduate; and Maya, a sophomore who joins her sister every Sunday in the high school youth group. They have participated in the Coming of Age program, Youth Con, Camp Unistar and the Youth Cultural exchange. The RE structure gave them a safe place to share deeper concerns and feelings. They formed really great, life-changing bonds with friends locally, around the country and even around the world.
This church has been one of the biggest building blocks of our life as a family. We have met our best friends at church, and there is no doubt that we are better off because of our involvement. We will be forever grateful.
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A Chance to Get Connected
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Feeling overwhelmed by how huge the problems are in our world? Feeling a soul-ache to find other like-minded people to join forces with? We invite you to spend a few minutes telling us your passions, your skills, and your interests so we can plug you in to already-existing groups working on the things that align with your interests and experience.
If you didn't already fill out the paper survey distributed in worship on February 3, you can pick up a copy in the narthex. Completed surveys can be put in the Sunday offering basket, brought down to the Information Booth in the Social Hall, or dropped off at the church office.
You can also complete the information online. On the church website, go to My First U, sign in, and select the Serving tab to fill in how you'd like to get connected.
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New Exhibit: Work by Robyn Beth Priestly
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Artwork by Robyn Beth Priestly is on view in the social hall through March 17.
The artist says: "I am concerned with our personal connections to the natural world, and often find inspiration in our national, regional and local parks. We are often so isolated from nature in our busy urban lives that parks, scientific and natural areas, recreation areas, and wilderness areas provide various ways for us to learn, revive our spirits, or just relax and experience the natural world. Parks are not only important for us as humans, but also provide vital places for endangered and threatened animals, plants and ecosystems to survive, and hopefully, thrive.
"The pieces are one-color linoleum block prints that are printed on paper, dried and mounted on archival boards. Then I hand-paint each print, so each one actually ends up being an original artwork, rather than a numbered edition. I do a lot of research for accuracy, take photos and make sketches before each piece is created, and I limit the number I make from each block."
For more information, visit
www.paintedturtledesign.com
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AUW Women's Spring Retreat
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AUW Women's Spring Retreat:
Telling Our Stories Anew: What is needed now?
April 12-15, 2019 (Friday - Monday)
Last year's unexpected snow storm gave some of us the opportunity to stay a THIRD night, and we loved it. Therefore, this year there will be an option to stay over Sunday night.
WHO
: Keynote, ceremonies, and presentations by Rev. Kelli Clement and Rev. Karen Hutt
WHERE
: Koinonia Retreat Center, South Haven
WORKSHOPS
: Nature Hikes; Healing Touch; Writing Memoirs; Meditation; Poetry Out Loud; What Are You Reading; Creation Station; board games; lakeside sauna; and MORE!
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Celtic Musings: Meditations on the Midwinter Dream
Sunday, March 3, 2019, 6:51 p.m.
Pilgrim Lutheran Church, 1935 St Clair Ave in St. Paul
Tickets: $15, available
online and at the door.
Marc Anderson (percussion, poetry), Dick Hensold (Northumbrian smallpipes, reel pipes, low whistles, seljefløyte, recorder), and Michelle Kinney (cello) will weave their evocative, improvisatory magic with traditional tunes, new music, and their range of unique instruments.
Flutes and strings, pipes and drums, wistful words woven throughout. Embers of the fire we keep in our hearts, our collective memory that carries through the snowy white and delivers us back to the birth of fresh ideas in spring.
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| RESOURCES & CONTACT INFORMATION |
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Cycle of Life and Pastoral Care
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Let Us Keep You in Our Thoughts and Prayers
If you are experiencing a crisis or transition, or celebrating a joy, please let us know. To be included in our Cycle of Life each Sunday in worship, contact Sandy DiNanni at
sandy@firstuniv.org or 612-825-1701. If you would like support, call the office at 612-825-1701 or contact any member of our
Pastoral Visitors Team.
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Congregational Care: Caring Corner
Write a note to a congregant who could use support! There are cards available in the library, which is located off of the Social Hall. You are welcome to stop by and write a card at any time. Just leave it in the basket and the church will mail it for you. Learn more about congregational care on our website.
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Planned Giving & the Heritage Circle
Please let us know
when you designate First Universalist Church as a beneficiary in your will or estate plan so we can thank you for your generous commitment and welcome you to the Heritage Circle. The church office and the Planned Giving Committee can help you. Learn more on our website.
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Join Our Mailing List
Subscribe to
The Weekly Liberal
here.
Sign up to receive our weekly Children Youth & Family Ministries news
here.
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Church Office Hours
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Sundays 9
a.m.-1 p.m.
Mondays-Thursdays 9
a.m.-8 p.m.
Closed Fridays and Saturdays
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Weekly Liberal Submissions
We encourage you to submit news!
Do you have an announcement that you'd like published in
The Weekly Liberal? Fill out our
online submission form. Edits for length and/or content may occur.
The Weekly Liberal
is compiled and edited by Communications Manager Jenn Stromberg. Past issues, deadlines, and policies can be found on our
website
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Contact Us
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First Universalist Church of Minneapolis
3400 Dupont Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55408
612-825-1701
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First Universalist Church of Minneapolis
3400 Dupont Avenue S.
Minneapolis, MN 55408
612-825-1701
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