May 30, 2019
Issue #502

Dear ones,

We end our church year this month with the theme, "what does it mean to be a people of Beauty?" I've seen a few eye-rolls when I've mentioned this would be June's theme. Isn't the role of beauty in our spirituality so obvious as to not need a month of exploration? Or perhaps beauty is so pedestrian, such a matter of the surface of things, that it doesn't touch on the depths of our lives, the true religious and spiritual questions we gather to wrestle with.

Yet the sacred texts of every religious tradition I've studied devote page upon page to exalting the beauty of creation. Often the hymns, and music of all kinds, that make me feel most alive are packed with images of blue oceans and green hills, the splendor of sky and fields of gold. True beauty touches something deep within us, and beyond offering inspiration and nourishment, plays an essential role in our moral and spiritual development.

Celebrating the moral calling of beauty is also of course at the root of our Flower Communion ritual, which we will celebrate on Sunday, June 9th. Look forward to sharing my first flower communion with you as we also celebrate and say farewell to our Director of Family Ministries, Jeffrey Melcher.

With you on the journey,

Rev. Marcus Hartlief

Director of Family Ministries

415.578.9788

[email protected]

Upcoming dates link to the UUCM calendar for saving on iCal, Outlook, etc.

 

New Mission Statement for Your Consideration on June 2, 2019

  

Thanks to all of you for jumping into the mission statement development process with us! You shared from the heart with earnest, love and humor. The experience enriched our understanding of ourselves, this community and this organization.

  

We started our listening tour back in January, when 87 of you shared your reason for attending church (remember the colorful sticky notes during the service?). Over the following months, 123 people participated in 13 facilitated discussions, and nine individuals weighed in on the on-line survey.  

  

Your input guided us to five compelling themes which we agreed must be contained in the mission statement (in no specific order):

Please join us at the Congregational Meeting on June 2 at 12:15 pm to hear and vote on the Mission Statement we crafted and which the Board has approved.  We look forward to seeing you there. Light lunch will be served. 

The Mission   of Marin Interfaith Climate Action is to inspire action for our environment through Marin's diverse faith communities -- which  call us to be agents for climate justice.    MICA is the climate action arm of the Marin Interfaith Council, affiliated with the national climate action interfaith organization, Interfaith Power & Light.

 

Please visit us at MarinICA.org for MarinInterfaithClimateAction

 

For more information you can talk to Katherine DaSilva Jain, our UUCM rep to MICA.

Our congregation has applied for a Chalice Lighter grant to help us continue to grow by offering a shuttle service on Sunday mornings when our parking lot has reached capacity. Chalice Lighters is a program for members of UU congregations in our area (the Pacific Central District) to support projects like this that grow Unitarian Universalism. Chalice Lighters are asked to pitch in $20 up to three times a year to support such projects. You can read more about the program here:

https://pcduua.org/programs/chalice-lighters/ 

To get this grant, the District hopes that we will show our support for the program by members of our congregation signing up to be Chalice Lighters themselves. Would you consider taking this stand to help us get a grant now, and support the growth of Unitarian Universalism in our region in the future? You can sign up here:

https://register.pwruua.org/chalice-lighter-enrolment/

How do you act out the title of the "Game of Thrones" TV series without speaking? How quickly could your teammates guess "Middlemarch" if you stomped in place in the middle of the room? The "War" part of Tolstoy's novel might be easy to portray, but what about the "Peace" part? (Would it "sound like" peas or piece?)

Come release your creative side in a low-key pickup game of Charades. Carol and Doug Kerr and Jan Seagrave will be the ringleaders of this tomfoolery, which is being added to the regular Family Games Night beginning Friday, June 7, from 7 to 9 pm. We will gather in the Fireside Room with the rest of the board and card-gamers, but will move shortly thereafter to the Dream Room for our antics. Instructions and the few supplies needed will be provided. Adults and teens are invited to join in. Please bring your ideas for movie,TV, play, song, and novel titles, and very short quotations, for a member of the opposing team to act out silently and for their teammates to guess. Bring potluck snacks to share with all the gamers, to the Fireside Room, if you wish. 

For more information, contact Jan Seagrave or Carol Kerr.

General Assembly is the annual meeting of our Unitarian Universalist Association.  Attendees worship, witness, learn, connect, and make policy for the Association through democratic process.  Anyone may attend; congregations must certify annually to send voting delegates.  The 2019 General Assembly will be June 19-23 in Spokane, Washington. Most General Assembly events will be held in the Spokane Convention Center. https://www.uua.org/ga

GA HOUSING AND REGISTRATION

FINANCIAL AID FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY