Watch the service live on YouTube

Dear First Universalist Friends,

As I write to you late this Wednesday, January 6th, Epiphany afternoon - I can’t stop turning over this thought: The majority of protestors who comprised the angry mob who stormed the Capital today are white, I’m white, too. 

The privileges, compulsions, expectations, and desires that drove the angry masses into the capital today are not separate from the privileges, compulsions, expectations, and desires that have shaped much of my life - and every white person’s life in this country since its inception. I have more in common with these angry people than I want to let myself believe. 

Oof - that’s a rough concept to let sink in, isn’t it?

Speaking to the white members of our community - I know many of you are angry, tired, and making resolutions to cut ties with people who hold different American ideals than you. Ok, that makes sense. Can you pause in the midst of your righteous anger though, and check in with yourself? What does this weeks display teach you about yourself, your family, your history, your culture, your life as it is? What does it call you to dismantle in yourself? What might your anger really be protesting right now? Or, reflecting back on the teachings of Lama Rod Owens, what wound in your heart is your anger calling you to acknowledge and feel?

My friends, real, big change is afoot.

In the midst of change, the future is always uncertain. Feelings of uncertainty almost always invite us down two paths: fear and hope. The pull of these two paths is simultaneous and is aided by our imagination. And so, as we come to the second week of our month of imagination, I ask, where do you want to dedicate the power of your imagination right now? What imaginings do you feel are hardening your heart and mind and what imaginings do you feel are opening you up? 

So much is possible right now, don’t lose sight of where you come from and don’t stop imagining where we can go next.

Yours on the path,

Rev. Hillary 

To help us feel more connected and as a way to see more of each other's faces, we're going to be putting together another collage of your photos to play during the service on Sunday mornings. Want to have your photo included? Send your picture(s) to Gwen at gwenatfirstu@gmail.com. Please send in your photos by Sunday, January 24.

To join the Zoom meeting, click here and enter password: YUM

To join via phone, dial: 1-646-558-8656

enter the meeting ID: 917 0538 2202 and pass code: 075311

Click for Children's Chapel and enter password: CHAPEL

Join Gwen and Rev. Hillary on Zoom as we continue to discuss environmental justice.

Click for Junior Youth Group and enter password: YOUTH

All are welcome to this virtual coffee hour wherein we connect with each other and reflect on the themes that arose in Sunday's worship service.

Click for Social & Learning Hour and enter password: COMMUNITY

Click for Coming of Age and enter password: SPIRIT

This January, we'll be delivering and/or mailing birdseed ornament making kits to First U children and youth. If you're not in our current directory and would like a kit, or if you have grandchildren or other children in your life you'd like a kit for, please contact Gwen (gwenatfirstu@gmail.com) with the number of children in your family and your address. Thank you!

Have you heard about the proposed 8th Principle? It will call UUs “...to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.” Across the country, UUs are discussing and considering adding this to our seven principles, and in fact the UUA is planning to vote on it at the General Assembly in 2022.

First Universalist's Anti-Racism Working Group, part of our Faith in Action Council, (along with Congregation Connections!) is organizing Cottage Meetings via Zoom in the coming weeks. We’re hoping that through small group conversations, we can be ready to embrace and "endorse the spirit of the 8th Principle" at our Midyear Meeting on January 31st.

If you have not received an email about these one-hour meetings, and would like to attend one, please write to Sarah Witte at sarahcoffinwitte@gmail.com. We’ll try our best to find spots for everyone!

On behalf of the Maine NAACP Maine Initiatives is sponsoring a virtual Teach and Call In on January 18th between 9 AM and 7 PM. Please join in celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for the 40th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Observance.

The Virtual Teach-In and Call to Action is intended to educate and celebrate Dr. King's vision and plans for justice. Throughout the day there will be content which hopefully will inspire you to question, learn, share and discuss so that you will take anti-racist action.

The price of admission is between $0 to $100 to participate.  Please do not let price be a barrier and pay what you can afford. No one will be turned away.  Working for justice and fairness will need all hands so please join us.

This month’s offering is shared with the Restorative Justice Institute of Maine (RJIM). RJIM promotes a cultural and systemic shift to how Mainers approach wrongdoing by advancing the use of restorative justice across the state. Its community-driven projects include the Youth Justice Program for young people at risk and the Restorative Schools Program, recognizing the fact that students learn how to be in community inside our schools. Currently RJIM is working with Yarmouth youth and residents, following up on an incident last month, as it aims to forward a movement that builds safer and more peaceful communities from which we all benefit.

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