This Week at a Glance:
Monday
: Weekly Minute Meditation 8am
UUSP YouTube Channel -
Naturalist Christian Buddhist Prayer
Tuesday:
Zoom Lunchtime Check-in/Chat 12:00pm
(
**
mindful meditation* on your own, pre or post).
Wednesday:
Zoom Adult Religious Studies Discussions (10am/7pm) F.M. Lappe's Daring Democracy, Chpt 8
Thursday:
Zoom Citizen's Cafe' 12:00pm lunch hour & conversations on the news of our times
Zoom invitations are sent to all members and also to friends who request invitations.
Email
Pastor Jack
directly to be added or removed from the distribution list.
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Pastor Jack's Weekly Wonder
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Dear Friends,
As we begin
the fourth month of pandemic precautions, I’d like to repeat the practices I suggested last Infonet:
- Don’t join gatherings that risk spreading coronavirus
- Join demonstrations that promote a Black Lives Matter or Poor Peoples Campaign agenda
- Leave demonstrations when police or protesters move toward violence;
- Join long-haul justice movements that are organized to accomplish specific deeply necessary change.
I believe our primary mission as a religious congregation is to help everyone grow spiritually – “spiritual” defined as relating with understanding and caring to life. Out of this emerges compassion, justice, equitability and, I believe, continuing experience of peace, joy and fulfillment. To nurture this growth, add a daily time of personal reflection – sitting in quiet, walking in nature, journaling on hope, dialoging in discovery of trust.
Stay caring, stay well, stay in touch. Blessings,
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Attend The
UUA Virtual General Assembly
June 24 - 28, 2020
Registration is $150 - quite the bargain, with no travel expenses! You can
Free viewings of General Sessions and
Sunday Worship (9am)
will be live-streamed at www.uua.org.
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Children's Religious Education:
June 14, 2020
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Check out some great information in the weekly newsletter
What? - you aren't receiving it?
and click on the picture to the Left
.
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For this weeks' lesson from Ms. Trish and Ms. Jeanay, click on the recording box below.
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This month’s theme for Religious Education is
Family
.
Creating Connections to Others in Our Chalice Home
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Online Weekly Meditation Schedule
(feedback appreciated)
Contemplative Meditation Readings
(Mondays & Thursdays)
Monday, June 15: Naturalist Christian Buddhist Prayer
Thursday, June 18:
For Juneteenth
, from Lanston Hughes
**For Monastic Days - How to do Mindful Meditation
- Set your alarm for 5 to 40 minutes;
- Sit erect, breathe deeply once or twice to relax;
- Watch your breathing ease to normal, observing breath come and go;
- Count in cycles of ten breaths if it helps you keep observing – or repeat a “sacred” word for focus (eg, peace, grace, life, thanks, care, see, being);
- If deep focus is lost to extraneous thought, feeling, or sensation, note it simply as “thought” or “feeling” or “sensation” and return to your breath or word;
- Sometimes, for deeper peace, try shifting attention to consciousness itself or to your sense of being.
- When your timer goes off, remain awake.
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"I Can't Breathe"
George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man, died on May 25, 2020 after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by a white police officer’s knee.
“People of faith, particularly those of us who are white progressives, need to combat the systems of criminalization in our country. Systems of policing and criminalization in the country are inherently violent, steeped in and created to reinforce white supremacy, anti-blackness, and radicalized control.”
UUA President, Reverend Dr. Susan Frederick-Gray
We must do more than say the names of those whose lives have been taken by racialized violence. We must do more than name the systems of white supremacy and capitalism that wage violence against our Black neighbors.
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"Everybody’s Got a Right to Live"
UUA and the Poor People’s Campaign Worship Service
June 14, 2020 8pm ET / 5pm PT
Greetings Beloveds!
Thank you for attending the “We Can’t Breathe” online vigil. We invite you to “Everybody’s Got a Right to Live” a service that will be filled with prayerful witnesses, powerful preaching, and enlivening songs. This is an invitation to rise together and to participate in moving our country toward justice. Come hear from local activists, Rev. Michael Crumpler, our own UUA Poor People’s Campaign Leadership Council, and others along with dynamic songleaders and musicians.
June 14 is just one week before the digital Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington - the largest digital gathering of poor, dispossessed and impacted people, faith leaders, and people of conscience, will be held on June 20, 2020. For more info on the March, visit
www.june2020.org
and sign up on our
RSVP site
for UUs and friends here so that we can build together going into June 20 and beyond.
Join us this Sunday
for this collaborative event designed by the UUA Poor People's Campaign Leadership Council and hosted by the Church of the Larger Fellowship and Side with Love.
We are simulcasting this service on Facebook and YouTube to accommodate the large number of people who will be tuning in. The first 500 will be able to join
Zoom
. Please join us 15-20 minutes early for the best chance to participate via Zoom. We are setting up additional livestream opportunities to accommodate everyone who wants to participate:
ADDITIONAL LIVESTREAM OPTIONS
If you are on Facebook please
share
the event!
For those that registered, logged into or tried to log into the UUA's Tuesday (June 2) service - you may have gotten this email.
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Building a Community in a Pandemic
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- June 20: Solstice Sunrise Celebration 7am (Ayliah Cannon, Sabine von Aulock, Jamey Grey)
- June 21: General Assembly Worship Service: 9am (followed by discussion)
- June 22: Audre Zieres Birthday Car Parade (Jerri Huempfner-Gatz)
- June 23: Cooking from Diverse Cultures 8pm - Cuban dessert Arroz con Leche (rice pudding) Participants will make the dish in advance and meet on Zoom to discuss Cuban Culture (Linda Paul)
Details and more e-vents to follow. If you would like to help plan/lead an e-vent please reach out to
Sabine
.
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A bequest to UU St. Pete is a vote of confidence in its future.
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Caring & Connected Newsletter
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We continue to send out the e-newsletter
“Caring & Connected”
to help sustain our UUSP community during uncertain times. Click
HERE
to read it and learn “how can I help?” and "how can I stay connected?” during the church closure.
for the Communications Team
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Staying Connected With Pastor Jack & Staff
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Pastor’s Open-Air Office Hours:
:
For those experiencing a serious sense of isolation, you are welcome to contact
Pastor Jack
(352-327-6166) to arrange a visit online or in the open air at the church.
For members with mobility limitations, upon request, he will be glad to visit with you at any open-air location (eg, backyards, porches, local parks).
Our UUSP staff members will continue their duties in a safe, cautious manner to the fullest degree possible. Our Church Office Administrator is now working from home and can be reached at
officeuustpete.org@gmail.com
.
During this challenging time, may we remember that we need to pay close attention to how everybody is doing and how we can help.
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Joys/Concerns & Helping One Another:
Share those
joys
you are having during this time of separation, as they will help us all feel the light. You may also have
concerns.
Just reach out to
Pastor Jack
or
Patti Hanks,
Care Committee
so we can help lift you up or lift those that may need it through a message at Sunday Service or just to talk to them.
For some of our services prior to the COVID-19 changes, Click the Spirituality tab, click Worship Services and Sermons. Scroll down the services and you will see "Sermons and Readings" and Audio Icon (small speaker). All Services from mid-March - current will now be on our
UUSP YouTube Channel
.
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Thank you for your interest in UU St. Petersburg!
From me to you and to those around you Be Safe and Be Well!
Kelli DeGraw, part of your Communications Team.
Feedback and suggestions are welcome (pubs@uustpete.org).
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Our mission is to be an
inclusive
,
evolving
religious community that inspires
spiritual
and
intellectual
growth to make our world a
better place
.
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Unitarian Universalist Church of St. Petersburg
727.898.3294
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