River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation
To grow and deepen in Community, Spirit, and Service
eWeekly
May 6-13, 2021
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You are welcome here! Interested in learning more about the congregation, our faith, and our community? Our Connections Team would love to help get you started. If you'd like to join us for online Sunday worship services, contact us here. And if you’d like to find out more about how to get involved email us.
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Stories as Doorways, Rev. Nancy McDonald Ladd, Senior Minister
Sun., May 9, 10am. Sanctuary Live format this week
9:30-10am: Early-bird; 10am: Service; 11am: Breakout Rooms
Watch for two links in the Saturday email: a YouTube link for the service itself and a Zoom link for the pre-chat and breakout rooms after the service. Recording will be posted on YouTube.
How do the stories we tell shape the future? Is it possible that our stories can be portals or gateways into some new reality we haven’t yet created? Is a story a doorway between one version of the world and the next, and how are we going to choose the stories we tell about this time in our lives and in history?
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Contemporary Issues Forum: The Biden Administration: National Security and Foreign Policy, Sun., May 9, 11:45am-12:45pm, Zoom link provided in Saturday email with Service link
The talk will assess the wretched national security inheritance that faces the Biden administration. Special attention will be given to US bilateral relations with Russia and China, which are taking on Cold War atmospherics, as well as regional relations with the Middle East and Southwest Asia. Read more here.
Melvin Allan “Mel” Goodman is a national security and intelligence expert. He has worked as an analyst for the CIA and the State Department, taught at the National War College and Johns Hopkins University, and is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy.
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Notices & Online Ministry Offerings |
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♪♫ Take a walk on the wild side ♪♫ in this week's Grounding.
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COVID-19 Advisory Committee Information about Vaccines and Vaccination
Find information curated by our COVID-19 Team here.
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May's Designated Gift Organization is Action in Montgomery
With the COVID-19 pandemic in its second year, inequity in Montgomery County has increased, and AIM’s community organizing efforts are as critical as ever. We must convince our elected officials to take bold action on housing, education, immigration, and health. Action in Montgomery is working hard to ensure passage of new initiatives to address the thousands of households that need rental and food assistance because of lost jobs, the growing gap in education because of online learning, and the need for vaccination accessibility to people of color in Montgomery County. Please support AIM, May's Designated Gift Organization, throughout the month of May by making online or check donations to RRUUC (designate AIM) or participating in our Extend the Offering for AIM on Sun., May 23, (during the annual music service).
~ RRUUC’s AIM Core Team
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Take Action by Getting Friends & Family Involved
Spread the word to your friends and family in any state to contact their senators on two issues:
The For the People Act (S.1) has provisions for easier voter registration, early voting, vote by mail, ending gerrymandering, campaign finance reform, stopping dark money transfers, requiring corporations disclose political financing, and more. This is vital legislation to protect and expand everyone's voting rights. There is an easy-to-fill-out form to send a note to your senators. You just need to fill in your contact information, and the system will send the message directly to your senators from the email address you provide. Click here for the form.
If you care about the climate and agriculture, write your senators or get friends or family in farm or ranching states to write. Use the information and form at UU Social Justice. We are asking for support to mitigate climate change and to alleviate social ills, such as the Climate Stewardship Act (S.1072) and the Justice for Black Farmers Act (S.300).
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John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Mobilization, Sat., May 8, 2021
UU Social Justice is supporting the national John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement mobilization this Sat., May 8. Find various events here.
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As part of our ongoing commitment to the activists who are interrupting gun violence on the streets of our cities, we are saddened yet honored to memorialize the names of those in our area lost to gun violence over the last week. These lives continue to matter: Baltimore: Fernando Rouse, Wayne Williams, Kevin Adams, Bruce Lemon, and one name not released. Every life lost to gun violence shatters the world for each of us, and every life saved by those who interrupt the violence helps knit us back together.
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Shared Programming & Community Events |
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Unexpected Stage: A Celebration of Art, Voice, and Imagination, Sundays, May 16-Jun. 6, 2pm.
Join us outdoors this spring for our festival celebrating extraordinary voices and ideas, showcasing a number of multidisciplinary events. Each Sunday for 4 weeks, beginning May 16, Unexpected Stage will host a different event, including play readings, poets, salons, and conversations. The event is outdoors and distanced in the RRUUC courtyard. To find out more, please visit our website.
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GenOUT YOUTH INVASION Virtual Concert Streaming through Sun., May 9
DC's GenOUT Youth Chorus, in collaboration with New York City’s Youth Pride Chorus and Nashville’s Major Minors, will present its annual YOUTH INVASION concert virtually. The concert will be streamed Sat., Apr. 24–Sun., May 9. Tickets are free and may be reserved here. Click here for more information.
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If you'd like to get the news from River Road every week,
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River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation | 6301 River Road, Bethesda, MD 20817 | 301-229-0400 | connections@rruuc.org | www.rruuc.org |
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