Greetings,
Welcome to Windows Weekly, Albany UU's central source for news and updates. We hope you're enjoying this new format and welcome your feedback.
-Blessings
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W
e welcome everyone. Our Unitarian Universalist community seeks truth and deeper meaning, pursues justice through inspired action, and cultivates compassion and love for all connected by the web of life
.
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September 30, "How to Keep Our Heart
Open … In Hard Times," Rev. Sam Trumbore
Our vision of community is very important to our congregation. Yet getting along with other people we may not agree with or like can be challenging. Negotiating our relationships skillfully takes some learning and practice. One very helpful practice to help us build stronger community that comes from the Buddhist tradition is loving-kindness or metta practice. Cultivating one’s capacity for loving-kindness can help us deal with the challenges of inclusion and welcome while negotiating our differences.
Music:
Richard Porterfield with music of Edward MacDowell
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Sunday Services
10:00 am
October 7, Partner Church Service
In May, eleven members and friends of Albany UU traveled to Transylvania to visit our partner church in Szokefalva, stay in the village with church members and travel the path of Unitarian History. Join us for the service to hear why this visit had a profound effect on all of us.
Music:
Albany UU Choir sings excerpts from the 1568 Edict of Torda and Mendelssohn’s “How Lovely are the Messengers”
October 14, “The Sanctuary Within,” Leah Purcell
How can we find that still small voice within us? How can we hear what it is telling us
?
This is a service for all ages with a full sermon to engage the hearts and minds of adults – but divided into chunks, with more music than traditional services and with more opportunities for participation. For their faith development, the children and youth will attend the service on this Sunday instead of having Sunday school. (This service will be in our Sanctuary.)
Music:
Richard Porterfield,
organ
October 21, “Thomas Starr King Revealed,” Sigrin Newell
In California in the 1860s, Unitarian minister Thomas Starr King worked with John Muir to save Yosemite. He also started a predecessor of the Red Cross and helped California join the Union as a free rather than as a slave state. Two mountain peaks and a UU seminary are named in his honor. With the help of David McCloud and Debbie Reep McCloud we will explore a fascinating, little known piece of American and UU history.
Dr. Sigrin Newell has been active with Albany UU for nearly 30 years. She recently retired from Walden University, a distance-learning graduate school where she taught education to doctoral students.
Music:
Albany UU Choir sings music of the Civil War and Abolition
October 28, “How Can We Be a Sanctuary For Each Other,” Rev. Sam Trumbore and Leah Purcell
Sanctuaries can be a physical place that we go for safety, protection, sustenance and renewal. A congregation like ours can also offer it by the community we create for each other. One important way we do this is by honoring the births, deaths, marriages and major life transitions in our lives. The metaphor we’ll be working with is an umbrella.
NOTE:
This is our Wheel of Life service, traditionally on the last Sunday of October. Anyone who has experienced a major life transition is invited to bring a picture, a symbol, or a memento of that event. It can be brought forward during service to honor that transition (and may be retrieved after service ends).
Music
: Albany UU Choir and Youth Choir led by Richard Porterfield
Announcements
FOCUS Food Pantry
Please consider a contribution to the Focus Food Pantry this Sunday, Sept. 30. There will be an envelope in the order of service for your check or cash. Thank you for helping.
Annual Evacuation Drill
We will have our annual evacuation drill near the end of service next
Sunday, Oct. 7
. There will be a verbal announcement and printed instructions in your Order of Service that day explaining how the drill will work. The Albany Fire department will have a fire truck at the Robin and West St. point for the younger children to enjoy.
Photo Directory - Connecting our Congregation
We want all Albany UU members and friends to be part of the new Photo Directory. More than 160 families and individuals have signed up so far! We have now opened up more appointments in October. Please contact Peggy Sherman at
msherman@nycap.rr.com
if you would like to be part of the directory and have not been able to make an appointment for a photograph. Find more information
here
.
Sheridan Prep Academy Volunteer Opportunities
Love to Read with A Child?
Be a volunteer reading tutor with an elementary age child at Sheraton Prep (our neighborhood public elementary school).This is a one-on-one reading program with a weekly commitment (yes, you can take vacations). Interested? Sign up for one day training on Saturday, Oct. 27 with Fiona Thompson at 518-475-6360 or
fthompson@albany.k12.ny.us
. Any questions speak to Winston 518-3262151 or
hagborgw@gmail.com
.
Volunteers Needed!
The Community School Coordinator has a wide range of volunteer opportunities for
many
people. Can’t volunteer? Perhaps you have a lead for other sources of volunteers that we could contact. Please let Chuck Manning (chuckmanning@hotmail.com) or Winston Hagborg (hagborgw@gmail.com) know if you want to volunteer or if you have ideas.
Changes to Coffee Hour
Notice something different about coffee hour? We are no longer collecting donations for coffee. This year's budget was adjusted to reflect that change. If you would still like to chip in, feel free to add your contribution when the collection plate is passed during the service!
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Sunday Schedule
9:00 AM
- Mindfulness Meditation
9:45 AM
- Nursery/Toddler Rooms open
10:00 AM
- Service, Community Hall
- Religious Exploration for children and youth
11:00 AM
- Coffee Hour, Channing Hall
11:30 AM
- Managing Children's Screens to Maximize Health
11:45 AM
- Green Sanctuary Committee
Quick Links
Sign up for a class or event
- Sign up at the Sign Up Site in Channing Hall
OR
- Call the church office, 518.463.7135
If childcare is offered for the event, please let us know you need it when you register, including names and ages of children.
Board of Trustees 2018-2019
Officers
Trustees
Ex-officio Members
Education Council
Elected Officer
(not on Board of Trustees)
Staff
Minister
Church Administrator
Director of Religious Education and Family Ministry
Music Director
Dr. Richard Porterfield,
Music Associates (volunteer)
Randy Rosette, Chris Jensen
Administrative Assistant
Religious Education Assistant
Leah Youth Adviser
Tracey Hickey
Custodian
Izzy Wright
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Sams' Outlook - Finding Sanctuary
One of my best growing up memories as a teenager was going to Murray Grove summer camp on the coast of New Jersey for a week. The camp sits very near where John Murray came ashore off his ship from England in 1770 which was blown off course. Murray preached Universalism at Thomas Potter’s insistence in Potter’s church. Potter had built the church because he had a sign that someday a minister would appear and preach Universal Salvation from its pulpit. Murray at first refused. He thought he was done with preaching after the disasters he left behind in England when he boarded the ship for the New World. The wind would not blow the ship back on course so Murray relented and preached our Universalist good news. That afternoon, the wind direction changed and off he went, newly inspired to be a founder of Universalism in America. This is one of our very small set of UU miracle stories!
It was a small camp, no more than 50 or 60 campers from up and down the mid-Atlantic seaboard. If I remember correctly, my first year of camp was in 1970 as a 13 year old who had just finished seventh grade. I met sophisticated kids from New York City who smoked! I played spin the bottle and exchanged passionate kisses with girls for the first time. I experienced my first slow dance chest to chest with Ivy listening to “Stairway to Heaven.” And yes, I learned how to braid plastic material to make lanyards, did improvisational theater, had deep, meaningful conversations and slept on the top bunk of a cabin with the mosquitoes sipping my blood.
Camp for many of us is our first experience away from our parents/caregivers with people our own age. Yes, of course campers do things that their parents might not approve of if they found out. But more important, the camper, freed of parental regulation, begins to discover who they are. The camp is a sanctuary, a protected space for self-discovery and experimentation. Camp is where many Unitarian Universalist teenagers discover the liberal religious values that have been fostered in them in their home congregations. Camp connects them with other UU youth and makes them far more compatible with each other.
Another time I found the experience of sanctuary was when I moved to California at the age of 20 in 1977. I didn’t know anybody in the San Francisco Bay Area. This is before micro-computers as we called them then, cell phones, and social media. I landed in Palo Alto without one friend. So on my first Sunday in California, I attended the Palo Alto Unitarian Church. It was a refreshing sanctuary for my spirit the moment I walked in. They sang hymns I knew using the blue hymnal. The minister gave a sermon that spoke to me. They had a book store like my home congregation in Newark, Delaware. I walked over to their membership table and struck up a friendship with Peggy, who a little over a year later, rented me a room in her house. I had found a place of refuge as I explored living by myself on the other side of the country.
I had another experience of sanctuary when I was a member of the Oakland Unitarian Church. The minister approached me and suggested I attend something called “Leadership School” for a week in the summer. I had moved to California to “find myself” and wanted to enter a new phase of my life. At the Oakland Church, I was beginning to explore if ministry might be a direction I wanted to go. The Pacific Central District Leadership School taught me all about organizational development and dynamics or “OD.” I’d never been exposed to the idea of group process in meetings. I was amazed as I became aware of it as a force that affected people’s participation in the meetings we practiced using different techniques. In that protected space together, our small group of students and guides quickly developed a trust and confidence in each other that allowed us to discover attitudes and behaviors in ourselves that helped and hindered the group process. The sanctuary we created together helped us connect and grow together.
I’ve been in a number of other small group experiences that created a sense of sanctuary that nurtured my spirit. Probably the most powerful experience of it has happened at silent meditation retreats. In this quiet setting with only my mind as a companion and the instructions of the teachers, I’ve been able to put the process of my mind under a microscope and see how it works. Protected from news, television, social media, email and radios, the input to my usually busy mind slows way down. No one is making demands on my attention and time. Meals are taken in silence. Eye contact and communication with others avoided. My only daily task is to witness the processes of consciousness moment by moment as I alternate between sitting still and observing my breath and walking very slowly observing my feet lifting, moving and placing. In this unusual and protected space, the mind and body relax, releasing layer upon layer of stress and tension. I’ve never felt as peaceful and relaxed as I do after a few days at a meditation retreat. By the end of nine days, I’m rejuvenated, rested, energized and ready to go back into the world to make a positive difference.
Where is your place of sanctuary? I know for many it is being in a natural setting removed from society and social stimulation. Hiking and camping provide the feeling of sanctuary for many of us. Others of us find it at a vacation cottage or walking on a deserted beach. Each of us has a different length of time we need to settle in to connect with that feeling of sanctuary.
I hope many of you recognize how our congregation and our building can be a place of sanctuary for you. Please, let us in the office know if you want to come and sit in our sanctuary and be still and quiet for a time. We’ll strive to arrange a time to accommodate you. We all need the experience of sanctuary. I know it is for me – may our congregation be that for you too.
Rev. Sam
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Upcoming Learning and Discussion Opportunities with the Minister!
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Metta or Loving-kindness Meditation led by Rev. Trumbore
Two sessions, October 1 and 8, 7:00 pm, Room B-8
Learn the basics of Buddhist heart-centered meditation that cultivates a non-specific love-for-all that becomes specific in caring for and serving others. Metta doesn’t require a response from others for its growth and development as it arises from an inner sense of abundance. Find out more
here
.
Building a House for Hope with Rev. Trumbore
Six sessions, Nov 6, 13, 27, Dec 4, 11, 18, 7:00 pm, Room B-8
Deepen your appreciation for our Unitarian Universalist purposes, principles, history, values, and traditions using the excellent book
House for Hope
by Rebecca Parker and John Buerhens. Find out more
here
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Family Ministry with Leah Purcell
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Family Ministry
means building strong connections between families and the congregation; and equipping parents and caregivers to engage in their child’s faith development at home.
This Sunday Sept 30, plan to participate in the following:
Parent/caretaker orientation in Channing Hall
We’ll start after the story in the service, when all the children are in Sunday school. Yes, you'll miss most of the service on Sept 30, but Rev. Sam is working on making sure a recording of the service is available on YouTube to watch later.
Video Games; Phones and Social Media –
Workshop for Parents and Caregivers to manage your child’s screens to maximize health, connections, and values
Information and discussion about child development, how additions are formed and the impact of various kinds of screen time can help parents to make decisions to manage your child’s screen time.
Today is the last day to sign up!
Find our more
here
.
Coming Up on Saturday, Oct 20, 3:00 – 5:00 PM - Unplug the Christmas Machine Workshop for Parents and Caretakers
“How can I reduce the stress of preparing for Christmas?” “How can I make our celebration more spiritual and less materialistic?” “How can I get my partner to be more enthusiastic about Christmas/to relax and enjoy the celebration?” and “How can I help my children see that Christmas is more than just presents?” For years, readers have turned to Unplug the Christmas Machine by Jo Robinson and jean Coppock Staeheli for inspiration and advice year after year. Using ideas from this book, Leah Purcell will help participants to combat the materialistic, commercialism of Christmas with practical ideas to put the holiday season into a UU perspective. RSVP’s would be helpful registrations@albanyuu.org.
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Rev. Sam sure has. Heard what, you ask? All of your feedback about our new sound system in Community Hall! He has been working with our installer, our volunteers, our staff and anyone walking by who might be willing to sit in Community Hall for a few minutes as he tunes and re-tunes the room. We are happy to report that Rev. Sam's hard work is paying off and we are moving in the right direction! The feedback after last Sunday's service was positive! We're almost there. Come, check it out!
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Albany UU Women's Group
The Albany UU women's group will next meet
Thursday, Oct. 4 at 10:00 am
in Room B-8. Find more information
here
.
All Sides Considered
All Sides Considered begins
Thursday, Oct. 4 at 1:00 pm
. Find more information
here
.
Join us for a Fabulous Fall Getaway
Looking for one last excursion before winter sets in? Here’s the perfect solution: the
UU Weekend at Silver Bay from October 12-14.
Come join your fellow UUs from several congregations for a fulfilling few days of frivolity, friendship, family fun, fresh fruit, fall foliage, and fellowship.
Stop by the UU Weekend table on Sunday to see the schedule of activities and fill out a registration form. Find more information
here
.
Walker Book Group
Join the Walker Book Group for a potluck and discussion on
Sunday, Oct. 14 at 5:30 pm
in Channing Hall. Bring your favorite dish to share and a small contribution to cover beverages. We will discuss
A Gentle man in Moscow: A Novel
by Amor Towles. Find more information
here
.
Albany UU Humanists
The next meeting of the Albany UU Humanists will be
Tuesday, Oct. 16, 7:00 pm in Room B-8.
Find more information
here
.
Getting to Know UU: orientation to UUism
Saturday, Oct. 20, 8:45 am-noon
We invite you to join us for "Getting to Know UU" to learn about Unitarian Universalism and about our congregation. Learn more
here
.
Feeling Lost? Get Connected!
Attend the Albany UU Get Connected Activity Fair on
Sunday October 21
and find out what you might be missing! Find more information
here
.
East of Hudson Potluck!
The next East of Hudson Potluck will be at Jean and Abe Bolgatz's home on
Friday, Oct. 26 at 6:00 pm
. If you live east of the river, join us!
RSVP to Jean: 518 274 2501 or jandabolgatz@
gmail.com
.
Circle Dinner - Saturday, October 27
Please plan to join us for the October Circle dinner, the first dinner of the church year. Circle dinners provide Albany UUs and visitors the opportunity to socialize and become better acquainted over a delicious potluck dinner in a private home. Find more information
here
.
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Sunday Volunteers
Would you like to be involved in the Sunday service in a more meaningful way?
Visit
Sunday Hospitality Sign Up
to find out about the ways you can volunteer on Sunday morning. We thank you and could not do what we do without YOU!
Gardening Volunteers
There's still time left in the season! Do you have two hours to contribute to maintaining the gardens surrounding Albany UU? The Gardening Committee welcomes you to
sign up here
, where you can select which week(s) you'd like to help. Volunteers often work in pairs. No experience necessary. For more information or to receive e-mail updates, please contact
Donna Meixne
r or 518-439-5947.
See also volunteer opportunities at Sheridan Prep under Announcements, above.
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RELIGIOUS EXPLORATION
-Leah Purcell, Director of Religious Education (RE) and Family Ministry,
dre@albanyuu.org
Keep up with what's happening for children and families. Check out Leah's
RE Newsletter
!
Nursery/Toddler Room
opens at 9:45
Children in Pre-k through 7th grade
attend the first part of the service and go to their groups after the story.
If you arrive late
, please have your child stay with you until after the story. We do not provide supervision for children in their rooms before then. Pick up time for children in the nursery through 3rd grade is 11:20. Older children will be dismissed at 11:20 to come find you on their own.
Youth in grades 8/9 and high school
programming starts at 10:00. Please let your child know that they cannot be in their room with no adult or just one adult or after Sunday school groups. Have them go to their rooms shortly before 10:00 am and meet you directly after group time.
--Are you thinking of returning to Albany UU after a hiatus? We'd love to have you back; it would be helpful if you send me an email at dre@albanyuu.org.
--There is something every Sunday for your child's faith development plus multigenerational services and special RE sessions throughout the year. Check out the
RE Calendar
!
Sunday, Oct 7, near the end of service, is our annual evacuation drill.
Those in Community Hall will receive verbal and written instructions that morning. The group leaders will give the children and youth instructions shortly before the alarms ring. The upstairs groups all meet in the front of the building. After the children and youth are all accounted for, the children in Pre-k through 3rd grade can visit the fire truck which will be parked on Robin St. and say “hi” to the friendly fire fighters. They will return to their rooms to be picked up by parents and caregivers. Older children and youth will be dismissed at 11:20, as usual.
If you haven't already, register your child for Religious Exploration!
Register for RE
on line
and pay the registration fee
on line
too! Or, pick up a paper copy in the RE Office. Make your check out to Albany UU and put RE Registration in the memo line or pay in cash. Call the office at 463-7135 or email Leah at dre@albanyuu.org with questions.
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SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES COUNCIL (SRC)
-Matt Lesniak, SRC Chair,
email
Green Sanctuary Committee News!
Over the summer, the Green Sanctuary Committee elected new officers. These fine folk are Meghan Marohn, chair, with Chuck Manning co-chair, and Sandy Steubing, secretary, with Barbara Spink, co-secretary. Our first meeting will be this
Sunday, September 30 at 11:45 am in Room B-3/4
.
After this first meeting on the 5th Sunday, regular meetings will continue every 4th Sunday of the month at 11:45 AM in Room B-7. Everyone is always welcome at all meetings.
Raise Your Voice for End of Life Choice
Ask a Candidate.
It’s election season, with a primary TODAY and a general election on November 6. Make sure you are registered to vote. When a candidate asks for your vote, or when you are deciding on your vote, you can ask whether a candidate supports medical aid in dying. If you
click here
to take the pledge to “Ask the Candidate,” Compassion and Choices New York will send you everything you need to be successful in your efforts. (NOTE: You are not required to make a financial pledge, regardless of where the website routes you.)
SRC Peace Team recommends the film Fahrenheit 11 9
at the Spectrum now. After the film run ends, we will have a conversation about what we learned. Stay tuned!
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To share your Joy or Sorrow
with our Albany UU community, you may submit it on a yellow card during the service or by using our
online form.
Need to Talk? Albany UU Pastoral Care Associates are here to listen!
Our Pastoral Care Associates have been trained in compassionate listening skills and are available to all members and friends of our congregation. To contact a Pastoral Care Associate, email:
listeners@albanyuu.org
, contact
Rev. Sam Trumbore
, the Albany UU office at 518.463.7135, or one of them personally. They are: Chuck Manning, Phil Rich, Randy Rosette, Sandy Stone, Lisa Barron, Donna Meixner, Dee VanRiper and Sharon Babala.
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Regular events and meetings
Check Windows Weekly for changes to date, time and location.
Sundays
5:30 PM Walker Book Group (2nd)
11:45 AM Green Sanctuary Committee (4th)
11:45 AM Social Responsibilities Council (3rd)
Mondays
6:15 PM Religious Education Council (1st)
Tuesdays
10:00 AM Philosophy Discussion (weekly)
1:00 PM Bridge (weekly)
7:00 PM UU Humanists (3rd)
Wednesdays
10:00 AM Projects & Quilts (weekly)
7:00 PM Choir Rehearsal (almost weekly)
Thursdays
10:00 AM Woman's Group (1st & 3rd)
1:00 PM All Sides Considered (1st & 3rd)
7:00 PM Program Coordinating Council (2nd)
7:00 PM Board of Trustees (3rd)
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Going to miss a Sunday?
You can listen to the entire Albany UU Sunday service at home or on your mobile device. The two most recent services are available as MP3 files on the Albany UU member resource website. Here is how to access:
username: fuusan, password: Emerson405.
Our sermon archive (select Ministry/Sermon Archive on the left website menu) has pdf files of sermons texts (when available) and audio files of sermons. You can also request the office put a service on a CD.
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First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany
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Parking:
Parking is available on the street. On Sundays (and for some special events) Albany UU has permission to use the University at Albany’s Hawley Parking Lot on Robin Street at Washington Avenue.
Office hours
September-June:
Monday-Friday, 9:00-3:00
July-August:
Monday–Thursday 9:00-1:00
Websites
Building use
To
reserve a room
for an Albany UU activity
or to rent a hall or classroom space
, for a personal or non-Albany UU activity, contact Administrative Assistant Sapphire Correa (518.463.7135 or
office@albanyuu.org
).
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First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany | 518.463.7135| 518.463.1429 | Admin@AlbanyUU.org | AlbanyUU.org
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