MAY 2020
Connections
Monthly Newsletter
for UU Miami Members & Friends
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No Access to UU Miami Premises until June 1
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CREATING YOUR OWN CHALICE
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Hello All Members and Friends of UU Miami,
I would like to invite you to create your own chalice at home. You can use your chalice during the virtual UU MIami Sunday Services or during rituals in your own home. UU Miami has purchased small plastic chalices that you can decorate. Here is the process to get yours: you can either come by the church and pick up a paper bag with your chalice and electric tea light in it or you can contact me (Rev. Tom at
revcapo@gmail.com
) by email and we can figure out a way to get the chalice to you. We are going to distribute the chalices the first two weeks of May. (Some of you may already have chalices at home or would prefer to make your own chalices with materials you have at hand. Click
here
for a simple how-to from the UUA.)
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Then we invite you to decorate your chalice with paint, stickers, etc. and take a picture of your chalice. We will use the pictures in our service on the third Sunday in May. Please
email
them to Rev. Tom.
And finally, when we all return to services in the sanctuary, we will have a special service to celebrate our return and bless everyone's decorated chalice.
~Rev. Tom
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May Worship Theme
:
THRESHOLD
All Sunday Worship Services in May on
YouTube
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On the Threshold
by Reverend Tom Capo
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All Worship Services until the end of May will be Virtual. They will be streamed live on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. on our
YouTube channel
and a recording of the service will available to view thereafter. You can also visit our webpage,
uumiami.org
for the link to our YouTube channel.
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“There is in Celtic mythology the notion of ‘thin places’ in the universe where the visible and the invisible world come into their closest proximity. To seek such places is the vocation of the wise and the good — and for those that find them, the clearest communication between the temporal and eternal. Mountains and rivers are particularly favored as thin places marking invariably as they do, the horizontal and perpendicular frontiers. But perhaps the ultimate of these thin places in the human condition are the experiences people are likely to have as they encounter suffering, joy, and mystery.” (Peter Gomes) Reverend Tom will explore thresholds, particularly those encountered by humans as they experience suffering, joy and mystery.
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After - Service Coffee Hour
Zoom
Discussions in May
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Keep connected and discuss the Sunday Service.
Sundays 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.
Once you have registered for a Sunday Zoom meeting, you will not have to register again throughout the month of May, just keep the Zoom link you will be emailed.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing the Zoom link.
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Religious Exploration (RE): Children & Families
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For information on RE, contact our
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Registered youth will receive the meeting information through our WhatsApp group chat.
If your child has been participating in RE classes this year but is not registered and would like to continue meeting with us please
email Barbara
to register for our meetings.
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May 3
9:30 a.m. REC Zoom meeting
2:00 p.m Youth on Zoom to continue working on Mindful Cookbook
May 10
Intergen, no RE
May 17
2:00 p.m. Yoga with Luz on Zoom
May 24
Intergen, no RE
May 31
Mindful Curriculum Reflections (details pending)
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Saturday Spiritual Enrichment
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Saturday, MAY 2
1:00 - 2:30 p.m.
Discussing UU the Vote (Zoom)
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After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing the Zoom link. Once you have registered for a Saturday Zoom meeting, you will not have to register again throughout the month of May, just keep the Zoom link you will be emailed.
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Spiritual Enrichment
Practice in May (Zoom)
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YOGA with Luz
Gentle, Hatha, & Prana Yoga, plus brief Meditations with
our in-house Yoga Instructor, Luz.
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Monday Classes
Click
here
to register for your Monday classes. Each person will only need to register once for the Monday classes. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing the Zoom link for the class. Before class, you will be put in a waiting room until the host invites you into the class.
Wednesday Classes
Click
here
to register for your Wednesday classes. Each person will only need to register once for the Wednesday classes. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing the Zoom link for the class.Before class, you will be put in a waiting room until the host invites you into the class.
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Wednesday, May 6 (Zoom)
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Caring for Animals
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In this talk, Dr. Aleksandra Hernandez will discuss J.M. Coetzee’s
Elizabeth Costello
where humanistic values are extended to include the members of other species. In particular, she will analyze the novel’s message concerning the current state of our relationship to animals and how we might move forward.
Click
here
to register in advance for this meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing the Zoom link.
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SUNDAY WORSHIP SERVICES IN MAY
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If You Do Not Change Direction,
You May End Up Where You Are Heading
by Reverend Tom Capo
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Happy Mother’s Day. This proverb sounds like advice a mother might have given a child, just before they were about to receive some natural consequences. In this time of Coronavirus, we have an opportunity to consider many aspects of our lives. Perhaps we might even consider the direction we have set before ourselves and consider whether we are headed in the direction that provides the most meaning for our lives. Reverend Tom will reflect on this proverb by Lao Tzu, the father of Daoism.
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MAY 17
Flower Communion
by Reverend Tom Capo
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The Flower Communion is an annual uniquely Unitarian Universalist ritual that celebrates beauty, human uniqueness, diversity, and community. Originally created in 1923 by Unitarian minister Norbert Capek of Prague, Czechoslovakia, the Flower Ceremony was introduced to the United States by Rev. Maya Capek, Norbert's widow. In this ceremony, everyone in the congregation brings a flower. The congregation and minister bless the flowers, and they're redistributed.
Please have a flower with you as you participate in this service virtually.
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MAY 24
by Derrick Mustelier, M.Div
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Our lives are changing faster than the speed of time. Our world is "ending" in the sense that it will never be the same and we don't even know what that means yet. But every ending is a new beginning. In times like this, I often find myself looking to my most holy sacred texts: Star Wars, The West Wing, She-Ra, and more!
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MAY 31
Returning to a New Normal When and How?
on YouTube
by Reverend Tom Capo
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We will take time during the service to
recognize and appreciate the work of our RE teachers
. And Reverend Tom will reflect on what we might face as the world attempt to return to some sense of normal with businesses and faith communities trying to figure out what this normal will look like. What might we have to consider as this process plays out in our lives and our congregation?
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Saturday Spiritual Enrichment 1 p.m. on Zoom
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Click
here
to register
in advance for any and
all Saturday meetings in May.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing the Zoom link. Once you have registered for a Saturday Zoom meeting, you will not have to register again throughout the month of May, just keep the Zoom link you will be emailed.
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MAY 9
1:00 p.m. (Zoom)
Delving Deeper into
Unitarian Universalist History
by Reverend Tom Capo
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Bring questions, thoughts, and interest in the history of Unitarian Universalism. In the Emerson Room.
Click
here
to register in advance for this meeting:
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MAY 16
1:00 p.m. (Zoom)
For Those Interested Learning about
Membership
in the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Miami
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Click
here
to register in advance for this meeting
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MAY 23
1:00 p.m.
(Zoom)
MINDFUL MEDITATION
with Adriana Moreno-Zarate
Click
here
to register in advance for this meeting
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Adriana Moreno-Zarate is a trained in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and in Mindfulness Self Compassion and Loving Kindness Practices. Adriana teaches MBSR to Miami Dade Public School teachers at Mindful Kids Miami. She studies and researches the effectiveness of mindfulness practices as tools to disengage from automatic addictive behaviors. Adriana guides people to explore mindfulness to transform and cultivate a healthy and fresh relationship with themselves.
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MAY 30
Discussion on What It Might Be Like
to Return to UU Miami in Vivo
Click
here
t
o register in advance for this meeting
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Wednesday, MAY 20,
7:00-9:00 p.m. (Zoom)
HUMANIST TALK: Ecologist/ Conservationist Perspective
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Dr. Joel T. Heinen will share his expertise as an Ecologist/ Conservationist while encouraging us to ask questions for ourselves: How did you acquire religion? What do you believe? Why not believe other equally implausible things that others believe?
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Click
here
to register in advance for this meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing the Zoom link.
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Annual Meeting Sunday, June 7, 1:00 p.m. (via Zoom)
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CANDIDATES ANNOUNCEMENT
In addition, the LDC is pleased to present the following nominees for the Leadership Development Committee, for your consideration and vote at the May 2020 Annual Meeting:
• Elizabeth Hayes - new term ending 2021(replacing Stephen Maxwell)
• Janice MacArthur - new term ending 2023
The following LDC members elected in prior years will continue in service:
• Andrea Baumel Mustelier - term ending 2022
Respectfully submitted,
Your LDC Committee,
Zoltan Bakos,
Andrea Mustelier,
Maria Poviones-Bishop
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The Leadership Development Committee (LDC) is pleased to present the following nominees for the Board of Trustees, for your consideration and vote at the June 2020 Annual Meeting:
• Zoltan Bakos - new term ending 2023
• Luigi Ferrer - new term ending 2023
• Chris Kirchner- new term ending 2023
• Lisa Shackelford - new term ending 2023
The following board members elected in prior years will continue in service:
• Christine Hughes Pontier - term ending 2022
• Selva Joseph - term ending 2022
• Terry Lowman - term ending 2021
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Your
pledge helps us to fulfill
our
pledge: to promote & affirm our 7 Unitarian Universalist Principles within ourselves and in the wider world; to preserve our beautiful property; and to enhance our financial security in order to ensure that our congregation will be here for the Miami community for many generations to come!
Thanks in advance, for filling out and mailing back the pledge cards sent to your homes,
or
by completing
this brief
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Farewell from Barbara Woshinsky and Bill Turner
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Dear Friends,
It is with great sadness that we announce our imminent departure from UUCM. We have sold our Miami house and had intended to move to our St. Paul residence at the end of April, but circumstances (with a capital C!) intervened. We now plan to move at the beginning of June.
It is wrenching to leave the place that has been our home, and the people who have been our family, for over 30 years. We literally cannot imagine what our lives would have been without UUCM. We made our closest friendships there, found our life partners there. Barbara has tried to give back as president of the congregation; both of us were member of the social justice committee and the choir, as well as other groups throughout the years. The universe willing, we will return for a while next winter. If we can’t see one another in person before then, we wish you all health and happiness. Vive UUCM!
Love,
Barbara and Bill
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Former UU Congregation of Miami member Beth Wiggert passed away on 10 April in Madison, WI where she was living with her daughter Joy. During her 47 years as an active member of the UU Miami congregation she taught in the Sunday school, worked as Financial Secretary and was a member of many groups including the Lotz Music Committee, the Women’s Alliance, the Board of Trustees and the Lunch Bunch. The UU Congregation of Miami was always the spiritual home of both Beth and her husband of 46 years (Vic), and she missed her “church family” after returning to Wisconsin.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions be made to :
the UU Congregation of Miami (
uumiami.org
),
The Nature Conservancy (https://www.nature.org/en-us/) or the World Health Organization (https://www.who.int).
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Click
here
for updates on the UUA General Assembly
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Other Ways to stay Connected
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We going to go through our second round of phone calls to check in with members of the congregation. If you do not receive a call in the next couple of weeks, please call the church at 305-667-3697 or email the church at
admin@uumiami.org
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Also if you want to set up a Zoom discussion with people in the congregation to stay connected, please call the church at 305-667-3697 or email the church at
admin@uumiami.org.
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UU Miami YouTube Channel
Click
here
f
or the link to our YouTube Channel:
On this channel you will find past services, short reflective pieces (less than 10 minutes), and this is the channel where you can connect with our UU Miami livestream at 11 AM EST on Sunday mornings.
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REVEREND TOM'S BLOG
To view Rev. Tom's latest sermons, visit :
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UU Miami is committed to promoting a culture of inclusivity & anti-discrimination as noted in our bylaws: “The Congregation declares & affirms its special responsibility to promote the full participation of persons of any race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, ability, affectional or sexual orientation, age, language, citizenship status, economic status, or national origin in all of its activities, without requiring adherence to any particular interpretation of religion or to any particular religious belief or creed. As a Welcoming Congregation, we dedicate ourselves to intentional practices of Right Relationship- in language and in action- that promote equity, diversity, and inclusion for all.”
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Submissions for the
WEEKLY UPDATE
Submissions for the
MONTHLY CONNECTIONS
are due on the
15th
of the prior month. Edits may be necessary for concision, clarity, or style.
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Regular Office Hours are suspended until June 1 or otherwise notified.
Get in touch with us by calling the office at 305-667-3697
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7701 SW 76th Avenue, Miami, FL 33143
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UU Miami: A Spiritual Hub for Progressive
Thinkers & Doers in Greater Miami!
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