Greetings Friends,
Welcome to Windows Weekly, Albany UU's central source for news and updates.
The Daily Reminder was not sent out this morning since there were no events to remind folks about today. Everything you need to know is right here in the Weekly. Daily Reminders will continue tomorrow morning. Thank you!
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-Blessings and Be Well
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MULTI-PLATFORM SUNDAY SERVICE
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SUNDAY SERVICE at 10:00 AM
Begin your Sunday morning with an 8:30 Meditation session until 9:20
(Meditation will be virtual only this Sunday, Nov 21)
Service begins at 10:00 each Sunday
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Nov 28 “Transcendentalist Roots of Justice” with Rev. Sam Trumbore
Important social and civil rights issues we fight for today are rooted in actions, thoughts and writings of the nineteenth century Transcendentalists. Some were early advocates for gender and racial justice. They were ahead of their time, making the pathways for us to move beyond them.
Music: Ann Brandon, Ireta London, Albany UU Outdoor Choir, Elena Karpoff
Multi-platform 10:00 AM Sunday Services
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DECEMBER SUNDAY SERVICE &
HOLIDAY INFORMATION
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Dec 5 “The Peaceful Joy of Frozen Ground” with Rev. Sam Trumbore
For many upstate folks, winter is a joyful time. Snowshoes, skiing, fires in the fireplace, hot cocoa, the stillness and quiet of the winter world are all ways of accessing that joy. Rev. Sam will be collecting your stories of winter joy to share in this service. Contact him via email: minister@albanyuu.org
Music: Albany UU Virtual Choir, Chris Bystroff, Randy Rosette, Elena Karpoff
Dec 12 “The Joyful Presence of the Holy” with Rev. Sam Trumbore
There can be joy being in the presence of the Holy. We individually define “the Holy” because it is beyond definition (non-physical, non-sensory though may have physical or sensory perceptions). It awakens & nurtures in us love, joy, meaning, purpose and/or fulfillment. It is a welcome gift of the season.
Music: Bruce Holden, Albany UU Outdoor Choir, Randy Rosette
Dec 19 “Albany UU Christmas Pagent 2021” with Rev. Sam Trumbore & Elizabeth Baldes
Each year our elementary age children put on our reenactment of the Christmas story. We’ll sing (quietly in our masks) familiar carols and celebrate this beautiful season of birth and life.
Music: Ann Brandon
Friday, Dec 24 – “Albany UU Christmas Eve 2021,” at 7:00pm with Rev. Sam Trumbore
There are four ways to experience this special gathering which commemorates the birth of Jesus. Those who wish to come in person can sit in one of the thirty spots available by reservation in the Sanctuary. As the Sanctuary seating space fills up, or if you'd rather, we will also gather in Community Hall and Channing Hall, to make room for as many people as is safe in our building. There will also be a Zoom option. We will all have the opportunity to light our candles together, dim the lights and sing Silent Night as we do every year. While there will not be a reception, after service you are invited to pick up a chalice ornament made by the children and youth of Albany UU to brighten your home. Our hope is that being together, even if distanced and masked in-person, or attending online, will make it a safe, memorable, and meaningful moment for all of us.
Music: Ann Brandon, Albany UU Virtual Choir, Chris Bystroff, Randy Rosette, Tonya Hotalen (TBD)
Dec 26 “Seasonal Songs and Stories” with Rev. Sam Trumbore & Randy Rosette
This will be a relaxed Day-After-Christmas service (Zoom only), maybe with a fire going in the background to enjoy a hot drink, listen to some of Rev. Sam’s favorite seasonal stories, and sing (loudly at home) favorite seasonal songs. Not our usual format but a way to be together as a community as we decompress from our seasonal celebrations. There could also be a chance to show off a favorite gift received!
Music: Randy Rosette, Chris Jensen
Looking ahead to Jan 2 “Wheel of Life Service” with Rev. Sam Trumbore &
Elizabeth Baldes
As a New Year begins, it is a time to look back over the previous year. It is a time to appreciate births, our life transitions and remember those who have died in the previous year in our service. Please email a picture of the person, a symbol or a memento of a loved one you want to honor for a slide show each of births, transitions and deaths to office@albanyuu.org with “Wheel of Life Service” in the subject.
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Join us in
Community Hall
Use this link to join Sunday service virtually
To dial in by phone: 1-929-436-2866:
Meeting ID: 299 018 7785
Password: 0000
Donating flowers for Sunday service
Go to Sunday Hospitality Sign Up to sign up. You can leave a comment to let us know if you will be arranging or if you'd like a member of the Flower Team to arrange for you. You can also tell us your dedication. Or you can always contact the church office to sign up if you prefer: admin@albanyuu.org. Thank you!
Sunday Offering
and other service information
Sharing Joys and Concerns during Service
Need to Talk? Albany UU Pastoral Care Associates are here to listen!
Archives
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Unconditional Access to Joy
The news hasn’t inspired a lot of joy lately. The Kyle Rittenhouse verdict that found him not guilty on all charges was very disturbing. Two people are dead and another maimed and Kyle gets to walk. Not only walk, become a vigilante celebrity likely to get paid tens of thousands of dollars to speak at conservative Republican fundraising dinners and rallies. Combine that with the Supreme Court case of Robert Nash and Brandon Koch, both of whom had sought unrestricted licenses to carry handguns and were denied, and a country overrun with guns, we will need to wear a bullet proof vests to attend a protest rallies. I can imagine future rallies at the New York Capitol will have vigilantes holding AK-15’s milling around. Or worse, West Hill drug dealers will all be carrying weapons ready for gun battles on Lexington and Judson Streets.
Add to that the very disappointing COP 26 meeting without Putin and Xi. Biden came empty handed unable to deliver any evidence of the US commitment. Our leadership at this critical moment felt hollow. Europeans are aware Trump is waiting for a second chance to wreck any chance for saving us from the devastation of climate change that is already wreaking havoc around the world and will continue to get worse.
The hopes for technical fixes using green technology have their own shadow sides. Some of these new technologies, especially innovations in computers, video screens, high efficiency motors, solar cells and batteries need precious metals and rare earths like cobalt and lithium found in just a few places on the planet. The Chinese government has cornered the market on many of them. Indigenous people’s lives are disrupted, and their ecosystem destroyed so mining companies can extract those resources and leave toxic waste behind.
And now we are seeing an uptick in COVID infections. We are still not done with this pandemic even though vaccination rates continue to go up. And we are so tired of wearing masks, taking precautions, staying six feet apart and all the other inconveniences we deal with daily. While there are positives with Zoom, it is a poor substitute for sitting in the same room and just being together.
And let’s not forget how many memorial services we’ve had this fall.
(pause and insert your own sorrows and woes here)
So having the task to write about “Opening to Joy,” can feel a little forced. We sometimes have a “Blue Christmas” service to acknowledge the difficulty of the holiday season if one is experiencing grief, loss and mourning. Such emotions can be doubly hard when friends and co-workers are making merry going to parties and exchanging good cheer.
In times like these, joy is available, but it doesn’t come from outside ourselves. Sometimes people think they can stimulate joyful feelings with alcohol, drugs, weed, sexual activity, stimulating music, movies, television shows and engrossing books. All those pleasurable resources are great … as far as they go. And sometimes they don’t go very far at all. And whether they work or not to stimulate joy, they all come to an end. They are transient and once their effects wear off we’re back where we were with the troubles we started with.
When joy isn’t reliably available from the outside world, there is another inner source. Joy can come from the interior experience of our humanity and what is beyond sense experience.
Religions and spiritual traditions have their ground and foundation in this other dimension of reality that isn’t conditional on the flux of material existence. The great delight of human form is our ability to access this other dimension through our being beyond our bodily sensations and our mental processing. It is a sense of something accessible in the present moment but not in memories of the past or anticipation of the future. It is available in each moment but not a product of anything that arises or passes away in each moment. It is a truth of what we already are, the beingness of living that is spectacular in and of itself. Even in the imperfectness of our bodies, there is so much wonder.
The crown of that beingness is our capacity to experience and live in a kind of oneness with existence tasted in the experience of love. The Buddha often praised what he called the four heavenly abodes: metta or loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and an equanimity (that better translates as a wholistic embrace of the processes of life itself without craving, hatred or identification). These four different dimensions of what we call love are powerful ways to deepen and grow our spirits through access to a kind of joy that paradoxically liberates from the suffering and misery of the world without disconnection. These abodes keep the heart open when encountering what normally shuts it down.
So many people choose to reject life, love, and human existence, their own or another’s, due to the great pain and injustice and harm all around us. If we are only outwardly focused, many of the undeluded will become bitter or cynical. There is little refuge in the past. For realists there isn’t much refuge in the future. Yet there is a liberating Presence that existed in the past, exists now and will exist in the future. Just knowing this assertion can be a great source of hope as we live into a frightening future and seek to heal and atone for a cruel past.
Unitarian Universalism gives us a free and responsible path to search for that truth and that meaning. May our congregation be a place to practice the way to liberation that brings joy and peace while in parallel advocating for justice and reconciliation for all people. May these parallel paths be the source of happiness, freedom from suffering, health and strength, peace, safety, and ease for all beings.
Rev. Sam
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Until recently, COVID infection rates have hovered around 30 per 100,000 people in Albany and Rensselaer Counties, where almost all of our members live. Now there is an uptick in rates. Several Albany UU folks have gotten infected, including reports of breakthrough infections, most of which have been mild. Many of us have gotten vaccinations, including boosters. All adults 18 and over are eligible for a booster. And children ages 5-11 now qualify for the vaccine, too.
Our COVID Response Team (Mary Applegate, Elizabeth Baldes, Tammy Goddard Hathaway, Patti Jo Newell and Sam Trumbore) has met in response to these changing conditions. Public health data indicate the risk of serious illness from COVID for vaccinated people is still quite low. We’ve determined that the building can remain open, and we will continue to use multi-platform technology for people who prefer to interact remotely. At church, we will continue to use our current COVID protocols. The Religious Education program will continue to operate with the precautions that have been in place since the church year began this fall.
We know that some in our congregation will continue to participate via Zoom while others will feel comfortable attending in person. We are committed to continuing our multi-platform presentation of our services for the foreseeable future. As we adjust to this new reality, let us be grateful for vaccines that protect our health and permit us to gather together in this new way. The wide use of vaccination in our congregation is what gives us a high degree of confidence in keeping our building open and continuing to offer rentals. It was also a significant factor in the Board’s decision to not require proof of vaccination.
Here at Albany UU, we want you and your family to have a happy, healthy holiday season. We are fortunate to have communicative and cautious congregants, families, visitors, and staff in the Albany UU community and we are so grateful for everyone’s cooperation during this difficult time. For your own well-being as well as others’, please be aware of the increased potential for exposure as you move through this often-busy time of year.
Our COVID Response Team will continue to monitor the COVID situation in our area. If there are significant changes in variants and COVID rates, we will notify the congregation about any changes in our protocols. Please in our area, stay tuned for updates. The health and safety of you, your families, and our church community are is our top priority and will continue to be so.
Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!
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DEADLINE APPROACHING - ORDER YOUR CRAFTS TODAY THEY'RE GOING FAST!
Our order form with photographs of each item is ready for you to choose what you would like to pre-order.
Several days before the pick up date, a few volunteers will bag up your order with your name on it. The bags will sit there for days untouched, so everyone will know that you will be safe.
The deadline for ordering crafts is Sunday, Nov 28!
On December 5, when you come for curbside pick up, we'll have your order forms together so you can pay for soups, pies and crafts, masks, coffee - all of it - all at once! Please bring cash or check.
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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION for
CHILDREN and YOUTH
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This week, 11/28: Following the story in service, all children and youth in the RE program are invited to Room 26f or a special combined-group activity. We will be making chalice ornaments out of air-dry clay to be distributed at the Christmas Eve service. If you want to make a reservation to attend service, use this link: https://rsvp.church/r/FQ4SoJA9. If you prefer, you can also listen to service in Channing Hall. After the Wisdom Story, the service associate will announce it is time to go to Sunday Religious Education groups, and you will know it is time to head out. Be sure to go upstairs to 26 instead of your usual meeting space.
Save the Date: Pageant filming is Saturday, 12/11. Details to come in the December RE Roundup!
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UPCOMING WAYS to CONNECT
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Start your Sunday Morning with Meditation 8:30 - 9:15 AM
We will sit together for twenty minutes then have some conversation about the talk, meditation methods or experiences followed by a live loving kindness meditation.
Use this link to join remotely:
By phone: 1-929-436-2866
Meeting ID: 299 018 7785
Password: 0000
Philosophy Group
At 10:15 AM every Tuesday, the Albany UU Philosophy Group will meet via zoom to discuss the topic of the day. All are welcome.
Use this link to join:
By phone: 1-929-436-2866
Meeting ID: 987 7102 4708
Password: 0000
Bridge Group
Tuesdays, 1:00-3:00 PM, Room B-8 at Albany UU. No matter how many people come, all are fitted into play. All are welcome and assumed vaccinated. Due to the nature of this group, there will not be an online option offered.
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Ps and Qs
At 10:00 AM each Wednesday, Projects and Quilts (Ps and Qs) will meet in Room B-8 at Albany UU.
To join remotely, use this link:
By phone: 929-436-2866
Meeting ID: 299 018 7785
Password: 0000
Albany UU Sings
Join your friends on these fall Wednesdays at 7:00 PM and sing your heart out in Virtual Community! We will supply the music and the lyrics.
Dec 1, 15
Hope to see you there.
Use this link to join:
By phone: 1-929-436-2866
Meeting ID: 979 5961 1765
Passcode: 0000
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Thank you!
Thanks to everyone who made our pie sale such a great success this year. A special thanks goes to this wonderful crew of pie makers, without whose help this event would not be possible: Sharon Babala, Kathy Harris, Cindee Herrick, Mary Fellows, Chuck Manning, Barb and Dave Metz, Paula Moskowitz, Laura Paris, Nancy Shay, Dave Stone, Deborah Vogel. We hope you enjoy them over the Holidays with your family and friends. Your pie coordinators: Barb Manning and Sandy Stone
Thanksgiving Week Office Hours
The Albany UU office will be closed on Thursday, Nov 25 and Friday, Nov 26 in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday.
From the Conflict Transformation Workgroup
Yippee! Another survey! Are you one who is interested in exploring conflict within ourselves and our congregation? Or do you have little interest in this topic? Wherever you land, please give us your input to help us on our mission. We want to hear from many people, which is why we created a brief survey! If you would like to submit a paper copy or have a member of the workgroup gather your info confidentially by phone, contact Jan McCracken at janmccracken56@gmail.com.
Let’s Take Some Time to Consider the 8th Principle of Unitarian Universalism
“We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote: journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.”
This proposed 8th Principle of Unitarian Universalism has been adopted by more than 100 congregations with many more in process. It was created in 2013 by Paula Cole Jones and Bruce Pollack-Johnson, out of the belief that after many decades of fighting racism in our congregations and in society, we needed something to renew our commitment to this work, to hold us accountable, and to fulfill the potential of our existing Seven Principles.
Having recently experienced the United States moving quickly and dangerously in the wrong direction, the Inclusivity Team felt that now was well past time to introduce the 8th Principle to AlbanyUU for consideration and adoption. The Inclusivity Team formed an 8th Principle subteam. Members are Dick Dana, Linda Hunt, Lee Newberg, and Annika Pfluger.
The subteam began by contacting a number of congregations, from Virginia to Hawaii, who have already adopted the 8th Principle. They asked about their experience of the process. All saw it as a major, positive step in their congregation’s anti-racism journey.
One BIPOC member of a congregation that recently adopted the 8th Principle stated flatly, “If you don’t deal with the 8th Principle, everything you tell me about the other 7 doesn’t ring true.” She mentioned it gives her congregation a framework to talk about the issue, and in a sense, it has given her a whole new congregation. Another BIPOC member stated that adopting the 8th Principle was a tangible expression of her congregation’s love for her.
There is more to come. We will all have a chance to discuss the implications of adoption. Congregational Conversations are planned for January. Feel free to text, email, or call any of us on the subteam with questions, comments, or concerns.
This may be of interest to Albany UUs:
The Albany Gay Men's Chorus will have a short holiday recital on Wednesday December 15th at 730pm at First Lutheran Church 181 Western Avenue Albany NY. Donations suggested. Masks are required.
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Black Lives Matter vigil in Troy
When: Saturdays,10:30-11:15 am
Where: Troy - corner of River Street at the intersection of Fulton and Third Streets, 12180
Green Sanctuary FORUM: How to Reduce our Impact on the Planet for the Holidays and Beyond
Sunday, Nov 28, 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
The Green Sanctuary Committee is sponsoring this hour-long forum which will include information on recycling, reusing and reducing waste, composting, myths related to compostable plastics, microplastics, health impacts, and specific suggestions as to how to reduce your waste footprint during the holiday season. The forum will also address relevant programmatic and policy issues.
The forum will feature Dan Rain, the Recycling Coordinator for the Town of Bethlehem and Vice President of the New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse and Recycling; Tracy Frisch, an independent journalist and Convener of Zero Waste, Warren County; and Sonny Von Tiedemann, the Recycling Specialist for the city of Albany. Each speaker will give a short presentation followed by a question-and-answer period.
Both in person and on-line participants will be able to join this multiplatform forum. Participants can attend the forum at the Unitarian Church at 405 Washington Avenue in Albany or via the below ZOOM link:
Use this link to join remotely:
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Learn about submitting announcements to for Sunday service and how to reserve a Zoom room for meetings and events here.
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Publication deadlines
This is an important reminder that the news and article deadline for Windows Weekly is 9:00 AM on Monday. Thank you for your cooperation.
Sign up for an Albany UU class or event
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First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany |
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:
By appointment
Our Website:
Zoom use:
To reserve Zoom for an Albany UU meeting, contact the church office (518.463.7135 or office@albanyuu.org).
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 Patience Pechette (518.463.7135 or office@albanyuu.org).
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Photo credit: Rev. Sam Trumbore
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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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