River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation
To grow and deepen in Community, Spirit, and Service
eWeekly
December 2-9, 2021
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Opening to Joy
Kirsten Lodal, Intern Minister, Rev. Amanda Weatherspoon, Associate Minister
Register now for ONE service:
Sun., Dec. 5, 10am: Hybrid Service, also on YouTube 11am: Zoom Coffee Hour and Breakout Rooms
Watch for two links in the Saturday email: a YouTube link for the service and a Zoom link for the breakout rooms after the service. Recording will be posted on YouTube. You can find our Order of Service online; if you are not watching in real time the Order of Service may not be available.
Sanctuary Hybrid, Online and In-Person: Service will be available via YouTube
Join us online or register in advance for worship IN PERSON at 10am! We can now seat 100 people in our sanctuary. Please note that outdoor seating may have obstructed views. By attending an in-person service, you are giving RRUUC permission to use your likeness in videos and photographs. If you are not viewing our livestream in real time, the Order of Service may not be available.
Drawing from the teachings of classical music, Zen, and brain science, Kirsten will explore antidotes to COVID-era languishing as we launch our December worship theme of “Joy.” Sign up here to attend in person. Online attendance needs no registration. Sunday service is broadcast live, and may include wide shots of the crowd in the sanctuary. If you wish to avoid appearing on camera, please plan to attend online for now, as our services will not include overflow seating.
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Please note that this week there is once again only one service, at 10am. Moving forward, this will be our "new normal." |
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Notices & Online Ministry Offerings |
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Monthly Coffee Hour!
This Sun., Dec. 5, we will have a limited coffee hour at 11am on the front plaza. There will be a beverage service including coffee and tea, as well as pre-packaged juice and water. Disposable hot cups will be available for your use, but we invite you to bring your own travel mugs as long as they are empty or covered when you are in the building. Stay after the 10am service for a chance to mingle with your fellow congregants!
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8th Principle Reflection Circle
Please join us on the third Wednesday of each month at 1pm for the Potomac Partnership 8th Principle Reflection Circle. This is a time to connect, deepen, and reflect on the work each congregation is doing to build the Beloved Community and live into the 8th Principle. This reflection circle is open to all - feel free to attend one or all monthly circles. The next Reflection Circle is Dec. 15 at 1pm and will be held via Zoom.
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It's a Wrap!
Thank you to all who donated and bid in RRUUC's Fall Auction! The event raised over $11,700 for the operating fund. More than 150 donors and 77 lucky bidders contributed to the auction's success. A very special thanks goes to Brock Holmes, Glen Peppel and Joan Zenzen, who hosted the live Zoom Auction party with wit and enthusiasm.
Notifications have been sent to all successful bidders and auction item donors. If you haven't received this information, please check your email and spam filter. If you still have questions, please email auction@rruuc.org. The Bazaar is scheduled for June 4, 2022, so if you still have good goods you'd like to donate, please consider hanging onto them until then.
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Next Contemporary Issues Forum: Sun., Dec. 12, 12-1pm, via Zoom
"Aging-in-Place Villages: Reweaving Our Community’s Social Connections" from Pazit Aviv, Lisa Rosenthal, Lisa Owen, Elizabeth Haile, and Abby Simms.
One in five residents in Montgomery County - and many RRUUC members - are over the age of 60, and these numbers are likely to increase over the coming years. As the population ages, individuals and communities consider what it means to “age in place” and how to accomplish this goal. Our talk will explore the meaning of aging in place and how villages in our area fit into the big picture. Leaders from Montgomery County and three different local villages will share their work and how they are reshaping the landscape of their communities.
Pazit Aviv is a Village Coordinator with Montgomery County Aging and Disability Services;
Lisa Rosenthal is the outgoing Executive Director of Little Falls Village;
Lisa Owen is the incoming Executive Director of Little Falls Village;
Elizabeth Haile is the Executive Director of Bethesda Metro Area Village;
Abby Simms is the founder of North Chevy Chase Connections.
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We Need Your Help!
How do we create a safe and welcoming community for all of us? With your help! As we move forward into both in-person and online worship, we need all the support we can get, especially in providing a welcoming presence on Sunday mornings and supporting our tech for hybrid worship.
Here are some opportunities to give and serve safely in the coming weeks and months:
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Greeters: One Sunday a month, you can be the smiling face welcoming people to our outdoor check-in desk. You can also work our RE sign-in table before the 10am service.
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Ushers and Social Distance Supporters: Folks may need a little bit of help getting chairs situated and comfortable at the start of the service. One Sunday a month, consider helping to make it a little easier.
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Tech Deck Help: This is where the magic gets made. Since we'll be on YouTube each Sunday, we'll need some help with sound and video.
If you're open to considering any of these options, drop Rev. Nancy a line at nladd@rruuc.org.
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Gather 'round the fire, Sat. Dec. 18, 5-6pm
Join the Family Ministry team on the front plaza for hot chocolate and s'mores by the fire pit, before the 6pm all-ages Solstice service. Let us know you're coming at bit.ly/Dec18GatherRoundtheFire.
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Christmas Eve Pageant, Fri., Dec. 24, 4pm
This year our tradition of celebrating the holy birth of every child by retelling the story of Christmas returns! To have your child(ren) participate, contact Laura.
A rehearsal will be held on Sun., Dec. 19 at 11am. Only "Mary," "Joseph," the angels, and narrators are required to attend. All participating children are required to arrive at RRUUC by 3pm on Dec. 24. Parent volunteers are needed.
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We are excited for some changes coming in the new year! With the availability of vaccinations for children 5–11 years old plus the soon-to-come higher quality air filters and air purifiers throughout the building, beginning on Sun., Jan. 9 we will:
- once again welcome children and youth (excluding Spirit Play and OWL) into the sanctuary for the start of the 10am service each Sunday;
- and we will move RE classes back into the building, including Spirit Play and childcare. The middle school will meet in Fiatfalva; elementary school will meet in one or two rooms of the 20s series classrooms; Spirit Play and childcare will meet in the Fireside room.
On Sun., Feb. 6 we will launch Spirit Sundays, welcoming multigenerational services that will occur on the first Sunday of each month.
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Beacon House Gift Giving
Beacon House Community Ministry is having a gift giving this year the week of Dec. 12. Please leave unwrapped gifts for children in the box in the corner of the Beacon House foyer. Please take gift cards to the office. Volunteers will collect and deliver gifts and gift cards on Dec. 12. BHCM is grateful for continuing the tradition of gift-giving to children of Beacon House (about 400 are served annually). Please contact Chris Hager with any questions.
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Field Trip to the Josiah Henson Museum & Park
On Sat., Dec. 11, join Educating4Change Pathway to Racial Justice in touring the site where Josiah Henson lived as an enslaved man. His life inspired Harriett Beecher Stowe in her writing of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. If you would like to carpool, we will meet at the RRUUC parking lot at 1:15pm and drive down to the site (11410 Old Georgetown Road, North Bethesda). Parking is at the Kennedy Shriver Aquatic Center at 5900 Executive Blvd. There is limited handicapped parking at the site. Admission is $5 at the site. At 2pm, we will watch a short introductory film and then walk to the house where the interpreter will answer questions. Tours are self-guided. Join us after the tour (which ends at 4pm) at RRUUC for a short conversation to help process what we saw. Register here.
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Friday Morning Book Group
The book group meets on the third Friday of the month beginning at 10am (via Zoom) to discuss a book selected by the group. Participants are invited to sign in as early as 9:45am to chat and socialize before the discussion begins at 10am. In the coming months we will be discussing the following books:
Dec. 17: Visionary Women: How Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, Jane Goodall, and Alice Waters Changed Our World by Andrea Barnet
Jan. 21: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Feb. 18: Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
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Join us to take back Moses Cemetery
Wed., Dec. 15, 12pm at Macedonia Baptist Church, 5119 River Road, across from McDonald’s.
Join the community we are building with the church and their Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition, as Montgomery County officials continue to renege on promises to meet with us to resolve who owns Moses Cemetery.
After repeatedly telling county residents he wants to meet, our county executive has refused to work with us to return the burial ground to its original owners. And while he says he supports saving Moses Cemetery, the other side of his mouth complains, “I can’t do anything about it!”
During Jim Crow and up to the late 1960s, county officials worked hand-in-glove to wipe out the African community along River Road - and steal its cemetery. They continue to do just that. Why not let Mr. Elrich know that he should stop promising to do the right thing - and just do it.
You are invited to view the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition's exhibit in the RRUUC lounge. Here you will learn more about our regional history and the Descendent Communities of this area who work to honor this Beloved Community.
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Calling River Roaders to Small Group Listening Sessions
The RRUUC Action in Montgomery (AIM) Core Team is facilitating small group listening sessions to explore what people in our congregation want for their greater community, as well as our place of worship. Your participation is needed.
Throughout January 2022, we will conduct listening sessions for groups of ten or fewer people, mostly via Zoom. The sessions will be one-hour long and held days and evenings, mid-week and Sundays so that everyone who wants to be heard will have the opportunity to do so.
The questions which will be posed are:
- What is something that gets in the way of your family thriving or having a better quality of life? Family may refer to a group of people related by compassion and support.
- What do you need most from our congregation?
- Are there ways you wish to be of service to RRUUC different from today?
Answers to question #1 will be shared with AIM as we identify the key quality-of-life obstacles within Montgomery County. AIM will hold county and state candidates in the 2022 election, as well as sitting officials, accountable for making positive change happen. Answers to questions #2 and #3 will be shared with RRUUC clergy, Board of Trustees, and congregational leaders.
With gratitude and anticipation of much meaningful dialogue,
The AIM Core Team
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RRUUC's Earth Ministry urges members to learn more about Thrive Montgomery 2050
Thrive 2050 is Montgomery County’s general plan update. It's a high-level blueprint for how and where the county will grow over the next 30+ years, touching on issues of housing, land use, transportation, and parks. On its own, it doesn’t change current zoning laws, but Thrive 2050 will guide the County's development decisions, influence the Planning Department’s program, and be a framework for future master plans.
How will Thrive 2050 combat climate change?
- Lower greenhouse gas emissions through neighborhoods designed to make it easier to bike, walk, and use transit, and to take shorter trips when driving.
- Incorporate climate resilience into infrastructure with improved stormwater management, increased urban tree canopy, and habitat restoration.
- Support more efficient land use to preserve and increase our remaining forests, greenspaces, and farms.
How will Thrive further racial equity and social justice?
- Allow a greater range of housing types to meet a diversity of housing needs and price points, giving people more choices in where to live.
- Designate growth centers and corridors in historically disinvested communities to bring public infrastructure and increase private business investment.
- Support affordable housing programs so that families of all incomes can access the county’s high-quality transit, jobs, and amenities.
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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: Teaundre Shannon, and three victims not identified. Capitol Heights: Marshay Hazelwood. District of Columbia: Deshaun Gladden, Lavonte McCloud, Dawann Saunders, and two victims, one a toddler, not identified. Silver Spring: Jerome Antoine Durant. 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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RRUUC Land Acknowledgement
Acknowledging and remembering that we are situated on the traditional land of the Nacotchtank and Piscataway people, and on the land on which enslaved African people and their descendants labored and lived, we gather together in worship. May the words of our mouths, the meditations of our hearts and the actions of our hands point the way toward a more just future. May the memory of those whose love and labor went before inspire us to create a path of greater joy and justice for all who will follow.
If you would like to learn more about our land's history, please watch the service from June 13, 2021.
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Deadline is Tuesday, midnight, for that week.
News is edited for clarity, brevity, and style.
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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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