Join us for the first official Sunday service of the church year. If you can, bring water from a special place you've visited this summer for the water communion. We will have a potluck lunch after the service. Please bring a dish to share! Sign up here: www.signupgenius.com

Mark your calendar for UUCSW's upcoming food packaging community service opportunities! Normally these are held on the first Sunday of the month after worship, but September 15 will be the first event this church year. Then we will resume our regular schedule on October 6.

The words community and connection come up quite often when congregants are asked what brings them to or keeps them at UUCSW. Are building connections and community within UUCSW important to you? If so, please consider attending a kick-off session for the membership engagement team on September 24 at 7 pm in the parlor. John Metzger and Lisa Shumway are spearheading the team this year and we are looking for your energy and ideas to support the 

critical role of this group to strengthen our UUCSW community by creating welcoming experiences on Sundays, assimilating new visitors and retaining existing members and friends and caring for those within our community. Please let us know if you are interested in attending or have any questions.  - Lisa Shumway ( LSS0907@gmail.com)

This is the first of a series of short articles regarding what we can do to help address climate change. Climate change is coming and it's effects will be increasingly dangerous and far-reaching. The science is clear. We need to eliminate fossil fuel use, change how we use land and address many other aspects of what we do and buy within just a few decades.

For most people in Massachusetts, household energy, transportation and electricity are the three biggest source of green house gasses. So let's start by looking at steps you can take now, this month, this year to learn more and reduce your carbon emissions. Here are two steps for this week:

1. Visit a National Drive Electric Week event in September and start getting educated about electric vehicles (EVs). There are a number of EVs on the market now and many more will become available in the next few years. There is an event at the Northborough Walmart parking lot on Saturday, Sept 14 from 2 until 6 pm which will have a number of different vehicles to see and test drive. Even if it will be years before you might buy another vehicle, you will find that EV owners are enthusiastic about their vehicles and fun to talk with. There are over 200 such events planned across the country including several more in Massachusetts. Check driveelectricweek.org for other events nearby.

2. Consider switching your electricity to a plan that provides more local renewable electricity than the state minimum. Such plans build demand for more solar and wind projects within New England while reducing the carbon content of the electricity you consume. Many towns and cities in Massachusetts offer terrific plans for all residents and businesses. These are set up under a ten year old Massachusetts law that lets municipalities negotiate group buying contracts for electricity called Community Choice Aggregation plans. These offer well priced electricity with options for much more local renewable electricity than the state minimum. Three of our local towns offer them:

Next week, I'll talk more about what you can do if you don't live in one of these three towns.

Please contact me if you have questions or suggestions of topics to cover. There is much to be done and much to learn. We are all in this together. - John Metzger ( jkmetzger2@gmail.com)

Several events have been planned for UUCSW members and friends to meet our new minister, Rev. Laurel Gray. We want as many of you as possible to attend these events. Please let us know if you need assistance with transportation - send an email to Elisa (our office assistant) at office@uucsw.org and she'll connect you with a driver.