July 2021 Summer Monthly Update

View as Webpage

SUMMER MONTHLY UPDATE |July 2021

MORE ABOUT US

CALENDAR

WATCH SERMONS

July 11-August 1, 2021 | 10:00am

Summer Sundays

Worship with us each Sunday at UUCGL!

Chris Scheller, Director of Community Life and Learning

July 11 – Transforming our Pain

By reframing our relationship to pain we can assist ourselves in letting it go.

July 18 – Releasing Emotions: A Spiritual Practice

Join us as we revisit the wisdom of the body to release the built-up emotions we’ve all experienced during Covid Lockdown.

July 25 – Preparing our Minds for Change

When we embrace a beginner’s mind and let go of our fixed points of view, we allow ourselves to open to the New.

August 1 – Re-learning to Flourish

To get back into the flow again, we will consider time-honored wisdom in light of the latest findings on what it means to flourish.

Chris Scheller, our new Director of Community Life and Learning will lead our Summer Sundays. Chris was born and raised in Massachusetts. He came to Unitarian Universalism by way of Buddhism and Earth-based spiritual practices and holds a Master of Divinity degree from Harvard Divinity School. He brings a deep love for spiritual growth, storytelling, community building, and worship.

A Message from Rev. Vicki

Dear Church,

I will be on vacation for the month of July and study leave for the first part of August. The difference between vacation and study leave is that I am on call during the latter. During vacation, Elizabeth and Chris will have a list of Northshore UU ministers in the office who are available for pastoral care and rites of passage in my absence.

Please take good care of yourself this summer. Grab as much joy as you can with both hands. We are all watching the news of the delta variant of COVID with concern, I know, and we will have yet more protocol and safety conversations among our staff and leaders before we come together more fully in September (God and science willing!). My hope is that we will be able to open for Homecoming the Sunday after Labor Day with a Water Communion, but I am aware that the pandemic is not done with us yet, and we will be as adaptive as we need to be. Stay tuned, stay safe.

Our summer schedule is different this year because of ... this year!! Chris Scheller will be leading meditation-based Summer Sunday gatherings at the church while Anne Principe and Ron Fishman continue to convene meditation and Dialogue Group online or in person, as they adapt their programs to small group needs. The Wisdom Circle will meet. Barbara Maitland has offered to host a church gathering at Maitland Farm in August, and the Green Sanctuary Ministry Team will host an outing to kayak or walk in a nature preserve. Dates and location to be announced.

We will be closed in August, and will provide links to other UU congregations' online services so you can attend worship. First Parish in Concord has invited us to join with them on Zoom and other North Shore congregations may be offering services. Meanwhile, First Church in Salem is closed for the month of July, so some of their members may be joining us that month. I love this open door spirit among our local UU congregations that was one of the rare benefits of the pandemic.

I have a new hammock and a stack of books. I will be taking small trips to spend time with family and friends, and finally gathering with my extended family in Binghamton, New York in August to celebrate my mother's life. Today I am wearing one of her straw hats in the extreme heat. My mom did not leave me anything of financial value but I did inherit some of her hats and best of all, a firm belief in the transcendent power of beauty, music, laughter and really ripe tomatoes. I wish you plenty of all of those in weeks to come.

In faith, hope and love,

Rev. Vicki

Weekly Update Summer Schedule

Weekly Update Summer Schedule

August Issue - deadline Wednesday July 28

September 12 (resume weekly) - September 8

Please send your notices to Angie Kern ([email protected]).

UUCGL Annual Report 2020-2021

UUCGL Annual Report 2020-2021

Our Annual Meeting was held Sunday, June 6. If you missed reading our Annual Report, it is still available here.

UUCGL Stanley School Task Force

UUCGL and the

Stanley School Project

Some of you may have seen news articles in the Lynn Item, Swampscott Reporter and WickedLocal about the Stanley School project and our church.

If you have questions or concerns about these articles or anything else relating to the project's impact on the church, please feel free to contact Doreen Hodgkin, Sarah Cecil, or Mark Vander Linden directly, or send a message to the task force at our new email address: [email protected].

Programming at UUCGL

UUCGL Garden Harvest!

Hi friends, you’re invited to come harvest at UUCGL’s garden! We have beautiful radishes, garlic scapes, basil, parsley, sage and other herbs ready to pick. Please come help yourselves! They are in the raised beds on the lawn near the upper lot.

Volunteers to help maintain the garden, and share in the harvest, are always needed. For more information or to sign up for a week of garden care please visit https://tinyurl.com/UUCGL-Garden2021 or contact Mary Gatlin at [email protected]. Thank you!

Wisdom Circle

July 14 | 12-1:30pm at UUCGL

Second Wednesday of each month

A monthly gathering geared toward seniors to share the perspectives and life experiences of older age. It is intended to be supportive and informative, a program both of faith development and pastoral ministry. All are welcome, even if you have not participated before.The facilitators are Gloria Kozlosky and Ruth Griffin.

UUCGL Community Connections

Can You Help My Brother's Table?

My Brother’s Table has made the headlines recently with the news that they will purchase the building they operate out of from the City of Lynn. After years of renting, the organization will have the ability to renovate in ways that better serve the community.

If you have been reading the Update throughout these pandemic months, then you’ve read about My Brother’s Table brown bag meal program!

MBT’s response to the pandemic was to assemble a network of volunteers who work from their homes. These off-site volunteers assemble lunch and dinner bags to supplement the hot foods that MBT prepares and serves every day. This program will be continuing throughout the summer months, the Table will not be reopening for in-house dining and will continue to provide to-go meals.

There are lots of openings in their summer calendar for brown bag donations. If you are interested in working with other church members to assemble lunch or dinner bags OR if you are interested in supporting this work with a monetary donation or a food donation, we would like to hear from you.

For more information about MBT please contact Deb Boggs, Clare Campbell, or Michael Celona. To find out more about our efforts for local food pantries and our Social Justice Ministry Team activities, please go to our website page at https://www.uucgl.org/socialjustice.

UUCGL Financial Matters

UUCGL Pledge Payments

There are three easy options of paying:

Send your check to the church (101 Forest Avenue, Swampscott, MA 01907).
Set up a bill-pay system with your bank and have the check sent to the above address.
Donate online. To donate online, click here for our website and click “Donate” in the upper right-hand corner. After you fill in the information page, click “Submit.” You will then be offered options to pay through your PayPal account, if you have one, or through your credit card.

Thank you for your support!