Greetings Friends,
Welcome to Windows Weekly, Albany UU's central source for news and updates.
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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.
Service begins at 10:00 each Sunday
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Sept 26 "The Art of Listening" with Rev. Trumbore & Philomena Moriarty
Deep listening requires focused attention. Focused attention is open, interested and curious. It requires an external focus connected to an inner emotional sensitivity. Deep listening is a skill that will benefit all our relationships. (Note: this will be followed up by a "Deep Listening" workshop led by Philomena Saturday, October 2, learn more here.)
Music: Ann Brandon
Multi-platform 10:00 AM Sunday Services
What does this mean? It means you have choices. We provide distanced "pod" seating for 50 people in Community Hall. Those interested in coming to service in-person must RSVP by noon on Fridays, using this link: https://rsvp.church/r/FQ4SoJA9
Face masks are required. To protect our children ineligible for vaccination, eligible youth and adults are strongly encouraged to be vaccinated to attend.
Your Order of Service will be available using the QR code at the end of this email. This code will be available at the church on Sunday mornings for those in-person. There will be a limited supply of a simple OOS available in print for those who request one.
Currently, in-person congregational singing is restricted even when wearing masks. Hymnals are available in the lobby outside Community Hall for you to follow along with the words sung by the song leader. Words will be projected in Community Hall and on your Zoom screen for those attending remotely.
Mindfulness Meditation will also be Multiplatform beginning at 8:30 AM - no signup required.
There will be no food or beverage after the service. Access to Channing Hall will be limited, however there is a member art show that we encourage folks to view in small groups.
Weather permitting, socializing before or after service is encouraged outdoors.
Those who wish to remain online for service, can do so by using this link to join:
To dial in by phone: 1-929-436-2866
Meeting ID: 299 018 7785
Password: 0000
Those who attend online via Zoom will still have the ability to interact during the service by sharing Joys and Sorrows, greeting in breakout rooms, etc.
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USE THIS QR CODE TO VIEW YOUR ORDER OF SERVICE EACH SUNDAY
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No special app or software needed. Simply point your smart phone's camera at this on-screen now or at the church on Sunday morning and voila! your order of service will appear like magic on your device. You may need to click "open with Google or Chrome" but it's that simple. No, seriously, give it a try, now!
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OCTOBER SUNDAY SERVICE INFORMATION
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Oct 3 “Communal Aspirations” with
Rev. Sam Trumbore
Community is very important to our congregation. Vibrant communities are very hard to create and sustain. While we do it well, we may not do it well as widely and inclusively as we’d like. We’ve identified our aspirations for community in our congregational covenant. How do we live into it?
Music: TBA
Oct 10 “Pipelines, Climate Change and Indigenous People” with Rev. Sam Trumbore
Not building fossil fuel infrastructure is one important way to slow down climate change. We don’t need to make it easier to move dirty Canadian Tar Sand Oil to market and increase production. And pipelines endanger lands and health of Indigenous People. Let us use Indigenous People’s day to dedicate ourselves to being better neighbors to people, plants, animals, soils and waterways.
Music: Bruce Holden
Oct 17 “Called to be a Peacemaker” with Erik vonHausen
More information about this service will be available soon.
Music: TBA
Oct 24 “Impasse” with Rev. Sam Trumbore
We live in very polarized times. The Red and Blue gulf seems wider than ever. Many of us cannot talk about politics or religion with our families without horrible outcomes and hostile feelings. Are there ways of working with being at an impasse with others that can deescalate tensions and move toward better understanding and appreciation even without agreement?
Music: Ann Brandon
Oct 31 “Great Pumpkin Day” with Rev. Sam Trumbore and Elizabeth Baldes
Come celebrate Halloween safely in our multigenerational service.
Music: TBA
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In-person Sunday Volunteers
This includes providing flowers
Would you like to be involved in the Sunday service in a more meaningful way? Visit Sunday Hospitality Sign Up to find out about the ways you can volunteer on Sunday morning. We thank you and could not do what we do without YOU!
In-person Ushers needed
Are you looking for a way to be more involved in what happens on Sunday mornings? Now is your chance! We are looking to deepen our Usher pool and would love for YOU to join. It’s a very simple but very necessary volunteer opportunity. If you’re interested in learning more about being an Usher on Sunday mornings, please contact Dawn Dana: ddana1@nycap.rr.com. Thank you!
Virtual Ushers are needed, too!
If you are interested in helping with our online services, please reach out to Tammy: admin@albanyuu.org
Albany UU Safety
A reminder that the West St. door will remain locked on Sunday mornings. Though it will be locked from the outside, the West St. door may still be used to exit the building at any time. The Washington Ave. lobby doors will be locked 15 minutes after service begins and reopened again from 11-noon. A Welcome Table or Greeter volunteer will remain in the Lobby for the duration of the morning to monitor doors. We appreciate your cooperation to keep our people safe. If you have questions, please call the church office.
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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
Community Message
On a regular basis, we’ll have a member of the congregation bring you a short, inspirational, personal message about some aspect of our congregational life. These messages will be a way to connect with our community and help us live out our mission and vision in the world. To find out more, contact Tammy Hathaway: admin@albanyuu.org.
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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Make Friends with the Spirit of Life
I would not have used the language “Spirit of Life” in the fall of 1977. As a 20 year-old reasonable atheist, I rejected anything touchy feely that smelled like spirituality. I followed the path of self-reliance I’d learned in my Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Newark, Delaware. I could take care of myself, thank you, and didn’t need any supernatural assistance. I didn’t need or want some personal God meddling in my life and directing me. I had the surety common in 20 year-olds. I had all the answers I needed about religion and ultimate concerns.
Yet, I had taken a train ride across the country without a fixed destination based on an inner sense that it was time to leave home and “find myself.” I decided to stop my travels and look for a job in Palo Alto, California. Since I had been a summer hire for Hewlett Packard in Avondale, Pennsylvania, I thought I might be able to get a job with them. Palo Alto was their world headquarters, so I applied with them and other companies looking for an electronic technician position.
I stayed at a residential hotel next to the railroad tracks with some unusual, less fortunate folks. I didn’t know anyone in the San Francisco Bay Area. Remember, 1977 was long before GPS, email, home computers, cell phones and social media.
When my first Sunday came around, I took the bus to the Palo Alto Unitarian Church. I immediately felt at home with the friendly people I met. Those of you who’ve gone to our yearly General Assembly that gathers UUs from around the country may have had this experience of easy familiarity with other UUs. During the service, I recognized the hymns that were sung. They had a lovely choir. The minister gave a message that resonated with me. They had a bookstore with the kind of books, especially the latest Beacon Press books, I expected to see for sale in a UU congregation.
And then there was the smiling face of Peggy Polk at the outdoor welcome table. She expressed an immediate interest in me and took me under her wing. We went out to lunch with a few others, and one of them drove me back to my hotel. Eventually, I rented a room from her as I saved money for finishing my engineering degree at UC Berkeley. The rent on my one bedroom apartment had been raised from $200 to $240! A 20% increase in one year! I shudder to think what it would cost now!
Happily though, on the other side of the country, I found my people. I plugged into the Spirit of Life, the beating heart of the religious community of the Palo Alto Unitarian Church.
This early experience of religious community in Unitarian Universalist congregations has happened for me in the other UU congregations in which I’ve participated. The Oakland Unitarian Church just south of Berkeley was another congregation I felt a powerful sense of connection, especially to the young dynamic minister, the Rev. Rob Eller-Isaacs. This time I sang in the choir and got involved in chairing the Finance Committee. My internship at the Unitarian Church in Rochester, New York was an even deeper and wider sense of community. And the congregations I’ve served in Port Charlotte, Florida and here in Albany continued that expansion of my sense of religious community. Serving as a minister opened an even bigger web of religious community with professional colleagues of ministers, religious educators and music directors.
This wide web of religious community in which I’ve had the privilege of participating has allowed me to witness and grow familiar with the Spirit of Life among us. The relationships among congregants are a little different than friendships or romantic partnerships. There is a sense of connection and shared values but there may also be significant differences. There may be significant cultural, economic, professional, racial, class, and other differences that might have interfered with even meeting. Yet the shared commitment to a common religious tradition can overcome those barriers. There is a kind of elixir, an alchemical agent, present when people meet and connect in religious community. The Spirit of Life can transform what might be a more casual friendship into one that is infused with something deeper that serving a common transcendent purpose together can activate.
I wish I could promise this Spirit of Life will consistently appear in every relationship of every individual in our congregation. I can’t. But I hope those who’ve been here many years will testify to the quality and the power of relationships formed through religious community. Unitarian Universalism does not exist to serve our self-interests, though at times it does. Our purposes and principles and core values are much greater than any one of us. I am very clear I serve the Spirit of Life moving in this congregation embodied in its membership. We try to name it with lofty phrases, visions and missions but it is much greater than that. It is the self-aware presence that animates our being. And it is nourished by religious community, just as religious community can bring us to life.
The Spirit of Life is here among us at Albany UU. It can be shy and quiet at times, and at others loud, insistent and penetrating. May this be a place for you to befriend it and, in turn, may it bring you to life.
Rev. Sam
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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION for
CHILDREN and YOUTH
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Fall RE Plans are up!
We are so excited to announce that plans for 2021-22 Religious Education are available! Albany UU is offering in-person Sunday morning RE groups as well as an online Sunday evening Family Chapel. This fall we will also be scheduling one outdoor meetup each month in place of regular in-person RE. Details are available here and you can register your child here.
Please note that everyone must register for in-person RE this year, and all adults working or volunteering in-person with children and youth of any age are required to be vaccinated. Children, youth and adults will all wear masks when in-person indoors as indicated by the Reopening Guidelines adopted by the Board of Trustees. All of these requirements will enable us to provide the safest possible environment for children, youth, volunteers and staff.
Volunteers are still needed, if you've ever wanted to try out working with children and youth, or have done so previously and wish to return, email Elizabeth at dre@albanyuu.org.
Elizabeth Baldes
She/her/hers
Acting Director of Religious Education
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UPCOMING WAYS to CONNECT
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Board of Trustees
Meets tonight, Thursday, Sept 23, 6:30 PM. Albany UU members are welcome to attend.
Use the service link to join:
To dial in by phone: 1-929-436-2866:
Meeting ID: 299 018 7785
Password: 0000
Susan Thompson Memorial Service
A memorial service for member, Susan Thompson, wife of Al De Salvo, will be held on Saturday, Sept 25 at 10:30 AM in Community Hall. Due to pandemic concerns, food will not be served. We do have permission to use the UAlbany Hawley Lot for this event. Read more about Susan here. Please note that the Freihofer's Run is taking place on this day and may impact normal traffic patterns. Find more info about the course map here.
Use this link to join remotely:
By phone: 929-436-2866
Meeting ID: 299 018 7785
Password: 0000
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
Ministries and Operations Team Open House
Join your Ministries and Operations Team this Sunday, Sept 26 following service at 11:30 AM. This will be an opportunity for informal discussion and Q&A about our ministries and operations or specific topics that the MOT is working on. Learn more here.
Use the service link to join:
To dial in by phone: 1-929-436-2866:
Meeting ID: 299 018 7785
Password: 0000
The Green Sanctuary Committee will be meeting this Sunday, Sept 26 at 11:30 on zoom. To join the meeting, use the following link:
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
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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.
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.
Oct 6, 20
Nov 3, 17
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
Walker Book Group
Join the Walker Book Group for a Zoom discussion on Sunday, October 10 at 6:30 pm. Join at 6:15 for additional time to socialize. We will discuss Louise Erdrich’s The Night Watchman. Learn more here.
Use this link to join:
By phone: 929-436-2866
Meeting ID: 299 018 7785
Password: 0000
A Virtual Orientation for Newcomers on Zoom
Getting to Know UU
Saturday, Oct 23, is a great chance for some of us at Albany UU to get to know YOU -- but it's also a perfect opportunity for you to learn about this Unitarian Universalist congregation, explore the roots of "UUism," and begin to figure out how participating in congregational life can enhance your personal journey.
Please join us:
10:00 AM to noon
Saturday, Oct 23
Use this link to join:
To dial in by phone: 1-929-436-2866:
Meeting ID: 299 018 7785
Password: 0000
Signing up is preferred, but logins the day of are welcome, come as you are!
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Deep Listening with Philomena Moriarty
“We keep missing each other”
This long long year of the Corona virus finds us all grieving our in person gathering and the energy of community. We keep missing each other over and over. There is an unspoken, intangible connection that occurs when we meet together face to face.
We also keep missing each other in another way. Before the Corona virus up ended all of our lives we met with each other but many times didn’t really see or hear the other, or even ourselves. We develop habits of communication which prevent us from really being present in those moments of conversation.
On October 2nd Philomena will be giving a workshop focusing on Deep Listening. There will be a morning and afternoon session. The morning session is from 10am-12pm and the afternoon from 2pm - 4pm. These sessions will not be focused on our distress (unless you want them to) but a way to move beyond our distress to genuine joy and hopefulness. The rewards will be a sense of community and intimacy.
We thought through doing this in person and the vision of being six feet apart with masks on didn’t work. So, it will be on Zoom and there will not be a limit on the number of people who can attend. Hope you can come. You can email Philomena at philmor57rock@gmail.com or call or text at 518 788-7007. RSVP by October 1st. There is no cost but if you care to donate to First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany or the Regional Food Bank that is welcomed.
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A Concern: Member, Sigrin Newell's brother Thor fell and broke his jaw. Surgeons were able to fix it but he's got his mouth wired shut for 10 days while it heals. He's eating through a syringe. You can honor his struggle by taking a minute to be grateful for the simple acts of eating and talking.
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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
-pandemic concerns: Please remember that if you are vaccinated, you are still susceptible to being an asymptomatic carrier of Covid-19. Taking precautions is encouraged
-signs only, no chanting (except for meditative religious practice)
-the vigil will automatically be canceled due to threat of thunderstorms or other severe weather
The Inclusivity Team Recommends:
A book for adults:
American Journal: Fifty poems for our time, selected and introduced by Tracy K. Smith, Poet Laureate Emeritus. (2018). "In the elegant arrangement of this anthology, we hear stories from rural communities and urban centers, laments of loss in war and in grief, experiences of immigrants, outcries at injustices, and poems that honor elders, evoke history, and praise our efforts to see and understand each other." ~from the back cover. Available in hard copy in the Upper Hudson Library System. Not available in audio-book at this time.
Color of Law Book Discussion Group
The League of Women Voters of Albany County and the Albany Public Library are sponsoring an online group reading and discussion series on Richard Rothstein's The Color of Law. The series will be led by Albany Law Professor Serena Joyce White-Lake and University at Albany Professor/public historian David Hochfelder. Begins on September 29.
Rensselaer Plateau Alliance Speaker Series
The Rensselaer Plateau Alliance continues its speaker series on the intersections between climate change, environmental preservation and racism, including environmental racism and the lack of equal access to nature, inclusion in environmental initiatives, etc. The series includes non-white perspectives on the outdoors and land stewardship. Next speaker: September 23
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Monday, Sept 27, 7PM
Sponsoring Asylum Seekers in the Saratoga Region
Presbyterian—New England Congregational Church (24 Circular St., Saratoga Springs) and on Zoom.
People who claim asylum in the United States are frequently placed in detention, not because they are regarded as criminals but because they lack a place of residence where immigration officials can reliably keep in touch. Sponsorship for asylum seekers can get them released from detention and provides a secure home while they await the processing of their asylum claim. In this program we will hear from the Asylum-Seekers Sponsorship Project, a national organization that matches asylum seekers with sponsors. And we will begin a conversation about how our community might support sponsorship. For in-person attendance, enter the Nolan House on the grounds of the Presbyterian—New England Congregational Church from the parking lot off Park Place. Zoom attendance requires registration here. For more information about the event, contact saratogaimmigration@gmail.com; 518-306-1313. Program sponsored by Saratoga Immigration Coalition; Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Saratoga Springs; and the Welcoming immigrants Task Force at the Presbyterian—New England Congregational Church. Free and open to the public. A Saratoga Peace Week event.
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UU WEEKEND AT SILVER BAY
October 15-17
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Natural Beauty Awaits You at Silver Bay
"There is always something to do -- or not -- as you wish, but I always look forward to the hike up Sunrise Mountain. Great exercise, culminating in breathtaking views." David MacLeod
The UU Weekend at Silver Bay on Lake George from October 15-17, 2021 is a perfect time to commune with nature. Experience a hike, a bird or nature walk, a boat ride, canoeing, kayaking, foliage viewing, or relaxing on the porch overlooking the lake.
Note: Guidelines related to COVID safety and attendance at this event have been developed and will continue to be refined and updated in accordance with the status of the pandemic. To ensure the protection of attendees, all County, State and Silver Bay COVID guidelines will be followed, as they were during last year’s event. Final guidelines will be provided to all participants.
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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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Quick Links
Denominational Affairs Links
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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
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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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