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August 16, 2022

Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington, Indiana
  Congregation founded 1949 | LGBTQ Welcoming Congregation since 1995 | Green Sanctuary since 2007
Seeking the Spirit | Building Community | Changing the World
Join us on Sunday mornings
Two services each Sunday, at 9:15 and 11:15 a.m.
Livestream:
We are also meeting in person in our Meeting Room.
All are welcome.
Hearing assistive devices are now available at the AV Tech booth in the rear of the sanctuary for use during Sunday worship services.
Pandemic Guidelines as of August 1
Masks Required Inside the Building

The NEST (Next Steps in Transition) working group met on Monday, August 1, 2022. Based on current conditions we are still requiring that masks be worn during worship services. Our revised guidelines are as follows.
Sunday Worship Guidelines for In-person Attendees:
  • The Meeting Room has been restored to full seating capacity.
  • We encourage all in-person participants who are able to be fully vaccinated and up to date on boosters as recommended by the CDC.
  • Masks are required during Sunday services.
  • We strongly encourage all attendees to be mindful that different people have different levels of comfort with physical contact.
  • We will hold community hour with hot beverages after the service outdoors.
Choir members will continue to wear their special singers’ masks when they participate in worship services. These masks are the same as those used by the Jacobs School of Music; their long beaks increase their effectiveness at reducing COVID transmission.

We will continue to live stream services for those who prefer to participate in services virtually.
As always, each individual must decide what is right for them and whether or not to attend activities in person. We reserve the right to revise these guidelines in response to changes in COVID risk levels.
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Warmest regards,
The NEST Working Group: Jane McLeod, Abby Gitlitz, Stephanie Kimball, Judy Klein, Dan Lodge-Rigal, Sarah Sanchez, Melinda Swenson, and Rev. Emily Manvel Leite

Sunday, August 21, 2022

9:15 and 11:15 a.m.

In person and Livestream


"Let We Forget: Frances Watkins Harper"

Dr. Gladys DeVane

Reverend Emily Manvel Leite, Minister of Story and Ritual

Reverend Connie Grant, Interim Lead Minister


Lonnie Bunch, founding director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History, once said: “One can tell a great deal about a people, about a nation, by what it deems important enough to remember.” The contributions of African American women to the making of this nation are indeed important enough to remember. So today we will pay tribute to one of them:  Lest we forget.

Sunday, August 28, 2022

9:15 and 11:15 a.m.

In person and Livestream


"You Can't Change One Thing"

Reverend Connie Grant, Interim Lead Minister


If you really can’t change one thing, how can you change anything? How do we respect and learn from the heritage that helps shape us, carry forward those aspects that are useful and meaningful, and change the things that need changing? 

Sunday, September 4, 2022

9:15 and 11:15 a.m.

In person and Livestream


"Draw the Circle Wide: A Water Communion for All Ages"

Reverend Emily Manvel Leite, Minister of Story and Ritual

Reverend Connie Grant, Interim Lead Minister


Join us for a time of story, exploration and rituals of belonging as we gather to celebrate our Unitarian Universalist community. If you are able to come in person, this ingathering day is an especially wonderful and important day to come. Please plan to bring a little water to the gathering, whether you are joining us online or in person (see details in Reverend Emily's column below). Our children's choir, directed by Jill Courtney, will provide some of our music, along with our adult choir.

Children's Sunday Morning

Religious Education for August

We're excited to launch our new theme, Building Community. During second service (11:30-12:30), children of all ages are invited to join us in the month of August for special activities (games, music, cooking, and art) to begin exploring (and experiencing) the meaning of community. Please register for RE so we know how many to expect! Meet in the Library (Room 206) upstairs, at about 11:30 a.m. (Children should attend the second service with their parents, and then go to class after the Time for All Ages.)

From Your Interim Lead Minister, Rev. Connie Grant

 

Soon, I’ll be moving into an apartment on Covenanter Drive in Bloomington. Since I consider myself a “covenanter” in our Unitarian Universalist tradition, I considered this a good omen! However, I immediately suspected that the origin of the street name was different from my definition of the term.


I had never actually heard the term “covenanter” before. According to dictionary.com, the first definition is, of course, “one who covenants.” The second definition, specifically with an initial capital letter, comes from Scottish history, and refers to “a person who, by solemn agreement, pledged to uphold Presbyterianism.” This would be the context for the Bloomington street name, named for the Covenanter Cemetery of the Bloomington Reformed Presbyterian Church. I found the history fascinating: That church’s website notes that the earliest burials there date from 1832, and include prominent figures from Bloomington history as well as “at least two men born into slavery.” The website quotes a City of Bloomington report: “In the Covenanter Cemetery, some of Bloomington’s earliest uses of limestone and stone carving can still be seen. A wall, constructed of fieldstone without mortar, surrounds the plot and gravestones are simply carved in traditional styles and motifs. Later in the century, stonecarvers applied their imaginations and skills to the creation of gravestones in more complex and artistic designs.”


In some contexts, covenants are restrictive: in real estate law, held legally unenforceable by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1948, “A group of homeowners would agree not to sell or rent their homes to African Americans, Jews, and other minorities by including this restriction in their real estate deeds (legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com).”


In our Unitarian Universalist context, covenants are open-ended and flexible, unlike a contract. A covenant is an agreement – a sacred promise – to be in relationship. Many consider covenant to be the center of our Unitarian Universalist way of faith. As a non-creedal faith, a covenant holds us together in relationship with each other and with the community we create. 


As articulated in a June 2021 report from the Unitarian Universalist Association titled “Unlocking the Power of Covenant,” “a covenant is relational and mutual by definition; it is horizontal, not hierarchical; it is inclusive, not exclusive; it is a web of support that holds all yet is dependent upon all.”


To belong to a Unitarian Universalist congregation is to explicitly or implicitly become part of a covenanted relationship with others who agree to “travel together”—the literal meaning of the word “covenant”-- in common purpose. The nature of covenant is that the terms are adaptable to the realities of the relationship.


Our individual freedom of belief means that we, as individuals, do not think as we do because we are Unitarian Universalists. Rather, we are Unitarian Universalists because we think as we do, even as we are open to persuasion and learning, and have freely entered into covenant together.


A covenant –implicit or explicit--holds us in what I call our “relational individuality,” bound not by the content of belief, but by the freedom and responsibility that our way of thinking offers.


Covenantally yours,

Connie

Rev. Connie Grant

Interim Lead Minister

grant (at) uubloomington.org

Emily's Post


Dear Friends,


Over Labor Day weekend, we will have our annual ingathering Water Communion service, and hope all of you will join us. Each year, we invite everyone to bring water that has touched their life sometime over the summer to pour into common containers in celebration of community. So I've been paying attention over the past few days to all the ways water touches my life. There are SO MANY ways! I refresh the birdbath and boil water for hummingbird food, fill the cats' water bowls and check the pond to see if water lilies are blooming. I warm water, add yeast, and watch it bubble up as I begin baking bread. I wash fruit and make tea. All in only a fragment of a day.


How has water touched your life today? This week? I invite you to pay attention in the next few weeks and to collect a bit of water when you have an "aha!" moment or a moment of delight at how water has touched your life. It will be good to gather all our experiences together on

September 4.


Affectionately,


Emily


Reverend Emily Manvel Leite

Minister of Story and Ritual

From Our Congregational President


As we go through this time of transition together, one priority of the board is to keep the congregation informed about what the board is doing, and to open a channel of communication between the congregation and the board. Each Prologue, look for an update article from a board member. 


This month we are delighted to welcome Rev. Connie Grant to UUCB as our interim minister. Rev. Grant is a professional interim minister which means she has been specifically trained to shepherd a congregation through a time of transition. This is a sacred task that most who get ordained as UU ministers choose not to do. It is a job in which one must become deeply involved in a congregation while actively staying apart so that one can offer guidance as an outsider. It requires being uprooted every two years and leaving a congregation just as it works through a process of defining who they are. It is a job that requires jumping into a complex system with entrenched patterns with an open heart. 


We are so lucky to have Rev Grant take on this responsibility with us. Over the next few months, she will try to meet with as many of you as possible, both individually and in small groups.  

Helping her will be her transition team. This team will serve as the antennae of the Interim Minister and help foster and cultivate the introductions and powerful conversations that will help bring the needs, interests, ideals, hurts, strengths, anxieties of the congregation into focus. Members will serve for the full two years of Rev Grant’s ministry here to provide a sense of continuity. 

The transition team members are: 


  • Alan Backler  
  • Andrew Appel  
  • Deb Fish   
  • Kathleen Sideli  
  • Kelly Rockhill  
  • Ruth Aydt  
  • Sarah Kopper 


The board would like to thank this team for stepping into this demanding and rewarding job.  

Let us explore together. 


Abby Gitlitz, President


Position Open: Religious Education Coordinator

  • 10 hours/week; $19.23/hr
  • Flexible schedule, though must be available most Sunday mornings
  • Duties may include teaching, materials preparation, coordinating volunteers, program promotions, and administrative work
  • No experience necessary

To apply, please contact Stephanie Kimball:

kimball(at)uubloomington.org

Please subscribe to Education Matters, our monthly religious education newsletter, for much more information!

Past issues can be found on our website.

Building Community

Jewish UU Connections (JUUC) Group

Meets this Friday, August 19!

If you feel connected to Judaism, you are invited to join the JUUC group on Zoom this Friday from 6-7pm as we plan for ways to learn and explore together this year. Contact Reverend Emily (leite (at) uubloomington . org) to receive the Zoom invitation.

Are you interested in gardening or discussing plants?

If so, please join the Gardeners' Gathering on the fourth Sunday of August! We will meet on August 28 between services by the stone wall in the courtyard. Bring something to share, tangible or not, relating to plants. Be ready to also decide as a group whether to continue Gardeners' Gatherings through the fall and winter. Happy gardening! 


Have you attended New to UU and want a deeper dive?

Membership Class September 18 and 25

Join us to explore Unitarian Universalism (UU) on September 18 and 25, 2-4 pm via Zoom. 


In these small group gatherings you can learn more about the UU Principles, role of the UU minister, the history of Unitarian Universalism and this church, how to get involved here, what it means to be a member, and much more. 


Plan to attend both dates, since different topics will be discussed in each session.

We request completion of these sessions before becoming a member of the church. Everyone ages 14 to 100+ is welcome! Questions? Email Anabel Watson, Connections Coordinator at connect(at)uubloomington.org for more information or to register. 

Watering, Mulching, Weeding, Trimming --

Join the Green Grounds Group on Saturdays

For the month of August, the Green Grounds group will be working on our church grounds - watering, mulching, weeding, trimming - whatever needs to be done. Please join us while it's cool - 7:30AM to 10AM each Saturday. Consider a playdate with the kids. Working with others is a great way to get to know each other.  Please help! No check in. Just show up when you're able.

Some Checks Mailed to UUCB Were Stolen

Please Use New P.O. Box Address for Pledge Checks

We have discovered that several checks that were mailed to the church's street address were stolen in May and June, then cashed or deposited fraudulently. To prevent further fraud, we have changed our mailing address to

UU Church, P. O. Box 8132, Bloomington IN 47407. For details on this matter, please click here.

Adding Your Address to the Church Directory

We are encouraging all interested to upload a home address to our online directory (which only our members and friends can access).

Go to uucb.churchcenter.com/profile (follow the prompt to log in, if

you are not already logged in) and then click on the "edit" button under the "Contact Information" section. You can also email your address to me and I will add it to your profile! Or you can give us a call at 812-332-3695 with your new info.  ~With gratitude, Anabel Watson, Connections Coordinator,  connect(at) uubloomington . org.


2022 Holiday Bazaar:

December 2-3 

This year's bazaar planning is well underway. Plans are for a live bazaar with all of the usual artisans and booths. As you harvest your garden, think about gourmet treats you can make for the bazaar. We want your pickles, salsas, chutneys, jams, and jellies. If you want to be part of the planning, please contact Ruellen Fessenbecker, rfessenb(at)indiana.edu

Sunday Morning Volunteer Opportunities


JAVA CREW


GREETERS


FLAME KEEPERS


LIGHT THE CHALICES


Seeking the Spirit

UU Children's Choir starting 

IN PERSON again August 21!


UU Children's Choir, open to interested singers in Kindergarten - 6th grade, will start up again IN-PERSON for the first time since Spring 2020! Masks will be required at this time. We will rehearse on scheduled Sunday mornings between services, and sing several times a year in Sunday services. New and returning singers are welcome! If your child loves to sing, but is a little shy about performing, our Children's Choir is an excellent way to gain confidence by singing in a group in a safe and welcoming space! (Youth singers in 7th grade and beyond, you are also welcome to join us any time, or stay tuned for special services throughout the year when we put a call-out for Youth singers!) 


For our first round, we will join the Adult Choir for a song in the Water Communion Sunday services, Sept. 4, with rehearsals on Sun Aug 21 and Sun Aug 28, 10:30-11:00 a.m. in the Library upstairs. If you are interested in joining us, please send an email to Jill Courtney in order to get on the email list, where you will receive more specific details, jillmcourtney (at) gmail . com

“Writing as a Spiritual Practice”

A Drop-in Group with Rev. Barbara Child

Sept 6 - Oct 2, 1:00 - 2:00 p.m.

You are invited to join me on a journey of personal exploration through autobiographical writing in community on Zoom. Season 8 of this gathering will happen Tuesday afternoons 1:00-2:00, September 6 through October 25. You are welcome at any or all sessions with no commitment in advance.

 

Even if you took part in one or more sessions in the past, you need to register for Season 8 by clicking on the following linkRegister on Church Center.


You need to register only once and will then be able to attend as many Season 8 sessions as you choose, using the same Zoom link each time. You may register up to a few minutes before a session begins.

 

Here is a description of “Writing as a Spiritual Practice” and what happens in our Zoom room on Tuesday afternoons at 1:00.  

UU Humanists Meet Sunday, August 21, 12:45 p.m.

on Zoom

The UU Humanists will meet this Sunday at 12:45 p.m. online via Zoom. Dexter Edge will facilitate a discussion on "Why a theist embraces the basic tenets of Humanism." To join the discussion, contact Ann Watzel or Harold Ogren.

UU Freethinkers Meet Sunday, August 28, 12:45 pm

on Zoom

The UU Freethinkers bi-weekly meeting creates the opportunity for participants to raise questions and engage in open and non-structured discussion of issues of social, political, and theological/religious concern. Every other Sunday in person and via Zoom at 12:45 pm. To join the discussion on Zoom, contact Ann Watzel or Harold Ogren.

Open Mind Zen at Friends Meeting House  
Open Mind Zen with UU member Sensei Frank Seisho Diaz meets weekly at the Bloomington Friends Meeting House. If you'd like to participate, visit openmindzenbloomington.org and click on the "Welcome" tab for more information.
Changing the World

Creative Glass Center Hosts Fundraiser August 20

for UU Habitat Task Force Women+ Build

Come join us this Saturday, August 20th, as the UU team for Habitat for Humanity's Women+ Build hosts a fundraiser at the Bloomington Creative Glass Center. Join us between 11 am-2 pm to make a fused glass suncatcher, pick up some tasty baked goods, or purchase art. Net proceeds will go to Habitat for Humanity Women+ Build members as they raise money to build 2 homes next month. Ages 5 and up, no pre-registration required. Bloomington Creative Glass Center is located at 229 W Grimes Ln.

Help Register Voters and Change the World

Click anywhere on the article below to go to the link to sign up for a training session with Karen Wheeler to help register new voters, or click here. Dates available: 8/29, 9/6, 9/8. To see what the UUA at large is doing to support voters in the 2022 mid-term elections, and how you can help, click on the "UU the Vote" icon at left.

Support Abortion Rights and Access through

All Options Pregnancy Resource Center

The most cost-effective way to support abortion rights and access in Indiana now is to donate to our local All-Options Pregnancy Resource Center. Costs will soon rise astronomically since after September 15, Hoosiers will be forced to travel to another state for abortion services. To donate, choose the drop down menu option for 'Hoosier Abortion Fund' on this site: 

all-options.networkforgood.com

Climate Scientist Katharine Hayhoe Speaks

Via Zoom September 11

At 6:00 PM on Sunday, September 11th all are invited to hear climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, author of Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World, chief scientist at the Nature Conservancy and on the advisory board of IU’s Environmental Resilience Institute. Please register at https://www.greenteamsummit.org/register-2022 to watch her talk with us (masked) in Fellowship Hall, followed by a discussion, or to watch on your own. (Or come to the church if you decide to join us at the last moment!)


If you feel heartened by the recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, join members of the Green Sanctuary Task Force for a brainstorming session on what we can do personally, and what else our church can do, to reduce our impact on the climate! Please email Molly ODonnell, MollySOD (at) gmail . com, for a Zoom link to our next meeting in September.

From the UU Hunger & Homelessness Task Forces
Donation Suggestions for Beacon (Ongoing collection) - donation bins are at the Portico entrance on the north side of the church:

Dry Cereal, Canned Food, Condiments, Bottled Water, Protein Drinks, Coffee, Pasta, Hygiene Products, Clothes (esp. Socks), Tea.
How to Reach the Administrative Staff

Church Administrator Carol Marks can be reached at 812-287-9615 or admin (at) uubloomington.org, M-F 10-4.
Office Assistants Monica Overman or Mandy Skinner are in the church office Room 204 on Sundays, 10-1. They can also be reached at other times, below.
Office Assistant Monica Overman, T, Th, 10-1, Friday 12:30-3:30, 812-322-5546, office (at) uubloomington.org. Working from home.
Office Assistant Mandy Skinner, M, W, F, 10:30-1:30, 812-340-9981, office (at) uubloomington.org. Working from home.
COVID-19 Vaccination News 
Some Details

Email SCAM Alert

Our ministers, staff, and board members or other members will never send you email asking you for any money besides your pledge payment!



How to Recognize an Email Phishing Scam:

Is the email impersonating a member of our staff or one of our ministers? Are they asking you to purchase gift cards? Wait! Don't do it! We will never send you emails like that. To double check, look at the email address of the sender. Is it from an address at uubloomington.org? If not, that's the second good reason to delete it!


Office Hours, Calendar, Deadlines


Office hours: M-F, 10 am-4 pm.

The Church Office can be reached via text or voicemail during office hours at 812-287-9615. Email: admin (at) uubloomington.org or office (at) uubloomington.org.


Calendar: For our full calendar of events, visit uucb.churchcenter.com/calendar.



The Prologue is published on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of each month. Next issue September 6. Deadline is 10 am on date of publication, to admin (at) uubloomington.org


Church Mailing Address: UU Church,

PO Box 8132, Bloomington IN 47407

Details on Membership & Offering


Membership: 561 certified members as of 2/1/2022;

560 current members.

Attendance (online and in person):

July 31:115

August 7: 170

Non-Pledge Offering:

July 31: $1,502

August 7: $582

To make a contribution for the Non-Pledge Offering (Sunday Plate), or to make a payment towards your pledge, click on this link to get to our new Giving page: uucb.churchcenter.com/giving

Total to be donated (25%) to Bloomington Refugee Support Network: $520.91 (from July 31 and August 7)

Grocery Card Sales: (Bloomingfoods or Fresh Thyme) $400; Total income to UUCB: $20.00

 

Free Money from Kroger!

Fresh Thyme and Bloomingfoods

Grocery Cards Available by Mail  

  

  • Did you know that Kroger sends our congregation over $1,600 each year? This is made possible by those of you who participate in Kroger's Community Rewards program. Register your Kroger Plus card online at this link.
  • We are also still selling grocery cards for Bloomingfoods and Fresh Thyme by mail. Click here to see what kind of cards and how many are available. Send your check to the church (UU Church, PO Box 8132, Bloomington, IN 47407) with a note to let us know the type and value of card(s) you want, and we will mail them to you. You do not need to send a return envelope.

Our Ministers & Staff


Reverend Connie Grant, our Interim Lead Minister

  • Email grant (at) uubloomington . org


Reverend Emily Manvel Leite, our Minister of Story and Ritual

  • Email leite (at) uubloomington . org



Carol Marks, Church Administrator: admin (at) uubloomington . org

Anabel Watson, Connections Coordinator: connect (at) uubloomington . org

Monica Overman and Mandy Skinner, Office Assistants: office (at) uubloomington . org

Stephanie Kimball, Director of Religious Education: kimball (at) uubloomington . org  

Susan Swaney, Music Director: music (at) uubloomington . org

Andy Beargie, Hans Kelson, and Brady Egan, Multimedia Managers:

mediateam (at) uubloomington . org

Masthead photo by John Woodcock.

Photo below, Great Spangled Fritillary, by Marcia Hart.

Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington, Indiana
PO Box 8132 Bloomington, IN 47407