River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation

To grow and deepen in Community, Spirit, and Service



eWeekly

December 1-8, 2022

Holy, Wholly, Holey

Rev. Nancy McDonald Ladd, Senior Minister

One service, in-person and virtual:

Sun., Dec. 4, 10am: Hybrid Service, also on YouTube

11am: Coffee Hour, both over Zoom and in-person

Watch for two links in the Saturday email: a YouTube link for the service and a Zoom link for the virtual Coffee Hour after the service. Recording will be posted on our YouTube channel. 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 in person for worship at 10am. By attending an in-person service, you are giving RRUUC permission to use your likeness in videos and photographs. Sunday service is broadcast live, and may include wide shots of the crowd in the sanctuary.

Often, in our services, we ask ourselves to pay attention to, even make sacrifices for, whatever it is we know to be holy. How do you define holiness in your life? Is there a sense of wonder and mystery attached to the holy?  

The Progressive Spirit: A River Road Podcast

Yeah, we go to church, but what does that mean? What are we exploring in our Sunday services? What has captured our hearts? How do we live fully into our faith community? Let’s do some spiritual deepening! Hosted by Rev. Amanda Weatherspoon, Associate Minister, and Natalie Schall, Communications Director.

Listen to the first episode now on our website - it will soon be on most major platforms!

Solar Panel Installation Update

Progress on the solar panel installation is moving really well. The solar project comprises five separate roof areas (arrays). Arrays 1, 2, and 4 are currently proceeding. All of the clips and penetrations are essentially complete as are the racking substructures. The actual solar panels (modules) have begun installation. About 10% of all of the modules are complete. Wiring for the modules has just begun. Inverters at the bridge have been installed. More next week!

Questions? Contact Ana Lim.

Holiday Gifts for Beacon House

We will collect gifts for Beacon House on Sun., Dec. 11.

For more than 25 years, RRUUC's congregation has generously sent holiday presents to the children of Beacon House, an after-school tutoring and sports program in Northeast DC’s Edgewood Community, launched more than 30 years ago - and one of RRUUC’s most successful outreach programs.

BH children range from 6 to 15 years old. Toys, winter coats, shirts, games, and gift cards for teenagers make wonderful gifts. Recommended gift cards are Visa, Target, or Walmart.

See our gift guide for specific gift recommendations.

There is a box (labeled Beacon House) inside the lobby of RRUUC where you can drop your gifts. A smaller box for gift cards is on the table next to it. You are welcome to drop off gifts Monday-Friday, 9am-6pm, or on Sundays before or after service. The last opportunity to drop off gifts is before the service on Sun., Dec. 11.

Once again, we hope to fill Santa’s sleigh with gifts for children whose holidays may be a bit less bright than our own. 

Thank you for your giving spirit.

Building Committee Seeks New Members

In 1966, the American Institute of Architects named our building one of the ten best buildings constructed anywhere in the world the previous year. Our 56 year old building (and our 14 year old Fellowship Hall addition) are at the point where there is a steady back-log of renewal, refurbishment, and replacement projects.

A small group of dedicated volunteers has been managing these projects, and we are looking for additional volunteers to help. Our current membership includes several architects and engineers, and while we welcome additional building-specific expertise, we also need members who can provide project management, working in coordination with our architects and engineers.

Examples of recent projects include the replacement of our roof and gutters on the main building, and construction of the new front path. On-going projects include replacement of the lights in the Fellowship Hall, replacement of flooring on the bridge, evaluation of potential structural issues with flooring outside the Fireside Room and in the Sanctuary, and re-paving the lower lot driveway.

This is a great opportunity to get to better know our award-winning building and to receive mentoring (as needed) in project management. We typically meet by Zoom one evening a month and we ask that members contribute to at least one project a year. Please contact  building-committee@rruuc.org or talk to Ana Lim if interested. 

This Sunday

Children (except Spirit Play, OWL, and HS) begin in the sanctuary at 10am for Prophetic Voices, then head to class. Spirit Play, OWL, and HS start in class.

Classroom assignments

Childcare (under 3 y.o.): room 14

Spirit Play (3–5 y.o.): room 20

Elementary (grades K–2): room 25

Elementary (grades 3–5): room 23

OWL: room 31 (start time: 9:45)

Youth Group: room 32

This Sunday, our middle school group is visiting Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church as part of the Crossing Paths curriculum. The group will meet in front of RRUUC at 10am.

Parents/caregivers of PreK–5th grade students: please pick up your kids in their classrooms after service. 

Alliance Holiday Luncheon: Holiday Songs and Singalong

Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church, 9601 Cedar Lane, Bethesda, MD

Thurs., Dec. 8 - Potluck Lunch at noon - Entertainment at 1pm

Everyone Welcome!

Our annual event will include singers Leslie Backus, Laura Sailer, Kate Harrison, Kathie Bryant, Kevin Miller, and Jean Schaible, accompanied by Susan Easterly on piano. They will perform two traditional carols arranged very un-traditionally! This will be followed by our annual Holiday Sing Along. In addition, there will be a Secret Santa Raffle of gifts donated by secret Santas. Turkey and ham will be provided for the potluck. Vegan and vegetarian dishes welcome. 

The RRUUC Contemporary Issues Forum presents “Debate – Big Pharma Global Drug Donations: Good or Bad?” with EJ Ashbourne and Steve Hansch

Sun., Dec. 11, 12-1pm, via Zoom

Large pharmaceutical firms (Big Pharma) have come into the limelight due to COVID-19 vaccinations, but the scale of their in-kind donations abroad may not be well-understood. Are these welcomed? Or are they more trouble in the recipient country than they are worth? As a first for CIF, we have asked two presenters to debate (with audience participation). They are well-placed to address these questions: EJ Ashbourne, Executive Director of the Partnership for Quality Medical Donations (PQMD) (NGO) & Steve Hansch, epidemiologist & evaluator with International Business & Technical Consultants, Inc. (IBTCI).

Register to attend this forum at https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYtcemhrT8uH9KzBACZSu6gbZigGBZUnYus. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

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 before the discussion begins at 10am. In the coming months we will be discussing the following books:

We will not meet in December.

January 20: Search by Michelle Huneven. We also will discuss possible books for March-May, 2023.

February 17: Desert Queen by Janet Wallach

Contact the River Road office to be put on the email list for the Zoom link.

Spread Holiday Cheer to Incarcerated UUs

For many, the holiday season can be a particularly lonely time. Those who are experiencing incarceration are often particularly vulnerable to isolation and loneliness. You can make a real difference! Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF) is organizing volunteers to send holiday messages to each of our members currently experiencing incarceration. Our goal is to send three messages to each of our 1,638 members.

For more information, including a sign-up sheet for messages, click on this link:

worthynow.org/3-simple-ways-to-spread-holiday-cheer-to-incarcerated-uus

Voices from the Holy Land Online Film Salon

On Sun., Dec. 11, at 3pm, join an Online Film Salon, “Come and See; Go and Tell–Next Year in Palestine.” Register, view short documentaries, then join the discussion at tinyurl.com/VFHL-December2022.

This event is sponsored by Voices from the Holy Land and co-sponsored by Friends of Sabeel North America, Churches for Middle East Peace; Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace; Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service; and Indiana Center for Middle East Peace.

Abstract

Why do we travel, take tours, and make "pilgrimages" to the Holy Land? We see the antiquities, experience different cultures, and worship sacred sites while being welcomed and guided by people who live there. What does tourism today mean to them? What are the ethical, political, and personal implications of a journey to holy sites surrounded by 30-foot-high concrete walls, where soldiers patrol the streets and residents live under military occupation? Are there ways to be a traveler and meaningfully engage with all of the lived realities in the Holy Land while also honoring the basic tenants of our faiths? Three recent, short documentaries present a variety of voices, viewpoints, and visions of the Holy Land as offered by people living there today.

Panelists and Moderator

Rifat Odeh Kassis: Author; human rights activist; General Coordinator, Kairos Palestine & Global Kairos for Justice

Sam Bahour: Ramallah-based American businessman and entrepreneur

Mae Elise Cannon: Executive Director, Churches for Middle East Peace

Michael Spath (moderator): Founder & Executive Director, Indiana Center for Middle East Peace

Lost to Gun Violence

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 recently. These lives continue to matter: Baltimore: Paven Patel, Antonio Holmes, and one name not released. District of Columbia: Jakhi Snider, Sherif Akande, and Jamal Gibson. 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.

Extend the Offering: Beacon House

Beacon House Community Ministry provides tutoring, mentoring, cultural, athletic, recreation, and nutrition programs for at-risk children ages 5-18 who reside in the Edgewood Terrace community in Northeast Washington, DC. Beacon House was founded in 1991 by Rev. Donald E. Robinson, a UU minister, in response to an overwhelming need for social service programs for youth in what was once a drug- and violence-plagued community. Beacon House has been a designated gift organization for more than 10 years.

You can support Beacon House throughout the month of December by making online contributions (select "Extend the Offering") or by making check donations to RRUUC (designate Beacon House).

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.

River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation

6301 River Road, Bethesda, MD 20817 | 301-229-0400 news@rruuc.org | www.rruuc.org