Newsletter
May 2023
What does the Path of Creativity mean? Click HERE to find out.
Sunday Service
In-person and Online
Sunday, May 7, 2023 @ 10:30am

Earth Day by rev. mandi huizenga
2023 Annual Meeting

Join us on June 4 at 11:30 am,
in person or on Zoom!

  • Approve the 2023/24 budget and slate of candidates.
  • Celebrate our accomplishments and gain a peek into the next church year!

Pre-meeting, join an information session:
  • Review the budget: May 17 (Zoom), 21 (in person), 23 (Zoom)
  • Review the Bylaws edits: May 10 (Zoom), May 21 (in person)

Find details on the
 on our website.
Chalice Circle Facilitators Wanted!
rev. mandi and Steve are looking for members who would like to be Facilitators for our small group ministry, Chalice Circles, beginning in August and running through May of next year. For more information or to sign up, please click here.
Sunday, May 7, 12:30 pm
Want to learn more about Unitarian Universalism? Thinking about becoming a member of DuPage UU Church? Already a member but want a refresher?
rev. mandi invites you to join her in learning more about our faith and our religious community. 
This class will be held on Zoom.

During May our special offerings will benefit Unsinkable/BR Ryall YMCA, nominated by Brigid Coleman. Unsinkable's mission is to make swim lessons more accessible and affordable to local children in the foster care system. Water safety is a critical life skill, and being safe and comfortable in the water helps build kids' self-esteem and enables both independence and fun. Many of us take for granted that kids will learn how to swim, but oftentimes foster children not only lack this opportunity but are actively afraid of the water. When we saw the joy that learning to swim brought to our own foster kids, we started the Unsinkable program to create that opportunity for other kids, too. Since its founding in 2017, it has provided 93 sessions of swim lessons to 25 youth at the Glen Ellyn Y (and that's despite a long COVID-related break). It expanded to the Rockford Y in January of this year and has already served 17 foster kids over 22 swim sessions. This program serves kids in our community and adjacent communities. It was founded by a DUUC family that saw a specific need in a specific population and attempted to fill that need. Kids in the foster care system have so much stacked against them. This is a concrete way to make them safer and hopefully happier, and a small amount of money can have a great impact in their lives. For more information, click here.

To make a donation, please click here.
May 7th
after the service

All hands on deck for church clean up - inside and out


Fun. Fellowship. Food.

Sign up for your job at
May is Mental Health Awareness Month  According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), “Mental Health Awareness Month has been observed in the U.S. since 1949. Each year, millions of Americans face the reality of living with a mental health condition. In May, NAMI joins the national movement to raise awareness about mental health. Each year, we fight stigma, provide support, educate the public and advocate for policies that support people with mental illness and their families. During the 2023 MHAM, NAMI is launching the More Than Enough social media awareness campaign, uplifting and empowering the mental health community to feel that they are ‘more than enough.’ We want to affirm the idea that people are inherently worthy of life, love and healing — no matter what they look like, no matter where they are in their journeys, no matter what they are or aren’t able to do.”
You can support Mental Health Awareness Month anytime! Here are some suggested ways to get involved:
 

  • Post, share, and/or follow social media about Mental Health Awareness Month by using the hashtags #MentalHealthMonth, #MHM, and #MoreThanEnough. See the 2023 Mental Health Awareness Month Partner Guide pages 7-10 for related graphics and more information about posting on social media.
 
  • Donate to NAMI, NAMI DuPage, or other organizations that advocate for better treatment and acceptance of people with mental illness.


 
For those who are experiencing a crisis or struggling through a difficult time in life, our church offers support through PMA, Pastoral Ministry Associates. Contact us at pmagroupleaders@dupageuuchurch.org
 
The DUUC Accessibility and Inclusion Ministry Team strives to increase awareness of issues surrounding disability and disability rights and to help make all church programs and spaces as accessible and inclusive as possible. If you have questions about AIM at DUUC, have accessibility or inclusion questions, suggestions, or concerns at church, and/or would like to join the DUUC AIM Team, please email us at aim@dupageuuchurch.org.
DUUC Library Monthly Book Recommendations - May
Throughout the year, the DUUC Library will have monthly book recommendations based upon a monthly holiday or historical significance. Information about these featured DUUC Library books will be available on a book list flyer in the Library Alcove area in Kreves Hall. For May 2023, the May 1933 publication of the Humanist Manifesto will be celebrated.
Science Sunday at Noon, May 7th
In-person and via YouTube
James Walter has graciously offered to present at our next Science Sunday. Jim is a retired medical researcher from Hines VA Hospital in Chicago & he also had a position at Loyola Medical Center. His talk is based on the writings of Harvard professor Richard Wrangham’s, "The Goodness Paradox: The strange relationship between virtue and violence in human evolution" (2019). This book advances theories developed from some recent findings from research in evolutionary psychology. In particular, a new form of natural selection, Groupishness, has been demonstrated to occur in hunter-gatherer societies living today in isolation. Wrangham claims that these societies are very similar to the ancient societies of the late Pleistocene, before the end of the last glacial period, 15 to 20 thousand years ago. He therefore speculates that this behavior was evident at that time as well, and was a very important factor in human evolution. James will discuss what Groupishness is and how it contributed to human evolution.
Finally, we will discuss how you might implement groupishness to live a better life. 

Science Sunday at Noon, May 21st
In-person and via YouTube
Scott Thompson will conclude his topic arc related to consciousness with a discussion of free will. Are you reading this of your own free will? How do you know? Is every choice you've ever made a consequence of a tremendously long chain of cause-and-effect events dating back to the Big Bang? Does quantum physics have something to do with free will? During this Science Sunday we will explore how or if quantum mechanics and deterministic physics relate to free will. We'll also talk about free will from the perspective of philosophy, including such concepts as libertarian free will and compatibilism. Scott will also delve into the relationship between free will, accountability and autonomy. Please join us in person, if you're able, and of your own free will, for what's sure to be an engaging topic.

Current COVID protocols.
Find out what's happening at DuPage UU Church!
Humanist Group - May 10th
The Humanist discussion group will meet in Kreves Hall at 7:30 PM to discuss the concepts of free will and moral accountability.
Plans for the summer begin in spring, and SMILE has plans for our fifth summer to be worth SMILE-ing about! More than 25 students have already submitted applications for one of the internships that we offer in July in local business locations. If you have noticed the display in Kreves Hall you will have seen 4 different groups of photos and comments about the young people who enjoyed their internships in a variety of local businesses during the summer of 2022, including three students who were invited by their employers to return as regular employees during their after school time during the subsequent school year. 
Your donations during January 2023 to the Special Collection were very generous; we are asking for others to be as generous as you were then so that we can invite 25 high school youngsters to participate in SMILE (Students, Mentors, Internships, with Local Employers) this summer.
One simple way to make a donation on-line can be done through the DUUC website: dupageuuchurch.org; touch the DONATE button; if you select the VANCO link, you can scroll down to the SMILE option to make your donation. 
If you have questions or want more information about the SMILE project, you may contact any of our team members:

Cheryl Clayton, 630-913-0874 or cherylcl@att.net
Lynn Clark, Pat Kocher-Cowan, Carolyn Drake, Jane Gano, Jan Moretti, Elaine Waite
Mindfulness Meditation
Mondays 7:00pm - 8:45pm
This mindfulness meditation group is open to anyone who has interest in meditation from beginners to more advanced. Our time together consists of sitting meditation, walking meditation (when we meet in person), a short teaching and responsive group sharing.
For more information, go to our website: 
or Elaine Waite, at elainepiedra@gmail.com.

We are meeting Hybrid in the DUUC Learning Center and on Zoom.


Meeting ID: 885 7102 1238
Passcode: 512058
Sunday Flowers Needed 
Celebrate a person or event by providing flowers for a Sunday service. Flowers are still needed throughout the summer months.   You may request to have Sunday Flowers order a $35 standard arrangement for you from Phillip’s Flowers. Or, if you are planning to attend the service in person, you may choose to bring in your own arrangement from your garden or favorite flower shop. The arrangement should be brought to the sanctuary by 10:20 a.m. Your dedication will be printed in the email with the link to the on-line version of the Order of Service as well as in the printed Order of Service. The flowers are yours to take home after the service. If you are not attending service, you may pick up your flowers either on Sunday 11:45 a.m.-1:00 p.m., or contact Sheri, office@dupageuuchurch.org or (630) 505-9408, to make arrangements for pick-up during office hours. Payment may be made by sending a check made out to DUUC for $35 to the church office (write “flowers” on the memo line), through the DUUC Payment Portal (select “other” under donation, and write in “flowers”), or VANCO (select “flowers fund”). Contact Kristen Tang at flowers@dupageuuchurch.org or (630) 305-7771 for more information and/or to request a date. Thank you!
The church office will be closed
Friday, April 28th thru Friday, May 5th.
Room reservations and
Zoom link requests can be made by sending an email to Sheri at calendar@dupageuuchurch.org
In the Wider Unitarian Universalist World
We invite you to contribute your story of lived experience of disability in a UU congregation.
Nothing about Us without Us! That is the rallying cry of the Disability Rights Movement and one we intend to honor. We are working with Skinner House to publish a book on the lived experience of disability in congregations. We are seeking authors, named or anonymous, who would be willing to share their authentic story. If chosen, these candidates will receive an honorarium. We want the book to have a strong intersectional framework, so we are looking for stories in which authors bring their whole selves. We welcome you to reflect on how your other identities are part of your experience as a disabled person in a UU community. This book is meant to give insight into how disabled people worship and experience life in their congregations; how disability impacts a person’s faith, spiritual identity, and showing up with your authentic self. It will show the gifts that disabled people can bring to their congregations. It is also a book on moving from the Disability Rights Movement to the Disability Justice Movement. Please let us know if you would be able to write your story or be interviewed.
We hope that this message is viewed far and wide and realize that we may need additional permissions. If you are under 18, or sharing with someone under 18, we welcome your story! AND we ask that you let us know, so we may obtain the proper permissions.
To view this message online, visit the EqUUal Access website.
A rough draft of your submission is due on May 15, 2023.
Rev. Barbara Meyers
Shelly McFadyen Rohe
 
Please send your questions and submissions to uudisabilitybook@gmail.com
General Assembly 2023 - Pittsburgh, PA!
Join us June 21-25, 2023 in-person or virtually to worship, witness, learn, connect, and make policy for the Association through democratic process.

This year's Ware Lecturer is Imani Perry, the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and a faculty associate with Gender and Sexuality Studies and Jazz Studies. In the summer of 2023 she will join the faculty at Harvard University as a Radcliffe Professor. Perry is also a contributing writer for The Atlantic and the author of seven books. The Ware Lecture will take place on Saturday, June 24 at 7 pm ET and requires registration to view the live stream or attend in-person.

Registration is open for virtual and in-person participation. All details and information can be found on the UUA General Assembly page.
Please consider making a donation to support
DuPage UU Church and all of its programs.
Thank you!