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All Souls UU Church
Community News
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This Sunday's service is an in-person service. But you can still join us via Zoom by clicking this link. | |
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This Sunday
"Return Again" - Resting for Liberation
Our guest speaker, Brigitta Vieyra, is a purpose-seeking meaning-maker with a social justice heart.
She will ask us to intentionally slow down and reimagine how rest is a meticulous love practice that disrupts oppression and grind culture.
This Sunday, you're invited to tune into the prophetic wisdom of Tricia Hersey’s rest-as-resistance framework and discover how embracing ease is a pathway for collective liberation.
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“Our movements themselves have to be healing, or there's no point to them”
— Cara Page,
Kindred: Southern Healing Justice Collective
We continue to exist in the midst of liminal space at All Souls. Very soon, church members will be voting to call a new minister. We are already planning farewell activities for both Roger and myself. Change is everywhere.
We, just like the seasons, wait in a moment of frozen suspension knowing that the blossoms and blue skies of spring are almost here. The fallow time of rest and nourishment are almost done and we are poised for the fruition of all the hard work of the last few years.
Yet, even when we enter into the next phase of the life of this community, mindfulness and rest will remain important spiritual grounding practices. As we will hear this Sunday, rest can be resistance.
The heart of this church is in its service to social justice. In order to engage in this profound work, we must know how our own systemic oppressive systems are designed to wear us down. Grind culture is toxic.
In order to be counter cultural, we must know the difference between the pamper culture of consumerism and the deep, inherent truth of the body’s wisdom. Tricia Hershey and her Nap Ministry has been a leader in this work for years. She explains:
It is about a deep unraveling from white supremacy and capitalism. These two systems are violent and evil. History tells us this and our present living shows this. Rest pushes back and disrupts a system that views human bodies as a tool for production and labor. It is a counter narrative. We know that we are not machines. We are divine. -Tricia Hershey
Join us Sunday to hear our guest speaker, Brigitta Vieyra, a beloved fellow seminarian, speak more about rest and how it is integral to collective liberation.
-Beth
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No Meditation Before Service
We tried a new thing before Sunday Services. It served a small but good group and was warmly received.
However, it has run its course and we are suspending meditation until further notice.
Thanks to all who came out and sat in silence with us!
Reverend Roger and Beth Elliot
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Now We SOAR!
Pledge Drive 2023
Why do we pledge?
Actually, it goes back to our Puritan ancestors, who lived in England, but wanted to be free of the Church of England. They wanted to read the Bible themselves—the King James Bible, published in 1611 -- and decide, themselves, what it meant.
Some of them decided to head west to the “new world.” The Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock, in what today is Massachusetts, in 1620 were first among them. (Today, up the hill from Plymouth Rock is First Parish in Plymouth, a UU Congregation, founded in 1620.) But the Puritans I know most about are the ones who founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, in what today is Boston, MA.
As soon as they got to Boston, the Puritans had to figure out how they were going to operate in the new world. They never officially broke with the Church of England, but they did have meetings--of course! The result was the Cambridge Platform, published in 1648. (And another result was a “seminary” they founded in Cambridge, MA, in 1636, which we know today as Harvard University.)
One of the things they figured out is that freedom isn’t free. If they wanted to have a building in which to study the Bible, if they wanted a minister to help them study, if they wanted a religious educator to teach their children to read the Bible (and, by the way, public schools today are directly traceable to the Puritan belief that each person needed to be able to read the Bible), they would have to pay for it. They weren’t going to get money from the Church of England; each congregation needed to provide for itself. (Well, taxes got involved, but that’s another story.)
Unitarian-Universalism developed over the years largely from those Puritans. Today we celebrate Six Sources of our Faith, one of which is the Bible. Today, we try to live by a set of Principles while we figure out what we believe--which is why I’m a Unitarian Universalist. And today we fund ourselves chiefly by the Annual Pledge Drive, just as the Puritans did.
What is a pledge? It’s an estimate, a guess, even a promise, as to how much you can donate in the next fiscal year to support the work of All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church. This is necessary so that we, the congregation, can “know” how much money we will have to spend in the next year and can then intelligently vote at the annual congregational meeting in May on what the budget for the next fiscal year should be. The Archbishop won’t tell us what to do; we must decide ourselves.
Please, make your pledge by February 28 at asuuc.net/pledge, stewardship@asuuc.net, or (719) 633-7717 — and help us Soar!
Thank you!
Stan Kidder
All Souls Stewardship Team
stewardship@asuuc.net
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Members of
High Plains and
All Souls Meet for
Friday Fun at 5:30
This month, High Plains has been invited to join us for a special Friday evening meetup here at All Souls on February 17th.
We will gather in the Small Hall from 5:30-7 PM. Make new friends, join a tour of the building, and enjoy provided snacks and beverages.
We hope you will join us!
Questions: Contact fellowshipfun@hpcuu.org
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Saturday evening's Newcomer Potluck celebrated new members with dinner and a sharing of spiritual journeys by members and newcomers. | |
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All Souls & Our Wider Community
Special Events
at
All Souls UU Church
March 5: Sunday Service: 10:30 a.m. Spiritual Activism. Kristy
Milligan. Kristy Milligan is Chief Executive Officer of Westside Cares. She will join Reverend Roger Butts in a dialogue sermon as part of Roger’s Farewell Tour. How activism is deepened by silence, prayer, and spirituality.
March 19: Sunday Service: 10:30 a.m. Poetry and Life. Sam
Stephenson, Founder and Director, Converge. Converge is a
lecture series featuring world class authors in the Springs, and a poetry as therapy program for high school students. Not to miss.
April 16: Yom HaShoah. Join Reverend Roger as he explores the
importance of remembering the Holocaust, and our deep commitment to saying, loud and clear: Never Again. Reverend Roger will use the remarkable book, The Zookeeper’s Wife.
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All Souls'
SOCIAL JUSTICE SUPPORT NETWORK
Invites you to our monthly
Listening Potluck
9:30 AM to Noon
The MARCH 11 topic will be
WOMENS' RIGHTS.
RSVP to Karla: banksthefire@gmail.com
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From the Growth Team
We support our church through our pledges and donations and renting our facility for special events, including weddings.
Wedding Planning Season is upon us!
Do you have any local contacts in the bridal industry, including florists, wedding planners, dress shops, tuxedo rental shops, caterers, photographers, etc.?
If so, we need you to contact the Growth Team! We could also use volunteers to help us promote weddings at All Souls!
Our welcoming church is also a perfect location for LGBTQ+ weddings! Spread the word!
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ASUUC Men’s Group
The February meeting of the Men’s Group will be held on Thursday, February 16th in the Small Hall at church.
Dinner and social hour will begin at 6 PM and the meeting is from 7-9 PM. We offer the opportunity for all who identify as male and who wants to share in a safe space.
If you have any questions, please contact:
Larry Norfleet (lbnorfleet@aol.com),
Ed Benn (edbennlco@aol.com), or
Rich Lins (richlins998@gmail.com).
To honor Valentine’s Day, the February topic will be Love in the Age of Covid.
Please feel free to join us. We will have a zoom option. If you are
interested in this attending remotely, please contact one of us so that we can forward the ID and password.
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our new LGBTQ+ group
QUUmmunity
next meeting
on February 18, 2023
10 to Noon
in the Small Hall
potluck snacks
contact Dale mftdale@verison.net
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NAACP Gathering in Colorado Springs
Please reserve Sunday, February 25th for an important NAACP gathering in Colorado Springs in support of Courtney and Nicole Mallory of Freedom Acres Ranch.
This couple has been the target of racial harassment for more than two years. Their story has made national headlines and the NAACP will be holding a rally to demonstrate national support as they are not being supported by local law enforcement. Details will be in next week's newsletter. Joan Hofer
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The League of Women Voters of the Pikes Peak Region is hosting several candidate forums both in person and live-stream on YouTube. There are 11 candidates running for the two At-Large Council seats, two candidates running for the district 3 council seat, and 12 candidates running for mayor of Colorado Springs. This is our opportunity to see the candidates before we vote. Visit https://www.lwvppr.org or call 719.447.9400 for schedule and more information. Schedule is also posted on our bulletin board. | |
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High Plains
Invitations to Participate
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Environmental Programs and Social Action Opportunities
We invite you and interested friends to join us for the activity listed below. All forums and services will be held in the HPCUU Sanctuary on the Unity Campus, 1945 Mesa Road.
February 19 2023 Worship: What a Future Without Plastics Looks Like, plus the Story of Stuff
For more information, contact sue.neufeld@comcast.net
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Colorado Springs Utilities
Conservation and Environmental Center
The HPCUU Environmental Team is kicking off our efforts with a visit to our city’s fabulous resource, the Colorado Springs Conservation and Environmental Center (CEC). Brigit Landin, Conservation Specialist, will do an educational presentation on Environmental Stewardship and Home Efficiency, demonstrating big and small ways we can all make a difference. Topics will include:
All are welcome. Please Join Us
Friday, 17 February 2023 from 3:30 to 5PM at the Conservation and Environmental Center, 2855 Mesa Road, Colorado Springs.
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Environmental Book Discussion
Everyone is invited to participate in the 8 April 2023 Environmental Book Discussion, 2-4 pm in the Unity Fellowship Hall (HPCUU, 1945 Mesa Road (80904) Refreshments will be served.
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer (2013). (Amazon $9.99 Kindle, $13.25 paperback)
Kimmerer is a widely acclaimed best-selling author. In December 2022 our UU Ministers discussed the book and Colorado College hosted Kimmerer (Botany professor, McArthur Genius Award winner, and member of the Potowatamie Bear Clan) for a packed and well-
received environmental lecture.
Pick up your copy and Happy Reading.
For more information, contact sue.neufeld@comcast.net, Facilitator, HPCUU Environmental Justice Team
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Office Hours:
Sunday through Thursday
9 AM to 1:00 PM
719.633.7717
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