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Make Your Pledge for 2020-21 Today
In lieu of a formal Pledge Drive this spring, we are simply asking everyone to recommit to the same pledge amount as last year.
Please let us know if you are willing to recommit the same dollar amount for 2020-2021 (our fiscal year is July 1, 2020 - June 30, 2021) as you did in 2019-2020.
Below is an easy peasy link to help out. Oh, and some folks asked if it would be OK to increase their pledge. Yes, indeed.
Here's that handy dandy link to our online form:
We hope to have everyone's responses
by January 31.
Thank you!
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Game Night Tonight
Friday, January 17, 7 to 10 pm, Fellowship Hall
All adults (not just singles), 18 to 108 years old, are invited to play games this evening. Please bring yourself for sure, and then optionally a snack to share, a game to share, or a friend to join in the games. There will be snacks and games for all!
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Bryan Park Stream Cleanup
S
aturday, January 18, 10 am
Join us for our monthly Bryan Park Stream Cleanup. Meet at the bridge near the main Henderson Street playground.
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Sunday, January 19th, 2020
9:15 and 11:15 am
When Getting Along is Not Enough
Dr. Maureen Walker
Reverend Mary Ann Macklin
Join us for this worship service in which we enthusiastically welcome back to our pulpit Maureen Walker, PhD, author of the 2019 book,
When Getting Along is Not Enough: Reconstructing Race in Our Lives and Relationships. Dr. Walker is a licensed psychologist, speaker, educator, and writer who focuses on helping people bridge cultural differences. She encourages people to transform fear into courage and create the fullest expressions of who they are and can be in the world. Dr. Walker will be available for book signing after each service. Books available at discount. We hope you will join us for this Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend Sunday service.
This Saturday Evening, January 18th, 6:30 pm
Live Podcast with Maureen Walker
Hosts: Amy Makice and Don Griffin, Jr.
Fellowship Hall and Meeting Room
Join us in a conversation around anti-racism in Bloomington. This Saturday night, January 18, we will be in the Meeting Room for a live recording of "
My Racist Friend" with special guest
Maureen Walker (snacks in Fellowship Hall first). We'll discuss her new book,
When Getting Along is Not Enough, and apply some of those ideas to local situations. Listener questions welcome! Light dinner provided. Donations accepted for continuing anti-racist work here in the Bloomington community. Maureen's book will be available at a discount, as well as opportunities to sign up for experiential book club meetings (about this book) this spring.
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Our Folks...
Our sympathy is the family and friends of our beloved Edrice Baker, long-time member, who passed away on January 11. A memorial for Edrice will be planned in the future.
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Your Livestream Experience - A Short Survey
Do you view our Sunday services via livestream? We'd like to hear about your experience! Please click here to complete a survey. It will be most helpful if you can complete the survey by January 25. Many thanks!
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This Week in Religious Education
Caring Connections
(Childcare) will share stories, play with playdough, and make new friends.
Our January Wintersession for children preschool-7th grade is connecting with our congregational theme of Love. In the Time for All Ages and children's activities, we will learn about individuals who sided with love, bringing generations and communities together and creating change in our world. Then children will enjoy cooking, art, and music. Preschool children will explore the story in their familiar Room 103. Kindergarten-7th grade students will meet in Fellowship Hall to join a small group and head to a different activity each week. Parents can find their child's classroom for the week by consulting the roster posted on the Nursery window across from Fellowship Hall.
**Youth Group for 8th-12th grade resumes this Sunday, January 19th, at a NEW! Special Time, 11 am - 12:30 pm in Room 210. Youth: don't miss the Mystery Room this week.**
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Interfaith Friends Supporting Local Youth
MLK Day Event seeks donations and volunteers
Bloomington Interfaith Friends are collecting donations of:
* Sweatpants (gently used are welcome): highest priority, need to be elastic waist--sizes youth medium and large and adult small to extra large
* New Underwear--children's through adult sizes, especially boys and teens
* Socks: children's through adult sizes
* Washcloths
If you are able to donate any of these items, please bring them to church this Sunday, January 19, and place them in the collection box in the Commons.
Also, you are invited to come lend a hand at First Presbyterian Church on MLK Day to sort and package donations and to thank local social workers: Monday, January 20 from 10 am to noon, Soup Luncheon from 12-1 pm. Reverend Emily and our Coming of Age group are attending.
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Family Snack Potluck, between services this Sunday
All families with young children are invited to join us this Sunday from 10:30 - 11:15 am in the church Library for a snack potluck. Come meet other UU families and enjoy a snack. Bring a snack to share if you can, or just bring yourself. There will be Legos and coloring supplies available for kids. If this goes well, we will plan to have these gatherings on the third Sunday of each month. Join us to experience the warmth of community! -- Ann LeDuc, Connections Coordinator
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Confronting White Supremacy:
The Negative Peace of White Liberalism, with Jada Bee
Sunday, January 19
12:30 pm Lunch in Fellowship Hall
1:00 pm Presentation in Meeting Room
Having heard her powerful (and under-attended) presentation at the City of Bloomington's Seat at the Table gathering, our Dismantling White Supremacy Working Group invited Jada Bee, a local singer, poet, business owner, and activist, to share her perspective on
confronting white supremacy: what it is, how it functions, and how can we identify & do something about it when we see it in our community, our lives, and ourselves. The experiences she will share are either personal or researched and verified experiences from the black cultural community. The action plan for anti-racist work is grounded in the Black Lives Matter ethos, along with other progressive ideologies working to fight white supremacy and fascism. This talk is recommended for ages 16 years & up, with strong language about racism and historical and recent news story imagery used.
Soup lunch and childcare provided - RSVPs appreciated. Contact Adrienne Summerlot
dre@uubloomington.org
for more information. Find this event on Facebook and please invite friends to join us!
If you would like to hear some of Jada's thinking before Sunday, we encourage you to check out this double episode of the Bloomington-based "My Racist Friend" podcast created by Euro-American congregation member, Amy Makice, and her African-American friend, Don Griffin. They had a rich conversation with Jada last month:
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Freethinkers Meet January 19 at 12:45 pm
The UU Freethinkers group will meet this Sunday at 12:45 pm in Room 208 for an open discussion of social, political, and theological/religious issues.
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No UU Singles Fellowship Lunch this Week
(Come to a film screening at IU Cinema instead!)
This Sunday at 1:00 pm, when the UU Singles group would usually be going to lunch, you are invited instead to attend a 40th-anniversary screening of the 1980 movie 9 to 5 (with Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin, and Jane Fonda), at the IU cinema. Tickets are $4. Please let Marie know at 812-391-0900 if you'd like to go. (Some folks might still opt to go to lunch after the second service instead; please note that the IU cinema does not allow food or drinks in the cinema and they are quite strict about it. Some of us might go to Restaurant Ami after the movie.)
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UU Social Justice Film Series
Presented by our Racial Justice Task Force
Sunday, January 19,
5 pm,
Fellowship Hall
Join us for a free screening of
Mary Bateman Clark: A Woman of Colour and Courage
.
Gladys DeVane is the on-screen narrator for the video. Discussion to follow with the filmmakers, including Alan Backler. More information is available in the January 7 Prologue here.
Free Pizza available.
No childcare for this event.
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Habitat Needs Builders Now!
If you are interested in participating in a Habitat for Humanity build in the Trail View neighborhood this Saturday or next,
click here to register on the Habitat for Humanity website. (January Construction Opportunities).
After registering, click on the "individuals" tab to see the spots available. (You can sign up for upcoming months, too!) Contact Barb Berggoetz,
barbberg@bluemarble.net, with any questions.
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Depolarizing Within Workshop
With Better Angels
Sunday, January 26, 2-5 pm
Much of today's polarization is driven by how we talk with like-minded people about those on the other side. Too often, we stereotype, dismiss, or ridicule our fellow citizens who support the other political party, its leaders, and its policies. This free three-hour workshop helps participants become more aware of their own "inner polarizer." It teaches how to be critical without demonizing, dismissing, or stereotyping large swaths of the population. And it offers strategies for intervening constructively in social conversations with like-minded peers when these conversations veer into contempt and ridicule for people who hold other political views.
More info here.
Join us in Fellowship Hall on Sunday, January 26, 2-5 pm
Who can come? Anyone interested in examining their own inner polarization.
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Imbolc Ritual
Friday, January 31, 7 pm, Fellowship Hall
All are welcome to attend Earth Kin's Imbolc Ritual on Friday, January 31st from 7 to 9pm in the Fellowship Hall of the UU Church, Bloomington.
Imbolc represents the flush of youth where all potentialities exist. The light is becoming perceptibly stronger and the day noticeably longer, reminding us that we are halfway through the chill of winter. It is a time of sympathetic magic where fires are lit to lure back the slowly waxing sun.
During the ritual we will do an Imbolc Meditation and healing working, and we will also draw tarot cards for the coming year. Please feel free to bring offerings for the altar, or a drink/snack to share.
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Drop-in Childcare on Wednesdays, 6-8 pm
On Wednesday evenings, from 6-8 pm in Room 108, our caring childcare staff are here to offer free drop-in childcare (as space allows). Parents must remain on site, on the building grounds or in the building. Please use the Courtyard Entrance. We hope to provide a moment for parents to breathe deeply, have a cup of tea with a friend, or sit in silence before running children to their next event. NOTE: This week on January 8, the labyrinth walk will be available in the meeting room for quiet meditation. For more information about childcare, please contact our childcare coordinator, Hannah Worton:
childcare@uubloomington.org
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Buy Grocery Cards on Sunday and Support the Church
Bloomingfoods, Lucky's and Fresh Thyme
We have grocery gift cards for sale in the Commons every Sunday between services. The participating grocery stores send a percentage of your purchases back to the church to support our operating budget. We have gift cards for Fresh Thyme, Bloomingfoods, and Lucky's, and
you can register your Kroger Plus card to request that 5% of your food purchase amounts be donated to the church by
clicking
here
.
Our Kroger organization ID number is EW763. During the last quarter (September thru December 2019) we received $424.87 from Kroger, with 135 UU households participating.
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For More Information
see the January 7
edition
of our newsletter, The Prologue. Past issues for quite awhile back can be found
here.
(Next Prologue deadline is Tuesday, January 21 at 10:00 am.)
Carol Marks has editorial responsibility for our congregation's publications.
If you are not already regularly receiving emails like this from us, you can subscribe by sending an email to
office@uubloomington.org.
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Masthead photo by David Orr,
Yellowwood State Forest
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