Celebrating Life,
Empowering People,
Caring for One Another,
Helping to Build a Better World
autumn_leaves.jpg
UUCSR Newsletter
September 2022
In This Issue
Click “View Entire Message” if Sections Are Missing
  • Service in September
  • Message from Your Minister
  • Message from Your Board President
  • Message from the Treasurer
  • Religious Education
  • From Your Diversity Project
  • From Your Lay Chaplains
  • From CUUPs: Autumn Equinox
  • From Right Relations Team
  • Community Conversations
  • Social Groups & Events
  • Committees & Working Groups
  • North Bay Organizing Project
  • Soul Matters
  • UUCSR Covid Policy
Please Consider Visiting the
Thank You for Your Support!
Service in September:
Belonging
Sundays, 10:30-11:45 am PST
Where Can We Find Peace?
September 4th
Widely recognized as one of the most influential spiritual teachers of the twentieth century, Jiddu Krishnamurti taught that in order for there to be peace in the world, we must each first make peace with ourselves. A magnet on my fridge has reminded me for years that peace and stillness are available any time we need them. Our sixth principle states that we are working toward the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all. I invite you to ponder about your meaning of our 6th principle.

Service Leader: Rev. Dave Clements
Worship Associates: Cathie Wiese
Music: Alan Bell & Roger Corman
Share the Basket: Saturday Breakfast with Our Neighbors
So Are We Bound Together?
September 11th
In Gathering Service: As drops of rain that find each other and build to become a track, a rivulet, a stream, a river, a sea, so are we drawn together; so are we fortunate to find each other; so are we bound together, on this shared passage toward an unknown ocean and eternity. Please join us for our Annual Water Communion and as we kick off the beginning of our church year together. Join us as we gather and celebrate.

Service Leader: Rev. Dave Clements and Era Capone, Director of Religious Education
Worship Associate: Eric Fischer
Music: Robin Rogers & Roger Corman
Share the Basket: The LIME Foundation
What Does it Mean to Respect the Interdependent Web of Life?
September 18th
Our seventh Principle may be our Unitarian Universalist way of coming to fully embrace something greater than ourselves. The interdependent web—expressed as the spirit of life, the ground of all being, the oneness of all existence, the community- forming power, the process of life, the creative force, can help us develop that social understanding of ourselves. It is a source of meaning to which we can dedicate our lives. How do you embrace our 7th principle?

Service Leaders: Rev. Dave Clements
Worship Associate: Judy Withee
Music: Gage Purdy, Guest Pianist
Share the Basket: Saturday Breakfast with Our Neighbors

*Please stay for the Community Conversations gathering after the service*

A Journey Toward Spiritual Wholeness
September 25th
Our proposed 8th principle states: “We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote: journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.” This service will explore how understanding this proposed principle can lead us on a journey toward wholeness.

Service Leader: Rev. Dave and 8th Principle Task Force
Worship Associate: Bev Spears
Music: Gage Purdy with The Choir & Roger Corman
Share the Basket: CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates)
From the Minister's Desk
Reverend David Clements
Thank you again for all of the welcoming gifts and kind words of encouragement. It is good to be here and to have this opportunity to serve this religious community. As your Interim Minister I am here not to save you, or fix you but to help you engage with each other and with your Unitarian Universalist faith. That is a task that Is not always easy but I have always found helpful the words of my teacher and friend Mark Morrison Redd.

“The central task of the religious community is to unveil the bonds that bind each to all. There is a connectedness, a relationship discovered amid the particulars of our own lives and the lives of others. Once felt, it inspires us to act for justice. It is the church that assures us that we are not struggling for justice on our own, but as members of a larger community. The religious community is essential, for alone our vision is too narrow to see all that must be seen, and our strength too limited to do all that must be done. Together, our vision widens and our strength is renewed.”

Marks words serve to remind me of the importance of relationships and connectedness that can be part of a religious community. As a UU Minister I always look forward to September as a time where we all gather back together after having various and unique experiences all summer. It is that coming together to renew our relationships with each other and with our faith where I find a sense of value and purpose.

As we embark on a new year together I ask each of you, “What are your hopes and dreams? What are your expectations of your UU Faith and its leaders? What are your expectations of yourself? I believe that it is within the UU community where we can find a sense of peace, a place of welcome and a home where we can build relationships and strengthen our commitments to each together and to this UU faith.

May you take the time this month to sit quietly and to ask yourself, What are your hopes and dreams, What are your expectations of your Leaders, and what is your commitment to this community and to our UU faith? It is in the strength of community that we can learn how to interact with each other, how to support each other and how to welcome new individuals and families into our community.
 
In the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to meet with many of you and look forward to meeting with more of you. One thing that is clear, you are a diverse group of proudly kindred spirits. Here, not by coincidence--But because you choose to journey—together. May this next church year be one where we learn to love ourselves, reach out to our neighbors and begin to create a beloved community together.
 
Cheers,
Rev. Dave Clements
President's Message
Leslie Norinsky
Dear Beloved Community,

The board is back from our July hiatus and there is so much work to do! We welcomed our new Interim Minister, Rev. Dave, and we start a new church year with enthusiasm, optimism, and energy.

We have several challenges on our collective UU plate, including rebuilding trust, financial challenges, technological challenges, health challenges, and the challenge of being invisible in the community. We've been dealing as a congregation with social isolation, and that has continued for many members, including those dealing with severe disease or who are immuno-compromised. We need to figure out ways to reconnect with members and friends who do not feel comfortable gathering in person. And for those of us who have returned to services and committee meetings and social gatherings, it has felt good. We have been fairly lucky in Santa Rosa with pleasant days compared to much of the rest of the country and we have enjoyed social hour in the social hall with doors wide open or sitting in our lovely courtyard. Although Zoom has been (and continues to be) our savior during a pandemic, in-person social contact has improved our ability to communicate better with one another. It is good to remember how to joke and laugh with one another.

In terms of visibility, we are hoping to actively bring back Glaser Center performances, becoming more active in our social justice efforts, and being seen in the community. We have much to offer as a faith community. There are people out there who are looking for a community such as ours and they don't know we are here.

At this time, we have not been able to recruit a steering committee for our auction as volunteering has dropped off for a myriad of reasons. We will get back to that effort, but for this month we will concentrate on a few smaller efforts and are hoping that momentum and enthusiasm will build around volunteerism at UUCSR.

That said, we are in great need of volunteers. There is an intangible benefit to volunteering in our UU community. It is a way to build connection with one another; that social connection we have all been missing. By volunteering, you give back to this community, but also you give back to yourself, as volunteering provides a sense of belonging and a deeper commitment. As much as I have complained about not having time in my retirement, in which I had planned to travel and play, the reality is that I've deepened my friendships and forged new friendships within our congregation. This has happened even with the conflict that has been so very hard over this last year. Although I would never, never ever, like to live through this past year again, I have a lot to be grateful for, most of which has been due to leaning into our values, volunteering on the Board of Trustees and in the Diversity Project Committee, and interacting with so many of you.

The board has started to talk about bringing back our Committee Faire. This is a time where we set up lots of tables outside of the social hall and our congregation can find out about what each committee does. We are thinking this will happen at the beginning or middle of October. You don't have to be an expert, you just need to have an interest in what the committee does. Right now we are desperate for people to serve on the Human Resources Committee, the Glaser Center Committee, and an AV/Technology Committee. We are also looking for a Fundraising Committee. And there are more committees looking for volunteers, as you will note in the announcements in the Order of Service and Weekly Newsblast. We are running lean right now and we need your help.

We have an incredible staff! Please do communicate how much we appreciate all of them. We appreciate them so much that we have another reason to grow our congregation- to provide stability for our staff which is so dependent on our pledges. Pledges are what keep us able to have a staff and with congregational growth come more pledges. It has been pointed out to the board that employee expenses will always continue to rise and that we need to be aware of how that will affect us. We cannot live beyond our means, as we have done for several years. We have to address this as a board and as a congregation. Young families are what keep us going; what keeps our denomination going. If there is hope for the world, it is with our youth. We'll need to brainstorm ways to engage our families more fully, and how to bring in more young people and young families and create a level of financial and congregational sustainability on many levels.

Some other concerns of the board are around safety in the building. With our wonderful Pride Flag and Black Lives Matter Flag displayed proudly in the window, we can become a target for a disgruntled citizen. We are going to need to bring back Officers of the Day, get ourselves some training on how to deal with aggressive behavior directed against us, and figure out what technology we may need to help keep our building, our possessions, and our persons safe. We'll need to err on the side of caution and take proactive steps to ensure our safely.

And in terms of taking care of our building, we are getting a new roof! Hopefully this will happen in October, but it could be delayed by a month or so. We'll have to see. But the contracts are signed and the materials have been ordered! Now we just need to collect the money promised by so many of you in order to remain debt-free. At this writing, we are still needing around $15,000 to meet the matching donations besides the promises already made.

And finally, we are changing (once again), board meeting dates to allow some of our members to participate in choir and other pursuits that happen to conflict with our board meetings, making for a grumpy board (only kidding). But really, board members need to practice self-care too and it is important to make room in our lives for the things that make life worth living- music and art, friends and family, nature and silence and joyful noisemaking. We'll update the congregation about the actual board meeting dates in the next month, but our next meeting date will not change, it is September 22nd (the fourth Thursday of the month).

Stay well, everybody. Dust off your dancing shoes for a swing dance coming up, and thank you for being here for one another and for making the world and this community a better place.

-Leslie
Message from the Treasurer
Linda Balabanian
“For it is in giving that we receive.”   St. Francis of Assisi

FY 21-22 – Financial Statements are Now Final
As I mentioned here last month, after the dire forecasts of last winter regarding our financial position, many of you came through and we ended the year with a $5,000 loss rather than a $55,000 loss. Good news!

Roof Donation Update
As I’ve written in other places, we need at least $50,000 in donations for the roof project to take advantage of a $50,000 matching donation put up by one of our generous congregants who wishes to remain anonymous. As I write this we have made a good dent in our goal and are over two-thirds of the way there. I am optimistic that our members will come through with the remaining $15,000 we need. We are hopeful that the project can start soon and that the inside of our beautiful home will stay dry this winter. If you can participate in helping to fund this project, please write “Roof” on your check or use Realm where there is a “Roof Donation” fund set up. We are hoping that all donations, including promises, will be paid by mid-October so that we can make contractor payments without incurring any debt.

On another note…
We have lots to look forward to and I am so optimistic that we will come back stronger than ever after weathering the pandemic storms and ministerial departures. Off and on, I have been in, belonged to, this community for almost 40 years and it has been a big part of my life more often than not. I truly believe that if we continue to love each other and be there for each other we will keep on attracting like-minded folks who are searching for loving community. We have so much to share.
Look for announcements about upcoming fundraisers that are sure to delight as well as opportunities to pitch in and help in areas that might need someone like you. Glaser Center Committee, anyone??? It can be great fun to be part of a team working toward a goal of improving or sustaining part of our congregation. I don’t know about you, but I am so happy to be able to laugh (and cry sometimes too) together again.

-Linda Balabanian, co-Treasurer
Religious Education
Era Capone
RE returns in full force on September 18th! You can look forward to the following starting up again in September:

  • Infant/Nursery Care
  • PreK-1st Grade RE
  • 2nd-5th Grade RE
  • Coming of Age
  • Middle & High School Youth Group
  • K-2nd OWL
  • Mystery Pals
  • UU Parenting
  • Dungeons & Dragons

Keep on eye on the weekly RE newsletter for more info about RE in the coming months.

Additionally, registration for this congregational year's session of RE has begun! Please make sure to sign up your children and youth for the program, and let us know how you can volunteer in the coming year. As always, we are in need of volunteers for the programs listed above. If you are able to help out, please contact me at dre@uusantarosa.org or at (707)-494-8799.

In love and gratitude,
Era Capone
Director of Religious Education
Sunday, September 4th - Peacefulness (Last Day of Summer RE)
In the spirit of today's service, RE today will be all about peace! The kids will begin by playing a game that requires players to be peaceful, or else they may get tagged! Afterwards, they'll hear the incredibly powerful story A Bowl Full of Peace by Caren B. Stelson, which tells the story of a young woman who's family lived through the bombing of Hirosima. After reflecting on the importance of peace, the kids will work together to create a symbol of peace that will hang in the RE Wing and represent our commitment to being peaceful.

Sunday, September 11th - Multigenerational Service: Ingathering
No RE today! Instead, children are invited to join us in the sanctuary as we gather together to celebrate a new congregational year.

Sunday, September 18th - Toolbox of Values: Covenant
The toolbox symbolizes our Unitarian Universalist values. In this session, there are opportunities to reflect on what we might put in a toolbox of our values and what tools our values can provide. In addition to the toolbox, this session introduces a contract to illustrate the promises that we make to one another when building our community of shared values.

Sunday, September 25th - Toolbox of Values: Questioning
This session focuses on the value of questioning assumptions and wondering, "Why?" The children hear about astronomer and Unitarian Maria Mitchell, who embodied the truth-seeking quality of Unitarian faith in both her spiritual and scientific life. They'll add the magnifying glass to their toolbox this week, which symbolizes questioning and looking deeper. 
From Our
Diversity Project
UUCSR is a member of the Religious Leaders Caucus of the North Bay Organizing Project (NBOP). We invite all UUCSR congregants and friends to to this important interfaith workshop on September 17th at Christ Church United Methodist Church in Santa Rosa. Please consider attending in-person or on Zoom. Sliding scale is $25-100. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. This is a wonderful opportunity to build solidarity with other local congregations.
 
To register, RSVP to: office@srchristchurch.org  (indicate if you plan to attend in person or on Zoom. Zoom information will be given when you register.) Donations will be collected at the time of the workshop. 
 
Contact Tamara Murrell if you have questions or need more information.
From Your Lay Chaplains
The past few years have been filled with challenges in our congregation, in our country and on the planet. There may be times when you feel the need for the support of a caring listener and your Lay Chaplains are available to anyone with a need. We don’t have to carry our burdens or celebrate our joys alone, and one benefit of having a beloved community is having support when it is needed.

In addition to reaching out to a Lay Chaplain, you may add your personal joys and sorrows to the Milestones Book (on the stand just outside the sanctuary door) to be shared during the Sunday service. You may also email your milestones to laychaplains@uusantarosa.org by Saturday morning so they can be included in the Sunday service.

Your Lay Chaplains are here for you. Contact us at laychaplains@uusantarosa.org, or call us: Lucia Milburn, Barbara Kezur, Bruce Hope, Mary Lee Lill, Gayle Shirley, Shirley White, Judy Ervice (chair)
From CUUPs: Autumn Equinox, A Time to Harvest
-Loretta Smith
 Autumn Equinox: A Time to Harvest
 
On September 22 at 6:03pm PDT is the Autumn Equinox. An equinox occurs when the position of the sun is exactly over the equator. When this happens, the hours of daylight and the hours of darkness are about equal almost everywhere on Earth. After the Autumn Equinox, for us the days gradually become shorter, and the nights longer. Every six months, once in March and again in September, an equinox splits Earth’s day almost in half, giving us about 12 hours daylight and 12 hours of night.     
 
Our ancient ancestors noted this celestial occurrence with a celebration. Its roots as a harvest festival go back to ancient times. Modern Pagans call this festival Mabon, and it always falls on the Autumn Equinox.
 
If you recall, the congregation celebrated the First Harvest Festival or Lammas on July 31. That celebrated the time of the season when the grain harvest was done.
 
Mabon was the Second Harvest Festival when mid summer fruits and vegetables were harvested such as squash, pumpkins, apples, and grapes for winemaking. 
 
Early societies understood the importance of feasting with your neighbors to create a village. Without each other they could not survive, so they feasted and celebrated to create community and give thanks.
 
Celts and pagans used this day to give thanks to nature, or Mother Earth, for a good harvest and to pray that the crop would last through the winter. This time of year was when farmers knew how well their autumn crops did and how well fed their animals had become. This determined whether you and your family would have enough food for the winter.
 
At its core Mabon is about gratitude for what has been reaped this year, with an eye to the hardships of winter. It recognizes a mental and physical adjustment needed for the darker, longer nights and harder conditions ahead.
 
If, as those who came before us, you would like to take some time to welcome the fall season in your own life here are 4 ideas:
 
1.       Gratitude
           Celebrate the Autumn Equinox by harvesting your inner fruits, and finding gratitude for the seeds you have both sown and reaped. Give thanks to the waning sunlight that brought us our harvest. And take a moment to pay respect to the impending dark.
 
... Click Below for more information
From Our Right Relations Team
UUCSR has a Right Relations Team!
             
The Right Relations Team has been created to help us keep on the loving, respectful path that has served us in the past. We strive to promote healthy communication and relationships among UUCSR members, committees and staff. Conflict avoidance and resolution is a priority. We hope our efforts will help ensure that issues and concerns are addressed and resolved amicably and in a timely manner. The Right Relations Team can also be a conduit for members to convey ideas or concerns regarding the congregation.

The Right Relations Team is an official UUCSR team (our charter was approved by the Board of Trustees) We, of course, must abide by Our Mission and Vision, the bylaws and BOT decisions, but our authority comes from you, the congregation. Our congregational covenant guides us as we keep a finger on the pulse of UUCSR.

We respect confidentiality of all matters before the team. Call or Email us:
Community Conversations
RESCHEDULED: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18

We are pleased to announce that our debut Community Conversation will be held on Sunday, September 18. For those who are with us in person we will provide a light lunch following the service and then we will gather in the sanctuary. For the zoomers there will be a break, probably 20 minutes or so, and you will return to your zoom link and find us. Wish we could provide zoom lunch but haven’t figured that out yet. There are 8 questions that have been submitted and we have located folks to answer them. We are thinking that some of the questions will prompt discussion and we look forward to that though we will have time constraints. Our goal is to end our meeting within one hour, understanding that Sunday afternoons hold many delights that call to us.

This is a new project which features your questions about anything related to our congregation, UUCSR. It works like this:
● You submit your question to us.
● We locate someone who can provide an answer.
● We come together as a community in a gathering such as this one,
hear the questions and answers, engage in a bit of discussion as we
are so moved.

There are several options for submitting questions to us:
● Email your question to: communityconversations@uusantarosa.org
● Send your question directly to one of us:
Maria Praetzellis - mariapraetzellis@protonmail.com
David Reitzell - dreitzell@sbcglobal.net
Judy Ervice - judy.ervice@gmail.com
Jeanie Bates - jeaniebmft@gmail.com
● THE BOX: present in the Social Hall on Sundays, you may place
your questions in the big orange box

We are collecting questions for our next Community Conversation, and have
received 2 thus far. We look forward to being with you on September 18.
Adult Education
The Adult Education Committee typically offers a wide variety of courses related to film, science, current social and political issues, skills development, personal growth, religious education, and other topics as we have available expertise. We are looking for one or two additional committee members and we always welcome course proposals as well as suggestions for courses congregation members would like to join. For more information or to share ideas, please contact Helga Lemke at helgalemke@sonic.net.

Here is an up and coming class:

WELL UNTIL THE END: A Three Session Class Based on “The Art of Dying Well” by Katy Butler 
PRESENTER: Louise Bettner, Ph.D. 
DATES: Sunday October 16, 2022 from 1:30-3:00 pm 
Sunday October 30, 2022 from 1:30-3:00 pm 
Sunday November 13, 2022 from 1:30-3:00 pm 
LOCATION: TBA
COURSE DESCRIPTION: 
Have you ever wished for a “guidebook” to help you navigate the final years of your life journey? .... Click below for more information
Social Groups & Events
In this month's newsletter:
  • Adult Education
  • Book Group
  • Men's Groups
  • Men's Group Picnic in the Park
  • CUUPS
  • Older and Bolder Women's Group
  • Saturday Breakfast
Committees &
Working Groups
In this month's newsletter:
  • Volunteer Stewardship Opportunities
  • Membership Committee
  • Ushers & Greeters
  • Caring Connections Committee
  • Flower Committee
UUCSR Event Calendar
Check Out the Calendar for Important Event Dates
North Bay Organizing Project
NBOP is Helping Us Raise Our Voices

Save the Date:
Solidarity in Community: Race, Identity, and the Power of Story
Sponsored by NBOP Religious Leaders Caucus
September 17, 2022 1-5pm
Soul Matters
September: Belonging
There are still openings for new Soul Matters groups starting soon! Come, start your path on Belonging to this Beloved Community with small group connection!

Contact Katie Trieller for information:
707-291-2666

From H.A.T.
The Health Advisory Team UUCSR Pandemic Policy 
Updated June 2022

  • VACCINATION REQUIRED FOR ENTRY TO SERVICES or Negative test within 24 hours

  • Adequate vaccination = 2 mRNA vaccines plus booster or 2 Johnson and Johnson vaccines

  • MASKS STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to protect vulnerable members of our congregation. 

  • Please honor other congregants concerns about the protection they feel they need!

547 Mendocino Avenue
Santa Rosa, CA 95401
Phone: (707) 568-5381