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.

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.

We’re shaking things up for the next two weeks! Spiritual practice is at the heart of what we do in faith community, so why not explore it together? This week we’ll be joined by Katy Gaughan of Drumming for Wellness for a Sunday Morning Drum Circle. The drum circle won’t be replacing our Sunday service, it IS our Sunday service. Sunday service is broadcast live, and may include wide shots of the crowd in the sanctuary.

The draft Minutes for the 2022 Annual Meeting (along with the draft Minutes for the 2021 Annual Meeting) have been posted for review and comment by the congregation on the Board Minutes page (requires login). The comment period closes on Aug. 31, 2022.

Are you looking for more information on how to start using food as a climate action? Check out the latest blog from our Earth Ministry team.

Our partner daycare, Blooming Minds, is taking enrollment for Fall 2022. Blooming Minds' mission is to provide top level play based childcare in a safe and nurturing environment for children to thrive and succeed both developmentally and socially.

To schedule a tour or for more information, contact bloomingmindselc@gmail.com.

Spiritual Ancestors and Sacred Arts are for those who've already taken Sources. Questions? Email Beth Irikura.

Do you have big ideas about how we can bring new faces to Sunday worship?

Do you want to make it easier to get involved in our congregation?

Do you love meeting new people?

Join the River Road membership team! We're recruiting volunteers to plan exciting events and make new congregational traditions. Contact Natalie Schall to get on the mailing list for announcements about upcoming meetings and ways you can get involved.

Registration for our programs for PreK through High School is now open. Sign up here! 

The RE Program only runs with the help of volunteers. Please consider joining us. Contact Beth or Laura to learn more.

Join Cedar Lane Senior Minister, Abhi Janamachi, for an informational session about a pilgrimage to India in late January 2023 (tentatively January 17-February 2) with members of the Potomac Partnership (Cedar Lane, River Road, and Fairfax). The two-week pilgrimage will be mostly in southern India and will likely include a trip to the Khasi Unitarian Church in northeastern India. A rough estimate of the trip not including international airfare is $4500, and the group size will be 15-20 people. Please RSVP here to receive a Zoom link for the meeting. 

Storytelling classes meet monthly Saturday mornings at RRUUC, 9:30am-12:00pm. We will switch to Zoom if the COVID situation worsens. Masks are required at RRUUC but a microphone will be available. Two classes are offered at the same level with all experience levels welcome. Sign up for either Storytelling 1 or Storytelling 2. Limited to 10 per class. The cost for this year-long class is $350.

Storytelling 1 dates: 10/8, 11/5, 12/3, 1/14, 2/11, 3/11, 4/8, 5/20, 6/10 (make-up class if needed)

Storytelling 2 dates: 10/1, 10/29, 11/19, 1/7, 2/4, 3/4, 4/1, 5/13, 6/3 (make-up class if needed)

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

August 19: Read any book by Louise Erdrich and share your comments about it

September 16: The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, by Kim Michele Richardson

October 21: The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict

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

The tide is finally turning, people! Let's ride the wave of good news for the climate at RRUUC! Can the Inflation Reduction Act solve all our climate goals? No, but it does offer a chance for a "Year of Reset," Rev. Nancy's theme for 2022-23 which will kick off at the September 11 Ingathering service. Join the Earth Ministry in our continued planning to support the congregation's environmental reset at our online meeting THIS Sun., Aug. 14 at 11:30am. All are welcome! Zoom link will be included in the worship links email on 8/13.

Thrivers On The Move has an immediate opportunity for students, low-income, minorities, immigrants, and refugees to be Certified Nurse Assistants (CNAs) with a scholarship after meeting the criteria. The application can be found on their website; scholarships are limited. For questions, please contact Jack Lee.

There is also an opportunity for individuals or families of low-income backgrounds to receive a free laptop. They can be refugees or immigrants in general and should be Montgomery County residents. To apply, fill out the application form. Sara Abdel can waive the $5 administrative fee for beneficiaries connected with RRUUC. Use promo code "Thrivers."

This Sun., Aug. 14 at 3:00pm, join a discussion, “How to Make a Revolution,” based on Issa Amro’s trial in Israeli Military Court. Register at tinyurl.com/VFHL-August2022, watch the film, then join on Sunday. Panelists are Issa Amro, Einat Weizman, and Miko Peled (moderator). Sponsored by Voices from the Holy Land and the Indiana Center for Middle East Peace.

Born and raised in Hebron, Issa Amro has devoted his life to protesting and documenting human rights abuses in the West Bank-Occupied Territories. In 2016 he was detained and indicted by the Israeli state on 18 charges spanning 6 years – including incitement, insulting a soldier, and protesting against military and settler violence. He was tried in the Ofer Military Court where the average trial takes 10 minutes, and where the conviction rate for Palestinians is 99.7%. Issa was acquitted of most of the charges and received a suspended sentence, only to find himself arrested and tried again – but this time by the Palestinian Authority. Based on verbatim transcripts, renowned Israeli playwright Einat Weizman and Issa Amro take a blistering look at the truth behind the headlines in this filmed version of an original staged production of “How to Make a Revolution.” Watch the trailer: tinyurl.com/VFHL-RevolutionTrailer.

Einat Weizman – Tel Aviv - based actor, director and playwright

Issa Amro – Human Rights Defender and founder of Youth Against Settlements

Miko Peled (moderator) – Israeli-American author, human rights activist, and karate instructor

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) is a nonprofit, nonsectarian organization advancing human rights together with an international community of grassroots partners and advocates.

You can support UUSC on Aug. 21 during our ETO Sunday or throughout the month of August by making online contributions (select "Extend the Offering"), or by making check donations to RRUUC (designate UUSC).

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 over the past two weeks. These lives continue to matter:

Baltimore: Trevon Williams, Trevon Johnson, Nykayia Strawder, and one victim’s name not released. District of Columbia: John Precia, Maurica Manyan, and Lance Melvin. Hagerstown: Taron Shawnta Trice. Oxen Hill: Victim's name not released. Temple Hills: Teyon Harrod. Towson: Victim's name not released. 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.

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.