Greetings Friends,
Welcome to Windows Weekly, Albany UU's central source for news and updates. Please stay safe and stay connected to your Albany UU Community during this uncertain time in the many ways provided online - all described below.
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Learn more about what's happening with UU Kids and Families by reading the Religious Education publication, RE Roundup.
-Blessings and Be Well
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VIRTUAL SUNDAY SERVICE
LIVE on ZOOM
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Service at 10:00 AM
Begin your Sunday morning with Rev. Sam guiding an 8:30 Virtual Meditation session until 9:15. We then have Virtual Service beginning at 10:00 each Sunday and a chance to stay online for virtual "Coffee Hour and Fellowship"
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May 30, “Flower Communion,” Leah Purcell and Elizabeth Baldes
Join us for our annual Multigenerational Flower Ceremony service at 10:00. Bring a real flower with you when you join the service. We’ll hear the story of the first UU flower ceremony and explore its meaning for us today. The children will have a way for us to virtually share the flowers we have gathered.
Music provided by Elena Karpoff, Randy Rosette, Chris Jensen
Those wishing to access closed captioning/live transcript can turn on the function in their Zoom toolbar. To update to the latest version of Zoom, please do that within the software by finding the menu link and “check for updates”.
Use this link to join Sunday service:
To dial in by phone: 1-929-436-2866:
Meeting ID: 299 018 7785
Password: 0000
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JUNE SUNDAY SERVICE INFORMATION
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June 6, “Religious Education Celebration Sunday,” Elizabeth Baldes, Rev. Joe Cleveland, Leah Purcell and Rev. Sam Trumbore
Let’s celebrate this year's joint Albany UU/Saratoga Springs UU online program for children and youth. We’ll hear from the children, their guides, parents and the religious educators and ministers. And we’ll honor our high school youth who are “bridging" from our RE program.
Music provided by Elena Karpoff
June 13th, “Coming of Age,” Leah Purcell and the CoA Youth
The CoA program is offered to our 9th graders to help them articulate their own beliefs and values, and to help them understand what it means to embrace Unitarian Universalism as an adult. Even in this year of the pandemic, CoA youth and their adult mentors met regularly through the year and attended online meetings with Leah. In this service, three youth, Isaac Allen, Katie Myers and Romeo Tilgner, will offer their reflections to the congregation.
Music provided by Guest musicians: Katie Myers, Isaac Allen Guest choirs: Hudson Mohawk Virtual AND the Albany UU Virtual Choir and Musician: Elena Karpoff
Albany UU Virtual Summer Services
The last Sunday of the regular service year is June 13; our summer services start June 20 and continue through September 5.
8:30 a.m. Virtual Sunday Meditation continues through the summer and we will have Virtual Service at 10:00 AM each Sunday. Summer services are coordinated by Randy Rosette, with a delightful list of guests in the pulpit and an opportunity to virtually attend the General Assembly service!
More information about our summer services will be coming soon!
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Sunday Offering
and other service information
The Albany UU Service Year
continues through June 13
Summer Services begin Sunday, June 20, 10:00 AM
Joys and Concerns for Online Services
Need to Talk? Albany UU Pastoral Care Associates are here to listen!
Archives
Past service video recordings can be found here and past sermons can be read here.
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YOU'RE INVITED! REMEMBER TO RSVP!
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We're busy getting ready for Leah's Retirement Party!
Yes, PARTY!
See details below.
RSVP with the number in your family attending to reserve your spot.
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Make checks out to Albany UU with Leah's Retirement on the memo line! |
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UPCOMING WAYS to CONNECT
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Board of Trustees Meeting
Tonight, Thursday, May 27, 6:30 PM the Board of Trustees holds their monthly meeting. Board meetings are open to all Albany UU members. The UPDATED Agenda is here.
Use the service link to join:
To dial in by phone: 1-929-436-2866:
Meeting ID: 299 018 7785
Password: 0000
Start your Sunday Morning with Meditation 8:30 - 9:15 AM
Sunday morning meditation, led by Rev. Sam, begins with a ten-minute talk by Sharon Salzberg or Joseph Goldstein from their course on Insight Meditation. We will sit together for twenty minutes then have some conversation about the talk, meditation methods or experiences followed by a live loving kindness meditation.
Use this link to join:
By phone: 1-929-436-2866
Meeting ID: 299 018 7785
Password: 0000
Philosophy Group
At 10:15 AM every Tuesday, the Albany UU Philosophy Group will meet via zoom to discuss the topic of the day. All are welcome.
Use this link to join:
By phone: 1-929-436-2866
Meeting ID: 987 7102 4708
Password: 0000
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Ps and Qs
Projects and Quilts (Ps and Qs) will zoom next on Wednesday, June 2 at 10:00 AM.
Use this link to join:
By phone: 929-436-2866
Meeting ID: 299 018 7785
Password: 0000
Ministries and Operations Team
The MOT will meet on Wednesday, June 2 at 12N. MOT meetings are open to all Albany UU members.
Use the service link to join:
To dial in by phone: 1-929-436-2866:
Meeting ID: 299 018 7785
Password: 0000
Albany UU Sings
Join your friends and sing your heart out in Virtual Community! We will supply the music and the lyrics.
Last opportunity of the service will be Wednesday, June 9, 7:00 PM.
Hope to see you there.
Use this link to join:
By phone: 1-929-436-2866
Meeting ID: 979 5961 1765
Passcode: 0000
Walker Book Group
Join the Walker Book Group for a Zoom discussion on Sunday, June 13 at 6:30 pm. Join at 6:15 for additional time to socialize. We will discuss Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Refugees. Learn more here.
Use this link to join:
By phone: 929-436-2866
Meeting ID: 299 018 7785
Password: 0000
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IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS!
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Memorial Day
Monday, May 31 is Memorial and most of your Albany UU staffs' virtual offices will be closed. Have a safe holiday!
Rev. Sam Requests Important Feedback
Every year, staff members are evaluated. Part of that evaluation process is collecting feedback from members of the congregation on their employee satisfaction along with comments about the work of employees. This is a great opportunity to show appreciation of them by giving specific feedback about what they have done well. It is VERY MEANINGFUL for the staff to receive this feedback. Your praise matters! And there may be a problem that you’d like to alert us about too. That may also be done on the feedback form.
PLEASE, PLEASE take a moment to use this form to leave feedback for individual employees. Use the form multiple times, once for each employee for whom you’d like to leave feedback.
Thanks in advance for your participation in this yearly cycle of appreciation and support for the good work our staff does.
Rev. Sam will appear in the UUA Board Candidates Forum
The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) Election Campaign Practices Committee (ECPC) will sponsor a Candidates Forum on Tuesday, June 1 at 8pm ET. The two candidates for Board Position #8, the Rev. Sam Trumbore, and Jay Kiskel, will appear. The forum will include statements by, questions to, and discussion between the candidates.
ECPC members, the Rev. KC Slack and Beth McGregor, will serve as moderators. Attendees are invited to submit questions for the candidates in advance by emailing elections@uua.org, or during the forum by entering them into the Zoom Q&A panel.
Racial Healing Monthly Group
The first round of the "Racial Healing Workshop" has finished, and one of the many wonderful outcomes of the group was creating a space specifically for BIPOC members for discussion and connection. We would like to continue that space and open it up to other BIPOC members of Albany UU. We'll meet on the second Monday of the month from 7:00 to 8:00 pm via Zoom. If interested or to get more info, please reach out to Jaye Holly jholly63@gmail.com.
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Offering Albany UU Library Chair needed!
If you are interested in becoming a steward of these resources, please check out the volunteer job descriptions HERE and HERE, and contact Church Administrator, Tammy Hathaway to express your interest: admin@albanyuu.org
Endowment Trust Grants
Each calendar year the endowment trustees use a prescribed formula based on income from its investments to calculate the amount of money available for special project grants. The 2021 granting capacity is $20,000.
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Let’s Lighten Up This Summer!
With the return of summery weather, the decrease in virus infection rate, the peace of mind being vaccinated, and the CDC relaxation of restrictions on activity of those vaccinated, it feels like the pandemic fog is lifting just a bit. Possibilities are visible that haven’t been visible for a while. Theaters are beginning to reopen. People are socializing in each other’s homes. We’re eating out in restaurants with friends again. There are viral threats still out there to be sure. A dangerous variant that is resistant to vaccines could appear. But the technology is in place to respond quickly. We’re learning how to live with the ongoing threat of COVID-19 hoping we’ll not see COVID-21 or 22 any time soon.
It may be only from this perspective that we fully appreciate the heightened stress and anxiety we’ve been through. Parents know it better than anyone coping with children at home 24/7, dealing with online education and social restrictions. Thankfully, now they can be outside playing sports again and resuming somewhat normal levels of activity. The promise of returning to school again in the fall and camps open this summer promises some level of return to sanity.
We just remembered George Floyd’s murder on Tuesday a year ago and the release of rage over the police officer Derek Chauvin’s cruelty and callousness. While we haven’t witnessed the level of reform hoped for or promised, the protests, agitation and the debate haven’t stopped. I’m not sure we would have seen the level of sympathetic response around the country if White Americans weren’t quarantined in their homes and forced to confront what for many Black Americans can be a daily reality of danger and anxiety.
The highly charged Presidential election mixed with the year of pandemic has made us far more reactive. A recent Jeopardy! three time champion named Kelly Donohue was accused of using a subtle white supremacy hand signal during the beginning of the show. A group of over 450 former Jeopardy contestants asked why the gesture had not been edited out of the show and demanded Donohue apologize for using the signal. Donohue said he was simply using his fingers to show he had won three times in a bragging gesture. Whether intended or not, Forbes Magazine states the gesture he used has indeed been adopted by white supremacists as a way to signal their nefarious intent to their fellow racists, while retaining plausible deniability. The source was a prank conceived by dastardly 4Chan users and known as “Operation O-KKK.”
The Democracy threatening events of January 6th also ratcheted up the fear level. Fortunately, that level has gone down enough to have barriers on State Street and fencing in front of the New York State Capitol removed. But the ease with which people walked around the Capitol Building in Washington DC will not return soon, if ever. Four years of daily outrage from the White House pitting us against them has hardened people’s opinions of each other. The concept of civil debate on issues seems impossible in confrontations of vitriolic rage.
This past election was incredibly polarizing. People aren’t disagreeing about tax or foreign policy, the differences between parties are ones of basic morality, core values and character. People are ending relationships with family members over how they view police brutality vs looting. A retired professor, a sexual assault survivor, couldn’t tolerate a continuation of a 40 year friendship when her now ex-friend supported Brett Kavanaugh’s denial of sexual assault allegations with the words, “Oh, you drank the Kool-Aid,” and “Kavanaugh didn’t do anything.” On the other side, a 61-year-old steelworker strongly invested in the values of liberty complained before the election, “The [libs] sold our country out. It made me sick. If this is his core ethics, I don’t want that kind of person in my life.”
How can we hope to cross these divides between people, lower the emotional temperature and find a way to be in conversation and dialogue again? One way I’d like to suggest is by playing and having fun together. What is missing from public discourse is a sense of playfulness and levity, a sense of fun and enjoyment.
Some of you may remember my Sunday service doing laughing yoga. Well, maybe they need to do a little laughing yoga at the Capitol in Washington DC to lighten the mood just a little. Laughter is documented to reduce blood pressure, increase oxygen uptake, improve the immune system and concentration and stimulate better heart health.
In relationships, genuine laughter that is shared can communicate to others that we have a similar worldview, which strengthens relationships. In one experiment, shared laughter had consistent effects on the participant’s sense of similarity and that had an effect on how much they felt an affinity with their partner. Social Psychologist Sara Algoe commented on the experiment, “For people who are laughing together, shared laughter signals that they see the world in the same way, and it momentarily boosts their sense of connection.”
Such is the challenge of today’s polarization because Americans do share quite a lot in common even if they have some strong differences of opinion. It is that super reactivity to our differences that has gone off the charts and washes away so many of our similarities. There are baseline commonalities of being human that potentially serve as bridges between those differences.
So as the summer is upon us, let us be a little less serious and be willing to play with each other just a little more. I anticipate that might help point us toward greater national healing that might even help end the pandemic.
Rev. Sam
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The Albany UU Social Responsibilities Council (SRC) and Inclusivity Team recommend a Black Lives Matter vigil in Troy:
When: Saturdays,10:30-11:15 am
Where: Troy - corner of River Street at the intersection of Fulton and Third Streets, 12180
- physical distance, masks
- signs only, no chanting (except for meditative religious practice)
- the vigil will automatically be canceled if the temperature is 20 or below OR if the wind chill is below 10 degrees Fahrenheit
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The Albany UU Inclusivity Team recommends:
For adults and youth:
Pet, by Akwaeke Emezi. (2019). A National Book Award Finalist, Walter Dean Myers Honor Book, Stonewall Honor Book, and Otherwise Award Honor Book, this is a phenomenal story. "What really makes a monster, and how do you save the world from something if no one will admit that it exists?" This is the question posed on the back cover. Available in the Upper Hudson Library System (UHLS) in hard copy, CD audiobook, and downloadable audio- and e-book format.
For children and all:
Hair Twins, by Raakhee Mirchandanee and Holly Hatam. (2021). A father lovingly takes care of his daughter's hair. Sometimes they match: her bun is like the bun he wears under his turban in the Sikh tradition. Available in hard copy in the UHLS. Not available in audiobook at this time.
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Our Multigenerational Flower Ceremony service is May 30 at 10:00. Bring to your screen a flower – a real one, or a drawing or photo. We’ll share them on screen during this service.
Coming of Age meets Sunday May 30 at 12:30
We'll meet to go over your belief statements and pick out readings for the June 13 service.
Youth are to fill out the poll to pick the story by May 30
Recordings of presentations are due June 6.
Use this link to join:
Meeting ID: 843 1034 5197
Dial by phone
+1 929 436 2866
Parent/Caretaker Support Group Meets Wednesday, June 2, 8:00 PM
Leah facilitates this is a drop-in time for UU parents and caretakers to talk about raising children and youth with UU values. There is always plenty of wisdom in the "room" when we meet. Newcomers are welcome too.
This will be the last Parent/Caretaker Support Group meeting of the year.
Leah Purcell would like to hear from families with children and youth
Leah is checking in with families in the coming weeks. How has the online RE program been working for and your family? How about the online resources and occasional zoom supports? What do you need? How can the RE program and our family ministry make a difference in your lives? Please fill out this form now to help Leah get started with scheduling. Thanks!
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The Treehouse is our own multigenerational community for Religious Education for Children and Youth. Families can find resources to practice UU-ism at home and supplementary materials for RE groups. Everyone - parents/caretakers, children and youth can share their written thoughts, pictures, videos they make. Click here to join: https://tinyurl.com/Albany-Treehouse
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UU WEEKEND AT SILVER BAY
October 15-17
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A Sure Cure For the End-of-the-Summer Blues
This is my end-of-the-summer joy. I don’t mind the winter coming after this glorious weekend. -Darnell Rohrbaugh
It’s tough to watch the summer fly by! Fortunately, the UU Weekend at Silver Bay, scheduled from October 15-17, provides one more chance to enjoy the great outdoors before winter sets in. The weekend offers many outdoor activities including archery, disc golf, nature hikes, boating, hiking, tennis, kids activities, bird walks, and other fun experiences.
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Essential Building Use Guidelines:
The Board and MOT are in the process of reassessing our guidelines for the use of our building. As pandemic restrictions are loosened and more people are vaccinated, it makes sense for us to review the status of our building. We will conduct that review with the needs of both congregants and potential renters in mind. We expect to update those guidelines in the next week or so and thank you for your patience in this important matter.
Learn about submitting announcements to for our virtual Sunday service and how to reserve a Zoom room for meetings and events here.
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Quick Links
Denominational Affairs Links
Helpful Local Links
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Publication deadlines
This is an important reminder that the news and article deadline for Windows Weekly is 9:00 AM on Monday. Thank you for your cooperation.
Sign up for an online class
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First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany
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Office hours:
The Albany UU Office is closed during this time of physical distancing. Sam, Leah and Tammy have their messages forwarded to their personal cell phones and are available by email.
Our Website:
Zoom use
To reserve Zoom for an Albany UU online meeting, contact the virtual church office (518.463.7135 or admin@albanyuu.org).
Photo credit: Rev. Sam Trumbore
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First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany | 518.463.7135 | 518.463.1429 Admin@AlbanyUU.org | AlbanyUU.org |
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