InfoNet: News & Updates
July 31, 2020
Worship Service
Sunday, August 2, 2020
10:30am on our

"Friendship in Pandemonium"
Speaker: Pastor Jack Donovan

  Join the Virtual Coffee Hour for further discussion via Zoom after the
Sunday Service (11am or so), Join Our Zoom Meeting ID: 827 799 4105, password is uusp.

Share the Plate Sunday
Donations will go to our two refugee families who can use a helping hand at this time.
Thank you! (Check our Social Justice below for ways to donate.)
 Check out our Virtual Gatherings & Worship Services page for more information about the programs we are using to bring UUSP to you including our Meditation Sessions and our RE Lessons!



This Week at a Glance:
  Tuesday : August 4: Reading for Meditation: Meg Wheatley's "Turning" UUSP Meditations YouTube Channel
Tuesday: August 4 Zoom Lunchtime Check-in/Chat 12:pm (Summer Schedule).

August 26 - Wednesday Zoom Discussion (10am & 7pm): Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility (for those unable to join Rebecca Wilson’s & Cynthia Patterson’s three sets of discussions on this important book.
August 27 - Thursday: Zoom* Citizen's Cafe' 12:00pm (Summer Schedule) .
Many covenant groups and committees are meeting virtually; contact your group leader for details.
*Zoom links will be sent to all regularly and on the website.
Email Pastor Jack directly to be added or removed from the distribution list.
Building a Community in a Pandemic E-vents
  • Aug 1: 8:30pm Walk/Ride/Drive and Wave: Connect with your UUSP neighbors on walk/ride/drive and wave tour any time on Saturday. Then at 8:30pm, connect with other wavers, share your experiences and pictures if you have them. It's fun and brings a lot of smiles!
  • Join Zoom Meeting Zoom Meeting Link Meeting ID: 918 4796 3915

  • August 3: 7pm Lughnasadh Ritual with Ayliah Cannon and Sabine von Aulock. Lughnasadh, also known as Lammas, meaning “loaf mass.” A northern European and Celtic tradition, the holiday celebrate the first harvest in preparation of oncoming winter. Join us on this virtual journey exploring the harvesting of a personal season of growth. 
  • Join Zoom Meeting Zoom Meeting Link Meeting ID: 943 2091 6252

  • August 17: 7:30pm Cooking From Diverse Cultures, with the Archibalds Join Barbara and Tom Archibald for a discussion of the China Silkroad over which Buddhism came into China about 200 CE. Bring your noodles and chopsticks while we think about living on the route like the tiny Uyghur minority in the world's most populated and homogenous country.
  • Join Zoom Meeting Zoom Meeting Link Meeting ID: 974 8667 5110 Passcode: 056230

We are adding virtual E-vents to our UUSP calendar. Please reach out to Sabine (973-768-3256) if you need help accessing events OR if you have ideas for an event.
Pastor Jack's Weekly Message
Dear Friends,

Have you begun your pilgrimage?  Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, is expected of every seeker of divine peace.  Mecca can be within. For that pilgrimage, I’d follow poet Rumi: “Out beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing there is a field. Let’s meet there.” 

Wouldn’t it be nice to journey there and spend some time, alone and together? Maybe that’s where we’ve been journeying to, for over four months now. Can one learn to reverence sometimes going alone on the greatest journey? Can one learn to reverence sometimes going together? 

Sounds almost trite to ask such things aloud. But they might be the only important questions. 

Excuse me a few minutes, to just sit here before joining those coming to breakfast.

Thanks for being,
Pastor Jack
Religious Education
Children's Religious Education:
August 2, 2020

This month’s theme for Religious Education is  School .
Check out our RE Newsletter , which has some great information




What? - you aren't receiving it?
Please contact RE@UUStPete.org.
For this weeks' lesson from Ms. Trish:

 This Week: The Journey Inward Summary
Focus  : The practice of inward reflection

For this weeks' lesson from Ms. Jeanay :
RE Class Meet up & Chat as we discuss what it is that YOU want to do with our RE into this next semester.   at 1:30p. Zoom Meeting Link

Wednesday Zoom Adult Religious Studies

Fall & Winter
are now being planned
Plans to start September 8
Contemplative Meditation Readings
(Moving to Tuesday)

**How to do Mindful Meditation
  1. Set your alarm for 5 to 40 minutes;
  2. Sit erect, breathe deeply once or twice to relax;
  3. Watch your breathing ease to normal, observing breath come and go;
  4. Count in cycles of ten breaths if it helps you keep observing – or repeat a “sacred” word for focus (e.g., peace, grace, life, thanks, care, see, being);
  5. If deep focus is lost to extraneous thought, feeling, or sensation, note it simply as “thought” or “feeling” or “sensation” and return to your breath or word;
  6. Sometimes, for deeper peace, try shifting attention to consciousness itself or to your sense of being.
  7. When your timer goes off, remain awake.
Social Justice
What Can I Do in the Middle of a Pandemic?
 A LOT!

  • Thanks to those of you who wrote letters to the Pinellas County Commission asking them to fund the $1M they previously committed to the FAST mental health project.

  • Become a protest observer. Working with the St Pete protesters, the ACLU has developed a program for observing the protests. Observers take notes, pictures and turn in their reports daily. An hour long virtual training session is required. To sign up for the training contact Llani O’Connor at 312.952.9379


  • Be an empowered VOTER on August 18. Local elections have a significant impact on the residents of Pinellas County, e.g. mask ordinances, back to school plans, sentencing of Black youth, funding mental health initiatives.
  • Refer to the League of Women Voters’ guide to get ready to Vote in Pinellas County 
  • Watch the recorded Judicial Forum  about the 6th Judicial Circuit Candidates! 


  • Give a helping hand to our two refugee families. Contribute to this Sunday’s Share the Plate. Yes we are having second week. - Thank you in advance for your generosity. 
  • You can donate through our website, under Giving; there are several options.
  • Donate Now! under Other Contributions or Social Justice - Migrant
U USP Community
Facilities Master Plan Report 
Meet the Architect this Sunday 11:15am-1pm via Zoom


Click  here  to read the MASTERPLAN REPORT & view illustrations in advance.

Join the Zoom Meeting, 11:15am August 2nd at  Zoom Meeting Link  Meeting ID: 989 2174 1666 One tap mobile
+19292056099,,98921741666#

for Buildings and Grounds
Write Your Personal Legacy Letter for Family & Friends

By Kathleen M. Rehl
UU St. Pete Legacy Builder

Your estate documents may be in place already. Good. Your legal will and possibly a trust take care of passing on financial assets and material “stuff”. But your far more precious treasures include your values, hopes, dreams, memories, and stories.

My mother’s legacy letter
Shortly before Mom passed, she wrote her Legacy Letter to be read during her memorial service. It’s filled with Mother’s wisdom, gratitude, and deep love. Her letter began:

“To you, my family, who are reading my Legacy Letter, please know how important you are to me and how much I love you. Life has been such a fascinating and interesting adventure with you.”
 

UU St Pete Read:  White Fragility*

Let’s read this book as a congregation and discuss in small groups of 8 to 12 people. Cynthia Patterson will lead a Wednesday morning group via Zoom August 5, 12, and 19 from 10 to 11:30. To sign up, email or call  Rebecca Wilson  or 202 549-6040. 

If we have enough interest, we can add a group on Wednesday evenings and form additional groups at other times - maybe Covenant Groups will want to take up this study. 

*  White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism , by Robin DiAngelo, foreword by Michael Eric Dyson (2018). $16 paperback at  beacon.org  (Beacon Press) or locally at Tombolo Books, 2153 1st Ave S, St Petersburg, FL 33712 Phone: 727.755.9456.

The UUA GENERAL ASSEMBLY Sunday Worship Service RemainsOnline at UUA.ORG/GA/2020 .  
Staying Connected With Pastor Jack & Staff
Pastor’s Open-Air Office Hours:   :   For those experiencing a serious sense of isolation, you are welcome to contact Pastor Jack (352-327-6166)  to arrange a visit online or in the open air at the church.

For members with mobility limitations , upon request, he will be glad to visit with you at any open-air location (eg, backyards, porches, local parks).

Our UUSP staff members will continue their duties in a safe, cautious manner to the fullest degree possible. Our Church Office Administrator is now working from home and can be reached at officeuustpete.org@gmail.com .

During this challenging time, may we remember that we need to pay close attention to how everybody is doing and how we can help.   
Resources within UUSP
Sunday Service Joys & Concerns:   If you have a Joy or and Concern to share in the Sunday Service, this week please email Bill Motter by Wednesday for inclusion, or you can type them into the “Comment/Chat” area on the right of the Sunday Service YouTube screen.  

Helping One Another: Just reach out to Pastor Jack or Patti Hanks, Care Committee so we can help lift you up or lift those that may need it through a message at Sunday Service or just to talk to them.
 
Our UUSP Sermons are available on UUSP's website and our YouTube Channel :  You can see information for our past worship services, since our new website went live under Past Worship Services . All Services from mid-March 2020 - current are available on our UUSP YouTube Channel .
Thank you for your interest in UU St. Petersburg!
From me to you and to those around you Stay Safe and Stay Well!

Kelli DeGraw, part of your Communications Team.
Feedback and suggestions are welcome (pubs@uustpete.org).
Our mission is to be an inclusive , evolving religious community that inspires spiritual and intellectual growth to make our world a better place .
Unitarian Universalist Church of St. Petersburg
727.898.3294