This Sunday we take a UU virtual road trip Downeast and visit our UU neighbors in Belfast, Castine, and Ellsworth. On Sunday morning we will provide links to each of these Zoom services for you to choose as the spirit of life moves you! You can check out these congregations in advance of Sunday by visiting their websites here: Belfast UU , Castine UU, and Ellsworth UU. Services will take place at 10:00 am and 10:30 am.

Blessings for peaceful, calm, and safe Memorial Day observance, First Universalist friends.

With love and sunshine,

Gwen, Sam, Andrea, & Rev. Hillary 

Be an informed voter at the annual meeting (on June 13th)! Attend the informational meeting on Sunday, June 6, prior to worship at 9:30 am, for your best chance to ask questions about the revenue and expense plans that begin July 1. The Stewardship Committee would love to see you!

Join the Informational Meeting on Zoom

To dial-in to the Zoom meeting, please call: 1-646-558-8656

Enter the meeting ID: 842 6537 5999 and passcode: 604091

Have you done a bit of yard tidying at home? Ready to love up the church land now too? (Let’s keep it looking great all summer so we’re ready for that hopeful September Ingathering!) Join us on Saturday morning (yup, tomorrow) around 9 am. Please come with mask, gloves, and the usual tools. We will fluff, weed, snip, edge, and in various other ways be walking on sunshine! FMI: Sarah Witte at sarahcoffinwitte@gmail.com.

This year's flower communion will take place both online, with a 10:30 am worship service, and in-person, outside, at First Universalist at 12:00 pm.

What is a flower communion? It is an annual ritual in Unitarian Universalism that celebrates beauty, human uniqueness, diversity, and community. Originally created in 1923 by Unitarian minister Norbert Capek of Prague, Czechoslovakia, the Flower Ceremony was introduced to the United States by Rev. Maya Capek, Norbert's widow. In this ceremony, everyone in the congregation brings a flower. Each person places a flower on the altar or in a shared vase. The congregation and minister bless the flowers, and they're redistributed. Each person brings home a different flower than the one they brought. Learn more about the history of the flower communion.

Join the meeting on Zoom (password: COMMUNITY). During the Annual Meeting, we will receive reports, highlights, and voting members of the congregation will vote on candidates for the Board as well as the budget for next year. We will also celebrate a year of living our mission: EXPLORE-EMBRACE-ENGAGE!

What brings you joy? My brother, my friends, my cats, my gardens, and my home in the country all bring me joy.

Why did you choose First Universalist as your spiritual home? After many years affiliated with a much larger church, I am finding the people of First U to be warm and welcoming without being overwhelming. And we have a very cool minister.

Where do you find a sense of calm or peace? I am most at peace in my garden, on the beach or elsewhere in nature, and meditating.

What are you most proud of? What are you most passionate about? I am proud of (and passionate about) working with injured, ill, or frightened cats at Midcoast Humane and helping them find their forever homes. And being able to take an uneven manuscript with promise and transform it into an enjoyable book. My secret desire is to edit a best-seller.

My pronouns are she/her/hers, and I prefer "Jennifer" to any nicknames.

General Assembly (GA) is the annual gathering of Unitarian Universalists from around the country. In the words of UUA President Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, "It is where we engage the governance and business of our Association, explore the theological foundations of our faith, learn together, worship as a larger community, and discern the ways we are called more deeply by our mission and principles. a great way to connect with UU's from around the world."

GA will be virtual again this year, making it easier and more affordable to participate. There are also several events that are open to the public. General Sessions, Service of the Living Tradition, Synergy Bridging Worship and Sunday Morning Worship will be streamed live and publicly accessible; registration is not required to view these events!

Click here to learn more or to register.

Did you know? First Universalist is allotted three delegates who are eligible to vote on the business matters at GA. If you are registered or plan to register soon, are a First U Member, and are interested in being a delegate, please email Joanna at jslandsman@gmail.com.

An online version of coffee hour plus a chance to connect and discuss themes that arose during the worship service. Click to join and enter password COMMUNITY.

The day is bright, there's a light breeze, and you feel comfortable in your body and peaceful in your soul. In the distance, you can hear people chatting, enjoying the day. More present is the sound of gentle, moving water. You pick up the book you were starting to read and while you feel present in this moment, you can still look forward to discussing it this fall amongst friends. 

What book, you ask? Why, a First U summer read! This summer, you'll have the opportunity to read one (or both!) suggested books and then be able to participate in a book discussion when we gather together again in the fall. 

Our two books, chosen by your RE Council, are:

We'll be ordering copies of these books through our local bookshop, Royal River Books on Main Street in Yarmouth. Please write to Gwen (gwenatfirstu@gmail.com) by Sunday, June 13th if you would like to reserve a copy. We will receive 10% off for special ordering through the store (as opposed to a big-name website) and an additional 10% off with the store’s book club discount. When the books arrive we will let you know, and you can pick up and pay for your copy at Royal River Books under the name "UU Book Club." 

The Maine Legislative session is drawing to a close on June 16. Hundreds of bills will be voted on. If you care about the following, please CALL your legislator and tell them how you feel. These are some bills that MUUSAN has been working on. More information and other options may be found at MUUSAN.org under Legislative Action.

LD 1708 — An Act To Create the Pine Tree Power Company (also known as the Consumer-Owned Utility bill).  

LD 983 — An Act to Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue to Promote Land Conservation, Working Waterfronts, Water Access and Outdoor Recreation (also known as the Land for Maine’s Future bill). Sponsor: Senator Cathy Breen of Cumberland

LD 554 - To establish equal tribal gaming rights. (This is the only tribal sovereignty bill that may be voted on before the session ends.)

LD 718 - To provide MaineCare coverage to immigrants currently excluded only because of their immigrant status.

LD 1668 - To close Long Creek and redirect its funding to youth treatment programs.

LD 858 - To find a more effective and more humane response than reincarceration when someone violates the terms of their probation by using drugs or alcohol.

REMEMBER TO WEAR ORANGE for gun safety June 4th-6th: https://wearorange.org/go-orange/.

Our church community is almost entirely Caucasian.

It is often true that when one is part of something or very close to something that we do not have an objective view of that which we are part of. It is often through hearing from others who do not share our experience that we can learn about our experience as seen by others..

So what do we know about Whiteness?

The Anti-Racism Daily, dated 5.21.21, lets us explore whiteness.

The Anti-Racism Daily exhorts us to learn about the social and historical construction of whiteness, asks us to educate ourselves about the benefits of whiteness, provided by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and encourages us to take steps to disrupt and abolish race and whiteness.

The theme of the Anti-Racism Daily is a request that whites consider: How does being white grant certain privileges? How might white people experience oppression through other social identities, e.g., class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ability, etc.?

Those of us in the small Anti-Racism learning groups can discuss what we learn from reading and thinking about these topics.

WILLIE DUNN'S THE BALLAD OF CROWFOOT

As readers of Channels know by now the May worship theme is Stories.

Stories can be presented in many ways: spoken word, written as prose or poetry, acted out or sung, etc.

Music buffs and those interested in Indigenous story telling may enjoy diving into Canadian Indigenous music with a singer / songwriter who has been compared as a story teller to Bob Dylan, Buffy St. Marie and Leonard Cohen. Click for Willie Dunn’s musical story, The Ballad of Crowfoot.

Dunn, is of Mik’maq, Scottish and Irish decent. Between the 1970s and 2000’s he wrote and performed music with themes highlighting the indigenous struggles in Canada, which are similar to the struggles of native people here in Maine and elsewhere in the US.

Listen to Dunn’s song about the Ballad of Crowfoot, an indigenous chief, and about Charlie Wenjack, the 12-year-old Anishnaabe boy who in 1966 ran away from a residential school near Kenora, Ont., and died from starvation and exposure to the elements.

There is also a recently released anthology to Dunn’s music entitled Creation Never Sleeps, Creation Never Dies: The Willie Dunn Anthology.

In honor of our 7th principle, this week’s offering is inspired by our recent 3D offering, Come Hell or High Water: The Battle for Turkey Creek. Led by Derrick Evans, an advocate for environmental justice, Turkey Creek, a tiny village on the Mississippi gulf coast, stands up to powerful corporate interests in their struggle for self-determination and environmental justice still recovering in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil disaster. Over time, they are securing their future by placement on the National Register of Historic Places. Derrick has asked us to send our Turkey Creek support for this work to his Turkey Creek church, Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church.

Please offer your gift by clicking the "Make Your Offering" button below (to contribute via GiveButter), dropping a check or cash in the mail, or sending via your bank's bill pay feature.

During Wear Orange Weekend, there will be virtual activities as well as a few covid safe events across Maine. This is an opportunity to continue to highlight the crisis of gun violence and bring educational awareness to our communities. We wear orange to be seen, and demand that we be heard. Visit the Wear Orange website to learn more about the movement and its history. Support this initiative by going orange.