The Communicator
November 2020 Volume 37 Issue 11
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Vote on Tuesday, November 3rd |
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Sunday, November 1st
Please join us on Zoom this Sunday, November 1st at 10:30 AM for our service titled The Virus and the Veil: Samhain in a Time of Plague with special Guest, the Reverend Molly Brewer.
Join Zoom Meeting Sunday at 10:30am
Meeting ID: 891 5048 2747
Password: chalice
Or, follow the link on our webpage for audio only: uucfm.org
This Sunday we will be honoring our loved ones who passed away and our beloved ancestors. If you would like photos of your loved ones to be seen, please hold up the photos at the appropriate time in the Zoom service. A slideshow of our ancestors will also be shown. Thank you so much!
About the Sunday Service
The Virus and the Veil: Samhain in a Time of Plague
In many Pagan and Neopagan traditions, Samhain--coinciding with the celebration of Halloween and All Souls--marks the end of the old year and the start of the new, and offers opportunity for us to honor those who have passed this year as well as our ancestors, both of blood and spirit. Lore tells us that the veil separating the world of the living from the Otherworld is thin at this time of year; and in a year when over 200,000 lives have been lost to a preventable contagion, we must be more mindful than ever of our relationships and responsibilities both to those who have passed as well as to those who continue to live. Join us for an invitation into reflection and remembrance, and let this time of profound loss influence our purpose.
About Reverend Molly Brewer
Rev. Molly Brewer (fae/faer pronouns) is currently serving remotely as the Youth Ministry Coordinator at the First Unitarian Church of Rochester, NY. Prior to that, fae served our UU congregation in Auburn, Maine as their ministerial intern; as a group facilitator with the Church of the Larger Fellowship; and has preached in UU congregations across the country. Rev. Molly lives in Maine with faer husband and two cats, Husker and Widgey.
Thank you to Today's Participants:
The Reverend Molly Brewer, Guest Minister
Suellen Kipp, Director of Music
Mary Cline Golbitz, Worship Associate
Peter Golbitz, Musician
Walter Peterson, Tech Lead
Lesley Peterson, Musician & Tech Team Member
Mark Brandon, Tech Team Member
Jill Carville, Tech Team Coordinator
Carole Latino, UU Dialogues Host
Helen Dixon, UU Dialogues Host
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Community Sharing Partner for November: Alliance for Fair Food
The Alliance for Fair Food (AFF) seeks justice, dignity and respect for all farmworkers as part of a broader vision of justice for all peoples. The AFF works in partnership with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), building a vibrant, diverse national network that takes action in pursuit of fair wages and working conditions for farmworkers through the Campaign for Fair Food. More info can be found at www.allianceforfairfood.org .
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UU Dialogues this Sunday
To participate in UU Dialogues, just stay in the main zoom meeting after the service ends and do not accept the breakout room invitation that pops up.
We will greet newcomers, obtain contact information from guests and visitors, have a general Q&A session with guest speakers and musicians from the service, and most importantly, participate in intentional dialogue. All are welcome to attend this session.
If you'd rather join a breakout room for casual conversation, please accept the pop up invitation after the service. Thank you!
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Welcome New Members!
We are so pleased that you've decided to join us here at UUCFM. If you haven't had your New Member Ceremony and would like to, the next ceremony is Sunday, November 15th via Zoom at the 10:30 am service. Don't forget to invite your relatives and friends to join in the celebration. Please contact Carole at [email protected].
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Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees wishes to recognize the excellent service provided by the UUCFM Staff. Much gratitude goes to Jill Carville, Mickey Kellam, Suellen Kipp, Liza Kellam, and Alberita Johnson. During the multiple crises of 2020, our dedicated Staff members continue to work on site and at home. They maintain the campus and facilities as the Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra reconfigures and enhances the Sanctuary and performance technologies; they continue to facilitate internal and external communications, and, most importantly, they assure that the Sunday Services and UUCFM Programs are vibrant and reliable, so that we are able to connect with each other. YOU ARE GREAT! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
The Membership Committee is rejuvenating, thanks to Suzanne Ziemer and Carole Latino. New people tune into a Sunday Zoom Service, and they are able to talk with UUCFM members during UU Dialogues after the Service. We are adapting to the Zoom medium and fortifying Membership outreach.
Which inspires a gratitude song to the Tech Team. Coordinated by Jill and relying on the hearty volunteers: Walter, Lesley, Mark, Suellen, Holley, and Allie, they handle the new technologies necessary to broadcast the Services and integrate myriad video, audio, and recorded formats. Woohoo we are glad you do!
Helen Dixon is practically an honorary Staff member. She faithfully volunteers on Tuesdays and does the UUCFM banking business then. She is the Treasurer for the GRACE Project, and she has agreed to chair the Social Justice Committee. Hurrah Helencita!
Finally, the BoT has named Genelle G. Grant as Volunteer of the Month for her extensive work on the Personnel Committee. According to UUCFM Employee Policy, when there is no minister, the supervision of the Staff becomes the responsibility of the Personnel Committee.
The UUCFM Community is moving into the future with open eyes, looking at alternatives and opportunities and always grateful to the dedicated people who give, guide, and want to grow together.
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From Our Membership
Leslie Gatto is a current Sunday Worship Associate and has been a loyal active member since 1995.
"I continue to stretch and grow spiritually and socially in this community of supportive friends."
Hugs, Leslie
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Survey Link
A survey will be sent out to all UUCFM Members, Friends, and Visitors on Friday, October 30th. Please help the Transition Team by answering these important questions which will help us move forward into the future! Each adult household member may use the link to fill out their own survey. If you don't receive the survey email, please contact the church office at [email protected], and we will send you the link. Thanks!
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CUUPs Samhain Circle
Merry meet and a blessed New Year to you and your kin! This year we have lived through the greatest crises of our generation. The state of our politics, environment and our very health has changed radically and in ways we could have never expected. It has caused us to question not only what we have witnessed, but who we are and what we stand for. This Samhain we call to the wisdom of those who have gone before to guide us forward and lead us to a higher vibration as we navigate these times of great challenge
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Join us, (via zoom), the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans in Fort Myers on November 1st, 2020 at 6PM as we honor the legacy of our beloved dead and seek their wisdom to move through the year ahead. Blessed Be.
Please find the zoom link below:
Topic: CUUPS - Samhain Circle
Time: Nov 1, 2020 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 891 7804 7479
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UUCFM & Caloosahatchee Book Study
We began our new book on October 28th. The title of the book is Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World.
"A guidebook for how to use mindfulness to build our inner strength, find balance, and help create a better world."
We are now meeting on Wednesday from 10-11:30 AM on Zoom. For more information and to join, contact Helen Leddy at [email protected].
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Social Issues Book Study
The Social Issues Study group meets on Zoom on Wednesdays from 1-2:30 p.m. We are reading Caste. Contact [email protected].
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South Fort Myers Food Pantry
The board and volunteers at the Food Pantry say thank you for the food that you have dropped off during these very difficult months.
The best times to drop off food are 9 AM or 4 PM on Monday at the pantry itself, located at 8260 Cypress Lake Drive, Fort Myers in the back of the Cypress Lake Presbyterian Church. Any size donation will be accepted. Most needed foods are peanut butter & jelly, cereal, breakfast bars, canned fruits and vegetables, pasta and tomato sauce, protein-rich soups and beans. Please, no glass containers.
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Caring Network
If you or another member of the Congregation needs some extra attention during this time, your Pastoral Care Committee is here to help as much as we can while keeping us all safe and protected. Our Committee members include Mary Faegre, Joan Hickok, Mary Tracy-Sigman, Patricia Vivier-Naidl, Holley Rauen and Suzanne Ziemer.
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If any members of the Congregation are available to help during this crisis, please contact Mary Golbitz. We can connect with you individually by phone if you are feeling isolated and offer other assistance. Please contact Mary Golbitz for information or assistance at [email protected] 207 479-4082 (phone or text) or Holley Rauen at [email protected] or
239-464-6556.
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Our UU Story
Unitarian Sarah Hale
Campaigned for Thanksgiving Day
Thanksgiving was first declared a national holiday by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, at the height of the Civil War. It was what some historians call “the invention of a tradition.” Lincoln saw the promotion of this holiday as one part of the birthing of a new American nationalism following the carnage of the war.
Lincoln was responding to a 17-year campaign by Unitarian Sarah Josepha Hale, reports Rev. Bill Sinkford, Portland. Yes, our religious fingerprints are all over even this element of the American narrative. It was letters from Sarah Hale to Lincoln that convinced him to call for a national day of thanksgiving.
Sarah Hale has a remarkable list of credits to her name. She is the author of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” edited the very popular Godey’s Lady’s Book for 40 years, led fundraising for the Bunker Hill monument and the restoration of Thomas Jefferson’s Mt. Vernon, and penned an early (and commercially successful) anti-slavery novel.
The Thanksgiving holiday has roots in harvest traditions shared by cultures around the world and in the European American history of New England. Most of us know the idealized story of the Puritans and that first Thanksgiving they shared with the Wampanoag tribe.
In 2016, the UUA General Assembly passed a resolution titled Thanksgiving Day Reconsidered, "which calls us to begin telling more of the truth of the genocide and theft of land that made possible European colonization".
Professor George Tinker, Professor of American Indian Cultures and Religious Traditions at Illiff School of Theology in Denver, writes: “America has a European history of violence that has been unaccounted for and even at times rigorously denied. … When the first Europeans came to the Americas—the Spanish to the Caribbean, the English to North America—they came with clearly preconceived notions of conquering indigenous peoples, and theological and intellectual grounds for justifying and legitimating their exercise of violence. In New England the Puritans were the ‘new Israel,’ self-righteously displacing the aboriginal Canaanites [the native peoples].”
Ms. Hale was born Oct. 24, 1788, in Newport, NH, and died April 30, 1879, in Philadelphia, Pa. As the first female editor of a magazine, she shaped many of the attitudes and thoughts of women of her period.
Edited by Joy F. Sokeitous
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Member to Member
For Sale: Contemporary Recliner and Ottoman
$75.00 for both
For Sale: Yamaha PSR-320 Keyboard (Portable) -- $100.00
Included:
Keyboard
Music Stand
Keyboard Cover
Keyboard Stand
Carrying Case
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Socially Distanced Saturdays Series
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Nov 1 Barbara Moreland
Nov 2 Miriam Jones
Nov 6 Carolyn Thompson
Nov 11 Nancy Hutchins
Nov 21 Mary Murray
Nov 23 Mary Dryden
Nov 28 Bob Krieger
Nov 28 Jennifer McFadden
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Did you know your purchases can help us? Amazon Smile donates to UUCFM when you do your online shopping by following this special link to Amazon:
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Board of Trustees & Staff |
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President Lesley Peterson
President Elect Lane Cook
Secretary Ruth King Fotovat
Treasurer Pati Maier
VP Ministerial Services Keith Hamlin
VP Operations Dorothy Van Howe
VP Programming Toni Latino
Member at Large Genelle Grant
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Please send all newsletter articles by Wednesday at noon for publication in Thursday's newsletter. Send articles to [email protected].
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