UUCGT Flash  
   February 18, 2021   
           

We're into February 2021...
Sun 2/21: SUNDAY SERVICE
Can you hear it?
Fri 2/19: VESPERS
Search Team Report
Music at UUCGT
UU Original Voices Vol 4
UUCGT Calendar
UUCGT Bulletin Board, including another call to action!
Community Needs
End Note
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Congregational
Mission
Statement

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We are a Congregation creating a better world by nurturing the heart and expanding the mind.

We provide a safe, caring community where all can freely explore diverse religious thought. 

We work for justice and equality with the power of compassion and compassionate power.

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UUCGT Quicklinks


   
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UUCGT
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THIS SUNDAY: "SIDE WITH LOVE"

For the Service, the Zoom link is here.

The Service is at 10:30 AM but you can begin
signing in at 10:00 AM to visit!





 

       Sunday's Service                  
                                            2.21.2021


This Side With Love Sunday worship service lifts up these themes: Living Our Values, Hospitality & Inclusion, Educating for Liberation, and Restoration & Reparations. 

What if to "side with love" meant making bold, faith-full choices? What if it were even a little bit scary? 

This worship service brings together worship leaders and musicians from across the country to offer hopeful, moving, challenging reminders about what we, as Unitarian Universalists, are called to do, and BE, in the world.

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Again, the Zoom link for SUNDAY SERVICE is

Sunday's "Reminder" Flash will have a link to the Order of Service, which will be posted on our website homepage at uucgt.org as well.


Sunday Services are automatically recorded and posted to our Zoom account.  Click here to view the Service of February 14; the required passcode is L95+7frh

 
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IT'S HERE, SO NOW IT'S UP TO ALL OF US...

Dear UUCGT Members and Friends:

By now you should have a copy of the beautiful new brochure kicking off our 2021-2022 Fiscal Year Pledge Drive. 

If you've already returned the Pledge Form, thank you! If you've got the blank form that came in the mail, please fill it out and send. If you have not received it, you can download it here.*

Still no pledge form, or no access to a printer?  Please call (231) 947-3117 or e-mail the office and Guy will get one out to you in that day's mail.

No matter how you receive your form, please fill it out and send it to: UUCGT, 6726 Center Road, Traverse City, Michigan 49686

If you send a check to UUCGT FOR ANY REASON, please INCLUDE WHAT THAT CHECK IS FOR in the memo line!  Part (or all) of your Pledge for the current Fiscal Year?  That, please remember, is 2020-2021; we're in that Fiscal Year now and will be until June 30. Our NEXT Fiscal Year, which is the purpose of this Pledge Drive, is 2021-2022 and begins this coming July 1; it runs through June 30 of 2022.
 
If you have any questions please contact one of us on the Stewardship Team.

John Hoffmann, Alison Kadlec, Karl Keinath, Jon Luoma,
Mary Anne Rivers, and Rick Walter


  
*Did anyone - anyone at all - make the hat, the brooch, or the pterydactyl?




 
   Vespers for Peace                       
Join us on Friday evenings for a calming time of
music, contemplation, poetry, and inspiration.
This Friday, February 19, 2021 at 8:00 PM
Begin signing in at 7:30 to visit
  
Sign in to the Zoom Service: Click this link

  
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MINISTERIAL SEARCH TEAM REPORT         
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 Basking in the afterglow of Valentine's Day, we
 ponder the mysteries of love.
 

 Within the writings on the topic there is an
 array of explanations and descriptions. One
 catalog of 12 characteristics of love lists:
 Effortless attraction, Mutual respect,
 Acceptance, Selflessness, Trust, Healing, Growth, Companionship, Communication, Teamwork, Fearlessness, and The Sacred.

With this list in mind, is it going too far to hope for a sense of love with a new minister?  If so, what would be expected or required of us in the relationship?  One important aspect would be Acceptance.  When we are in a love relationship, we accept the person for his or her negatives as well as for positives.  As a result, our perspectives open up and we see and learn things we would not have otherwise experienced.

Love changes us and how we think.  It harmonizes differences and eliminates judgment as we receive and accept love just the way it is.  Love does not demand perfection.  When love is our focus, we tend to overlook the imperfections in our dear ones.

With loving hope from your team,
                                    
Mary, Geoff, Charles, Dusty, Jim, Chris, Jan
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A FEW NOTES
  
This weekend we will share in the thought provoking service "Side with Love Sunday" created by the UUA which centers on the four themes from the Widening the Circle of Concern report from the Commission on Institutional Change.  This Service was created as part of 30 Days of Love, an annual celebration that focuses on bold, courageous action for intersectional
racial justice.

Each of the four weeks has a theme and with it a 'playlist' for individuals to interact with, connected with the weekly theme. The following are the four themes with some of the recommended videos. Reflect on these themes and how they are presented to you. What thoughts and emotions arise?
  • Living Our Values in the World - "We Are Resilient" by Rising Appalachia
  • Hospitality and Inclusion - "everything is still on fire" by Rev. Theresa I. Soto
  • Educating for Liberation - "Human" by Emeli Sandé
  • Restoration and Reparations - "Presence", a Buddhist-inspired practice offered by Rev. Patrice Curtis

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
UU RE on Valentine's Day

We had a Happy shared day together. We talked about what Valentines Day means to each of us and how the sharing of love can broaden like throwing a stone into a pond and the ripple that grows out from it. We each said we want to "grow love" in as many ways as we can. We also talked about what a Beloved Community is and how we can broaden it in our thoughts, prayers and actions. We did a brief loving meditation to breathe in and out to all those we love. And we made a geometric design Valentine's card. We look forward to seeing all of you this coming Sunday.  



  


  
The next issue of 
UU ORIGINAL VOICES is available!
  
Click on the graphic below
to see the newest work
from our creative writing group.

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UUCGT CALENDAR
You can access the calendar online

Rev. Cathy's virtual office hours will return next week,
Wednesday February 24, 12:00 - 1:30 PM.
That Zoom link is here.

Please plan NOT to be in the building at that time; our piano is being tuned!
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UUCGT Bulletin Board 
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SOCIAL JUSTICE ACTION



The Michigan Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence reminds us that Valentine's Day marked the third anniversary of the horrific mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The Parkland shooter used a military-style rifle to take the lives of 17 people and wound 17 others.  Each anniversary of these and other shootings should remind us to ask, "What progress have we made in reducing the risk of gun violence?" Some states have taken action on these issues, but in Michigan we must still answer that question with, "Not much."
 
If you haven't yet, sign our petition to Ban Firearms in our Capitol.
The Michigan Capitol Commission voted unanimously to support a limited prohibition on citizen-carried firearms inside the state Capitol. However, this ban does not apply to the Capitol grounds or to individuals with conceal carry permits. While an important first step, the Capitol Commission has a long way to go. Show your support and urge your representatives to ban all citizen firearms on the Capitol grounds!

Let's make our voices heard and put an end to this dangerous practice!


   

    
POSTPONED:  The "How to be an Anti-Racist" book group will be postponed until mid to late March. Start date TBD. You can still sign up for it now, and I'll keep you posted.
              
Alison Ernst - awa2write@gmail.com


  

WEDNESDAY DINNER GROUP
  
The Wednesday dinner group has tried to stay connected these past months, socially distanced picnicking in the UU parking lot when we could, on ZOOM when it was rainy.  We are going to weekly ZOOM now, 5:30 every Wednesday.  If you would like to join us, contact Mike and Sandra McDonald for the ZOOM invite.  You may bring your glass of wine.
  



 
  
End Note:

(Additional words would be superfluous.)

  
The UUCGT building is closed until further notice;
however the office is again staffed (at least) Tuesday-Friday, 9am-3pm.