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Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington, Indiana
Congregation founded 1949 | LGBTQ Welcoming Congregation since 1995 | Green Sanctuary since 2007
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Seeking the Spirit | Building Community | Changing the World |
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Join us for online services
Livestreamed on Sunday mornings at 10:15 am
We are also meeting in person in our Meeting Room.
All are welcome.
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Hearing assistive devices are now available at the AV Tech booth in the rear of the sanctuary for use during Sunday worship services.
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New Guidelines from NEST Coming Soon
The NEST (Next Steps in Transition) working group will provide updated guidelines about re-opening in the Friday Update on Friday, March 18.
The NEST Working Group: Jane McLeod, Abby Gitlitz, Michele Grove, Judy Klein, Ann LeDuc, Dan Lodge-Rigal, Sarah Sanchez, Melinda Swenson, and Reverend Mary Ann Macklin.
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Sunday, March 20, 2022
10:15 a.m. In person and Livestream
Spring Equinox Celebration:
A Time for Renewal
Reverend Mary Ann Macklin
Reverend Bill Breeden
Reverend Emily Manvel Leite
Our Children's Choir, directed by Jill Courtney
We hope you'll be with us in person or on-line to mark the turning of the seasons and the change that is happening all around. We will share a Frog and Toad story and reflect together upon our renewing community. If you are joining us from home, please gather: a dry leaf, a seed (from outside or from a fruit or vegetable), a candle or candles, paper and a pen to join in with this embodied worship experience. Our children's choir will share the Garden Song ("Inch by Inch") by David Mallett.
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Wednesday, March 23, 2022
6:30 p.m. In person and Livestream
We Are Not Alone: A Covid Commemoration
Bloomington Multifaith Alliance
Join us in our Meeting Room or online to mark two years of collectively living through the Covid 19 pandemic. We will be reflecting upon our experiences of Covid and especially remembering those we love and have lost to the pandemic. All three of our UUCB ministers will be participating, along with religious leaders from several other communities. Sylvia McNair will be singing. If you would like to offer a name or names to be read in this service and held in our awareness, it would be helpful to arrive a few minutes early to share them or to email them in advance to Reverend Leite (leite (at) uubloomington.org). There is a lot for each of us to hold from this time. In this service, we will offer space to hold it gently in community.
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Our Folks...
Our thoughts of sympathy and healing are with Cindy and Bill Lonnberg, on the passing of Cindy's mother Eugenia (Gene) Groves on March 7. She was a lifelong resident of Chrisney, Indiana, and is survived by her husband Joe Groves, to whom she was married for nearly 77 years.
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Covid Memorial Visiting Hour
Sundays, 12 noon-1 p.m.
Covid Memorial Visiting Hour, Noon to 1 pm
Each Sunday, in the coming weeks, our sanctuary is open from 12 noon to 1 pm to those who would like to visit our Covid Memorial Installation.
Join Us in Expanding the Memorial before March 23
We are starting a push to get as many numbers as possible recorded in our Covid Memorial Installation before our Multi-faith Covid Memorial service on March 23 at 6:30 pm. If you are able to do a roll or two in the coming weeks, it would be greatly appreciated. To volunteer, sign up here or email Reverend Emily at leite(at)uubloomington.org.
Come Write in Community
Beginning this Sunday, March 13, we will also be writing numbers for our Covid Memorial Installation in community on Sundays. We will gather after the service and continue for about an hour. Everyone is welcome to join if you prefer writing in community.
Each Sunday, for the next several weeks, we will be opening our sanctuary to those who would like to visit our Covid Memorial Installation. This is an opportunity to be in the presence of the numbers we have written so far, sharing a time of silence and reflection.
In keeping with our current guidelines for gathering, visitors are expected to be fully vaccinated and also boosted if you are over 12 years old. Please wear an n95 or kn95 mask. If you do not have one, one will be provided.
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Emily’s Post
Dear Ones,
Change is happening all around us--so quickly it can be hard to adjust. I don't know about you, but my body is still protesting the change to Daylight Savings time. In the same moment, the warmer weather and crocuses are welcome, and the shift to less mask-wearing in Monroe County is a little anxiety-producing.
So much change!
Today we are welcoming Reverend Mary Ann Macklin back from her sabbatical month and entering into the season of her leave-taking, as we enjoy these last months of her ministry here and prepare to say goodbye at the end of June. More change!
As we go through these many changes together it will be especially important to be in community--so we can support one another even while we may be having different responses to all that is happening. Please--lean in. Seek connections and opportunities to be together. We welcome your presence.
It is a joy and a wonder to be renewing our community with you.
With all my love,
Emily
Reverend Emily Manvel Leite
Minister of Story and Ritual
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Note from Rev. Bill
Be sure to check the March 18 Friday Update for new guidelines from our Next Steps in Transition (NEST) group. Our Covid protocols are going to be changing.
Spring appears to be winning the tug of peace with winter. It is time to come back to church. We hope you will rise and shine and join us for morning worship. You are vital to the life of this congregation, and in the continued work and play of Seeking the Spirit, Building Community, and Changing the World. Some may consider such a mission as one of madness, but it is our kind of madness and gladness.
See you on Sunday.
—peace, Rev. Bill
Reverend Bill Breeden
Minister Emeritus
breeden1949 (at) gmail.com, phone 812-360-1779.
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From Michele Grove
Resmaa Menekim begins chapter 18 of his book, My Grandmother’s Hands with these two quotes:
“Healing must be collective, both in its process and benefits.”
WILLIAM OLIVER
“No matter what accomplishments you make, somebody helped you.” ALTHEA GIBSON
The Unitarian Universalist Bloomington community is gathering in person in more ways than it has in two years. It has been a slow and thoughtful process which values those in the community.
For many people who come to worship or a UU Bloomington gathering, what they expect to experience after the pandemic isolation does not prepare them for what they actually experience. Yes, there is joy! Often, there is also overstimulation, unsureness. Tentativeness, anxiety, fear and grief are present and powerful companions. We find that it is not the same as it was 2 years ago. We find that we have all grown while being apart. And we discover that the community has also grown in its own identity. We have missed a great deal.
Menakem’s selected quotes can guide us as we make small baby steps back to UU Bloomington. We are a community with its own identity. You are an important part of that identity. And we are here to help and be helped by each other. It is in the fabric of this community’s nature. For your thread in this fabric – thank you.
Dr. Michele Townsend Grove
Interim Religious Education Consultant
Resmaa Menakem, MSW, LICSW. My Grandmother's Hands (p. 237). Central Recovery Press, LLC. Kindle Edition.
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Adult Religious Education Upcoming Offerings
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Building
Religious Education Communities!
Michele Grove and Stephanie Kimball are working on creative ways to volunteer with children and youth religious education that fit into your schedule and provide a way to connect with the UU Bloomington Community. We would love to partner with you in ways that work for you and your family. Please fill out this survey and let us know about your interests and availability. We will then be in contact as we develop learning communities!
On Saturday, March 26, we will host the inaugural Religious Education Development Team which is designed to work with the religious education staff to dream, create and implement lifespan religious education opportunities. We will meet in person with an online option for those who wish to meet with us virtually. Mark your calendar for March 26th from 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon. Attending this meeting does not commit you to a longer term. This first meeting is for dreaming into the future and we need everyone who has passion and energy to be a part of the start!
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The Religious Education Transition Team--
Dreaming our Religious Education Future
In April, Beth Lodge-Rigal, Drew Schrader, Stephanie Kimball and Michele Grove will lead creative social events with added opportunities to share your UU Bloomington religious education dreams.
Social first! Dreaming next! The first event is for children and youth on Sunday April 3rd during religious education classes. We know that the children and youth have some of the biggest dreams and we would like to hear these first.
Religious Education meets during Sunday morning worship. Anyone between the ages of 3 and 13 is welcome to join us! Watch for more information in upcoming Friday Updates.
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Religious Education Update
Ages 3-13
Please register your child(ren) for Spirit Play (ages 3-7) or IMUU (ages 7-13). Registration helps us know how many adult volunteers will be needed, AND tells us who we need to contact in case of unexpected changes.
On Sunday mornings, all children and teachers will meet in Fellowship Hall when they arrive between 10am and 10:15 for a special gathering activity, then we’ll go to our classrooms together from there. Masks required. We look forward to seeing you!
Volunteers needed
Please use this form to tell us how you would like to engage! Many options are available.
--Stephanie Kimball, Religious Education Coordinator
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UU Humanist Forum Meets
Sunday, March 20, 12:45 pm
Every other Sunday at 12:45 pm, our UU Humanists meet together online on Zoom for discussion. On March 20, Elof Carlson will lead a discussion on "Unintended Outcomes of Our Beliefs." Email Ann Watzel if you would like to join the discussion.
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UU Freethinkers Meet Sunday, March 27, 12:45 pm
The UU Freethinkers bi-weekly meeting creates the opportunity for participants to raise questions and engage in open and non-structured discussion of issues of social, political, and theological/religious concern. Every other Sunday via Zoom at 12:45 pm. To join, contact Ann Watzel.
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First Monday Poetry Group Meets April 4, 10:00 am
The First Monday Poetry Group, originally organized by Bob Taylor, meets the first Monday of each month at 10 a.m. via Zoom and welcomes all. Bring a published poem to read for the group to discuss. Contact Linda Pickle (linda.pickle [at] wku.edu) to receive the Zoom link.
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Shambhala Meditation on Zoom on Mondays
Every Monday at 12 noon online, you can join Sarah Flint in this 2500-year-old practice of cultivating peace and inner wisdom. Contact Sarah Flint to join the group in real time on Zoom.
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Open Mind Zen at Friends Meeting House
Open Mind Zen with UU member Sensei Frank Seisho Diaz meets weekly at the Bloomington Friends Meeting House. If you'd like to participate, visit openmindzenbloomington.org and click on the "Welcome" tab for more information.
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Special Performance of EXODUS April 7-9
Jewish Theatre of Bloomington invites us to attend Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre's production of EXODUS, at The Tarkington at The Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, April 7-9, 2022. An emotional story of love and sacrifice, EXODUS is a spiritually rich pre-Passover event to enjoy and celebrate. Ticket information here.
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Refugee and Immigration Support Seeks Job Leads for Mr. Fakherduin
Our Refugee & Immigration Support and Education Task Force has been assisting the Fakherduin family of 6, soon to be 7. Having immigrated from Afghanistan last year, Mohammad finally received his EAD-- Employment Authorization Document--just 2 weeks ago, so he can finally begin his job search. He worked in finance for a British company in Afghanistan for several years but does not have a formal degree. If you have any connections that would be helpful in getting him an interview at I.U. or Catalent or anywhere, please let Barb Backler know. It would be great if he could make $20/hour at least. Exodus is hoping they can stop paying his rent in June when his lease is up. It would be good if he could find a job before then.
--Barb Backler, co-chair of RISE task force, bbackler (at) gmail.com
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4th Trimester Team Seeks Volunteers to Support Families with New Babies -- In-person Training April 3
The 4th Trimester Team is seeking participants to help families with new babies. We plan to connect with parents, be a listening ear that is heartfelt, confidential and non- judgmental; offer in-home support such as light housekeeping or babysitting. This is a social justice endeavor sponsored by the Reproductive Rights Task Force to reduce Indiana maternity deaths. Training session Sunday, April 3 at 1-3:30 pm at the church. Learn more here. To register please email Anne at sanctuaryfound@gmail.com or Sally at mcgsally@gmail.com
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MidAmerica UU Region Virtual Annual Assembly
April 30
Register Now! Unitarian Universalists in 12 Midwestern and Upper Midwest states join together to form the MidAmerica Region of the UUA, and our annual Regional Assembly will be online this year on April 30. The keynote speaker is social justice educator, storyteller and speaker CB Beal. Included will be worship, the annual business meeting, a keynote address, and community breakout rooms. Sliding scale registration fee between $25 and $50; scholarships are available. If you would like to be a member delegate from our congregation, registration fee support is available. Contact Iris Kiesling if you are interested in being a delegate, irisfkiesling (at) gmail.com. Click here for details about the meeting.
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Donations for Beacon:
Look for bins at the Portico entrance, list below.
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25% Sunday Non-Pledge Plate Recipient
Nomination Campaign for 2022-23
Applications are Due April 15!
The application form is now available, for those who would like to nominate an agency to receive our 25% of our non-pledge Sunday plate offering from July 2022 – June 2023:
The application deadline is April 15, after which the Social Justice Funds Committee will choose three nominee finalists for the congregation to vote on at the spring congregational meeting on June 12. Our contributions to the current recipient, the Nest Childcare Center at New Hope Family Shelter, total $3349, with 2 more quarters to go. The total donated to last year’s recipient, Monroe County United Ministries Childcare, was $6561! Which local non-profit agency would you like to see be our next recipient?
Contact Denise Ogren, SJFC Chair, at uucbsjfunds (at) ubloomington.org with any questions. The Social Justice Funds Committee: Denise Ogren, Steve Mascari, Jay Sissom, Sarah Kopper, Sandy Davoren. Advisors: Jackie Hall and Rev. Bill Breeden
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Become a Member on March 20!
Church membership indicates your kinship and affinity with this congregation and the larger Unitarian Universalist religious community.
The next membership ceremony is scheduled for this Sunday, March 20 at 11:45 AM in the church library and Zoom. If you are new to Unitarian Universalism, we ask that you complete the Exploring Unitarian Universalism class before becoming a member. Let the Connections Coordinator know if you would like to attend the membership ceremony and become a member of the UU Church of Bloomington. Email Ann LeDuc at connect(at)uubloomington.org or phone (812) 720-3688.
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Mark your calendar for a great workshop--
April 9, 10-11:30 AM! You are invited to a free workshop via Zoom on Conflict, Saturday, April 9, 10 -11:30 AM. Conflict shows up in many areas of our lives.—Global, Family, even in Creativity. This free workshop, hosted by the Leadership Cultivation Committee, will discuss tools for working through Conflict in many different environments. This is an open discussion to discuss where conflict may show up in our lives. Bring a pen and journal for reflection. Suzanne Fodor, (She/Her) CPCC, PCC, Kelley School of Business Executive Coach will lead a panel of UU members in this discussion. Register here.
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Did you forget what you signed up for?
Have you recently signed up for an event or volunteer activity and forgot the details? If so, you can find those details by signing into your Church Center profile and clicking on "My Registrations," then click on the picture next to the event or activity. Lastly, click on "view details" to see all the details of your registration.
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UU Online Book Club April 4
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Your Church Administrative Staff is Available
by Phone, via Email, & Sometimes in Person
Here is how to be in touch with the church administrative staff during their office hours.
Church Administrator Carol Marks, M-F, 10-4, 812-287-9615, admin (at) uubloomington.org. Carol will be at the church building on Mondays & Thursdays. Working from home on Tues, Weds, Fri.
Office Assistant Monica Overman, T, Th, 10-1, Friday 12:30-3:30, 812-322-5546, office (at) uubloomington.org. Working from home.
Office Assistant Mandy Skinner, M, W, F, 10:30-1:30, 812-340-9981, office (at) uubloomington.org. Working from home.
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COVID-19 Vaccination News
Vaccines for Ages 5 and Older!
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Email SCAM Alert
Our ministers, staff, and board members or other members will never send you email asking you for any money besides your pledge payment!
How to Recognize an Email Phishing Scam:
Is the email impersonating Rev. Macklin or another of our staff or ministers? Are they asking you to purchase gift cards? Wait! Don't do it! We will never send you emails like that. To double check, look at the email address of the sender. Is it from an address at uubloomington.org? If not, that's the second good reason to delete it!
Office Hours, Calendar, Deadlines
Office hours: M-F, 10 am-4 pm.
The Church Office can be reached via text or voicemail during office hours at 812-287-9615. Email: admin (at) uubloomington.org or office (at) uubloomington.org. The Church Administrator plans to be in the office on Mondays and Thursdays during March, but please call before you come over, to be sure there is someone here, 812-332-3695.
The Prologue is published on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of each month. Next issue is
April 5. Deadline is 10 am on date of publication, admin (at) uubloomington.org
Church Mailing Address:
2120 N. Fee Lane, Bloomington, IN 47408.
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Details on Membership & Offering
Membership: 561 certified members as of 2/1/2022;
560 current members.
Attendance:
February 6 - 132
February 13 - 125
February 20 - 151
February 27 - 163
March 6 - 122
Non-Pledge Offering:
February 27 $229
March 6 $159
To make a contribution for the Non-Pledge Offering (Sunday Plate), or to make a payment towards your pledge, click on this link to get to our new Giving page: uucb.churchcenter.com/giving
Total to be donated (25%) to The Nest childcare center at New Hope Family Shelter: $96.89
Grocery Card Sales: (Bloomingfoods or Fresh Thyme) $200; Total income to UUCB: $10
Free Money from Kroger!
Fresh Thyme and Bloomingfoods
Grocery Cards Available by Mail
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Did you know that Kroger sends us over $1,600 each year? This is made possible by those of you who participate in Kroger's Community Rewards program. Register your Kroger Plus card online at this link.
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We are also still selling grocery cards for Bloomingfoods and Fresh Thyme by mail. Click here to see what kind of cards and how many are available. Send your check to the church (UU Church, 2120 N. Fee Lane, Bloomington, IN 47408) with a note to let us know the type and value of card(s) you want, and we will mail them to you. You do not need to send an envelope.
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Masthead photo by Linda Mjolsnes. |
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Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington, IN
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