Please send your joys or sorrows to joysandsorrows@uucuc.org any time before the Joys and Sorrows portion of the service. They will be read aloud.

Your contributions and support allow us to continue to respond with love and resources to the needs in our congregation and the wider community. We couldn’t do it without your support and we are grateful to each of you.

Join our online Zoom Fellowship Hour after the service this Sunday

Join us at 11:30 (or immediately following the service) for an in-person fellowship with coffee, beverages, treats, and good conversation in UUCUC's Fellowship Hall.

As of December 8, 2022, the COVID-19 transmission level in Champaign County is HIGH. That means masks will be required in UUCUC's building for all activities until the transmission level drops to Medium or Low. When In-Person Fellowship Hour is scheduled, it will also be moved outside as the weather permits. Disposable masks for children and adults are available at UUCUC, but we encourage you to bring your own masks to wear. Please visit this link for UUCUC’s current COVID Safety Guidelines.

Bookmark our UUCUC Events and UUCUC Calendar webpage for future reference.

Throughout December in our weekly eNews Reverend KB will be offering the UUCUC community a short guided meditation by way of prerecorded video.

Please consider donating to the Little Free Pantries run by AJ Herzog (Champaign) and UUCUC (Urbana). Their Amazon wish list has been updated to include the most high priority items. All orders sent through Amazon are split between the two pantries. You are also welcome to drop off items in person at both locations. Questions? Contact AJ (zogs92(at)gmail.com) or Penne Beckett (penne.beckett(at)uucuc.org).

JOYS AND SORROWS sent to joysandsorrows@uucuc.org for last Sunday, December 4, 2022.

From Sam Beshers: for Dana Antonelli being with us since she was a college student, and for bringing her family along with her.

From Jerry Carden & Time Temple: We are saddened to learn of the death of Lynne Handy. She was a regular at UUCUC, and the Writer's Chalice Circle, during the years she lived in Champaign-Urbana. She created wonderful essays and poetry. Lynne had moved a few years ago to West Lafayette , IN to be closer to family.

From Marsha Clinard: A dear friend and my former social work student and employee, Amy Meyer, recently learned that she has stage 3 bladder cancer. Many of you will remember Amy as she was part of our UU community for a while. Tomorrow she will begin a series of chemo treatments before expected surgery at Mayo next year. Amy wants her friends to root for her. Please send caring thoughts her way.

From Elisabeth: After many years of schooling I will be starting my midwifery clinicals at Planned Parenthood.

From Terri Fredrick: Sending healing thoughts to the mother of Joe Omo-Osagie, who is in the hospital with Covid. Holding Joe, TJ, and David in our hearts as they care for her.

From Wendy Graves: Our daughter Sarah and her partner Joelle got engaged! Our daughter in law will be having our 2nd grandchild tomorrow.

From James Hannum: Keep our family in your thoughts as we travel to Iowa to bury our 42 year old niece, Anna, who died suddenly on Thanksgiving day. Anna was a kind, creative, funny individual and we are deeply saddened by her unexpected death.

From Brienne Hayes: This weekend I am overjoyed to be spending time with several of my partners and closest friends, some of whom I have not seen in months, in Chicago.

From Barbara Hudgings: My youngest granddaughter is 16 TODAY. Happy Birthday!

From Walt McMahon: Eileen Borgia, my partner, had a heart attack last week followed by two stints being put into the arteries in her heart at Carle. She immediately began feeling better, was sent home after a two day hospital stay, and now is essentially back to normal. It was a scare; but with a happy ending.

From Beth S.: David Monk - a peaceful spirit.

From Duane & Nancy Stasiewicz: We are joyful and thankful today to be able to participate -from afar -in the welcoming of your Covid era children.

From Sue Stock: Joy that Anthony’s mom is settled in Arkansas, and joy that Anthony and I are celebrating our wedding anniversary today.

From Lara Breeze Troyer: Lots of JOY from the REE Manager search team of Lara Breeze-Troyer, Kelly Halcom, Terri Fredrick, Carol Veit, and Rev. KB. We are so thankful to have Kelly Skinner here with us!!! We are all in for an exciting time!

From Jenna Zeidler: I will be having surgery on Wednesday the 7th (a good surgery that I am excited about). It would be a great gift to know that my church family is keeping my spouse and I in their thoughts on that day and during my recovery.

Please send your joys or sorrows to joysandsorrows@uucuc.org any time before the Joys and Sorrows portion of the service. They will be read aloud.

UUCUC Social Action Offering. Each month a selected organization is chosen to receive offerings from our congregation. You may donate to the social action offering for the month in one of the following ways:

My name is Brigitte Pieke, and I was the chair of the partner churches committee for 20 years – but I am getting old.

I really love our partner churches congregations in Szekelykal, Romania, and in Nongtalang, India.

This church here in Urbana has a long history with our partner churches in Romania and in India. This congregation has made a commitment to both partner churches.

The UNITARIAN Church in Romania lies right on the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. It has a lot of fruit orchards, and the village lives of farming. When you wake up in the morning, the cows are coming out of their barns and going down the dirt road to pastures outside of the village. We helped them build a community house for their congregation.

The church in India is in the North East in Megalaya and about three hours away from the state capital, Shillong. Culturally, it is in what is called the tribal area of Khasi Hills. This is an area where they have the last working matrilineal culture. Their dream was always to build a new church. The old one was damaged by monsoon floods. We helped the to realize their dream of building a new big beautiful church, where we are remembered each time they hold a service.

Here in our church, we have had wonderful Indian Dinners, Romanian Lunches and Dinners, and snacks during coffee hours. Oh well, people got older (including me) and the pandemic happened. The international partner churches organization is being reorganized. Now it is headed by the Unitarian-Universalist Association. The UUA has experience with the United Nations and other international organizations.

The Partner Churches have survived, we have survived, and the relationships have survived. I went to Romania in 1996 with my daughter. Peri Ceperley (who has passed) also went with her daughter to Romania. And Kathleen Robbins went 4 years ago to Szekelykal. Kathleen also wanted to go to India, but the pandemic got in the way.

The pandemic made in-person contacts more difficult, but it has not destroyed the relationships. With such distant friends, the video component of broad familiarity with things like Zoom has actually made keeping up with what’s going on in our partner churches easier. And definitely “Whatsapp” is a great and cheap resource for people in India and Romania, and for us.

So, out of the challenges of the past three years has come a new and hopeful opportunity. Let’s not forget what the Romanian minister wrote several years ago: He was so happy that they were not forgotten, that people on the other side of the world here in Urbana remembered them, and think about them and their situation in Romania.

What we most need here in this church, is a person who is interested to learn about our partner church congregations and their histories. Who would keep up the contact with them over Facebook, Whatsapp, or Zoom and inform our congregation about their progress. It is a great learning experience. I learned a lot about their lives and their situations. It enlarged my life and I would not have missed it for anything. Think about it. You can always contact me. and I can help with whatever is necessary. My e-mail is available in the membership booklet, or just call the church office.

During the month of October, our shared offering was able to raise $2208.50 for the Trauma & Resilience Initiative.

Trauma & Resilience Initiative is a non-profit organization and community of individuals who are working to help make Champaign County a trauma & justice informed community where everyone has the right to be, become, and belong.

Read our policy on publications for details.

Please send your submittals to pubs@uucuc.org and not to the admin email.

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By appointment on Friday

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