A number of folks have asked what our plans are for the summer, and while the responsibilities of the end of year are taking precedence over our specific planning for the summer, we do intend to take some time for vacation and some study leave.

Study leave is time for us to engage in practices that nurture and sustain our well-being. Study leave may include time to reflect, go on retreat, engage in spiritual practices, read, write, learn, attend training and/or workshops, continuing education, and to begin preparations for the year ahead.

Vacation may be more obvious what it is but it might not occur to some that it means we are away, as in not working, even if we are at home. We need to be able to rest and reset just like everyone else which means we are not reading email or answering texts or otherwise working. If there is an emergency, you can contact Lillian the Church Administrator and she will decide, sometimes in consultation with Board President Stephanie Maslanka, what the right course of action is. If you see us out and about, of course you can say hello. Please do! But let’s not talk about church business or congregational life. Feel free to tell us how your summer is going, what you’ve been doing to protest the government, and things like that.

Whether we are on vacation or study leave, we will also continue to resist fascism, work for justice, and care for our neighbors, because we know it is important to live our UU values all year long, to the best of our ability on any given day. We hope you’ll join us in your own way.

Our hoped for plan is that much of July is full of vacation. In August, we will be ‘at work’ preparing for and then co-leading the pilgrimage to Follensby Pond and preparing for and meeting with the Board over several days for the annual Board Retreat. There will also be some study leave sprinkled in. And, we shall see how the days unfold. This is your last call to register for the Follensby Pond trip, a fundraiser for the congregation and a nurturing experience for those who go with us to ponder our history, reflect while held by the Earth, and connect with other UUs in a deeper way all in an incredibly beautiful place in the Adirondacks.

We are grateful for the shared ministry of this congregation, that includes the Staff, the Ministry Teams, the Board, and Advisory Committees, and lots of volunteers each doing your part.

We hope that your summer includes activities and connections that bring you joy. There will be lots of wonderful things happening at UUSS and we hope that you choose to show up, participate, and connect with others in the congregation. There are so many wonderful folks here! If you need any care and support, please contact the Caring Team member listed in Circuits. Other questions can go to Lillian Johnson, Church Administrator.

With love and care,
Rev. Lynn & Rev. Wendy

Each June the Unitarian Universalist Association holds a General Assembly where delegates from all congregations who make up the UUA, as well as anyone interested, attend general sessions where the business of the Association takes place, worship, workshops, and time for caucus gatherings and other times of connection.

This year, General Assembly is taking place mostly online, with small groups gathering as well. It is a different schedule than has happened before, and there are lots of thoughts and feelings about the changes. Starting this past Sunday afternoon, and concluding today, there have been General Sessions where delegates elected incoming Board & Nominating Committee members, heard and discussed a proposed bylaw change that was voted down as it would not have solved the issue raised, and a business resolution that was passed, that will create a task force to review the processes and support offered that impact ministerial transitions, particularly when there has been conflict or concerns raised.

Today’s sessions are focusing on Actions of Immediate Witness that could result in suggestions for ways that congregations can engage with certain social justice issues. There is also two business resolutions in favor of actively supporting more youth participation in next year’s GA, which will be in San Jose, CA.

There are parts of General Assembly that are open and available to all, whether registered or not. These are available on the UUA website.

However you choose to devote your energy and time this week, may your life reflect the values we share and profess, with love at the center, always. In faith – Rev. Lynn & Rev. Wendy

As we explore Beauty in Community this month, we are reminded, again and again, how grateful we are for the many volunteers at UUSS!

For all who sign up, show up, and serve…. Thank you! For all who are interested in volunteering in the future… hooray!

We hope to see you on Sunday so that we can share gratitude together.

in faith~ Rev. Lynn & Rev. Wendy

Happy May!

Some of you have heard us say that being a Unitarian Universalist isn’t something that can be contained or limited to Sunday mornings, or within the church buildings, or lived quietly at home. It involves living our values in the wider world, too. For many of us, that means connecting with people and organizations in the community that contribute to creating, sustaining, or protecting the world in which we want to live. That was one reason we were so grateful for the community organizations that were able to be part of MayFest, and it is definitely why we are excited about the CommUUnity Gala and Awards Dinner that will be happening in October.

And, this is where you come in. If you can think of a person, business, or organization that exemplifies compassion, or justice, or joy as named in our UUSS mission statement, please nominate them for one of these awards! Are you sure that someone else has already nominated them? Please do so anyway, as that will give the planning team more information. (A link to the short nomination form is in the announcement below with the 125th logo!)

The Gala Planning Team will be choosing our award recipients next week, so that we can confirm their availability for the awards dinner, and include their names on the invitations. Hooray for 125 years of UUSS, and for our neighbors and partners in the community, too! In faith~ Rev. Wendy & Rev. Lynn

As we end a month exploring For All We Cherish and head into a month of exploring Our Living Stories, we share this reading by our friend and colleague, Rev. Leah Ongiri, who wrote ‘Weavers of One Story’:

“Here we are
together
each facing our different human tasks
or maybe the same central one:
to embrace the lessons life delivers
to discern and respond as we grow
to refuse harm and cherish flourishing

May we know ourselves
as vessels of infinite possibility
Holders of each other’s heartaches and tales of joy alike
weavers of one story
in which we each have our part”

May you know who, what, and why you cherish.
May we refuse harm and cherish flourishing, not just for ourselves but for the congregation, the wider community, and all life.

We hope to see you at the MayFest on Saturday, May 2 1-4:30pm. The buildings will be closed but our hearts and the grounds will be open! There will be a fun area for kids! There will be a fun area for listening and dancing to live and dj’d music! There will be wonderful vendors to peruse. There will be food and beverage vendors. There will be wonderful community organizations sharing their work. There will be great things to experience, purchase, raffle tickets to try to win wonderful prizes, t-shirts, and reusable water bottles to purchase that directly helps the church’s financial stability! There will be lots of wonderful people, and even more if you are there, too! And…there will also be porta-potties onsite.

Plan to park further away as Wendell will be closed between Adams and Douglas. If you have limited mobility or have young kids with you, please PLEASE come to UUSS from the Rugby/Douglas side of the buildings and our parking volunteers will happily let you in to our church parking lot. Otherwise-please find someplace considerate in the neighborhood.

The Planning Team has been working hard to prepare. Please come and celebrate!

Rev. Wendy and Rev. Lynn

Gathering with UUs near and far helps us remember we are not alone. You have heard both of us preach this message and now also Rev. Ashley Horan in March and Rev. Cathy Rion-Starr this past Sunday for our cluster service.

It is a lot of work to bring 5 congregations together and we are grateful to the planning team, the music professionals, the religious education and member professionals, the ministers, childcare providers, maintenance and administrative staff, and ALLLLL the volunteers who helped with prep, set-up, worship, tech, beverage and snacks social hour, workshop, and clean-up. It takes a lot of people and a lot of hours to prepare for this joint service. Thank you to those of you who lightened the load.

We turn our attention now to preparing for MayFest! Last August, the Board gave us an Annual Focus of Ministry ‘to make courageous decisions with Love at the center, and take collective action to meet this moment together.’ The AFoM is a way to guide our focus on the church’s broad mission for the year. As we serve the mission (the church has ONE mission and each Ministry Team, and thus program, needs to have some purpose in serving that One Mission)-Connecting in spiritual community, we celebrate life with joy, grow in compassion, and create justice- the MayFest Planning Team has been doing both beautifully!! And so have others!

Many thanks to those of you who have already been helping with the Grounds clean-up, with pop-tents and safety vests, with contributions to the 125th Celebration (if you haven’t, now is a GREAT TIME to do so for $125 or $1,250, or $12,500 or some multiple of any of these or any amount you can afford). We’re also grateful to William Kleinhandler for his bequest for music and cultural events as his legacy will be supporting the music stage.

We hope to see you this weekend and again the following weekend for the MayFest if you are in town! Bring your friends and neighbors!

With gratitude,

Rev. Wendy and Rev. Lynn

Have you felt any change this week?

The days are (a little) longer, the air is (sometimes) warmer, and bright yellow forsythia, meadows of blue-violet scilla, and so many bulbs are beginning to bloom. On a walk this morning, we saw our first flowering plum of the year, a harbinger of hope with soft pink blossoms.

And, there is a lot that is blooming at UUSS, too!

This Sunday, UUSS will gather for worship and a workshop with Unitarian Universalists from congregations in Albany, Glens Falls, Kingston, and Saratoga Springs. We are so grateful to our colleagues, Rev. Cathy Rion-Starr from Side With Love, and Rev. Lyn Cox from the Central East Region staff who will be with us for this special Sunday.

And, in just a short while, on May 2, we have the MayFest CommUUnity Celebration!! Please see the announcements below. We need lots of volunteers and help with spreading the word. Can’t be with us that day? We can still use your help! Stop by the table on Sunday or click on the volunteer link and let us know.

With all the planning and preparation, we also know that it is important to pause… to enjoy the flowers and sunshine; to check in on folks who are ill, or grieving, or recovering from surgery; to contact our elected officials and keep learning how to resist fascism and protect those who are most at risk from unconstitutional and immoral attacks. (That’s why we had a spectacular Seed Feast last week and why there will be a workshop this Sunday!)

It’s so important to be part of a community and congregation that values both pluralism and interdependence, that leans into justice and equity, that practices generosity and welcomes transformation! We hope to see you soon!

 

With love at the center,

Rev. Lynn and Rev. Wendy

In this month of April, we are exploring For All We Cherish. It can take courage to name what matters to us. We can feel a little vulnerable when we name it. So when someone reveals to us what they cherish, let us offer the respect and tender listening our covenantal faith invites us into. Our Program Staff will be sharing reflections this month to share a bit about what they cherish. We hope to hear from you, as well, about what you cherish.

Each year the Board considers what they have heard and learned from the congregation in the past year’s Open Question events, and then creates an Annual Focus of Ministry to guide the work of the Ministers, Staff Team, and each of the Ministry Teams. As the name implies, it encourages us to focus our efforts in a particular way.

This year’s Annual Focus of Ministry is to make courageous decisions with love at the center, and take collective action to meet this moment together.

Sometimes courage with love at the center means trying something new. Sometimes it means setting healthy boundaries. Sometimes it means trying on a fresh idea or someone else’s perspective.

On May 2nd, UUSS will continue to celebrate our 125 years with a Mayfest CommUUnity Block Party! The planning team has been working since the fall, and their ideas and vision for the day are courageous, loving, and will definitely take many hands and hearts to be a success!

This is the first time this congregation has had such a big event for the wider community. There will be a stage with fabulous music, food trucks, activities for kids, and booths with local artists and community organizations. We hope that you invite folks to attend and also to be vendors (selling good, services, crafts) and that you will also volunteer. Please stop by the table on a Sunday morning to sign up.

With anticipation,

Rev. Lynn & Rev. Wendy

Happy Transgender Visibility Day! Whether you are transgender, gender non-conforming, non-binary, genderqueer, or some other permutation of gender fabulousness, Unitarian Universalism affirms YOU!

This is a year in which we are teaching OWL (age-specific health and sexuality religious education). Over the years, so much has changed about gender, identity, expression, pronouns, and labels. Gender identity is different from one’s sexual orientation but they are often conflated. You can learn more here.

In the past year or so, we’ve officiated several weddings for folks who live beyond the gender binary. It is always an honor to celebrate love and we are particularly grateful when folks who are often marginalized by religion, trust us enough with creating a ceremony to celebrate and honor their love, partnership, and life commitments.

Since the inauguration, transgender folks have received cruel harassment and been targeted for despicable legislation and executive orders by this woefully ignorant regime. Those of us who identify as transgender are only about 1% of the population (estimates vary in part because not everyone feels safe enough to come out and because we creative humans keep expanding definitions and expressions and science keeps finding more chromosomal combos) and can be found in all races, ethnicities, times, and places.

Our Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) has long been at the forefront of inclusion and affirmation even when not all UUs have been and certainly not all other religions. Thankfully, more and more people of faith are moving through their biases, through their miseducation, and working towards more faithful ways of being. Back in the fall, the UUA and several other faiths, joined a statement.

After millions marched, chanted, drummed, and showed up to say NO KINGS!, there is more to do to make sure to stop this regime from destroying our democracy, our religious values, and the civil rights and freedoms that have been so hard fought for and won. And it gets easier for transgender folks to be public about who we are when cisgender people use their power and privilege to amplify inclusion and to denounce ignorance, hatred, exclusion, and cruelty.

We are also living in a time of dangerous rhetoric, complicated warring factions, and centuries old conflicts. Just a couple of weeks ago, Muslims ended their month-long fasting as Ramadan came to an end. Pagans celebrated Ostara welcoming Spring. This week Jews will celebrate Passover. Christians will acknowledge Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter. Living into our UU value of pluralism invites us to be mindful of nuance, explore the(*)logical teachings, and be willing to hold complexities instead of falling for either/or perspectives. This is not easy when we are faced with so much bigotry, hatred, and fear. And yet it is what our faith calls us to do. There are UU Muslims, UU Pagans, UU Jews, UU Christians, and more combos and also many of us who are simply and unapologetically UU. Our faith invites us into curiosity rather than judgment; how might the teachings of these faiths inspire and shape our religious journey? What parts do we hold and what do we let go? You can learn more here at our UUA’s list of resources.

In this holy time of visibility, who can you affirm today? How might you use your social media (if you use it) or your email or texting to bring more joy and less suffering today? How might you live your UU values today? Little things can make a big difference.

In solidarity with Love at the Center,

Rev. Wendy and Rev. Lynn

Huzzah!!! What a spectacular Sunday! Sharing a worship service together that included beautiful music (thank you Choir and Maria), a stewardship ritual (thank you Stewardship Team and a couple of Board members), a congratulations from our UUA President the Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, thoughts from our young ones and a few ‘used to be young’ ones (thanks to everyone who contributed their thoughts/memories), a powerful message from our guest Rev. Ashley Horan. You can view excerpts of this worship service (as well as others) on our youu-tuube channel.

Then, folks visited and had warm beverages accompanied by a fun DJ segment of songs from each decade!

And then the fabulous Launch Lunch with incredible decor, a toast and food blessing, a message from our own President Robyn Salvin, delicious food, table talk and trivia, a logo covered cake and other delicious treats!

HUMONGOUS THANKS to all the volunteers who helped worship happen, the transition, and the Launch Lunch Planning Team (Roz and Eric Dahl, Tom Comparin, Bridget Almas, Susan Moore, Rachel Sterne-Marr, Jon Marr, Nancy Bogdanowicz, Kristina Klingbeil, Margie Allen, and the two of us) plus all the additional volunteers who helped with set-up, clean-up, serving, and lending a hand where needed!

We announced at the lunch that Gigi Gabriel-Dillman and her Joyful Girl Art & Design Studio created the wonderful 125th logo above!

If you took photos, we’d love to see them-either by email or if you upload them to an online storage, to send us the link.

Be sure to mark your calendars for the MayFest CommUUnity Celebration Block Party, Sat. May 2, 1-4:30pm (rain date is May 3)!

With gratitude,
Rev. Wendy and Rev. Lynn