Congregation News
Reviving Parent Journey (Discussion group for parents)
Parents regularly ask if UUCPA has a discussion group for parents of children and teens. For many years, there was such a group, called “Parent Journey.” This group was organized and facilitated by parents, and it faded away a couple of years ago when the parents who organized it moved away.
The Children and Youth Religious ...What! No boxes?
Yes, this year we will celebrate the UUSC (UU Service Committee), but we will encourage your awareness and donations all on one day – Sunday, December 15.
UUSC assists people all over the world to work on justice issues in their communities, including women’s rights, climate change preparation, fairness for immigrants, and many other initiatives ...From the Associate Minister for Religious Education – Holidays @ UUCPA
If you’re going to be around during the holidays, there are some fun things happening at UUCPA that you and your kids might enjoy. The No-Rehearsal Christmas Pageant on Sun., Dec. 22, at 9:30 and 11:00, allows kids to participate (if they want to), as we retell the Christmas story from a Unitarian Universalist perspective. Kids ...December 1, 2019 Bulletin
The Brown Bag Book Discussion Group – January 2020 Update
The January Brown Bag Book selection is Tattoos on the Heart: the Power of Boundless Compassion by Gregory Boyle (nonfiction.) It is …“an astounding book and a remarkable testament. No one brings more triumph and tragedy to the street gang story than Greg Boyle. No one brings more conviction and compassion than Greg Boyle. And ...December 2019 Justice Partner Donation Day is December 8
The Justice Partner for December 2019, as chosen by the congregation at the annual meeting, is Ada’s Cafe, the non-profit cafe at the Mitchell Park Library that hires, trains, and empowers people with disabilities. On Sunday, December 8, Erin Fishman will speak in both services about Ada’s Cafe and the entire offering collection that day ...Upcoming Bulletin Deadlines, Dec 8 & 22, 2019
December 8 and 22nd are the next two deadlines to submit items for publication. Send them to newsletter@uucpa.org or leave hardcopy in the church office. Note that we do not publish personal phone numbers/email addresses to safeguard privacy.Canvass Volunteers Needed!
Volunteers needed! Would you be willing to visit with 2-4 people at UUCPA to chat about why you like this place, as well as your hopes for our community? These 30-minute canvass visits deepen our commitments and grow our connections. They also support our annual pledge drive in February. Our goal is to reach ...Join us to Decorate the Main Hall on December 1st
Perform a small service to warm up the holiday season. Join the Grant-Bier family on Sunday, December 1st from 1-4 pm to decorate the Main Hall for the winter holiday season. We will hang lights and decorations, eat cider & cookies, all are welcome. RSVP Lynn Grant (whose contact information can be found by contacting ...Undie Sundays – Bring your Donations – December 1st and 8th, 2019
Undie Sunday, Sunday, December 1st and 8th, 2019 Main Hall, 9:30 & 11:00 am.
Undie Sunday is the time we ask everyone to bring one new set of underwear and a pair of warm gloves, socks, or hat to give to homeless people. For them, these things are difficult to obtain and are particularly helpful ...November 17, 2019 Bulletin
Holiday Bazaar and Bake Sale – Donations Needed
It’s almost that time of year already. The holidays will be here soon and so will our annual Holiday Bazaar and Bake Sale. Do you have like-new holiday decorations that you no longer need or want? Need to get rid of some of the old ones to make room for something new? Bring your holiday ...Amy’s Schedule – Nov 2019
I’m delighted to report that Skinner House Press will be publishing a book I proposed, a guide to running an art-based spiritual exploration group like the one we have at UUCPA on first Sundays. So with a draft deadline coming up, this is a good time for me to take some of my annual study ...Changes in Leadership
In recent months, two board members have had to resign for personal reasons. When a board member resigns, the bylaws call for the board to appoint someone to fill their seat until the next board election at the annual meeting in April. I’m pleased to announce that the board has appointed two fantastic new board ...Navigators Bias-Free Scouting Group
Navigators, our bias-free scouting group, meets twice a month, September through May. Contact Ed Vail at chapter42leaders@navigatorsusa.org to be put on the email list. Read more about Navigators at UUCPA here: Navigators
Upcoming events:
Help Cook for Stevenson House on Nov. 23
Stevenson House is located right next door to UUCPA, and offers low-cost Senior Housing. UUCPA connects with our neighbors by providing a Saturday lunch several times a year. The next lunch is Saturday, November 23, and we can use volunteers of any age on Saturday. Come for part or all of our timeline.
10:00 Help prepare ...Story Time – Second Sundays Between Services
Come join us between services every second Sunday in Room 1 for
UUCPA Story Time, where each month we will read a short story
about a different religion or social issue. Children young and old are
welcome to join us!
After the story, children with their parents are welcome to check out a book bag containing books on different ...From the Associate Minister of Religious Education – November, 2019
Parents regularly ask if UUCPA has a discussion group for parents of children and teens. For many years, there was such a group, called “Parent Journey.” This group was organized and facilitated by parents, and it faded away a couple of years ago when the parents who organized it moved away. The Children and Youth Religious ...Why YOUR Family will enjoy the UUCPA Auction (Sat, Nov 16, 2019)
If you have some time on Saturday, November 16, 2019, consider coming to the UUCPA auction! It’s fun for the whole family. The kids can stay in childcare until the children’s auction, after which they can watch a movie.
Activities for kids include:
5:30 – 7:15 pm
Childcare
Finger foods
Balloon hats
7:15 – 7:45 ...Thanksgiving Intergenerational Service on Nov. 24
We’ll have the annual intergenerational Thanksgiving service on Sun., Nov. 24. The service will be led by Rev. Dan Harper, and will focus on stories of how Thanksgiving has been celebrated over the centuries. There will be dramatic readings and music from long-time Sunday school teachers Greg Becker, Kris Geering, and Beth Nord — and ...OWL comprehensive sexuality education for gr. 4-6
This winter and spring, UUCPA will offer Our Whole Lives (OWL) Sexuality Education for gr. 4-6. Parents who are interested in having their child(ren) participate in OWL gr. 4-6 this school year must attend the mandatory Parent Orientation Meeting on Sunday, Dec. 1 from 11-12:30 pm in Room 4/5. Rev. Dan Harper and members of ...OWL comprehensive sexuality education for gr. 7-9
This winter and spring, UUCPA will offer Our Whole Lives (OWL) Sexuality Education for grades 7-9. Parents who wish to enroll their youth in the program must attend a mandatory Parent Orientation Meeting on Sunday, Dec. 1, from 6:30-8 p.m. Rev. Dan Harper and members of the OWL teaching team will describe the program and ...2019 Holiday Brochure
The Auction is Almost Here (Volunteers Needed)!
UUCPA Auction — Saturday, November 16, 5:30 to 9:00!
It’s less than a week to the Auction! Thanks for all the wonderful donations you have made – parties, dinners, and so many exciting objects! There will be so much to bid on in the Silent Auction (5:30 to 7:30) and the Live Auction (7:40 to 8:45)
We ...The Auction is Almost Here!
UUCPA Auction — Saturday, November 16, 5:30 to 9:00!
It’s less than 2 weeks to the Auction! Thanks for all the wonderful donations you have made – parties, dinners, and so many exciting objects! There will be so much to bid for.
Did you want to make a donation, and just couldn’t meet the catalog deadline? We’d ...UUCPA embarks on Welcoming Congregation renewal process
At an open meeting held on Sunday, Sept. 29, UUCPA kicked off an effort to renew our status as a Welcoming Congregation for LGBTQ+ UUs. The UUA’s Welcoming Congregation Renewal program provides a framework for UUCPA and other UU churches to reaffirm our commitment and respond to the evolving needs and concerns of LGBTQ+ people.
The ...Bathroom Renovation Meeting November 10 at 12:30 pm
We are embarking on the process of renovating the bathrooms by the office in order to make them gender-neutral and more accessible! Please bring your second Sunday lunch to room 6 at 12:30 pm, to meet and discuss what these renovations will look like and what would be helpful for our congregation. Elders, gender expansive ...Sunday Forum is every Sunday from 9 to 10:15 am, Fireside Room
The Forum is a public discussion group in the round. All are welcome. The topics are chosen about a month in advance by the attendees and published in the UUCPA newsletter, The Bulletin (on the front page) and on the web site on the Forum page.
Group members provide additional perspectives, opinions, extensions, tangents, counter positions, ...October 2019 Stewards of the Month
We let this practice lag for several months, but we are now back and will recognize our many wonderful volunteers on the bulletin board between rooms 1 and 2, and here in the newsletter, each month. Our Stewards of the Month are the members of the Adult Religious Education Committee! Kay Brown (chair), Susan Owicki, ...Brown Bag Book December 2019 Update
The December BBB book is Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens (fiction). This book is “painfully beautiful … At once a murder mystery, a coming-of-age narrative, and a celebration of nature.” (NYT Book Review.) “Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the ...November 17 Lunch • All Newcomers Invited!
If you are new or recently returned to UUCPA, please be
our guest for a Newcomer Lunch on November 17 from
12:15 pm to 1 pm in Room 4/5. This is a casual way to get
to know our community and learn about UUCPA activities
that might interest you. We’ll treat you to pizza and salad
with both vegan and ...Smile For UUCPA!
We now have an Amazon Smile account! This means that UUCPA will receive a small percentage of every dollar you spend at Amazon. You only have to set it up once and then it’s automatic. Go to smile. amazon.com and when asked what charity you want Amazon to support, put in UUCPA. After that, whenever ...Upcoming Bulletin Deadlines, Nov 10 and Nov 24, 2019
November 10 and 24. are the next two deadlines to submit items for publication. Send them to newsletter@uucpa.org or leave a hardcopy in the church office. Note that we do not publish personal phone numbers/email addresses to safeguard privacy.November 3, 2019 Bulletin
Put Your Photo in the UUCPA Directory
Photoshoots in October on Sundays 10:30 to 11 am; 12:15 to 1 pm on the path in the back of the Main Hall We have a complete directory of all of our members available to you to pick up in the Office. It has a very valuable listing of the names, phone numbers, addresses and ...Parking at UUCPA
We sometimes get a lot of people parking in the UUCPA lot who are not participating in a UUCPA activity. If it’s Sunday morning or there is a youth activity going on, we ask non-church folks to park elsewhere, usually via a note on their windshield. Usually staff do a sweep late on Sunday afternoons, ...Candy Should Be Sweet, Not Bitter • Buy Fair-Trade Chocolate
Enormous bags of chocolate candies have appeared in supermarkets and drugstores as Halloween approaches. Almost all of them are made by Hershey’s, Mars and Nestle, three companies that have stubbornly refused to remove child slavery from their supply chains. Over a million children worldwide are estimated to work on cocoa plantations far from their families, ...Brown Bag Books • November Update
The November BBB book selection is Biased by Jennifer Eberhardt (nonfiction). “You don’t have to be racist to be biased. Unconscious bias can be at work without our realizing it, and even when we genuinely wish to treat all people equally, ingrained stereotypes can infect our visual perception, attention, memory, and behavior. This has an ...Help Wanted: Everyone!
It is a core part of Unitarian Universalism that a congregation is run by its community members. Every day there are volunteers helping to run UUCPA at every level, from cooking, gardening, and providing audio/visual services; to serving on and leading committees and the Board of Trustees. While some are able to spend significant hours ...The 2019 UUCPA Auction Is On the Way!
It’s getting close to Auction Time – November 16, 2019 is just about a month away!
The Auction is such a great party – delicious food, wine, live music, and plenty of fun for the kids. There will be lots of exciting things to bid for, plus a raffle for a two or three night ...Samhain (or All Hallows’ Day) Dinner • November 1, 2019
Samhain (or All Hallows’ Day) is the Pagan root of Halloween. This holiday honors our ancestors and loved ones who have passed. We will have hearty food (as we recover from so much Halloween sugar!) and some beautiful rituals commemorating those who are no longer with us. We will save a seat for the departed, ...Halloween Parade • Sunday, October 27, 2019
All kids are invited to wear their Halloween costume! After Sunday school is over, we’ll have our annual Halloween parade. Please gather on the patio. The middle school teens will serve as judges and give out an award to every costume; in the past, these somewhat silly awards have been for “Most Robotic,” “Greenest”(as in ...October 20, 2019 Bulletin
Upcoming Bulletin Deadlines – Oct 27 and Nov 10, 2019
October 27 and November 10 are the next two deadlines to submit items for publication. Send them to newsletter@uucpa.org or leave a hardcopy in the church office. Note that we do not publish personal phone numbers/email addresses to safeguard privacy. Deadline Comes out on Service Dates Described Oct 27 Nov 3 Nov 10, 17 Nov 10 Nov 17 Nov 24, Dec 1 Nov 24 Dec ...Midweek meditation: From fear to fulfillment
Midweek meditation: from fear to fulfillment
Thanks to the creativity and drive of UUCPA member Randy Helmonds, we will be hosting the Blood Donation Olympics on Saturday, October 26. I want to share my story with you.
In my family, donating blood has always been one of those no-brainer acts of
mercy, like giving clothes we didn’t ...October 6, 2019 Bulletin
2019 Auction News!!
The UUCPA Auction is the biggest and best party of the church year! Be sure to mark your calendars now. You don’t want to miss the delicious food, wine, live music, and plenty of fun for the kids. There’ll be lots of parties and other stuff to bid on in the silent auction, plus 10 ...Delayed Justice Coming To El Salvador?
South Bay Sanctuary Covenant, our justice partner for the month of October, invites all to join us for our semi-annual program, dinner, and fundraiser for our justice partners here and in El Salvador. Speaker: Terry Karl, professor of Latin American Studies and Political Science at Stanford will explain current efforts to bring to justice those ...New UUCPA Justice Project Approved – Reclaim Our Vote
The Action Council recently approved a new justice project relating to the UUA Voting Rights, Election Reform, and Democracy Initiative. (See https://www.uua.org/liberty/electionreform for more information.) The new UUCPA justice effort will provide opportunities to participate in voter registration and turnout enablement for people of color in various states across the country via Reclaim Our Vote, ...Walk The Labyrinth – Sundays @ 9:05 am
Join others in a group walk of the UUCPA labyrinth between 9:05 and 9:20 every Sunday morning. The labyrinth is located at the front of the church not far from the front doors.
Walking a labyrinth is a silent and ordinarily solitary activity. However, many people find it uplifting to sometimes do it with a group. ...