Gathering for Sunday services in person and online, 9:30 & 11 am. Help us keep our pledge that everyone indoors has up-to-date vaccinations: bring your card. Thank you!
12/11/2022, 9:30 am - 10:30 am UUCPA (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
Because we believe in learning by doing, a most important part of our religious education is participation, with all ages, in the first part of regular worship services. Then during Sunday school, young people learn and play with people their own age. Feel free to ask Sunday school teachers what they did this week. If you would like to review curriculum materials that are not online, please call Cat Boyle.
Reminders are sent via the weekly Sunday School Reminder email and monthly CYRE newsletter. Sign up to get them: https://www.uucpa.org/learning/children-and-youth/newsletter/. If you didn’t get it, please email cyrecommittee@uucpa.org to request the link for your child’s class.
Our Whole Lives (OWL) is a series of comprehensive and age-appropriate sexuality education curricula, developed jointly by the Unitarian Universalist Association and United Church of Christ, for six age groups: grades K-2, grades 4-6, grades 7-9, grades 10-12, young adults, and adults.
This class, for youth in grades 7-9 runs weekly on Sunday afternoons from September through May, skipping some Sundays. To participate in this program, you must have pre-registered and have a completed release form on file. No drop-ins.
For more information: https://www.uucpa.org/learning/our-whole-lives-owl/
Please contact cyrecommittee@uucpa.org if you still have questions.
Senior High Youth Group (grades 9-12) or SHYG — Teenagers in high school are welcome to join SHYG for fun and community-building, learning, worship, leadership development, and social action. SHYG meets most Sunday (except for the 2nd Sunday of each month when OWL 10-12 class meets) evenings at church., from Sept. through May. Please join to get the latest schedule.
Join the SHYG Slack channel to get meeting info. Contact Rev. Cat revcat@uucpa.org to request membership.
Parents, take a break and leave childcare to the UUCPA for a night. Pizza will be provided. We will meet on the playground behind Room 4-5. Donations accepted. Please RSVP by emailing Rev. Cat at revcat@uucpa.org.
If your high schooler would like to volunteer to help, please email revcat@uucpa.org.
12/18/2022, 9:30 am - 10:30 am UUCPA (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
Because we believe in learning by doing, a most important part of our religious education is participation, with all ages, in the first part of regular worship services. Then during Sunday school, young people learn and play with people their own age. Feel free to ask Sunday school teachers what they did this week. If you would like to review curriculum materials that are not online, please call Cat Boyle.
Reminders are sent via the weekly Sunday School Reminder email and monthly CYRE newsletter. Sign up to get them: https://www.uucpa.org/learning/children-and-youth/newsletter/. If you didn’t get it, please email cyrecommittee@uucpa.org to request the link for your child’s class.
Our Whole Lives (OWL) is a series of comprehensive and age-appropriate sexuality education curricula, developed jointly by the Unitarian Universalist Association and United Church of Christ, for six age groups: grades K-2, grades 4-6, grades 7-9, grades 10-12, young adults, and adults.
This class, for youth in grades 7-9 runs weekly on Sunday afternoons from September through May, skipping some Sundays. To participate in this program, you must have pre-registered and have a completed release form on file. No drop-ins.
For more information: https://www.uucpa.org/learning/our-whole-lives-owl/
Please contact cyrecommittee@uucpa.org if you still have questions.
Senior High Youth Group (grades 9-12) or SHYG — Teenagers in high school are welcome to join SHYG for fun and community-building, learning, worship, leadership development, and social action. SHYG meets most Sunday (except for the 2nd Sunday of each month when OWL 10-12 class meets) evenings at church., from Sept. through May. Please join to get the latest schedule.
Join the SHYG Slack channel to get meeting info. Contact Rev. Cat revcat@uucpa.org to request membership.
12/25/2022, 9:30 am - 10:30 am UUCPA (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
Because we believe in learning by doing, a most important part of our religious education is participation, with all ages, in the first part of regular worship services. Then during Sunday school, young people learn and play with people their own age. Feel free to ask Sunday school teachers what they did this week. If you would like to review curriculum materials that are not online, please call Cat Boyle.
Reminders are sent via the weekly Sunday School Reminder email and monthly CYRE newsletter. Sign up to get them: https://www.uucpa.org/learning/children-and-youth/newsletter/. If you didn’t get it, please email cyrecommittee@uucpa.org to request the link for your child’s class.
A twice-weekly online sacred text reading group. We meet on Saturdays, 4-5, and on Wednesdays, 12-1. All are wide open and you are welcome! Please note that the Zoom room now requires a password, so please drop an e-mail to sacred-text-reading+owner@uucpa.org to express interest.
Using a spiritual-practice approach, in each session we will explore a different brief scriptural text in depth. The aims of the sessions are educational (learning something about the texts and traditions), spiritual/moral (discovering what the texts ask of us), and community-building (getting to know each other better). Our practice usually follows this version of Lectio Divina.
Amy will have a version of the text available to share; “bring” your own if you like. All are welcome, as are your suggestions of future texts. Group members also take turns facilitating, if they want to try that role.
Our text for Wednesday, December 7, 2022, is from the Talmud, specifically the tractate Pirkei Avot (Chapters of the Ancestors), 4:18
Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: Do not assuage the anger of your friend at the time of his anger; do not console him at the time when his deceased lies before him…
For check-in / getting-acquainted time, and for those who are new and want a brief orientation to the practice, the room will be open ten minutes before and ten minutes after the session.
How to join: First, e-mail sacred-text-reading+owner@uucpa.org, since you will need a password. Then:
Join this class from your Web browser: https://zoom.us/meeting/96865808923
Join this class using the Zoom app: Meeting ID: 968 6580 8923
Join this class by phone: +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) Meeting ID: 968 6580 8923
Join this class by one-tap on mobile phones: +16699006833,,96865808923# (San Jose)
Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern leads this reflection group on the writing and spiritual issues raised by the powerful and eloquent author of This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories that Make Us, Cole Arthur Riley (creator of the online resource Black Liturgies). Before each session, the members of the group will write / draw / sculpt / dance / [insert preferred method of exploration here] private reflections on the topic of the upcoming chapter (listed below with each date). Then we read the chapter and come together to share deeply about that topic, led by Riley’s meditations and our own. We begin on November 2 and end just before Amy’s sabbatical begins in June.
The sessions are 7-8:30 pm on the first, third, and fifth Wednesdays; please note two skipped days. November 2 dignity, (November 16 was cancelled), December 7 place, (no meeting on the 3rd Wed. in December; Winter Solstice service), January 4 wonder, January 18 calling, February 1 body, February 15 belonging, March 1 fear and lament, March 15 rage, (no meeting on the 5th Wed. in March; spring break), April 5 justice, April 19 repair, May 3 rest, May 17 joy, May 31 memory, June 7 liberation.
Our format is hybrid: join us in person, or via Zoom.
Meeting ID: 854 2357 7619
One tap mobile (San Jose, CA) +16699009128,,85423577619# US
Dial in (San Jose, CA) +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcTAcZNOrI
A twice-weekly online sacred text reading group. We meet on Saturdays, 4-5, and on Wednesdays, 12-1. All are wide open and you are welcome! Please note that the Zoom room now requires a password, so please drop an e-mail to sacred-text-reading+owner@uucpa.org to express interest.
Using a spiritual-practice approach, in each session we will explore a different brief scriptural text in depth. The aims of the sessions are educational (learning something about the texts and traditions), spiritual/moral (discovering what the texts ask of us), and community-building (getting to know each other better). Our practice usually follows this version of Lectio Divina.
The facilitator will have a version of the text available to share; “bring” your own if you like. All are welcome, as are your suggestions of future texts. Group members also take turns facilitating, if they want to try that role.
Our text for Saturday, December 10, 2022 is from Zen master Shunryu Suzuki Roshi (quoted by F. Ostaseski, The Five Invitations, p. 16)
“The problem with the word patience is that it implies we are waiting for something to get better, we are waiting for something good that will come. A more accurate word for this quality is constancy, a capacity to be with what is true moment after moment.”
To have check-in time, or if you are new and would like a brief orientation, arrive ten minutes early. And all are welcome to stay ten minutes after as well, for more getting-acquainted time.
How to join: First, e-mail sacred-text-reading+owner@uucpa.org, since you will need a password. Then:
We meet on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month.
If you would like to attend this session and are not subscribed to the email list, please email dismantlingwhitesupremacy+subscribe@uucpa.org. Zoom information for the session will be sent to this list early next week. We welcome new attendees at any time!
All people of whatever race or background are welcome to attend any or all sessions. We call the group “White Folks . . . ” because we recognize that the work of dismantling white supremacy is for white people to do. It’s also important to have anti-racism learning spaces for white folks, where they can grapple with new ideas about racism and speak candidly about their fears and misconceptions. It can be painful for people of color to witness these conversations, so we have created this space apart from the main body of the congregation.
A twice-weekly online sacred text reading group. We meet on Saturdays, 4-5, and on Wednesdays, 12-1. All are wide open and you are welcome! Please note that the Zoom room now requires a password, so please drop an e-mail to sacred-text-reading+owner@uucpa.org to express interest.
Using a spiritual-practice approach, in each session we will explore a different brief scriptural text in depth. The aims of the sessions are educational (learning something about the texts and traditions), spiritual/moral (discovering what the texts ask of us), and community-building (getting to know each other better). Our practice usually follows this version of Lectio Divina.
Amy will have a version of the text available to share; “bring” your own if you like. All are welcome, as are your suggestions of future texts. Group members also take turns facilitating, if they want to try that role.
Our text for Wednesday, December 14, 2022 is the story of the Tower of Babel, Genesis 11:1-9. You can see many versions at Bible Gateway; the following is the New International Version (NIV).
11 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.2 As people moved eastward,[a] they found a plain in Shinar[b] and settled there.
3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.9 That is why it was called Babel[c]—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
For check-in / getting-acquainted time, and for those who are new and want a brief orientation to the practice, the room will be open ten minutes before and ten minutes after the session.
How to join: First, e-mail sacred-text-reading+owner@uucpa.org, since you will need a password. Then:
Join this class from your Web browser: https://zoom.us/meeting/96865808923
Join this class using the Zoom app: Meeting ID: 968 6580 8923
Join this class by phone: +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) Meeting ID: 968 6580 8923
Join this class by one-tap on mobile phones: +16699006833,,96865808923# (San Jose)
A twice-weekly online sacred text reading group. We meet on Saturdays, 4-5, and on Wednesdays, 12-1. All are wide open and you are welcome! Please note that the Zoom room now requires a password, so please drop an e-mail to sacred-text-reading+owner@uucpa.org to express interest.
Using a spiritual-practice approach, in each session we will explore a different brief scriptural text in depth. The aims of the sessions are educational (learning something about the texts and traditions), spiritual/moral (discovering what the texts ask of us), and community-building (getting to know each other better). Our practice usually follows this version of Lectio Divina.
The facilitator will have a version of the text available to share; “bring” your own if you like. All are welcome, as are your suggestions of future texts. Group members also take turns facilitating, if they want to try that role.
Our text for Saturday, December 17, 2022, our 200th session, is actually an image: Diego Velasquez’s Las Meninas.
Las Meninas (The Ladies-in-Waiting), Diego Velázquez, 1656, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
That will be the main text. However, to help us focus our thoughts, we might also begin with art historian Kenneth Clark’s comment from his book Looking At Pictures:
In the main Velazquez room of the Prado there are as many portraits of buffoons as there are of the royal family (nine of each). Surely that goes beyond official instructions and expresses a strong personal preference. […] Was there there not the feeling that their physical humiliations gave them a reality which his royal sitters lacked? Take away the carapace of their position, and how pink and featureless the King and Queen become, like prawns without their shells. They cannot look at us with the deep questoning gaze of Sebastian de Morra (a dwarf from a famous portrait) or the fierce sullen independence of Maribarbola (the dwarf near the center of “Las meninas”). And so I begin to reflect on what would happen to “Las meninas” if Maribarbola had been removed and a graceful young lady of the Court put in her place. We should still feel that we were there; the colour would be as subtle, the tone as scrupulously correct. But the temperature would have dropped: we should have lost a whole dimension of truth.”
Additionally, a description of the people depicted in “Las Meninas” can be found here.
To have check-in time, or if you are new and would like a brief orientation, arrive ten minutes early. And all are welcome to stay ten minutes after as well, for more getting-acquainted time.
How to join: First, e-mail sacred-text-reading+owner@uucpa.org, since you will need a password. Then:
A twice-weekly online sacred text reading group. We meet on Saturdays, 4-5, and on Wednesdays, 12-1. All are wide open and you are welcome! Please note that the Zoom room now requires a password, so please drop an e-mail to sacred-text-reading+owner@uucpa.org to express interest.
Using a spiritual-practice approach, in each session we will explore a different brief scriptural text in depth. The aims of the sessions are educational (learning something about the texts and traditions), spiritual/moral (discovering what the texts ask of us), and community-building (getting to know each other better). Our practice usually follows this version of Lectio Divina.
Amy will have a version of the text available to share; “bring” your own if you like. All are welcome, as are your suggestions of future texts. Group members also take turns facilitating, if they want to try that role.
For check-in / getting-acquainted time, and for those who are new and want a brief orientation to the practice, the room will be open ten minutes before and ten minutes after the session.
How to join: First, e-mail sacred-text-reading+owner@uucpa.org, since you will need a password. Then:
Join this class from your Web browser: https://zoom.us/meeting/96865808923
Join this class using the Zoom app: Meeting ID: 968 6580 8923
Join this class by phone: +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) Meeting ID: 968 6580 8923
Join this class by one-tap on mobile phones: +16699006833,,96865808923# (San Jose)
A twice-weekly online sacred text reading group. We meet on Saturdays, 4-5, and on Wednesdays, 12-1. All are wide open and you are welcome! Please note that the Zoom room now requires a password, so please drop an e-mail to sacred-text-reading+owner@uucpa.org to express interest.
Using a spiritual-practice approach, in each session we will explore a different brief scriptural text in depth. The aims of the sessions are educational (learning something about the texts and traditions), spiritual/moral (discovering what the texts ask of us), and community-building (getting to know each other better). Our practice usually follows this version of Lectio Divina.
The facilitator will have a version of the text available to share; “bring” your own if you like. All are welcome, as are your suggestions of future texts. Group members also take turns facilitating, if they want to try that role.
To have check-in time, or if you are new and would like a brief orientation, arrive ten minutes early. And all are welcome to stay ten minutes after as well, for more getting-acquainted time.
How to join: First, e-mail sacred-text-reading+owner@uucpa.org, since you will need a password. Then:
We meet on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month.
If you would like to attend this session and are not subscribed to the email list, please email dismantlingwhitesupremacy+subscribe@uucpa.org. Zoom information for the session will be sent to this list early next week. We welcome new attendees at any time!
All people of whatever race or background are welcome to attend any or all sessions. We call the group “White Folks . . . ” because we recognize that the work of dismantling white supremacy is for white people to do. It’s also important to have anti-racism learning spaces for white folks, where they can grapple with new ideas about racism and speak candidly about their fears and misconceptions. It can be painful for people of color to witness these conversations, so we have created this space apart from the main body of the congregation.
A twice-weekly online sacred text reading group. We meet on Saturdays, 4-5, and on Wednesdays, 12-1. All are wide open and you are welcome! Please note that the Zoom room now requires a password, so please drop an e-mail to sacred-text-reading+owner@uucpa.org to express interest.
Using a spiritual-practice approach, in each session we will explore a different brief scriptural text in depth. The aims of the sessions are educational (learning something about the texts and traditions), spiritual/moral (discovering what the texts ask of us), and community-building (getting to know each other better). Our practice usually follows this version of Lectio Divina.
Amy will have a version of the text available to share; “bring” your own if you like. All are welcome, as are your suggestions of future texts. Group members also take turns facilitating, if they want to try that role.
For check-in / getting-acquainted time, and for those who are new and want a brief orientation to the practice, the room will be open ten minutes before and ten minutes after the session.
How to join: First, e-mail sacred-text-reading+owner@uucpa.org, since you will need a password. Then:
Join this class from your Web browser: https://zoom.us/meeting/96865808923
Join this class using the Zoom app: Meeting ID: 968 6580 8923
Join this class by phone: +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) Meeting ID: 968 6580 8923
Join this class by one-tap on mobile phones: +16699006833,,96865808923# (San Jose)
12/18/2022, 10:30 am - 11:00 am UUCPA (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
Come sing Christmas carols in four-part harmony between the two services. We’ll provide songbooks with a dozen classic Christmas carols. All ages are welcome. You can bring your own guitar or other instrument and play along, or just come and sing!
If you know how to play bridge, please join us at the Second Friday Bridge Club. We have a very friendly, casual game. You don’t need a partner, as we switch partners every 4 hands. You are welcome even if you are a little out of practice and need a little help. While we can’t accommodate people who don’t know anything about the game, we are very welcoming to beginners and encourage players to ask questions.
12/10/2022, 9:00 am - 10:30 am (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
The Saturday morning meditation group welcomes all to join us on Zoom for meditation and conversation. Meditation time begins promptly at 9:10 and lasts for 40 minutes, including several short readings. Next, we share tea and conversation, talking about what is important to us in the moment – perhaps our response to the readings or something that is going on in our lives.
Dates: Every Saturday
Time: 9:10 – 10:00 am
Location: Online
Facilitator: Leadership is shared and rotates weekly
Contact: The Zoom link is available from Susan Owicki – email susanowicki@uucpa.org by 9:00 pm on Friday.
This meeting features social time, a potluck, a 20-minute presentation, and an all-peer discussion. We usually have more than 15 attendees.
Topics are selected by the group at the January, May, and September meetings. For the future meeting topics, details, dates, and location (which might change occasionally), please check this web page: http://tinyurl.com/HumanistFutureMeetings.
Agenda:
6:00 pm – 6:30 pm: Zoom dinner (optional)
6:30 pm – 6:45 pm: connecting to Zoom, chatting
6:45 pm – 7:00 pm: checking in
7:00 pm – 8:40 pm: topic selection and group discussion
12/12/2022, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm UUCPA (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
Every Monday our garden volunteers maintain our beautiful and educational native garden, whether it’s planting, pruning, weeding or other tasks. We keep 6 feet apart and wear masks. Bring your own gloves and weeding tools if you have them.
As Amy says, “Being outside together is one of the few in-person social opportunities we have.”
12/17/2022, 9:00 am - 10:30 am (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
The Saturday morning meditation group welcomes all to join us on Zoom for meditation and conversation. Meditation time begins promptly at 9:10 and lasts for 40 minutes, including several short readings. Next, we share tea and conversation, talking about what is important to us in the moment – perhaps our response to the readings or something that is going on in our lives.
Dates: Every Saturday
Time: 9:10 – 10:00 am
Location: Online
Facilitator: Leadership is shared and rotates weekly
Contact: The Zoom link is available from Susan Owicki – email susanowicki@uucpa.org by 9:00 pm on Friday.
12/19/2022, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm UUCPA (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
Every Monday our garden volunteers maintain our beautiful and educational native garden, whether it’s planting, pruning, weeding or other tasks. We keep 6 feet apart and wear masks. Bring your own gloves and weeding tools if you have them.
As Amy says, “Being outside together is one of the few in-person social opportunities we have.”
12/24/2022, 9:00 am - 10:30 am (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
The Saturday morning meditation group welcomes all to join us on Zoom for meditation and conversation. Meditation time begins promptly at 9:10 and lasts for 40 minutes, including several short readings. Next, we share tea and conversation, talking about what is important to us in the moment – perhaps our response to the readings or something that is going on in our lives.
Dates: Every Saturday
Time: 9:10 – 10:00 am
Location: Online
Facilitator: Leadership is shared and rotates weekly
Contact: The Zoom link is available from Susan Owicki – email susanowicki@uucpa.org by 9:00 pm on Friday.
12/26/2022, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm UUCPA (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
Every Monday our garden volunteers maintain our beautiful and educational native garden, whether it’s planting, pruning, weeding or other tasks. We keep 6 feet apart and wear masks. Bring your own gloves and weeding tools if you have them.
As Amy says, “Being outside together is one of the few in-person social opportunities we have.”
12/31/2022, 9:00 am - 10:30 am (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
The Saturday morning meditation group welcomes all to join us on Zoom for meditation and conversation. Meditation time begins promptly at 9:10 and lasts for 40 minutes, including several short readings. Next, we share tea and conversation, talking about what is important to us in the moment – perhaps our response to the readings or something that is going on in our lives.
Dates: Every Saturday
Time: 9:10 – 10:00 am
Location: Online
Facilitator: Leadership is shared and rotates weekly
Contact: The Zoom link is available from Susan Owicki – email susanowicki@uucpa.org by 9:00 pm on Friday.
01/02/2023, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm UUCPA (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
Every Monday our garden volunteers maintain our beautiful and educational native garden, whether it’s planting, pruning, weeding or other tasks. We keep 6 feet apart and wear masks. Bring your own gloves and weeding tools if you have them.
As Amy says, “Being outside together is one of the few in-person social opportunities we have.”
12/11/2022, 10:30 am - 1:00 pm Fireside Room (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
The Holiday Bazaar and Bake Sale returns this year on Sunday, December 11th in the Fireside Room from 10:30 am – 1:00 pm.
If you have an excess of holiday decorations that you would like to donate to the church fundraiser, please drop them off at the church office on Sunday, December 4th before 2pm.
Love to bake? Donations of homemade baked goods will be most welcomed on Sunday morning, December 11th.
In previous years popular baked sale items included Chris Corvetti’s fresh-baked breads, Jeff Cashdollar’s homemade fudge and Dora Fishman’s lime bars.
Find these treats and more in the Fireside Room on Sunday, December 11th from 10:30 am – 1:00 pm.
If you have any questions, contact Jeff Cashdollar via email at Jeff@uucpa.org.
12/11/2022, 10:30 am - 1:00 pm Fireside Room (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
The Holiday Bazaar and Bake Sale returns this year on Sunday, December 11th in the Fireside Room from 10:30 am – 1:00 pm.
If you have an excess of holiday decorations that you would like to donate to the church fundraiser, please drop them off at the church office on Sunday, December 4th before 2pm.
Love to bake? Donations of homemade baked goods will be most welcomed on Sunday morning, December 11th.
In previous years popular baked sale items included Chris Corvetti’s fresh-baked breads, Jeff Cashdollar’s homemade fudge and Dora Fishman’s lime bars.
Find these treats and more in the Fireside Room on Sunday, December 11th from 10:30 am – 1:00 pm.
If you have any questions, contact Jeff Cashdollar via email at Jeff@uucpa.org.
12/18/2022, 10:30 am - 11:00 am UUCPA (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
Come sing Christmas carols in four-part harmony between the two services. We’ll provide songbooks with a dozen classic Christmas carols. All ages are welcome. You can bring your own guitar or other instrument and play along, or just come and sing!
