Gathering for Sunday services in person and online, 10:15 am. For everyone's safety, attest to being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 We strongly encourage wearing a mask. Thank You!
We gather,
our different paths entwined,
to deepen our spiritual lives:
nourishing connection,
learning from each other,
caring for each other,
tending to our world.
04/21/2024, 10:15 am - 11:30 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.
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 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.
04/28/2024, 10:15 am - 11:30 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.
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 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.
05/05/2024, 10:15 am - 11:30 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.
05/05/2024, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm Hamaker Library (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
This is a brand new affinity group for parents whose kids have recently graduated and are fledgling off into the world. Join us for conversation and connection.
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 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.
05/12/2024, 10:15 am - 11:30 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.
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 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.
05/19/2024, 10:15 am - 11:30 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.
What do we mean by a sacred text? Any text that helps us to:
connect to something of supreme importance to us
feel more connected to other beings or to the universe
feel more intensely alive
align our lives with our values,
perceive or feel more deeply
be more fully and authentically ourselves.
As Unitarian Universalists, we find these kinds of meanings everywhere, so the text itself might be from a so-called secular source, or from a religious canon, or something in-between.
The participants over the years have found that the approach we take, and the respectful, affectionate community of inquirers in which we read and converse, are as important as the text. Our practice usually follows one of these versions of Lectio Divina. 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).
The facilitator will post a version of the text in the chat for all to see. Everyone is welcome, as are your suggestions of future texts. Group members also take turns facilitating, if they want to try that role.
The Sacred Texts Reading For Saturday, April 20, 2024…
Behind nature is hidden the chaos as well as the regularities of the world.
And behind all that is evident to our senses is veiled the insubstantial deity
that only man, of all earth’s creatures, has had the power either to perceive
or to project into nature.
As scientific agnostics we may draw an imaginary line beyond which we
deny ourselves the right to pass. We may adhere to the tangible, but we
will still be forced to speak of the “unknowable” or of “final causes” even
if we proclaim such phrases barren and of no concern to science.
–Loren Eiseley (1978), The Star Thrower, p. 225.
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.
What do we mean by a sacred text? Any text that helps us to:
connect to something of supreme importance to us
feel more connected to other beings or to the universe
feel more intensely alive
align our lives with our values,
perceive or feel more deeply
be more fully and authentically ourselves.
As Unitarian Universalists, we find these kinds of meanings everywhere, so the text itself might be from a so-called secular source, or from a religious canon, or something in-between.
The participants over the years have found that the approach we take, and the respectful, affectionate community of inquirers in which we read and converse, are as important as the text. Our practice usually follows one of these versions of Lectio Divina. 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).
The facilitator will post a version of the text in the chat for all to see. Everyone is 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:
04/26/2024, 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm Room A (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
An eight-session deep dive into the history of the conflict that has brought us to today’s crisis. It is structured around a four-part lecture series by Dr. Hussein Ibish and Prof. David N. Myers that was co-presented by Fordham University’s Center for Jewish Studies, Center for Religion and Culture, Department of History, International Studies Program, and Middle Eastern Studies Program.
Each time, we will watch about half of the lecture, preceding it with a recommitment to our intentions and principles, and following it with a discussion. You are free to attend only some sessions, but as always, the more consistently you participate, the more we all gain from the shared conversation. If you anticipate missing a week, it is strongly recommended that you watch that portion of the video on your own so that you are caught up when you return.
This is emphatically not for UUCPA folks only. Anyone with a sincere commitment to an outcome that respects people’s inherent worth and dignity, and that creates peace, liberty, and justice for all, is welcome to join us.
See this post for links to the video for each session.
Session 1: Friday, April 26, 2:30 pm, Room A*
Session 2: Friday, May 3, 2:30 pm, Room A
NO SESSION MAY 10
Session 3: Friday, May 17, 2:30 pm, Room A
Session 4: Friday, May 24, 2:30 pm, Room A
Session 5: Friday, May 31, 2:30 pm, Room A
Session 6: Friday, June 7, 2:30 pm, Room A
Session 7: Friday, June 14, 2:30 pm, Room A
Session 8: Friday, June 21, 2:30 pm, Room A
The first three lectures (our first six sessions) were delivered at Fordham in 2017-2018. The speakers then returned last month to offer the fourth lecture (our last two sessions) as an in-depth perspective on the history of Israel-Palestine in light of the current moment. Dr. Hussein Ibish is a Senior Resident Scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington (AGSIW). He is a weekly columnist for The National and previously served as a Senior Fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine. Prof. David N. Myers is Distinguished Professor and Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair of Jewish History at UCLA. The author and editor of many books, he directs the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy and the UCLA Initiative to Study Hate.
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.
What do we mean by a sacred text? Any text that helps us to:
connect to something of supreme importance to us
feel more connected to other beings or to the universe
feel more intensely alive
align our lives with our values,
perceive or feel more deeply
be more fully and authentically ourselves.
As Unitarian Universalists, we find these kinds of meanings everywhere, so the text itself might be from a so-called secular source, or from a religious canon, or something in-between.
The participants over the years have found that the approach we take, and the respectful, affectionate community of inquirers in which we read and converse, are as important as the text. Our practice usually follows one of these versions of Lectio Divina. 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).
The facilitator will post a version of the text in the chat for all to see. Everyone is welcome, as are your suggestions of future texts. Group members also take turns facilitating, if they want to try that role.
Our Sacred Text for Saturday, April 27th is…
I’ve come to think that flourishing consists of putting yourself in situations in which you lose self-consciousness and become fused with other people, experiences, or tasks. It happens sometimes when you are lost in a hard challenge, or when an artist or a craftsman takes up the brush or the tool. It happens sometimes while you’re playing sports, or listening to music or lost in a story, or to some people when they feel enveloped by God’s love. And it happens most when we connect with other people. I’ve come to think that happiness isn’t really produced by conscious accomplishments. Happiness is a measure of how thickly the unconscious parts of our minds are intertwined with other people and with activities.
–David Brooks (New Yorker, January 17, 2011), attributed to an unnamed (imaginary?) neuroscientist.
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:
04/28/2024, 11:45 am - 1:15 pm Fireside Room (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
Getting to Know PRIDEnet: Accelerating LGBTQIA+ Health Research Sunday, April 28, 2024, 11:45 AM–1:15 PM; Fireside Room (Hybrid)
This presentation will share more about PRIDEnet, a network of individuals and organizations dedicated to catalyzing LGBTQIA+ health research. We will introduce attendees to PRIDEnet’s history, our collaborating partners, and our work engaging LGBTQIA+ people around health research and infusing community input into the research process. This presentation will include insights into the two major research endeavors that PRIDEnet provides community engagement for, The PRIDE Study and the All of Us Research Program.
About the Presenter: Astrid Herrera (she/they) is Clinical Research Coordinator at PRIDEnet, based out of Stanford Medicine. Astrid works alongside other PRIDEnet clinical research coordinators to conduct enrollment and retention for the All of Us Research Program and provides participant and research dissemination support on The PRIDE Study.
Fourth Sunday Brunch Food will be available after service. Suggested contribution $2.
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.
What do we mean by a sacred text? Any text that helps us to:
connect to something of supreme importance to us
feel more connected to other beings or to the universe
feel more intensely alive
align our lives with our values,
perceive or feel more deeply
be more fully and authentically ourselves.
As Unitarian Universalists, we find these kinds of meanings everywhere, so the text itself might be from a so-called secular source, or from a religious canon, or something in-between.
The participants over the years have found that the approach we take, and the respectful, affectionate community of inquirers in which we read and converse, are as important as the text. Our practice usually follows one of these versions of Lectio Divina. 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).
The facilitator will post a version of the text in the chat for all to see. Everyone is 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:
05/03/2024, 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm Room A (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
An eight-session deep dive into the history of the conflict that has brought us to today’s crisis. It is structured around a four-part lecture series by Dr. Hussein Ibish and Prof. David N. Myers that was co-presented by Fordham University’s Center for Jewish Studies, Center for Religion and Culture, Department of History, International Studies Program, and Middle Eastern Studies Program.
Each time, we will watch about half of the lecture, preceding it with a recommitment to our intentions and principles, and following it with a discussion. You are free to attend only some sessions, but as always, the more consistently you participate, the more we all gain from the shared conversation. If you anticipate missing a week, it is strongly recommended that you watch that portion of the video on your own so that you are caught up when you return.
This is emphatically not for UUCPA folks only. Anyone with a sincere commitment to an outcome that respects people’s inherent worth and dignity, and that creates peace, liberty, and justice for all, is welcome to join us.
See this post for links to the video for each session.
Session 1: Friday, April 26, 2:30 pm, Room A*
Session 2: Friday, May 3, 2:30 pm, Room A
NO SESSION MAY 10
Session 3: Friday, May 17, 2:30 pm, Room A
Session 4: Friday, May 24, 2:30 pm, Room A
Session 5: Friday, May 31, 2:30 pm, Room A
Session 6: Friday, June 7, 2:30 pm, Room A
Session 7: Friday, June 14, 2:30 pm, Room A
Session 8: Friday, June 21, 2:30 pm, Room A
The first three lectures (our first six sessions) were delivered at Fordham in 2017-2018. The speakers then returned last month to offer the fourth lecture (our last two sessions) as an in-depth perspective on the history of Israel-Palestine in light of the current moment. Dr. Hussein Ibish is a Senior Resident Scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington (AGSIW). He is a weekly columnist for The National and previously served as a Senior Fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine. Prof. David N. Myers is Distinguished Professor and Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair of Jewish History at UCLA. The author and editor of many books, he directs the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy and the UCLA Initiative to Study Hate.
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.
What do we mean by a sacred text? Any text that helps us to:
connect to something of supreme importance to us
feel more connected to other beings or to the universe
feel more intensely alive
align our lives with our values,
perceive or feel more deeply
be more fully and authentically ourselves.
As Unitarian Universalists, we find these kinds of meanings everywhere, so the text itself might be from a so-called secular source, or from a religious canon, or something in-between.
The participants over the years have found that the approach we take, and the respectful, affectionate community of inquirers in which we read and converse, are as important as the text. Our practice usually follows one of these versions of Lectio Divina. 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).
The facilitator will post a version of the text in the chat for all to see. Everyone is 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:
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.
What do we mean by a sacred text? Any text that helps us to:
connect to something of supreme importance to us
feel more connected to other beings or to the universe
feel more intensely alive
align our lives with our values,
perceive or feel more deeply
be more fully and authentically ourselves.
As Unitarian Universalists, we find these kinds of meanings everywhere, so the text itself might be from a so-called secular source, or from a religious canon, or something in-between.
The participants over the years have found that the approach we take, and the respectful, affectionate community of inquirers in which we read and converse, are as important as the text. Our practice usually follows one of these versions of Lectio Divina. 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).
The facilitator will post a version of the text in the chat for all to see. Everyone is 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:
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.
What do we mean by a sacred text? Any text that helps us to:
connect to something of supreme importance to us
feel more connected to other beings or to the universe
feel more intensely alive
align our lives with our values,
perceive or feel more deeply
be more fully and authentically ourselves.
As Unitarian Universalists, we find these kinds of meanings everywhere, so the text itself might be from a so-called secular source, or from a religious canon, or something in-between.
The participants over the years have found that the approach we take, and the respectful, affectionate community of inquirers in which we read and converse, are as important as the text. Our practice usually follows one of these versions of Lectio Divina. 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).
The facilitator will post a version of the text in the chat for all to see. Everyone is 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 first, third, and fifth Sundays of each month at UUCPA, usually from 1:00 – 3:00 pm. We meet on the McFadden patio in the warmer months, in rooms 4-5 when it is cold or windy.
Generally we sit in a circle and sing together. We go around the circle and take turns leading songs. We have a binder of lead sheets for over 200 songs. Most of the selections are folks songs, but we also sing rock n roll, popular, jazz, and other genres. Participants are invited to bring musical instruments as well. Participants have been known to bring a guitar, banjo, harmonica, clarinet, tambourine, and electronic keyboard for example. Our songbook is also online for those who would like to practice between meetings.
We meet on the first, third, and fifth Sundays of each month at UUCPA, usually from 1:00 – 3:00 pm. We meet on the McFadden patio in the warmer months, in rooms 4-5 when it is cold or windy.
Generally we sit in a circle and sing together. We go around the circle and take turns leading songs. We have a binder of lead sheets for over 200 songs. Most of the selections are folks songs, but we also sing rock n roll, popular, jazz, and other genres. Participants are invited to bring musical instruments as well. Participants have been known to bring a guitar, banjo, harmonica, clarinet, tambourine, and electronic keyboard for example. Our songbook is also online for those who would like to practice between meetings.
We meet on the first, third, and fifth Sundays of each month at UUCPA, usually from 1:00 – 3:00 pm. We meet on the McFadden patio in the warmer months, in rooms 4-5 when it is cold or windy.
Generally we sit in a circle and sing together. We go around the circle and take turns leading songs. We have a binder of lead sheets for over 200 songs. Most of the selections are folks songs, but we also sing rock n roll, popular, jazz, and other genres. Participants are invited to bring musical instruments as well. Participants have been known to bring a guitar, banjo, harmonica, clarinet, tambourine, and electronic keyboard for example. Our songbook is also online for those who would like to practice between meetings.
We meet on the first, third, and fifth Sundays of each month at UUCPA, usually from 1:00 – 3:00 pm. We meet on the McFadden patio in the warmer months, in rooms 4-5 when it is cold or windy.
Generally we sit in a circle and sing together. We go around the circle and take turns leading songs. We have a binder of lead sheets for over 200 songs. Most of the selections are folks songs, but we also sing rock n roll, popular, jazz, and other genres. Participants are invited to bring musical instruments as well. Participants have been known to bring a guitar, banjo, harmonica, clarinet, tambourine, and electronic keyboard for example. Our songbook is also online for those who would like to practice between meetings.
We meet on the first, third, and fifth Sundays of each month at UUCPA, usually from 1:00 – 3:00 pm. We meet on the McFadden patio in the warmer months, in rooms 4-5 when it is cold or windy.
Generally we sit in a circle and sing together. We go around the circle and take turns leading songs. We have a binder of lead sheets for over 200 songs. Most of the selections are folks songs, but we also sing rock n roll, popular, jazz, and other genres. Participants are invited to bring musical instruments as well. Participants have been known to bring a guitar, banjo, harmonica, clarinet, tambourine, and electronic keyboard for example. Our songbook is also online for those who would like to practice between meetings.
04/20/2024, 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.
04/21/2024, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
Spiritual Adventures In Parenting, UUCPA’s group for parents of children between the ages of birth and tween, meetsSunday, April 21, from 11:30 a.m.–12:30p.m., following the church service.
We’ll gather in the Fireside Room. Childcare will be provided.
We’ll share joys and challenges from the past month. We’ll also share our questions, insights, and surprises from reading pages 177–204 in the book Chaos, Wonder, and the Spiritual Adventure of Parenting.
***Please note: This month’s session overlaps with UUCPA’s Annual Meeting (which begins at 12:00p.m.). So, if you are a member of UUCPA, please be sure to fill out and return an absentee or proxy ballot. (Here are the instructions for doing so!) That way, your vote will be counted and help ensure a congregational quorum.***
If you are a parent to a child between the ages of birth and tween, we invite you to join UUCPA’s monthly parent group, Spiritual Adventures In Parenting!
Led by fellow UUCPA parent Matt Rosin, Spiritual Adventures In Parenting will meet every third Sunday,from 11:30a.m.–12:30p.m. (after the church service). Childcare will be provided. Families can choose to have lunch together afterward, if they wish.
Among the many religious sources for contemporary Unitarian Universalism, our faith looks to “direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life”—and parenting is one powerful source of such experience and spiritual deepening.
Spiritual Adventures In Parenting will be a forum wherein parents can, together:
Explore the spiritual dimensions and meaning of our parenting and
Cultivate deep connections with one another.
Each monthly session will draw on a short essay or two (or three) from the anthology and other sources as spurs to conversation and spiritual reflection.
04/22/2024, 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. Bring your own gloves and weeding tools if you have them.
04/27/2024, 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.
04/29/2024, 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. Bring your own gloves and weeding tools if you have them.
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.
What do we mean by a sacred text? Any text that helps us to:
connect to something of supreme importance to us
feel more connected to other beings or to the universe
feel more intensely alive
align our lives with our values,
perceive or feel more deeply
be more fully and authentically ourselves.
As Unitarian Universalists, we find these kinds of meanings everywhere, so the text itself might be from a so-called secular source, or from a religious canon, or something in-between.
The participants over the years have found that the approach we take, and the respectful, affectionate community of inquirers in which we read and converse, are as important as the text. Our practice usually follows one of these versions of Lectio Divina. 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).
The facilitator will post a version of the text in the chat for all to see. Everyone is 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/j/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)
Consider making things even better by joining others at the monthly workday right here at UUCPA. There will be plenty of fine company. Come for some or all of the time. Projects might include painting some trim and kitchen cabinets, pruning shrubs, organizing closets, plus some jobs you may have in mind.
05/04/2024, 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.
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.
What do we mean by a sacred text? Any text that helps us to:
connect to something of supreme importance to us
feel more connected to other beings or to the universe
feel more intensely alive
align our lives with our values,
perceive or feel more deeply
be more fully and authentically ourselves.
As Unitarian Universalists, we find these kinds of meanings everywhere, so the text itself might be from a so-called secular source, or from a religious canon, or something in-between.
The participants over the years have found that the approach we take, and the respectful, affectionate community of inquirers in which we read and converse, are as important as the text. Our practice usually follows one of these versions of Lectio Divina. 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).
The facilitator will post a version of the text in the chat for all to see. Everyone is 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:
05/06/2024, 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. Bring your own gloves and weeding tools if you have them.
The Annual Meeting of the Congregation is on Sunday, April 21, 2024, in the Main Hall and on Zoom. We will be voting on the budget, justice partners, a bylaws amendment, and candidates for the Board, Nominating Committee, and General Assembly. Full agenda here.
You must be a member who has been affirmed by the Board of Trustees 30 days before the meeting and must have made a contribution of record during the past 12 calendar months to be eligible to vote.
If you are unable to make it in-person or on Zoom, you may vote by absentee ballot for nominees only or name a proxy. Members eligible to vote will receive a Zoom link within the week of the meeting. Email uucpa@uucpa.org if you think you should be able to vote but did not receive the link.
Candidates
Board of Trustees:Lisa Helmonds and Judy Lookabill
Nominating Committee:Trisha Suppes and Elsa Schafer
General Assembly Delegates:Karen Skold, Liam Mina, and Joe Moonan Walbran
05/18/2024, 2:30 pm - 4:30 pm Main Hall (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
Saturday, May 18, 2:30 – 4:30PM in the UUCPA Main Hall! This one is a collaboration between UUCPA, and the Bay Area Country Dance Society (BACDS), who feature such dances in their week long family summer camp: https://bacds.org/familyweek/ . BACDS is providing the caller, musicians, and break entertainment, and UUCPA is providing the hall and sound support.
So what kind of dances might you expect at the community dance? Easy-to-learn fun dances designed to get all ages up and dancing! Dances that have been done in the past include:
04/19/2024 - 04/20/2024, 6:00 pm - 5:00 pm First Universalist Church of Denver, CO (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
Connect with other UUs in the Pacific Western Region. Our 4th Regional Assembly will be held in Denver on April 19 and 20, at the beautiful First Universalist Church. You can attend either in person or online. The keynote address will feature a conversation between our UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt and the new President of the United Church of Christ, Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia A. Thompson. There will be inspirational worship, workshops, and a craft room. There will be a reception on Friday evening. We will also host a continental breakfast and catered lunch on Saturday. This is a family-friendly event, with childcare.
05/08/2024, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church (Add to calendar: Google, iCal, webcal)
The Action Council of the UUCPA has joined the Becoming Beloved Community Task Force at Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church as a co-sponsor for their free speaker series, Community, Faith, and Racial Justice. They have invited us to attend the second talk: Confronting Christian Nationalism – Why People Are Drawn in And How to Talk Across the Divide by the Reverend Dr. Pamela Cooper-White.
TheReverend Dr. Pamela Cooper-White is an Episcopal priest and clinical psychologist and the recently retired Christiane Brooke Johnson Professor of Psychology and Religion at Union Theological Seminary. A prolific author, Prof. Cooper-White will speak on the topic of her recent book, The Psychology of White Christian Nationalism: Why People are Drawn In and How to Talk Across the Divide.
Series Background: Our nation continues to combat racial inequality in 2024, 60 years after the passage of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act. Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church in Palo Alto invites the wider community to an upcoming speaker series, “Community, Faith, and Racial Justice,” that explores the role of Christianity, including the current white Christian Nationalist movement, in this injustice and seeks to define a path toward justice, healing, and reconciliation.
Members of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Palo Alto felt compelled to create this speaker series based on their experience with the national Episcopal Church’s Becoming Beloved Community framework for racial justice, healing, and reconciliation.
Bay Area community members who want to learn more about this critical topic and how they can help enact change locally will benefit from hearing the experiences, perspectives, and ideas of these renowned authors.
There is one more event in the series (see below) scheduled for 7 PM on September 18. All events in the series are taking place at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 600 Colorado Avenue, Palo Alto. Admission is Free with donations appreciated. Light refreshments will be served following the event. Speakers’ books will be available after each event.
Accessibility: Venue is wheelchair accessible. Closed captioning will be available.
Parking: There is ample parking at the rear of the church.
Presenting Sponsor: Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church – Palo Alto
Co-sponsors: American Muslim Voice Foundation; First Congregational Church of Palo Alto, UCC; Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice;Peninsula Solidarity Cohort; Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Saratoga; Saint Jude’s Episcopal Church, Cupertino; Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church, Burlingame; Saint Timothy’s Episcopal Church, Mountain View; Saint Thomas Episcopal Church, Sunnyvale; Showing Up for Racial Justice @Sacred Heart; Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, San Jose; Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto
September 18, 2024 7:00 PM: Challenging Segregation With Just Action
Ms. Leah Rothstein is a community organizer and the co-author, with Richard Rothstein, of JustAction: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted under the Color of Law. She will speak on actions that communities can take to restore housing rights and access to people of color who have been excluded from the financial benefits of home ownership, access to good public schools, more protected environments, and better community services.
TENTATIVE Winter 2025 A speaker who will discuss the role of the Christian church in harming Native Americans and Asian Americans.
This is a closed event specifically for trans/nonbinary+ people. Anyone who is trans, nonbinary, metagender, multigender, genderfluid, agender, demigender, genderqueer, and otherwise not wholly or entirely cis is welcome to attend.
You do not have to be UU to attend, as long as you are comfortable with this space having a UU flavor/focus.
This pastoral small group is for ages 18 and older. Note: anyone who is a legal adult but is enrolled in high school and/or their congregation’s youth group is asked to attend the youth space.
UPLIFT is a program of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Please sign up here to let them know if you’re interested in learning about the pastoral small group for adults, which meets on the second Friday of each month at 5 pm Pacific. If you can’t make it to the next one, please still fill out this form to share your ideas and so they can stay in touch about future meetings!
