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The UUCWC church building will be closed until further notice;
essential staff and Sunday service leaders only.
Although the church building is closed, we are still doing church, continuing to seek to Create Community, Celebrate Life, Change the World. Staff are working from home but they are in to check on the building and provide Sunday service as needed. They are keeping a watchful eye on our building and grounds, including making minor repairs, scheduling regular inspects, etc., to ensure that everything will be in good condition for our return.
Guidelines Put in Place to Open Church Grounds
In response to a number of requests, the UUCWC Board of Trustees asked our Task Force on Reopening to recommend how we might safely permit groups of members and friends to meet on church grounds. This would not include meetings in the church building, as we are not yet ready to consider that possibility.
The task force reviewed New Jersey and Pennsylvania requirements and CDC guidelines and decided it would be safe to open the grounds only, including the Memorial Garden and Meditation Trail, as long as we adhere to the current published standards. The Board has approved these requirements for use of the church grounds.
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 Who Has the Power to Bless? Water Ritual and Blessing
Rev. Kim Wildszewski
“Who has the power to bless?” asks poet John O’Donohue. “This question is not to be answered simply by the description of one’s institutional status or membership. But perhaps there are deeper questions hidden here: What do you bless with? Or where do you bless from? When you bless another, you first gather yourself; you reach below your surface mind and personality, down to the deeper source within you. Blessing is from soul to soul.”
We hope that in the coming days and throughout the year you will return to the water ritual and blessing from our Water Ingathering service. Below are the instructions and blessing for you to repeat or make your own. Read more… |
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“Religious Education” is Now “Faith Engagement”
Robin Pugh, Director of Lifespan Faith Engagement
In August, the Board affirmed my request for a change of title to Director of Lifespan Faith Engagement. “Faith Engagement” is the name of the UUA office that supports faith development for children, youth and adults. Why the name change from “religious education”? The term “religious education” connotes a 1950’s style of education with teachers lecturing to students at desks. This does not and has not reflected the experience in our classes for children or adults for some time. Read more…
Robin can be reached at dre@uucwc.org.
Upcoming Adult Faith Engagement Classes
I’d like to highlight three upcoming Adult Faith Engagement Classes:
– Coming Into Connection begins Sept 27;
– Lectio Divina: Reading Prayerfully on Oct 5;
– Living the Eighth Principle begins its monthly meetings on Oct 13.
More information, and the registration form, can be found at:
https://www.uucwc.org/learning/adult-learning-classes/.
Fall 2020 – All New Children’s Programming
We have a special all-virtual program for chldren and youth for 2020-2021 while our building is closed. More information, and the registration form, can be found on the Children’s Faith Engagement page. |
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Safe Singing
Caryl Tipton, Director, Music Ministry
Our accompanist, Steve Ryan, and I have had emails/comments with concern about not wearing a mask at times while providing music for services on Sunday. We are very aware of the many factors of COVID spread and especially singing. Steve and I take this very seriously and talk about it each time we sing/play. We have both been very cautious at our homes and everyday lives and would never do anything to put the other in danger. Read more…
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What Systemic Change Looks Like: Alternatives to Calling the Police
Jamie Evanini, Trustee, UUCWC Board of Trustees
In our last two meetings, the UUCWC Board has begun to discuss our congregational policies around calling the police. In fact, UU congregations around the country are also engaged in similar conversations after nationwide protests arising from the murder of George Floyd this summer. The issue of calling the police became even more timely for Unitarian Universalists after this June’s UUA General Assembly, during which participants affirmed an Action of Social Witness to support the Black Lives Matter movement and to “create systemic change within our congregations”. One of the many systemic changes recommended in the AIW reads, “choosing not to involve police departments and deactivating security systems that mobilize police response when triggered.” Read more…
In the coming months, the Board, in consultation with the Right Relations Committee and Racial Justice Ministry, will examine our policies around calling the police and investigate what other emergency response options we have in our area. They will have listening circles and offer trainings on the skills needed to de-escalate a tense situation and help a person in crisis. The Board welcomes your input and participation in this process. Contact the board at board@uucwc.org.
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Capital Project Update
Jayme Trott and Susan Vigilante, Co-Chairs, Capital Campaign/Project
The Capital Project Steering Committee (Jayme Trott, Susan Vigilante, George Faulkner, Mary Acciani, Steve Saddlemire, Farzad Shadzik, and Susan Irgang) have been extremely busy this month! We received final drawings from the architect and MEP (Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing) engineer. Although we are satisfied with the architectural drawings, the MEP engineer did not provide requested calculations or incorporate the changes we asked him to make. After extensive analysis by Mary, Lee Schofer and Steve, the Steering Committee agreed the MEP design (especially the HVAC) needs to be redone to ensure we end up with a facility that meets our comfort needs. We hope to identify a new MEP engineer soon and proceed as follows. Read more…
Thank you so very much to all who have pledged and are continuing to pay their Capital Campaign pledges! |
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The Path to Membership In Virtual Times
Curious about UUCWC?
Faith Forward is a great way to discover more about the UUCWC community. Held virtually for an hour every Tuesday night at 7pm, visitors have an opportunity to connect with and learn from our lay leaders about social justice, pastoral care, faith exploration, and more. For the Zoom link, email FaithForward@uucwc.org. Read more about the path to membership…
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 UU The Vote
Jamie Evanini, Faith Action Ministry
NEW! Postcarding opportunity to Trenton voters, deadline Sept 30: We will be writing non-partisan postcards to ‘unlikely to vote’ households in Trenton encouraging them to vote and sharing info about how this election will work. The Faith Action Ministry has committed to writing 1000 postcards, to be sent on Sept 30. This effort is organized by a local Hopewell Twp resident. Email fam@uucwc.org ASAP to get your postcards!
Change to next FAM Zoom Gathering: Because of this new, unexpected postcarding opportunity, our next Faith Action Ministry Zoom gathering, Saturday, Sept 26, 10-11:30am, will be a Postcard-Writing Party! Please join us to listen to share, listen to music, and get some writing done. RSVP to fam@uucwc.org for the Zoom info and to get set up with postcarding supplies.
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Information on joining Sunday’s 10:00am virtual service will be emailed to you on Saturday.
On October 4, the service will begin at 11am. |
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Food Ministry Update
Mike Muccioli and the UUCWC Good Ministry Team
The UUCWC Food Ministry is continuing to fulfill our mission through these trying times. Not being able to use the UUCWC kitchen made us have to rethink our processes and we have found a few solutions. Read more…
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Many members of the UUCWC community are very interested and active in social justice issues. Here are two ways to stay connected:
UUCWC’s Faith in Action Facebook page, is a closed group (only members can see who’s in the group and what they post) for those interested in being an ally to fight against oppression and injustice.
UUCWC’s social justice listserv allows members to share news and events with each other. Contact fam@uucwc.org to join the list.
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What Does the Right Relations Committee Do?
David Thomas, Right Relations Committee
What does that Right Relations Committee (RRC) do? This was exactly the question that I had when I was asked to join the committee in June. I was aware on a general level that this committee was dedicated to supporting the mission and principles that we have at UUCWC, in other words, about having a “right relationship” with ourselves, our church spiritual life, in a Beloved Community where everyone’s thoughts and feelings are honored. Even when, especially when, there is disagreement. We all know that listening to understand each other, and speaking our truth compassionately, is of utmost importance even when we have differences. Read more…
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Please buy local products whenever possible. If you do shop at Amazon, please start your purchase by clicking on the Amazon button at the bottom left of our website (and check out within 24 hours), so UUCWC can receive up to a 4% commission on your purchase at no additional cost to you.
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Unitarian Universalist Church at Washington Crossing
268 Washington Crossing Pennington Road, Titusville NJ 08560
609-737-0515 | uucwc@uucwc.org | www.uucwc.org
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