At the beginning of the year, your Board of Trustees wanted to have more opportunities for our congregation to share with one another in a meaningful way. So, it was decided to have a “Brunch & Banter” service once a quarter, and this Sunday is our fall quarter edition. 

Banter is defined as light-hearted conversation, and this Sunday our conversation may be light-hearted, but about important things. 

This past Sunday, Our member, Colin Peden, gave an excellent sermon on, “Community, Whether We like it or Not!” So this week, we are going to look at a bit of the “like it” part.

People in our congregation have remarked that often we don’t know much about our fellow members until we hear about their life in a memorial service, and that we wish we knew more about one another before that occurs. This Sunday, we will have the opportunity to get to know more about each other in a light-hearted manner, plus share some delicious food.

Please bring your favorite fall dish to share, and be in community with your fellow UU’s!

Erica Merchant will lead the service. 

Greeters: Nina Helfert and Colin Peden

"Being in Community... Whether We Like It or Not!"

 Service by Colin Peden

“There is only one person in the world like you, and people can like you exactly the way you are,” Fred Rogers told me through the television. Shakespeare, perhaps having read the comments section, was less optimistic: “I desire that we should be better strangers.”

Most of us recognize a little truth in both. People gather in churches, cooperatives, punk scenes, and countless other communities seeking acceptance, purpose, and connection. Then we encounter the unavoidable catch: other people. They have their own inconvenient opinions and needs, and a great talent for misunderstanding ours.

We'll explore why the goal is not to compare NSUUS to some imagined perfect community, but to practice the imperfect arts of listening, participating, disagreeing, repairing, and growing together.  Community is not merely the destination. Community is the way there. The work itself is the point.

Colin Peden will lead the service. 

Greeters: Rita and Steve Storey

Please join us for the annual Water Communion Service! The UUA Worship Web states: "The Water Communion, also sometimes called Water Ceremony, was first used in a Unitarian Universalist worship service in the 1980's. 

Many UU congregations now hold a Water Communion once a year, often at the beginning of the new church year (September).

Members bring to the service a small amount of water from a place that is special to them. During the appointed time in the service, people one by one pour their water together into a large bowl.

As the water is added, the person who brought it tells why this water is special to them. The combined water is symbolic of our shared faith coming from many different sources."

Bring your water to share! If you don't have actual water from a vacation or special location, feel free to bring "symbolic" water. "Symbolic" water will also be provided!

Read more about the origins of the service here.

Tamara Murray will lead the service. 

Greeters: Leslie Roussel and Jude Selva

Labor in the United States
 

It is difficult to find a Rev. Dr. William Barber talk that is under an hour, but Tamara found one AND he is speaking about the importance of Labor in America!    Reverend Dr William J Barber, II speaks on racial and economic justice at the 2016 SEIU Convention in 2016, although it could have been delivered today.  There can be no economic justice until there is racial justice.

About SEIU: We are the Service Employees International Union, an organization of 2-million members united by the belief in the dignity and worth of workers and the services they provide and dedicated to improving the lives of workers and their families and creating a more just and humane society.

Click here to find out more about SEIU.

Tamara Murray will lead the service. 
Greeters: Barry Lee and Julie Bosch