Almost Time for the Annual Budget Drive

Feb 18, 2021 | Weekly Message

young boy and girl pulling on rope on one side of tug-a-warLike everything else, the Annual Budget Drive looks a little different this year.  No parties, no receptions, no Zoom events; you’ll just receive a few reminders (how many is a “few” anyway?) that we need your annual commitment for next year to make everything UUCA does possible ­– oh, and you might see a fun video clip or two.

While the budget drive is a little more low-key than usual, your commitment is as important as ever. The commitments of our members sustain UUCA and the work we do in our community. While COVID has closed our campus, our work continues. Here are just a few of the ways UUCA has continued to connect and engage members and carry love into our community.

  • Our kids are still attending RE sessions, with the RE staff doing their best to offer interesting, fun Zoom lessons, opportunities for safe in-person gatherings, and sending out RE “care” packages called Church in a Box
  • Our adults are engaged in covenant groups, adult faith development classes, and even the ongoing work of the church as “normal” meetings continue as Zoom affairs
  • Somehow, we never missed a Sunday of worship services as we flipped overnight from in-person to pre-recorded and live Zoom services
  • Injustice in the world doesn’t stop and our justice ministry actions haven’t either as we had plenty of congregants involved in get-out-the-vote activities and have seriously begun a congregation-wide effort (that will last a lifetime) to confront our own complicity in white supremacy culture
  • UUCA has provided direct financial contributions to CoThinkk, Homeward Bound, and UU Forward Together (the NC UU justice consortium) outside of our Community Plate donations

In a year when our key words are BE FLEXIBLE, we have been graced with a whole new set of UUCA members who have stepped in to lead when others could not (because we’re stronger together).  Our congregants continue to be generous with their time and their financial commitment. So thank you…let’s continue the work.

We’re keeping the Annual Budget Drive simple this year. Here are four easy ways you can make your commitment. They all work, but you only need to choose one:

  1. Super easy, click this link and fill out the form.
  2. Send in the commitment form you will receive in the mail in a week or so.
  3. Write an email to Tish Murphy with the dollar amount you’re committing to this year.
  4. Make your commitment in Realm.

Or if you want an excuse to talk with someone who doesn’t live in your house, skip all of the above and just call Tish Murphy at church on Mondays or Tuesdays (828.254.6001), or Linda Topp (919.593.0340) any old time.

One more thing, we really need your commitment by April 1st (seriously, no fooling) so we can get our budget put together for next year.

Show your love and appreciation for UUCA by giving generously this year.  We can turn our dreams into reality because we are stronger together—even when we’re not …well…together.

Linda Topp, Director of Administration

 

Turning Point – A 3-session Discussion Series about the Future of Unitarian Universalism and UUCA, Mondays, February 22, March 8 and 22 at 7pm on Zoom

Feb 15, 2021 | News 4 Leaders

Do you agree or disagree?

  • We UUs are being held back and stymied by a persistent, pervasive, disturbing, and disruptive commitment to individualism that misguides our ability to engage the changing times.
  • We cling to a Unitarian Universalist exceptionalism that is often insulting to others and undermines our good news.
  • We refuse to acknowledge and treat our allergy to authority and power, though all the symptoms compromise a healthy future.

These are the claims being made in the book of essays edited by Fredric Muir called Turning Point: Essays on a new Unitarian Universalism.  The essayists then go on to suggest that renewed emphasis on generosity, pluralism, and imagination can address these “sins.”  And finally, in the third section of the book, there are examples of innovative UU programs that point us in new directions.

For these discussions, we’ll pull two or three essays from the book for each session so a full reading of the book is helpful but not necessary.  Contact James Cassara to register for the link and get the book.  Brought to you by the Leadership Development Committee.

Turning Point – A 3-session Discussion Series about the Future of Unitarian Universalism and UUCA, Mondays, February 22, March 8 and 22 at 7pm on Zoom

Feb 15, 2021 | News 4 Leaders

Do you agree or disagree?

  • We UUs are being held back and stymied by a persistent, pervasive, disturbing, and disruptive commitment to individualism that misguides our ability to engage the changing times.
  • We cling to a Unitarian Universalist exceptionalism that is often insulting to others and undermines our good news.
  • We refuse to acknowledge and treat our allergy to authority and power, though all the symptoms compromise a healthy future.

These are the claims being made in the book of essays edited by Fredric Muir called Turning Point: Essays on a new Unitarian Universalism.  The essayists then go on to suggest that renewed emphasis on generosity, pluralism, and imagination can address these “sins.”  And finally, in the third section of the book, there are examples of innovative UU programs that point us in new directions.

For these discussions, we’ll pull two or three essays from the book for each session so a full reading of the book is helpful but not necessary.  Contact James Cassara to register for the link and get the book.  Brought to you by the Leadership Development Committee.

Encountering Howard Thurman

Feb 14, 2021 | Sermons

Sunday, February 14, 2021
Rev. Mark Ward, Lead Minister
Amid our work in support of Black Lives Matter, we spend some time with perhaps the most important Black theologian of the 20th century. What does Howard Thurman have to teach us UUs?