May 16, 2023 | Justice Ministry
UU Avl Events
May 21/22 – EAC Book Study: The Green Boat: Reviving Ourselves in Our Capsized Culture, by Mary Pipher. In person Sunday, 9:30-10:45 am, 23 Edwin Parlor; Zoom, Monday 7-8:15 pm (contact Sunita for zoom link sunitapatterson@gmail.com); Section 2: Denial
May 26th, 7:30 pm & May 27th, 3 pm – Womansong Concerts “Love Your Mother (Earth)”, at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville, 20 Edwin Place, $20. Get details and tickets here.
May 27, 8th Principle Workshop (on-line): Building a Culture of Inclusion, 10AM – 2 PM; Facilitator: Paula Cole Jones sponsored by UU Justice Ministry NC
Community Events
May 20th – “Teaching Peace in a Violent World”, 1 pm. Get details and register here for this webinar from the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
May 22nd – “Voting Rights Through a Jewish Lens: A Conversation with NC State Senator Lisa Grafstein”, 7 pm, offered by Carolina Jews for Justice. Get details and register here.
May 25th – Veterans for Peace offer “Peace Talks in WNC”, 7 pm, at 15 Overbrook Place. Get details here.
Next month…
June 4/5 – EAC Book Study: The Green Boat: Reviving Ourselves in Our Capsized Culture, by Mary Pipher. In person Sunday, 9:30-10:45 am, 23 Edwin Parlor; Zoom, Monday 7-8:15 pm (contact Sunita for zoom link sunitapatterson@gmail.com); Section 3: Awareness to Action
June 12th – 18th – “Juneteenth Celebration” in Asheville. Get details about the events offered here.
June 15th – World Elder Abuse Awareness Day Walk, 5-7 pm, at Carrier Park. Get details here.
June 16 – Justice Film (TBA) – No films July & August
June 21-25 – UUA General Assembly, Pittsburgh, PA
June 25/26 – EAC Book Study: The Green Boat: Reviving Ourselves in Our Capsized Culture, by Mary Pipher. In person Sunday, 9:30-10:45 am, 23 Edwin Parlor; Zoom, Monday 7-8:15 pm (contact Sunita for zoom link sunitapatterson@gmail.com); Section 4: Resilient Coping
July 9/10 – EAC Book Study: The Green Boat: Reviving Ourselves in Our Capsized Culture, by Mary Pipher. In person Sunday, 9:30-10:45 am, 23 Edwin Parlor; Zoom, Monday 7-8:15 pm (contact Sunita for zoom link sunitapatterson@gmail.com); Section 5: The Transcendent Response
May 14, 2023 | Sermons
Sunday, May 14, 2023 11am
Kim Collins, Religious Educator
In these times when children are under attack from many angles, what kind of mothering are we talking about? How do we balance fiercely protecting our children from school shootings and regressive legislators with getting the dishes done? Kim Collins will lead us in a time of rest and reflection as we consider that balance and how we can mother each other.
May 10, 2023 | Weekly Message
Last week as I was working with Jen Johnson to complete the Religious Exploration section of our Annual Report, I couldn’t help but marvel at everything we have managed to make happen in Religious Exploration this year. Hopefully, you were able to catch the Faith Development service on Sunday, May 7th so you have had a glimpse of what we’ve been up to in RE. While we have been lucky to have increased registration numbers and growing Sunday attendance in our RE programs, we have also worked really hard to bring all of our fabulous programmings to you. We have had the help of about 40 volunteers in RE this year and we truly could not have done it without them. With their help, we have been able to offer 4 different OWL classes, serving 40 children and youth. Our youth group may be small, but it is mighty! The youth offered another beautiful worship service this year, modeling fun, meaningful worship for the rest of us. Our Crossing Paths middle school group made visits to 8 different houses of worship this year! They began the year learning about Unitarian Universalism and used that lens to explore other religions. Our Religious Exploration program is thriving, thanks to the work of our volunteers, staff, children, and youth, and of course our whole welcoming community!
Even as we are wrapping up the “church year” this month, we are hard at work planning for the summer and fall. Many of our families and congregants travel in the summer, but we still offer RE nearly every Sunday in the summer. This summer we will bring back some of our favorite activities from last summer (fair trade chocolate tasting!) as well as some new activities (fairy houses and toothpick architecture!) from the Can Do Summer curriculum by Soul Matters. These activities will be fun for all ages and a way for us to stay connected over the summer. We do need some help though, as of this writing only one person has signed up to help with Summer RE. We are looking for more adults to help out this summer, older kids are also welcome to lead and assist with our Sunday activities! If you can help out one Sunday, please sign up here! RE staff will be there to help, and we will provide the simple lesson plans and all supplies needed.
I mentioned earlier that we had 40 fabulous RE volunteers this year. In order to offer everything that we want to in 2023-24, we are going to need more volunteers. I also mentioned that our registration has increased, which means that some of our groups have been BIG this year. We did not offer Coming of Age this year, which freed up some time and resources, but means that we will have a large Coming of Age group next year that will require even more volunteers, especially when we factor in the amount of mentors needed. We are offering programs like OWL in RE that can be hard for folks to get in other places; classes and groups that focus on equity, the search for truth and meaning, science and facts, helping others, and being radically welcoming. We are providing space for our children and youth to be their whole selves in a time when it is increasingly difficult for them to do that in schools. Our volunteers become trusted adults for our children and youth, which is one of the greatest gifts we can give them. Our children and youth feel loved, supported, and secure in our community. We will have a table in Sandburg Hall all month to sign up new and returning volunteers, please come see us if you are interested or have any questions! While we do ask parents and caregivers to make a commitment to RE, we need all sorts of people. In order to have parents and caregivers participate fully in congregational life, we need other folks to volunteer with RE! Not all of our volunteer positions directly interact with kids so we’ve got something for everyone! If you want to see what the choices are and sign up here.
Kim Collins, Lifespan Religious Educator
May 8, 2023 | Justice Ministry
UU Avl Events
May 12 – Justice Film: The Politics of Beauty 7PM, Zoom; request a link from Charlie Wussow at mnpopi@icloud.com.
May 21/22 – EAC Book Study: The Green Boat: Reviving Ourselves in Our Capsized Culture, by Mary Pipher. In person Sunday, 9:30-10:45 am, 23 Edwin Parlor; Zoom, Monday 7-8:15 pm (contact Sunita for zoom link sunitapatterson@gmail.com); Section 2: Denial
May 26th, 7:30 pm & May 27th, 3 pm – Womansong Concerts “Love Your Mother (Earth)”, at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville, 20 Edwin Place, $20. Get details and tickets here.
May 27, 8th Principle Workshop (on-line): Building a Culture of Inclusion, 10AM – 2 PM; Facilitator: Paula Cole Jones sponsored by UU Justice Ministry NC
Community Events
May 11 – “Private Plunder of Public Goods: The Threat of Medicare Privatization and the Need for Single Payer”, a presentation of Dr. Susan Rogers, 7 pm, at First Congregational UCC, 20 Oak Street. Get details fromthis flyer.
May 11th – Webinar “School Voucher Expansion Harms Students and Threatens Public Education Funding” 7 pm. Get details and register here
May 13– Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America invites you to a Mother’s Day of Action walk 10am at Pack Plaza; RSVP.
May 13 – Safe Surrender Event; 1-3PM Gun Surrender; 4PMBlacksmith Demo; 15 Overbrook, Asheville
May 15th – Next meeting of the Asheville and Buncombe County Community Reparations Commission at Harrah’s Cherokee Center – Banquet Room, 6 pm.
May 20th – “Teaching Peace in a Violent World”, 1 pm. Get details and register here for this webinar from the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
May 22nd – “Voting Rights Through a Jewish Lens: A Conversation with NC State Senator Lisa Grafstein”, 7 pm, offered by Carolina Jews for Justice. Get details and register here.
May 25th – Veterans for Peace offer “Peace Talks in WNC”, 7 pm, at 15 Overbrook Place. Get details here.
Next month…
June 4/5 – EAC Book Study: The Green Boat: Reviving Ourselves in Our Capsized Culture, by Mary Pipher. In person Sunday, 9:30-10:45 am, 23 Edwin Parlor; Zoom, Monday 7-8:15 pm (contact Sunita for zoom link sunitapatterson@gmail.com); Section 3: Awareness to Action
June 12th – 18th – “Juneteenth Celebration” in Asheville. Get details about the events offered here.
June 15th – World Elder Abuse Awareness Day Walk, 5-7 pm, at Carrier Park. Get details here.
June 21-25 – UUA General Assembly, Pittsburgh, PA
June 25/26 – EAC Book Study: The Green Boat: Reviving Ourselves in Our Capsized Culture, by Mary Pipher. In person Sunday, 9:30-10:45 am, 23 Edwin Parlor; Zoom, Monday 7-8:15 pm (contact Sunita for zoom link sunitapatterson@gmail.com); Section 4: Resilient Coping
July 9/10 – EAC Book Study: The Green Boat: Reviving Ourselves in Our Capsized Culture, by Mary Pipher. In person Sunday, 9:30-10:45 am, 23 Edwin Parlor; Zoom, Monday 7-8:15 pm (contact Sunita for zoom link sunitapatterson@gmail.com); Section 5: The Transcendent Response
May 8, 2023 | Faith Development
Welcome! Our theme this month is Creativity.
Faith Development Calendar
May 10, 17, 24, 31- Article II Exploration Series, Sanctuary, 6:30-8:00 PM
Please contact Rev. Claudia faithdev@uuasheville.org to register.
May 25 – A Taste of Soul. Noon-1PM, Sandburg Hall; Bring a bagged lunch and join Rev. Claudia to learn about our Soul Matters Small Group Ministry.
May 25 – Soul Matters Facilitators: Celebration & Dessert Reception; 7PM, SH
May 27 – Building A Culture of Inclusion; Facilitator – Paula Cole Jones; online, 10:00 AM- 2:00 PM.
Spiritual Deepening Groups
Covenant of UU Pagans – CUUPS. Contact: Sherry Lundquist sherry_lundquist@yahoo.com
Buddhist Sanhga – meets 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at 7:30 pm in Sandburg Hall; Contact: Sequoyah Rich sequoyahrich333@gmail.com, or Stef Garvin stef@giftsintogold.com.
Soul Matters Groups – Conversation Groups, UU Writers Group and Creativity Matters group explore monthly themes Sept.- June. New groups form each Sept. Contact: Rev. Claudia faithdev@uuasheville.org
