Important New Year Announcements

Happy New Year and welcome to 2021. May this year bring us peace of mind, health and a sense of strength, purpose and hope. 

This newsletter brings you lots of practical information as we prepare for South Church’s Annual meeting. The date is Sunday January 31st immediately after the worship service on the zoom platform. I am conducting service that day so I pledge to keep the service shorter so that everyone can attend this most important way of expressing our connection to one another and to South Church.  Unitarian Universalist polity is one of our more important values and that is exercised to its fullest when members attend, vote and participate in Annual meetings. If you are a new member but still need to sign the membership book, you are welcome to be in touch with me to arrange a time to come into the office before the annual meeting~ Welcome to our newest members! 

Jen Leyden will soon be sending out a postcard to legally notify members of the meeting date, time, and action items to come forward and how to access the meeting. 

Getting a copy of the Annual Report to you: (a big summary of the year including staff reports, program highlights, an update on our buildings (including the roof) and the proposed budget.) 

1. Members can Opt Out of a printed copy of the report by emailing the office: info@southchurch-uu.org and requesting a digital link to the document. This will save us a lot of money, and paper, so if you are comfortable, please do this!
2. If we don’t hear from you by January 15th we will be printing and sending or delivering paper copies of the annual report. You can still save the church $6 in shipping costs by coming to pick up your report in person on the church portico on January 24th at noon, or by appointment during the week of January 25th at the office on Court Street. Please reach out to Jen@southchurch-uu.org to set up.
3. If you are willing to hand deliver some annual reports to your neighbors, we are also looking for some delivery volunteers to help avoid the $6/per report in delivery fees. Simply email the office if you can volunteer for this task!

There are lots of exciting action items on the agenda this year and your Board of Trustees and President Janis Wolak are working diligently to see that you get information before hand. 

Leadership Discussion~ part 2: Many of you were able to join us for an update on leadership changes, which will be a part of our annual meeting agenda. On January 17th at Fellowship time there will be another presentation from the Leadership Structure Taskforce. We will present a brief overview but more importantly we welcome more questions and discussion with all of you. If you missed the first discussion you can watch the recording of the presentation here: https://youtu.be/IJiRXJOnxR8 The first presentation provides background information on why we have been piloting collaborative leadership this past year, and and overview of our discernment process to date. We have also established a separate email account where you may send specific questions, raise concerns, ask for more detail and inquire how we got to where we are now. That email address is…. collaborative@southchurch-uu.org 

At the annual meeting the Leadership Structure Task Force and the Board will be seeking some By-law changes that formalize the already existing structure. We encourage you to ask questions and join us for the discussion on Jan 17th. 

Additionally, in preparation for the annual meeting, we will be hosting a budget meeting to allow members to have an opportunity to discuss the budget prior to the Annual Meeting. This will also be held after service on Sunday, January 24th during Fellowship time. An update on fundraising and remaining need related to our Roof replacement will be included in the budget review on the 24th.  

As with so many things this year, having our Annual meeting virtually is going to be a learning experience, the more you can do to feel prepared and ask questions ahead of time the better! We look forward to some important discussions this month. 

Finally, if you are new to zoom, Jen Leyden will be offering an on-line overview later this month. Email her to get more information: Jen@southchurch-uu.org  We hope to accommodate the needs of the congregation so that all may feel included and able to participate. If you have special requests you are also welcome to send a note to me at Revsusanuu1@verizon.net 

As ever, your participation is appreciated and needed. Together we will continue to make South Church a strong and vibrant community living out our values of love, respect, connection and learning into the new year and beyond.

A Holiday Season Letter

This month’s writing  was inspired by a reading by Carmen Emerson in the book, The Spirit That Moves, edited by Barbara Child.  She asked the question, “Do you remember how inspired, encouraged and hopeful you felt to discover Unitarian Universalism?”  As I was reading the article I flashed not on how I felt to discover Unitarian Universalism, as you know I am a life-long UU, but I reflected on the times I have rediscovered Unitarian Universalism and that I am truly a Unitarian Universalist. 

This time for us here at South Church is an interim time, a transitional time, a rich, exploring, questioning, time and I am so very glad to be journeying with you, especially as you discover Unitarian Universalism anew. Your Search Committee has spent hours and hours seeking input from all of us asking questions, compiling information to explore and the to present to the larger UU world what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist at South Church. Revealing your hopes, dreams, vulnerabilities, challenges during this time of rediscovery.  I encourage you to imagine and feel an enthusiasm of rediscovery and to ask questions. 

Why are you a UU and why a UU at South Church? Is it the RE for your family?  Is it the senior youth and Coming of Age program? Is it for the spiritual nurture during worship and gatherings and learning times? Is it for the Social Justice issues South Church engages in? Is it for the music during worship or the chance to be in South Church Folk group or the Choir? Is if for the resilience, tenacity, courage to raise a roof and support staff and search for ministerial leadership? Is it for the community connections that are available even in the midst of a world wide pandemic? Is it for the connections to strengthen you so you can be the best persons in the best place to live out your Unitarian Universalist faith and practices?

One of my goals for this interim time is to help you rekindle your affection for South Church and to reconnect you to the joy, hope, inspiration you experienced when you knew you were a Unitarian Universalist. 

I can fairly safely say that this resurgence and massive uptick in COVID cases has a lot of us on edge.  We may have had some thoughts about gathering together in person, especially around the Holidays, and I am fairly sure few of us expected that ten months of creating virtual services, of offering online meetings, of providing zoom connections for fellowship gatherings and new members classes and Small Group ministry would continue to be the way to stay connected. It is hard and it requires a real commitment to stay the course, to be safe, to protect your loved ones and to maintain and improve what we can do.  We may not be sitting together in the lovely sanctuary. But never let that stop us from building a Unitarian Universalism that will help heal the world and may we always present to the world the strengths, wisdom and love that South Church, a Unitarian Universalist congregation is. 

We have just come out of a Thanksgiving time that by any measure was different and we are entering the Holiday time, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year these days and weeks will require imagination and careful reflection and keeping vigilant. It may be your personality to get blue during the holidays and these times might be even more challenging, but I ask you to make an extra effort to be in touch with just one more person than you normally would. This might be the year to send Holiday cards or to open a Zoom account. 

One of the crucial things I discover and rediscover about my Unitarian Universalism, is that it requires full participation an open mind and heart and a willingness to explore all options. 

May you discover that inspiration and hope and be a source of encouragement for others.