Do you suspect (or even know!) that a member of our Heritage family has a superpower, a really unique hobby or a fascinating story to tell? Is there someone that you have chatted with or attended a group/meeting with that you wish you knew more about? Are there faces at Heritage that you see all the time but really do wish that you knew more about?

One way to get to know a person better might be to have a conversation with them, BUT now you have an ALTERNATIVE! You can submit their name to the new “Know You More” project. Our Director of Lifespan Faith Development, Laci Lee Adams, will be producing a new multimedia series that features oral and written stories about all the people that make up Heritage. In short videos, written vignettes, audio interviews, and maybe even some silly surveys, we will be delving into who we are, what makes each of us unique and how we all fit into the fabric of Heritage.

If you know just the person to be featured or just wonder about someone you would like to know more, submit their names to Laci! The first vignettes will find their way into the next newsletter and then start populating other platforms. Send email to Laci at:

May 2022.

May the flame of this chalice, the symbol of our faith,
connect us to all who have come before us,
all who are with us in body and spirit,
and all who are yet to come into being.
May it serve as a reminder of our unity and connection across all time and space.

~ Remembering Our Unity, Rev. Katie Romano Griffin

Lighting the Chalice is one of the sacred rites and rituals that is shared among a great many UUs! I would hazard a guess that Chalice Lightings in worship, community gatherings, and meetings are more commonplace than any other single collective action (other than maybe annual meetings!) among individual UUs and UU communities. As people with a diverse set of theological and intellectual commitment, UUs have found that the chalice might provide us with a bit of common ground to stand on! At Heritage, we happily stand on that shared common ground each Sunday.

As a way of honoring our diversity and celebrating our differences, we would love to invite all of you to take a turn lighting the chalice in worship! In order to foster greater connections around our differences and across age, we are opening up the possibility of chalice lighting pairs or small groups. Would you like to meet a new family at Heritage? Sign up to light the chalice on a day where one or more of our young people have already signed up. Are there relationships that you have fostered at Heritage that are already significant to you? Consider asking that person to light the chalice with you! Looking to make a connection based upon a shared interest? Put that info in the comment box and see if you can make a new friend.

Please consider signing up to serve as a chalice lighter and deepen your connection to Heritage and one another. Go to the HUUC Chalice Lighters page to sign up.

April 2022.

Everywhere in the news, we are hearing about the expanded number of books that are being taken out of school curriculums, removed from library shelves or even books being publicly burned. In many instances, the proponents of these banned books are ultra-right religious groups! One bedrock of Unitarian Universalism, however, is the free and responsible search for truth. Moreover, we expressly tie the power of our living tradition to multiple sources of inspiration. So, let’s lean into this moment of control and censorship with one of the things that make UUism truly radical – learning!

Join one of our upcoming Banned Book groups! We will be taking a multi-generational approach to our banned book clubs, by offering book clubs for children, youth and adults. In the case of parents, you can decide between a parenting group or a general adult group.

Since the most recent controversy has been around Maus, it seemed like a perfect place to start for our youth and adult book groups. The children’s group selection will be determined in consultation with parents of interested participants. If you or your child are interested in joining a Banned Book Group, please sign-up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F49A4AC2FA4F9C52-banned

March 2022.

 

We are looking forward to being able to open the nursery again, once we are safely back in the sanctuary for worship. Although we do have a paid child care attendant ready to return to the nursery on Sunday morning, we also need an additional volunteer to properly cover the nursery. We are looking for at least 4 nursery volunteers willing to commit to about one Sunday a month! Please reach out to Laci if you are interested in spending some time with our youngest ones and making connections with young families in our community.

You can email Laci at:

1/26/2022.

The New Year finds us seeking out and exploring new ways to be together, especially as the newest wave of the covid pandemic changes how we can be together. Starting this coming Sunday, January 30th at 10 a.m., we will be premiering a new Family Chapel experience on Sundays when our main worship service is on Zoom! It will be a time for our young people and their parent(s)/guardian(s) to virtually join in a time of worship, exploration, and community together. These experiences will be geared towards our young people with interactive elements, singing, and experiencing accessible versions of our worship traditions. Family Chapel will last about 25 minutes, so you don’t have to miss worship to join in our chapel time.

On Zoom-only Sundays at 10:00 a.m., check the Heritage UU Church homepage to get the Zoom link for Family Chapel that Sunday.

1/26/2022.

Lifelong learning can be so much more than learning history or taking a class! Indeed, we grow and learn by diversifying our connections, embracing new experiences, exploring ourselves and our world. As a church, our lifespan faith development opportunities aim to create opportunities for lots of different kinds of learning and growing.

One of the under-appreciated ways of learning is actually teaching and/or volunteering. We learn while we are preparing and we are exposed to the unique perspectives, viewpoints, and knowledge of those we teach. If you are looking for a way to grow at Heritage, consider helping out in our Religious Education classes. This can also be an excellent way to make connections with kids and families at Heritage. Volunteers with lots of different interests and talents are needed, so don’t count yourself out just because you aren’t a teacher. Check on the graphic below to see if any of the RE volunteer needs resonate with you. Our return to weekly in-person worship means that our volunteer needs have doubled!

The winter is the perfect time to make new friends, so that as the weather gets cooler we can start to find a bit of warmth in our mailboxes. We will be starting an intergenerational pen pal exchange in December, but we need interested pen pals to sign-up in November. Then you will receive your pen pal in December. The pen pal exchange will continue until the Spring.

The New Year is often a time for self-reflection, renewed commitments and deepening our understanding of the world. It seems like the perfect time to start our adult Spiritual Autobiography class. We will be offering an informative meeting about the class in December, but if you are interested in knowing more or being kept in the planning loop, please email now our Director of Lifespan Faith Development, Laci Lee Adams. The email address is at the end of this article.

For our RE families, it’s never too late to register. Email Laci at the email address below and she will send you a form or link.

If you have questions, contact Laci at:

November 2021.