Greetings from UU Class Conversations!

We are writing to ask that you please share our job posting for a caucus coordinator with those who might be interested in joining us. While for all UUs, this job may be of particular interest to divinity students and community ministers. Our Working Class Caucuses, meeting from January – June 2023 will focus on those who identify as working-class and will generate recommendations for UU congregations and our larger association on ways that their policies and procedures can become more welcoming for people with more limited class advantage. We hope you will share this in your communications with them as well.

Until next time, with hope and faith,

The UU Class Conversations Steering Committee

[email protected]

We’re looking for fresh talent and ideas! Please take a moment to fill out this short survey to help us make our Sunday services even better!

https://forms.gle/bCzNy4xtgRdqXYaw7

Despondent about democracy?  Enraged about Roe?  Harness that energy with UU the Vote, our denomination-wide effort to fight for fair elections, advance voting rights, protect abortion access, and resist the targeting and criminalization of Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities. UUS:E members have already started writing letters to traditionally under-represented voters urging them to vote. It’s quick, easy, and something you can do from home.

Sign up through UU the Vote’s partner organization, Vote Forward, at voteforward.org.  They’ll provide print-ready letters encouraging voter participation along with names/addresses.  You print the letters, add a brief handwritten personal message, and address and stamp the envelopes.  We’ll mail our letters in late October for maximum effect.

There’s one more step.  In order to be counted as part of UUS:E’s effort to UU the Vote, please email: Maude McGovern at [email protected].  She will also provide tips and answer questions.

And if all this sounds familiar, it’s because in 2020 UUS:E members and friends wrote almost 6,000 (yes, 6,000!) letters.  Join us in 2022!

Please know also that UU the Vote has many resources and ideas on getting involved with voter turnout for the 2022 midterm elections. Explore their website here.

Dear UUS:E members and friends:

The UUS:E Policy Board has voted to remove the mask mandate at the meeting house. Though we still recommend wearing masks when present for services and events, they are no longer mandatory. Please take a moment to view Rev. Josh’s message about this change.

Into the Sacred Heart

Friday, September 9, 6:45 PM

Neuro-acoustic sound therapist and gong teacher Ed Cleveland is back by popular demand. Ed will create a meditative, healing sound-bath (using gongs and other instruments) that facilitates a shift from beta brainwaves to theta and delta, or deep meditative states of consciousness.

This profound shift, facilitated by the gongs, gently signals the nervous system and vagus nerve to move from the sympathetic (fight/flight/freeze) response to the parasympathetic (rest and digest). The result is relief from stress, deep relaxation, renewed health, and a sense of well-being.

Bring your own folding gravity chair, yoga mat, blankets, pillows, etc. Dress for comfort. Doors open at 6:45 to get settled. Gong bath starts at 7 PM.

Suggested donation: $25. No one will be turned away.

A Live Concert by Dorothy Bognar

Sunday, October 2, 2022

3:00 PM

Unitarian Universalist Society: East

Flyer

“From My Piano Bench” features a selection of pieces from Dorothy Bognar’s repertoire, featuring a variety of styles and moods, all intended to lift the spirits.

This concert is generously being offered by Dorothy as part of our 2022 Goods & Services Auction.

Seats are $15 each. You may attend in-person or via Zoom.

To Buy Tickets:

Call Annie in the UUS:E Office at 860-646-5151 or stop by the table in the lobby on Sunday mornings.

There is a maximum of 60 in-person attendees and unlimited Zoom attendees. Invite your friends!

Leaders from Moral Monday CT will be at UUS:E on Saturday afternoon, June 11th from 3:30 to 5:00 to discuss the latest news from the Poor People’s Campaign and the June 18th mass action in Washington, DC. Questions? Contact Rev. Josh Pawelek at [email protected].

A Workshop with CB Beal
Saturday, June 4th, 9 am to noon

Who and What: CB Beal will lead participants in a grounded, thoughtful experience with humor and a light touch about the complex reality of engaging in community care during difficult times. (Sponsored by the Adult Religious Education Committee and Rev. Josh Pawelek)

When and Where: Saturday, June 4^th, 9:00 to Noon in the UUS:E sanctuary

Register

Why: Human physiology—our brains and bodies—reacts to the damaging and dangerous events in our lives such as pandemic, police violence, personal injury, or loss of bodily autonomy in our legal system. Humans can regulate our emotions together, whether by accident of circumstance or with intention. Humans often get upset together and we can ground and calm together.  Intentionally co-regulating is a community skill many of us were never taught in families that prioritized pretense or image over emotional presence, or in a culture based on white supremacy and patriarchy that prioritized denial and compliance over emotional processing.

How:  CB will facilitate an experience that invites us to engage one another, bear witness, and enjoy fun learning activities. Community Care means that we mindfully tell the truth about what is difficult, and that we listen carefully to others and affirm their experiences. We will breathe together, practice slowing down, choose to prioritize need over preference, and then slow down more when needs appear to be in conflict.

Note: This will be the first in-person congregational workshop CB has done since before the pandemic. Being in-person will enable us to be present with one another, to be reflective and curious, to move our bodies together in space and learn together, present and grounded — practicing community care.

For the Sake of Inclusion:

• Childcare will be provided upon request. Please contact Rev. Josh Pawelek by Tuesday, May 31st to request childcare.
• Please come to this workshop wearing no fragrances (other than the natural scents of some body products such as coconut or jojoba oils.)
• Please come to this workshop wearing a well-fitted N95 quality mask to ensure we are doing everything possible to protect those most vulnerable to Covid. (Two-way high quality masking increases the safety for vulnerable people between 10-100 times—depending on how well fitted they are—over that of a single vulnerable person wearing an N95 quality mask.)
• There is a $10 fee to attend this workshop. If you are not in a position to pay for the workshop, please contact Rev. Josh Pawelek. Nobody will be turned away for lack of fund!

Register

YEHYUN KIM / CTMIRROR.ORG

UUS:E is featured in a recent CT Mirror / Hartford Courant article by the “economic development” reporter Erica Phillips. Phillips interviewed UUS:E staff-members and UUS:E Personnel Committee chair, Vivian Carlson, in mid-March. She uses our experience purchasing health insurance for our staff as a starting place for an in-depth analysis of why it is so difficult for non-profits and small businesses to continue offering insurance to their employees.

Read the May 1st CT Mirror version of the article (with pictures) here.

Read the May 4th, Hartford Courant version of the article here.

Congregants made pledges at our 2022 Earth Day service.