“Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.” -- Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Sunday's gonna be busy at the UUUS: Attorney David Utter will be speaking to our Inquiring Minds group at 9:15 am, followed by his presentation during our Sunday service, "Honoring Dr. King's Legacy: Fighting for Florida's Youth in 2014."After the service, get ready for some electrifying excitement! Jake Gardner will be presenting to the Robotic's team and every interested UUUS member about high voltage current and what FUN things you can do with it! He is even doing a lighting demo with a Tesla coil he made. It will be a very exciting presentation, coordinated by Juan Fuentes in concert with the teens' work on robotics. Mike Ferber is a work colleague with Mr. Gardner, and passion for helping our teens with their robot construction has inspired this expert to share with our community. Everyone is invited to stay and enjoy his talk. It will be such a busy and exciting Sunday at UUUS, please make time to stay and enjoy!And speaking of the robot, the teens will be holding a bake sale and a 50/50 raffle to rais
REMINDER: Join the Social Concerns team and participate in the Standing on the Side of Love "30 Days of Love" campaign, beginning Jan 18th. Find more info at standingonthesideoflove.org/2014-30daysoflove. Sign up for daily e-mails with activities, resources, and food for thought. Be part of the Love!In addition, the next Social Concerns meeting will be on Jan 26th @ 12:00pm. Join us for a new year of planning and action!
Martha Kirby, Program Planning Chair has some announcements: 1) There will be a Service Leader Workshop coming in February. Please e-mail the team at programplanningteam@universityuus.org or talk to a member of the team. 2) Thanks to all who have used the new forms for comments and suggestions on programs. Our mission is to meet the needs of the congregation and the only way to do that is to keep the lines of communication open! We also have a message from Program Team member Paula Despang: I want to thank all the people in this Society who faithfully and joyfully participate in our services. The efforts of all are needed and make each service a unique treat. My heart overflows with gratitude. More details can be found at universityuusociety.blogspot.com/2014/01/messages-from-your-program-planning-team.html
The UUUS is proud to be a support church for Family Promise of Greater Orlando (FPGO), a nonprofit, interfaith hospitality network providing temporary assistance, hospitality, and case management for families with children experiencing homelessness. Within the last week, our RE program provided children in the program with 9 toiletry filled backpacks, invited the organizations' leaders as guest speakers during a service, and donated funds to help with their wonderful work.Recently the UUUS received a message from Sally Crawford, the FPGO coordinator at First United Methodist Church of Oviedo. To read it, go to universityuusociety.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-message-from-sally-crawford-of-family.html
Adult RE Series: Reproductive Justice for Congregations This course is designed to help congregations understand the distinctions between reproductive 'health,' 'rights,' and 'justice'; open awareness of reproductive oppression; and offer opportunities to learn about ourselves and each other as sexual and reproductive beings. More details @ universityuusociety.blogspot.com/2014/01/adult-re-series-reproductive-justice.html
As we begin a new year, let’s recommit to Social Concerns at UUUS. The committee has dwindled in membership without a chair, but the desire for social justice work is still strong and a new year is here. The next meeting will be held Sunday, Jan 26th at 12:00 pm in the UUUS Library. Come join in and help plan for 2014 with a renewed purpose.
The Men's Group is looking forward to gathering together to share food and conversation on January 11, 6:30 pm. All men are welcome! Please e-mail David McElroy for more information. The next Women's Support Circle meeting will be on Friday, Jan 10th @ 7 pm. Please RSVP to Rosandra as soon as you can via e-mail @ fbadmin@universityuus.org
From our Social Concerns Committee: As we learned at the UUUS' 12/29/13 service (www.universityuus.org/d/2013/SS2013-12-29-StandingontheSideofLove.mp3), Standing on the Side of Love (SoSL) is an interfaith public advocacy campaign sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Association that seeks to harness love’s power to stop oppression. To become familiar with the SoSL and the opportunities it offers, feel free to visit the SotSol website (standingonthesideoflove.org). It’s a great way to learn about and participate in social justice work. To show your support for the work of the campaign, you can order SotSol t-shirts on the UUA Bookstore (www.uuabookstore.org/showproducts.cfm?FullCat=155) to wear at UUUS Social Action functions, as well as purchase other related merchandise. In addition, please visit the site's 30DoL webpage (standingonthesideoflove.org/30days2014) and join us in participating in their annual 30–Days of Love Campaign. There are weekly themes and daily activities
Important Reminder: Tomorrow is the next Spruce Up work day and your help is greatly needed to keep our buildings and surroundings looking beautiful and inviting. Come dressed to work and choose an activity from the Task List, which can be found on Google Docs or on the inside of the cleaning closet door. See you there!
Happy New Year! Thanks to Chris Reid for working through the New Year holiday to publish the first "The Connection" newsletter of the year. If you haven't received the e-mail notification, you can read it at universityuus.org/Connection/2014/c2014-01.pdf. As an FYI, you can always find the current month's issue using the link in the Quick Links section located in the left hand column of our website @ www.universityuus.org. And if you haven't already signed up for our weekly newsletter, "The Connection" notification, and special notices, you may do so using the form in the right hand column of our website.
This Sunday: Standing on the Side of Love is an interfaith public advocacy campaign sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Association that seeks to harness love’s power to stop oppression. All are welcome to join this community of people compelled to speak out against oppression, united in the common belief that love is the ultimate guiding force of our world. As we end our year, learning how we can help SSOL elevate compassionate religious voices to influence public attitudes and public policy seems a fitting journey to begin
Season's Greetings, Peaceful Kwanza, Blessed Yule, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Joyeux Noël, Festive Festivus! Whatever you observe during this time of year, may you celebrate it those you care about.
This Sunday...An RE “Sci-fi Christmas: An Alien Winter Celebration." Star Trek, Star Wars, Men in Black, Too! Sci-Fi can celebrate the season in galaxies far, far away! Our children will present a possible idea of how UUUS kids might explain the holiday season to "people" who have never enjoyed any of the holidays celebrated at this time of year. Using a "Universalist" communicator borrowed from the Enterprise, our kids converse with alien lifeforms and enlighten us all to the joy of the season. Bring with you a heartfelt wish for a merry Christmas (or holiday of your choosing) -- as our kids seek out new worlds and learn about new religions. The Service is presented by the UUUS kids. "Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the shipNot a circuit was buzzing, not one microchip;The phasers were hung in the armory securely,In hope that no alien would get up that early."