 |
|
|
Having trouble viewing this message? Scroll to the bottom & click the link to view this email online. The newsletter is long and may get clipped, please scroll down to the bottom and check for a "view entire message" notice to make sure you see all of the content.
| |
Rising Together 2025: Saturday, January 25th at 9 AM!
As we look ahead to 2025, many of us are feeling anxiety, dread, or at least trepidation about the political moment we are heading towards. But we also know that, in community, we can find a different path forward filled with possibilities, support, and hope! If you're looking for spiritual sustenance, community connections, and opportunities to deepen your skills for making change, please plan to join us here at the Fellowship for Rising Together: Lessons on Healing from the Front Lines of Activism on Saturday, January 25th from 9 am - 1 pm. Hosted in partnership with the Green Bay Area UU Fellowship, ESTHER Fox Valley, and Congregational United Church of Christ Neenah/Menasha, the third annual Rising Together will include spiritual centering time, a lively panel, topical breakout sessions, and lunch. The event (including lunch and childcare) is free of charge and all are welcome! You can learn more and register at fvuuf.org/rising, and email hannah@fvuuf.org with questions.
| |
Sunday, January 5
10:00 am Central Time in-person & livestream
Turning of the Year: A Chance to Remember, Reflect, and Celebrate 2024
by Rev. Christina Leone-Tracy
Nursery Care will be available. Grades 4K-5: Large Group/One Room School House Religious Exploration, Grades 6 and up are encouraged to attend the service in the Sanctuary. They may join the large group if they prefer.
• Visit fvuuf.org/middlehour/ to learn more about middle hour.
• Watch past sermons on our YouTube channel.
• Upcoming Services HERE
• See our website HERE for information about our Sunday religious exploration classes for children and youth.
• Share the Plate: In January we share the plate between the Fellowship and Legal Action Wisconsin.
| |
The Turning of the Year service is coming up on January 5th! If you have had a birth or wedding/commitment ceremony in your family from 2024 that you would like acknowledged, or if there is a death in the Fellowship's circle of care from 2024 that you'd like acknowledged, please email it (with Turning of the Year in the subject line) to hannah@fvuuf.org by Friday, January 3rd. We look forward to marking the many transitions from the past year at 10:00 AM on Sunday, January 5th!
| |
Pop-Up Choir This Sunday!
This Sunday, January 5, all are invited to be a part of our POP-UP CHOIR at the 10:00 AM Service. We'll be singing "Circle of the Sun", by Sally Rogers.
Please meet in the Sanctuary (up by the piano) at 9:20 PM. Come as you are; there is no need to prepare anything! Music will be provided.
Thanks! Hope to see you Sunday!
| |
10:10 AM Middle Hour
Middle Hour offerings resume on Sunday, January 12.
Click HERE for future Middle Hour offerings.
| |
|
| | Adult Connection & Learning Opportunities
| |
Soup-er Saturday - January 4
First Saturday of each month, 5:00-6:00 pm CT (October – May)
Join us at the Fellowship for an evening of potluck food, soup, friends, and conversation. We will need people to bring food (including vegetarian and vegan options), bread, maybe dessert… and to come hungry.
| |
Senior Wonders
Senior Wonders will meet on Tuesday, January 7th at the Fellowship. Weather will hopefully be nice for us to travel both in cars and walking from them into the building. Take care and keep warm.
| |
Express Yourself
The next offering of Express Yourself is Collages on January 15. We meet 6:00-7:30 pm. Collages are a fun way to use words, images, and creativity to make a new piece of art out of old magazines, newspapers, and more!
Do you want to write a poem with letters from The New Yorker? Or create a still life out of photographs from Cook's Illustrated? Where will your journey with scissors and glue take you? Amanda and Cindy will provide some paper, magazines, glue, and scissors. **Please bring some materials to share!**
| |
Unpacking Religious Baggage Group 2nd Sunday of each month, 12:30-1:30 pm
Are you carrying around religious baggage from your upbringing? Do you want to have less negative reactions when other people mention religion or God? Do you want to heal from religious wounds, and move forward with a healthier, more inclusive, and loving sense of your spirituality, whatever that might mean for you now? We’re with you! Join us for our monthly conversations to connect with people who have similar experiences and support each other in developing our spiritual identities. Our ministers and lay leaders will help us develop some self-work and topic exploration to do in between our meetings.
Contact Rev. Christina if you have questions or want to hear more about what the group is doing: christina@fvuuf.org.
| |
Christian Spirituality Group
4th Sunday of each month, 12:30-1:30 pm
If you identify as a UU Christian or simply want to spend some time exploring UU spirituality around ideas of God, Jesus, or the Bible, join us for a UU Christian Spirituality Group, which is new and still developing how we want to use our time together. We hope to see you at our next meeting.
Contact Kathy Rose if you have questions or want to hear more about what the group is doing: 2kathrynrose@gmail.com.
| |
| | Religious Exploration - Children & Youth
| |
Religious Exploration for January 5 (10:00 am CT)
Nursery Care will be available. Grades 4K-5 Large Group/One Room School House Religious Exploration. Grades 6 and up are encouraged to attend the service in the sanctuary. They may join the large group if they prefer.
| |
Introducing our new Neurodiversity Support Intern!
Rev. Christina and Ms. Kim Hartman have been working to create a relationship with Lawrence University to offer a professional development opportunity for students to help support neurodiversity in our Religious Exploration program by providing support for students, volunteer leaders, and staff on Sunday mornings, making recommendations for curriculum or classroom management adaptations, and more. This unpaid position will support our programs as well as provide a wonderful for-credit academic experience for local university students.
Starting in January, through the end of May, we welcome our new Neurodiversity Support Intern, SOPHIA SCHULTZ! We’re so excited to have Sophia on our team. Here, she can introduce herself:
"Hi, I'm Sophia! I am a senior at Lawrence University, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Neuroscience. I am deeply committed to research and psychological practice that supports the mental health and well-being of neurodiverse youth across diverse settings. Through my applied work experiences in educational settings and personal experiences, I have developed immense empathy for those who experience frequent social, emotional, and sensory overwhelm. I am so excited to have the opportunity to support neurodiverse youth in a non-school community setting!"
| |
Religious Exploration Program Year
We warmly invite all young curious minds to join us in fun and friendship in our Religious Exploration classes on Sundays during the 11:00 service. Kids in grades 4K-8 will discover our values through enriching lessons and activities that help them grow spiritually, ethically, and intellectually.
Every month, our students in grades 4K- 5 will explore a variety of major world religions and learn more about our new Unitarian Universalist values: Justice, Equity, Transformation, Pluralism, Interdependence, and Generosity (JETPIG). Finally, they will continue their journey of understanding and practicing their own UU faith.
Click HERE for information about each of our programs including nursery, children’s Sunday Religious Exploration, and HERE for our teen programs; Crossing Paths, Being a Teen, and Our Whole Lives.
| |
 | Click the image to view the Justice Hub
|
|
Justice Hub
Check out the Justice Hub, featuring an easy-to-use calendar! Each event on the calendar includes time, location, and program details to help you learn more about how to get engaged with our wider community.
When you click on an event, at the bottom of the description you can click “Copy to my calendar” to add the event to your calendar and never miss a chance to act courageously for justice in our world.
| |
| | Connect & Commit Spotlight
| |
Start thinking now to help make our spring auctions a success!
Our Fellowship online auction will take place March 2-9, followed by a special Platinum Glitz and Glamour Gala and in-person auction event on March 29, 2025. More information about both events will be coming in the new year, but please mark your calendars and start thinking now about what YOU can offer to the auctions:
• Do you cook, bake, or have a skill you can share (handyman, woodworking, cleaning, painting?)
• Do you create crafts, jewelry, or other items to sell?
• Do you have a property, a boat, camper, vacation home, or something else you can rent out?
• Would you be willing to offer a house concert or dinner event?
• Do you have connections at local venues, restaurants, or other places that you could ask to donate something?
• Do you have tickets for the PAC, Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra, Packers, Brewers, or something else you could offer?
• The opportunities are endless!
The online auction will be for smaller items and the gala in-person auction will be for our bigger-ticket items. Questions? Contact Angie Miller, chair of our fundraising committee, at starlight54302@yahoo.com.
| |
Connect and Commit: Engage, Serve, Give
Communication is vital to the life of The Fellowship. This year, our Generosity & Engagement Ministries (GEM) is focusing on the ways we Connect and Commit: Engage, Serve, Give. Our goal is that each person will consider their connection and commitment to the Fellowship – How do you want to engage, serve, and give this year?
We need each of you to complete the Connect and Commit form, to let us know your hopes, goals, and intentions for the year. Our goal is to help each person find their place at the Fellowship so that we are all connected in meaningful ways. The information from the form will help us support your purposeful commitment to the Fellowship.
Please click HERE for details and to fill out the form. Paper forms are available in the Fellowship lobby.
| |
Ride to Sunday Service
A person with a disability living in De Pere would be grateful for a ride on Sunday morning so she can attend the 11:00 am service. Please contact Rev. Christina at christina@fvuuf.org if you can help.
| |
UU Women's Connection
Winter 2025 Retreat
Join us January 31-February 2, 2025
This will be our first Winter retreat! With a focus on our mind, body, and spirit, we'll make a spa weekend for ourselves. So bring your favorite robe and slippers and prepare to relax, pamper, and renew yourself. Following the new tradition of our Summer retreat, we'll prepare meals for each other in the Lodge kitchen. And rather than structured workshops, we'll include activities like these:
- Imbolc ritual
- Adult Coloring
- Jigsaw puzzles
- Drumming
- We'll also have a massage therapist vendor attending!
Kathy Miller is our Lead for this event, Nyx Firebourn is Registrar, and Diana DeWeese is creating the rituals.
| |
Care and Support
To submit a Joy or Concern, fill out the form on our website or contact Rev. Christina Leone-Tracy, Co-Minister, at christina@fvuuf.org or 920-731-0849. For pastoral emergencies call 920-383-1565.
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
