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Dear Members and Friends,
2020 was certainly the year of “why” with murder hornets, messy politics, social justice uprisings, and the pandemic. In this year, we’ve been forced to re-imagine so many things we value as individuals, families, and a congregation.
While so much change and uncertainty has been challenging, one thing has remained consistent: the love we have for each other and for this Fellowship. Our love is a big love: strong and palpable. Love continues to be the driving force behind everything we do, everything we hope to continue to do.
Read more at the link below and join us as we kick off our annual stewardship campaign.
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Sunday Service10:00 AM CST
Creativity and the Ish
by Ali Peters, intern minister
Click HERE for Worship Service Zoom Information and the Order Of Service
- Listen to past sermons HERE.
- Watch some of our past services on our Youtube channel.
- Click HERE for information on hosting a traveling chalice in your home.
- Students in Pre-K through 6th grade will meet for a large group gathering at 9:00 am CST via Zoom! See our website (here) for more information about all Religious Education classes for children and youth.
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Creativity Programs and Videos:Join Fellowship members on Zoom for various creativity practices each week, February 14 - March 7, from 11:30-12:00 pm CST after our Sunday service! If you miss the session, there will be a video link shared in the Weekly Scroll so you can find out what’s going on.
February 14 - Visual Art with Mary Gerlach
You’ll need the creativity kit provided for pickup (see pickup details in the notable section near the end of the newsletter), or a piece of paper, fabric, and fabric crayons.
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Changing Sunday Morning Conversation MechanismsAs we continue to adapt to hosting connection opportunities on Zoom, your worship staff have incorporated our own observations as well as feedback from members and friends and have decided to make some changes to Sunday morning conversations. Starting this Sunday, 2/14, we will not have the before service chit-chat time. Instead, we’ll hear some past favorites from Steve and our musicians. This week we will have breakout groups as usual for 15 minutes after the service. Starting next Sunday, 2/21, we will offer some additional and intentional breakout room choices after the service. Stay tuned for more information next week about those new offerings and how to participate! We realize that every choice we make will excite some of you, and disappoint others. Please know we are attempting to balance the need for informal as well as deep connections while attending to the realities of communication in an online platform. Thank you for your ongoing support and we always welcome your feedback!
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Monthly Evening Service
Wednesday, February 24 at 7:00 pm CST
Join us for a worship service led by our intern minister, Ali Peters. On the last Wednesday of each month, we hold an informal evening service to re-center ourselves during the week, connect more deeply with one another, and hold each other in community. These simple services include a reading that is related to our current worship theme, a centering practice, and an opportunity to reflect and to share joys and concerns with each other. The theme for our February service will be “Creativity.” All are welcome to join us! If you have questions, please reach out to Ali at ali@fvuuf.org. We hope to see you there.
Zoom link HERE, passcode UU
Call in: 312-626-6799, meeting ID 827 7074 7192
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Fellowship Liberation CirclesFour Sessions: 2/20, 3/6, 3/13, and 3/20
10:00 am-12:00 pm CST
The events of the past four years in our country have left many of us baffled and despairing. It is impossible to ignore how these events have emerged from our country’s deep wounds of racism and white supremacy. Our Unitarian Universalist faith calls us to the urgent work of healing those wounds and we invite you into this work with us. During the months of February and March, we will be hosting Fellowship Liberation Circles, an anti-racism virtual learning series on Zoom. The series is being created specifically for our Fellowship community in partnership with professional decolonization educator, Anjali L. Nath Upadhyay, who will co-facilitate the series along with Ali Peters, our intern minister. Each session builds on previous sessions, so participants are encouraged to attend as many as possible. We hope you will be able to join us! Contact Cyndi Polakowski at cyndi@fvuuf.org to sign up.
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Nasal Narcan: What is it and how can it help?Thursday, March 4th, 6-7:00 pm CST
This quick, practical training will introduce Nasal Narcan, or Naloxone nasal spray, which is used along with emergency medical treatment to reverse the life-threatening effects of a known or suspected opiate (narcotic) overdose. Participants will learn about drug use, how to use Narcan, and its legal implications. To register, fill out the brief form HERE. Youth and adults encouraged to attend!
To lead this important community health and safety opportunity, we are pleased to welcome Amanda Tennyson, Prevention Specialist at Vivent Health in Appleton. Amanda works to prevent HIV and Hep C amongst priority populations, especially those who use drugs and members of the LGBT community. She provides judgment-free, client-centered experiences to promote healthy behaviors, reduce harm, and help clients thrive.
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| Religious Education - Children and Youth
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Our virtual Sunday programs for young people meet at 9:00 and 11:00 am. We are excited about our classes which have been designed to be fun and engaging with online learning in mind. Don’t miss connecting with our Fellowship friends and family this year!
Program Year Format for Registered Students:
• Pre-K through 1st grade meets the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month at 9:00 am CST
• 2nd through 6th grade meets the 2nd and 4th Sunday of each month at 9:00 am CST
*All students are invited to attend all classes; however the classes will be geared for the target ages.
• 7-12th grade meets each Sunday at 11:00 AM CST
Please visit our website for more information about our classes. Contact director of religious education, Kim Hartman, at kim@fvuuf.org with questions.
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Immigration Justice Team UpdateThanks to your financial help and to a team of volunteers helping with practical needs, we continue to support three local compas (people seeking asylum). One of the compas we support was featured on a recent PBS Newshour program. The 9-minute video can be watched HERE. It is a heartbreaking reminder of how much work we have to do after the last four years of inhumane immigration policies.
This week President Biden signed additional executive orders regarding immigration, which is a start, but more action is badly needed. The Unitarian Universalist Services Committee wrote a helpful article on this HERE.
Our Team will continue to help educate our congregation and offer opportunities for action as more is known. If you would like to get more involved, contact co-chair Marti Wheeler at martiwheeler50@gmail.com.
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The Justice Hub webpage has information about our JAMs, justice groups, justice events, and opportunities here at our Fellowship and out in the community right there at your fingertips any time you need it.
• This is the final week of the UUA's 30 Days of Love – resources, actions, and ways to get involved!
• The next Green Sanctuary book study of As Long as Grass Grows will be February 22.
• An invitation from Green Sanctuary to participate in an in-home plastics audit.
• Election news: Information about the upcoming February 16 election and information about the State Superintendent of Public Instruction candidates.
• Black History Month with UW-Oshkosh and an equity challenge from United Way Fox Cities.
• ESTHER (interfaith organizing) information: A “School of Democracy” training opportunity, and information about task forces and meetings.
• Physicians for Social Responsibility is looking for people to make public comments on the environmental impact of the embrittled Point Beach Nuclear Power Plant.
If you want to share something on the Justice Hub webpage, please do so by completing this form by Thursday to be posted when the page is updated each weekend. Submissions may be subject to staff approval and editing.
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Creativity Kits Available for Pick-Up Now!Starting February 14 through March 14, we will be having a month-long celebration of creativity at the Fellowship in conjunction with our stewardship pledge campaign. Swing by the Fellowship building and pick up a kit for your household to participate actively in our services and other offerings. The color of the bag does NOT matter this time, so just grab one. There is also a separate bin with pieces of foam-board and pins to use during one of the offerings focused on creative construction. If you want to try that activity, grab some from that bin, too.
If you need us to mail you a bag or drop one off at your home, please email Christina at christina@fvuuf.org.
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Fellowship Men's GroupThe Fox Valley UU Fellowship has nurtured a Men's Group for more than 30 years. We in the group want to reach out to all UUs who identify as male who have not attended or rarely attended, our Men's Group at the Fellowship in Appleton. We ask that you give us some quick feedback about your interests (Outdoor activities, like biking or skiing? Presentations rather than conversations? Other?) so that we can learn how best to broaden our scope and connections with others. Please take a couple of minutes to fill out the survey by clicking HERE.
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New Day Rising Conference National 2021
Is your congregation ready to take a new step in changing white supremacy culture? Want to learn what your fellow congregations are working on, and how you might apply it at home? Join a continent of UUs as we explore next steps in creating Beloved UU Communities.
On Your Own:
Watch compelling video TED-talk style testimonials from selected congregations around the continent sharing their learnings, hopes, and next steps in their quest for racial equity in their congregations.
Together on February 27, 2021
• Worship ~ Workshops ~ Caucusing
• With plenty of breaks
• 11:00am - 8:00pm CST
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Virtual General Assembly Hearing from UUs around the world, experiencing our faith from a multitude of different perspectives and experiences at General Assembly (GA) has helped me become a Unitarian Universalist. Attending last year's virtual GA was more connecting and meaningful than I could have expected. Contact me if you have questions or want to learn more about GA.-- Marie Luna, director of congregational life
General Assembly is the annual gathering of Unitarian Universalists, where we conduct the business of the Association, explore the theological underpinnings of our faith, and lean fully into our mission and principles. Virtual GA allows us to retain our dedication to community and make our experience more accessible and more environmentally sustainable.
Registration for virtual GA 2021 is $200 per person. Financial support for registration as well as a payment plan are available. General Assembly registrants receive access to the 2021 Online Participation Portal, including live, simulive, and on-demand video content, the virtual exhibit hall, chat features, support, and a (new and really exciting!) GA mobile app. Learn more and register HERE.
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Selfies Needed“Creativity" Theme Selfies (Due Feb. 14)
Instructions: Take a photo of you with the following sentence... fill in the blank: "My creativity shines when _______."
"Balance" Theme Selfies (Due March 21)
Instructions: Take a photo of you "balancing" (whatever that means to you!) or with the following sentence... fill in the blank: "I find balance when _______."
Our preferred method for submission is via this Google Form. You need a Google account to use the form, but if you’ve ever used Google Docs, you might already have one! Google accounts can be created with your current email address, a Gmail address is not required.
If you do not have a Google account, please email your submissions to photos@fvuuf.org.
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Smiling Dandelion SanghaThe Smiling Dandelion Sangha is starting a new topic in our weekly meetings. We will be reading Love Your Enemies: How to Break the Anger Habit & Be A Whole Lot Happier by Sharon Salzberg and Robert Thurman. Details about the book can be found on the website HERE.
We are looking forward to exploring the ideas in the book and welcome anyone who is interested to join us. You do not need to be a Buddhist or have meditation experience. We meet every Sunday evening from 6:00 to 7:30 pm CST; the Zoom link is on the Fellowship website. We start our meetings with a 25-minute period of silent meditation and then begin the reading and discussion. You can join us for the meditation or link in after that. If you have questions, email smilingdandelion@gmail.com.
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Click HERE for details about these groups.
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- Fellowship Community Journal
Ongoing, submit your work to leah@fvuuf.org
More information HERE.
- Fellowship Pen Pals - Click HERE for information.
- Joyful Mind Zen Sangha; Saturdays, 7:00 am CST
- Men's Group, First Wednesdays & Third Tuesdays, 7-9:00 pm CST
- Music-Making Online - Click the small groups link for information
- Pollinate (BIPoC), Email pollinate.BIPoC@hotmail.com for meeting information
- Senior Wonders - Contact Janet Hughes for information
- Smiling Dandelion Sangha, Sundays, 6-7:30 pm CST
- Spill it Sister, Second Thursday of the month, 6:30-8:00 pm CST. Contact Kate Hancock-Cooke at rugbykate@new.rr.com with questions.
- Third Thursday Book Club, Third Thursday of the month, 2:00 pm CST. Contact CyAnn Martin at cmartin25@new.rr.com for meeting information.
- UU Parenting Support Group, First Monday of the month, 6-7:30 pm
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