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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.
Breakout Sessions:
• Mindfulness for Activists
• Managing Your Own Anxiety in Your Activism
• One-on-One Relational Meetings 101
• Self-Reflection & Cultural Humility
• Decentering Yourself in Your Activism
• Moving at the Speed of Trust
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Sunday, January 26
- 9:00 am Central Time in-person
informal coffeehouse-style service with conversation - 11:00 am Central Time in-person & livestream traditional service with sermon
Letting Go & Moving On: A Tools for Being Human Sunday
by Rev. Hannah Roberts Villnave
• 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.
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10:10 AM Middle Hour
Middle Hour offering this Sunday:
- Low-Pressure Open Art Space
- LGBTQ+ Community Space
Click HERE for future Middle Hour offerings.
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| | Adult Connection & Learning Opportunities
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Spanish & English Charla Small Group
The Charla is returning, with a twist! Starting January 24, we will gather on Fridays from 9:00-10:30 AM at the Fellowship for a Spanish & English Charla (conversation group) to practice both Spanish and English! If you can put together a simple sentence in both languages, you are welcome to come practice with us. All are welcome! Tell your friends, both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking. We will spend 45 minutes focusing on English, and 45 minutes focusing on Spanish, using our native-speaking skills to support those who are still learning. As our nation continues to face unprecedented discrimination against Latinx immigrants, this is one way we can come together to connect, learn, and empower each other in a spirit of community and embrace.
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Christian Spirituality Small Group This Sunday, January 26
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.
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Soup-er Saturday
(Formerly Soup Saturday)
Saturday, February 1
First Saturday of each month, 5:00-6:00 pm CT (October – May)
Join us at the Fellowship for an evening of fun, friends, conversation, and a potluck dinner. Soup is welcome! But feel free to also bring whatever other potluck food you wish to share (including vegetarian/ vegan/ and gluten-free optoons), bread, sides, maybe dessert… and your appetite!
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| | Religious Exploration - Children & Youth
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RE Parents: Help our Teachers Keep Our Students Safe
We’d love everyone’s help with an important part in keeping our young people safe. We want them to choose to be where they feel most comfortable during services—whether that’s in the sanctuary or in Religious Exploration classes. If you’ve checked your child(ren) in at the RE table and they decide to…
• stay with you in the sanctuary
• accompany a sibling in a classroom in which they are not registered
please just take a moment to chat with the teachers directly. This little heads-up goes a long way in helping our teachers keep track of everyone and ensures they don’t worry about any “missing” students.
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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.
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Green Sanctuary Book Discussion
Green Sanctuary is facilitating a book discussion featuring The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide For Trying Times on Wednesday, February 26 from 6:30 to 8:00 pm at the Fellowship. Naturalist Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams explore, through thought-provoking conversation, Jane’s “Four Reasons For Hope”. Enjoy reading the book and join the discussion. Please contact Doug Middleton at middletdo1972@gmail.com with questions.
There is a copy of the book available in the Fellowship library.
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The Spiritual Work of Trans Justice and Safety
Saturday, February 22, First Unitarian Society of Madison, 10 am-3:30 pm. Worship Service to follow at 4:30 pm. In-person & online
Come expand your understanding of what it means to be trans and nonbinary, learn how to tell fact from fiction, and find out how to help create safety for trans people and their families in this moment. No matter who you are or how much or how little you know about gender diversity, this interactive and informative workshop will expand your mind, open your heart, and give all of us the tools we need to deepen our welcome and care for people of all genders in our community.
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 | Click the image to view the Justice Hub
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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.
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| | Connect & Commit Spotlight
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Save the Date for a “Campy” Cabaret!
Our 2025 Cabaret is coming up on Saturday, February 8! It’s our annual Fellowship talent show “Fun(d)”-Raiser!
Doors open at 6:30 pm - Showtime at 7:00 pm. Our 31st Cabaret is going to be a retro RV camp extravaganza!
Tickets are $15. Available at the door (cash only) or in advance via debit or credit card in our online payment portal. Go to https://tinyurl.com/FellowshipFundraisers. Enter $15 and select Cabaret from the drop-down list, add to basket, then continue to payment.
Want to be a camp helper? We have lots of options… Setup - Card Tables - Food/Drink - Cashiers - Performers - Stage Help. Look for “S’more” information and sign-ups in the Fellowship Hall or email Mary Gerlach at gerlachmz@gmail.com.
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Could You Be a bUUddy?
If you have been around longer than 3 years, and are an active participant in the life of the Fellowship, we need you!
We have had a large recent influx of new members and we need mentors and friends to partner with these newcomers for their first year of membership. We are calling this program "bUUddies" (of course with two U's!) — You would be the bUUddy to the new member, checking in with them and letting them know of upcoming things, or inviting them to sit with you at service or attend Souper Saturday or something else. Support will be offered by the GEM- Generosity and Engagement Ministries. We ask that you complete the simple application form so we can find the best bUUddy match for you or your family!
• To learn more about what it means to be a bUUddy, click HERE.
• To apply to be a bUUddy, click HERE. Thank you!
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Donate Now to Make Our Auctions a Success!
Click here to submit your donation to our Fellowship auctions! Our online auction will be for smaller items (March 2-9) and later in March, we'll hold a Glitz & Glamour Gala and in-person auction for our bigger items. Help us raise money for our Fellowship's vital ministries!
• 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!
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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.
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Thank You for Sending Holiday Letters to Incarcerated UUs
From UU Church of the Larger Fellowship’s “Worthy Now” program coordinator, Beth Murray:
Because of your willingness to write, we sent thousands of messages. To be exact, 208 volunteers sent 7,685 holiday messages. That means our members experiencing incarceration received multiple messages, making them feel more connected to kindness and our Unitarian Universalist faith.
I received a holiday message from Donna, a CLF member in California experiencing incarceration. Donna wrote the following: "Thank you for remembering us with holiday greetings. You are part of my family of choice. I feel so welcomed and accepted as a UU just as I am. What a priceless gift." And Brett from Colorado wrote: "Thank you for making those of us incarcerated feel included and valued."
Thank you, thank you, thank you for being part of this important project.
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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.
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