PWR Newsletter - October 2023

Dear Unitarian Universalists of the Pacific Western Region,

Your Pacific Western Region Transitions Team is extending a special invitation to you to join us for our Regional Town Halls on Zoom, Tuesday, October 17, 6-8pm Pacific/7-9pm Mountain/5-7pm Alaska/3-5pm Hawaii, and Saturday, October 21, 10am-12pm Pacific/11-1 Mountain/9-11am Alaska/7-9am Hawaii.

Our goal is to gather feedback on our ideas for the future of the region and to see what ideas, hopes, and dreams you might have for a new Pacific Western Region that more fully supports and connects its communities. There will be opportunities for you to participate in online polls, and in conversations with members of other communities in our Region. Our goal is to engage with UUs throughout the Region in ways that will give you a voice in the future of our Region, from programs offered by our Regional staff to our upcoming Pacific Western Regional Assembly, April 19-20, 2024, at First Universalist Church of Denver.

Here are ways that you can help:

share this video with your congregation this Sunday, and/or share it to your social media and congregation’s website
Include this announcement in your congregation’s bulletin this Sunday
Share this newsletter with those in your congregation who can also be partners in helping get the word out about the Town Halls
Register for the Town Hall at this link and encourage others in your congregation to do the same.

If you have any questions, please email us at transitionsteam@pwruua.org.

We look forward to working with you in making the Pacific Western Region the best it can be for all of us!

Yours in service,

The Pacific Western Region Transitions Team

Mary Nordhagen

Rhoda Whitney

Libby Fitzgerald

Bob Miess

Keith Strohmaier

Rev. Ian Evison, Project Manager for Regionalization

Rev. Carlton E. Smith, Lead - Pacific Western Region

As hate groups are becoming emboldened across the US, an increasing number of our congregations have been targeted and threatened by extremists who do not like the way our congregations act for justice and equity. Most of these threats do not lead to physical violence, however these times call us to be prepared to prevent physical violence, verbal violence, vandalism, and online intimidation and harassment.

Threats from Without, Care from Within is an online, day-long event with the goal of helping Unitarian Universalists develop strategies for community safety in our congregations. The conference begins with worship and inspiration, followed by workshops and panel discussions featuring the wisdom and experiences of many UU congregations. It’s happening Saturday, October 21st, 2023 starting at 10 am Mountain / 9 am Pacific / 8 am Alaskan / 7 am Hawaiian and closing six hours later.

We encourage teams from congregations to sign up and to participate in the conference on different screens to be able to attend different workshops. Teams can set a meeting after the conference to put together what they’ve learned and develop policies and practices for the congregation. Registration is on a sliding scale, and closes Friday, October 20th. Learn more and register today.

You know what it is: Pacific Western Regional Assembly

You know when: April 19-20, 2024

Now we can tell you where: Online, and in-person at the First Universalist Church of Denver!

Yes, the next in-person Assembly and Business Meeting for the Pacific Western Region will be in the Foothills of the Mountain Desert area. Members of your Regional staff recently did a site visit there and exchanged exciting ideas about what would be possible in the open, accommodating spaces of First Universalist. Denver and environs are a significant hub for UU congregations and covenanting communities of a variety of sizes, and the energy is already starting to build toward a dynamic weekend of connecting, growing, and inspiring each other. Learn more about this vibrant congregation and its facilities here.

Look for more details about Regional Assembly presenters and registration in upcoming editions of the PWR Newsletter!

Wednesday, October 25, 1:30pm – 3:00pm ET/ 12:30pm CT/10:30PM PT/ 8am PT/11:30am MT
Our buildings connect us to our history and are special and unique spaces that provide a home for our communities. But with these blessings come the challenges of maintaining older buildings and adapting them for today's needs. This is especially a challenge for congregations who are now smaller than when their buildings were built. What if the space we need to live our mission no longer matches the building we own? Could our building find a new calling? Learn more and register here.

Putting on weekly worship can be onerous for smaller congregations, especially those with part time or no professional minister. Right-size your worship calendar by engaging with these trainings and offerings.

New! Sermon of the Month Series Subscription Service, Offered by Your UUA Congregational Life Field Staff: Monthly sermons (and suggested hymns and readings) from a variety of speakers created monthly for your use. $350 for 12 sermons, $50 discount for Honor Annual Program Fund (APF) contributors.

New! Worship for Transformation (Training) with Rev. Erika Hewitt, convener of WorshipWeb. Learning tools for Worship Teams to develop tools and frameworks to craft meaning-full, sensory-rich, and holistic worship experiences. $30 per participant.

New! Spiritual Deepening Through Worship and Small Groups, from the Center for Congregational Spirituality and the MidAmerica Region. Develop a liturgical year for your congregation, plan worship services centered on spiritual practices, and go deeper with small group spiritual companioning. $350 for teams of four, $300 for three, $225 for two, and $125 for individual registrations.

Tried and True! Meaningful Worship for Small Congregations video with Rev. Sarah Schurr. Center your worship planning with this review of some basics. Free, 16 mins.

Tried and True! The Shared Pulpit: A Sermon Seminar for Lay People. A workshop guide to develop preaching experience among lay people. This 8-session seminar includes a leader's guide, readings, sample sermons, and exercises to help first-time preachers polish their craft. $14 per book

As described in the recent UUWorld Article Liturgy of the People, co-creating worship along with the minister can be a transformative experience for worship associates. The UU Institute just published a new training, Worship for Transformation, designed for worship arts teams to take together. WorshipWeb‘s Erika Hewitt interviewed accomplished UU worship teams and individuals from around the UUA and beyond and curated those conversations into a robust training. It’s like attending a national conference for only $30 per person!

Erika Hewitt is also the author of The Shared Pulpit: A Sermon Seminar for Lay People, a complete workshop to help lay people gain experience writing and preaching a full-length sermon for their congregation.

For those ready to expand their preaching skills, Stephen M. Shick’s Speaking By Heart: The Spiritual Practice of Unscripted Public Speaking, is now available from the InSpirit bookstore! In the spirit of adrienne maree brown's principle of Emergent Strategy "less prep, more presence," the author guides the reader into an embodied practice of preaching with presence and connection with the congregation.

When you’re a member of a vibrant congregation, you hope for a deep and radical welcome there. You want to be able to bring your whole self, and feel called to be your best self, accountable to the vision of beloved community the community shares. In these congregations, when actions, words, or behavior arise that are destructive to the community's well-being, Covenant can help call us all in.

A new course posted on UU Institute, Covenant Calls Us In: The Why of Behavioral Covenant (109), is the first part of a two-part on-demand series that helps congregations understand and move more deeply into covenant. This first course helps us learn the history of covenant and why we would bother with behavioral covenants. It is available now, on demand. It sets the stage for dealing with destructive behavior. A second course, Part 2, Covenant Calls Us In: Living Into Behavioral Covenant (209), will cover how to create policies and procedures, and how to engage the congregation in adopting a behavioral covenant. The second part is scheduled to be released in Winter 2024.
Learn more about this classes, how to register and more at the UUA LeaderLab.

This calendar year has been an eventful year for disaster impacting our UU congregations. The Disaster Relief Fund is in place to help channel donations from individuals and congregations to our UU congregations to help them in the wake of disasters, and for them to also be able to support their local community’s recovery, particularly those most affected and unable to access other funding sources.

Already this year, thanks to the generous contributions over the past few years, the Fund has distributed more than $275,000 to our congregations impacted by hurricanes, flooding, and other natural disasters. This is the second highest amount since the fund was created in 2017—the highest year was 2018. In total we have given out more than $1.5 million in grants over the 7 years of the Fund’s existence.

But we need your help—the Fund is at its lowest level since the beginning—we have under $50,000 on hand, and that can be distributed with just one more request. Can you share some of your funds with congregations that will be impacted because of natural disasters, many of which are worsening because of climate change? If your congregation does “share the plate” Sundays, can your congregation be part of the group that lives out our interconnectedness by sharing the collection with the Disaster Relief Fund?

Often our grants are the first to roll into the congregation and allows them immediate resources to protect their people and their buildings. We have had a couple of congregations return the funds, when they discovered that their insurance or other sources paid for their needs, and they have been pleased to be able to support the fund in that way.

Please consider joining us in this way to live out our covenant with each other!

Information on the Disaster Relief Fund, including how to donate, and how to file a claim, are on the UUA website.

The work of spiritual community is complicated in the 21st century. The need for faithful leadership that is grounded and resilient is imperative. This is all the more true for leaders within our communities and congregations who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPoC). All too aware of this need, Congregational Life is excited to explore and co-create a network with congregational leaders that support them in this time in emergent ways through Taproot: A National BIPOC Space. BIPoC Leaders rooted in the Unitarian Universalist congregations are invited to take part in this monthly, virtual gathering. Second Thursday of the month. Next meeting Thursday, October 12th at 8p ET/7p CT/6p MT/5p PT. Details and registration.

Trans, nonbinary, and other not-entirely-or-at-all-cis UUs are invited to join our monthly gathering, which we hope will feel like a cozy cup of something soothing (in virtual meeting form!). This intentionally multi-generational gathering is open to and welcoming of trans/nonbinary elders as well as children, youth, and young adults. Register here.

This gathering is intended to foster connection between trans/nonbinary+ UUs (and non-UUs who are ok with being in a UU-grounded space) to co-create support and community.

This is a closed event specifically for trans/nonbinary+ people. Anyone who is trans, nonbinary, metagender, multigender, genderfluid, agender, demigender, genderqueer, questioning, and otherwise not wholly or entirely cis is welcome to attend.

NOTE: There may be cisgender people present as parents supporting their 13-and-younger-child's presence in the space, as tech support, or as captioners.

However, if you are completely cisgender and not trans/nonbinary, please join other spaces supporting trans/nonbinary+ people that are open to all, such as our Side With Love Monthly Mixer or our monthly Faithful Grounding (click here for more info on each event.)

Saturday, October 14, 2023 | 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET / 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. PT

The UUA’s Legacy Gifts Office offers a number of services, including an online workshop to assist congregations and other UU organizations in creating legacy giving programs. The webinar on Saturday, October 14, 2023 covers the basics of legacy giving and aims to equip legacy giving committees with the knowledge they need to start or refresh their program. To register for the webinar or to reach out with a question about legacy giving, email us at legacy@uua.org or call (617)-948-6509.

Have you heard of YUUP yet? The Young UU Project began in 2020 as a way for young UUs to keep in touch with each other and their faith during the pandemic, and is held by Lifespan Faith Engagement. The purpose of YUUP is to be a national community care network and multi-directional communication channel that centers BIPOC, trans/non-binary and neurodivergent youth and offers a transition zone for young people moving into emerging adulthood.

Anyone (youth, caregivers, religious professionals, lay leaders, everyone!) can tap into the social ministry of YUUP by following them on Instagram @yuup.uua and signing up for the YUUP newsletter. YUUP also has a community sphere just for youth, those who bridged in 2022 and support adults. These “Third Monday Meetups” are where youth swap ideas they can take home to their local communities. In August they swapped Favorite Check In Questions. In September they swapped favorite youth group games, which will soon be released on Instagram and in the newsletter.

Adult readers - We need your help connecting youth to this community! Please point them to UUA.ORG/YUUP to connect at whatever their capacity is.

UU young adults and friends from around the world are invited to attend our monthly worship service, held on the third Sunday of each month. Each month our Worship Team puts together a fabulous, faithful, spiritual program that reflects our faith and the fact that we are young adults. From our song choice, to the content of our reflections, this isn’t your traditional UU worship experience. So join us, and discover a different way to embody our faith. This is an intergenerational event, all people ages 18 and older are welcome to attend. Register here.

Emerging Adult Database
If you or another emerging adult UU (18-24) are interested, please sign up and join our community. Our Pacific Western Region 2022 EA Database signup can be found here.

Small Groups
We have an annual, monthly gathering for EA (18-24) Small Groups. It’s a mix of fun, ministry, and faith. Email ebliss@uua.org if you’d like more information. It's a great way to stay connected to UUism if you don't have the time or inclination to attend church on Sunday!

Pastoral Care
Are you an 18-24 year old in need of Pastoral Care? We have a network of chaplains specifically for you! Simply email pastoralcare@cuc.ca or by phone: 204-900-0150. Rev. Marcia Stanard and others are here to listen and be of support.

Every day you meet your child’s spiritual and emotional needs—you just don’t know it. In this short, accessible, and comforting book, expert J.L. Shattuck provides insight into your child’s earliest rituals. Have you ever wondered why your toddler will only drink from a specific cup, or only eat if you turn mealtime into a game? Have you ever found yourself following along with—and maybe even enjoying—your child’s increasingly elaborate bedtime routines? In The Tending Years, J.L. Shattuck argues that these behaviors are not just habits but rituals—patterns of behavior young children naturally develop to reassure themselves they are safe and loved. Shattuck draws on child developmental theory and more than two decades of experience as a teacher, religious educator, and parent to explore the spiritual roots of this behavior. She demonstrates how adults and young children instinctively work together to support each other’s growth during this unique developmental period. Unlike parenting books that ask you to change the way you interact with your child, this easy-to-read volume details the ways in which you’re already tending to your child’s needs and offers inspiration and support to help you through the preschool years and beyond.

J.L. Shattuck has worked with preschoolers for more than twenty years. A lifelong Unitarian Universalist, she supports congregations to meet the spiritual needs of the very young. She currently serves as Family Worship Coordinator at Sanctuary Boston and is a religious educator at the Unitarian Church of Barnstable. She is also the creator of a curriculum of digital resources, POP! (Parents of Preschoolers), that helps families explore and support their children’s spiritual development. Order now!