PWR Newsletter - September 12, 2019

By Tandi Rogers

This is the season of shifts – some of you have new staff, new board members, and a new church year upon us. We are all shifting gears of sorts.

Your regional program staff is also shifting into the new year. Our late August retreat felt like a launch into a new era for us. This bi-annual time together is one of the few times we’re physically all together. It’s a beloved time of worshipping and reflecting, recommitting to our covenant, connecting to each other and our calls and aligning our strategies. With the addition of a new staff member, Annie Scott, we took the opportunity to receive her many good questions as a way to break down assumptions as to why we do things the way we do them. We got clear on our core beliefs that guide our work. What came out was a list of intentional and aspirational movements we call "shift statements".

Shift Statements

Moving from I to we

Moving from fear to faith

Moving from despair to hope

Moving from perfection to wholeheartedness

Moving from either/or to both/and

Moving from defensiveness to curiosity

Moving from shame to compassion

Over the course of the coming year you’ll hear more about these shifts. We’ll go deeper each month highlighting a shift and offering resources to help you move what may be shifting in you.

Interested in becoming a more effective leader in your congregation? Meeting other UU leaders? Learning more about the UUA? Consider signing up for this year’s Leadership Experience!

There are three parts to the experience:

Pre-Work some alone, some with a small group of leaders you ask to learn with you (They’ll be fascinated!)
January Weekend Retreat (see the chart below for details) You’ll be a part of a small group for learning, conversations, and sharing, as well as a large group of UU Leaders.
Follow-Up Video Conference Learning Groups You will continue with your small group, one evening every other week, in February and March for support and continued learning. You can join by computer or smartphone or if necessary, simply by phone. There’s about an hour’s advance work to go with each call-usually an informative video and reflection.

Subjects cover topics like grounding yourself as a leader, a philosophy of healthy congregations, help in understanding diversity, congregational size, and contemporary challenges for congregations, as well as nuts and bolts like recruiting and managing change.

Ministers and Presidents, please encourage some leaders in your congregation to come this year! Don’t overlook program leaders like committee chairs and young adult group leaders. Since we know that vital congregations pay attention to leadership development, see if you can’t find at least some funds to assist attendees. Leadership 2020 offers a great experience for staff members, too! Teams of 2-3 attendees amplify learning.

* One of the small groups in the Denver retreat will be made up of leaders from larger congregations. However the content of each retreat is the same. You may come to the retreat that suits your travel and date preferences.

The Cost of Leadership Experience is $450 per person. This includes tuition, materials, and the two nights and 6 meals of the retreat, but not travel to the retreat. Some aid is available. See details on the Registration form.

Registration and more information can be found here. The deadline for registration is when the space fills or December 1.

SAVE THE DATE

Pacific Western Regional Assembly
When: February 12-14, 2021

What is Regional Assembly anyway?

A weekend long gathering of over 600 Unitarian Universalist in a hotel living out our UU faith in various forms:

1st Principle: Living in covenant: UU congregants, religious professionals, ministers and "free" range UUs, too.

2nd Principle: Multi-generational & accessible programming as well chaplain services

3rd Principle: Engaging in workshops and small groups both designed and impromptu

4th Principle: Worshipping and leaning into discomfort

5th Principle: Voting at our district annual meetings

6th Principle: Engaging in social justice both inside our space and out in our community

7th Principle: Emphasizing locations with green practices and less frequent meetings

The best way to spend the weekend of February 12-14, 2021, at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay, San Diego, CA. Mark your calendars and keep an eye on the newsletter and our website for more information!

Regional staff, in consultation with the four district boards, have recently made changes to the Chalice Lighter programs in all four of our districts to make giving generously more convenient.

Chalice Lighters allows individual Unitarian Universalists to make small financial contributions to help other Unitarian Universalist congregations in their district with projects, often capital improvements, they otherwise might not be able to afford. There are now nearly 3,000 individual Chalice Lighters in the Pacific Western Region.

Beginning now, it is now possible to have a gift to Chalice Lighters automatically charged to your credit card or debit card as a monthly recurring payment. Will you please consider setting up a $5, $10, or $20 monthly recurring gift online today and encourage others in your congregation to do so as well? You’ll never have to worry about missing another Chalice Lighter call letter, forgetting about whether or not you donated already, or even forgetting about where you put your check book.

It is also possible to make a one-time gift online today to your district’s fall, winter, and spring Chalice Lighter calls for the 2019-2020 fiscal year and then not have to worry about making another gift for the next 12 months.

To set up a recurring monthly gift online or make a one-time gift online, please visit your district’s website at:

· pnwduua.org

· pcduua.org

· pswduua.org

· or mdduua.org

Of course, it is still possible to write a check after receiving a letter about each Chalice Lighter call if you have signed up to receive them. Call letters for fall calls for all four districts are in the process of being sent out.

If you are a board president or minister, please consider sharing the information in this article with your congregation. Chalice Lighters allow many small gifts to make a big difference in the life of another congregation.

You might also visit your district’s website to find out how your congregation might apply for a Chalice Lighters grant.

On September 20, three days before the UN Climate Summit in NYC, young people and adults will strike all across the US and the world to demand transformative action be taken to address the climate crisis. We know governments won’t deliver climate action and justice on their own, so we’re going on #climatestrike to show them what people power is capable of creating. UUA President Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray will march with UUs and many others in New York City. Join us in solidarity where ever you are as we come together to amplify the demand for transformative action to address the climate crisis. Find an event near you.

The UUA Moderator Search Committee is currently seeking applicants to fill the remaining five years of a six-year term as Moderator(s) of the Association (A Special Election will be held in June 2020 at the General Assembly in Providence, RI).

This is a vital role and a vital time for our Association. As the Chief Governance Officer of the Association, the Moderator works closely with the Board, Executive Staff, and Committees of the UUA to help shape and hold the vision and mission of the UUA.

The Moderator also works to encourage and support leaders, congregations, and covenanting communities in our faith as well as partner organizations in feeling fully heard and represented in our decision-making processes.

This is an important and rewarding volunteer position and a great way to serve our faith. For more information about the position, the process, the timeline and to apply, please visit the Moderator Application.

Applications are due by October 1, 2019.

Are you committed to the work of our Association? Do you have a calling for developing strong denominational leadership? We're looking for dedicated volunteers to form the new Presidential Search Committee of our Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). The Presidential Search Committee is charged with recommending two or more candidates for President in the year prior to the General Assembly at which the election will occur. The committee will work toward candidate nominations from the time of its formation through its recommendations by February 2022; it will continue as a committee after its recommendations are made, though the work will likely decrease significantly.

Apply here using our online application. We ask for your application no later than Friday, September 20. Please note the application takes about 20 minutes to fill out completely. If you have any questions about the Presidential Search Committee or the application process you can contact Bill Young of the Appointments Committee at byoung@uua.org.

Help Dreamers attain a higher education! Granite Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Prescott, AZ has created a scholarship for undocumented students at a local college where students are now paying out of state tuition rates due to a 2018 Arizona Supreme Court requiring Dreamers to pay out of state tuition even though they may have lived in Arizona since childhood. The increased intuition for these DACA recipients can be from $2,580 a year to $8,900 per year depending on the institution in which they are enrolled. As an example of this increase at Yavapai College, tuition jumped from in-state $152 per credit hour to out-of-state $451 per credit hour for a full-time nursing student. Our goal is $2,000 on Faithify to provide a minimum of one scholarship, but with more money we can provide help to more students. Click here to donate to this important project!

Small Numbers, Infinite Possibilities is a year of learning and connection for Smaller Congregations brought to you by your Regional UUA Congregational Life Staff. We know that small congregations are sharing the Love and Grace of Unitarian Universalism with their people and their communities every day. We also know that small churches can be faced with big challenges. Together we can help small congregations reach toward their greatest potential. This series will feature four webinars in October, November, January and February and culminate with in-person events near you on Pi Day - March 14, 2020. Details available on the Central East Region website, registration opens August 15th.

Marena McGregor is the Pacific Western Region's new Youth Retreat Coordinator. She is a third-generation Unitarian Universalist and was a participant in her congregation's youth programming throughout her adolescence. She is currently serving as the Assistant Director of Lifespan Religious Education at the Mt Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church in Walnut Creek, California. Marena is excited to be coordinating the youth retreats this year and can't wait to start collaborating with all of the youth groups in our district!

She'll be partnering with congregational youth leaders and adults to put on two (one fall and one spring) weekend-long youth retreats:

Fall Youth Retreat - Nov 1-3. Unitarian Universalist Church in Livermore, Livermore, CA
Spring Youth Retreat - March 27-29. Mount Diablo UU Church, Walnut Creek, CA

These retreats will feature UU faith development and spirituality, games, workshops, small group ministries, identity and justice work and more!

Webinar on the 2019 Pacific Central District Youth Facilitation Process
Wednesday, October 2 - 12PM-1PM PST

From January to May 2019, over 50 ministers, religious educators, parents, advisors, and youth leaders of the Pacific Central District collaborated on an innovative facilitation process to discuss the history and future of youth ministry in their community.

The process, informed by practices from the field of restorative justice, engaged participants in dialogue, small group, and large group conversations. This Transformative Community Conferencing process is aimed at imagining a new way forward for youth ministry in the district.

Insights and possibilities generated by this effort have been written in a report that will be released by the facilitation team in late September. The webinar, led by participants in the process, will highlight key learnings and innovations for congregations to consider, and share some of the possible ways forward in 2019-2020.

You are invited to join us! Learn more about this process and the possibilities of this work by attending the webinar, reading the report, and/or joining in on the next phase of this work.

Sign up online to participate, receive the final report, and get access to the recording of the webinar. For more information, contact facilitator, Rev. Samantha Wilson at revsamanthawilson@gmail.com.

Calling all PCD congregational ministers and board presidents! Is your congregation an Honor Congregation? Has your church ever been the recipient of a Chalice Lighter Grant? If you have, then you know how a small amount of money helped your church budget get a bit closer to that special project you wanted to do. Was it a new playground for young families? Maybe it was a better sound system? New furniture or lighting after a remodel?

The current call letter for the UU Congregation of Marin is below. But NOW is the time for you to be submitting YOUR Chalice Lighter grant proposal for the Winter Call. If you have an idea, please let me know. But, I must have a completed proposal no later than the third week of September in case there are questions to iron out. The Winter call will open on November 1. Look for the application here.

Finally, how many active Chalice Lighters does your congregation have? Help keep the light of Unitarian Universalism lit in the Pacific Central District by supporting all projects, three times a year. Having an ambassador will help bring those numbers up.

Thank you!

Karen Urbano
Your Volunteer Chalice Lighter Coordinator for the PCD
pcdchalicelighters@pwruua.org

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Marin will be the recipient of your Fall 2019 Pacific Central District Chalice Lighter donations. Won’t you help them with their request and ask your fellow UUs to do the same? Here is what the Rev. Marcus Hartlief said when requesting a grant:

"Something is happening on a hill in Marin! Last year, the UU Congregation of Marin embarked on a Developmental Ministry with the hope of starting a new chapter in the life of the community and growing Unitarian Universalism. This year the congregation saw a 46% growth in attendance, and now we worry we are turning away visitors who arrive to a full parking lot, and no alternative parking at the top of our beautiful hill. We need help keeping the door open to growth by funding a shuttle service that will ensure all who come seeking connection, hope and inspiration are able to make it through our doors. Thank you for supporting us, and the growth of Unitarian Universalism."

Won’t you show your support by responding to this call? Ask friends at your congregation who aren’t already Chalice Lighters to do the same. Let us help the Marin congregation on its upward path. Please see the link to the donation page here. Donations for this call will be accepted through October 31, 2019. Thank you for your support!

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Hosted by the Mt. Diablo UU Church (Walnut Creek, CA)*

55 Eckley Lane, Walnut Creek, CA 94596

Join UU Justice Ministry of California for this all-day event connecting Unitarian Universalists, faith leaders, and climate justice activists around California. Programming will include:

·     Faith-grounded engagement of critical climate issues in our state,
·     Presentations and workshops from local organizations,
·     Regional strategy building,
·     Opportunities for congregations/communities to share their efforts, struggles, and
successes in community, and
·     Collective action for climate justice!

Visit our website to register and receive updates on our presenters and programs as they are finalized.

Interested in bringing a workshop, panel, or conversation topic to this gathering? Reach out to info@uujmca.org and let us know what you'd like to share!

*Home hospitality and carpools will be made available. Information about how to sign up will be posted here in September. Email info@uujmca.org if you'd like to receive an update in your email about home hospitality and/or carpool options.

Unitarian Universalist Justice Arizona Network (UUJAZ) is hosting Issues + Action Day on October 26th + 27th at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Surprise, Northwest of Phoenix.

Amazing worship services, incredible music, delicious vegan lunch, workshops from justice partners from around the state, and in the evening, the first annual "Jazzy Awards" to recognize justice work in our congregations and communities!

Please save the date, and look for more info and for tickets to go on sale soon on the UUJAZ website.

Love Resists! UUJMCA’s 2019 Regional Justice Trainings

San Diego ~ Ventura ~ Fullerton

September 20/21 ~ October 4/5 ~ October 11/12

UU Justice Ministry of California’s Regional Justice Training 2019 tour is coming to you! Trainings are free of charge and bring resources that are relevant to justice-makers in a spiritually-grounded, single-weekend format (Friday evening through Saturday afternoon). Programming will build upon last year's "Love Resists" content, deepening our engagement of the framework and actions of this multi-year campaign being built by the UUA, UU Service Committee (UUSC) , UUJMCA, UU Refugee & Immigrant Services and Education (UURISE) and our partner groups.

UUJMCA is excited to be joined by UURISE CEO Katia Hansen with new material for 2019, as well as bring updates from organizers with UUSC and the UUMFE (UU Ministry for the Earth). In addition to these prophetic core presenters, we will have breakout sessions to engage local issues as well as legislative updates to take back to your congregations and broader community.

This year’s program contains a number of exciting components including:

· Updates on UUJMCA's programs and work by Rev. Ranwa Hammamy, Executive Director of UUJMCA

· Presentation & Updates from Katia Hansen, Executive Director UURISE (UU Refugee and Immigrant Services and Education)

· Grounding of our activism in our UU faith and values with the UUA's "Love Resists" organizing campaign

· Updates on key issues including environmental justice, economic justice, healthcare, and immigration justice

· Connection and sharing with UU justice-makers from nearby congregations

· Training and tools for organizing in our congregations and developing accountable partnerships in our communities

San Diego Area: Palomar Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

Spiritual Grounding & Dinner: Friday, September 20 from 6:30pm-9:00pm

Issue and Skills-Based Programming: Saturday, September 21 from 11:00am-5:30pm.

Santa Barbara Channel Region: Unitarian Universalist Church of Ventura
Spiritual Grounding & Dinner: Friday, October 4 from 6:30pm-9:00pm
Issue and Skills-Based Programming: Saturday, October 5 from 10:00am-4:30pm.

Anaheim / East LA / Fullerton: The Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Fullerton

Spiritual Grounding & Dinner: Friday, October 11 from 6:30pm-9:00pm

Issue and Skills-Based Programming: Saturday, October 12 from 12:30pm-6:30pm.

Click here for more information and to register today!

In In Time's Shadow, minister, author, and activist Marilyn Sewell reflects on the everyday—the places we live and work, the thoughts we all have but hardly ever share—though these musings may carry the most profound of our human concerns. Using a variety of short literary forms, ranging from dramatic monologues, vignettes, and letters, to prose poems, fantasy, and more, Sewell's fiction offers insightful, compassionate slices of life that will bring laughter and, at the same time, take you deeper into the mysteries of life: a lonely woman is distressed because her plant has stopped blooming; marriage partners talk past each other in a therapy session; a man comes across a ragtag street band in New Orleans and reconsiders his life choices. These short, compelling readings reveal the cultural incongruities and inanities that crowd our lives. We love, we lose, we die, and through it all, we ask, "What's it all about?" Sewell invites us to ponder with her and perhaps come to trust our common humanity and our most noble instincts.

Visit InSpirit to learn more or pre-order In Time's Shadow

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