Midweek Update 10/23/2024

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Proudly Progressive, Boldly Inclusive, Radically Friendly
Midweek Update October 23, 2024
 

Samhain – Beyond the Veil 
Join Us This Sunday October 27 at 7pm 
* There will NOT be a service in the morning, only the evening service.
* Children are welcome to attend the service. There is NO Childcare or RE.
* Click here for a complete description

Parking Note: Due to an event at Calvary at the same time, we will be limited to using only First U parking spots which are along the church in the lot. However, there will be ample parking in the library parking lot off Library Lane and the Pharmacy parking lot across the alley behind the library lot.
Election Week @FirstULou: Gatherings for Mind, Body and Spirit
We have five different opportunities to gather Election Week. Click here for the details about our Election Week events. 
FYI
Final Call for Spooky Trivia Players!
The Halloween-themed evening of trivia and fellowship is almost here: THIS Friday October 25.  Doors open at 6:30pm, trivia begins at 7pm – costumes encouraged!  The fun takes place here at First U, and all proceeds benefit Central Louisville Community Ministries. Admission is $15, and it helps if you rsvp. Come with a group, or come solo and join the First U table if you like (or any other open table). Questions?  Contact Kathy G.

8th Annual Earth Walk!
Join First U’s
Seventh Principle Team
This Saturday, October 26
Join us for the 8th annual Louisville Earth Walk, a community celebration featuring lots of local environmental groups, entertainment, networking, and a 2K walk through Shawnee Park, one of Louisville’s first Olmsted Parks, on Saturday, October 26, 2024, 9 a.m. Join us to support a vision where every neighborhood has safe and clean water, air, and soil. Participants can celebrate our beautiful planet while raising both awareness and funds for the organizations in our city that work to protect and improve the quality of life for all. If you’ve wondered how you can learn more about Louisville’s vast network of environmental groups, come join us and see for yourself.  The Seventh Principle team will have its information table there, so stop by and say hello!  Best wishes—Margaret, Roger, Kelli, Valerie, and Kathy.
 

Search Survey: Please Respond by October 31
An important part of the ministerial search process is polling the congregation to gather information for the team to use as they fill out applications, interview prospects, and make decisions in conjunction with the negotiating team and the board.  Please take 10 minutes (or less) and fill out the anonymous survey between now and October 31. We need as many voices as possible, so fill it out yourself and ask your friends at church to do the same!  Click here to complete the survey.
 

Auction Update
We have lots of pleased winning bidders, who joined the silent, live and online auctions and found fun events and treasures! Statements have been sent to both donors and winners – if you haven’t received yours (or have questions), click here to send an email. If you haven’t retrieved your won items from the silent auction, please go to the parlor on Sunday to do so (on a table, marked with your name).
 

Time Change Next Sunday, November 3
We’ll be leaving Daylight Saving Time on Sunday, November 5. Remember to “fall back” and grab that extra hour of sleep!
 

First U Women’s Alliance: Saturday, November 9 at 10am
The next meeting of the Women’s Alliance will be held in the church social hall on Saturday, 11-9-24 at 10:00 a.m. ALL women in the church are welcome to attend!

WA member and church archivist Kathy Kremer will share some information with us about the history of the Women’s Alliance at First U. This will be followed by a brief business meeting, and then we will celebrate the pending arrival of our newest and youngest UU’s, and we will honor the mothers who will soon be birthing them!

Refreshments will be provided by the Steering Committee. We hope that many of you can attend. If you have questions feel free to contact Mary Ballard 502-594-9347.
 

Greeters Wanted
Do you have a smile and 90 minutes a month to give to First Unitarian?  There are openings for greeters on the 1st and 4th Sundays of each month.  Enjoy being one of the first folks to meet our guests and welcome them to the community that you value.  Email Connections for details.
 

A Note from Angela Arnett Garner
Former Member and Indigenous Rights Activist 
Greetings,
As many members know, I grew up in First UU in the 1970s and 80s. I just wanted to share with members that my Indigenous rights activism was featured as part of an article about Indigenous Peoples Day by Dennis Zotigh in the Smithsonian Magazine. Here’s a link,
Many of you know Angela as a Speaker at First U. .
October 27 Celebration of Life at 7pm
Samhain –
Beyond the VeilSpeakers:
Lady Vanessa
and Ron Zorn
Perhaps the most revered holiday in the Pagan calendar is Samhain (sau-ihn), in which we honor those who have gone before us, celebrate the end of harvest, and usher in the darker half of the year. In this evening service, Lady Vanessa and Ron Zorn, along with members of the Pagan and First Unitarian communities, facilitate an all ages service that highlights our 6th source of spiritual teachings/earth-centered traditions.

* There will NOT be a service in the morning, only the evening service.
* Children are welcome to attend the service. There is NO Childcare or RE.

Parking Note: Due to an event at Calvary at the same time, we will be limited to using only First U parking spots which are along the church in the lot. However, there will be ample parking in the library parking lot off Library Lane and the Pharmacy parking lot across the alley behind the library lot.
About Our Speakers
Lady Vanessa is a High Priestess of the Wica in Louisville, KY where she’s been active since 1981. Transformative and earth-centered practices are the  focus of her spell work, tarot readings,  rituals, and teachings.  As an advocate for Pagan paths, she has appeared on local media, but more often regularly facilitates public rituals and classes working through CUUPs at First Unitarian Church, Louisville Pagan Roots Festival (FKA Louisville Pagan Pride), and Clifton Unitarian Universalist Church. In addition to being a Unitarian Church member, Lady Vanessa has a M.A.T. and holds ministerial credentials of public record through the New Wiccan Church. For fun, goodwill outreach, and charity, Lady Vanessa regularly performs with Sisters of the Dancing Moon.Ron Zorn is a long-time member of First Unitarian Church and a Co-Facilitator of the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPS) here at First U. He is also the Treasurer and Co -Chair of the National CUUPS organization on their Board of Directors. He follows an Earth-Centered Spiritual path and enjoys collecting books on a variety of religious paths that are outside of the Abrahamic faiths.
For the zoom link, Click here. The Meeting ID is 4508929882 if you can’t attend in person.  You will not need a password. Contact the volunteer desk if you have trouble getting online.

 
Special Election Week Activities Nov. 3-7
ELECTION WEEK @FirstULou: Gatherings for Mind, Body and Spirit
We have five different opportunities to gather during Election Week. Please let Peggy Muller know if you can help with welcoming or other practical aspects of these gatherings. I hope you can join us for one or all four of these opportunities for communal gathering. Thanks, Rev. MAM
Don’t forget  the time change!
November 3 at 11:00am

Practicing Repair:
Democracy and Election ReflectionsSpeaker:
Reverend Mary Ann Macklin
In his poem Election Promises, Reverend Mark Belletini writes,
Right now, I am going to vote
For love that does not have
to run in someone else’s circles
in order to be love.
Join us for this election-week Sunday Worship Service in which we will engage our November theme of the month— practicing repair. Whether repairing democracy or our own heart and soul, practicing repair invites us to explore our life commitments.. Timothy Snyder, author of “On Tyranny” and “On Freedom”, states “Freedom is the great American commitment; (yet) we have lost sight of what it means—and this is leading us into crisis.”

We will reclaim the courage that repair inspires and the love it allows. During the service, we will have special music to soothe the soul from Ethan McCollum and FirstULou’s Alice Culin-Ellison.
Sunday, November 3    5pm to 6pm
“Drumming Circle” with Jan Nelson, Reverend Mary Ann… and YOU?

  • in Sanctuary or Upstairs
  • Bring your own drum if possible.
  • The drum is akin to the heartbeat of mother earth.

Monday, November 4    6pm to 7pm
Gathering in Voice and Song Rev. Mary Ann and Ethan

  • With hymnals in hand we will have a hymn sing.  You choose the hymn and our pianist, Ethan, will lead us in song.
  • Also, you can select a reading from the back of the hymnal and read it (or have it read) as part of the evening’s content.
  • We will also have candles lit silently for joys and concerns.

Tuesday, November 5    Election Day

Wednesday November 6   (Zoom Only ) 6:30pm to 7:30pm 
Meditation and Check-In

  • Rev. MaryAnn will host this time of meditative reflection and sharing.

Thursday, November 7     5:30pm to 6:30pm
Evensong Meditative Service
Linette Lowe and Rev. Mary Ann

  • This will be a calming service for mind, body and spirit. Poetry, Simple Songs, Readings and Reflection
Justice Information
How First U is Engaging with the Homeless Problem in Our Community
click here
Energy and Earth-Saving Tips from LCAN: Bigger Steps: Cars
The Louisville Climate Action Network shares tips and offers educational programs and workshops, provides energy-efficiency services to other Louisville-area nonprofit organizations and advocates for smarter public policies—all to cut carbon pollution and costs. Check it out here.
From the Seventh Principle TeamPast topics: Weatherizing  Carbon Calculator  Lighting Gardening
Ways to Make a Difference in Your Kitchen   Transportation Laundry
The Five R’s–Refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle and restore Thermostats
Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency  Landscaping Bigger Steps: Location
New Projects for the Solar Array Project
The Solar Array Project continues to work behind the scenes to lower the church’s energy use, not to mention our energy bill. A current project is replacing 40 fluorescent fixtures with LEDs. These new fixtures use only 20% of the electricity of the old ones.And coming soon to our parking lot, will be a couple of trees! Working with Calvary Church and Trees Louisville, we’ve identified a couple of spots where cars cannot park.  These spots will have the pavement removed so the trees can be planted. The trees will puncture the heat island that is our parking lot and make it, at least a little permeable. When fully grown these trees will lower the surface heat and provide shade for parked cars and our building. We’ll hang a “Vacancy”sign from a branch and birds and other urban wildlife will move in. From day one, the trees will get to work cleaning the air as they suck CO2 from the atmosphere. And of course, they will be beautiful.
KUUJAN: Kentucky UU Justice Action Network
There are many ways to be involved. Email or go to the website for more information.
First U Contact Information

Interim Minister, Reverend Mary Ann Macklin [email protected]
Office Administrator, Barbara [email protected]
Volunteer desk [email protected]
Contact the Building Superintendent
Contact the RE Coordinator
Online See the First U webpage.
Phone (502) 585-5110. If you don’t reach someone, leave a message, including your email address, as messages are automatically emailed to the office.
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Reminders
1st U Mobile Directory
Is your information current or do you need to update? Need help accessing the directory? For information, email Claudia Runge.
If you receive a phishing email (trying to get money/gift cards from you)
1. Never click any links or attachments in suspicious emails. …
2. If the suspicious message appears to come from a person you know, contact that person via some other means such as text message or phone call to confirm it.
3. Report the message to your email provider
4. Delete it. Click here for more information
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or online at 988lifeline.org. The Lifeline provides 24-hour, confidential support to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. Call 911 in life-threatening situations.
~ Land Acknowledgment ~

First U acknowledges that Shawnee, Cherokee, Chickasaw and Osage native peoples lived on the land we now call Kentucky prior to their forced removal. We honor both our past and ongoing connection to them. Find out more here.