Call for Food Treats for Vespers

We need cookies, finger foods, and other holiday delicacies for our Vespers Service!  If we start making items now, we should have enough by December 24th.  We will have our infamous Vespers Punch, great people, and a fantastic service to celebrate. Please let us know what you can bring by contacting the Connections Ministry.

Dinner Club Signup

Our tradition of potluck suppers at some of the region’s finest establishments continues. Register now to be a host or guest for our six exciting dining experiences of 6-8 people during the year. A signup table will be held on Sunday December 21st or email us .

Birthday Bash Bakers

Help us celebrate every third Sunday of the month by being a “Featured Baker” for the month you choose. Signup for a turn at the oven or the ice cream machine. Let us know what month will work for you and we’ll arrange for the party! Let us know. Signup at the party table this Sunday!

Blue Christmas Vigil 6-7pm Sunday, December 21

The Immigrant Support Committee of Do Something Southern Indiana is hosting a Blue Christmas Vigil at the Clark County Jail in Jeffersonville. On the longest night of the year, we’ll gather with carols, candles, and community to stand in solidarity with our neighbors who are struggling—immigrants detained by ICE, families facing hunger, and those without housing. This is a compassionate space to acknowledge that the holidays can be painful for many, while seeking hope together.  Attendees are encouraged to bring a candle and a food bank donation if able.

New to UU: Path to Membership

• What: Upcoming workshops for folks who are curious about UU, on the fence about getting more engaged with First U, or seeking a deeper connection at First U.
• Why: Because your next step on the path is going to be different. There’s no universal answer to the “What’s next?” question that satisfies everyone’s needs. Together, we can discover and explore and discover the connection that brings each of us deeper meaning.
• When: Four-Sunday Series: 9:45-10:45  January 11 and 18 and February 8 and 15.
• How: Sign-up to register for New to UU or email us at Connections Ministry.

Try Out Being a Worship Associate!

Want to go behind the scenes in worship? Spend more time with our ritual rocks and water? Interested (or not) in smaller speaking roles during services? Being a Worship Associate can include any or all of these! Try it out by shadowing a current Worship Associate. Rev. Liz is also available for coaching if you’re interested in speaking roles. To sign up or learn more, go to the Worship Ministry to contact Jamie.

FUUD for All on January 14: Family Chili Night at First U

Save the date for our next Fun Unitarian Universalist Dinner (or FUUD) event on Wednesday evening, January 14. Families of all sizes, from one to oh-so-many, are invited. We will have sign-up forms later, but if you bring a kid, you don’t need to bring a dish. Or help with set-up. Or clean-up. It will be an early evening of multi-generational connection – designed to get folks back home for bedtime or homework. Contact Matt Livers, Alexis McFadden and Jim Hennigan at  Adult RE to learn more or help us plan our FUUD events.

Holiday Assistance for Coleridge Taylor families: We Did It!

Thanks to the generous donations from so many of you, we raised $1250. and were able to provide holiday assistance gift cards for 25 children! I delivered them to the new Family Resource Center coordinator at Coleridge Taylor last week, and she was thrilled to receive them and begin distributing them to the parents. Thank you all so much for supporting this project again this year!

Join us for our annual Christmas Eve Vespers service. The service will include an honoring of the many traditions as part of a winter celebration. The poinsettias ordered in honor of or in memory of loved ones and special people will be on display. The service concludes with candlelit singing in our beautiful darkened sanctuary, a moment not to be missed!  Afterwards, a reception will follow the service. Plan to join us, and invite your family and friends!

Children at Vespers
The Religious Exploration Ministry would like to encourage families to be in this special service together! The service runs an hour. Flameless electronic candles will be available for young children so they can participate fully in the candle-lit portion of the service.

Things to Know

•  Childcare will be available in the Nursery.
• Need a Break? The Library will be available with sound piped in and quiet toys, coloring, and a rocking chair available if littler ones need a break.
• Hearing Assist Devices are available. Ask an Usher.

Ways to Volunteer for the Vespers Service
We are planning our evening service and we need volunteers to help us.  In particular, refreshment providers, choir singers (practice on Thursdays at 7pm), reception hosts, and service aides.  Let us know if you would be able to help with this church tradition! Email us at Connections Ministry.

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.

The Nursery: Tadpoles will be open for babies and pre-k  from 9:30am-12:15pm on Sundays. Registration Forms. are required for each child, including those in the nursery.

Fran reflects on their experience as a UU and a community organizer across two cities, their hometown of Louisville and their chosen city of Chicago. What is special about First U? What is special about Louisville? What have they learned in Chicago? What can these places teach us as UUs?

About the Speaker:
While Fran does not dream of work, they are happily employed as a Montessori guide. Besides Montessori, the great loves of their life are their son and their hope for a better life for everyone. Fran’s life has largely revolved around volunteer-led orgs and projects in service to liberatory causes. They have been a UU since 2015. Fran’s drive to encourage human connection and understanding has been the undercurrent invigorating their teaching and advocacy work, across projects.

Fairness Campaign Executive Director Chris Hartman will detail the state of LGBTQ rights in Kentucky, upcoming challenges the community faces in Frankfort, and ways folks can join the movement to resist the erosion of LGBTQ rights nationwide.

Chris Hartman is the first director of Kentucky’s Fairness Campaign and a steering committee member of the Fairness Coalition. Chris has helped pass anti-discrimination LGBTQ Fairness Coalition. Chris has helped pass anti-dscrimination LGBTQ Fairness Ordinances in 21 Kentucky communities, including the state capital Frankfort and small Appalachian town of Vicco. Chris previously served as Congressman John Yarmuth’s campaign press secretary, an AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteer in Service To America) in St. Louis, and Philadelphia director of the Democratic National Committee’s open-air Grassroots Campaigns in the 2004 presidential election.

Children’s RE Contact: Loren  

This begins in the sanctuary at 11:00 with the Moment for Ages. They leave during the Song for the Children.

The Nursery: Tadpoleswill be open for babies and pre-k  from 9:30am-12:15pm on Sundays. Registration Forms. Registration information is required for each child, including those in the nursery.

Adult (RE) Contact: Adult Religious Exploration

• All are Welcome: Members, friends, visitors, curious people, and people lost in the building are all welcome.
• Check-in begins at 9:45. Class meets in the Church Library at 10am.

Sunday, December 21: Let’s Talk
Come join our wide open discussion, led by Matt Livers, on a range of salty and riveting questions worth debating among fellow UUs.
Note: The original topic for December 21, abolition, is moving to 2026.

Sunday, December 28: My Art Therapy Journey
Jane Martin-Buckley will share her entertaining story into the field of art therapy, using her own impressive and imaginative portfolio as a launching pad.

What’s New This Year? More than 20 First U members and friends volunteered for the pilot winter shelter this past winter, contributing to the success of that launch. This winter, RITI Louisville is expanding to a second overnight shelter, offering life-saving relief from frigid nights on the streets for unhoused neighbors amid a shortage of permanent shelter beds. There will be a women’s (and children) shelter at Christ Church Cathedral, and a men’s shelter at Grace Immanuel United Church of Christ, doubling the program’s capacity, providing approximately 1,000 overnight stays for 30-50 guests. The program is supported by volunteers from at least 17 congregations and organizations.

RITI Louisville is now an independent 501(c)(3) organization, able to accept charitable donations. One of our members is the President of its Board of Directors. Feed Louisville will be providing dinners at both sites Mondays through Fridays, while congregation volunteers will provide the meals on Saturdays and Sundays.

• How Can I Help? We are beginning to put together volunteer teams. We hope to cover 5-8 nights during the winter months of January and February, spread across the two months. We will need three volunteers for each evening shift (4:30-10 p.m.), two for each overnight shift (10:00 p.m. – 5:00 a.m.), and two for each morning shift (4:45 a.m. – 7:30 a.m.). There are opportunities for men and women to volunteer. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact the office.
• Donation If you want to support RITI Louisville but cannot volunteer, consider making a donation. We are especially looking for mattress donors; each mattress costs $350. But every contribution helps, no matter the size! You can donate HERE.