Besides the Service, this Sunday at a Glance

• Adult RE: Historic Preservation and First U
• Order a Poinsettia by Thursday for Christmas Eve Vespers
• Donate Gift Cards (or funds) for Children at Coleridge-Taylor
• Don’t Forget the Big Blue Basket!

First U Book Club Party: Monday, December 8 at 6 pm.
No book, it’s a holiday party!! Join us in the church library (the room behind the sanctuary) to celebrate the season with some yummy snacks and good conversation about anything and everything. If it’s your first time, no need to bring anything, you’ll be our welcome guest. See you there!

Volunteer Now for Vespers Service – December 24
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. Thanks!

House and Grounds – A Place for You
House and Grounds meets the second Saturday of the month in order to save the church a lot of money and to eat donuts.   On our list so far is: repairing sanctuary chairs, replacing several light fixtures with energy sipping LEDs, mulching leaves and replacing caps on the social hall chair legs that are worn out.  You don’t need experience with these things because our ancient crew has tools and centuries of know-how to impart. Our next meeting is Saturday, December 13 at 9 AM.

4th Annual First U Auction Christmas Sing Along Party  $35
Sunday December 7 from 4-8pm – This party is an auction item. The house will be fully decorated for the holidays. Hearty appetizers, desserts, wine, beer, mixers etc will be served. Group singing will be Karaoke style with the words displayed on the TV screen. No one cares if you can sing but you must be able to scale a few stairs to get in the front door. We have room for 10 merry people. Pay $35 a person at the door. Guaranteed to be a good time!

Room in the Inn Louisville 
First Unitarian volunteers will once again have the opportunity to participate in the Room in the Inn (RITI) Louisville winter shelter program, January-February 2026. What’s New This Year?  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. Click here for more information.

What I Always Wanted to Know
(New to UU) sessions will be held for four Sundays starting Sunday in January 11.  These hour-long programs starting at 9:45am explore UU principles, history, and practices.  We invite those who want to know more about Unitarian Universalism to attend these adult education sessions.  They are engaging, informative, fun, and include snacks. Childcare is available. See the link in the Midweek Update or email the Connections Ministry.

We Have a Very Good Problem in Children’s Religious Exploration!
We need help in the classroom to keep everyone safe – in the Raccoon Room age 4-7 and the Fox Den: grade 3 & up.  Assistants do not have to plan anything, just sign up and show up that Sunday about 20 minutes early to get the plan. Here is the sign-up sheet. Find a Sunday and sign up now! Thank you!!

LSURJ Looking for Canvass Workers $20 per hour
Louisville Showing Up for Racial Justice is hiring working and they’re asking workers for two-hours shifts. This is a part of the LSURJ Crew in the Special Election of District 37 canvassing between now and December 16. Select your own dates and times. on the link to get started.

Faith & Science- second installment of The “& Science” Forums
During Faith & Science, we will celebrate community heroes & learn from an expert panel discussing the key intersections of faith & science. Ms. Elmer Lucille Allen (Artist and first African-American chemist at Brown-Forman) will also receive an “& Science” Trailblazer Award. See the Midweek Update for the full list of speakers.

• Thursday, December 11 at St. Stephen Baptist Church (1018 South 15^th Street, Louisville, KY 40210)
• Reception: 5:15 pm with panel discussion at 6:00 pm  Please RSVP.

About the Forum Series
The Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute is hosting a new quarterly health forum called “& Science.” The second installment of the series will focus on Faith & Science, featuring leaders from different faith traditions. The “& Science” series provides a community forum for conversations at the intersection of health, the environment & science. Future events will focus on history, art & science.

Security Cameras in Use
First Unitarian Church utilizes security cameras to support our efforts to maintain a safe and secure facility for our congregants, staff, and guests. No video is permanently recorded unless it relates to the safety and security of the church and its inhabitants. No audio is recorded. If you see any situation that is cause for concern, please reach out to the building supervisor.

Social Justice
There’s a wide range of areas where you can connect, help, support or join in – long or short term or even just once! It might be donating something, attending a meeting or protest, volunteering in many ways, or learning more. Scroll on past information about upcoming Sunday services to check it out or click here (but you’ll still want to know about upcoming services!)

Information to Share: Please list your name/s as you’d like it to appear in the Vespers bulletin as the “from” person. List the name of the person you’re dedicating it to. Specify if this is in honor of or in memory of the person. It’s acceptable to be in honor of a group also. Contact Barbara in the office if you are uncertain. This will be listed in the Vespers Bulletin – so please write legibly.

Online until Thursday, December 4. Fill in the links and pay online.

• Respond to the “Poinsettia email”
• Email the Office to place an order or ask a question.
• Click here to pay for your poinsettia online
• Ordering online is a two-step process. Don’t forget to give the information AND pay either online or by sending a check by mail or in person.

Payment: $15 each

• Check: Turn in check to offering or office. Make check payable to First Unitarian $15 per poinsettia. Write flower donation in memo line.
• Online Click here to go directly to the poinsettia payment option.
• Use whatever method you prefer using normally, but designate that it’s for “poinsettia donation.”

Questions? Contact Barbara Creasy

Per the school’s request, we are collecting gift cards to be given to the Family
Resource Center coordinator at Coleridge-Taylor. The Family Resource Center will distribute the gift cards to families, which they can use to purchase food and gifts for their children. Any gift cards in any amount will be gratefully received and utilized; however, $50. VISA gift cards are most versatile and can be used anywhere.
(*If you can’t give $50, any donation is appreciated as multiple gifts all add up. Mary can combine multiple smaller donations to get gift cards.)

If you would like to donate a gift card, please contact the office. We can pick up your gift card from you, or you can drop off or mail to the church. You may also:

• drop off your gift card at church— in the office if there’s a volunteer, or slip through the blue door if closed (place it in an envelope or a folded paper     “envelope” with your name on it if dropping it off)
• make a donation for a gift card on the church website, or
• write a check for the gift cards, payable to First Unitarian Church, and be sure to write Coleridge-Taylor on the memo line.

Mary will also be at a table after church on Sunday, December 7 to collect gift cards or monetary donations, but you can give them to her when you see her other times as well.. Contact the office with any questions, and thank you so much for your generosity!

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.

Childcare will be available in the Nursery.
The Library will be available with sound piped in and quiet toys, coloring, and a rocking chair available if littler ones need a break.

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..

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.

KUUJAN’s All Network Gathering:  “What to do after No Kings?”
Wednesday, December 10 from 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm (EST time)
We are all invited to attend the “No King’s Rallies” over the past year. These are powerful and valuable opportunities to come together and send a message to our current administration. There have also been some concerns raised about the lack of solution or “next steps” that seem to be offered during these rallies. In this conversation, we’ll engage in some exploring of how we attend rallies like these in ways that to build community and work for real social change. We’ll also explore some of the solutions that are going on in Kentucky in response to the damage that is being done by both the current federal administration and our state legislature. Please join us if you can. This will be a really important conversation — and your voice matters!  Join the ANG by clicking here.

Room in the Inn Louisville
First Unitarian volunteers will once again have the opportunity to participate in the Room in the Inn (RITI) Louisville winter shelter program, January-February 2026. What is RITI? RITI Louisville’s community ministry is modeled after a program initially founded in Nashville in 1985 that has been replicated in nearly 40 other locales, including Washington, D.C., Charlotte, N.C., and the Kentucky cities of Bardstown, Bowling Green and Lexington. Nashville today has more than 100 participating congregations that provide temporary overnight shelter during the winter months for individuals experiencing homelessness.

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. Suzanne Meeks of our Congregation 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.

• 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 7
Historic Preservation and First U
Lee Wells will kick off a conversation about historic preservation – and what that could mean for First Unitarian Church and its campus, its legacy, and where we go from here.

Sunday, December 14: Racketeers and Rapists of Renown
We resume our mini-series on abolition by looking back to the Boston Tea Party (December 16, 1773) and the thugs, gangsters, smugglers and other villains back then and now who walk among us, heads held high, celebrated as our heroes and leaders, as Alexis and Jim reveal how the prevailing views of crime and carceral punishment in America have always been defined through a lens of racism and classism.

Sunday, December 21: Abolition around the Dinner Table
Our mini-series on abolition continues to explore the things we can do, within our own spheres of influence, as we move from thinking about abolition to practicing abolition. We will start with some ideas borrowed from Ijeoma Oluo, consider what Metro Council is doing, and brainstorm from there.

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.

The Nursery will 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.
• The Nursery: Tadpoles will be open for babies and pre-k  from 9:30am-12:15pm on Sundays.
• The Raccoon Room: Pre-K – Grade 2. Room 212. Teacher: Ms. Loren & guest teachers will begin in the sanctuary with their families and then head upstairs with their teacher after the Moment for All Ages. Class ends at noon, parents will come up and get their children following the service.
• The Fox Hole: Grades 3 and up Room 202. Ms. Christina & guest teachers will begin in the sanctuary with their families and then head upstairs with their teacher after the Moment for All Ages. Class ends at noon, parents will come up and get their children following the service.
• Youth Group: Grades 5 and Up We hope to meet on a regular basis at the church and around town.