Unitarian Universalists of Petaluma

The purpose of this congregation is to provide a haven where members can share in a spiritually, culturally, and socially diverse local religious community. We envision a congregation that will be welcoming to all, that values the contributions of each member in shared ministry, and that actively promotes and models individual development of an ethical way of living. We are intentionally intergenerational, and covenant to provide religious education and spiritual growth for children and adults.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Photos from our annual retreat

Some of the wonderfulness of our annual retreat over Memorial Day weekend, at Four Springs retreat center in Lake County, can be gleaned from the photo gallery on Flickr. Take a look!

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Friday, May 22, 2009

This Week at UUP


The Unitarian Universalists of Petaluma
Nurture Your Spirit. Help Heal Our World.


To subscribe to "This Week at UUP" for email delivery, please send a request to uupetaluma at gmail dot com.

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPCOMING EVENTS

Save the date for an important Congregational Meeting on Sunday, June 7th!
All members and friends are urged to come and have your voice heard at our Congregational Meeting on June 7th right after services.
* The Budget for the year 2009-2010 will be discussed and voted upon by the membership
* New Board member (s) and nominating committee elected
* You will meet the members of the newly formed Leadership Council
* Results of the congregational survey and the vision offering (including an update on getting a P.T. Minister)
* A delicious lunch is being planned by the Social Responsibility Committee

Developing spiritual practice through movement with Meredith, Jodi and Jan
Members of UUP are invited to come explore developing spiritual practice through movement with Jodi, Meredith and Jan, Meredith’s partner, as they host their third three-hour workshop on Friday, June 19th from 6:45 to 10 pm. Space is limited, so if you are interested in participating, please reply asap.
The introductory session will begin with improvisational movement to music. We’ll progress to moving without music wherein movement emerges from within. There will be time to reflect, journal, draw, etc., between sessions and then a time for sharing at the end. (Some light snacks will also be served.)
The three of us have all found this to be a fascinating practice and are constantly surprised at what emerges. It is a way to bypass the thinking mind and to access a kind of knowing that lives uniquely in the body, a truthfulness that gets around the censors of thought and ego.
Our intention is to offer these sessions until a group forms that will meet together regularly.
Let us know if you would like more information or to sign-up.

Meet with fellow UUs at the General Assembly!
UU General Assembly
Salt Lake City, Utah
June 24-28, 2009
For more information, talk to Marlene Abel, UUP Director of Religious Education

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY CORNER: "...service is our prayer"
5th Sunday Luncheon moved to June 7th
We've moved the 5th Sunday Luncheon to June 7th to coincide with UUP's annual June Congregational Meeting. Plan to stay after services for a delicious, healthy salad bar lunch made with local, organic and vegan ingredients prepared by your Social Responsibility Committee. Lunch will be followed by our all-important Congregational Meeting, led by your Board of Trustees, where you will hear what's happening at UUP and be able to exercise your privilege and responsibility to vote on issues important to UUP's future. Don't miss it!
Social Responsibility Committee
What we do
The Social Responsibility Committee was formed last fall to create an avenue for folks at UUP to help make a difference in the world beyond our congregation. SRC includes both the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and Carbon Rings groups. SRC is also the committee tasked with presenting the UUA's Congregational Study/Action Issue (CSAI), "Ethical Eating: Food and Environmental Justice”, to our congregation. This CSAI encompasses aspects of environmental concern, world hunger, and concern for our treatment of animals. Whatever your passion, there is something here for you. On a local level, we have participated in the creation of UUP's environmental parade float, assisted COTS/Petaluma Kitchen with food drives, and we select the Share-The-Plate recipients each month.
How you can help
"Many hands make light work" - and allow us to do even more! You are invited to join us and help UUP make a difference in our community and in the wider world. As we say each Sunday in our Affirmation, "...service is our prayer."
Our next meeting is Tuesday, June 9th, 7:00 - 9:00 pm at Jan Crosby's. For directions and more information, contact Co-Chairs Jan Crosby or Earl Cruser.
SRC Quote for the Week
"The religion that ends with the individual, ends." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

UPCOMING SUNDAY SERVICES
(Social time with refreshments begins at 10:00 am, at the Petaluma Woman's Club, 518 B Street. Worship service begins at 10:30 am.)

Sunday, May 24, 2009: "Forgiveness"
Guest Speaker: Dr. Karen Melander-Magoon
Worship Leader: Joyce Tischler
Celebrate the miracle of forgiveness and the bonds we share simply by being human and a part of this wonderful world.
Guest Speaker Dr. Karen Melander-Magoon comes to us from the First Unitarian Universalist Church in San Francisco, where she is a member. Last year she received her Doctorate of Ministry from San Francisco Theological Seminary under the Graduate Theological Union, with coursework also at Starr King School for the Ministry. After years singing major opera roles in Europe and raising two children there, she returned to the States to continue performing and composed three one-woman musical portraits of women in history, including Georgia O’Keeffe and Clara Barton. Karen preaches and sings throughout the Bay Area and often weaves her own songs and poetry into her sermons and homilies.

Sunday, May 31, 2009: "Deep Listening: Tools for Change"
Guest Speaker: Kelly Philpott Brisbois
Worship Leaders: David Dodd and Berkley Sturgeon
"How we understand the past is the most important element determining our future"- Historian James Carroll
Guest Speaker Kelly Philpott Brisbois, an attorney and oral historian, will share her "Journeys of Reconciliation" project. Kelly led a group of Marin High School students as they joined forces with their contemporaries from Johannesburg, South Africa, in a study on the history of segregation and racism. As these students explored issues of race and justice, they were also focusing on the process of reconciliation in both countries. They interviewed a diverse group of activists who experienced the struggle to end Apartheid in South Africa. As a comparative study, they also interviewed activists from the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. While this project centered on a past that is often painful, it is a project that also looks to the future. Please join us after the service as Kelly shares a short film and will answer any questions you may have about this amazing project.
To view a clip from this project, please visit www.oralhistoryeducation.com.

Sunday, June 7, 2009: "An Evolutionary Parable about the Creation of Matter"
Worship Participants: Marlene Abel, Director of Religious Education, and the RE children and youth
Worship Leader: Jodi Boyle
Our RE youth will present "Startull", an evolutionary parable about an average yellow star who discovers the worth of being just medium size star and learns important lessons about the ways of the universe. Marlene Abel, Director of Religious Education and former chemist, will reflect on how the life cycles of stars and the formation of the chemical elements in stellar furnaces led to creation of life on our planet. This is an intergenerational service in which the "stars" of the RE program will be recognized and honored.

REGULARLY SCHEDULED GATHERINGS

Larking About, the UUP choir meets Wednesdays at 8 pm at David Dodd and Diana Spaulding's house, 716 Bassett St. New singers are always welcome!

Links:
www.uupetaluma.org
Facebook Page (be sociable with UUP friends!)
Flickr Gallery

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Monday, May 18, 2009

UUP Member and Animal Legal Defense Fund Founder In Oprah!

Joyce Tischler, a UUP member, worship leader, and an attorney who founded the Animal Legal Defense Fund, is featured in Oprah! magazine's June 2009 issue. The Oprah website is also hosting some video footage, including an interview with Joyce. (Click the title to this post to see the ALDF website's information on the Oprah story.)

Congratulations to ALDF and to Joyce for her incredible work.

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Friday, May 15, 2009

This Week at UUP: Coming of Age Celebration


The Unitarian Universalists of Petaluma
Nurture Your Spirit. Help Heal Our World.


To subscribe to "This Week at UUP" for email delivery, please send a request to uupetaluma at gmail dot com.

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPCOMING EVENTS

Coming of Age Celebration on Sunday
Please come join the celebration for our first UUP graduates of the Coming of Age program, beginning at 10 am and continuing after the service. There will be special brunch foods to honor Amy West, Bailey Boatsman and Lizzie Gardner on their achievement. Middle School youth are invited to arrive at 9:30 to bake muffins and prepare fruit for the celebration. Any questions, please contact Marlene Abel.

"New to UU" Visitors' Orientation on Sunday, May 17, after service
Trying out UUP? Visiting for the first time or have been for a while, and want to learn more about our congregation and about Unitarian Universalism? Gather with several UUP members to ask questions you might have and to hear more about UUP. We’ll meet near the fireplace immediately following the service.

Upcoming Lecture of Interest
Scotty McLennan
Jesus Was a Liberal: Reclaiming Christianity for All
Dean for religious life at Stanford University, Unitarian Universalist Rev. Scotty McLennan introduces Jesus Was a Liberal, which advocates a sense of religion based not on doctrinal readings of scripture but on the humanity behind Christ's teachings.
Tuesday, May 19, 7pm
The Glaser Center - 547 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa
Tickets are $7 and are available at all Copperfield's Books' Sonoma County locations.

Meet with fellow UUs at the General Assembly!
UU General Assembly
Salt Lake City, Utah
June 24-28, 2009
More information, talk to Marlene Abel, UUP Director of Religious Education

UPCOMING SUNDAY SERVICES
(Social time with refreshments begins at 10:00 am, at the Petaluma Woman's Club, 518 B Street. Worship service begins at 10:30 am.)

Sunday, May 17, 2009: "Coming of Age Celebration"
Worship Leader: Diana Spaulding
Join us in honoring our youth participants in the district-wide coming of age program. They will lead worship and share statements of belief that they have developed through their experiences. Everyone is invited to come early for a celebratory brunch at 10 am.

Sunday, May 24, 2009: "Forgiveness"
Guest Speaker: Dr. Karen Melander-Magoon
Worship Leader: Joyce Tischler
Celebrate the miracle of forgiveness and the bonds we share simply by being human and a part of this wonderful world.
Guest Speaker Dr. Karen Melander-Magoon comes to us from the First Unitarian Universalist Church in San Francisco, where she is a member. Last year she received her Doctorate of Ministry from San Francisco Theological Seminary under the Graduate Theological Union, with coursework also at Starr King School for the Ministry. After years singing major opera roles in Europe and raising two children there, she returned to the States to continue performing and composed three one-woman musical portraits of women in history, including Georgia O’Keeffe and Clara Barton. Karen preaches and sings throughout the Bay Area and often weaves her own songs and poetry into her sermons and homilies.

REGULARLY SCHEDULED GATHERINGS
The UUP Women's Group will meet on Monday, May 18th at 7:30 pm at Jean Conrad's house. The topic is "New Beginnings", and attendees are welcome to bring a reading or a poem.
Larking About, the UUP choir meets Wednesdays at 8 pm at David Dodd and Diana Spaulding's house, 716 Bassett St. New singers are always welcome!

Links:
www.uupetaluma.org
Facebook Page (be sociable with UUP friends!)
Flickr Gallery

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Therese Stewart in the News

UUP member Hope Stewart's daughter, Therese Stewart, is the cover story in this week's issue of the Pacific Sun--click on the title of this post to read the whole story.

Therese spoke at UUP last year. She successfully argued the case for same-sex marriage before the California Supreme Court, then saw that work reversed by Proposition 8. This week's story in the Pacific Sun is titled "Behind the 8 Ball," and includes an interview with Therese on her work to challenge the proposition in court.

Hurray, Therese!

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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

This Week at UUP


The Unitarian Universalists of Petaluma
Nurture Your Spirit. Help Heal Our World.


To subscribe to "This Week at UUP" for email delivery, please send a request to uupetaluma at gmail dot com.

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPCOMING EVENTS

Share the Plate this Sunday with the Petaluma Educational Foundation
As we express our support of the community, UUP will share its non-pledge offerings this Sunday with the Petaluma Educational Foundation (PEF), a privately funded, non-profit organization whose primary goal is to raise money in the community to directly benefit the schoolchildren of all Petaluma's 32 public, charter and non-profit private schools.

Coming of Age Celebration and Brunch - Sunday, May 17, 10 am
Join us for brunch and celebration as part of a district-wide Coming of Age program honoring our youth, who will lead worship and share statements of belief.

Meet with fellow UUs at the General Assembly!
UU General Assembly
Salt Lake City, Utah
June 24-28, 2009
More information, talk to Marlene Abel, UUP Director of Religious Education.

UPCOMING SUNDAY SERVICES
(Social time with refreshments begins at 10:00 am, at the Petaluma Woman's Club, 518 B Street. Worship service begins at 10:30 am.)

Sunday, May 10, 2009: "Are You My Mother?"
Worship Leader: Elisabeth Hathaway
In 1929, The Times declared that "The greatest moral force in history is motherhood." Mother: archetypal image of life, symbol of love, and the insistent collaborative voice for peace, which inspired Mother's Day. Today we honor mothers, in all forms and on all levels. Join us, both in the service and by voicing your experiences and responses to the online questionnaire about mothers and mothering (visit www.uupetaluma.org for the survey).

Sunday, May 17, 2009: "Coming of Age Celebration"
Worship Leader: Diana Spaulding
Join us in honoring our youth participants in the district-wide coming of age program. They will lead worship and share statements of belief that they have developed through their experiences. Everyone is invited to come early for a celebratory brunch at 10 am.

Sunday, May 24, 2009: "Forgiveness"
Guest Speaker: Dr. Karen Melander-Magoon
Worship Leader: Joyce Tischler
Celebrate the miracle of forgiveness and the bonds we share simply by being human and a part of this wonderful world.
Guest Speaker Dr. Karen Melander-Magoon comes to us from the First Unitarian Universalist Church in San Francisco, where she is a member. Last year she received her Doctorate of Ministry from San Francisco Theological Seminary under the Graduate Theological Union, with coursework also at Starr King School for the Ministry. After years singing major opera roles in Europe and raising two children there, she returned to the States to continue performing and composed three one-woman musical portraits of women in history, including Georgia O’Keeffe and Clara Barton. Karen preaches and sings throughout the Bay Area and often weaves her own songs and poetry into her sermons and homilies.

REGULARLY SCHEDULED GATHERINGS
* The UUP Board of Trustees will meet Monday, May 11th at 7:30 pm at Jean Conrad’s house.
* The UUP Women's Group will meet on Monday, May 18th at 7:30 pm at Jean Conrad's house. The topic is "New Beginnings", and attendees are welcome to bring a reading or a poem.
* Larking About, the UUP choir meets Wednesdays at 8 pm at David Dodd and Diana Spaulding's house, 716 Bassett St. New singers are always welcome!

Links:
www.uupetaluma.org
Facebook Page (be sociable with UUP friends!)
Flickr Gallery

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Religious Education Update: May 10, 2009

Who’s a Mother?

This past Good Friday, two simultaneous events changed my life. A female feral cat who had roamed the neighborhood for the past couple of years abruptly disappeared, and I began hearing meowing from under the house. The first time I heard a “meow”, I thought I was just hearing things. But the meowing continued, and got louder whenever anyone entered either of our bathrooms.

When I crawled under the house to investigate, I saw nothing but the usual dirt and spider webs. I could hear meowing coming from an outside wall, but no sign of a cat. Puzzled, I lay on my back on the dirt, until I spotted a tiny paw in a hole in the subflooring where a pipe connects to the bottom of the shower area. I waited for the paw to reappear, then extracted a kitten from the flooring. Soon, I had nabbed four kittens.

I suddenly was “mom” to these four tiny kittens, who appeared to be about five weeks old. They accepted me readily, despite their feral upbringing. When I held them in my lap, they would climb up into my hair, searching for somewhere to nurse. They didn’t understand yet how to lap milk from a dish, but meowed insistently that they wanted milk, now. They bonded to me, despite my total lack of resemblance to their real mom.

Becoming a mom, in a broader sense of the word, can occur after a pregnancy, or it can occur when some creature needs your attention and care. It can occur by choice, or by happenstance, as with my little kittens. These happy events may provide teaching moments in nurturing, a skill that requires that the needs of other living things supercedes one’s own issues, The family pet may need food or attention; the garden may need watering. A child who learns to care by providing for another, has mastered the first lesson in good parenting.

Marlene Abel

Director of Religious Education

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