This Week at UUP: Winter Solstice Drum Circle

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


ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPCOMING EVENTS

Children's Choir Rehearsal this Sunday - 9:30 am
Elizabeth Nielsen will be directing our children's choir in their final rehearsal before their Christmas Eve performance. The choir and Elizabeth are doing an amazing job, and the Christmas Eve service promises to be a moving and beautiful experience for all. Choir members will be provided with hot cider and breakfast treats, before and after their rehearsal.

Adult Discussion Group this Sunday - 9:30 am to 10:15 am
Come join Marlene Abel and other friendly adults in the fireside room at UUP in a discussion of "Finding Meaning in the Holidays". This is a drop-in group, and all adults are welcome to come share their thoughts on the topic.

Santa Lucia Procession
This Sunday will be our annual celebration of Santa Lucia's Day, which is an ancient Swedish tradition of welcoming back the light at the Winter solstice. Children and Youth are invited to process at the beginning to the service. Costumes will be provided, except that each child or youth should wear a plain white shirt from home, either long or short sleeve. Children and youth should arrive by 10:15 to get ready. Girls will be given long white skirts and silver garlands, and the boys will wear Star Hats and carry star wands.

"Dinner for Eight" or more on Christmas Eve
Would you like to share Christmas Eve with your church family? Then join us as we gather in each other's homes to share dinner after the service on December 24th.
Here is how it works: Some people agree to host, and they provide the gathering location and usually a main dish. Others sign up to participate and bring other contributions to the meal. Then all gather on Christmas Eve for a community meal and good fellowship. There is a sign-up sheet at the back of the church on Sunday services. Questions? Contact KC Greaney.

Holiday Fundraiser for our high-school-age youth
UUP high school youth are selling holiday cards at UUP after the services each Sunday. If you're thinking about buying cards this year, please consider buying from our youth. Also for sale are gift bags and gift tags. Proceeds from the sales will help pay for their Coming of Age Program, a series of retreats and UUP youth activities.

UUP Now Has a Facebook Page
If you're on Facebook, come join the UUP Facebook group. If you're not, then maybe you'd like to give it a try--it's free and all too easy. Questions? Ask UUP's webmaster, David Dodd. To see more details and confirm this group invitation, follow this link.

CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE
Wednesday, December 24, 2008, 5 pm
Worship Associates: Lara Abel and Diana Spaulding
Please join us for our first-ever UUP Christmas Eve service, as we celebrate the season with singing and fellowship. Special music will include the debut of our Children's Choir, led by Elizabeth Nielsen; a performance from the Bach "Magnificat" by a talented trio of UUP singers (Elizabeth Nielsen, Rachel Steiner, and Kendra Bushong); and a brass quintet.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY CORNER Service is our Prayer
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
The Guest At Your Table boxes and donation envelopes distributed during the past several weeks will be gratefully received during the Christmas Eve Service - or as soon as possible thereafter. As you prepare to return your gift, please note the membership levels printed on your box or envelope. Please give as generously as you are able so that, through the work of UUSC, we may bring hope for a better future to those around the world less fortunate than ourselves. Although a donation of any amount is appreciated, we can make the largest impact by qualifying for a matching donation. All donations of $100 or more per household will be matched by the UU Congregation of Shelter Rock.
SRC Thought for the Week
"I will light candles this Christmas;
Candles of joy despite all sadness;
Candles of hope where despair keeps watch;
Candles of courage for fears ever present;
Candles of grace to ease heavy burdens;
Candles of love to inspire all living;
Candles that will burn all the year long."
-- Rev. Howard Thurman

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.)

This Sunday, December 21, 2008: Winter Solstice Drum Circle
Worship Leaders: Tony Blake and Meredith Guest
Following last week's "holding the place of darkness collectively, with its mystery, waiting and silence", this week we welcome earth's slow, yet inexorable, return to the light with singing, drumming and resounding joy. Bring a drum, an instrument, a sound maker or just yourself to this annual celebration led by Tony Blake.

Sunday, December 28, 2008
Worship Leaders: Meredith Guest and Lara Abel
Now that the official madness…excuse me, I mean 'holiday' is past, I'd like to invite you to join me in taking a closer, in-depth look at what Luke, the original author of what must surely be THE most universally misunderstood story of all times, had in mind when he penned it some time late in the first century. It could be surprising and hopefully, enlightening.

UUP Facebook Page

UUP Now Has a Facebook Page

If you're on Facebook, come join the UUP Facebook group. If you're not, then maybe you'd like to give it a try--it's free and all too easy. Questions? Ask UUP's webmaster, David Dodd.

To see more details and confirm this group invitation, click the link above.

UU TV Channel on the Web

Take a look at the new web TV channel, www.uuplanet.tv. A one-stop shop for the best video from UUs, including the famous alien speech video!

Other intriguing titles include "Unitarian Universalism in 30 Seconds," "Unitarian Symbol Video," and "Reach Deeper with Unitarian Universalism."

UUP Annual Photo

Yesterday, we had our annual photo on the front steps of the Woman's Club, something we've managed to do nearly every year since 2004. Before that, we had two others, not on the front steps.

You can see the new annual photo, and a big batch of photos from the past couple of years, on the UUP Flickr Page. It's fun to see how we've grown!

I'll blog some more of the photos soon.

YouTube UU Videos (UUTube?)

Quite a number of excellent videos have been posted on YouTube about Unitarian Universalism. The favorite of many is the famous lecture by an alien on how humanity needs to pull its act together, based, of course, on the UU Seven Principles, entitled "How To Save The Planet."

Another batch have appeared recently. Take a look at "Why I Am Unitarian Universalist."

Is God Keeping YOu From Going to Church?" is another.

And, lastly, though there are many more, take a look at "Unitarian Universalism--You're a Uni-what?"

These are great to forward to friends who have an interest in UUism.

Video Contest to Promote Unitarian Universalism

From our Pacific Central District weekly email newsletter:

Have Fun Spreading the Word

Dateline May 28 - Among the most popular hyperlinks we've published in PCD Currents, are those to the fun stuff on the web that promotes UUism. Among these are Jon Carroll's essay "Unitarian Jihad," and the YouTube video of the Space Alien instructing Earthlings on how to live in peace (by following seven very familiar principles).

Our Regional gUUerilla Marketing Group would like to encourage more of that kind of thing, so they are announcing a fun summer contest for UU youth: produce a video that promotes UUism, and post it on YouTube. Entries submitted by August 1 will be eligible for a $250 prize for the video "most likely to go viral" (translation: most likely to be passed along friend to friend by email because it is so clever or otherwise worth watching). Enter just by sending an email to Cilla Raughley (cilla at pcd-uua dot org), our District Executive, with the link to where the video can be seen.

This will be fun! Please help us spread the word!

Daily Kos Links to UUP Sermon Archive

Neat. I was looking at our website stats for the past week, and noticed a fair number of hits via The Daily Kos. Take a look at the interesting essay about UU author Kurt Vonnegut--it links to a UUP sermon given back in April 2003.

Our sermons have built up, over time, into a significant archive of good content, and they often lead the count in ongoing hits to our website. Maybe once in a while, someone decides to visit UUP, or another UU congregation, as a result of being intrigued by ideas they read on our site in our sermon archive. If so, then all the effort of posting the sermons is worthwhile.

Our top sermon ever, in terms of web readership, garnering 559 hits in the course of 2006 and 2007 (so far), was Elisabeth Hathaway's "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."

Unitarian Universalism in "Second Life": A Virtual Religious Community

If you've been reading about the virtual world called Second Life, you may be interested to know that it includes a popular and fast-growing Unitarian Universalist congregation, Unitarian Universalists of Second Life. There's an excellent article at the UU World, which includes a sidebar with pointers to related articles, and to Second Life and the congregation itself, which now numbers around 180 members. The congregation meets twice weekly for worship services! I plan to go take a look. If you see me there, say hi: my avatar is named Lefty Link.

UUP Blog Places Third in UU Blog Awards!

It's not the Oscars, but we did snag a nomination for "Best Online Community or Group Blog" in the UU Blog Awards for 2007. Browse through the winners and runners-up in all the categories, and you'll find excellent, enlightening ongoing forums of all kinds: spiritual, political, ministerial, and personal commentary.

UUP's blog finished a distant third in the polling--but who's counting?

Vote for UUP in Best of the North Bay!

Another poll in which you can vote for UUP and help publicize our group in the wider community: The North Bay Bohemian's annual "Best Of..." poll. Suggested categories for UUP votes (please spell out Unitarian Universalists of Petaluma): Categories #118: "Best Local Spot for Intelligent Conversation", and #408: "Best Local Place To Inspire Your Kids."

Vote now! Show your pride!

YouTube / UU

A friend pointed me to this wonderful ad for UUism posted on YouTube, featuring a finger-puppet alien speaking before the Pentagon symbol, entitled "How To Save the Planet".

UUP Toolbar--Getting Better

It's been awhile since I promoted our browser toolbar. It's available for download, free, at uup.ourchurchtoolbar.com.

The toolbar allows you to search Google, and provide instant links to several excellent resources, including the UUP homepage, this blog, the home pages of the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Pacific Central District, as well as the UU Legislative Ministry.

It's also a tool we're using to broadcast messages via RSS (Really Simply Syndication) feeds to our toolbar users.

And finally, it provides the local weather, and instant links to such community resources as the Argus Courier, Petaluma Community Access, the Press Democrat, Aqus News, and the Petaluma Progressives. Additional link suggestions are welcome!

Give it a try, and let me know what you think!

Flickr photo set growing

I've been posting photos from UUP events on Flickr, as a means of sharing them among the entire congregation in an easy manner.


So far, the set includes photos from a range of 2006 UUP events, including our Time and Talent Auction, our party to welcome Marlene Abel as our Director of Religious Education, our annual all-congregation retreat at Four Springs, the Water and Stones ingathering service, and our table at the Petaluma Progressive Festival.

UUP Toolbar Available For Download

I've created a toolbar for UUP members and friends, with a built-in google search box, and links to sites of interest, both Unitarian-Universalist and Petaluman. You can download it for free by clicking below:

UUP Toolbar

The site that allowed me to make the toolbar (free!) can be found at www.effectivebrand.com.

Now I wonder if anyone will try it out? If you have ideas for how it should be improved or adjusted, or additional sites it should provide instant links for, please let me know.

UU Group at Library Thing

I've started a UU group at a wonderful book-sharing website called Library Thing. Take a look! Share your thoughts on your favorite books from a UU perspective, or talk about your faith journey and what books have helped you on your way. Cite UU authors! Spread The Word...

Some pictures from our annual retreat

We had a wonderful weekend at Four Springs, in Lake County. Here are a couple of pictures.

And here's a link to our gallery page of photos from the retreat.

MySpace: Forum for UU Youth

If anyone hasn't heard yet about MySpace.com, you just aren't paying attention. It's a huge personal networking site, and it includes many interest groups. Several groups are devoted to Unitarian Universalists, including "Unitarian Universalists", which has the catchiest name, and boasts over a thousand members. Not all of them are under 20, but a good percentage are.

Perhaps this could be a good venue for reaching a hard-to-connect-with group? I've joined the group, and have posted a couple of items about UUP.

UUP Friend Earl Cruser Blogs from the Road

Earl and Jane Cruser are on an extended trip to Mexico, and while they're away, they'll be staying in touch via their blog: Earl's Blog.

Earl told me before he left that when they return in May or so, they plan to join UUP as members. Hurray!

Be sure to read his post from December about UUP. Excellent.

UU World Magazine Now Online

Our Unitarian Universalist Association magazine, the UU World, is now online at uuworld.org. The current issue features an article on U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser, who is a UU, and many other articles. It also includes a web-only feature (not to be found in the print version) on Family Resources for the Season, including ideas for celebrating Hanukkah, Advent, and the Winter Solstice.

UU Legislative Ministry Virtual Meeting House

A note from the Pacific Central District of the UUA:

California voters will be interested in the “Virtual Meeting House” page on the web site for the UU legislative ministry, a very helpful resource to use in preparing to cast an informed vote on November 8. The Meeting House will offer summaries of the key issues of each ballot proposition, links to additional resource materials, and the reflections of UUs from across the state. This site was greatly appreciated by UUs all around California last year, and we're very glad to hear it will be back in operation soon.

If you'd like to write an opinion piece on any of the ballot issues, send it to meetinghouse@uulmca.org