Highlights May 18

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Winchester Unitarian Society
Highlights
May 18, 2017
Sunday, May 21st: Sacred Belonging
With Deborah Morgan Bennett

To whom or what do we belong? Our family trees can provide us with one narrative about where we belong, they can also leave us questioning if we belong. The feeling of being exiled from our belonging, whether from others or from inside our selves can be stunningly painful. The opportunity to find our belonging with others who share our values and our search for meaning in the world often calls us beyond our familial ties. How do we recognize our belonging beyond our family trees? How do we invite ourselves and others into our lives and into a new sacred belonging?
Celebration Sunday is June 11th
We recognize another vibrant year in congregational life and welcome the slower summer season with a special Sunday including many fun and meaningful events:

Family Worship @ 10:00 am, Meyer Chapel

Worship @ 10:30 am, Sanctuary – “The Many and the One: Flower Communion”: Bring a flower to symbolize what you offer community. We will create a bouquet representing the beauty we create together and each take a different flower than the one we brought, honoring our connections with one another. (If you forget a flower, come anyway! We’ll have extra.) This service will also include a dedication of our new Plaque, recognizing the called ministers of the Society.

Religious Education – During Religious Education time, the children will transform Metcalf Hall into a festive room for what comes next, which is the…

Potluck @ 11:30 am, Metcalf Hall – Bring a dish to share…and your appetite for good food and conversation! Thanks to the Fellowship Committee for making this end-of-the-year tradition happen.

Community Dance @ 12:30 pm – All ages and dance talents welcome! Through the generosity of the Cerny Thomases fund, we will welcome back Marcie Van Cleeve as our caller. WUSYG will enjoy the Community Dance for an hour and then come together for the last meeting of the year.

Come and make our community BLOOM!

Music News.

The Children’s Chorale celebrates another spectacular year of singing with an end of year concert on Tuesday, May 23rd at 6:30 p.m. in the Chapel. Come hear them perform favorite songs from the past year along with a few new tunes as well. All are invited.

Musicians Needed for Summer Services. Anyone is welcome to join the choir which will sing a few times, or sing a solo or in a duet, trio, quartet. Those who play the piano, guitar, violin, any instrument are also wanted. Please see our Music Director John Kramer if you would like to participate sometime between June 18 and Sept. 3. He will have this organized by the end of May, so tell him soon what you would like to do and what dates you will be available.
Religious Education

Family Worship: Garden Blessing: Please join us around the Winchester Unitarian Society Garden (near the back parking lot) for this family centric, 20 minute interactive service as we acknowledge the blessings necessary for this year’s garden to thrive.

This month, Embodiment: In our Worship services we will be exploring the theme of embodiment, the shape of ourselves, the work we do with our hands, the relationships we form, the physical realities of our world and our participation in it.

Religious Education Morning: Welcome! In the worship service we will be welcoming new members. If the weather is fine, we will be out of doors planting strawberry seeds inside. Please dress for the mess.

Childcare for babies and tots is available in the playroom with Juanita Simms.

Afternoon Programs:

Our Whole Lives and F8th in Action have rescheduled our canoe trip to the4th of June. Watch the weather and cross your fingers for a dry day. Please direct any questions to trip coordinator Fritzie Nace.

Mark your calendars

Next Religious Education Committee Meeting June, 7th 9:00 AM

Michelsen room.
Garden Blessing, May 21st
Memorial Day wreath laying, May 28th
7th & 8th graders Canoe Trip June 4th
Community Dance and end of program year celebration June 11th!And Don’t Forget: We have a Parents Resource bookshelf in the Michelsen Room and a Little Library for children’s books outside of the Religious Education office. These are curated for you and your family. Please borrow and return, feel free to add anything you’d like to share with others and let us know what else might be of interest.

GROWTH AND LEARNING: As we close out the program year, many thanks and appreciation to departing committee members Shelley Ziegelman, Indira Persaud and Raym deReis

Soul Collage May 25th 7:00 PM Winchester Unitarian Society: Listen to the Whispers of your Soul

Access your inner voice of wisdom and guidance in this playful, yet purposeful, facilitated practice. It is a gentle, accessible, and surprising tool for unlocking emotional obstacles and stepping into the most authentic expression of yourself.  It is a path for artist and non-artist alike to explore self and spirit through the non-judgmental mirror of Soul Collage. Soul Collage facilitator Rebecca Kelley-Morgan leads the group.  Please RSVP to Betsy Bowles atbebowles13@gmail.com to reserve your spot – group size will be limited.

Next Growth and Learning Meeting September 13th, 7:00 PM Michelsen Room

Looking Ahead:  Winchester Unitarian Society will be hosting a Thoreau Bicentennial Celebration this fall, as part of the Walden Woods statewide Thoreau Read.  We have many Thoreau readers among the congregation, and we’d love to hear from you about what might be accessible and thought provoking. Please be in touch with Rev. Heather or Rebecca Kelley Morgan.
WUSYG: Winchester Unitarian Society Youth Group

Upcoming Events:

5/21: WUSYG Meeting. 4:30-6:30 pm. 

5/28: WUSYG Meeting. 4:30-6:30 pm.

6/4: WUSYG Meeting. 4:30-6:30 pm.

6/9: Screening of 13th at Sherborn UU. Evening. Exact carpool/times TBA.

6/11: WUS End of Year Celebration: service, potluck, community dance, then WUSYG After Party. All Day (10:30-6:30). This will be the last WUSYG meeting of the year.

Please email the Director of Youth Ministries, Sam Wilson, for further information about WUSYG and Youth Ministry at WUS: sam.wilson@winchesteruu.org or WUSYouth@gmail.com

To subscribe to our newsletter and/or for more detailed information about contacting Sam and following him/WUSYG on social media, please Click Here.
Congregational News
Gratitudes

The Standing Committee would like to thank Dick Spencer for his generous financial match that allowed the congregation to narrow the budget gap for the coming year and Kathryn Touhey, posthumously, for her bequest that will increase the church’s endowment, serving as a perpetual pledge.

Thanks also to all of you who stepped up so generously to narrow our budget gap. The $30,623 of increased pledges and one time donations will be used to eliminate the staff furlough, reinstate $6,000 of programming costs in music, religious education and youth and to fund $8,000 of our contractual sabbatical liability. Expenditures we will still forgo this year are: $1,000 in church maintenance, $1,000 to send congregants to the UUA General Assembly, $350 in OWL teacher training, and all but $2,000 of the cost of the youth director to chaperone the service trip. Bringing our Social Outreach grants and Share the Plate down to a total of 5%, rather than 7%, of Total Revenues also saves us $11,000. We do not take your gifts lightly, we understand they accompany our promise to continue our efforts to recruit and engage new members and to study our staffing structure relative to a congregation of our size.
Annual Reports Available

The annual report is available on the Winchester Unitarian Society website https://www.winchesteruu.org/ in preparation for our annual meeting on Sunday, May 21st, which will be held after church and a light lunch. Copies of the annual report will also be available to pick up in the office beginning Thursday.  We look forward to this opportunity to come together as a congregation to look both back over the past year and ahead to what is yet to come.
A CELEBRATION FOR DEB MORGAN BENNETT THIS SUNDAY, MAY 21st

Sunday, May 21st, will be Deb’s final Sundayleading worship at WUS while serving her year of ministerial internship with us. After the service and before the Annual Meeting, join us in Symmes for lunch and cake as we recognize Deb and give thanks for her service and for the many talents and qualities she brought to WUS.

There will be a basket in Symmes if you would like to write a card or note to Deb, who will be away from May 22 through June. Deb will return on Sundays and one day in the week in July and August as our Summer Minister before resuming her final year of studies at Starr King Theological Seminary.

Your Internship Committee and Standing Committee and Rev. Heather.
The Committee on Shared Ministry (COSM) welcomes your input on the second year of Rev. Heather’s ministry.

As part of its charter to “monitor and nurture the health of the ministry of the Society,” the Committee on Shared Ministry (COSM) is charged in the bylaws of WUS with conducting “an assessment of the work of the Minister…as part of an annual review and renewal of the ministry and leadership of the Society.”  An important component in COSM’s review is congregational input, and both COSM and Rev. Heather welcome your open and honest thoughts in an online questionnaire, available through midnight of May 28th. You can click on the link in the e-mail sent by the office or enter it:  https://tinyurl.com/RevHeather2017

If you have any questions, please contact any of the members of COSM (Lee Barton, Chair; Dave McVey; Fritzie Nace-Forcucci; Phyllis Preston)
May is Mental Health Awareness Month!

Join us for a conversation and support….

WUS (Winchester Unitarian Society) Mental Health Awareness & Support Initiative (MHASI)

WUS Mental Health Awareness & Support Initiative (MHASI)
Creating ways to support one another whether we are living with a mental illness, facing a mental health challenge, or are close to someone who is.

UPCOMING PEER SUPPORT GROUP:

WUS Family & Caregiver Support Group, a drop-in group for family members, caregivers, and loved ones of individuals living with mental illness, facilitated by Jacquie Serebrani-Kesner, of the National Alliance on

Mental Illness and co-facilitated by WUS members,
Rebecca Kelley-Morgan and Maria Shepherd.

Tuesday, May 23rd, 6:45-8:45 pm in Michelsen

All WUS Caregiver support groups are facilitated by NAMI and provide a safe and confidential setting for mutual support and the sharing of resources.
Looking for other local support groups or resources? MHASI recommends contacting the Massachusetts chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), www.namimass.org/NAMI

If you have any questions, or would like to speak with someone about groups or our initiative, please contact:
Maria Shepherd mandmshepherd@comcast.net or
Maury Wood mowood60@gmail.com

The Winchester Unitarian Society is located at 478 Main St, Winchester, MA
on the corner of Main St and Mystic Valley Parkway and is a

large stone church. (park in the lot behind or on the street)
Enter through the circular drive on Main St.
For the Caregiver Group, turn left and go up the small set of stairs.
For the Peer to Peer Group turn right and enter the Parlour via the vestibule.
Questions: Call Maria at 781-258-8823
Social Action and Outreach
Support “More Than Words” Book Sales Every Saturday in May from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
56 Felton Street, Waltham.  It is a 1-2-3 Sale: $1 for children’s & bargain books, $2 for paperback, and $3 for hardcover!
You can help Haitians whose Temporary Protected Status may be revoked. 50,000 Haitian TPS holders in the US will lose their status, be unable to work and will face deportation.
A decision could happen as early as May 18.
Call Governor Baker 617.725.4005
My name is ____ ___ and I’m calling from ___city/town______. I am also a person of faith, belonging to the  ____(Faith community). I’m calling to ask you to contact the secretary of Homeland Security, General John Kelly and Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson and advocate for an 18 month extension of the Haitian TPS.
We promised to Welcome Haitians. Allowing Haitian TPS holders to remain safely in the U.S. until Haiti is sufficiently stable, honors our closely-held moral, religious, and American values to stand for the human rights and dignity of all people.
Accompany a Person to their ICE Check-in
Our partners in the Haitian Community have asked for allies to accompany them to their ICE check in appointments. UU Mass Action, in partnership with our inter-faith allies, will be offering training and contacting you with opportunities to accompany a person on their ICE check-in appointment. If interested email: lwagner@uumassaction.org
Upstander Workshop, With True Story Theater Tues May 23, 6-8:30 PM
Parish Hall, First Unitarian Society in Newton, 1326 Washington Street, Newton Learn how to support people targeted by bigotry. Workshop includes dramatically exploring the challenges of intervening, short presentations and handouts, and role plays. Free. RSVP requested, but not required:  https://www.facebook.com/events/767326933416068/

Summer Services’ Opening

A service leader is needed for this summer’s lay-led services on either July 16 or July 30. If you would like to do this and have a topic that relates to UU values and principles, please call or email June Edwards, Coordinator. Her email isedwardjc@oneonta.edu and phone is 781-5809. Your Reflection should be 15 to 20 minutes long. You will have help putting together the rest of the service.

“Building and Enjoying Community” – 

Your Stories Needed!

June 4th is our last Vision Statement Sunday, exploring the Vision of “Building and Enjoying Community: All newcomers and members feel welcome, comfortable, and appreciated for who they are. A wide variety of programs and activities help us deepen our involvement in the community, discover our shared passions and concerns, learn from our differences, and connect across generations and all traditional barriers.” Please send your thoughts and experiences about how WUS lives into this vision to Rev. Heather atheather.janules@winchesteruu.org by May 26th.
Meditation News

Meets almost every Wednesday from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. in the Meyer Chapel. Sitting from 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. Walking from 7:00 to 7:15 p.m. Discussion 7:15 to 7:30 p.m. Contact Ron Denhardt (rondenhardt@gmail.com) for info.
From the Office

Office Hours for today and tomorrow:

5/18 – Thursday: 8:00 – 2:00 p.m.

5/19 – Friday: 8:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Monday Night Candlelight Yoga

6:30 – 8:00 pm in the Meyer Chapel

April 3 – June 19 

Find ease and flow in your body in our Spring Session of gentle Kripalu-style yoga with teacher Jamie Sokolowski. Jamie gently guides us through a flow of deep breathing (pranayama) and body awareness, yoga postures (asanas) leading to a final shivasana, a deeply restful integration of the practice.  Postures gently stretch and strengthen, enhance balance and counter patterns of daily tension. Connecting breath and movement deepens self-awareness and enlivens our sense of being! If you have never done yoga before, or only just a bit, Jamie gives clear guidance through a slow flow of postures, offering support as we go. If you have more experience, you are invited to take the postures to your own depth of challenge. Ten-class ($150), 5-class ($75) and drop-in ($15) options available. Questions? Email fritzie.nace@gmail.com.

Joys, Sorrows and Transitions

If you are facing a time of joy, sorrow or transition in your life, our ministers and the Pastoral Care Associates are available to offer a listening ear, compassionate presence and, if applicable, resources.

A poignant time of transitions: Our condolences and our gratitude is with Deborah Morgan Bennett with the unexpected death of her brother, Jim. She also concludes her Intern Ministry at WUS this week.

Belated congratulations go to Minister Emeritus, the Rev. Chuck Reinhardt, who married his companion Eunice a day before his 90th birthday. You may read his letter here: [Letter from Chuck Reinhardt]

You may reach the Rev. Heather Janules or Intern Minister Deborah Morgan Bennett through the office at 781.729.0949. They can also connect you with a Pastoral Care Associate or the Caring Network (providing short-term, practical support like rides and meals.) To learn more about the PCAs, pick up a brochure when you are in the church.
Woburn Food Pantry

For the month of May, the Woburn Food Pantry needs cereal, hot or cold. Every month the director of the pantry lets us know which items are in low supply so that our contributions can have the most impact. Please place your donations in the bin under the new-and-improved Social Action area in the Symmes Room. For additional information contact Mary Saudade at msaudade@comcast.net.