March 17
“What Makes a Family?”  A multigenerational service.  Families come in many shapes and sizes, and evolve through stages of life.  Members of some Fellowship families of differing ages and configurations will help us explore the question “What makes a family?”   Rev. Connie Grant leading.

Click here for upcoming Sunday Worship Services.

Sunday, April 7 at 12:00pm in UL302
“Race” is a difficult topic, often avoided for fear of saying something wrong—something stupid—or of offending someone.  It’s increasingly important to face the reality of where we are as a society, and to do something concrete about it.  And maybe that starts with focused conversation that leads to action.

Copies of the book “How to Be Less Stupid About Race” by Crystal Fleming will be available for $16.00 at the Fellowship beginning this Sunday.

We’re all part of one race, the human one.  Let’s keep talking.

RSVP to [email protected] by March 31.  A light lunch will be provided.

   Donate to the Serendipity Auction,

                    will you? Hrmm.

              Follow this link then you must:

             UUFOM 2019 Auction Donation Form


                                Log in today. Yrssss.

                     3/31/19 the submission deadline is.


              Do or do not. (But please DO.) There is no try.


      Available after the 3/24/19 service to offer instructions to the

                        digitally-challenged Vicki will be.

                            
               
                                      Click here for Serendipity Auction Donation Ideas

Have you read the article in last week’s UU World magazine titled “After L, G, and B,” in print or online?  

Have you also read the follow-up article, titled “Our Story Hurt People”? (https://www.uuworld.org/articles/apology-spring-2019)

Unless you’ve read the follow-up, you’ve only read part of the story.  The original article has prompted strong negative reactions to the ideas presented and the language used as well as to the overall approach of the author.  

The original article appears to be “informative,” but it contains a great deal of misinformation.  As UU religious professional CB Beal wrote in her response (see below), “This article contains inaccurate definitions, errors of language, even slurs.”  And, as the Transforming Hearts Collective noted (see below), “the article’s author modeled asking trans people harmful and violent questions.”

These are some of the responses that I found to be most informative about the issues and concerns involved:

“Centering the Marginalized: symphony and triptych” by CB Beal (https://medium.com/@jpc_cb/centering-the-marginalized-symphony-and-triptych-9dabc93cd461)

“What It Takes to De-Center Privilege: The Failure of this Week’s UU World Article” by Alex Kapitan (https://rootsgrowthetree.com/2019/03/06/what-it-takes-to-de-center-privilege/)

“Tips for Talking About the UU World Article,” by the Transforming Hearts Collective (https://www.transformingheartscollective.org/stories/2019/3/8/tips-for-talking-about-the-uu-world-article)

“Putting the “T” First: Public Statement on This Week’s UU World Article,” by TRUUsT (Transgender Religious professional Unitarian Universalists Together) (https://transuu.org/2019/03/06/putting-the-t-first/)

Let’s never let “what we think we know” get in the way of what we can learn.

In faith and hope,

Connie

The Midland County Emergency Food Pantry Network is a cooperative effort of area churches and other organizations to provide food and supplies to people in Midland County who have emergency needs and are living near or below the Federal poverty level income guidelines. 

At UUFoM, we collect donations on an ongoing basis.  Bring your donations with you when you come to the Fellowship and place them in one of the bins in the UUFoM Donation Center outside the sanctuary, and we will transport them to the Food Pantry. Non-perishable foods, self-care items, paper products and cleaning supplies are accepted.  The Food Pantry is unable to accept any types of medication, including vitamins and over the counter medications. 

UUFoM donated 74 items to the food pantry this week.  

The Midland County Emergency Food Pantry Network is a cooperative effort of area churches and other organizations to provide food and supplies to people in Midland County who have emergency needs and are living near or below the Federal poverty level income guidelines. 

At UUFoM, we collect donations on an ongoing basis.  Bring your donations with you when you come to the Fellowship and place them in one of the bins in the UUFoM Donation Center outside the sanctuary, and we will transport them to the Food Pantry. Non-perishable foods, self-care items, paper products and cleaning supplies are accepted.  The Food Pantry is unable to accept any types of medication, including vitamins and over the counter medications. 

UUFoM donated 74 items to the food pantry this week.  

UUFoM can receive $1.00 each for recyclable empty ink cartridges. Not all cartridge types are eligible, but please bring to the Fellowship any empty cartridges you have and they will be turned in, with a credit then being issued to the UUFoM for eligible cartridges. Ineligible cartridges will be properly disposed of. This is an on-going collection effort that in the past was facilitated by RG Converse. Please bring in empty cartridges and deposit them in the labeled collection bin in the UUFoM Donation Center outside the sanctuary. If you are allowed to collect empty ink cartridges from your workplace this can greatly increase our return.

To register or find out more information, please click here!

Registration for Chalice Sparx Family Camp & Retreat Now Open
 
Registration for Chalice Sparx Family Camp & Retreat is now open. Join us July 11-14 in Sturgis, Michigan for an amazing all ages experience at lovely Amigo Centre in Sturgis, Michigan.

At Chalice Sparx camp and retreat for families you will experience a truly multigenerational community. There are no camp counselors here to whisk away the children separate from their families. Here we learn together, worship together and explore together in a community of all ages – including elders who complete our multigenerational village.

We also have fun together. Swimming, hiking the trails and the labyrinth, canoeing, archery, popcorn popped in a kettle over an open fire, and of course, S’mores and singing camp songs.

Check out the website of our non-profit organization run by Unitarian Universalist religious educators, ministers and lay persons from all over the Midwest: www.chalicesparx.org. Like us on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/chalicesparx/ and join us July 11-14.
 

Please join the Tri Cities Welcome Refugee Group in welcoming Michelle Haskell to the
Creative 360 Center at 1517 Bayliss Street, Midland on March 24 from 2:00 - 4:00 pm to share with us the need for assisting children in need of refuge. Michelle serves at Samaritas as Outreach
Team Lead for Refugee Youth Services. She oversees community outreach, foster family
recruitment, and mentor/tutor programming for the refugee youth services program.

Rieek, a SVSU student and refugee from South Sudan, who just recently received legal asylum in the United States, will also speak and share, as he is able, his story of making his way to the United
States as a young person after fleeing war and a stay at a refugee camp in Kenya.