Announcements 7/3/19

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UU Church in Florida makes national news! 
Hosts Storybook Prom for LGBTQIA+ teens after backlash
Conservative bloggers created a stir that made the local library cancel a prom for LGBTQIA+ youth. So, the local UU church stepped up and folks noticed. And, the kids had a great time. Outreaching with our values not only had real impact for kids and families, it also lifted our UU values as moral beacon for all to see. Respecting the worth and dignity of others IS a real alternative. I would argue it is even ground zero from which others deviate. Hooray to the Buckman Ridge UUs for being LOUD and PROUD for teens and for our values.

Read the Washington Post article here.

Your chance to sing! 
Summer Choir 
Everyone who would like to sing may show up at 9am, learn a song and a closing, and then sing it at the 10am service, directly afterward. It is great fun, and it is a chance for people who may not be choir members to sing on a Sunday morning.

July 7: Michaela Jones will direct
July 21: Michaela Jones will direct
August 11: Brandon Moss will direct

THIS WEEK

For additional activities and events, please see First UU News (posted on Fridays).

For information about family and child-focused events and classes, see the RE News (emailed to families and in the Sunday Order of Service).

Friday, July 5th, 6:30–8pm, Whetstone Park (by lower playground)
First Friday in the Park – Join us!

Sunday, July 7th, 10am, Sanctuary
“Loving Conflict” with Emma Merchant and Summer Choir
Join us in worship and prayer to encourage loving, kind, and effective conflict rather than shy away from it. Change is at the heart of all conflict, and we cannot enact a transformative ministry if we ourselves are unwilling to be transformed. When we engage each other tenderly, there is nothing to fear and no fight in conflict.
Looking Ahead…

Friday, July 20th, 7pm, Sanctuary
Concert: Peter Mayer 
Minnesota singer-songwriter, Peter Mayer, composer of “Blue Boat Home” (a UU hymn), “Holy Now,” and other inspiring songs, will present a concert in the Sanctuary. Admission: $10 donation at door. Hosted by In Spirit Ministries. For more information about Peter Mayer’s music, please visit: www.petermayer.net/

Friday, August 2nd, 6:30–8pm, Whetstone Park (by lower playground)
First Friday in the Park

Labor Day Weekend, Saturday, August 31st– Monday, September 2nd
Labor Day Campout at Camp Oty’Okwa in the stunning Hocking Hills
Great for everyone – families, singles, couples! Hikes, workshops, nature, group worship, music! Meals included.
firstuucolumbus.org/labor-day-retreat/
Beth McCreary, beth3ms@gmail.com.

Resume two services (note time change)
Sunday, September 8th, 9:00 and 11:00am, Sanctuary
Water Communion and Ingathering
Please bring water – a little bit will do. Be prepared to say what water represents in your life as we pour our waters into a common bowl. The water can be from your travels or from the kitchen tap.

SANCTUARY and JUSTICE UPDATES

Columbus Immigrant Transit Assistance (Cbus ITA)
Volunteers organizing to greet immigrant families traveling through Columbus via Greyhound bus. We have heard that people are being put onto buses without their cell phones, their shoe laces taken away, and without food or money or clothing. These are families, often with small children. There is a great need and Columbus volunteers are helping.

If you are interested in connecting with this group, visit and ask to join the Cbus ITA Facebook page. You may say you heard about it through First UU.

Cbus ITA is inviting everyone to support and donate supplies for the immigrants passing through Columbus.

  • Supply donations: use boxes in the cloakroom. If you bring supplies, please sign the sheet on the clipboard, so we can thank you for your donation.
  • Cash donations: UU Justice Ohio’s fund for Cbus ITA supplies, click here.
  • Volunteer Greeters: sign up to go to the bus depot to greet families at Cbus ITA Depot Volunteers Facebook page.
  • Bagging Party: you can sign up on the Cbus ITA Facebook pageto help bag donated supplies.
  • More information: Cbus ITA Facebook page. Contains up-to-date information about what’s happening. More information, contactSue Carter.

2nd and 4th Wednesdays
ICE Solidarity with Immigrants Table
It’s Summertime and our table in front of the ICE office downtown is back for its second year. We are hosting the table on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, and help is needed. We need volunteers to staff the table, as well as volunteers to bake cookies or make trail mix. To sign up to help out, follow this link.
THIS MOMENT IN UU HISTORY
Sponsored by the First UU Archives Group
July 3, 1819
The first issue of The Universalist Magazinewas published. Hosea Ballou was the editor and Henry Bowen, a member of Ballou’s church, was the publisher. The editorial policy on the front page said that this weekly periodical would deal with “momentous subjects of Doctrine, Religion, and morality”. The magazine was published from 1819 to 1961 under a variety of names, including the Christian Leader, and finally as The Universalist Leader. When the Unitarians and Universalists consolidated, it became the Unitarian Register and Universalist Leaderand then the Unitarian-Universalist Leader. Its current incarnation is UU World, a bi-monthly magazine published by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA).