OUUC Weekly Update

Our regular Thursday Community Dinner will be in honor of National Spaghetti Day this week! All are welcome for food and fellowship; a donation is accepted to help pay for the food. If you would like to volunteer to help with dinner prep, set up, or clean up, email Rev Sara.

Following the Community Dinner at 5:30 pm, children and all ages are invited to have fun and competition with paper airplanes.

Join us for support and community each month on the 1st Thursday of the month. We focus on a different parenting topic each month. January's topic: talking about tough topics on the news with your kids.

We meet in person and on Zoom. If you would like to join us on Zoom:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85470798310

Questions, email Rev Sara.

This Sunday we will have a forum on “What does Love Mean?” at 11:30 am, following worship. This question refers to the fact that Love is named but not defined in the new proposed Article II of the UUA bylaws.

What is all of this “Article II” business? Learn more on the UUA website: Article II Study Commission | UUA.org

And catch up with the resources we’ve collected here: Article II (padlet.org)

Are you interested in serving on the OUUC Board of Trustees or the Leadership Development Committee (LDC)? Or can you suggest a member of the congregation who should be considered for these positions?
The Board of Trustees is responsible to the will of the OUUC membership in setting church policies and overseeing the business, property, and other affairs of the congregation. Members with finance, accounting, data management, or community outreach experience would be especially helpful, though these skills are not essential.
One of the LDC’s main duties is identifying members with the desirable skills and experience for both the Board and the LDC. A vote to confirm the proposed slate of candidates will then take place at the OUUC annual meeting in May-June.
We welcome your aid! Please contact a current LDC member with candidate suggestions: Alice Curtis, Jason Martinelli, Gail Wrede, Anne Kohlbry, and Gary Worthington.

OUUC has amazingly skilled and talented members. In past years, we have collected information from our members regarding their skills and interests in order to provide opportunities that meet their needs and interests. We have not updated this list since 2021, so we are asking you to update your profile in Realm, or if you are a newer member, to create a profile for yourself. We are focusing on collecting this information in January. To update or create a new profile, log in to your Realm account. Onrealm.org/OUUC Choose the Serving tab, then click Select Skills & Interests. Or stop by the church office to fill out a paper form.

All who are new to UU or to OUUC are welcome at these classes (one or all of the series). For those interested in becoming members of OUUC this class is required.

Upcoming classes:

January 6: Small Group Connections

January 20: membership and congregational life

February 3: Q&A with minister

This will conclude this series and those who have been attending will be welcomed into membership if they choose to join. The series will then restart in a hybrid Zoom/in person format still on Saturdays.

For questions or more information contact Rev Sara.

Fluent in Faith, Led by Rev Sara Lewis. 3 sessions, Wednesdays, 6:30-8:00 pm, January 10, 17, and 24.

Do you love words like Worship, god, and grace, or do you struggle with them? Do you just find the words confusing? Join this class to explore these and more words, to find and make meaning together as we dive into the language of faith.

Class will be on Zoom (good for those dark and cold evenings of January!)

Register here.

The words we use have power in our lives. If we say things – especially out loud, but even just in our minds, our life will tend to work to make them manifest. The idea behind this class is that we can choose things we say with the intention of creating outcomes we actually intend to make manifest. Woody Moore has a Masters degree in psychology and has devoted considerable time (at least 25 years), energy and focus in using a practice made up of spoken words to achieve more consistency with how he lives his life. Class is offered in two sections with same content: Section One via Zoom: Four Mondays 6:30 – 8:30 pm—January 8, 15, 22 and 29 as needed. Register for Zoom section

Section Two In person at church: Four Tuesdays 1:30-3:00 pm —January 9, 16, 23 and 30 as needed. Register for In Person Section

January 14 after the Sunday service. A resolution brought forward at the last UUA General Assembly asked that the UUA Common Fund totally divest of fossil fuels. Although the resolution was not successful, many congregations currently in the Common Fund, including OUUC, are interested in pursuing fossil fuel divestment and pursuing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investments instead. ESG emphasize a portfolio's measures of sustainability, social justice, LGBTQ+ rights, solving food insecurity, and human rights. Not all ESG-labeled funds live up to their claims. How do you know? Do ESG funds perform as well as non-ESG funds? Longwave Financial will describe their experience as a financial advisory firm with experience in personal advising as well as helping faith-based organizations answer these questions and maintain endowments to insure their long-term financial health and pursue their financial and values-based goals.

Please join us in the Sanctuary or on Zoom and YouTube.