Holiday Greetings!
We are continuing to collect items for the Giving Tree. Our donation bin is in the Fred Ball room at HVUUC. Suggested items are for children, men and women are:
· gloves
· hats
· scarves
· socks
· underwear
· feminine hygiene items
· washcloths
· soap
· lotion
· shampoo and conditioner
We have been given our specific spot for The Giving Tree at Kings Common, in front of the JC library. We are tree number 113, best accessed from W. King St., but Millard St. is good, too. This will be easy access for both decorating and restocking the tree. The Giving Tree will be decorated on Friday, November 29th, 11:00. We will have decorations, presents, and ladders coming. We just need volunteers with giving spirits.
We also need volunteers to restock the tree daily from November 29th to January 7. We will supply you with packages and the timing is up to you. Please email us at givingtree@hvuuc.org with dates that you’d like to volunteer for restocking. Consecutive dates would logistically be easier than scattered dates throughout the season. see you Friday! Thanks for your generosity.
Click through for a collection of upcoming news and events at HVUUC. Click the images to be directed to more information.
Proposal: HVUUC disposes of all plastic kitchen utensils and use the Green Sanctuary Fund to purchase non-plastic kitchen utensils to replace them.
Sources:
The news story reporting the study: Black-colored plastic used for kitchen utensils and toys linked to banned toxic flame retardants | CNN
The news story with Dr. Leonardo Trasande: Black plastic items could contain harmful chemicals, study finds (youtube.com)
Join us for church on November 24, 2024!
NO RE this week
11:00am Sunday Service
12:00pm Coffee Hour
We can only become our truest selves, our most holy and hopeful selves, when we touch the wounds of God not by turning away from suffering but by confronting it. Join us this Sunday as Chaplain Michael Woods shares his thoughts on this important topic.
There’s a lot going on this Holiday season, here’s everything we know of at the moment!
Thanksgiving Potluck, Thursday November 28th at 2:00pm
Email thanksgiving@hvuuc.org. Come early to help with setup!
(office will be closed Thanksgiving Day)
Decorating The Giving Tree, Friday November 29th at 11:00AM
Tree #113 in Kings Commons Park, Johnson City.
Email givingtree@hvuuc.org
Tree Lighting Ceremony, Saturday November 30th at 6:30PM
Meet at The Giving Tree #113 in Kings Commons Park
Cookie Exchange during coffee hour Sunday December 1st
Bring a batch of favorite cookies to the kitchen before church and we’ll all get cookies during coffee hour. Email fellowship@hvuuc.org
A Giving Tree Women’s Night, Friday December 6th at 6:30PM. We will be packaging items for the Giving Tree and enjoying snacks.
Email womensgroup@hvuuc.org for location.
Green Arts Fest, Sunday December 8th at 12:00PM. Come ready to shop and support local craftspeople at this fun annual event.
Email greenarts@hvuuc.org
Greening of the Sanctuary, Saturday Dec 14th 9:30AM-12:30PM
Help us decorate for Festivals of Light. Email rosemary@hvuuc.org
Festivals of Light, Sunday Dec 15th at 11:00AM
Join us for our favorite, pluralistic holiday tradition. This service is a must see!
Christmas Caroling, Sunday December 15th at noon.
After Festivals of Light stay for soup and then we will carpool to sing Christmas Carols for some of our members and friends.
Email minister@hvuuc.org
Christmas Eve, Tuesday December 24th time TBA
We will gather for cookies, carols, and candlelight again on the night before Christmas.
Pancakes and Jam, Sunday December 29th at 11:00AM
Our favorite casual “service” where we leave the sanctuary for the Fred Ball room to eat breakfast and enjoy some open mic music.
Email pancakesandjam@hvuuc.org if you’d like to sing or play.
HVUUC currently has two paid childcare workers for the nursery. We also have a few people who have volunteered to serve as backup if one of the paid workers can't make it. We need more backup volunteers.
Hours will be 915 to 1215 when there is RE. You may be called on very short notice. Please volunteer to take care of our future at HVUUC.
Contact Joshua Beckett at childcare@hvuuc.org if you can help out.
When: 9:30-10:45 a.m., Sunday Oct. 2
Where: Youth room upstairs in the REZ building
Why: Because it is important for adults to know what youth need and want rather than deciding what youth need and want.
Youth in middle and high school are invited to eat donuts and participate in a listening circle this Sunday morning during regular RE. Cindi H. works with a group of organizations in Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee that want sex ed and reproductive and sexual health services to be more accessible to all youth. These organizations are interested in knowing how youth feel about the sex ed they get in schools, what other resources youth have, and what they want. Youth, if you have thoughts (and we know you do!) about this, please join us for donuts and deep listening.
We’ve made some great progress on our playground/deck area, but still have a few chores there plus many other things to do to keep our grounds looking great.
Please join us for this work day and bring any outdoor tools you may have such as weed eaters, rakes, loppers, chainsaw, etc. If you have a truck and are willing to haul mulch, please bring it.
Water and individually wrapped snacks will be available.
Our annual church auction needs to be organized, and we need a team to coordinate the festivities. This year we are planning for an in-person component, so your energy to reboot the process will be critical. Please contact stewardship@hvuuc.org if you are interested in a rewarding service to the congregation.
This class will run on Sunday mornings from 9:30-10:45.
Oct. 23 & 30, Nov. 6, 13, & 20, Dec. 11
Oct 1, 10:30 a.m.-Noon at HVUUC
Guardians, we want to make sure we have your informed consent for your youth to participate in Stellar Sex Ed, so please plan to attend this meeting if you’re thinking about signing them up. We will have consent forms for you to fill out after the meeting. If you cannot attend the meeting, please reach out to Sarah White at DRE@hvuuc.org.
Stellar Sex Ed engages participants in an expansive exploration of their inner and outer space. It fundamentally changes the way we approach sexuality education. Free of judgment, Stellar Sex Ed dismantles stigma and invites honest, compassionate curiosity about bodies, identities, and relationships.
Over the course of six lessons, participants will cover whole people, basic internal and external anatomy, intersex, body image, gender, orientation, power dynamics, healthy relationships, bias and discrimination, pregnancy, STIs, and prevention methods.
HVUUC is offering Stellar Sex Ed, developed by RISE: Healthy for Life, to this age group because it is a contemporary, inclusive, affirming approach to sex ed.
You've probably seen the Save the Date slides and announcements for the upcoming Installation Service, October 2nd at 4:00pm. But what is an Installation? Basically, and Installation is a special service where a congregation formalizes its relationship with a called settled minister. (That's me!)
(Click to read the full message from Reverend Tiffany)
Starting today, the Risk Assessment Team has determined that we can move our Risk Level back to Medium. For full details see here: https://hvuuc.org/level-2-medium
This now means that:
We will still wear masks during Sunday Services because it's such a large group
Speakers & Singers no longer have to have a Rapid Test (though they should still test if they are uncertain of their health)
Everyone should still stay home if they are sick
Masks are now OPTIONAL in classes and small groups, when everyone present is vaccinated
Food and drink is now allowed indoors
With the lowered Covid level, food and coffee are now allowed to be served in the church!
Please feel free to bring a dish to share, buffet style, for this Sunday's Picnic.
Hotdogs, chips, lemonade and ice water will be served.
Contact picnic@hvuuc.org with any questions. Or call/text Cynthia G.
This Sunday is the church picnic! Here at Holston Valley UU church right after church, on September 25th.
Hot dogs and toppings, chips, and water will be provided.
You may bring prepackaged treats to share with everyone if you would like.
And please bring your own box lunch if you want more than hotdogs!
If you want to volunteer or need more information email picnic@hvuuc.org
Did you know we have a book club here at HVUUC? The “BUUK club” as we call it meets each third Tuesday of the month.
New people are always welcome! For more information contact buukclub@hvuuc.org.
September 20, 2022 - Gratitude by Oliver Sacks, Non fiction, Facilitator Cyndi Hatch
October 18, 2022 - Bewilderment by Richard Powers, fiction, Facilitator JoAnne Medlin
November 15, 2022 - Under a White Sky: The Nature of the future by Elizabeth Kolbert, Non fiction, Facilitator Judy Hardin
December 13, 2022 - Sweet Darusya: A Tale of Two villages by Maria MaKos, fiction, Facilitator Barb Sims
January 17, 2023 - Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard, Non-fiction, Facilitator Cyndi Hatch
February 21, 2023 - Hard Laughter by Anne Lamott, Fiction, Facilitator Sue Shuler
March 21, 2023 - Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism, Non-fiction, Facilitator Paggy Perez
April 18, 2023 - Even As We Breathe by Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, Fiction, facilitator Judy Tucker
May 16, 2023 - Beloved by Toni Morrison, Classic, Facilitator Denee Mattioli
Beloveds,
We have a need for RE teachers for this coming Sunday 9/18 and the following Sunday 9/25.
Please e mail Sarah (DRE@hvuuc.org), especially if your children participate in our RE Program, if you can assist in the classrooms!
In deep gratitude,
Sarah
Many of you know about our Memorial Wall at HVUUC. The Memorial Wall is located outside to the right of the sanctuary. When we lose a member of our beloved community, we honor their memory (upon request) by adding their name, year of birth, and death.
We are collecting biographies to compile into a binder to be kept in the HVUUC library so that our congregation has a resource to learn more about the many friends honored on the wall.
If you have a personal connection to anyone on the Memorial Wall please fill out the form below and return or email it to the office at office@hvuuc.org.
If you cannot be with us in person but would like to share in our Water Communion, you have two ways for you to participate.
The easiest option, if you would like us to pour some water for you, we can pour some water from the church for you and say that it came from wherever you would like to say it came from. Please email minister@hvuuc.org by Friday night with a subject line "Virtual Water" and say this:
“This water is given on behalf of (insert your name here) and is from (insert the place we are imagining your water came from). It means to me: (one sentence statement about why this water is important to you)”
Leave a small container of your water on the bench in front of the church no later than Saturday night with a note attached to it that says:
”This water is given on behalf of (insert your name here) and is from (insert the place we are imagining your water came from). It means to me: (one sentence statement about why this water is important to you)”
All water is connected and so are we. We hope that if you can't be with us in person, that you will let us celebrate our connection that continues!
We’ve made some great progress on our playground/deck area, but still have a few chores there plus many other things to do to keep our grounds looking great.
Please join us for this work day and bring any outdoor tools you may have such as weed eaters, rakes, loppers, chainsaw, etc. If you have a truck and are willing to haul mulch, please bring it.
Water and individually wrapped snacks will be available.
A new Small Covenant Group for people not as familiar with the church, called a newbies group is beginning.
It will meet for 3 meetings and is a good way to meet other new people in a quiet, friendly and welcoming setting. The meetings will be on 3 consecutive Mondays evenings (Sept. 19 and 26 and Oct. 3) from 6:30 to 8:30 at the church.
Contact George Cross for more information or to sign up at georgecross@hvuuc.org.
The Water Communion is an annual Unitarian Universalist gathering where we celebrate our interconnectedness with each other and the world. During this gathering we will pour water that we have brought with us into a shared bowl. Many people bring water that is of personal significance to them: water they've gathered during their travels, water from a family home, or even water from the church itself.
Bring your water to the water communion, Sunday September 18th.
You can also find a few printed copies of the newsletter on the visitors table in the sanctuary.
Click here to read the entire newsletter.
Click here for past newsletters.
Up to date church info is always available at www.hvuuc.org
