Join us for church on June 28, 2026.
9:30am Religious Education
11:00am Service
12:00pm Coffee Hour
Come explore questions about your own and others "Best Advice". What is it? What was its source? Why is it pertinent? How do you share it? This exploration is facilitated by Steven Roberts.
✨ REC — Be Seen, Be Heard, Be Part of the Magic
🌟 All Ages, All In: A Summer of Community Connection
📖 Storytellers: S'mores & Stories
🧘 Healers: Family Yoga with Tish & More
🚒 First Responders with Gray Volunteer Fire Department
✨ Visionaries: Stargazing with Donnie and Mike Frisch
📚 RE Book Sale Fundraiser
🎬 Family Movie Night Fundraiser
🌈 Summer RE Class Updates
🦴 This Sunday: Fossil Exploration 2!
📱 Coming Soon: Simplified RE Sign-In & Sign-Out
Click through for a collection of upcoming news and events at HVUUC. Click the images to be directed to more information.
Join us for church on June 21, 2026.
9:30am Religious Education
11:00am Service
12:00pm Coffee Hour
4:00pm Youth Group
People try so hard to be remembered--to have a legacy--after their death. No other creature on the planet cares about this except humans. Guest speaker Bradley discusses his thoughts on humanity's fight against natural law, why we do it, and is there any point to it.
Join us for church on Sunday June 11, 2023
A Transcendentalist and an Abolitionist, Theodore Parker was a Unitarian minister in the 1800s that inspired a wide gamut of thinkers and writers including Martin Luther King Jr and Abraham Lincoln. Today we learn a little something about this important figure in Unitarian Universalist History
Please be warned that there is an email scam that uses a fake email address impersonating the minister or other staff to request membership information, urgent assistance with an unspecified task, and/or financial assistance - often in the form of gift cards. These messages are not generated by a HACKED email address or account, they use fake or SPOOFED email addresses. That means that there is nothing HVUUC or any individual can directly do to stop this - a password or account change does not help.
If you receive a message that seems like a scam, here is what you can do to ensure that the scam does not spread further:
DO NOT reply to these messages.
REPORT the email as spam and BLOCK the sender.
If you aren't sure and want to check the message's veracity, call the HVUUC office, or start a NEW email using the correct email address (minister@hvuuc.org or office@hvuuc.org), and ask.
NEVER send gift card numbers or financial information via email or otherwise.
Many email programs like gmail and outlook automatically save new email addresses to your account, so you may need to go into your comments and confirm that you have the correct email address, deleting any others you have on file so that future emails don't get lost to the scammers.
Links to more info about this type of scam:
https://www.cmu.edu/iso/news/2020/email-spoofing.html
Here is my solemn promise to you: If I ever need help, or am ever trying to help someone else, it will never be in the form of asking you to buy and send gift cards electronically. If for some reason that I cannot fathom right now I do need such a thing, I will reach out to you in a way other than email.
Special thank you to Caring ❤ Team member Alicia C. for her dedication as May coordinator.
The June coordinator is Joy B. along with newest member Judy T.
The Caring ❤ Team cares about you!
New members always welcome in this very worthy committee serving church members and friends.
If you are interested in joining us or just have questions email
caring@hvuuc.org
Thank you! ❤
The new 2023-2024 Board of Trustees will be meeting on June 10th at 3:00pm at the Church. Our meetings normally take place on Zoom, but this meeting is in person following the BOT Annual Retreat. The date has been changed only for June due to some Board members and congregants participating in General Assembly which is during the week of our usual meeting date. Please contact Dottie Blades at President@hvuuc.org if you have questions about this change, or would like to be present for the monthly Board meeting.
Headlines
Minister’s Note
Summer RE Activities
Social Justice
Scam Alert
General Assembly Feedback
Click here to read the entire newsletter.
Click here for past newsletters.
Up to date church info is always available at www.hvuuc.org
We have some great Summer RE classes lined up for June! Take a look at the list below and come join us when you are able!
June 4 - Nature Play w/Susan Cadwallader
June 11 - Geology w/George Cross
June 18 - Dutch Oven Cooking w/Greg Kramer
June 25 - Sacred Spirals: The Math of Nature, Art, and Balance w/Cindi Huss
Don't miss out on these great opportunities!
For questions and inquiries contact Justin Ridley, DRE.
On Tuesday, June 13th at 7:00pm you can meet with Rev. Tiffany and our General Assembly Delegates to hear about upcoming votes at General Assembly and give your feedback about them. During this zoom meeting we will cover:
The contested Nominations Committee vote
A Business Agenda item about the UUA divesting from fossil fuels investments
During this time we will not discuss the Article 2 Revision Process as we have already spent quite a bit of time doing that this year. If you want to give feedback to your Delegates about Article 2, please use this Google form instead by June 5th.
Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEpdeyqpjstE9ZuwUfsjJoBZvTgdc_45HT4
Please use the google form below to give feedback and indicate your voting preferences to the people who will be representing you at General Assembly this year. Deadline is June 5.
To see the full Article 2 Study Commission Report click here: https://www.uua.org/files/2023-02/article-II-study-report-2021-23.pdf
If you missed the workshops, you can find the Q&A by clicking here for more info.
To HVUUC congregation: The HVUUC Board of Trustees approved the first reading of two new policies at our board meeting on May 17th. In accordance with HVUUC Policy, after the first reading is approved, the new policy must be submitted to the congregation. If anyone would like to comment on the policies, please email secretary@hvuuc.org before the July 19th meeting. At that meeting, the board will consider all comments and a final vote will be taken on the policies (with or without changes). The two new policies are:
Facilities - Cremation Remains
HVUUC will allow disbursement of cremation remains of members and friends on HVUUC grounds with the minister’s approval and oversight. Approved First Reading: May 17th, 2023
Facilities - Flag Policy
Symbols of nationalism, including the American flag, shall not be installed on HVUUC premises (inside or outside) in accordance with the congregation vote at the 2023 Annual Congregational Meeting. Approved First Reading: May 17, 2023
Holston Valley Unitarian Universalist Church members and friends,
When we lose a member from our beloved community through death we honor their name and memory with our Memorial Wall. The Memorial Wall is located outside, to the right of the sanctuary and includes the name, year of our friend’s birth, and year of their death.
In the year 2022/2023 we memorialized three from our beloved community: Michael Jones, David Calvert and Phyllis Holmes.
If you would like the name of someone in our community that has died to be added, you can fill out the form found here.
Member’s names may be added based on their documented request or the request of their family member or community friend.
Former members and non-members names may be added with board approval based on their documented request or the request of their family or community friend.
There is no cost to request a name be added to the memorial wall; however, the cost of adding a name to the wall is about $125.00. If you wish to donate to the Memorial Wall please write ‘Memorial Wall Fund’ in the ‘memo’ line of your next donation in our community offering plate.
Dottie Blades
Vice-President
HVUUC Board of Trustees
Join us for church on Sunday May 21, 2023.
9:30am Religious Education, 11:00am Service
Our special music this Sunday will feature a song by musical activist Holly Near.
Stories told about "God" or "the gods" from ancient times often present a Deity that doesn't live up to more current Humanist ethics. How can Humanist wisdom help us be better people? And can there be any value found in these ancient stories still?
Thank you for allowing me to serve as your Board President this past year. It was an opportunity to really delve into the workings of our church. I had a wonderful, energetic board who always kept the needs of the congregation forefront in their minds. Thanks you to all the board members!
The Congregational Meeting took a lot longer than our regular Congregational Meetings, so that by the time we were able to adjourn, I completely forgot to thank all those who worked hard to make it as seamless as possible.
Many thanks to: Deb Helmer, Tish Kashdan, Dave Kashdan, Charis Carter, Tiffany Sapp, Doug Chafin, Dottie Blades, Charlie Miller, Rosemary Kelske, Michele Markstrom-Fritch, Bryan Kleske, and Cynthia Goodman. A special Thanks to Frank Schuler who served as Parliamentarian and helped me through the finer points of Roberts Rules of Order.
Going forward, I hope to continue my service to the church in other ways.
Sincerely,
Ann Johnson
Summer RE begins this week -- Sunday, May 21 and runs through August 6th.
Please note that RE classes will be combined into one class 1st grade through 12th grade. We will meet in the Fred Ball Room by the sanctuary.
Each week will be a different activity -- so far we have crafts, nature play, surgery, cooking and astronomy activities lined up! It should be a great summer of RE! Please join us when you are able.
