Tri Pride was our 5th Sunday special offering, June 29.
If you were not able to donate at the service, please donate directly to Tri Pride at https://www.tripridetn.org/donate/
Tri-Pride Donations
July 2025 Newsletter
Headlines
· Minister’s Note
Ukulele Group
Potluck
Treasury Report
Circle Suppers
Adult Sex-ed Survey
Click here to read the entire newsletter.
Click here for past newsletters.
You can also find a few printed copies at our visitors table in the sanctuary.
Up to date church info is always available at www.hvuuc.org
Women's Night, Circle Suppers, and the Secret Life of Queer Folks Workshop
HVUUC Adult Sexual Education Interest Survey
HVUUC is working on plans to offer an Adult Sexual Education Workshop. Please fill out the survey to help determine community interest and what type of workshop and format would be best to offer.
Survey: https://forms.gle/wpiq71g2C77Di1MA7
If you have questions please reach out to our DRE, Justin Ridley, at dre@hvuuc.org
Question Box Service
Join us for church on June 29, 2025!
9:30am Religious Education
11:00am Sunday Service
12:00pm Coffee Hour
“Question Box Service”
Unitarian Universalists love asking the big questions! At the Question Box service, you get to submit your questions to Rev. Tiffany ahead of time, and at the service she will answer as many questions as she can during the allotted time.
Board of Trustees Meeting
Friday at 7 PM on ZOOM.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4857776660
All invited to participate and meet your newly elected volunteer HVUUC Board Members
First Circle Supper in September
We have enough people interested in Circle Suppers to begin making plans! Circle Suppers are simply potlucks held at the home of the host (or at the church if needed). Circle Suppers are a UU tradition that has fostered many friendships over the years.
Our first Circle Supper will be in September. If you have signed up as being interested in participating, expect more detailed information in August. If you have not signed up, you may still do so. Simply email Peggy at circlesuppers@hvuuc.org.
Question Box Service vs Soapbox Sunday
There are two fun services coming up that need your input!
Sunday June 29th - Question Box Service
Unitarian Universalists love asking the big questions! At the Question Box service, you get to submit your questions to Rev. Tiffany ahead of time, and at the service she will answer as many questions as she can during the allotted time. Serious or silly, simple or complex, submit your questions to minister@hvuuc.org.
Rev. Tiffany needs your questions ASAP so get those to her as soon as possible!
Sunday July 6 - Soapbox Service
Our annual Soapbox Sunday is coming up on July 6th. We need speakers to give a 3-5 minute talk about a topic important to your heart. You are "getting up on your soapbox" to tell it like it is. Our youth are invited to participate, as well!
Soapbox Sunday is a long-standing annual tradition where we - friends and members of HVUUC - exercise our freedom of speech. This right is not to be taken for granted.
If you have questions or want to run a topic by me, or explore a creative method of delivering your Soapbox talk, please contact Rosemary at soapboxsunday@hvuuc.org
July Newsletter Deadline
Question Box Service, Soapbox Sunday, and The Secret Life of Queer Folks Workshop
What do you get when you combine different spiritualities?
Join us for church on June 22, 2025!
9:30am Religious Education
11:00am Sunday Service
12:00pm Coffee Hour
“What do you get when you combine different spiritualities?”
As Gary Mongillo has traveled down several spiritual paths, he has come to a realization that the foundation of these spiritual paths is really the same: the quote from Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong, “To live fully, love wastefully and be all we were created to be."
Rainbow Festival (Volunteers Needed)
The HVUUC Social Justice Committee is seeking volunteers for the 4th annual Rainbow Festival in Johnson City to celebrate Pride!
The Pride Community Center will host its 4th Annual Rainbow Festival this year to celebrate Pride Month at Founders Park in Johnson City, TN.
The Social Justice Committee at HVUU will have a table and crafts available for the community. Volunteers will be needed for 2-hour shifts throughout the event to manage the table and engage with the community.
Please use this form to sign up for shifts: https://forms.gle/QN5SVP9gumAn47Vq7
Email lgbtqia@hvuuc.org with any questions.
Question Box Service - Submit Questions Now!
Unitarian Universalists love asking the big questions!
At the Question Box service on June 29th, you get to submit your questions to Rev. Tiffany ahead of time, and at the service she will answer as many questions as she can during the allotted time.
Serious or silly, simple or complex, submit your questions to minister@hvuuc.org
Ukulele Jam, Youth Group, and June Nuusletter (Copy)
Who do you think you are?
Join us for church on June 15, 2025!
9:30am Religious Education
11:00am Sunday Service
12:00pm Coffee Hour
4:00pm Youth Group
“Who do you think you are?”
Marina Munjal, co-founder of Appalachian Dharma & Meditation Center in Johnson City and long-time HVUUC member invites us to consider the possibility that who we think we are is merely a product of our history and environment, and not a fixed unchangeable self to protect, defend, and hold onto tightly. What is behind the carefully crafted mask we wear to meet the expectations of those around us? Can we find the space to let go of the tight grip and relax into the liberating flow of life?
Hospitality Room now open on Sunday mornings!
The Music Committee and the Facilities Team have worked together to transform the music room into a dual purpose hospitality room for people who need it. The glass window plus a speaker inside the room makes it possible for folks with a higher needs kid, or adults with sensory overwhelm, or anyone who might find it useful, to tend to their needs with a little more privacy, should they wish it.
In our desire to be hospitable and inclusive, Holston Valley Unitarian Universalist Church has a variety of tools to support families:
The nursery is available with two childcare professionals during services for ages 6 and under.
Our new fidget station has a variety of quiet fidgets for people of all ages who need something to do with their hands while they are in the service.
And we have this hospitality room!
Circle Suppers
Interested in participating in a Circle Supper? If so, please send your name to circlesuppers@hvuuc.org. Interested participants will meet, probably via Zoom, to discuss details and procedures. Details and procedures will naturally depend on the number of interested participants.
Suppers, if we get enough interest, will start in September. You are expressing your interest, not your commitment!
What's a Circle Supper?
It is a group of 4, 5, or 6 people who select a date within a month to meet for dinner. The entire group, not just the group that eats together, will decide if each person brings something or if the host supplies the food. You may be able to use the church occasionally if hosting is a problem. The next month the people eating together will be changed (Couples will stay together unless they choose to separate), so that by the end of the cycle, you have met many new friends. A cycle may include three, four, or five months, depending on how many participants there are. At the beginning of the cycle, you will receive an email listing who meets with whom and when.
If interested email circlesuppers@hvuuc.org.
Ukulele Jam, Youth Group, and June Nuusletter
Barbara Gittings: From Learning Alone to Teaching the World
Join us for church on June 8, 2025!
9:30am Religious Education
11:00am Sunday Service
12:00pm Potluck
12:15pm Music Committee
“Barbara Gittings: From Learning Alone to Teaching the World”
After a lifetime of activism, Barbara Gittings' last action for the LGBTQ+ movement was to come out in her nursing home newsletter: "As a teenager, I had to struggle alone to learn about myself and what it meant to be gay. Now for 48 years I've had the satisfaction of working with other gay people all across the country to get the bigots off our backs, to oil the closet door hinges, to change prejudiced hearts and minds, and to show that gay love is good for us and for the rest of the world too. It's hard work — but it's vital, and it's gratifying, and it's often fun!" This Sunday Rev. Tiffany kicks off Pride month with an exploration of this incredible woman's life, and we commission our newly elected Board into their year of service.
Free CDs from our UU Musical Artists
As part of the Music Room/Hospitality Room clean up, we discovered a few dozen old CDs of music created by members and friends of HVUUC.
We don't know how old the CDs are and don't recognize a few of the names on the CDs, but this music is worth celebrating! (rather than just collecting dust and taking up space)
They are on a table in the Fred Ball Room, please take one next time you're at church!