Upcoming News and Events
Click through for a collection of upcoming news and events at HVUUC. Click the images to be directed to more information.
Important Message from your Minister
Dear HVUUC family, unbeknownst to the congregation, I have spent the last half a year doing my best to try to care for an ill family member. It has taken a toll on my well-being. With the support and encouragement of the Committee on Ministry, our Board of Trustees, and our excellent Staff Team, I have decided that I must take a mini-sabbatical in the month of August.
The Religious Services Committee, along with a few wonderful minister colleagues of mine, are working to ensure that we have truly excellent programming in August while I am out. I hope you'll enjoy what they're cooking up for you in August!
Justin Ridley, our Director of Religious Education, has agreed to offer Pastoral Care support in our absence. He comes to us with extensive experience as a hospital chaplain, and is currently studying to be a spiritual director, so he is quite qualified to offer support should you decide you need it. He will be available for Pastoral Care by appointment only so please reach out to him at pastoralcare@hvuuc.org if you have a need. And of course, our Caring Team is always available for support as well, and you can reach them at caring@hvuuc.org
I have a week of vacation schedule for right before this sabbatical begins, so my last day before I'm off is this Sunday, July 20th. I'll be back to it on Friday, August 29th, hopefully with renewed energy!
Just More Joy
Join us for church on July 20, 2025!
9:30am RE
11:00am Sunday Service
12:00pm Coffee Hour
“Just More Joy”
The spiritual practices of joy and pleasure are not optional, but are essential for building resilient communities who are grounded in Love. Come explore with Rev. Tiffany and your community, how we can engage with Joy!
"Invasive Queer Kudzu" Art Installation at Reece Museum
You are invited to join the community install of artist Aaron McIntosh’s participatory artwork: Invasive Queer Kudzu. This event will be taking place on Thursday, July 31 from 2 to 4 pm at the Reece Museum.
Invasive Queer Kudzu will be the final artwork that is installed as part of the Reece Museum’s upcoming exhibition, The Place Speaks. This exhibit is designed to explore intersections of Appalachian culture, folk art, and folk religion, as well as interpretations of nature and Appalachian placeness as it reveals the divine to artists. The Invasive Queer Kudzu project raises visibility of Southern queer folks and their communities by using the metaphor of kudzu to exponentially grow queer stories across the South.
Participants of this workshop are invited to craft their own stories or messages of support that will contribute to the growing mass of Southern queer kudzu. Participants will be provided with a cloth kudzu-shaped leaf, which they can write/draw/adorn with their stories using fabric markers, embroidery floss, and other embellishments, which could include small personal mementoes, symbolic vestiges, or tokens of memory brought from home. “Engulfing hills, trees and old buildings in a dense stranglehold, the kudzu vine colonizes, and alien landscapes emerge. An ‘invasive’ species, kudzu taps into our fears of otherness, connecting it in many ways to perceptions of queerness.” – Aaron McIntosh.
Aaron McIntosh (b. 1984, Kingsport, Tennessee) is a cross-disciplinary artist whose work mines the intersections of material culture, family tradition, sexual desire, and identity politics in a range of works including quilts, sculpture, collage, drawing, and writing. As a fourth-generation quilt maker whose grandparents were noted quilters in their Appalachian communities, this tradition of working with scraps is a primary platform from which he explores the patchworked nature of identity. Since 2015, McIntosh has managed Invasive Queer Kudzu, a community storytelling and archive project across the LGBTQ South.
This event is free & open to the public. Invasive Queer Kudzu will be part of the exhibition The Place Speaks: Sacred and Artistic Genealogies of Appalachia, which opens on Monday, August 4, 2025.
The Reece Museum is a unit of the Center of Excellence for Appalachian Studies and Services, which is housed in the ETSU Department of Appalachian Studies. The Reece Museum is located on the campus of East Tennessee State University and is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Follow the Reece Museum on social media for more content and digital programming. For more information, please visit http://www.etsu.edu/reece or phone (423) 439-4392. ETSU is an AA/EEO employer. For disability accommodations, call the ETSU Office of Disability Services at 423-439-8346.
Natural Tunnel State Park Trip, BoT Meeting, & Roofing Project
Creepies and Crawlies
Snakes and Bugs at Church
We want to make everyone aware that at this Sunday's "Creepies and Crawlies" service, there will NOT be any snakes or bugs* inside the sanctuary. While our topic is exploring how these feared creatures can teach us more about ourselves and acceptance, we are keeping them out of the sanctuary out of respect for people who may have phobias.
During All Ages Religious Education (which will either be on the back porch or in the REZ building depending on weather), two very docile non-venomous pet snakes will be present, but these snakes will NOT be present in the sanctuary.
*when we say there are no bugs inside the sanctuary, we mean no bugs that we put there on purpose. The ones who show up on their own are outside of our control!
Adult Sex-Ed, Ukulele Jam, & Potluck
Roofing Project
There is a capital repairs project that will begin in a couple of weeks. This is to install a new roof for our main facility. There are a couple of phases, the first phase will start in the next couple of weeks.
In the first phase, the old tower on top of church will be removed. Additionally, the existing front door overhang will be removed and replaced. Depending on contractor schedule, there may be need to use an alternate entrance thru the music room sliding door. Signs will be posted if it becomes necessary to use the side entrance.
The second phase is a tear-off and reroof of the entire main building. Repairs to the roof decking and trim will be done at this time. the timing for this is weather dependent and currently set for as early as mid August or as late as end of Sept.
We'll keep updating information on scheduling as contractor updates become available.
Thanks for your patience as we proceed to maintain and improve our facility.
Email facilities@hvuuc.org with any questions.
Tri-Pride Donations
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/
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."