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Join us for church on April 28, 2024!
9:30am Religious Education
11:00am Sunday Service
12:00pm Congregational Meeting
“May Day Yesterday and Today”
May 1 is International Labor Day. And yet, we never hear about this holiday here in the United States. We have a separate Labor Day in September. Did you ever wonder why? Come explore the Labor movement with us today in story and in song.
And stay after church for our Annual Meeting!
Our April 28, 2024 Annual Congregational Meeting will be held in person only.
Listed below is our final slate of Board Candidates that will be voted on at our April 28 2024 Annual Meeting.
Immediate Past President – Dottie Blades
President – Tish Kashdan
VP – Noel Marshall
Treasurer – Sarah Sanders
Secretary – Alisha Culbertson
Facilities – Steven Roberts
Stewardship – Greg Kramer
Programs – Bradley Quick
Membership – Lori Krause
Fellowship – Peggy Wolfe
Nominating Committee – 2024 – 2025/2026
Michele Markstrom-Frish (2025)
Dana York Ensor (2025)
Jen Corbin (2026)
Ellen Barker (2026)
Emily Hand (2026)
Remember how much we all loved monthly Sunday Potlucks after church? It's time to get them going again! But we need a coordinator to make sure the notice gets published (so people know to bring in food that Sunday), and to line up folks to set up and clean up.
Call Kim Ray or email potlucks@HVUUC.org if you're interested.
Please email all submissions for the May newsletter by Monday, April 29th to newsletter@hvuuc.org.
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.
Join us for church on April 21, 2024!
9:30am Religious Education
11:00am Sunday Service
12:00pm Coffee Hour
“Is Tolerance Passé?”
Stephen Gallagher, a philosopher living in North Carolina, believes that tolerance is passè. He thinks "Tolerance is, by definition, one-sided. The tolerator graciously decides to tolerate the Other. The Other has no say in the matter, nor does the Other have the power to return the favor. Tolerance is thus a more or less naked deployment of power." Is he right? You decide.
SAVE THE DATE!
Our Annual Congregational Meeting will be held on Sunday, April 28th immediately following the church service in the sanctuary. Childcare will be provided. Anyone who has been an official member of HVUUC for at least 60 days as of April 28th is eligible to vote at the meeting. Items on the agenda will include:
A congregational vote on adding a new Trustee position: Membership Trustee. This Trustee position is being added as we are splitting the Fellowship Trustee into two (Fellowship Trustee and Membership Trustee). The Fellowship Trustee position alone has become unwieldy for one person.
Vote on the slate of Nominees for Board of Trustee positions recommended by the Nominating Committee.
Vote on the 2024-2025 Budget. Click here to see the proposed budget.
Any other items as needed.
The complete Agenda, nominations as well as a finalized budget for congregational approval are now presented to you.
We are not sure at this time if the Annual Meeting will be set up for a hybrid Zoom/In-person Annual Meeting so that members who do not want to attend in-person meeting will still be able to be involved. We’ll let you know about that option as soon as possible.
Please contact Dottie Blades if you have any questions at: president@hvuuc.org.
Congregational Meeting Agenda for April 28th
(1) Vote on the new position of Membership Trustee
(2) Change Bylaws to reflect the addition of a Trustee as described below:
Article VII: The Board
1. The Board will consist of ten (10) members, four (4) Officers: President, Vice President Secretary, and Treasurer, five (5) Trustees: Facilities,
Fellowship, Membership, Programs, and Stewardship; and the Immediate Past President. The Minister will be a non-voting member of the Board. The terms
of office for the President, Vice President, and Immediate Past President will be one (1) year. If the Immediate Past President is unable to serve on the
Board, the Nominating Committee will nominate another Past Present to serve. The terms of office for the Secretary, the Treasurer, and each Trustee will be
two (2) years.
(3) Vote on slate of new officers determined by the Nominating Committee:
Vice President : Noel Marshall
Treasurer: Sarah Sanders
Fellowship: Vacant
Facilities: Steven Roberts
Membership: Lori Krause
Officers who will remain on the Board:
President: Tish Kashdan
Immediate Past President: Dottie S. Blades
Secretary: Alicia Culbertson
Programs: Bradley Quick
Stewardship: Greg Kramer
(4) Vote on Budget for 2024/2025
(5) Meeting Adjourns
We are seriously in need of volunteers for coffee hour. This is an easy way to show your love to your church community. Training is available for first-timers, and all needed supplies and snacks are provided.
Sundays we need covered specifically are:
April 21
April 28
May 19
May 26
Please email coffeehour@hvuuc.org to sign up
We have a guest musician coming for our Sunday Service April, 21. Laurel Hells Ramblers. From the Hills of Virginia, this 3 piece string band presents gothic mountain bluegrass. "How blue is my grass? Pretty darn blue, as it turns out – but not totally. The pickin’ is righteous and the tune has a pedigree so steeped in Appalachia that its author is lost to the mists of time, but the singing is far from high and lonesome: raw, raspy, scoured. It works like gangbusters." By Christopher Treacy and Dale Henry Geist of Country Gueer.
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.
Note to UUs and UU friendly folks!
Hi all!
We would love to invite you to join us at SUUSI this summer, July 21-27 in Radford, VA, a fantastic week long adventure with some of the most favorite people you will ever meet.
The Southeast Unitarian Universalist Summer Institute is an intentional community of UUs and kindred spirits, including all ages and races, LGBTQIA+ friendly, singles, families, adventures from outdoor hikes to board game to nightlife to crafts to worship. We come together to explore our interconnectedness, delight in nature in the Blue Ridge Mountains, enjoy music, art, and learn new ways of seeing ourselves, our world and each other.
Visit SUUSI.org, and please sign up here to get our latest information. You may also follow us on Facebook and Instagram!
Join us for church on April 14, 2024!
9:30pm Religious Education
11:00am Sunday Service
12:00pm Youth Group Discussion
“Flower Communion”
A widely celebrated Unitarian Universalist tradition, the flower communion is an interactive service that invites us to contemplate what we bring to our community and what we receive from our community. Please bring a flower. It can come from the store, your garden, or even the roadside. Additional flowers will be provided so please come whether you have a flower or not.
For many years there has been a group of HVUUC-ers who get together on an approximately monthly basis to play bridge. It has been some time since the group has canvassed the congregation to learn if there are newcomers or others who would be interested in playing in such a group. This is a casual bridge group with player skills ranging from experienced to beginners. We play "party" bridge as opposed to the more serious "duplicate" game.
The group affords the opportunity to enjoy casual conversation and get better acquainted with some of your fellow congregants. If you would like to learn more about the HVUUC bridge group, please email bridge@hvuuc.org with your contact preferences so a current member can get in touch.
The HVUUC garden club would like your input on the garden redesign. There are 3 poster sheets on the wall in the social hall. Please write your responses to the 3 questions on those sheets to provide your input. Our, you can email your responses to garden@hvuuc.org. Please provide your response any time before the end of social hour this next Sunday, April 14.
The 3 questions are:
What are the priorities that should be taken when developing a new landscape plan for the church grounds? (i.e.: low maintenance, budget restraints, year round interest, eco-friendly, organic, etc.)
After an overall landscape plan is developed, which area should be prioritized for work and updating? (i.e. front entry garden, RE area, hills around the parking area that have erosion, playground area, around the sides of the church building, parking area, etc.)
If you are willing to provide labor for a scheduled garden work day, please provide your name, email and phone number. If you cant provide labor but will donate money to be used to purchase soil amendments, plants, etc.) please provide your name, email, and phone number.
The HVUUC Nominating Committee has placed the following members up for approval at the Annual Meeting on April 28th. Since we are likely to split the Fellowship Trustee position into a Fellowship Trustee and a Membership Trustee, that name will be sent to you as soon as possible before the meeting.
Board Of Trustees Nominations for June 24 – May 25/26 are as follows:
Vice President – Noel Marshall
Membership/Fellowship – Lori Krause
Treasurer – Sarah Sanders
Facilities – Stephen Roberts
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.
Join us for church on April 7, 2024!
9:30pm Religious Education
11:00am Sunday Service
12:00pm Coffee Hour
“Domestic Violence Awareness”
What is domestic abuse, and how can HVUUC better support survivors by creating a safe space for healing and holding abusers accountable? We will be addressing some hard but very important topics and acknowledge they can be triggering for some people. There will be childcare for children 3rd grade through high school in the RE building up the hill if your family would like to use it.
The Let's Chat Covenant Group is looking for new members! We meet on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the week from 6:30 to 8:30 PM.
Previous Chats were about:
Joy
Shame and Scorn
Your purposes in Life
Experiencing your Vocation
Empowering our True Selves
Contact Greg Kramer at letschat@hvuuc.org
HVUUC will have a booth at the Blue Plum festival again this year on Friday June 7th and Saturday June 8th. If you would like to help plan for these days of fun, music, and community art, please join us for our planning meeting.
Planning Meeting
Sunday April 21st at 12:30 in the REZ
If you would like to volunteer at the booth, please email blueplum@hvuuc.org to sign up.
Tom Burn's Celebration of Life will be at Holston Valley Unitarian Universalist Church on June 1, 2024 at 3:00pm with a reception at 4:00pm.
Because we will not have an "open mic" at this service, we are inviting people to share their memories, stories and photos of Tom to tomburns@hvuuc.org
You can view his obituary here:
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/thomas-burns-obituary?id=54720518
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.
Join us for church on March 31, 2024!
NO RELIGIOUS EDUCATION THIS WEEK.
11:00am Sunday Service
12:00pm Coffee Hour
12:00pm Easter Egg Hunt
“Who is Jesus?”
This Easter we take a look at Jesus through a variety of sources including the mystical poetry of Kahlil Gibran. His book "Jesus the Son of Man: His Words and His Deeds as Told and Recorded by Those Who Knew Him" is an imaginative work that showcases the humanity and mystery of Jesus from the point of view of people who would have known him. Just as the characters of Gibran's book wrestle with the identity of Jesus, so do we.
Headlines
• Minister’s Note
• Blue Plum Festival
• Coffee House Concert
• Flower Communion
• HVUUC Walking Trail
• UUA Ceasefire Statement
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
All these beautiful early spring flowers around the congregation and in our yards mean it must be getting time for Flower Communion! On Sunday April 14th everyone will be invited to bring their own flower to share, in this ceremony that celebrates the beauty of community.
Bring your flower on April 14th!
The HVUUC Nursery is in need of back-up volunteers that could be available to fill in on Sunday mornings from 9:30 - 12:00, and at other events that call for childcare. If you have a passion for caring for the youngest among us please reach out to Justin Ridley our DRE at dre@hvuuc.org
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.
Our Office Manager will have adjusted hours for the first week of April. Instead of Tuesday and Thursday she will be working Tuesday (4/2) and Wednesday (4/3) that week and will not be in the office on Thursday.
Any important information needs to be submitted by Wednesday April 3rd or it will not be addressed until the following week during normal office hours.
Join us for church on March 24, 2024!
9:30am Religious Education
11:00am Sunday Service
12:00pm Coffee Hour
“Interview with an AI”
Questions abound about Artificial Intelligence. Are they beneficial for us or harmful? Are they going to take all our jobs? Are they going to take over the world? Where do they come from and what is their purpose? Rev. Tiffany interviews an AI with these pressing questions and more, and we hear from a friend of the congregation who is studying AI as part of her graduate studies.
With a heavy heart, we share with you the sad news that Tom Burns’ struggle with post-surgery complications came to an end as he passed away during the night between March 7th and March 8th. Martha shares that he fought a valiant battle, and we share with her our astonishment that we would lose Tom over a surgery that had such a small change of complications. Martha and their daughters are supporting each other right now. Martha shares that she doesn’t need anything right now, but that cards, texts and messages are appreciated. A Celebration of Life will be held at the church in June.
Please email all submissions for the April newsletter by Wednesday, March 27th to newsletter@hvuuc.org.
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