Pottstown Cluster, September 2019

Their Current Most Needed Items: (As of August 20th) 

One-gallon Food Storage Bags 

Half-gallon Food Storage Bags 

Sandwich Bags 

Plastic Bags 

One-inch brown Masking Tape 

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Knitting Knights

Anyone interested in joining the UUFP Knitting Circle is very welcome to join us! If you would like to learn about loom knitting or participate in needlework projects to donate to neonatal units or cancer patients feel free to drop by the fellowship between 7 and 8:30 every Wednesday evening. You will be able to contribute to those in need and also enjoy the company of others while creating gifts of love. 

-Lita 

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Upcoming Dates September -October

Sep. 11th Committee Council 7:30pm 

Sep. 15th Third Sunday Pot Luck after service 

Sep. 22nd Board Meeting 12 noon 

Oct 12th UUPLAN Advocacy Day

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Wanted: Membership Chair

Kay P. wears many hats in this Fellowship and has served many years as Membership Chair. She has chosen to step down from this role because she is spread too thin and needs to have more time and energy for her other priorities. So UUFP needs a new membership committee chair! If you have any interest in doing this or want to know more about it, please see Kay or any board member. 

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Sunday Service, September 1, 2019

Journey To the Center of Your Heart…Discover the Power of Unconditional
Love Within Guest Speaker: Diane Trieb      Lay Leader: Lisa Jokiel

Diane is a writer and a teacher of Heart-Centered Empowerment. She invites you to take the Emotional Journey to the Center of Your Heart…   Where your Inner Being of Unconditional Love resides… And assists you… in learning how to Love Yourself Back to Life.
Diane has been a counselor, writer, teacher and group facilitator for over 40 years. She believes in the healing power of Heart, and she teaches others how to harness the physical, emotional and spiritual power of the Heart for healing our human suffering.

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Sunday Service, September 8, 2019

Gathering of the Waters: Becoming Ourselves  Speaker: Reverend Kerry Mueller 

Please bring a small amount of water from your summer journey — whatever events or places helped you become most yourself. If you didn’t collect it at the time, don’t worry. We’ll have a pitcher of water!). AND our children, with the help of Cyndi and Ruby, will present a special Time For All Ages! 

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Sunday Service, September 15, 2019

Religious Environmentalism Guest Speaker: Victor Forte, Ph.D- Professor of Religious Studies; Co-Director of Asian Studies, Albright College   Lay Leader: Allan Pallay

The last 20 years have spawned a wave of new studies examining how religious traditions could raise ecological consciousness and inspire environmental activism. The main challenge facing these movements is that all the major world religions were formed in the ancient and medieval worlds when there was little ecological awareness. This work therefore requires new ways of interpreting sacred texts, so that the faithful might find cause to care for the environment as a religious duty. At this service, we will briefly survey the world religions and consider what these traditions might offer environmentalism, focusing on both the possibilities and challenges each tradition faces in attempting to construct a viable environmental vision. 

Please join us for our Third Sunday Potluck which will follow the service. 

 

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Sunday Service September 22, 2019

Brave, Clean and Reverent?

Speaker: Reverend Dave Hunter

A Boy Scout, if he follows the Scout Law, “is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.” I’ll limit myself, this time, to reverence. What is it? Is it a good thing? Can reverence and irreverence both be good? What’s Winnie-the-
Pooh’s view?

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Sunday Service, September 29, 2019

For the Bible Tells Me So:
Understanding the Impact of Religious Beliefs and State Policy On Attitudes Towards LGBTQ Individuals
Guest Speaker: Elizabeth Kiester, Ph.D, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Albright College                  Lay Leader: Emily Quarles-Mowrer

Over the past decade, we have seen an increase in support for anti-discrimination measures in the U.S. We have also witnessed a decline in religious identification and church attendance. Yet tensions remain high as witnessed by the shooting at Club Pulse in Florida and anti-trans bathroom legislation passed in several states. What is the role of religious beliefs in shaping attitudes towards LGBTQ individuals? Additionally, what effect might policies have in mitigating or enhancing those beliefs? This presentation will answer these questions with research that suggests what you believe and who you know have equally important effects on your attitude.

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From the Minister’s Desk, August 2019

Children are being held in appalling conditions in the United States. It’s hard to imagine that this is real and here and now. It’s not the first time, of course. But still, I never thought it would happen again. In our name. Cages, filth, illness, families ripped apart, children denied basic human comfort.

I don’t know how to stop it, but we do what we can. On July 12, Dave and I attended a Lights 4 Liberty Vigil (sponsored by the UUSC among others) at the Courthouse in Media. We were going as citizens, not clergy, so we didn’t wear collars. I forgot entirely to wear a UU T-shirt. We went early so I could find a bench to sit on – I could help swell the numbers, but I can’t stand for long. Dave, of course, visited in the crowd, finding friends and meeting new folks. After a while, he beckoned to me. “I don’t want to get up, I’ll lose my seat,” I whined. “You’re needed. You are giving the invocation.” They taught me in seminary that a minister needs to be able to preach, or pray, or die on a dime. So I stood up. I quickly borrowed a Side of Love pinney that UU Ann Keech had made of her T-shirt. And there I was, moments later, on the Courthouse steps, making a spontaneous public prayer before hundreds. “Gracious God, Spirit of Life, we are here today on behalf of human decency.” I looked at the signs people carried for content. “We are here because Never Again is Now.” I hope I made sense. People said they were inspired. At least I was mercifully brief.

But for me the most powerful moment had come the evening before. We attended a Concert For Humanity at the Methodist Church in West Chester. After speeches and music – including Rev. Dan Schatz of the UU church there – the finale was a performance by an Aztec Dance Troupe. One of the dancers had a three or four year old with her, a little girl unwilling to be left on a pew while mom danced. So the mother did what mothers do – she danced the sacred dance, with child in arms. They made an iconic picture, that spoke directly to the heart of humanity.

May all our hearts be moved to justice, equity, and compassion.
Rev Kerry Mueller

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