Manatee UU Fellowship NEWS

ANNOUNCEMENTS

AND REPORTS FOR JUNE 2021

UUA GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2021 NEWS

General Assembly (GA) is the annual meeting of our Unitarian Universalist Association. Participants worship, witness, learn, connect, and make policy for the Association through democratic process. The UUA Board of Trustees has passed a resolution making the 2021 UUA General Assembly a 100 percent virtual event. Let’s reach record-breaking attendance June 23-27, 2021!

Recognizing the importance of shared ministry and the many innovative approaches to worship created by congregations during the pandemic, UUA President, Rev. Dr. Susan Frederick Gray, selected the First Universalist Church of Minneapolis to serve as worship leaders for this year’s GA Sunday Morning Service. Music will be offered through collaboration with 2021 GA Choir Director Susan Mashiyama, the GA virtual choir, and musicians from First Universalist.

Last year more than 10,000 screens tuned in to the watch the Sunday Morning Worship at GA! Please join us again this year on Sunday, June 27, at 9 Pacific / 10 Mountain / 11 Central / noon Eastern for the largest annual gathering of Unitarian Universalists in worship. The service will be streamed on the UUA website at uua.org and on the UUA’s YouTube channel; members of the public are welcome.

IMPORTANT NOTES

From the Fellowship Office

Our administrator, Karen Salzinger, reports that our office is open again. Karen will be onsite Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

At the end of June, Karen will publish a combined issue of the Manatee UU Fellowship Update covering the months of July and August. Please make sure she has all your articles and submissions for both months by June 20. The Update will resume monthly publication with the September issue.

SPECIAL COLLECTION FOR ALSO YOUTH

Manatee UU Fellowship’s Social Justice Committee has selected ALSO Youth of Manasota for the June Special Collection. Previously known as PRISM, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit Florida corporation, provides Advocacy, Leadership, Support and Outreach for LGBTQ+ youth in Sarasota and Manatee counties, and is dedicated to supporting, affirming, encouraging, enabling and empowering all LGBTQ+ youth. As in past years, Manatee Pride 2021, to be held Sept. 18 from noon to 5 p.m., will be held at the beautiful downtown Bradenton Riverwalk. We look forward to hearing about plans for this event as well as about ALSO Youth’s mission at our June 13 service.

A FEW FINAL COMMENTS & GOODBYE

by AJ Wolff

AJ Wolff Transformation: That is the best word for this past very challenging year for me personally and the world as well. Manatee UU Fellowship transformed as we learned how to have meetings and services on Zoom, while we all missed enjoying a daily “normal” life. For me this year has brought many surprising changes — some delightful, and others very sad. The deaths of dear friends and my father while being in the shelter-in-place has been the hardest. I moved across the country to Santa Paula, Calif., in February after selling the home that my dad and I lived in the whole time I have been at the fellowship.

I got on a plane bound for LAX with my cat in a carrier. I was wearing a mask and face shield but did feel a little concerned about being in the airports. Now I am back in the town that I lived in 12 years ago, where I
taught art in the local high school. It feels new and somehow strange to be living here again.

In any case I am on a new path and thanks to Zoom I have been able to complete my term on the fellowship board, which has been my joy to serve as a board member for the last 5 years. Now as our fellowship year ends, I am officially going to leave to join my local UU church here.

I am grateful for all the wonderful people that I have made life time connections with at Manatee UU Fellowship. The fun and spirited Knit n’ Chat group will continue to be in my new life. So many delightful memories and gifts from many of you. Thank you. Wishing everyone much
happiness and success as our lives begin anew when we can return to a new “normal.” I will keep in touch and still be visiting with the Knit n’ Chat group via Zoom to share our projects and chat.

In Joy and Peace,
AJ

MUUF BOOK CLUB UPDATE

by Bill Hayes

The MUUF Book Club meets on the first Monday of each month at 2:00pm. Our next meeting is June 7, when we will discuss “Profiles in Courage” by John F. Kennedy. The book covers in particular the courage shown by eight U.S. senators starting with John Quincy Adams and ending with Robert Taft.

In July, our book is “The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels” by noted historian Jon Meacham. In August it will be George W. Bush’s new book “Out of Many, One: Portraits of America’s Immigrants.” Bush tells the stories of 43 immigrants to the U.S.

SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE REPORT

by Mariano Vera

At its May meeting, the committee affirmed gun legislation as the issue for the remainder of 2021. ALSO Youth was selected as the beneficiary of our June 2021 special collection, and Florida’s new anti-riot bill was discussed.

Manatee Clean Energy Alliance is still waiting for Gov. DeSantis to sign some bills and the strategy team is setting up a call with the local Sierra Club RF100 Florida representative to determine how the bad environmental bills will impact their work. To learn more about MCEA go to
manateecleanenergyalliance.org. They also have a weekly newsletter with excellent information.

At a national level, Unitarian Universalist Social Justice (UUSJ) has acted to expand its congressional letter-writing campaign; support the UUSJ Capitol Hill Advocacy Corps; mobilize voters and oppose voter suppression; and engage in witness activities and stand for social, economic, immigration and environmental justice for
impacted communities.

UUSJ’s national calendar for June includes:
June 4: International Day of Children Victims of Aggression
June 5: World Environment Day
June 8: World Oceans Day
June 15: World Elder Abuse Day
June 19: Juneteenth day
June 20: World Refugee Day
June 26: International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

The next Manatee UU Fellowship SJC meeting is June 13, following our Sunday service.

RACIAL CONCERNS DISCUSSION GROUP

from Cindy Evans and Bill Hayes

At its May 10 meeting, the Racial Concerns Discussion Group discussed the proposed UUA 8th Principle. The group approved it and suggested that the Manatee UU Fellowship board approve it as well. With approval, the board would instruct its General Assembly delegates to vote in favor of it. Also, Randy Coleman continued his presentation on Reconstruction, and the group looked for future projects with recommendations on exploring the Implicit Bias Training presentation last March by the League of Women Voters and a discussion on By-Standing as a method used when confronted with racism.

The June 14 meeting will be a discussion by group members on Jemar Tisby’s “The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism.”

FRED’S FLAVORINGS

June 2021

It’s happening! After 14 months of having our building shut down we are making our moves to return to the building and moving forward with our reality of partnering with technology to offer services. The vast majority of our members are fully vaccinated and CDC guidance has given the go ahead to being able to gather again.

We recognize that not everyone will feel comfortable coming back to a large group of folks yet, so we will continue offering services online. We will be doing what is being called hybrid or multi-platform ministry. Our services will continue to be aired on Zoom even as we begin to gather in the sanctuary.

The worship tech team will be working out a few things first before
our doors will open for in-person. So, starting in June we will begin hosting our online zoom services from the building. And then July 11 we will open our doors for socially distant in-person worship.

We are still working out whether we will take reservations for attendance or if we will use the social hall and TV as an overflow room. We especially want to welcome back our members who have not, for one reason or another, been able to attend online services. We will also begin having some small group sessions in person. There may be some meetings that simply work better online.

New Small Group offerings! Our worship theme for this next year will be our Six Sources. To accompany our worship theme, I will be hosting small group discussions pertaining to our sources. These small groups will begin
in July so stay tuned. The first source we will be examining will be “Direct Experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit.” If you want to prepare
ahead, two of the sessions will be examining the sermons of Ralph Emerson, specifically his Divinity School Address; and Theodore Parker, specifically his sermon “The Transient and Permanent in Christianity.” Both
sermons and excerpts can be found online. We will also explore our own spiritual stories and our own direct experiences of transcending mystery and wonder.

Stay tuned for more information on these small group offerings.

Blessings,
Fred

May 2021

I find my mind being distracted a lot these days by the pain that is happening in our country. I do not want to become numb to it. I do not want to normalize it as just the way it is. I do not want to cause greater harm by my own anger towards it.

There seems to be gross misunderstanding to what folks mean when words like systemic racism are used. It must be hard to comprehend systemic in a culture that focuses so much on the individual experience. If the person has not experienced something, then in their individual minds, it must not exist.

I do not need to personally experience fire ants’ sting to know that they exist and their sting burns. I do not need to personally experience the ravages of an E5 tornado to know that tornadoes exist. I can trust the accounts of others who have experienced fire ants’ stings and tornado’s ravages. Why then is it so hard for us to trust the accounts of other’s experience of systemic racism? Why is it so hard for us to accept that white privilege simply means that white people have encountered fewer barriers to achieve their full potential than people of color? It doesn’t mean I have things handed to me on a platter. It simply means that when I reach for the platter, I don’t have an impossible obstacle course to overcome first before reaching that platter.

So, when I read of yet another police shooting of an unarmed person of color, my heart feels anger. When I read of yet another act of hatred against Asian, Muslim, and Jewish communities, my heart feels anger. When I read of legislation placing up barriers to families to offer their transgender and non-binary children medical treatment so that the outside matches the inside of who they are, my heart feels anger. When I read of legislation placing up barriers to prevent LGBTQ parents from giving good supportive homes to orphaned children, my heart feels anger. I do not know what to do with this anger other than acknowledge it. And when I do, it transforms into immense sadness for this country.

We have become an example for autocratic governments to tout being safer for its citizens. We have not yet evolved as a species to have a set of moral and ethical codes that come from within our hearts. We are still too dependent on having them imposed on us to control our lower natures. The imposer of moral and ethical behavior might be belief in a god or set of commandments of ‘shalls’ and ‘shall-nots’ or a series of laws imposed by a government. (Who decides what those imposed orthopraxy behaviors are is another post.) Perhaps we never will evolve to where the spirit that seeks after righteousness comes from within us instead of being artificially imposed.

Unitarian Universalism seeks to advance the human condition to enable all people to pursue their full potential, unhindered by artificial barriers of systemic racism, classism, and transphobia and homophobia. As flawed as humans are as a species, this faith gives me hope that there may be better days for all of us. I am grateful for your spiritual journeys towards this goal. Together we learn what love is.

Blessings, Fred

April 2021

You are reading this after our official stewardship campaign ended on March 28th. I am thanking you in advance of March 28th for your generosity in supporting the fellowship and enabling the board to begin putting together a budget for this next fiscal year so we can continue our work. If you have not yet made a pledge, I imagine the board will be making calls to make sure that we have the best financial projections for this next year of our journey together.

There is a post that shows up from time to time on my Facebook feed that reads: “If your theology doesn’t lead you to LOVE more people, you should question your theology.” I imagine that many people reading that post might think that they do not have a theology because they are not religious but consider themselves spiritual.

The literal meaning of the word is the study of god. But theology as it has been defined in the 21st century is broader than that — it is one’s relationship with the universe or that which is greater than the individual. And the word universe can be defined as that which swirls around in their immediate orbit or the great expanse of all that is, seen and unseen. Unitarian theologian Bernard Loomer spoke about one’s size of god. The larger the size of one’s god is the greater responsibility a person has to the world. The Unitarian Universalists’ god is rather large. Our principles and our sources reveal an all-encompassing god who beckons our relationship with it to honor the inherent worth and dignity of each component of creation.

This theology has led Unitarian Universalists to become active in environmental justice — stopping the Keystone XL Pipeline, seeking to stop mountain top removal, ending fracking, protecting our national forests and parks to name but a few issues. This theology has led Unitarian Universalists to become active in social justice — expanding and protecting the civil rights of marginalized communities, seeking racial equality and equity under the law, seeking healthcare access as a human right, and limiting the power of money as speech to name a few of these examples.

But these are all macro issues and while they affect our daily lives, they do so in macro ways — sometimes unnoticeably like air pollution. We know that air pollution exists, but we do not acknowledge its presence affecting us daily — even as it does. What is the size of your god in your day-to-day life? How does your theology translate to expansion of who we love on a day-to-day basis? How might your theology translate to the expansion of love given under the mantle of Manatee Unitarian Universalist Fellowship? This is where we have direct influence in changing our world for the better, individually on a one-to-one basis and collectively as a fellowship.

Our Unitarian Universalist theology does not seek to save people for a life hereafter, it seeks to save people for a life in the here and now. We love on the macro level in ways stated above and we are also called to love on the micro level in our day to day lives. How does your theology help you to do this? If you have not yet made a pledge, when a board member calls to ensure they have the best projections for next fiscal year please consider how your financial pledge might expand the size of Manatee Unitarian Universalist Fellowship’s ability of loving more people.

Blessings, Fred

Email Fred

Reverend Fred L Hammond

John Isham

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

June 2021

The latest CDC mask requirements rollback lit a fire under Rev. Fred and the Board and new things are on a roll at Manatee UU Fellowship. The Worship Team is practicing procedures to Zoom from the sanctuary. If we are successful with all the new logistics, it will mark the beginning of a gradual transfer over to hybrid services which will include Zoom as well as in-person, in-sanctuary services ultimately leading to include live streaming on You Tube and Facebook.

The end result will be to have our services available to all members and friends and potential new members and friends no matter where they are or what their immediate situation is. This, of course, is where we
thought we were headed last February (2020) just before the pandemic hit.

In addition, this marks new discussions of a return to many of our popular events of the past including pot luck suppers, in-home dinners, adult RE programs involving spirituality, UU history, social evenings, and small
group discussions about a variety of intellectual, personal, social and political topics. Included will be social justice events, and films and discussions in the sanctuary.

We want to actively reach out to the community and have events which involve more than just the membership, such as musical artists and interesting speakers. We will start small but gradually open up over the next few months as we learn and grow and acquire new equipment to facilitate the growth.

We plan to have a discussion and presentation of these plans at the Annual Meeting coming up. We want all members to attend the Annual Meeting (on Zoom) after the service on June 6 because we want everyone to be part of and be available to take part in these future plans at and for
our fellowship. Imagine a grand opening affair sometime in September or October complete with a barbeque on the deck and live music by the Manatee UU Players. (Who are they? Wait and see! We are taking volunteers now.)

May 2021

We continue to be under the spell of the COVID-19 virus. Which means we must keep our doors closed until we can assure the safety of all those who enter. A distressing situation on the horizon seems to be the rapidly appearing more potent virus mutations which are defined as variant if the change has more than one mutation.

The occurrence of variants increases as the count of new cases increase and this situation is not helped by those insisting on opening up the economy and not wearing masks. Some of the new variants are showing resistance to the existing vaccines and here again the probability of that happening increases as the number of cases increases. One can Google “Indian double-mutant COVID” for more information. The CDC is starting to talk about the need for booster shots and the possibility of those being doctored to combat the new variants and also include the flu shot. Heaven forbid if a variant occurs which is totally vaccine immune.

Those who are less compliant and less flexible and just want things to return to “normal” and continue to push for that, are just prolonging the problem. In fact, the case rate is going up faster in areas where there are large numbers of vaccination resistance. We may never be able to return to normal and will have to establish a new normal and adapt. One adaptation will be holding board meetings from now on, on Zoom. It is far more efficient and easier for people to attend. Another may be splitting services up into smaller groups where social distancing can be achieved and others can attend on Zoom, YouTube or Facebook. Who knows, it could become a special privilege to attend the “live” service.

All of this is still a developing situation. The outcome is unknown. As long as there are those who refuse to help and feel their freedoms are being violated, the outcome they prolong may result in permanent freedom restrictions. The rest of us must wait and hope. In the meantime, we must remember that the vaccinations are not perfect. It is possible to contract COVID and although its severity will probably be reduced, we still must wear masks in public places, especially confined places, to protect ourselves and others.

In the immediate future everything will continue to be done online with Zoom. The fellowship’s annual meeting in June will be online. We are still preparing to take the UUA course “The Art of Hybrid Worship” in the next month or so. Anyone wishing to view the introductory video can contact me and I will email you the link. Also there is a comprehensive guidebook on the UUA website called the Multi-Platform Resources Guidebook with many videos of the various topics that make up the considerations we have to make to transition to a Hybrid Worship Service. It is critical to our future to tackle this very soon now that we have a successful routine established for our Zoom worship services. Let’s begin.

April 2021

There is hope. Each day there seems to be a little more. We learn that a few more members have received their vaccinations or have their first shot scheduled. It means soon we will be able to have in person gatherings. It has been a year since we shut our doors, it has been a long year.

I have been “sitting-in” on Rev. Fred’s cottage meetings and it is wonderful to hear people talk about the future and the things they would like to see Manatee UU Fellowship do. Such optimism and excitement! I am looking forward to Rev. Fred’s report as it will set the stage for the next two years for us.

These past two months have seen progress and a maturation of things which are new or relatively new to us. The memorial garden and the entire side yard is looking marvelous, thanks to the skill of our weeders, but especially due to our chief volunteer weeders, Mariano Vera and Tom Brannin, and their “boss lady,” Mary McClendon. Our Sunday services on Zoom are at a point where it seems we could take on some more sophisticated tasks. We have presented programs which have received much praise from our membership. I like to give credit where credit is due and I wonder if we would have achieved such success without being given such a great start by Barbara McCrea. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the Auction, where being run on Zoom originally raised many eyebrows. There Carol Bartz must be given all the credit for skillfully doing such a wonderful job and having a great success, almost singlehandedly. And of course much of the credit for the new fellowship website must be given to Ted Medrek, great job.

Our fellowship will live or die on volunteerism. Most people automatically reject taking something “more” on: “George” is doing such a great job and I don’t have the skills.” However, when someone does take a job on, very quickly just the effort put forth to do it develops into an affection for the purpose and the task turns into a passion, a desire to do right for so many wonderful people. We do need people to step forward soon in many places. There are a number of board positions to be filled for this July; we need an active membership committee now; we need a personnel person; we need persons versed in the idiosyncrasies and interconnectedness of the many social media programs and to link them into our new website; we need the internet linked to our website for people searching for an alternative to oppressive religions, and we need a person to get us “on the air” with our services for shut in members and community exposure. And perhaps, most of all, we need a choir.

So I appeal to members and friends to “step up” if you have a skill or desire to learn a skill. “John, I would like to volunteer to help.” Wonderful and welcome! We need you.

Email John

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Manatee UU Fellowship NEWS

ANNOUNCEMENTS

UUA GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2021 NEWS

IMPORTANT NOTES

SPECIAL COLLECTION FOR ALSO YOUTH

A FEW FINAL COMMENTS & GOODBYE

MUUF BOOK CLUB UPDATE

SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE REPORT

RACIAL CONCERNS DISCUSSION GROUP

FRED’S FLAVORINGS

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

NEWSLETTER SIGN UP

Sunday Services: 10:30

LOCATION:

941-746-0067

Unitarian Universalist Association

Manatee UU Fellowship NEWS

ANNOUNCEMENTS

UUA GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2021 NEWS

IMPORTANT NOTES

SPECIAL COLLECTION FOR ALSO YOUTH

A FEW FINAL COMMENTS & GOODBYE

MUUF BOOK CLUB UPDATE

SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE REPORT

RACIAL CONCERNS DISCUSSION GROUP

FRED’S FLAVORINGS

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

NEWSLETTER SIGN UP

MANATEE UUF NEWSLETTER

Sunday Services: 10:30

LOCATION:

941-746-0067

Unitarian Universalist Association