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UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST FELLOWSHIP OF DOOR

COUNTY

October 2020

Volume 24, Issue 9

Upcoming October ONLINE Services Our weekly Sunday Service alternatives are archived on our website: https://uufdc.org/covid19-sunday-alternatives/

OCTOBER 4 – REV. JIM COAKLEY 10 AM LIVE ZOOM SERVICE REFLECTIONS ON JUSTICE, EQUITY AND COMPASSION IN HUMAN RE-LATIONS (PART 1) Embracing the idealistic vision of our 2nd principle in society begins with

living into our covenant within our congregations.

Rev. Jim Coakley’s UU roots are grounded in the remarkable story of the Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Appleton, Wisconsin. As this congregation grew, so did Jim; initially as a lay leader and then a lay minister. Jim graduat-ed from Meadville Lombard Theological School in 2015 and was ordained by his beloved congregation in 2016. His ef-forts in helping local UU congregations connect and collabo-rate are remarkable.

This is a unique opportunity to attend a LIVE 10 AM

Sunday service with Rev. Jim Coakley. We will be attending the service live with other regional UU congregations. After the service we will be lead into a UUFDC members and friends discussion group. Watch for the Zoom connection link that will be shared with you via email on Friday, Octo-ber 2nd.

OCTOBER 11 - DICK SMYTHE CLIMATE CHANGE, RACISM, AND PUBLIC HEALTH

Dick Smythe is an entomologist re-tired from the research division of the US Forest Service. Throughout his life he has maintained two domi-nant interests: first, his fascination with the natural world – our non-human environment and endless source of wonder; second, his abiding interest in religion/theology – a subject of continuing education and challenge.

OCTOBER 18 - REV. JIM COAKLEY 10 AM LIVE ZOOM SERVICE REFLECTIONS ON JUSTICE, EQUITY AND COMPASSION IN HUMAN RELATIONS (PART 2) There's a big difference between the key components of our 2nd principle - embracing justice/equity AND offering com-passion. Both are important but cannot be substituted for each other.

This is a unique opportunity to attend a live service

with Rev. Jim Coakley. We will be attending the service live with other regional UU congregations. After the service we will be lead into a UUFDC members and friends discussion group. Watch for the Zoom connection link that will be shared with you via email on Friday, October 16th.

The YouTube playlist will be available by the end of

the day Friday, October 9th. You can watch the service link at any time, no YouTube account is needed! Look out in your email on Friday for a link to view the recorded service AND a Zoom link to attend a discussion of this service at 11AM on Sunday, October 11th.

OCTOBER 25 – REV. PHIL SWEET THE DIVINE AS TRICKSTER Lewis Hyde in his book Trickster Makes the World says that cultures require that there be space for fig-ures whose function is to uncover and disrupt the very things the cul-ture is based on. The trickster is a mythological figure, not a figure of history. It corresponds to inner psy-

chic energy. It’s primary function is to spread doubt about everything. Imagine Jesus saying to the priests of his day, the harlots are going to inherit the kingdom, not you. For things that go bump in the night, good lord, let us befriend them. Happy Halloween. Continued on next page..

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Our Mission Guided by the Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism, our Door County Fellowship:

Celebrates diverse beliefs

Inspires spiritual growth, intellectual inquiry, and creative expression

Cares actively for the wellbeing of its Fellowship family and the larger community

Practices conscientious stewardship of the earth upon which all life depends

Pursues equality and justice for all people

Governing Board Officers

President Paula Christensen

president@uufdc.org

Vice President David Studebaker

Treasurer Henk Wolst

Secretary Anna Knapp

At-Large Governing Board Directors

Robert Dowling

Gwenn Graboyes

Susan Leeder

For contact information view our Fellowship Directory. Need the

password? Email contact@uufdc.org

New to UUFDC?

Join our mailing list by sending

a request to contact@uufdc.org

Website: uufdc.org,

Facebook: facebook.com/uufdc Our sanctuary and building are closed, but our

hearts & minds remain open.

...Continued from previous page

Phil Sweet is a long-time friend of UUFDC, and a marvelous and insightful story-teller. He served as minister of Hope Church in Sturgeon Bay and two rural church-es in western Minnesota.

The YouTube playlist will be available by the end of the day Friday, October

23rd. You can watch the service link at any time. Look out in your email on Friday for a link to view the recorded service AND a Zoom link to attend a discussion of this service at 11AM on Sunday, October 25th.

President’s Column

Continuing Our Journey Together by Paula Christensen

Thank you for affirming me as your next president! We had a phenomenal turnout for our Annu-al Meeting on September 13, 2020. Seventy-two members and friends attended … wow! Thanks for your support of our Fellowship by showing up and participating in our democratic process.

I also want to especially thank all those who have been serving as leaders in our Fellowship since March. The past 6+ months have been challenging for us. We have needed your time and ener-gy even more in this strange period we find ourselves. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes even though we cannot be in our building right now. Many of you are still involved in the workings of the Fellowship. Just think of what we’ve done since March: Weekly Fellowship Con-nections; fresh paint in our sanctuary and entryway; multiple phone calls to check in on each other; Coffee & Conversation group; Dickinson series; Covenant meetings and Book Club gather-ings; a drive-through Flower Ceremony; protests for racial justice; UU the Vote activities; and Men’s Wednesday coffee klatch. These and other events are all important to the life of our con-gregation … ways to stay connected. We also cannot forget our talented staff propping us up all along the way. Kudos to all!

For those who do not know me well, I have been a UU member since 1980 when I joined the UU Church in Rockford, IL. I have grown into our faith over the last 40 years … and it is important to me. I hold our Principles and Sources deep in my being … giving them life as best I can. I have served on local and regional committees in IL and here on Social Justice and the Board. One ma-jor thing I have learned along the way is that our MISSION is critical to keep in the forefront of our minds as we continue this UU path individually and together. Can you cite what our mission is? Our vision? The easiest one for me is our tagline: An Open Door to Understanding, Compas-sion, and Justice. Knowing who we want to be is the basis of where we choose to go.

Being a UU is not always easy. We embrace the common good for all through our values and principles. We work toward building a beloved community with all our imperfections and differ-ing views. Especially in this time of social conflict, with a pandemic that is alive and well, and along with the strains of a Federal government that we cannot trust … we are stressed to find the goodness, the grace, the inspiration, the courage, … the calm to sustain our daily lives. And that is what we need these days, however we can get it. For many of us it means some form of con-nection with each other, whether in person or electronic. And as the weather gets colder, elec-tronic connections will be even more important.

I attended two groups recently where the topic of discussion was resilience. We had meaningful conversations about where we learned resilience, how we are resilient and what we need to do to be more resilient. RESILIENCE is critical for us to get through these next several months of uncertainty … individually and as a congregation. We can help each other nurture qualities such as gratitude, humor, optimism, agency, hope and connection. The Board will do what we can to facilitate resilience within our congregation, even though we cannot be together in person. I

look forward to being on that journey with you as we navigate the next months nurturing resilience together.

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It’s a Marathon – Not a Sprint: What we need to survive & maybe thrive in a pandemic by Trish Black, Caring Committee Chair

It is simply unbelievable that more than 6 months have passed since we first became concerned about contracting COVID-19. The way we conduct ourselves and navigate our world has drastically changed. Winter is approaching and the opportunity to connect with a friend or family member outdoors while socially distancing will become next to impossible. To top it off there appears to be no end in sight to the pandemic. The most frequently cited quality of those who survive

difficult times is resilience. What is resilience? Where do you

find it? How do you nurture it?

The American Psychological Association offers this definition of resilience: “the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress.” The prima-ry factor for being resilient is having caring & supportive relation-ships. Additional factors include:

Life purpose Strong communication & problem-solving skills Self confidence A sense of control to impact your life situation Ability to determine what you can & cannot control A sense of optimism

Even though resilience may be part of our genetic DNA, we can all do things to enhance and strengthen our personal resilience. Below is a

list of ways to increase your resilience:

Make connections. Avoid seeing crises as insurmountable. Accept that change is a part of life. Set goals and move toward them. Exert control over the things you can. Nurture a positive view of yourself. Maintain a hopeful outlook. Keep things in perspective. Cultivate a heart of gratitude. Take care of yourself.

Remember to reach out to family and friends in a safe way whenever and howev-er you can. We as humans are hard-wired for connec-tion and I know we are all missing it. Zoom is a wel-come substitute but it will never replace our desire for face to face connection.

Stay safe and stay well.

OUR COMMUNITYOUR COMMUNITY

Thank You! by Helene Di Iulio The best news was the Annual Meeting. It was managed in such a professional manner but was easy goin’ too. Many, many, thanks to everyone…the Members who zoomed. . . and the Board and staff who made it possible.

I am very proud of all of us! We will have a good year.

MidWest Leadership School FIVE members of our congregation started the MidWest Leader-ship School a couple weeks ago! Anna Knapp, Lynn Mercurio, Henk Wolst, Gwenn Graboyes and Paula Christensen are attend-ing this virtual event. Four Saturday morning sessions over 3 months will cover topics such as Creating the Beloved Communi-ty; UU History; White Supremacy; Mission, Vision, & Covenant Process; Systems: How does it all fit together; and Conflict: Being together across differences. We look forward to sharing some of the poignant gems from this series with you in the future. We intend that our learnings from this leadership school will benefit our whole UUFDC congregation. Thanks to the Board for sup-porting our attendance at this meaningful event.

The Fellowship Connections Survey is Coming... to an Email Near You! By Anna Knapp, Secretary As we navigate the waters of this socially distanced time in our lives, the Fellowship is looking for ways to keep us connected. At the Annual Meeting, which so many of you attended (THANK YOU!) we asked for your input on how we can stay connected. We received some great input that day.

Additionally, we are sending out a short survey to get to know more about how the Board and the Fellowship committees can help us all stay together while our building continues to be closed or have limited access. Please take a couple of minutes, even if you shared ideas at the Annual Meeting, to fill out the survey that will be sent to your email soon. Please fill it out by Wednesday, October 7th.

Social Justice Committee Update The Social Justice Committee and Teams are going to meet monthly together starting on October 14 from 1 - 3pm via Zoom. We are going to focus on one project for the next several months that incorporates economic, environmental, and racial justice. The UUA 2020 Action of Immediate Witness re: 400 Years of White Supremacist Colonialism will inform our activities. More details will be shared in the future as we work them out! If you are interested in joining us on this adventure, contact Jami at jamihanreddy@gmail.com.

Gratitude

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Opportunities to Learn & GrowOpportunities to Learn & Grow

Happy October Birthday Wishes to:

2 Bob Lindahl; 6 Judy Widen; 10 Judy Brodd; 12 Trish Black; 16 Art Mackinney, Ginny Olson; 18

Joe Hanreddy; 21 Bob Dowling, Susan Leeder; 25 Al Johnson; 28 Paula Christensen;

31 Ken Boyd, Connie Deboef

If you don’t see your birthday listed, let us know and we’ll add it to our birthday database.

October Newsletter UU Book Club by Lynn Mercurio, coordinator On Wednesday, October 7, the UUFDC book club will review and dis-cuss The Island of Sea Women, by Lisa See. This book was nominated by two of our members, and was an overwhelming choice of the book club members. A brief review of this popular author and book tells us that it is…“Set amid sweeping historical events, The Island of

Sea Women is the extraordinary story of Young-sook and Mi-ja, of women's daring, heartbreak, strength, and forgiveness. No one writes about female friendship, the dark and the light of it, with more insight and depth than Lisa See." - Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Secret Life of Bees and The Invention of Wings

We hope you will join us on Zoom from 1 - 3 pm on Wednesday, October 7, whether you have read this book or not. Just send me an individual email by Tuesday, October 6, to let me know to send you the Zoom link.

And looking ahead to November, we will read another book which many members picked to read, The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead.

If anyone has any questions about the UUFDC book club, please email me. It is a great way to spend time with each other while reading books we may never have come across on our own.

Fight for the things

that you care

about.

But do it in a way

that will lead others

to join you.

~Ruth

Bader Ginsburg

The Food Barrel & Our Donations by Carol Soper & Jane Wise Since we are not able to bring our donations to the Fellow-ship and have someone from the Social Justice Committee take them to a food pantry, why not take them there your-self?

One of Door County’s food pantries is located in the foyer of the Door of Life Church on Hwy 42, on Little Sister Hill. The door is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

There are labeled shelves for canned meat, pasta, sauces, beans and other veggies, cereals, boxed meals, etc. Please stock the shelves, or if you are short on time you can drop your donations in their bin. There is also space for personal care items like diapers, sanitary napkins, bladder control pads, toothpaste, etc. There is even a freezer for bread.

The food pantry was really low on supplies when I went there on Sept. 15th, so please help our fellow Door County residents. You’ll feel good for giving.

You may live closer to one of the other food pantries in the county. This link will help you find them: http://unitedwaydc.com/uploads/ckfiles/files/DC%20Food%20Pantry.jpg

To make life a little better for people

less fortunate than you,

that's what I think a meaningful life

is. One lives not just for oneself but

for one's community.

~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg