News for Nov 30, 2021

This Sun, Dec 5

This Sunday at 10 am, join us on Zoom for the second Sunday of Advent. Rev. Polly will preach on “Gabriel’s Oboe.” The message incorporates a talk by Karl Paulnack on the power of music. The Giving Sunday collection will be for the UCC Christmas Fund. After the service, there will be a brief congregational meeting to hear the results of the vote on the 2022 budget. The Worship & Arts Committee will meet after that. Join us via Zoom a few minutes before 10 am.

Watch last week's sermon

On Nov 28, Rev. Polly preached “Evergreen.” Watch the sermon.

Collection for The Christmas Fund

This Sunday, we'll take a special collection for The Christmas Fund, which has been caring for active and retired clergy and lay employees of the UCC for over 100 years. They provide emergency grants, supplementation of small annuities and health premiums, and Christmas “thank you” gift checks each December to lower-income retirees. Learn more.

Taizé this Friday

Join us for a meditative time of Advent chants and prayers this Fri, Dec 3 at 7:30 pm. We'll be in-person with masks. (The picture is an Advent Taizé table from years past.)

Upcoming events

• Choir practice:

Wed, Dec 1 (7 pm), Sun, Dec 12 (9 am) and Wed, Dec 15 (7 pm), in person

Join us as we prepare to sing for the Christmas Eve service. Singers' masks will be provided (or bring your own).

• Wednesday discussion group: Wed, Dec 7 (7 pm), Zoom

Continued stories of gifts from our losses

• Next in-person service: Sun, Dec 12 (10 am)

We'll have our next in-person worship service Dec 12 (likely indoors and definitely masked). The Zoom room will be open for those wishing to join remotely.

Links and resources

• Only in Sleep by Ēriks Ešenvalds with the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge (photo)

• "Hidden Miracles of the Natural World" (TED Talk)

• Prayer apps are flooding the market

• Why the “minichurch” is a trend in American religion

Quote of the week

“What if imagination and art are not frosting at all, but the fountainhead of human experience?”

—Rollo May

Weekly online events

• Women's group: Mondays at 1 pm

Usually on Zoom; third Mondays at Fiero Caffe

• Meditation: Wednesdays at 7:30 am