Opportunities for Connection-CERUUA Update June 2020

We know that the last two months have been difficult for all our congregations. But you have risen to the challenge and your regional staff are amazed at what you have achieved and how you have pulled together to support each other and your members. We are in turn consolidating and enhancing our offerings through the summer to maximize our support of your work. We’re here to help you work through the challenges facing you as you look down the road to the next church year.

June 2-11 we're hosting affinity calls for Board Presidents and Members, Ministers, Religious Educators, Youth Ministry Leaders and Administrators and Membership Professionals. Find out dates and times and register on our website.

And starting June 1 we will be moving to weekly drop in calls for all congregational leaders hosted by one or more of our staff. While we are basing these by geographic cluster, we are open to anyone attending any date/time that works best for you. Branch out and make new friends, or stay local and get to know the neighbors! The schedule is (all times are Eastern):

Mondays at 4 pm with Megan Foley (Capital Cluster & Northern VA)
Tuesdays at 6:30 pm with Patricia Infante and Paula Cole Jones (Greater Philly & Central PA)
Wednesdays at 5 pm with Sunshine Wolfe and Renee Ruchotzke (Ohio & Western PA)
Wednesdays at 6 pm with Pat Infante, Paula Cole Jones, Evin Carvill-Ziemer and Hope Johnson (Northeast PA, New Jersey, NYC, LIAC, MetroNorth)
Fridays at 1 pm with Evin Carvill-Ziemer and Renee Ruchotzke (Upstate NY)
Join by going to https://uua.zoom.us/j/98736004337, password is 202006.

In a time of great challenge and heartbreak in our world, what does our faith ask of us?
At this year’s fully virtual General Assembly (GA), we will explore the power, possibility, purpose, struggle, and joy of finding the path forward together as Unitarian Universalists. During this time of rapid change, the collective practice of our faith evolves and adapts to follow that path. Whether you're a first-time delegate or a long-time attendee, please join us at a pre-GA webinar to learn about some of these changes. Members of the Board of Trustees will provide an overview of some of the changes, along with information for delegates regarding the business sessions. Eight 75-minute webinars are offered between June 5 and June 18. Register Today!

While all plenary sessions and the Sunday morning service will be streamed through the UUA website to the general public, most other events require that one be registered for General Assembly. You must be registered to be a voting delegate. To see the full schedule including featured speakers, workshops and other offerings and to learn how to register, visit the General Assembly pages on the UUA website.

UU Congregations shut down in March due to COVID-19 and at that time, the UUA staff created a lot of resources to help congregations with everything from worship planning, technology assistance, annual meeting planning, pastoral care and more. Recently the Safe Congregations Team put out Guidance on Gathering in Person that includes a list of questions congregations should discuss and consider before determining if it is time to re-open in your area. The recommendation from the UUA is to plan to be virtual through May of 2021.

Where to find information:

The UUA has created a response fund for those who want to donate funds to help in the current COVID-19 situation. Please donate if you can. Visit the UUA website for details on donations and guidelines for how the funds will be distributed.

by Shannon Harper

This blog post was supposed to be about UU Youth and Young Adult opportunities for this summer. But as the UUA and the camps, conferences and campuses we work alongside begin to cancel all summer in-person events, we’re left in a weird time of knowing and not knowing. For many programs it’s obvious that they will offer some kind of virtual experience for young people this summer, but they are in the midst of getting it put together. For others it’s clear that the magic and energy of the in-person experiences they offered cannot be replicated virtually with integrity and they have opted to pause and dream of a future where we can gather in-person again. And still others find themselves in a limbo that feels all too familiar lately for event planners and facilitators. Should we do a thing? Will it be worthwhile? What is actually needed? Do our people have the bandwidth to attend? What are we competing with for their time? How long do we have to plan this way? Are we actually offering something people want or just checking off boxes based on a pre-pandemic plan? And most importantly, does not doing a thing mean we have failed? Failed the mission, failed our people, failed ourselves?

Read the rest of the article

The Living Legacy Project is offering a series of virtual programs focused on voting rights, past, present and future on the last Tuesday of every month between May 26, 2020 and Election Day. These are free and open to everyone. Learn more and register at their website.

The UUA has created a response fund for those who want to donate funds to help in the current COVID-19 situation. Please donate if you can. Visit the UUA website for details on donations and guidelines for how the funds will be distributed. The Disaster Relief Fund continues to support congregations affected by tornadoes, fires, hurricanes, flooding and other natural disasters as well. To learn more about the work of the Disaster Relief Fund visit their webpage. We are Better Together.

Looking for speakers for your virtual services? The reality is that you can choose anyone regardless of geography. Many community-based religious professionals have developed a list to make it easier to find speakers. You can find it here. Also, don't forget to check out the CER Guest in Your Pulpit program, which is both lay and professional worship leaders.

Do you know about UUAMP - The UU Association of Membership Professionals? They have resources and other help on their website and through their networks. Check the UUAMP website for details on all things membership related.

New publications from the UUA - Available for pre-order is The Stonewall Generation: LGBTQ Elders on Sex, Activism, and Aging by Jane Fleishman and Breaking and Blessing: Meditations by Rev. Sean Parker Dennison. Now available for purchase is Conversations with the Sacred: A Collection of Prayers by Rev. Manish Mishra-Marzetti and Rev. Jennifer Kelleher.

The UUA is hiring for several positions. Find job descriptions and application information at their Job Openings webpage.

The following events are upcoming in the region. For full details and a complete list visit the CER Calendar Page. Also, please note, if you are mailing a check to pay for your event to us, you must write the name and date of the event in the memo line. Otherwise we may not get it properly credited.

Due to COVID-19 all events scheduled between now and August 31, 2020 have been either cancelled, postponed or are in the process of being re-imagined in an alternative format. Going forward, we are expecting all events in 2020-2021 to be virtual. We strongly encourage congregations to do your part to flatten the curve by supporting your congregants virtually through online conferencing, phone, email or letters and forgoing in person meetings.

Joint Board Basics Training scheduled for June 6, 2020 will happen online. Registration is open.
General Assembly 2020 will be an all virtual event. Details on the UUA GA webpage.
Summer Institute and UUMAC have both decided to cancel their in person events this July and provide a virtual alternative. Summer Institute will open registration on June 1 for their July 12-19, 2020 event.
Leading Change in Changing Times ~ online, with prework required, August 1, 2020, 12-3 pm. The skills that board members and other leaders need are changing, and we are here to help! Revs. Sunshine Wolfe & Renee Ruchotzke are offering a training for these COVID times to complement the Board Basics we are offering in June: Leading Change in Changing Times. The training will include a few hours of prework in the UU Leadership Institute, then there will be an interactive session on Saturday, August 1, 12-3pm EDT. (There will be breaks, we promise!) The training will help your leaders “shape change” to bring you closer to your call of building Beloved Community. Registration will open soon.

The following webinars will take place in the region the next two months. For full details and a complete list visit the CER Webinars Calendar .

CER Networking Calls (all times are Eastern)

Mondays at 4 pm with Megan Foley (Capital Cluster & Northern VA)
Tuesdays at 6:30 pm with Patricia Infante & Paula Cole Jones (Greater Philly & Central PA)
Wednesdays at 5 pm with Sunshine Wolfe and Renee Ruchotzke (Ohio & Western PA)
Wednesdays at 6 pm with Pat Infante, Paula Cole Jones, Evin Carvill-Ziemer and Hope Johnson (Northeast PA, New Jersey, NYC, LIAC, MetroNorth)
Fridays at 1 pm with Evin Carvill-Ziemer and Renee Ruchotzke (Upstate NY)
Join by going to https://uua.zoom.us/j/98736004337, password is 202006.

The Stewardship and Development Office is hosting twice weekly Salons for congregations to drop in and ask questions about budgets and pledge drives. The days and times are below. See the webpage for connection info.

Thursdays at 3 pm Pacific/4 pm Mountain/5 pm Central/ 6 pm Eastern
Mondays at 4 pm Pacific/5 pm Mountain/6 pm Central/7 pm Eastern

Our congregations and clusters in the region have many exciting activities and announcements going on. For a complete listing of events, visit the CER Congregations and Clusters Calendar Page. For news from congregations, please visit our News Blog. For job listings from congregations check the UUA Job Board.

Murray Grove is hopeful that their 2 summer camps will still take place. Registration is open. Camping in the Grove for 4-7th graders will be August 2-6, 2020 and Adventure Camp for 8-10th graders will be July 13-16, 2020.
The Long Island UU Council is hopeful their Sophia Lyons Fahs camp will take place August 23-29, 2020 in Burlingham, NY. Registration is open.
Murray Grove is celebrating the sestercentennial of Universalism in America. It will be the 250th anniversary of John Murray’s famous 1770 sermon in Thomas Potter’s chapel in Good Luck, New Jersey. They have created a digital toolkit, have events planned for the year and a gathering scheduled in October at Murray Grove. Details are on the Murray Grove website.
Several UU Congregation in CER are hiring Religious Education, youth ministry and other positions. Check the listings.

If your congregation or cluster has news or events to share, please send it to us at bcasebolt@uua.org

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Central East Region of the UUA
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Wilmington, DE 19801
United States