10:00 am
"Doing Politics Without Ruining Karma: the Stuff of the Golden Rule"
Ben Thacker-Gwaltney, Guest Speaker
Modern political campaigns have learned to use fear and panic to motivate supporters. All sorts of hatreds, revulsions and hard divisions arise as a result. Buddhism can offer a different perspective, one where we continue to work hard to elect representatives and support policies that lessen suffering. At the same time, we don't generate more suffering by viewing others through lenses of polarization.
Our Membership book is open for signing this Sunday. If you have completed Pathway to Membership sessions 1 and 2 or are transferring from another UU Congregation, we welcome you to come forward at the end of the service to sign our Membership Book, signifying your commitment to WUU.
9:45 & 11:15 am
"At One with Nature and the Inter-dependent Web"
Rev. Dave Johnson, Interim Minister
Annual In-Gathering Service and Water Communion
Summer’s different rhythms are drawing to a close. Whether you have traveled far and wide, or have remained close to home, the question is the same: What have you noticed more closely? What has surprised you? How is your personal life, and your relationships, more intentional, and more in accord with your values? The turning of the seasons offers an occasion for taking perspective, and realigning with stuff-that-matters (STM).
This is our annual In-gathering service. All are encouraged to bring samples of water from locations which have nourished you, and inspired you.
Share the Plate
The Share the Plate Collection on Sunday, September 11, will benefit Bacon Street. This local non-profit agency provides outpatient prevention, intervention and treatment services to adolescents and their families who are dealing with substance abuse and mental health issues. Their work fits well with WUU values, in that substance use/abuse robs individuals of self-respect and deters spiritual growth; the disease of addiction affects a person’s ability to act responsibly, share honest thoughts and feeling about themselves and the community around them. It isolates and cuts people off from life and their ability to care for themselves and others. These aspects make it important that the work of Bacon Street be generously supported by our Share the Plate program. For more information on this organization, visit www.baconstreet.org.
For more information on the Share the Plate program or to nominate a recipient agency, please email stp@wuu.org.
We are planning a big celebration for little Vincent having survived a year.
Vincent is my grand nephew. He was born with Cornelia De Lang Syndrome which means he has multiple birth defects. The most serve was a defective heart. He really needed a heart transplant. But he was too little and too fragile to survive that kind of operation. In addition he would have needed another transplant in a year. The medical doctors did not think he would even make it a year. His heart has stopped beating many, many times and he has always come back. And now the doctors say his heart is healed. There is no Medical explanation for his heart being healed.
This first year has been very difficult for him and of course for Mom and Dad. He has been in pain for most of his first year. At one point he became addicted to the opiod he was given and had to be weened off with methadone. He has never been feed via mouth. He is fed by a tube going directly to his stomach. He is on oxygen 24/7. He is a brave little fighter and we want to make a big deal of having survived his first year.
We are having a party at the Williamsburg Unitarian Universalist Church at 1:00 pm on Sept 4th, Labor Day weekend. We are serving Pierce's BBQ and Tom's Band "The Rock-it Men" may be there.
Please come and meet Vincent and help us Celebrate his first year.
For more than two centuries before the Civil War, millions of African Americans lived their entire lives in bondage. It is unknown how many of these enslaved human beings labored, lived and died on the campus grounds of William & Mary. We do know that the College had a substantial financial investment in the institution of slavery, and prospered from dependence on its productivity. The exploited labor of enslaved African Americans built the foundation upon which William & Mary stands, yet, there is no recognition of the contributions of the enslaved people who labored to build and maintain the College.
The Lemon Project was created in 2009 by the Board of Visitors as “a long-term research project under the sponsorship of the Office of the Provost, involving the College faculty, staff, students and the Greater Williamsburg community.” The mission: “A Journey of Reconciliation…to better understand, chronicle, and preserve the history of the enslaved at the College.”
In furthering its mission, The Lemon Project formed the Committee on Memorialization (LPCOM). The time has come to recognize the enslaved and free African Americans who labored to build and maintain the College before the Civil War. Accordingly, the Committee is preparing a proposal that will be submitted to the President and the Provost of the College to hold a national design competition for a memorial to the enslaved. A built memorial will be part of how we remember William and Mary’s unnamed founders. May we include your name on a list of supporters of a memorial?
If you support the idea of a memorial, please go to https://forms.wm.edu/form/view/27612/9ef27a2ad9a04ad81aa1f5643ac7b0d2, and add your name to the list of supporters. If the link does not work, please cut and paste forms.wm.edu/27612 into the address line.
Please feel free to forward this email to colleagues, friends, and family who care about William and Mary and its future. The support of all of William & Mary’s constituencies (current students, staff, faculty as well as alumni, and community members) is vital to the success of the project. On behalf of those whose names we will never know, who lived, suffered and died in forced servitude for the benefit of The College of William and Mary, we thank you.
The Lemon Project Committee on Memorialization
Food For FISH (Our local community food & clothing pantry)
It is almost time to head back to school! FISH is asking for school lunch items: individually wrapped items like applesauce, fruit cups, snack bars. Place your donations in our Fish Wagon and our wonderful coordinator, Ivonne Luchs, will gather donations and transport them to FISH.
Please make sure packages are sealed and all "use by" dates are current. Thank you all!
Memorial Service:
On Saturday, September 17 at 4pm a service will be held remembering William Riel, the husband of WUU member Carol Brouwer. All are invited to attend.
Please contact caringchair@wuu.org if you know of a member of the Congregation in need of support, or if you are in need of support.
September 4 No RE
September 11 Cooperative Games/Blessing of the Backpacks
To learn more about our upcoming fall Religious Education classes and schedule, which begins on September 11th with the "Blessing of the Backpacks," please visit this link. Click below to register online:
**Wanted** I'm collecting EMPTY metal Altoids boxes for RE. Do you have any? I want them! You can give them to me or leave them with Ellyn in the office. Thanks!
-Austen Petersen
Today! Worship Together: A Multifaith Celebration
Thursday, September 1, Commonwealth Auditorium (William & Mary) 7:00 pm
Come welcome and celebrate the diverse community of faith we have at William and Mary. The service, designed by Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Unitarian Universalist representatives, recognizes that "compassion impels us to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect."
Light refreshments will be served following the service.
Highway Cleanup Next Saturday
With hopes for a bit cooler temperatures, the WUU Adopt-a-Highway crew will tackle the roadside litter on Ironbound Road on Saturday, Sept. 10. We’ll meet at 10 a.m. We always have room for a few more helping hands and would welcome you to join us. Please let us know you’re coming – email rbaldwin@widomaker.com.
Protecting Your Heathcare Wishes
Are you current with your Advance Medical Directives?
Updated your Health Care Power of Attorney lately?
Stored your documents in a safe and accessible place?
MOST IMPORTANT: Do your loved ones know your feelings
about quality of life and end of life care, should they be asked
to make decisions on your behalf?
We can help ensure your wishes will be honored!
Participate in our presentation and discussion:
* VIRGINIA ADVANCE MEDICAL DIRECTIVES
* HEALTH CARE POWER OF ATTORNEY
Saturday, September 17, 2016, 9:30 to 11:30am, FAHS House
Virginia Advance Directive forms and other resources will be provided.
Presenters: Cynthia Frezek, MSN, RN, WUU Lay Pastoral Care Associate
Barbara Shefelton, M.Div, BCC, Board Certified Chaplain and Ethics
Consultant, Mary Immaculate Hospital
Free to all age 18 and older. Please reply to cyncfreze@gmail.com, by Sept.15th.
Construction Updates
There is so much going on with construction it is hard to keep up. Check out our Flickr site HERE for the most recent photos.
