Sunday, January 16, 1 – 2:15 p.m.
The 8th Principle: Community Conversation 

Please join Rev. Dr. Kate in a community conversation about the proposed 8th Principle to the current UUA’s 7 Principles.
She will be talking about it on Sunday morning. You can read more about the 8th Principle here: https://www.8thprincipleuu.org/
Zoom links for the conversations will be included with the Order of Service emails. The link will also be sent independently after service to everyone on the Order of service list. If you aren't on the Order of Service email list and would like to be, please email Rev. Dr. Kate at kwalker@first-unitarian-pgh.org. 

In the end, we not only met – but exceeded – our fundraising goal of $415,000! We took in 174 pledges, covering 242 members and friends, for a total of $422,057, the most in 4 years. Of those 174 pledges, 61% were either new or increased over 2021 levels.

A huge, heartfelt THANK YOU from the Annual Budget Drive Committee to every member and friend of First Unitarian who stepped up and helped us reach our goal! You demonstrated not only how much you care for our spiritual community, but how excited we all are to move into the future hand in hand with our new minister, Rev. Kate Walker.
Thanks to your generosity, in the coming year the Church will have the resources it needs to continue to offer the experiences –inspiration, friendship, social activism, educational programs, music, worship, outreach – we all value so much.

Please contact Ward Kelsey (twokelseys@gmail.com) if
• You have any questions about your 2022 pledge
• You want to adjust your pledge amount or the way you pay it (e.g., start, stop, or change the frequency of an automated payment)

Once more with feeling: THANK YOU for your support and for helping us to not only imagine but build A Bigger Table with room for all in 2022!

If you would like to attend a Board meeting as an observer, please contact Board Secretary Kate Snow (katesnow@katesnow.com) who will arrange for you to receive the Zoom link to join the meeting.

If you have an issue that you would like to speak about at a Board meeting, please send your request to the Board Secretary along with a brief explanation of the issue you would like to bring to the Board’s attention.

• No more than 30 people 
• Everyone must follow the safety precautions listed above 
• I leave it to you to self-identify your need to be in person 
• Please recognize, this will not feel like “normal.” Cameras and microphones are carefully placed around the sanctuary.  Unless you have a personal device, you will not be able to see any videos we are showing, but you can hear them on the house speakers. 
• If you are medically compromised, in your decision making, please consider the church’s ventilation system is limited.  While the sanctuary's ventilation (0.35 air changes per hour) meets the minimum building code standard for pre-covid, low-occupancy residential spaces, it is not effective for reducing viral transmission for higher occupancy (this would be a minimum of 4 air changes per hour).  This information may be important to you in deciding whether to attend events in the sanctuary, particularly if you are medically vulnerable.  We are working to find solutions for this issue. 
• Please seriously consider wearing a KN95 mask rather than a cotton one. KN95, or comparable, is significantly more effective in protection. 

Installation of Rev. Dr. Kate Walker
We're looking for help to host this grand event!  Please email kwalker@first-unitarian-pgh.org if you’re able to lend some organizational skill and time.  

a virtual concert celebrating the legacy of DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR

Saturday, January 15, 2022, 7 pm
Live-streamed from Pittsburgh’s historic HILL DISTRICT.
Tune in for the live stream or afterward for the recording at http://www.letfreedomsing.net or on Facebook

Featuring Pittsburgh Performing Artists
ANQWENIQUE WINGFIELD KINSEL
CHANTAL BRAZIEL
THE HERITAGE GOSPEL CHORALE & COMBO
THE MLK FESTIVAL SINGERS (including the UU Community Singers)
Emcee
KDKA TV’S MIKEY HOOD

Producer Kris Rust
Free to all. Donations gratefully accepted benefitting the
AFRO AMERICAN MUSIC INSTITUTE &
COMMUNITY FOOD BANK OF GREATER PITTSBURGH

Let Freedom Sing! is supported by the 1st UU Social Justice Endowment

Phat Man Dee
Saturday, Jan 22, 7:30 pm
Phat Man Dee has been called a jazz provocateur, and she sings & duets her original compositions and eclectic repertoire of standards in English, Spanish, French, German, and Hebrew. Her performance range is just as wide, spanning opera, theater, and burlesque. From blues to folk, from opera to indie, Mandee’s range is nothing short of breathtaking. Phat Man Dee will be performing with pianist Victor Garzotto, drummer Dennis Garner, and saxophonist Tony Campbell!
$20 advance (songspace.brownpapertickets.com)
$25 at the door, $10 less for students, and restricted income

We require masks, vaccination cards, and contact information (e.g. email), should contact tracing become necessary.

All ages; wheelchair accessible.

For more information uusongspace@gmail.com or uusongspace.com

Blessed new year to you all!

This past holiday, I suddenly found myself thinking about something that has yet to happen in my years as a religious educator:  What do I say if someone’s child asks me if Santa Claus is real?

I was relieved that the holiday passed without me having to face that situation, and I am very curious what parents would want me to say, and what variety of answers they would want me to give.  Like many things, the idea of a child being encouraged to believe in something that definitely does not exist as we do materially tend to have people on one side or the other.  Some parents (and grandparents) think that children should be able to enjoy their innocence and imagination and experience the “magic” of Santa Claus until they grow out of it.  Why crush that impulse out of them?  Others, especially, I expect, Unitarian Universalist parents might fall on the other side:  It is ethically problematic to teach a child to believe in something that we know does not exist, and contrary to the values of Unitarian Universalism with its emphasis on truth, reason, and the free and responsible search for meaning.

I’ve often thought, however, what I would want to say to a child if they asked me.  My answer is yes, but not in the way they might think.  As I write it out now, I am realizing it’s not as easy as I thought it would be…this is hard!  How do I convey to a young child that there are things that exist in the realm of ideas and creativity, and they can be very real to us?  However, Santa Claus could not be real enough to come down a chimney and physically deliver gifts under the tree, unless someone stages it somehow.  But could the idea of Santa Claus be said to be real, because it inspires adults to do those things?  It’s almost as if we are tempted to vicariously leech off of the freedom of imagination that children get to enjoy without judgement.

Apparently, my answer is not a unique one; the story, based on real events, Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus, if I remember correctly, takes that approach.  But do they get it?  Did the story come out and talk about different kinds of “realness” and the limitations of things that we might want to believe in?  I don’t remember getting that definitive impression from it when I watched a movie version a couple of years ago.  

I do agree that it is in line with our UU values to truthfully answer a question if a child asks.  (If they don’t ask, I don’t know that we have to go out of our way to do it until they bring it up.  I suppose it depends.)  But, I also believe it is just as much our responsibility not only to give permission to believe in things that can’t be seen or aren’t real in the material sense, but even play along with them, encourage them, and model it with them.  I say that because UUs are notoriously bad at this within religious education programs, and you know it when you have a group of Coming of Age youth who all stand at the pulpit and talk about how they don’t believe in any form of the divine.  It’s not that there’s anything wrong with that…but when they all get to the same conclusion, it’s pretty clear that somehow, that’s what we’re telling them.

Last year, I read a book called Sapiens that talked about how humans have evolved in such a way that we can organize large groups of us around ideas that have no physical form, whether it’s a corporation, a religion, or other cultural markers that relies on buy in.  I found that fascinating.  What is more real than the fact that we have managed to create borders that don’t actually exist, and organize ourselves into tribal groups according to those borders?  Real things have real power and influence.  Instead of dividing things into real and not real, I wonder if it would be more useful to talk to children (and ourselves) about what “realness” is to us, the expectations that come with it, and the limitations of things that are not real in a measurable way.

I am very interested to know how some of you have been dealing with this with your children, and how you feel about the result?  I expect we can continue this conversation along with newsletters and in person or email, as it cannot possibly be done justice in a few paragraphs!

I’ll leave you with this, just in case you’re curious and looking for different ways different UUs approach such matters:  I like to say I believe in everything.  What that really means to me is that I believe our ideas influence our reality, even how the universe itself responds to us, and therefore, if that response is real to someone and influences their actions and feelings, then it is obviously real, whether it can be measured or not…
Erica

HUMANIST GROUP

FEBRUARY 1, 2021

PROMISES AND PERILS IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Presented by Illah Nourbakhsh

K&L Gates Professor of Ethics and Computational Techniques School of Computer Science, CMU and Dr. Jennifer Keating

Senior Lecturer Department of English & Writing in the Disciplines Specialist

On Zoom Send an email to sph@pitt.edu for the link

Our presenters are the authors of “AI and Humanity”, MIT Press 2021, an examination of the implications for society of rapidly advancing artificial intelligence systems, combining a humanities perspective with technical analysis. For some associated video interviews, see the Oral Archive tab of http://aiandhumanity.org. Of special interest for this

We Need Your Help!
We had a wonderful community conversation on Sunday, January 9 about environmental/climate justice. This was following that morning’s worship on the topic which recognized the intersection of climate crisis and racism. We are exploring a congregation-wide one- or two-year focus on environmental justice (climate and justice). This focus would ask all members to spend time on one of four areas: direct action, advocacy, personal and First Unitarian church changes, and education.

Our conversation was deepened because of those who opened their hearts by sharing the grief, despair, and fear they are experiencing, and the need to transform these painful feelings into action for change.

A call was offered for four leaders to prepare the congregation for the vote at the May 22 annual meeting. Two people have offered their expertise. We need two more. Are you someone who wants to offer your passion and wisdom on environmental justice? Let’s talk! Rev. Kate minister@first-unitarian-pgh.org.