This Week on the Peak



This Week on the Peak
Mission Peak UU – Fremont, CA
The Home of Liberal Religion in the Tri-Cities and Beyond!
March 21, 2018
This Sunday’s Service:
21st Century Calling: 
A Commitment To Be Relevant 
We’re moving forward, making the religious experience relevant and nourishing in the 21st century. What’s next on the horizon? What will you bring to the table we share at Mission Peak?

 

Rev Benson will lead the service and assisting will be Worship Associate Megan McMillen. Mark Kahn will provide our music.
Have You Turned In Your Pledge Card?  No? Well, then…. read on:

Your pledge for the work of the congregation is critical to our ability to plan ahead. Please review the pledge guide, reflect, decide what pledge level is a bit of a stretch but doable for you, fill in your pledge card and please, bring it in this Sunday.

 

The annual canvass is everyone’s responsibility. It takes a great deal of time and effort to follow up on those who have yet to pledge, so please, bring in your completed pledge card this Sunday. And thank you to those who have already followed through!
NEW DUE DATE FOR
WEEK ON PEAK AND OOS ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

 

Effective April 3, 2018 the deadline for submitting both Week on Peak and OOS announcements will be Tuesday at 5 p.m.  Thank you in advance for your cooperation with the new time frame for announcements.
A few words from our minister in the interim…

 

Dear Ones,
 
It’s your transition period. We have several months left to this church year, and we have much work–and play ahead, together.
 
If you haven’t purchased tickets for our FUNraiser/fundraiser for MPUUC, with Will Durst (“Durst Case Scenario,” stand-up comedy, April 22, doors open at Niles Discovery Church at 6:30 pm), won’t you do so this week? Buy online mpuuc.org/durst. We want to sell every ticket for the good of the congregation! If you cannot afford to buy a ticket but would like to go, see me soon!
Meanwhile, I’m continuing to do what is possible to do of the work I’m here to do: meeting with some committee chairs and with the Executive Team when meetings are scheduled, attending board meetings (except those in “executive session” of course) and meetings of the Transition Team. I continue to provide, as usual, pastoral care, and prepare worship for most Sundays. And I’m engaged with program development–all part of the minister’s domain.
Be kind to one another even more than usual these days. Change within a transition period can feel especially hard. I hope you see it for what it is: another opportunity! Not everyone thinks the same way about what’s next. Not everyone wants to grow the congregation so you can live more and more into your mission. Not everyone wants to keep the congregation small. Not everyone is clear, yet, what they see into Mission Peak’s future.
Since I arrived I’ve been asking you, How do you want to be? How do you want to be known within and beyond our walls? You are a Unitarian Universalist congregation, not just any old group of people, not a friendship circle or club. What does it mean to be a religious home? What is your part in making Mission Peak strong into its tomorrows? Time to roll up the sleeves (metaphorically and sometimes literally) and work through to your answers.
No survey will do the job on its own-though surveys can give a picture. It’s process, discussion, learning options and reflecting honestly about where your commitments are today, and into next year, and into the future here in Mission Peak? If you’re ready to call a minister or think you are, maybe in your head but your feet are planning to leave the area in a year or two, you won’t be here to support a settled minister, or a full-time minister. Who will? Think it through. Check in with your heart, not just your head, right?
YOU have important discernment work here. C’mon, let’s all do our part!

 

                                                           -Rev Benson

 

 

A Message from Your DRE
Easter Egg Hunt 

 

On
April 1st, CAYRE will host an Easter egg hunt following the service. If you are interested in contributing egg fillers such as candy or stickers please contact a member of CaYRE or drop off contributions in the box in the office labeled “Easter Goodies”. Thank you!

 
“Death of Sunday School” Webinar and Discussion
April 15th 11:30 Room 3/4
Join us as we take a look at the future of RE and what it means to have
Sunday School with the changing dynamics of congregations. This is a great opportunity for parents teachers, and anyone interested in sharing ideas and contributing to the future of Religious Education. Click the link below to read ahead of that day to make the most of the opportunity:
Earth Day Family Movie Night
April 28th 6 pm
Movie:  Wall-e
 
Join us for another free family movie night! In honor of earth day, we will be showing Wall-e. For more information about the movie click here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0910970/

 

Summer Camps
There will be two amazing camps for children this summer! Attend both or choose one! Both will offer experiences they will never forget!
 
UU Mosaic Peace Camp
First Unitarian Church of San Jose
June 18-22
Chalice Camp
First Unitarian Church of Oakland
August 6-10, 2018
 
Registration:
www.chalicecamp.org

YOUNG ADULTS: OWL TRAINING

(Our Whole Lives sexuality training)

UU San Francisco is hosting 4 Young Adult OWL Workshops, a tester to see if we might offer the full curriculum next year. Young adults interested, contact Joe Chapot, UUSF Young Adult Coordinator @ 
youngadults@uusf.org

 

Get Involved: Opportunities for Service
 

 

 

 

An Abode Family:  Baby Shower Time!: We are holding a virtual baby shower for a family recently re-housed by Abode Services. Money we’ve raised will purchase a crib for the newborn!  And, we’re having a baby shower for them:  please bring donations of newborn onesies, diapers, sleepers, baby shampoo, etc. to Mission Peak UU between now and
Sunday, April 1.   If you don’t know what to get or don’t have time to shop, please feel free to donate a Target gift card. This family (mom, dad, and 8 year old daughter) was homeless recently. Whatever you can give will be appreciated!  -Allysson McDonald.

Volunteer Bakers Needed for Will Durst Event
To help raise money for Mission Peak, we will be selling refreshments during intermission at the Will Durst Event on
April 22. We need your baking talents to make sure we have enough goodies to sell. We are expecting 175 people at the event, so we will need a lot of baked goods and several bakers to make them. Please email Ilze Duarte (
ilzeduarte@earthlink.net) as soon as possible to let her know if you can contribute baked goods to the event.

Once a Month, Be Part of Something Special: the
Sunday
Service team!

 

Our services are held in a space that is transformed each
Sunday.  There are a number of opportunities for you to get involved with making our space welcoming and worshipful.

With your involvement, chairs will be set up or put away; hymnals will be set on chairs or put back in the cabinet; people arriving will be greeted and handed an order of service; there will be coffee afterwards.  So, what do you say? This is our shared religious home and we aim to do Sundays well!

Sign up for a monthly assignment or find a friend to share with and each of you serve every other month! Sign up
here

 

 

*
Ask what committees can use new members or specific tasks done: contact Gayle Tupper, Membership or Jen King, Leadership Development

It’s your community. Be a part of it with a little time and talent, too!

 

Right Now:

 

OUR Tri-City Interfaith Council
 
MPUUC is now a member organization. Only individual members can vote and anyone from the congregation may join for a $25 dues, and attend whether a member or not. Rev. Benson is a member. Join in!

 

 

              

*Our friends at Temple Beth Torah will once again host the annual

 

Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day Service:
April 15th at 7:30 pm.  Interfaith participation is in the planning through our TCIC.
 

 

 

                *LGBT tobacco prevention project
:  Contact Tri-City Health Center,  Brian Davis, for more
information. HIV-infected individuals and Trans women on hormones have increased negative health consequences if they smoke. Help with this education project.

 

 

 

 

 

Call your Elected Officials!  

Calls can make a difference! Contact your representatives to alert them to your views!

Congressperson Eric Swalwell 510-247-1388 or go to
house.gov
Ro Khanna  (202) 225-2631
Senator Kamala Harris
(202) 224 – 3553

Senator Diane Feinstein (202) 224-3841

Amazon Smiles:
3x your impact!
From March 12-31, Amazon is tripling the donation rate on your first smile.amazon.com purchase! Go to smile.amazon.com/ch/94-3196344 and Amazon donates to Mission Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation.

 

 

 

 

Save the date:
 
 

 

 

 

 

Join Mission Peak at LEAF Earth Day 2018
LEAF Earth Day 2018 is Sunday, April 22 from 10 am to 3 pm at LEAF Center 36501 Niles Blvd at Nursery Ave California Nursery Historical Park. LEAF’s mission is to promote and teach sustainable agriculture and environmental issues and Earth Day is the perfect day to do this. LEAF will be 
sharing ideas and information
 
about growing healthy food and environmental sustainability 
with our friends, our partners and our community
. LEAF will be selling plants grown in their nursery and honey from their bees, have informative booths with games and/or giveaways,
 live music to sing your heart away and good food to satisfy those hunger pangs. MPUUC will have an informative booth at the event.
 Admission FREE.  Please click here for flyer. 

 

Regional Assembly Delegates Needed

 

If you’ve never attended one, consider taking the opportunity to be with hundreds of other UUs from around the region at the Pacific Western Regional Assembly.  Nothing like getting the feel of our larger UU community, how we’re part of something bigger than just MPUUC!

 

This exciting gathering is coming up in Portland, Oregon
April 27-29. Because of
 the added travel costs for attending, the Pacific Central District is providing funds to each congregation in 
the district to help offset some of the costs.
This year’s theme is
Stories of Hope, Courage, Resistance and Resilience. One of the featured speakers is
Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, the new president of the UUA. Complete information and schedule is available at
https://www.uua.org/pacific-western
Mission Peak is entitled to 3 delegates (in addition to our ministers who are automatically delegates). If you think you might be interested in attending let Holly Ito or President Michealle Havenhill know.

Also, if you’re not already receiving the regional newsletter, you can go to this same website to signup.

 

 

 

 

Courageous Love article in the Tri-City Voice AGAIN!
The article about the Courageous Love Award is in the paper again this week!  It is now “above the fold” in Section 1, Page 7.  I guess someone decided its location in the Home and Garden section last week was a bit odd (well, we do have a garden!), so they moved it and printed it again… with a bigger photo.
Nice to have some publicity about our congregation and Side With Love.

 

STAY CONNECTED:
Mission Peak UU | 2950 Washington Blvd Fremont CA | 510.252.1477 | missionpeakuu.org