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Mission Peak UU – Fremont, CA
The Home of Liberal Religion in the Tri-Cities and Beyond!
June 5, 2019
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Ministerial Musings
Greetings to you on these beautiful sunshine days we’re having! It is lovely to enjoy this beautiful weather and yet, I hold in my heart all the teachers in the New Haven District who are still on strike at this writing. My prayers are being sent that they receive a good contract and that this can be resolved. I know how difficult it is to be on strike and as a former teacher, I know how much it pains them to not be with their students right now. Let us all send good thoughts their way.
We’re beginning to near the end of the church year and so much is happening that we’re having a hard time fitting it all in. We have so much to be grateful for as a congregation. We have passed a budget and you all have been so generous in your support of this congregation and its mission! We will have a Bridging Service this Sunday to watch our youth enter young adulthood in the Unitarian Universalist tradition. We have two more 25th anniversary celebrations, one the end of this month at the camp out and our ending potluck to start off the new church year next September. We have many moments to be together and to enjoy each other’s company and the faith we share.
I especially want to reiterate that on June 9th after the service we will also be having a potluck that will lead into an Appreciative Inquiry workshop. As your Interim Minister, I have been guiding you through the journey of grieving, of healing, and preparing to transition you all for a new settled minister to come. In attending this workshop, we will be looking at new ways of thinking and looking at the world. Appreciative Inquiry is a way to keep a congregation thriving and recreating itself by its conversations and its stories. We will explore what stories we’ve been telling ourselves and what new stories we can create for a bright new future!
We are created by what we tell ourselves. It will be helpful in becoming more appreciative and grateful and looking at life in a new way. There is a value in knowing how to ask the right questions and in this workshop, we will learn how to ask the right questions in an appreciative way and learn more about how we see ourselves. Hopefully you will leave with a sense of greater curiosity, a sense of wonder and how to express your gratitude more frequently.
I hope as many of you as possible can attend. It could be a transformative moment for you and the congregation.
This Sunday will be my last preaching Sunday until the middle of July. I will be attending General Assembly in Spokane WA which I’m really looking forward to, along with Holly Ito and Allysson McDonald as our delegates! And I will be preaching that Sunday morning at the campout at the end of this month for whomever will be there. I am looking forward to some rest time! As I hope that you all are putting self-care in your calendars! May we enjoy each other’s company during these summer days!
Blessings to you all,
Rev Jo
Please feel free to contact me
By phone: 510-972-3890
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Bridging our Young Adults into the World
Join us this Sunday as we send out the young adults in our congregation into the wider world. Please attend to show them how much we appreciate their presence and support them in their journey through adulthood. Let us endorse and strengthen their act of moving forward and join our courage with theirs to create the world we wish to see.
Leading the service will be Rev. Jo Green and assisting will be Worship Associate Megan McMillen. Jay Steele will provide our music.
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Support Sandwich Squad – Feed the Hungry
Have you ever noticed what happens in the Cole Hall kitchen on the third Sunday of the month? A group of folks – sometimes tweens and teens, young adults, middle, and seniors, gather ’round the table in plastic gloves spreading mayo or pb, dealing out ham and cheese. This is the MPUUC Sandwich Squad taking on hunger in the most direct way!
Our collection this coming Sunday, June 9, 2019, will help them fulfill their mission (and ours).
Everyone is welcome to join in the fun – in fact it has been our most successful “Meetup Group”, attracting newcomers interested in community service . But they don’t just make sandwiches- they build community! If you’re ever feeling lonely, it’s a great way to get to know some other folks around here. Don Ramie has for years volunteered to drop the results of their efforts off for distribution during the week, and now he is also the coordinator who buys the supplies. If you have any questions, ask Don! Please give generously to keep this program going year ’round.
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Workshop on June 9th after Sunday Service and Potluck
Facilitated by Rev. Jo Green
On June 9th, after the service we will be having a potluck that will lead into an Appreciative Inquiry workshop. As your Interim Minister, I have been guiding you through the journey of grieving, of healing, and preparing to transition you all for a new settled minister to come. In attending this workshop, we will be looking at new ways of thinking and looking at the world.
Appreciative Inquiry is a way to keep a congregation thriving and recreating itself by its conversations and its stories. It will be helpful in becoming more appreciative and grateful and looking at life in a new way. It is a process that you can apply and look back on in the future and use in any walk of life. There is a value in knowing how to ask the right questions and in this workshop, we will learn how to ask the right questions in an appreciative way. We will learn from each other and hopefully leave with a greater curiosity, a new way of seeing, and a sense of wonder, knowing the direction of this congregation.
This is a workshop that will help prepare you to search for your next settled minister.
I strongly encourage all members to attend as this is how we can determine which next minister in search will be the best fit.
If your last name begins with: A through D – Please bring a Salad, E through H – Please
bring a Side Dish, I through K – bring a main dish or casserole, L through N – Please bring drinks or ice, P through T – Please bring Dessert, and U through Z – Please bring Chips.
We will have childcare available if needed, but we will need advance notice to accommodate you.
Please contact me at minister@mpuuc.org or 510-792-3890 if childcare is needed by June 6th so that we can make arrangements.
Blessings to you all,
Rev Jo
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Children & Youth Religious Education (CaYRE)
CaYRE’s summer program starts June 16th. All children and youth may find a member sharing their passion, a fun craft to make or an exciting game to play. It will be a fun summer filled with social time with all participants meeting in room 1. Nursery care will continue to be offered.
We are taking signups for teachers and assistants. This summer it’s teacher’s choice: Share your passion what ever it may be or get into the fun with a game day! Please sign up using our google form https://tinyurl.com/yy8wgeoa or on the poster in Cole Hall.If you have any questions, please contact us at cayre@mpuuc.org.
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REVERSING GLOBAL WARMING:
INTRODUCTION TO DRAWDOWN
I’d like to invite you to a workshop about a new way of engaging with global warming. Like me, you might feel confused about the best way to help, guilty that you are not doing more, or even wondering if it’s too late anyway. I’m excited to share with you an approach to global warming that has given me optimism and focus!
The approach is described in the book “Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming” which shows the results of 5 years of rigorous scientific research on the 100 most substantive, already existing solutions for addressing global warming. The solutions were identified and studied by a group of 200 researchers and other experts from 22 countries led by author, environmentalist, and entrepreneur Paul Hawken. The results reveal astounding news: it is possible not just to slow global warming, but to start reversing it by 2050! Reversal begins when concentrations of climate warming gases in the atmosphere begin a “drawdown” trajectory.
The workshop will occur Saturday June 15th 10am – 12pm in Ockerman 7/8 (where our adjacent Methodist Church socializes after services). It will include an introduction to Project Drawdown and the Pachamama Alliance (the workshop creator), an opportunity to reflect on how we have been relating to global warming, a video of Paul Hawken explaining the Project Drawdown plan, and a group discussion on what we may want to do to participate. The workshop will also describe the 5-session follow-on course that is currently being piloted around the country.
Please RSVP by emailing me, Jeff Goby, at jgoby@hotmail.com.
Snacks will be served. I hope you can join!
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Support the Proposed Housing Navigation Center in Niles
James Thomas of the Niles Discovery Church is asking for our support for a very good cause. Niles Discovery Church is proposing to build a Housing Navigation Center that will help the homeless who have jobs but cannot otherwise afford housing. It would not be a homeless shelter per se. From an NBCBayArea.com news story dated May 7, 2019:
“The idea is to put up modular buildings on an open field owned by a church and create a 24/7 navigation center to help the homeless get into housing.
The city of Fremont wants to get people out of RVs and tents and into stable housing, which is why it’s negotiating with Niles Discovery Church to convert the grassy lot into a temporary home for 45 people. The navigation center would be run by an outside agency and offer showers, meals and beds, along with substance abuse and mental health services.
The navigation center would house people for six months and be modeled after a successful center in Berkeley.”
More than 1,000 people have signed an online petition expressing concerns for a variety of reasons. Vocal opponents have been emailing city council members and plan to show up at the upcoming city council meetings to voice their opposition to the center.
If members of MPUUC wish to support the efforts of Niles Discovery Church, they can email city council members and attend the June 11 and June 18 city council meetings. The issue is likely to be on the agenda at the June 18 meeting, but you can show your support at any meeting by speaking during the public comment period. If you do not wish to speak, you can stand in support when Judy Zlatnick speaks — email her to let her know you plan to attend:
jzlatnik@yahoo.com.
Here’s a sample email to Fremont City Council members. Please modify as you see fit:
Dear Fremont City Council Members,
I would like to express my support as a long-time Fremont resident for the Niles Discovery Church Housing Navigation Center project. This project will not be a homeless shelter but rather a means for those homeless people who work but are unable to find housing without such a program. This will not ruin the cozy neighborhood feel of the Niles area. I wouldn’t want that, I love visiting Niles for the lovely shops, dining and community events. But the city as a whole and Niles specifically already has a homeless problem and we are ignoring it instead of trying to help. Niles Discovery Church is trying to take a compassionate but practical approach and they need our support.
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Spiritual Literacy
To see a world in a grain of sand
and a heaven in a wild flower
To hold infinity in the palm of your
hand and eternity in an hour.
– William Blake
The Spiritual Literacy Group is looking for 1 or 2 more members. What, you might ask, is Spiritual Literacy?
From ancient times, people have searched for the sacred in everyday life. Medieval Catholic monks called it “reading the book of the world.” Muslims suggest that everything that happens outside and inside us is a letter to be read.
The group meets twice a month, on a Sunday evening, at John and Jackie Porter’s apartment, to share soup and bread, and to explore Spiritual Literacy. Each week we view a half-hour video on an aspect of spirituality and then discuss it. Before the next session we focus on that aspect of spirituality, things like “attention,” “beauty,” and “compassion.”
For information call John or Jackie Porter (510.744.1587), or any of the group’s members: Holly Ito, Linda Messia, Jo Ann Schriner, and Elke Gunn.
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WE NEED VOLUNTEERS!!
We NEED your help!?? Cole Hall does not magically transform into a special place for our services each Sunday.?? It requires a small army of volunteers.?? We’ve had a few ‘retirements’ lately and we have some spots
to fill.?? PLEASE let Jen King know if you can fill in for any of the following:
URGENT: We have no one to do set-up for the 2nd Sunday of each month!
We also need people for the following:
Additional Set-up assistance for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Sundays of each month
Additional Greeter for the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month
PPT Clickers & AV Technicians for ALL SUNDAYS (We will train you! We
promise!)
Additional Take-down assistance for the 2nd Sunday of each month.
You can sign up on an ongoing basis for the Sunday’s indicated above by contacting Jen King, or you can sign up on and ad hoc basis by following this link:
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General Assembly
General Assembly is the annual business meeting of our
denomination, and it’s a whole lot more. Inspirational
worship services, informative workshops, entertaining
programs, and a bustling exhibit hall help make GA an
unforgettable experience for the thousands of Unitarian
Universalists that attend. Attendees leave with a renewed
sense of energy, inspiration, and innovative ideas to take
back to their congregations and communities.
DATE:
Wednesday, June 19 through Sunday, June 23, 2019
LOCATION:
Spokane, Washington: A place of opportunity,
discovery and beauty. Spokane is a gathering place
where accessibility, pace, history and hospitality conspire
to make an original city experience both manageable
and delightful. The Spokane region is the gateway for
adventure and exploration in the Intermountain Northwest.
Located driving distance from Glacier National Park and
Yellowstone, Spokane is nestled in natural beauty.
Please click here for more information
** Our Congregational delegates are Holly Ito and Allysson McDonald and our ministers are automatic delegates.
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| Celebrating Mission Peak’s 25th Anniversary – Save These Dates!! |
2019 marks 25 years of MPUUC’s existence as a congregation and we think that’s a milestone worth celebrating. We will have many different celebrations throughout the year. Please reserve the following dates on your calendar now. You won’t want to miss them!
June 28-30 – MPUUC’s annual Campout!
Spring has sprung and Summer is right around the corner. This year’s Congregational Camp Out will be June 28-30 at Chabot Regional Park. We have room for up to 50 campers. Overnight Camping is available for one or two nights (tents only). In addition we have lots of activities and
a Potluck BBQ and Campfire planned on Saturday for those who would like to just come for the day. Sign-ups will be available after services over the coming month. The cost is $20 for one night of camping (per family), $30 for two nights camping (per family), or $5 per person for day use. Signing up will help us plan food, events, and parking. Carpooling is encouraged as parking is limited. More detailed information will be sent out closer to the dates. If you have any
questions, please contact Jen King.
September 8 – 25th Anniversary Picnic Celebration
– After the annual Water Ceremony at Cole Hall we will gather at one of the reserved picnic areas at Lake Elizabeth for a Picnic/BBQ celebration. We will have games for the kids, a jam session & sing-a-long, and other fun activities. Come join us and enjoy hanging out with friends & family and celebrating MPUUC.
[More details regarding these events will follow closer to the dates. If you have questions or suggestions for additional events or you want to help with an event, please contact Jen King].
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Turning Love Into Justice:
The Tri-City Interfaith Council (tcicouncil.weebly.com) is a grass-roots organization bringing together people of diverse religious beliefs from Fremont, Newark, and Union City (California). Rev. Jo Green, Rev. Barbara Meyers and Paul K. Davis are members. Join in!
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
Senator Kamala Harris
(202) 224 – 3553
Senator Diane Feinstein (202) 224-3841
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Mission Peak UU | 2950 Washington Blvd Fremont CA | 510.252.1477 | missionpeakuu.org
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