The Chalice – February 2025

From Your Board President

“Hope is a thing with feathers

That perches in the soul —

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops — at all.”

— Emily Dickinson

Hope, a four-letter word that means so much. Personally, I anticipate an early spring. Hope is a powerful and uplifting emotion that can bring us comfort, strength, and resilience. It is the light that guides us through challenging times and helps us look forward to a brighter future.

What do you hope for? As for me, it is the strength to be persistent. Persistence pays. As president, I plan to persevere and stand up for our principles. I believe in these principles.

Many blessings,

Jerrod Whitman

CUC National Voice Statement

 

The CUC has issued a statement on affirming transgender and non-binary communities. 

The statement starts: As Canadian Unitarian Universalists, we are deeply concerned by recent actions in the United States that undermine the rights and dignity of transgender and nonbinary individuals. The Executive Orders issued on January 20, 2025, which limit federal recognition to only two sexes and dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, represent a significant setback for human rights and equality.

In response, we reaffirm our continued support for transgender and nonbinary people, both within our congregations and in the broader society. We recognize and honour the full spectrum of gender identities and expressions, understanding that each person’s identity is valid and deserving of respect.

See the full statement on the CUC Website

 

Community Involvement Opportunity

Please join me in supporting the Coldest Night of the Year (CNOY) walk to raise money to help people experiencing homelessness.   In London, we raise money for Mission Services London who run two emergencies shelters.   We do this by seeking sponsors for a walk on February 22.

There are two ways you can support this effort. Sign up to walk and collect sponsors. Or donate money by sponsoring someone who is walking.  

Click on this link: https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/TeamFundraisingPage.aspx?teamID=1028569&langPref=en-CA to join the Unitarian Fellowship of London team.

Once you sign up you’ll get your own website through which you can email friends and family and invite them to sponsor you.   You’ll also get paper forms if you want to get sponsors the old fashioned way through cash or cheque collected in person. 

You’ll notice that you can also donate through this site to sponsor the team rather than an individual walker.   

The walk isn’t too long.  You can sign up for 2 km or 5 km.  If you can’t make the walk on February 22, you can walk your own route on another day.

I hope some of you will join me on the walk!I will be your team captain, so if you have any questions I can help you out.   

Kristin Kumpf

A Use For Your Milk Bags

If you are new to our Unitarian Universalist faith community and wondering what’s with people carrying in all those milk bags on a Sunday morning and depositing them into the labelled cardboard box sitting on the wheelchair in the cloakroom, stay tuned!

Reflect on Tim Cook’s, “The Ripple Effect – Be the pebble in the pond that creates the ripple for change.”  Unitarian Universalists are mindful of how everything is interconnected.  Every small part fits into the whole.

Bill Ratcliffe’s cousin has been organizing the weaving of mats for a number of years, as part of a larger project of the Rotary Club of Grand Bend called the Global Literacy  Program.  Our UU Congregation has been involved for about six years.

One way to reduce global plastic pollution is to stop discarding our large milk bags.  These milk bags can be reused to make useful woven mats.  Just to clarify, the milk bags are the large ones with print on the outside and not the three small clear ones inside.  It is important that they not be scrunched up but clean, dry and flattened for easy processing.

The collected bags are woven into mats by several women in the area of St. Joseph, Ontario, a small hamlet, north of Grand Bend.  The process consists of consecutive steps.  First the bags are flattened and inspected.  The bags are then cut into strips to be woven into mats on homemade looms.  Each mat uses 140-150 milk bags, depending on the thickness of the mat. When there is a shipping container full of mats and various literacy materials, it is sent to  destinations in Africa such as Uganda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana and Rwanda.  The mats are used on the ground, in schools and at home, to reduce parasitic infections.   The containers are then repurposed into school classrooms and libraries.

For the last year or so, the mats are also used by  people who are homeless, in South-Western Ontario.  Due to  this development, the completed mats are equally distributed between the two programs.

We would like to thank all of you who have continued to collect milk bags over the years, and have dropped them off in the designated box at the Meeting House Cloak Room, at our residence or have requested a pick up.  For those who are interested in starting to collect milk bags, please contact Linda and Bill Ratcliffe at 519-471-7500 or at wratcliffe@sympatico.ca, with any questions that you may have.

This is one small effort that we can easily do that reverberates here in South-Western  Ontario, as well as, across the world.

In closing, thank you again to all of our long time milk bag collectors and welcome to our new ones.  Your caring and commitment are greatly appreciated.

Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.

In gratitude,

Linda and Bill Ratcliffe

Sunday Services

February 2025

A UU Steward: To be or Not To Be…

Worship Leader: Bill Ratcliffe

Potluck Lunch Sunday: Please bring a food item to share and build our UU Faith Community.

To be a UU steward is to care for that which is worthy and matters to our Unitarian Universalist faith community. Strive to be a steward from a place of abundance which transforms your generosity into caring for our beloved community. 

02 Feb
10:45 am - 11:45 am
Unitarian Fellowship of London
557 Clarke Road,London, ON N5V 2E1

In Praise of Unitarian Universalism

Worship Leader: Bob Harrington

To my mind  our religion of Unitarian Universalism  presents us with  the highest and most beautiful philosophy that can be imagined.  To understand it fully takes more than a lifetime and its riches are constantly unfolding new wonders as the truth seeker delves ever more deeply into its mysteries.  It is a journey of an ever changing and maturing perspective as our inner eye dives into the very essence of our existence.   It is a journey of a pilgrim as the impenetrable inner darkness breaks down and releases its surprises.  

09 Feb
10:45 am - 11:45 am
Unitarian Fellowship of London
557 Clarke Road,London, ON N5V 2E1

We All Belong!

Preacher: Rev. Samaya Oakley

Worship Leader: Laura-Beth Falter

This service will feature a sermon delivered by the Reverend Samaya Oakley as part of the Meaning Making Series.  Rev. Oakley, who currently serves as the Minister for the Calgary Unitarians, will dig deeper into practicing Radical Hospitality.

Recently Reverend Oakley helped to coordinate the CUC’s Widening the Circle program that invites leaders and aspiring change-makers to engage with the work of finding new ways of being together that challenge our current ways of thinking.

The February 23 service will include both live and recorded elements as we explore the UU theology that calls us to be active agents for love and justice in the world.

23 Feb
10:45 am - 11:45 am
Unitarian Fellowship of London
557 Clarke Road,London, ON N5V 2E1
No event found!

Upcoming Events

women's lunch table

Soup Siblings’ Luncheon

Join us on the second Monday of the month at Edgar and Joe’s at the Goodwill downtown at 255 Horton St. Don't worry about arriving late; just come in and join our table.(Note: Goodwill offers senior discounts in their store this day.)

10 Feb
12:00 pm
Edgar and Joe’s at the Goodwill Downtown
255 Horton St
Indian food on a table

UFL’s Men’s Lunch group

A warm welcome is extended to men within our Congregation who would like to join other Unitarian Universalist men for food and conversation on Monday, February 17 at 1:00 pm., at the Family Circle Restaurant, at 147 Wellington St. London.

The UU Men's Lunch Group meets monthly for lunch, on the third Monday. The normal attendance is 5-8 men.  A warm welcome awaits you.

Tom Orchard, (tomjoyorchard@gmail.com) emails members of the group the week before the monthly lunch, to determine who will be attending. You may contact Tom Orchard, if you have any questions. Hope to see you at the next lunch.

17 Feb
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Unitarian Fellowship of London
557 Clarke Road,London, ON N5V 2E1

UFL Book Club

The UFL Book Club has been around for 38 or 39 years, just slightly more than half of the UFL's existence. The UFL Book Club meets on the third Tuesday of the month from 2-4 pm. Our February meeting will be on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, 2-4 pm, via Zoom.

The January book for reading and discussion was 'The Personal Librarian' by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. We had our first Zoom meeting for our 2024-2025 UFL Book Club year. Most liked the book and there was much discussion, much of which was related to the recent USA election.

Our February book is ‘Right to be Cold:  One Woman’s Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic and The Whole Planet’ by Sheila Watt-Cloutier. Copies of it from the Book Club in a Bag have been  distributed to seven members. There are still two books left in the Book Club in a Bag bag, so if you’re a member of the UFL Book Club and need a copy please contact Alice Wehlau (see below).

If you are interested in joining the UFL Book Club please contact me, Alice Wehlau, the coordinator of the UFL Book Club. I hope to hear from you. My contact information is in the weekly email

18 Feb
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Online

UFL Movie Night – The Last Waltz

Please join us for UFL Movie Night. This month’s movie will be The Last Waltz

From IMDB:Thanksgiving, 1976, San Francisco's Winterland: the Band performs its last concert after 16 years on the road. Some numbers they do alone, some songs include guest artists from Ronnie Hawkins (their first boss, when they were the Hawks) to Bob Dylan (their last, when as his backup and as a solo group, they came into their own). Scorsese's camera explores the interactions onstage in the making of music. Offstage, he interviews the Band's five members, focusing on the nature of life on the road. The friendships, the harmonies, the hijinks, and the wear and tear add up to a last waltz.

Pizza, popcorn and drinks will be provided. It should be a fun time so please come out to see it! Doors open at 5:30 and the movie will start at 6:00pm. Movie is rated PG.

22 Feb
5:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Unitarian Fellowship of London
557 Clarke Road,London, ON N5V 2E1
No event found!