Evensong Service on Optimism
Worship Leader: Lori Otte
I hope everyone has had a pleasant summer. I know some of us are still in summer mode, and we are often blessed with sunshine and reasonable temperatures throughout September.
This fall, the UFL will present an invigorating selection of meaningful, educational and maybe even fun events for our social, personal and spiritual benefit. I hope you can join us as we celebrate 70 years of active participation in the London community. One of our committee members is researching the congregation’s history, and will present a brief synopsis at our Sept. 10 celebration service. Join us that day for a pot-luck lunch, encouraging talks, special guests, lots of conversation and some special presentations.
Your Board of Trustees has been meeting regularly throughout the summer, mixing social and business concerns. I’m pleased to say we have a wealth of talent and experience on hand, and we’re aided by fantastic groups of volunteers, all in service of our purpose and principles. Join us online or in person for our Sept. 24 town hall, when we’ll discuss progress on our relocation assessment project, and garner members’ ideas for continued progress.
I’ve occasionally mentioned my visits to UU congregations in other centres, and was recently made aware of the innovative progress achieved by the First Unitarian Society in Minneapolis. Established in 1881, they claim to be the first humanist Unitarian congregation in the US. They scored a great ID for their web site: firstunitarian.org. Their goals are similar to ours, and their approach is entirely humanistic. I hope to visit that congregation some day, and encourage you to visit other UU congregations if you visit different cities.
See you in September!
Well, I am back in school at a serious pace. 3 courses – social activism, pastoral formation, and the gospel of Matthew. Great profs and looking forward to getting started following the first week’s talks about flow and introductions. I am very excited to get going yet I enjoyed having the month of August off from school.
This month’s theme is hospitality. I cannot tell you how excited we are about the garden dedications and the 70th anniversary celebration on September 10, 2023. Please try to come personally if you are able and feel comfortable. It will be a short service followed by a potluck lunch with cake. The flower garden will be dedicated to the memory of Drs. Bill and Amelia Wehlau and the vegetable garden will be dedicated to Allan Grose who will be attending!
Lots of plans are underway for the September – June year. Worship Weavers has a great lineup till December and the Religious Exploration Program will be underway formally in October. Thanks to all for their contributions
Adult RE is planning a sermon-writing class this year, and more news will follow.
The COM (Communications, Outreach, and Membership) is well underway and you will notice a new presence on Facebook. Our posts will be done by Suzanah and we owe her many thanks along with other members who will keep our media up to date. Jennifer will do the website, and Ann will do the Meetup page. I will try to forward special days of the month in the Chalice and also filter interesting things from Facebook affiliations with other UU organizations and the CUC.
Thank you to all the volunteers who keep our fellowship running smoothly. It is a lot of work and we thank you for your efforts! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
“Hospitality should have no other nature than love.”
– Henrietta Mears
“Hospitality means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines.”
– Henri J.M. Nouwen
“True hospitality is marked by an open response to the dignity of each and every person.”
– KathleenNorris
“There is no hospitality like understanding.”
– Vanna Bonta
“A soul of hospitality and a heart of humanity is a house of love, peace, freedom, liberty, and justice.”
– Auliq Ice
On August 13, Lorraine Thomson led us through creating zen tangles! Take a look at the results.
Thanks Lorraine for the fun activity!
Please see this attached report from Bill Ratcliffe on the pride celebrations committee: 2023 PCC Congregational Report
Worship Leader: Lori Otte
Worship Leader: Laura Beth
Join the UFL to help us celebrate our 70th anniversary. Guest speakers will highlight the UFL then and now. The Caring Team will present updated volumes of the memorial books. Our short service will be followed by a potluck lunch and a garden dedication.
Worship Leader: Bob Harrington
Each of us, according to the philosophy of the eastern mystics, is an embodiment of intense bliss energy but the strings of thought that dangle from that inner reality have been entangled in knots to such an extent that we have lost sight of it. Every now and then we manage to untangle one or two knots and have experienced a bliss which gives direction and purpose to our lives.
The practice of hospitality helps us to renew our outlook on life and entertain unfamiliar ideas and concepts that can help us untangle a few more knots.
Julie Andrew’s song may help us with this; you know the song about a deer, a female deer and a drop of golden sun
Worship Leader: Rev. Linda Thompson
The Unitarian Fellowship of London is a unique community, a local expression of Unitarian Universalism. You know and love this community. But, what, at is most essential is it, or any other congregation?
Please plan to stay after the service for a congregational meeting. This townhall will be a chance for you to express what you feel the congregation needs from it's space.
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, September 18 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. We have been trying different restaurants over the last year or so. We are returning to the Family Circle Restaurant until a decision can be made on the regular site, as well as, the day of the month and time of the day. Try to make this lunch so that as many as possible will be a part of this decision.
As a reservation is made for each lunch, please email Tom Orchard. <tomjoyorchard@gmail.com>, if you plan to attend. Tom Orchard emails members of the group the week before the monthly lunch, to determine who will be attending. You may contact Tom Orchard or Bill Ratcliffe, wratcliffe@sympatico.ca, if you have any questions. Hope to see you at the next lunch.