10/27/2021 by Shannon Day

Board Update for October 2021

Dear WSUU Friends, The board continues to be busy with several different projects and we are pleased to provide an update. We met this past Thursday and talked about many things, include revisiting COVID policies and discussing the future of RE programs in light of staff changes. As you probably read in last week’s Westside Week, we agreed to plan for in-person worship at WSUU beginning on December 5.  We are deeply grateful for the work of the COVID Task Force (Liz Berggren, Jill Jackson, Amanda Maier, and Chris Hollinger), who have spent many hours reviewing safety guidelines and public

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09/21/2021 by Shannon Day

September Update from Board of Trustees

Dear Westside Community, We are writing to update you regarding one aspect of our board work.  The board is responsible for supervision of our minister, Reverend Christopher. As we self-organize to cover the different board roles and responsibilities, we have designated two board members to be the leads for this function: Laura Pierce and Marco Deppe. We recognize that it may not be obvious how concerns related to staff should be handled, and that without formal channels for feedback, concerns can fester or lead to gossip rather than resolution. The managerial structure of our congregation is that Rev. Christopher is

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09/20/2021 by Shannon Day

General Assembly 2021 Highlights

What is the UUA? https://www.uua.org/about The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is the big umbrella organization for UUs in the U.S. Its membership includes 1,000+ congregations committed to our UU principles; however, each congregation is autonomous—its individual congregational leaders set their own priorities and choose their own ministers and staff. Congregations select delegates who then vote for the leaders of the UUA. The UUA supports congregations by training ministers, publishing books and the UU World magazine, providing religious education curricula, offering shared services, coordinating social justice activities, and more. What is GA? https://www.uua.org/ga. GA is the annual gathering of Unitarian Universalists, where we do the business of the UUA, explore our faith, and lean into

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09/15/2021 by Shannon Day

White Center Food Bank Volunteer Opportunity

As part of our Beloved Connections work, WSUU volunteers have pitched in at the White Center Food Bank (WCFB) three times over the summer months. We packed grocery bags of food for distribution, helped with in-person distribution, and worked in the warehouse sorting and storing food. In our most recent effort, six WSUU volunteers packed 1,350 pounds of food and had fun while doing so.WCFB’s mission is to “Minimize hunger while nourishing community, nurturing self-reliance and embracing our rich cultural diversity.” They strive to distribute culturally appropriate food in a dignified and respectful manner.Starting Thursday, October 7, and every first

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09/08/2021 by Shannon Day

A new year of Common Quest!

What gifts might you bring? What gifts might you welcome?As we move into another exciting year at Westside, we need your help in replenishing our pool of opportunities to grow in spirit and learn in community with one another, a program we call Common Quest (CQ). The offerings provided through Common Quest are designed to encourage a deepening of spiritual maturity and support Unitarian Universalist faith formation in adults. What kinds of programs would you like to offer? What would you like to see offered? In the past Westside members have enjoyed programs on developing spiritual practices, on UU history

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09/08/2021 by Shannon Day

Westside Conversations for Connection to continue in October

This October, WSUU will be offering Conversations for Connection, a series of three 90-minute virtual conversations that offer Westside congregants the opportunity to feel heard and to renew and/or form connections with others in a small group.  This program gives participants a way to experience intimacy and cultivation of trust in conversation groups during this time when we have limited options to be together in person. This summer, the pilot round of the Conversations for Connection program took place, involving 22 participants in three groups. The overwhelming feedback from these groups affirmed the importance of the program goals of deep

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09/02/2021 by Shannon Day

Small Group Gatherings and the Coronavirus 9.2.21

One of the questions that folks have been asking as they’ve been processing the congregation’s decision to postpone re-opening Sunday morning worship through September (read the announcement), is how do these changes in guidelines affect small groups, and particularly groups meeting in peoples’ homes? I know in the spring and summer it felt like such a joy for vaccinated folks to start to gather, unmasked in each others’ homes. I loved so much being able to be in some of your homes, on your patios, offering and receiving hugs for the first time in over two years. Unfortunately what we’ve

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08/25/2021 by Shannon Day

WSUU Board Retreat Update

by Jim Schlough, Board Treasurer August 22, 2021 The recently elected Board of Trustees of our church got together last Sunday for a daylong retreat. We have an entirely new board of five people this year and, although many of us have served previously on other non-profit boards, we want to determine how we can best serve the specific needs and hopes of our beloved WSUU community. We also want to express gratitude for the guidance we have already received from last year’s board members.Let me remind you who we are: Kristina Darnell, president; Marco Deppe, vice-president; Laura White, secretary; Jim Schlough,

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08/18/2021 by Shannon Day

WSUU COVID Guidelines

September 1, 2021 Love of community, safety, and accessibility are our primary goals for our beloved spiritual home. We celebrate all those involved in nurturing our community virtually and in person. General Guidelines on Church Property Inside and Outside Masks are required in all indoor WSUU church spaces unless you are a vaccinated staff member working alone or with other employees, a young child under 2 years of age and/or those who cannot wear a mask due to a health or accessibility need. Masks are optional outside the building for vaccinated persons. All unvaccinated persons should wear a mask unless

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07/21/2021 by Shannon Day

Notes from Rev. Margo Rinehart’s sermon, Spiritual Maturity

a sermon by Rev. Margo Rinehart In her sermon for the July 11 worship service, Rev. Margo referenced the writing of UU minister Rev. Kendyl Gibbons on the topic of cultivating spiritual maturity. Here are the five points on the journey that she described: 1) Developing self-awareness in the service of intention – pay attention to the impact of your actions, understanding where you end and the rest of the universe or another person begins.  2) Choosing an orientation toward reverence and gratitude – treat our very existence and consciousness as an object of reflection, a source of wonder and

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