08/02/2022 by Shannon Day

Accessing Workshops Offered at GA 2022

Workshops offered at GA and how to access them: Many UUs from across the country and world generously shared their knowledge and experience with other UUs as part of scheduled or on-demand workshops. Some are available online now, and others will become available in mid-September. All relate to our faith and/or church operations in some way. Topics include right relations, stewardship, music, religious exploration, and many more. The three workshops I attended during GA were excellent, and the others probably would be too. To find a workshop that fits your (or your committee’s) interests: First, look through pp. 23–48 of

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07/21/2022 by Shannon Day

Overall Impressions of GA from Westside’s Delegate

By Kerrie Schurr, GA Delegate Overall Impressions of GA:The pandemic has been hard on people, as acknowledged multiple times during GA:Moderator Charles DuMond described himself as “crispy”— he has more anxiety, fatigue,and irritability than prior to the pandemic. We were advised to be kind when speaking to eachother and to ask ourselves whether our words were necessary and ours to say (good advice forWSUU!). Other speakers said there is no such thing as “going back to normal,” and that weshould plan on having members who never set foot in churches—online is here to stay. President Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray’s address (36

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07/12/2022 by Shannon Day

News from General Assembly 2022

by Kerrie Schurr, WSUU Delegate I am happy to report that my attendance at General Assembly (GA, the annual convention of UUs from around the world) in late June, was a very positive experience. I went into it feeling somewhat disconnected and discouraged about the state of our church and pandemic life in general, and not exactly looking forward to the business sessions. But the business sessions were streamlined from past years and downright pleasant, and the worship services and workshops I attended (all virtually) were wonderfully inspirational and/or informative. I found that other UUs are also struggling with life

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12/01/2021 by Shannon Day

Help Identify our 2022 GA Delegates!

General Assembly (GA) is the annual meeting of our Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). Participants worship, witness, learn, connect, and make policy for the Association through democratic process. It will be June 22 – 26 and it will be both online and in-person in Portland, Oregon. Anyone may attend! Delegates vote on our behalf, but everyone is encouraged to attend GA! Information about financial aid can be found here. Our GA Delegate Policy, which was new and improved last year, charges the Nominating Committee with presenting the congregation with a slate of Delegates to vote on. This replaces the informal policy

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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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06/09/2021 by Shannon Day

Westside Conversations for Connection- BIPOC Series open for Registration

All Westside members are invited to participate in the new Westside Conversations for Connection program, a three-session listening and conversation series designed to give members an opportunity to feel heard and to renew and/or form connections with others in small groups. The program aspires to achieve these goals by: Encouraging members to share their stories and experiences of our congregational community in a small-group facilitated setting.  Connecting members with each other across existing congregational and affinity groups in structured formats with sequential questions (one question per session). Prioritizing the opportunity for congregants to experience intimacy and cultivation of trust in

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05/12/2021 by Shannon Day

Let’s Celebrate Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans.

The Asian country of the Philippines is my heritage and I invite you to join with me this month to celebrate Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans. From Asian Americans or Pacific Islander Americans, each week in May I’ll offer links to book reading, podcast, music, poetry, film, panel or art. Questions? Contact WSUU member, Roseanne Lorenzana, roseanne.wsuu@gmail.com Hawaiian-born Shimabukuro has virtually reinvented the instrument, causing many to call him “the Jimi Hendrix of the ukulele.” View  here (2 minutes)  and  here (7 minutes). Poems from a father, a refugee from Vietnam, an activist resisting the invisibility of the Asian American urban poor. Bao

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03/03/2021 by Shannon Day

The Shared Pulpit Series

You have a story. Each of our stories is part of a larger narrative of being human in this world, in this time. One of the most powerful spiritual practices we have is in the sharing of our stories and reflecting on the ways those stories awaken us to love, illuminate our humanity, connect us to the holy and ineffable—and common—experience of life. We invite you to join Rev. Christopher for a Shared Pulpit Workshop Series, which will guide you in developing your story into a sermon and worship experience that you can share with the congregation. Using a series

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05/20/2020 by Shannon Day

Changes in Congregational Care Clusters – Thomas Terence and Jade Lowry

Many thank you’s to our Cluster Facilitators, who have helped us to connect and support one another as we transitioned into the new normal of pandemic world. We set up these clusters as an emergency measure to hold the community and focus on care, and they have been serving their purpose. Now we are in a place of needing to set ourselves up for a long haul. Our journey ahead has many unknowns. Given the generally good place we are in now with the health and well-being of most of our congregants, our care needs are actually more about social

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02/26/2020 by Shannon Day

Budget Development, 2020-2021 – Opportunity for Input

The Finance Committee will soon prepare a draft budget for the Board of Trustees. The budget will reflect our estimates of recurring costs, some discretionary changes such as salary increases, and will attach a list of all requested changes submitted to us. Our draft budget will reflect the Board’s guidance to keep it flat yet open to strategical priorities. As those of you who attended the midyear update learned, next year will have higher costs, primarily due to a full-time called minister, inflation and staff salaries. We have been stashing unanticipated income in a special account to help us meet

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