eNews For Thursday, February 29

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View this email in your browser eNews for Thursday, February 29 Worship Matters We will gather online via Zoom and in person this Sunday, March 3, to worship with Rev. Drew Frantz, who will present "Personal Transformation." The Zoom call starts at 10:00am for social time, and the service starts at 10:30am.   "Within each of us is the power to be introspective, to see the patterns in our life and make changes in order to be our best selves. This kind of transformation is a matter of peeling away the old self – the facade we have created in reaction to the world – and allowing our authentic self to emerge. Like the transition from caterpillar to butterfly, the changes we can effect in ourselves are as deep as our blood and bones." Zoom Invitation for Sunday Service: Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 402489218 One tap mobile +16468769923,,402489218# Phone - audio only +1 646 876 9923 Upcoming Services March 3 - Personal Transformation March 10 - A Changing World March Religious Education Classes March 3 - Birdhouses into Bird Homes  In this class we will be decorating the birdhouses the UU kids made for our feathery friends!  March 10 - Ramadan and Flowers Come learn about the sacred practice of Ramadan. Our kids will learn to transform the space around them and to build a beautiful garden that sustains life.  March 17 - Hummingbirds and Butterflies  Come learn about our native Michigan butterflies, native hummingbirds, and learn about the power of transformation. How do we evolve and change as time goes by?  March 24 - Peace and Tranquility with Feng Shui We will explore Feng Shui--the arrangement of colors, shapes, and objects in rooms, creating a safe space to feel better physically, emotionally, and spiritually--through creating our own wind chimes. March 31 - Transformation of Self  In this class the kids will be making their own fashion statements, transforming our everyday wear into something personal. The kids will learn how to sew, decorate, dye, and design their own clothing or accessories!  If you happen to miss being in worship, please check out Sunday Services on our website for sermon video and/or text. 2023 and prior year sermon video and/or text are located under Sermon Archives. Minister’s Column It was the end of the Christmas parade in downtown Mount Pleasant: the vehicles and floats, firetrucks and sirens, the churches and the community groups had all finished parading by. The crowd was going home. In the cold winter air and the rapidly emptying downtown, my wife and I noticed a new shop on Broadway that I hadn’t seen before, with a sign saying they were now open for business. The name of the store was catchy: Life Unplugged. Even better was the provocative question painted on the storefront window: What if you recharged yourself as much as you recharge your phone? Read the column here. Upcoming Events Most meetings and events are hybrid (in-person/Zoom). Please contact the event or meeting leader if you are not sure. Event and meeting details and links can be found on the UUFCM Calendar. - Welcome to UU Orientation - Last Sundays at 1:00pm - UUFCM Men’s Group - 1st Mondays at 7pm on Zoom - Game Night - 3rd Mondays at 7pm - Central Michigan Sangha - Tuesdays at 6:45pm - UU Discussion Group - Wednesdays at 10am - Choir Rehearsal - Wednesdays at 7pm - Drawing Workshop - 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at 10am - First Friday Potluck - First Fridays at 6:30pm - Movie Night - 4th Saturdays at 7pm - Monthly Soul Matters Small Group Discussion - February 29, at 6:30pm Tonight! All members and friends are welcome to attend our UUFCM Board meeting as well as the various team meetings that occur monthly. If you are interested in attending any specific team meeting, please contact the team leader for information. Team Meetings Coordinating Team - Sunday, March 3, at 12:30pm Building Team - Monday, March 4, at 6:00pm Social Justice Team - Monday, March 4, at 7:00pm If you are interested in helping any of these teams or committees, please fill out the Volunteer Opportunity Form if you haven’t already. First Friday Potluck – Friday, March 1 This Friday! Please join us in the UUFCM Fellowship Hall at 6:30pm (doors open at 6:15) for food, conversation, and games! Coffee, hot tea, and water will be provided. If you are able, please bring a dish to pass. Happy Birthday! In March, we celebrate the birthdays of Charles Emerick, Leslie Hildebrandt, Beth Macleod, Victoria Sladek, Daniel Davis, and Kevin Daum. For the year to come, we wish them much joy, good health for body and mind, and new (ad)ventures. May it be so. Small Group Gatherings for Dessert Recently our Board of Trustees shared the proposed budget for next year. As an opportunity to go deeper into the conversation around our budget, our values, and the role that each of us plays in the Fellowship, you are invited to a dessert gathering with fellow congregants. During the week of March 18, many members of UUFCM are opening their homes to small groups to connect with one another and to envision the best possible future for our Fellowship. What's great about this place? What could be even better? How can we work together to achieve our goals? On Sunday you can sign up for a dessert gathering on a specific date and time. Please see the Stewardship Team with any questions: Drew Frantz, Cynthia Damer, Gisela Moffitt, Amy Voege, Mary Alsager and Norma Bailey. Replacing Plastic Bags - One at a Time!  As part of our efforts to change our habits, our Tool Kit for January focused on reducing plastics in our daily lives. We launched a new project: collecting totes or bags made out of cloth, netting, or durable plastics to use in grocery and other stores. The response was great! We collected 31 such bags and donated most of them to Clothing, INC which will give them to their clients and encourage them to use them instead of single-use plastic bags. A big "Thank You" to everyone who donated bags or took some for their own use. We'll keep the collection box in the social hall for another month, so bring what you can and take what you need!   We Need Your Help It’s that time again! We are scheduled to provide dinners for the homeless shelter guests at St. John’s church on Tuesday, March 19, and Wednesday, March 20. If you are interested in helping, or in getting more information, please contact Joyce Henricks ([email protected]). Religious Education Update In class, the UU kids have been learning about equity: where all resources are distributed fairly so everyone can succeed. We have taken this opportunity to see equity in real time in stewardship to the land and nature. The children have been working hard making homes for our Michigan birds, food stations, and bird baths. We are working with nature by creating all the resources to thrive. Come check out our bird city! Do you have any suggestions for what to name our new oasis for our feathery friends? Are You Interested in Serving on the Board of Trustees? It's that time of year and we are looking for people to serve on the Board of Trustees next year. The open positions for next year are:  Trustee Position                              Duration of Term    President-Elect                                      1-year  (really 2-years) Treasurer                                                2-years + 4 months   Trustee-At-Large                                  One 2-year  Trustee-At-Large                                  One 1-year  If you are interested or would like to nominate someone, contact Aaron Jones ([email protected]) or Terrie Robbie ([email protected]) • • • Community News • • • Poor People’s Campaign in Lansing - THIS SATURDAY On March 2, at 11:00am, the Poor People’s Campaign will hold simultaneous rallies at 30+ statehouses to demand our elected leaders take real action to end death by poverty, and the Capitol in Lansing will hold one of those rallies. Norma Bailey is planning on attending and would love to have others join her. If you are interested, please contact her (989-560-3952, [email protected]). Free COVID Tests  Get free at-⁠home COVID-⁠19 tests this fall on COVIDTests.gov Every home in the U.S. is eligible to order an additional 4 free at-⁠home tests beginning November 20. If you did not order tests this fall, you may place two orders for a total of 8 tests. Your order of COVID tests is completely free – you won’t even pay for shipping. You can order your test kits HERE. Donate Now! The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Michigan is funded solely by its members and friends. ​ For your convenience, you can make a donation electronically with the button below, or via the GivePlus Church App. Please consider the option of offsetting the cost to the Fellowship for providing the convenience of making an online donation. If you prefer not to donate electronically, you may also write a check payable to UUFCM and send it to: UUFCM, P.O. Box 41, Mt. Pleasant, MI 48804-0041 Got News? The deadline for submissions to the Order of Service Insert and the UUFCM weekly eNews is Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. Please send all submissions to [email protected]. Drew’s Contact Information Please contact Drew via email, phone, or text. [email protected]  Phone/text: 440-935-0129​ Office Hours (in person and/or Zoom):    Tuesdays 10am-noon   Wednesdays 1-3pm and 8-9pm Office Hours Zoom Link UUFCM Board of Trustees for 2023-2024 President: Cynthia Damer (989.506.5750; [email protected]) President-Elect: Aaron Jones (989.501.0672; [email protected]) Treasurer: Terrie Robbie (989.400.2495; [email protected]) Secretary: Laurie Meadows (989.317.8299; [email protected]) Trustee: Victoria Sladek (989.506.7039; [email protected]) Trustee: Monica Jean (616.443.8782; [email protected]) Team and Committee Leaders Adult Religious Education Team - Jodi Fisher Building, Grounds & Safety Team - Norma Bailey Caring Committee - Laura McBride Communications Coordinating Team  Fellowship Life Coordinating Team - Gisela Moffit   Membership - Laura McBride   Welcome & Hospitality - Gisela Moffit   Social Fun - Jen Prout Social Justice Coordinating Team - Norma Bailey Worship Team - Drew Frantz Youth Religious Education (RE) Team - Norma Bailey We are a religious community guided by love, transforming our lives and our world. 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