by Rev. Mary Gear & Rev. Sara LewisÂ
It’s a Spring practice in church life to begin planning for the next congregational year, and that’s what the OUUC staff has been doing. Even as we bring the current year to a close and look to a more relaxed schedule for the Summer, we’re looking ahead.Â
For the coming Fall, there are some things that will be the same and some things will be different; kind of like the rest of life these days.Â
We will still gather for worship on Sunday mornings in person and online. We will still gather to be together, practice together, and learn together. We’ll still work together for a world that is loving, just and healthy. Â
We will be focusing our efforts this next year toward this annual theme:Â
Building Beloved Community with a focus on anti-racism and the practice of coming together again, in-person, online, and in covenant.Â
This theme has integrated connection, justice, and practice.Â
We’ll continue having monthly spiritual themes that we’ll use in worship, learning, singing, and discussion. For this next year, the themes will be:Â
September – Welcome
October – Covenant
November – Accountability
December – RefugeÂ
January – Power
February – Liberation
March – CommitmentÂ
April – TrustÂ
May – VisionÂ
June – Relationship/CommunityÂ
Sunday Mornings!Â
We’re also excited to add a regular event after the Sunday morning service. Whether we stay at one service or move to two services, we’ll add the opportunity to practice together. Â
When we are offering one service it will be “Worship Together” from 10-11 am, “Be Together” from 11-11:30 am (breakout rooms online and coffee in-person), then “Practice Together” starting at 11:30 am. Practice together might be the opportunity to listen and share with Melanie Ransom’s Talk Show, a Board Listening Session, or a forum on a theme-related topic. We’ll also have practice rooms at OUUC for discussion, quiet, and creativity. Â
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Thursday Evening Community and Faith Development Night!Â
We’re very excited to be planning a weekly focus on re-gathering and re-building community together for next year’s program year (September-June). The plan is to have an evening that offers something for everyone and makes it easy for us all to gather. To that end, the plan is to offer a community dinner every Thursday, 5:30-6:30pm. That will be followed by faith development programming such as adult education classes, children’s religious education classes, small groups such as Young Adults, and other exciting possibilities. There will also be childcare. And we will continue to offer our Spiritual Practices at 7pm on Thursdays, so folks can also choose to attend that. Â
Rev. Mary and Rev Sara are already planning on offering a class together on Thursday evenings, Building the World We Dream About. Watch the schedule to find out what else is offered!Â
If you are interested in helping plan or offer Sunday worship or after-service events, please contact Rev. Mary at minister@ouuc.orgÂ
If you have an interest in helping support the dinners or offer a program on Thursday evenings, please contact Sara Lewis at dre@ouuc.orgÂ
