Dear UUSB Members, Friends, & Guests,

Last night, our UUSB Executive Committee met and decided to cancel all in-person worship, events, and meetings at UUSB for the near future. This decision was made in consultation with UUSB members, who are medical clinicians involved with emergency preparedness, and in response to an email from the UUA. The Executive Committee will continue to monitor the situation and provide weekly updates in the weekly e-news or by special email, such as this.

While we will not be meeting in person, we continue to be a spiritual community that cares for one another. We will do our best to maintain our connection and reach out to our members, friends, and guest in ways that reduce the risks and keep everyone safe.  To that end, we are setting up new systems for outreach and support. Here are a few of the things we are planning:

1. Worship: 
   • Starting this Sunday, we will be offering an online / virtual worship experience.  We will send out a separate email, either this evening or tomorrow, with instructions for joining our Sunday worship.  We are still choosing the best platform for this, so look for the email update.
   • If you want an alternative worship experience, the UU Church of the Larger Fellowship holds regular worship services online on Sunday evenings at 8 PM, using the Zoom platform.  They are the largest UU Congregation and are based completely online. You can join their worship via ZOOM by visiting https://www.questformeaning.org/worship/
2. People in the high-risk groups should stay at home and socially isolate.  This includes people who are over age 60; people who have heart or lung disease; people with diabetes; and people with any other condition that compromises their immune system.  If you have decided to socially isolate for any reason, we encourage you to let Christine in the office know, so that we can keep track of our UUSB family.  We especially want anyone who is feeling emotionally or spiritually isolated to let us know and we will try to make arrangements for someone in our congregation to give you a call and check in periodically.  We would love to hear from anyone who would be willing to make a phone call or two once or twice a week to somebody who is housebound.  This would allow us to reach out to everyone, without overwhelming our pastoral care team.
3. People in the high-risk groups should stay at home and socially isolate.  This includes people who are over age 60; people who have heart or lung disease; people with diabetes; and people with any other condition that compromises their immune system.  If you have decided to socially isolate for any reason, we encourage you to let Christine in the office know, so that we can keep track of our UUSB family.  We especially want anyone who is feeling emotionally or spiritually isolated to let us know and we will try to make arrangements for someone in our congregation to give you a call and check in periodically.  We would love to hear from anyone who would be willing to make a phone call or two once or twice a week to somebody who is housebound.  This would allow us to reach out to everyone, without overwhelming our pastoral care team.
4. If you have an upcoming committee meeting and want to try holding or gathering online, please let Christine or Rev. Drew know and we’ll get you set up with a Zoom Meeting and links to send out to your group members.  Next week, both UUSB Council and the Communications Committee will be meeting via Zoom. We encourage other committees to do this as well, since people can participate online or by phone.
5. Since we will not be meeting for worship for at least several weeks, we are asking that people continue to send in their pledge by mail to the church office or contact Rosemary Parsons and set up direct deposit through your bank.  Even if we don’t meet in the building, we still have to pay the bills. So, please be conscientious in keeping up with your pledge.  It will be a big help and allow us to concentrate on finding creative ways to stay connected in spirit.
6. If you have not already sent in your pledge form for next year, we ask that you do so as quickly as possible, so we can wrap up our 2020–21 Pledge Drive.

Dear Ones, there is a lot of uncertainty right now in the world, especially around the current pandemic. Our goal is to make sure everyone is safe. We will find creative ways to remain connected with each other and to support each other through this difficult situation. We are a community of amazing people with the great deal of creativity. If you have thoughts or ideas on how we can maintain our sense Community without our regular in-person meetings. please share them with a member of staff or council.  

In the meantime, be healthy, be safe, and keep in touch.

Rev. Andrew Moeller

on behalf of the UUSB Executive Committee

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