Thank you to the 48 UU Churchers who have so far signed up for a Mission/Vision cottage meeting. These have been very meaningful conversations so far.

We have four cottage meetings remaining in November before we take a holiday break until January. Grab a spot at the meeting that works best for you by clicking this button:

Mission/Vision Cottage Meetings Signup

If you’d like to get this important engagement checked off your list before the holidays, sign up for a meeting today

We will begin sharing the signup form for winter cottage meetings in early December.

Thanks!
Taylor Gill, Holly Daily, Rebecca Graves and Rev. Molly

We were so excited to meet with 14 UU young adults at the 20s and 30s organizing meeting in October. We will continue meeting the second Sunday of the month after church.

On Nov. 10 the group will have a “Show & Tell” with a potluck lunch! Bring a dish to share if you can, and be prepared to tell us all about your favorite book, series, album, or other thing you desperately want to recommend to other cool and interesting people.

The group will meet in the Sanctuary. All UUs and visitors in their 20s and 30s are welcome to participate.

Please email Rev. Molly to request childcare or ask any questions!

• President Ruth Milledge
• Rev. Dr. Molly Housh Gordon
• Jamila Batchelder, Director of Religious Education
• Violet Vonder Haar, Director of Music Ministry

President’s Perspective – President Ruth Milledge

Dear UUCC,

How are you feeling? A poll by The American Psychiatric Association revealed that 73% Americans are anxious about the 2024 U.S. election. Various studies have shown that this statistic is up from 40% in 2012. Steve Mudrick suggested “Maintaining Your Sanity in This Election Season” as a topic for discussion in the Milestones Circle, and I think the congregation could benefit from the results..

Steve led by mentioning several ways to cope with the stress of this anxiety, and other members contributed their suggestions. These included doing something to influence the election, avoiding triggers for one’s anxiety, setting communication boundaries, self-care, and looking outside yourself for signs of hope.

This election cycle offered ways to take action that are familiar to people in our age group. Writing post cards for candidates, for ballot issues, and to encourage people to vote were actions that we had taken. Some members planned to put up signs educating voters.

Some group members avoided anxiety triggers by avoiding media coverage of election news altogether. Others limited themselves to the media that allowed them to be informed without stress. Reading news rather than listening to or watching coverage gave some of us control over the presentation style. Relying only on trusted sources could be helpful.

Milestones Circle members shared a variety of options for setting communication boundaries. One way was to avoid or limit conversations that were likely to become heated. One could identify people with whom one can disagree civilly, or you could avoid certain topics.

Self-care was noted as being especially important during election season. If you know Steve, you won’t be surprised that his self-care included listening to music. Others mentioned spending time outside and exercising. Good sleep was considered essential, as well as eating healthfully.

A source outside the discussion emphasized the importance of challenging the thought that your candidate’s loss will ruin everything.

Policies may not be what we believe are right or best, but many valued aspects of our daily life will not change. Most of us will still have the same leisure activities, eat the same foods, listen to the same music, and have the same families and friends. UUCC will still be here for us in its many ways.

Lastly, seeking support from those we trust is always an important way to reduce anxiety. The Milestones Circle is only one example of the many such supportive groups that UUCC has to offer. In any group here, you will find people who care about how you are feeling.

In community,
Ruth Milledge
2024-25 President

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Rev. Dr. Molly Housh Gordon

Dear UU Churchers,

I write this note to you exactly one week before an election that has the potential to impact the future of our loved ones and this planet for generations to come. I know many of you are feeling the burden of this. Certainly I am too. I am thinking of you and your loved ones and all your hopes with tenderness.

Our theme this month at UUCC is “Care for Possibility” and that strikes me as exactly what we are doing this year at the ballot box as we vote about restoring abortion access in Missouri, guaranteeing sick leave and a higher minimum wage for workers, and the protection of democracy itself. Our vote is an act of embodied love – care – for all that could be, if we will protect possibility enough to let it grow.

Our vote, however, is only ever the start of that growth. The world we dream about is not one we create by voting. Rather, the way we vote determines the conditions under which we may then do the never-ending work of creating a world of beauty and thriving for all. The voting part matters. Deeply. We desperately need to create conditions that most fully allow for possibility to grow. But for me, there is comfort in knowing that isn’t the only step, just the first one.

I find hope in remembering that caring for possibility, loving potential, and committing myself to the future is something I am doing now, have been doing for years, and will continue doing long after this particular election cycle. And I also find hope in recognizing that possibility, which is the stuff of life itself, springs up even in the most difficult conditions. Roses bloom from concrete. Life flourishes at the bottom of the ocean in ways we would never imagine. And human possibility, too, makes its way into the world, even under duress, even now.

No matter what unfolds in the coming days, let us keep nurturing that possibility, together.

With love and hope,
Rev. Molly

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Jamila Batchelder, Director of Religious Education

As we turn in November toward care for possibility, I say what I have said so often: if you want to feel hope in the world, spend some time with our UUCC children.
Here are a few moments from our RE program last Sunday after a discussion on friendship and how to make sure everyone is included: A child quietly asking each person in the room their favorite color before creating a heart out of Legos that made sure to include each of our colors; another child creating a Lego wheelchair in case any of the Lego figures need it; in the class next door learning about civil war nurse Clara Barton, a child saying how she showed us the UU value of transformation because she helped people grow to see how strong and courageous a woman can be. Following their Clara Barton discussion, the whole class learning first aid by tenderly bandaging teddy bears.

I still have big plans for this year! But I know that beyond lessons and curricula, we will be learning most when we show our children how we show up for each other. This is an amazing community, Thank you again for showing up for me.

Jamila Batchelder
Director of Religious Education

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Violet Vonder Haar, Director of Music Ministry

UUCC Choir is back! All members of our church community are invited to join us on Wednesday evenings at 7 p.m. for rehearsals. Whether you’re an experienced singer or just starting out, all voices are welcome, and no prior experience is necessary.

Our inclusive and supportive environment is designed to help you grow as a singer and be part of a wonderful musical community. Come and be a part of something special as we share the joy of music together. I look forward to seeing you there!

Upcoming Sunday performance dates:
Nov. 24
Dec. 22

Join us on Sunday, Nov. 10 for special Music by Heather Mae!

Violet Vonder Haar
Director of Music Ministry

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Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East (UUJME), a UUA-related Social Justice Organization, will meet at noon Sunday, Nov. 10, in the Lower Level-Forum Room/Library.

Are you concerned about what is going on in Israel and Palestine? Would you like to learn more? Would you like to take part in activities to educate ourselves and our congregation about the issues involved?

Our local chapter of UUJME is restarting monthly meetings on the second Sunday of the month. As a group we are working for a peaceful and just resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict including a settlement affirming the equality, dignity, freedom and security of all peoples involved. At our October meeting, we planned a preview of the documentary, “Israelism” for our committee members, to be followed by a discussion of the possibility of showing it to our congregation. Stay tuned.

Please join us in our efforts to understand the issues and to plan activities and actions.

Margaret Tyler, Chair – email

Faith-to-Action

The Faith-to-Action recipient for November is the Pink Haven Coalition. The PHC is a collective of organizations and individuals committed to trans liberation and to growing mutual aid and other sources of ally-ship, support and care for our gender diverse siblings. UUCC’s Affiliated Community Minister, the Rev. Dottie Mathews, has been one of their volunteers over the last many months. The PHC has significant support from the UU Service Committee and other faith partners. One of the primary uses of the funds raised is to help “domestic refugees” (people within the United States who must flee due to threats of violence and (some states’ legal restrictions). We hope you will donate to help the PHC organizers and volunteers as they work to assist more people across the U.S. who are seeking safety and the medical care they need.

Recent Faith-to-Action collection results:

July: $862.06 for Mobility Worldwide
August: $1,174.25 for No More Deaths
September: $1,325.27 for the Sanctuary and Immigrant Justice Team.

2025 Honduras Service Trip News

Tickets are now on sale for the Nov. 16 Trivia Night at church to raise funds for the Honduras Ministry’s sixth service trip to Honduras during Spring Break 2025. Early-bird tickets are $25 per person and can be purchased by clicking this button:

Trivia Night Tickets

Tickets also can be purchased from Honduras Ministry Team members, at the door, or before and after the worship service on Nov. 10. Tickets purchased at the door are $30/person, and student tickets are $15/person.

Join us at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16 for a night of fun, prizes and good food. The event will include child care, a silent auction, 50-50 games, and a chili cookoff. Bring chili or soup to share by 5:45 p.m. for a chance to win bragging rights (everyone gets to vote). For the trivia competition there will be seven people per team.

All proceeds from Trivia Night will go to support latrine building, the health clinic in El Pital, Honduras, and other UUCC partner projects in Honduras. For more information, email Allie Gassmann.

Thanks for feeding our food barrel…

Thanks to those of you who feed the barrel, so it can help feed the Market… Hunger continues around us. Thanks to all who help. – Steve Mudrick and Social Action Team

Loaves and Fishes update

Note that you may be reimbursed for your cost if you donate food at our third Sunday L&F meals. Submit your grocery receipt along with a standard UUCC Expense Voucher. Email the Church Administrator to obtain the church’s sales tax exemption certificate to use when purchasing food for Loaves and Fishes.

Cooking not your thing? You can still be part of the effort by donating to the Loaves & Fishes Reserve Fund, which we use to reimburse food expenses. We hope to get this on the UUCC website donations drop-down list soon… but you can always write a good-old-fashioned check to UUCC with Loaves & Fishes Reserve Fund in the memo line. The Church Administrator knows what to do with it!

The Sanctuary and Immigrant Justice Team (SIJT) expresses gratitude for all that has been contributed to UUCC’s sponsorship of Lilian Ortiz Valiente, her son Manuel, and her daughter Lakshmi, the family that fled violence in Guatemala and is seeking asylum in this country. If you would like more information about the family’s journey after they reached this country, we had the opportunity to share part of that story and also introduce the family during the Feb. 27, 2022 worship service.

So, with gratitude, here are some words of thanks:

• Thank you to Rev. Dottie Mathews for all her immigration work with the Unitarian Universalist Association and for connecting us with Lilly and her family.
• Thank you to Christine Heath who opened her home to the family for more than a year.
• Thank you to Allie Gassmann and Roger Nettleton for all their work translating and taking calls from Lilly.
• Thank you to all those who donated furniture, household goods and other things when the family moved to their own place.
• Thank you to all the drivers who provided and continue to provide transportation for the family when needed.
• Thank you to Joe and Meredith Donaldson for coordinating the transportation and to Ruth Milledge for coordinating it after Joe died.
• Thank you to Meredith for the gift of Joe’s car for Lilly.
• Thank you to Ruth and Roger for providing Lilly with driving instructions and for helping her with the driver tests, licensing, registration and insurance.
• Thank you for all the individual donations to the church for the benefit of the work of the team and for the direct gifts and donations to the family.
• Thank you to those for whom we have regrettably forgotten to recognize.
• Finally, thank you to this church community for your financial assistance through budgetary allocations and for your Faith-to-Action contributions like those collected in October.

Thank you, thank you.
Sanctuary and Immigrant Justice Team
Allie Gassmann and Dave Gibbons
Co-Chairs

The Membership Team is now planning membership classes for 2025 and expects to publicize the schedule in November 2024.

On Sunday, Sept. 22 we joyfully welcomed Jerry Brenner, Barbara Stone, Chris Mefford, and Kate Ruehrdanzour to membership in UUCC.

Does your name tag need updates or has it gone missing? Email the Membership Team – and include your pronouns. Please also reach out with any questions or comments.

We invite you to be a greeter – it’s a great way to meet people. Sign up to greet here.

If we are to make real headway clearing the poison ivy from our favorite people-activity areas at the church, we are in need of a few more individuals who will partner with us from time to time on this important task. Some of our grounds team members have the know-how and experience to do safe, surgical removal of poison ivy. Working in a twosome with proper clothing and careful methods can be safe for the workers and can effectively eradicate the plants. If you can help, please email the Grounds Team.

A few “why’s” and “how’s” of poison ivy:

Because we maintain sunny openings for ourselves, rather than allowing natural succession to turn all the church grounds into woods, we humans are, inadvertently, encouragers of poison ivy – it likes sunny edges.

Edges of woods naturally tend toward becoming super productive places. They benefit from the microclimate and soil enhancements of woods on the one side, and from the abundance of energetic sun and air on the other. They can become great walls of lush woody plant growth that protect the woods edge from overexposure while producing an abundance of fruits, nuts, and protective cover for birds, mammals, and others.

But, here’s the thing: Birds benefit from eating the berries of poison ivy, and then they plant the seeds, encased in a packet of bird-poop fertilizer. They plant it right at the productive edges where they are hanging out eating berries and hiding from predators. And that is just where we human mammals like to hang out too, walking into the woods or on the meadow path, picking a plum, or traversing the east stairs. So, if we don’t want ourselves and our children to be exposed to poison ivy, it behooves us to discourage it from growing in these spots. And we do.

Upper level kitchen

In the near future look for updates in our upper-level kitchen. The floors will be re-tiled and the dishwashers updated this fall. The Facilities Team is in the planning stages of this process.

Qhyrrae Michaelieu Family Library Update

Look for updates to our Greeting Area library, including:

• • Children’s books organized by category and labeled with colored stickers
  • New check-out and check-in procedures
  • Basket for returns.

Peruse our books and check them out! A big thank-you to Robin Duple for taking the lead on this project.

Lower Level Restoration Update

The kitchen remodel is complete! The kitchen is restocked by staff, cleaned by our janitorial team, and the room ready for use! Painting is the only cosmetic thing left to do in the lower kitchen space.

Notice something the Facilities Team needs to address?

Get in touch with the Facilities Team members by email for building maintenance and safety issues.

Dear UU Churchers,

Feeling anxious about the election? Want to channel that energy into action and connection with our neighbors? We are partnering with the non-partisan Missouri Voter Engagement Collaborative to Get Out The Vote (GOTV) for Amendment 3 and Proposition A in this election. Come knock some doors with your fellow UUs, and invite your neighbors to protect our democracy by engaging with it!

Canvassing is one of the ways I feel the most agency and hope in our often demoralizing political process. Meeting and connecting with my neighbors about their lives and what they care about is an invigorating and connective act.

We’re working to fill canvassing shifts throughout the long weekend leading up to the election, and we’re also creating a childcare share on Friday, Nov. 1 and Monday, Nov. 4 so parents whose children are out of CPS for Teacher Workdays can canvass too! If door knocking isn’t for you, but you like hanging out with kids, you can help the GOTV effort by providing childcare! There are also some phone-banking shifts available.

Childcare will be offered at the church from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 1 and Monday, Nov. 4. Canvassing shifts and phone banking are available Friday, Saturday, Sunday afternoon, and Monday.

Sign up here to engage with our UUCC Get Out the Vote efforts by taking a canvassing shift, volunteering for childcare, or getting connected to phone banking efforts!

For Our Democracy,
Rev. Molly

Chalice Circles Signups for 2024-2025

The time has come once again to sign up for new and continuing 2024-25 UUCC Chalice Circles. You can use the button link above, or the button links that appear on the Home page and Chalice Circles page.

Chalice Circles are a small-group ministry of the church designed to build community, foster connections between members, and provide opportunities to share your heart in a safe, brave space.

Groups of no more than 10 members are led by fellow UU volunteers and topics are planned to complement the monthly themes of the church year. A Chalice Circle commitment is for one cycle of nine sessions, though some circles may elect to continue in some form over the summer. Groups will meet once or twice per month for an hour or two from September 2024 to May 2025.

If you have questions, you are welcome to email the Chalice Circles leadership team that consists of the Rev. Dr. Molly Housh Gordon, Gretchen Maune, and Crystal Paddock Buffaloe, or call or text Crystal at 573-289-9705 (please leave a message!)

We look forward to a fun, connected, meaningful year ahead!

Our congregation last adopted Mission and Vision statements more than a decade ago, in May of 2013, after a large-scale listening campaign. Since then our Mission and Vision statements have served us well and guided us through a decade of work together, but also the world has changed dramatically!

Last year our Board of Trustees decided that the time had come to re-visit our Mission and Vision statements through another large-scale process of congregational discussion and discernment. The board recruited and charged a Mission and Vision Task Force to help lead this process. Members are Taylor Gill, Holly Daily, Gretchen Maune and Rebecca Graves, with the support of Rev. Molly.

This is a process that will take all of our input in order to truly reflect the direction of our congregation. We want to learn about your hopes and dreams for our world, for our community, and for our congregation.

To accomplish this, we are planning a series of small group “cottage meetings” this fall and winter, some one-to-one conversations as desired, and a survey to finish the process in the spring. There will be lots of different ways to engage, and we need your help making this effort a success!

After a robust process of as many conversations as possible with members, friends, visitors, stakeholders, and community partners, we will be sharing what we learn with the board and congregation. The board will then develop an edited or brand new Mission and Vision statements, gather further feedback, and eventually bring the Mission and Vision statements before the congregation for a vote.

Possibly more important than the end product of this process are the conversations, thoughts and ideas that will connect us more deeply to one another along the way. We ask everyone affiliated with the congregation to engage with this process to help launch us into the next era of our congregation.

We also invite your volunteerism! We need hosts and facilitators for in-home meetings and facilitators for meetings on Zoom and at church. Contact us by email to volunteer to host, facilitate, or both, and let us know if you have any questions.

Thanks!
Taylor Gill, Holly Daily, Gretchen Maune, Rebecca Graves and Rev. Molly

By the Rev. Dottie Mathews

When Rosie and I moved to Columbia in 2015, we were thoroughly delighted to find this vibrant, committed faith community to join, and it has been my honor to serve as your Affiliated Community Minister for these eight and a half years. For those who may not know, that role simply means that the justice work I do is done with the support of — and as an expression of — UUCC’s dedication to help heal the world.

For several years, my primary volunteer effort was working with congregations (like ours) that were/are sponsoring asylum seekers through the UUSC’s Congregational Accompaniment Program for Asylum Seekers (CAPAS). Recently, I have had the opportunity to offer the learnings and experiences I gained through CAPAS to help support internal refugees within this country. By that, I mean our trans and queer siblings who are fleeing domestic locations in which they are not able to live their lives in safety and where access to their needed gender-affirming care is being threatened or outright denied.

In response to the nearly 600 anti-trans legislative bills that have been introduced nationwide in the last year, the Pink Haven Coalition was formed as a collaboration between national trans organizers and people of faith (very significantly the UUA and the UU Service Committee). There are many groups and individuals across the country who are building networks to welcome trans folx with offers of housing, transportation assistance, financial support and a variety of other acts of solidarity. This is good and faithful — and NECESSARY — work.

You can read more about the Pink Haven Coalition at PinkHaven.org and in the profile of the PHC highlighted in the Spring/Summer2024 issue of the UU World. If you are moved to donate to support this crucially important justice work, you will find a donation link on the PinkHaven.org webpage.

As I do this work, I am grateful to carry with me YOUR commitment to help create a world that offers dignity and respect to all. If you would like to know more about the work of the Pink Haven Coalition, please send me an email.

In peace and gratitude,
Rev. Dottie

When you sell items on EBay or Facebook, you can now donate some or all of the proceeds to UUCC using the Paypal Giving Fund.

You will need to select an option in EBay or Facebook to donate a percentage of sale proceeds to charity. When you do that, at the time you complete a sale you can search for our church to designate it as the recipient. You’ll see several UU churches listed – select the one labeled “Unitarian Universalist Church.”

Thanks to Larry Lile and Church Administrator April Rodeghero for their work setting up this new giving option.

The Planned Giving Work Group of the Stewardship Team has been busy this past year and has launched a renewed planned giving program at UUCC.

During many past Founder’s Day celebrations, we have shared the story of how our founders hand-carried water to nourish the young trees on the site where they planned to build our first sanctuary.  Those founders had a vision to support our church well into a future they only envisioned. You can join this long line of givers by acknowledging your planned gift and water the roots they laid down for future generations of our beloved congregation.

If you have given thought to the financial legacy you want to leave behind, we invite you to consider UUCC as part of that legacy. The Water Bearers Society is a new way our congregation gratefully recognizes those who have committed resources to our long-term mission.

To understand more about UUCC’s Planned Giving Program, go to https://uucomo.org/plannedgiving/.  There you will also find an electronic Intent to Give form to make your commitment known to our team so we can include you in the Water Bearers Society.  You can also contact us by email for more information.

In Service of your Generosity,
Rosie Geiser, Planned Giving Work Group

Thanks to everyone who put non-perishable food items in the barrel at the upstairs elevator doors over the last few months. Joan and I took 90 pounds to the Food Bank Market on Jan. 26.

The need continues. Please, everyone, continue to feed our barrel, which helps feed our neighbors, and maybe some of us.

Steve Mudrick
Social Action Team

The menu system on our website has been simplified and reorganized to make it more friendly for those viewing the site on their smartphones. The number of items on each menu tab has been reduced, leaving only the most important.

Also, most tabs now have a “More…” option. If you select “More…”, you will see links to all pages in that category.

If you can’t find something through the menu system, don’t forget our site’s excellent search feature. The search dialog appears at the upper right corner of the screen on all pages of the site.

Staff and volunteers successfully completed a CPR and AED course with the American Red Cross on Oct. 29, so we are feeling more prepared for any medical emergencies that may come our way.

UUCC staff members have been working on creating a visible area for the supplies needed in these life-saving treatments. The photo at right shows a first aid kit, AED, Skills Cards, and an Opioid Crisis Kit. These are all located just inside the doors to the Sanctuary on your right when you enter. They are placed high on the wall to prevent children from playing with them.

Expect to hear more in the future about safety plans and drills. We want everyone to know what to do in case of an emergency.

Also, we want to know if you are certified in CPR, AED or First Aid with any organization, even if you didn’t attend our training. If so, please email Church Administrator April Rodeghero and let her know about any current certifications you have.

In the past UUCC used a key system for exterior doors. We have now fully transitioned to an automatic lock system to make our church more secure. Each week, Church Administrator April Rodeghero will update the schedule so the exterior doors will unlock and lock for scheduled activities.

Staff members, lay leaders and organizations that rent space in the church will have a code to unlock exterior doors using a keypad in order to enter the building at other times. As a backup, April has an app on her smartphone that can lock and unlock doors remotely as needed when other methods do not work.

All those who now have a key to the exterior doors are asked to turn in their keys and begin using the keypad codes that will be provided to them. Keys should be turned in to April in person or labeled with your name or group and put in April’s mailbox.

It is important to turn in exterior door keys because each time a key is used, it overrides the system and causes the automatic locks to reset. This results in the doors being locked or unlocked at unscheduled times. Thus, if you are the last person to leave the church and the exterior doors are not locked, be aware that:

• The doors will lock at the scheduled time.
• A key should not be used to lock the doors because that will interrupt the schedule.

Those who have keys to interior doors in the church may keep those keys, but they are asked to inform April that they have such keys.

Questions about this new system should be emailed to April.

Our church sponsored one of the markers on the African American Heritage Trail in north-central Columbia. The marker commemorates the historic Douglass High School football field, four blocks west of Douglass High School.

A dedication ceremony was held on Tuesday, June 13, 2023 at the marker location at the corner of Oak Street and Unity Drive. UUCC Board of Trustees member and Social Action Team Chair Fred Young represented the church, and several other church members were present. Also attending were various city and county dignitaries, Sharp End Heritage Committee members, Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors, and alumni of the Douglass Bulldogs from the late 1950s.

In the slideshow below, click the right or left arrows to see other photos.

During our Oct. 23, 2022 worship service, our Affiliated Community Minister, Rev. Dottie Mathews, was recognized for her past work as coordinator of the Congregational Accompaniment Project for Asylum Seekers (CAPAS), a program of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC).

As part of the recognition, it was announced that the UUSC has started a fund to support congregations as they welcome asylum-seekers into their communities and named it Dottie’s honor. The Dottie Mathews Congregation Action Fund will provide startup money to congregations who decide to take a leap of faith into immigrant justice work.

Jessica Sapalio, Dottie’s successor as CAPAS coordinator, made the announcement. Here are Jessica’s remarks:

I know that many of you are aware of the incredible dedication and many years of her life that Dottie has given to immigrant justice work and to designing the nationwide CAPAS program. Through her vision and the partnerships that she has built at many congregations and with many organizations, hundreds of asylum-seekers and families who were separated at the border have been met with welcome and solidarity in an otherwise dehumanizing process.

I first met Dottie when my congregation became interested in hosting a CAPAS program. New to immigrant justice work, we were so grateful for Dottie’s knowledge, guidance, and grace in helping us establish a local program to offer solidarity to asylum seekers, which is very similar to the amazing program that you run here under Dave and Allie’s leadership. In January of this year, I had the great honor of getting to try to follow in Dottie’s footsteps by becoming the CAPAS coordinator at UUSC to carry on the incredible program that she created. My daily mantra has become “What would Dottie do?”

In the meantime, I have become a huge fan of your congregation, often watching services remotely, so I was excited to accompany Rosie and Dottie here today, but I’m also here because the UUSC would like to officially honor the incredible contribution that Dottie has had to the immigrant justice field. Dottie, would you please come up?

Dottie is a true justice warrior who has changed the lives of so many involved in this program. In recognition of this, UUSC has started a fund to support congregations as they welcome asylum-seekers into their communities and named it in her honor. The Dottie Mathews Congregation Action Fund will provide start up money to congregations who decide to take a leap of faith into immigrant justice work.

We have also put together a book of messages from many CAPAS congregations, including yours, and partners throughout the country who wanted to express their gratitude.

I wanted to thank you all for having me today, for those of you who helped work on the surprise, and to Rev. Molly, who I am so sad to have missed. I wanted to send special love and thanks to Rosie who through her love has supported Dottie through this journey and therefore all of us, to all of you and your congregation for your commitment to supporting asylum seekers.

By the time you see this article, the backyard meadow at church is likely to have received its maintenance-mowing and may look like a blank space or a poor excuse for lawn. But, I hope you have seen, can imagine, or will see the wonderful plants that are still alive and well beneath the ground.

There are Common Milkweeds that support traveling Monarchs, Baptisia that bloom with blue flowers above silver-leaved mounds, tall slender-stalked Grayhead Coneflowers, and bunches of fragrant Slender Mountain Mint. There are prairie grasses: Big Blue Stem with its turkey-track seed heads, dense clumps of Switch Grass that form airy panicles of seed, Indian Grass with golden plumes, bright orange-flowered Butterfly Weed, colonies of Ashy Sunflowers, Compass plants that point North and South, Obedient Plant, Rattlesnake Master, Goldenrod, Gum Plant, Blue Sage, Willow-leaved Sunflowers, and multiple species of Asters and Eupatoriums.

This meadow is the result of a human-driven transformation, part accidental and part intentional. When our UU forbears arrived and put up the building in 1969, the current meadow space was home to a woodland community. Then, in 1998 as we put on an addition, a big “bulldozer-oops” occurred, clearing a chunk of woods from the flat area and on down the hillside. We responded with attempts to help the land heal by nurturing a native, shrubby, woods-edge/hedgerow-type community on the hillside, with a native prairie plant community on the flat area that we now call our “meadow”.

Scientists use the words “disturbance” and “succession” in describing the transformation of ecosystems over time. In this particular instance, and so many others, we humans were careless disturbers. But disturbance in ecosystems is not always a bad thing. It can also be regenerative. Now, we are trying to work with natural succession and to steward the land toward health and abundance. We are attempting to partner with diverse life forms, all of whom we will never completely know, but whose basic roles and presence we can at least try to appreciate and support. We aspire to minimize our disturbance and to practice respectful nurturance of a healthy ecological community. Sometimes that requires active labor on our part, but it also asks of us an unhurried presence and an open mind toward recognizing and understanding all that this other-than-human community brings to us. There have certainly been many blunders along the way, but it is our hope that as we observe and learn from direct experience, and listen to naturalists and scientists, we are becoming more attuned to this plant community and are growing in solidarity with it.

It is the hope of our Grounds Team that those who spend time here will be touched by the presence of this rich multi-species community, and that they will return over and over to be connected with its rich transformative presence.

– Carol Arnold, Grounds Team member

The Grounds Team would like to introduce you to some of our trees and invite you to share your love of our trees and woods on the UUCC Facebook page.

Shingle Oak – Wood from this oak can be split into thin sheets, which used to be made into shingles.

White Oak – These oaks can live for more than 300 years and are found throughout Missouri.

Shagbark Hickory – Its wood makes excellent, slow-burning charcoal, its nuts are edible, and its wood is used for many implements. Wildlife from moths to squirrels to bats appreciate shagbarks, too!

Sweet Gum – The star-shaped leaves of sweet gum become even more striking in the autumn, when they turn various shades of gold, red, pink, and purple, often on the same tree – sometimes even on the same leaf!

Ginkgo – A non-native tree, the ginkgo’s combination of resistance to disease, insect-resistant wood, and the ability to form aerial roots and sprouts makes it durable, with some specimens claimed to be more than 2,500 years old.

Explanations are courtesy of the Missouri Department of Conservation at https://mdc.mo.gov and also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginkgo_biloba.

Check out the Grounds Team. Submitted by Patty Daus.

We are excited to announce that we have launched a new system giving our members and friends the ability to give to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbia by:

• Text message from your smartphone, or
• Online

This new system has been arranged through the Breeze Church Management System, our new church database. It replaces our previous Paypal portal, which is now inactive.

You can find complete details about the new system at https://uucomo.org/give.

As fewer people are using checks or carrying cash, we wanted to offer a safe, secure and convenient way to easily support our church through giving by text message or online.

As some of our members, friends and visitors are continuing to stream our worship services online, we hope this new system will be more convenient than mailing a check or using our previous Paypal portal.

Our new system will allow you to give using a credit/debit card or bank ACH transfer. The system will ask for your card or bank account information the first time you use it, and you can change that information later. You can use the system to give whenever your choose, and you can also set up automatic recurring gifts.

Our church will pay a small transaction fee to process online payments, but we feel the fee is well worth the convenience. If you choose, you will be able to cover that fee for the church when you make an online gift.

We believe these new tools will allow us to continue to serve you well. We want you to know we greatly appreciate you and your spirit of generosity as you continue to support UUCC and our mission of radical welcome and deep connection that moves us together to heal the world.

The UU Life Writers’ Group is pleased to announce the publication of its second anthology, Stories, Just Stories. The stories are mini-memoirs about family, growing up, social activism, romance and pets. A big section of poetry is included. The anthology also contains tributes to those writers no longer with us.

Copies are $8 and can be ordered by email to Fran Reynolds. Pay on the UUCC donation page by selecting the “Other” option and specifying “Life Writers Anthology” as the purpose of the donation.

March is Women’s History Month. UU Life Writers will be writing stories about women who have been important to them, the church and the community. Everyone is welcome to join us on Zoom. We will meet March 6 and 20 at 10:30 a.m. For more information contact Fran.

On Sunday, March 24, the Accessibility and Inclusion Ministry (AIM) Team presented the lay-led service, “Living Up to Radical Welcome,” and made a small change in the sanctuary while we were at it. As we’ve heard a number of questions about this change, we thought it was about time we shed some light on it.

If you’ve been to services during the past couple of months, you have likely noticed a section of chairs in the back of the sanctuary topped with yellow pillowcases. This sunny addition was inspired by feedback we’d received from congregants who have fragrance and chemical sensitivities. These individuals had been unable to enjoy services because of the migraines, allergies, and other reactions caused by these products, which many of us don’t think twice about applying. While we can’t control what products each person uses before joining us for worship, we can create a space in which people who live with sensitivities or allergies to those products can, hopefully, be more comfortable and feel more radically welcome.

The AIM Team requests that the fragrance-free seating area be reserved for individuals who are not wearing perfumes or scented products. We thank you for your help with this step towards being more accessible to and inclusive of all members and guests.

– Gretchen Maune, Chair
Accessibility and Inclusion Ministry Team

After a two-year lapse in the availability of UUCC T-shirts, the UUCC Social Action Team now has three designs of T-shirts available for purchase at $20 apiece. The shirts are perfect for rallies and other activities and events. Look for them in the Greeting Area.

Some of the shirts feature the design that first became available in 2017 before the UUA General Assembly. On the front this design includes the official church logo and the church motto. On the back, it features the logo and the following words from our Mission Statement: “Courageous Love, Radical Welcome, Deep Connection – Healing the World.”

The other two designs are specific to the Social Action Team.

You can see the shirts in the photo slideshow below. Click the arrows to see the next or previous photo.