2017 at 1stUUPB

You can see a three-part graphic review of our Congregation in 2017 at the 1stUUPB Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/1stUUPB.
See Sundays at 1stUUPB (54 photos), Our Music Program 2017 (75 photos) and A Look Back at the Year in Photos (237 photos).
You're welcome to "like", "share" and "comment" on any post at our Facebook page.

NewsTalk Topics for Jan 7

- what regulations should cover drones?

- should government agencies have prohibited words and phrases?

- the UN Security Council denounces Trump on moving U.S. embassy in Israel

- tax reform or tax hikes?

- should Trump be providing Putin with CIA intelligence?

- should taxpayers be funding payment of harassment claims against congressmen?

- should 1stUUPB develop a plan for dealing with an armed intruder?  -- a gun in the pulpit? an armed guard? several designated members who are armed and spread throughout the sanctuary?  metal detectors at the doors?

Order of Service, December 31, 2017

Welcome/Announcements

Prelude: Only Time by Enya

Opening Words

Lighting the Chalice Flame (in unison): (#453) May the light we now kindle inspire us to use 

our powers to heal and not to harm, to help and not to hinder, to bless and not to curse, To serve you, Spirit of Freedom. (Passover Haggadah)

*Hymn #346 Come, Sing a Song with Me

Affirmation (in unison) Love is the spirit of this Congregation and service is its law. This is our great covenant: to dwell together in peace, to seek the truth in love and to help one another.

Quiet Time/Meditation

Responsive Reading #558: For Everything A Season

Offertory: Time after Time by Cyndi Lauper 

Sermon: "Chronos and Religion"  Chris Juhl

*Hymn #34 Though I May Speak with Bravest Fire

Extinguishing the Chalice Flame (in unison)
We extinguish this flame, but not the light of truth, the warmth of community, or the fire of commitment. These we carry in our hearts until we are together again.

Closing Words

Postlude: Time is On My Side by The Rolling Stones

Gratitude & Applause

* Please stand in body or spirit

Hearing devices, and envelopes for cash pledges 

are available on the hymnal cart or ask an usher.

This Week

Today: New Year's Eve Potluck 12:00 Noon in Ministers Hall,

Monday: Administration Office closed.
Tuesday-Friday: Administration Office hours  9:30am-12:30pm

Tuesday: Men's Group at La Bamba 6:30pm
Friday: First Friday Film and Pot Luck dinner 6pm  in Ministers Hall.

Saturday: Second Saturday Book Group 10am in the Sanctuary to discuss Homegoing by Yaa
Gyasi.

Sunday: News Talk will resume at 9:15am in Ministers Hall.

Gratitude

Thank you to all who contribute to our service
and fellowship hour each week. This week:

·       Guest Speaker: Chris Juhl

·       Music coordinator: Peilin Ko

·       Ushers:

·       Cover art: Larry Stauber

·       Fellowship hour hospitality: All who brought food

And to our permanent staff:

·       Borboro Hatzfeld, office administrator

·       Willie Nelson, sexton.

Book Group Jan 6, 10:30am

Next Book Group Discussion: Saturday, January 6, 10:30, in the Sanctuary

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi 

Published in June 2016

To start the year off in keeping with our times, our 1stUUPB Second Saturday Book Group will be meeting in January on the first Saturday— January 6.  We’ll gather in the Sanctuary at 10:30 to discuss Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi,  a new voice in the literary world.   

By progressing through 300 years of Ghanaian and American history, Gyasi shows consequences of the slave trade by following seven generations of a single family. Every portrait reads like a short story unto itself.

Gyasi, born in Ghana and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, got the idea for this story when she visited Ghana during college. After her family moved to the United States when she was an infant, she had never taken a trip back. Gyasi was struck when she visited the Cape Coast Castle by the idea of African women living in the top levels of the castle as the wives of colonists while others were kept in the dungeon to be sold as slaves. Gyasi used historical accounts written by Africans and African-Americans to center each chapter of the book around important historical moments.

While today we most often think of slavery in the context of its historical and contemporary impact on the United States, slavery began to exist before written history in many cultures, and, according to some, there are still more slaves today than at any previous point in history.

Members, friends, and community people are welcome to these sessions, whether you’ve read the books or not!  We “Read so as to know the world.”   For further information, you may contact Dorie Maxwell at doriemaxwell@mac.com or call her at 561-301-4204.

MLK Parade, Jan 13th

  Martin Luther King Jr. Parade

Saturday, January 13, 2018

Make Dreams Become Reality

7:45am carpool from church parking lot or meet at parade site at  8am.  We will pick up our parade position number on Thurs. Jan. 11th.  Call Bob or Lynn Tomlinson on Friday to find out our position number.  561-304-9530.

If we want to show our Black sisters and brothers that we stand with them in their struggles, one way is to participate in the Martin Luther King Jr. parade in Riviera Beach.

Wear your gold "on the side of love" shirts.

If walking is difficult, you can ride!

Although we will have lots of water, we suggest you also bring your own supply as well as any snacks you might want.
Caps and sunglasses are essential.
If you want to decorate vehicles, drive, etc. please contact your organizers: Bob and Lynn Tomlinson
Email:  eaglebob1942@yahoo.com or tomlinson.lynn@gmail.com    Home: 561-304-9530

Let’s show that 1stUUPB cares!

We will have a bit of a wait at the site, so to make it more pleasant we will supply coffee plus a breakfast snack. You may want to bring a chair for your added comfort.

New Year's Eve events

Following Sunday's New Year's Eve service ("Chronos and Religion") we will be "undecorating" the Sanctuary before proceeding to Ministers Hall for a potluck New Year's luncheon.

A UU December: last in the series

The image above marks the last in this series which was created by UU minister Ralph Roberts to count down the days in December to Christmas Eve. They were first posted as a UU Advent calendar at WorshipWeb . 

Due to its temporal nature, many of the historic milestones in the series aren't necessarily recognized on the precise day that they're celebrated (for example, Kwanzaa is recognized here on Dec. 2nd instead of Dec. 26th, and the December 12 image recognizes Clara Barton's birthday (Dec. 25, 1821).

More than perfect historic accuracy, then, this Advent calendar is offered in the spirit of holding up and delighting in the ways that our Unitarian and Universalist ancestors had a foundational role in many of the winter holidays and the innumerable ways they're celebrated by people everywhere.

The Rev Ralph Yeager Roberts is also one of the creators of the Montessori-inspired curriculum Spirit Play, which is used by hundreds of UU churches across the U.S. and Canada. As an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister of Religious Education, he led what had been one of the largest children and youth ministry programs at that time and was asked to develop and teach the first course in UU religious education at Andover Newton to satisfy a core requirement for the masters program.