If you attended WUU on March 3, you experienced an inspiring message from Rev. Laura as welaunched our annual giving campaign. The annual giving table will be available in the gatheringhall throughout the campaign. This coming Sunday, we will kick off the general phase of the Annual Giving Campaign. All WUU members and friends are asked to thoughtfully consider their annual financial commitment. Membership means many things, and among them is making a financial gift on an annual basis. The Annual Giving Campaign will run from March 3 through April 30. During that time, you will be provided with information to help you in making your pledge decision. Each person will have a member of the Annual Giving Team as their contact person. This person will be in touch and available to answer questions about the campaign goal, logistics of pledging, or any other questions you have. (Remember that your pledge is for the upcoming fiscal year, beginning July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020.) WUU volunteers, current and future, will be offered multiple opportunities for A small group of WUU volunteers will participate in the first sessions of leadership In religious circles, “trust talk” most often revolves around having faith that life will look after us. For What are your RUUTS? This year, the WUU auction theme is our roots, or RUUTS. We would like to take this opportunity to come together and share all facets of our “roots” with one another. Think ethnic, religious, spiritual and cultural roots. Over the next few weeks, you will see some exciting projects in the Sanctuary to explore our heritage. The auction will be held on Saturday 23rd February 2019 and will involve a live, silent and online auction. This is a family-friendly event, so please bring everyone for a night of fun and excitement! Tickets are on sale now. Of all our topics this year, possibility is arguably most central to our faith. It has distinguished Unitarian Universalists from the start. Historically, when others saw depravity and sin at the core of human identity, we saw potential–sometimes with hardly any boundaries. When many were preaching that this world was fallen, and we should look instead to the hope of an afterlife, we found ourselves falling in love with the possibility of heaven on earth. Please mark your calendars for Feb. 3, when WUU will host a ceremony of child dedication. In the Unitarian Universalist tradition, a child dedication ceremony invites the young child’s family and their congregation to bless the child and dedicate themselves to the child’s well-being as they grow. It is especially appropriate for babies and toddlers up to age 3 or so. WUU will offer the child dedication ceremony as part of our festive Charter Sunday service on February 3. If you are a parent/guardian of young children, we would love for your family to be part of it. We can accommodate as many families as wish to participate! Dear WUUs, Happy New Year! We, the members of the Two-Services Task Force, are excited to share an update with you about the work we’ve been doing. As you may recall, our strategic plan calls us to re-launch our two worship services with the goal of ensuring that there is room on Sundays for everyone who is drawn to our message, and that both services are sustainable, vibrant worship options. You may have noticed that our 11:15 worship service and RE program are thriving and nearing full capacity, while attendance at our 9:45 worship service has hovered around 20 people. This is not sustainable. Our board and Rev. Laura have agreed that new ideas are needed to revitalize the early service and create room for more people to participate on Sunday mornings. That’s where our Two-Services Task Force comes in. We’ve begun by studying what’s working and what’s not working so well with our current two services model. To that end, we’ve been meeting with lots of key stakeholders, including worship associates, choir members, worship staff members, and board members. Still to come are café conversations with the congregation at large and parents/guardians of children in our religious education program. That’s where you come in! All are invited to participate in a series of café conversations this month: Sunday, Jan. 6 after the 11:15 service—open to congregation Sunday, Jan. 13 after the 9:45 service—open to congregation Sunday, Jan. 13 after the 11:15 service—special session for parents & guardians of children Also, stay tuned for an online survey inviting your additional feedback, coming soon! As we continue to gather your feedback, we’ve also been doing road trips to nearby Unitarian Universalist congregations with a thriving program of two services on Sundays. Big thanks to the leaders of the UU Fellowship of the Peninsula in Newport News and the First UU Church of Richmond for their generous hospitality to our team members. The last step of our work will be to generate options and make recommendations for our board to consider. We can’t wait to share what we come up with. In the meantime, feel free to reach out to us at twoservices@wuu.org with feedback, questions, or anything else that’s on your mind. Thank you! Your Two-Services Task Force, Eva Burke, John Chowning, Lesa Craig, Rachel Delbos, Rev. Laura Horton-Ludwig, Paul Luchsinger, Austen Petersen, and Janna Roche Dear WUUs, Happy holidays! However you celebrate, I hope this time of year will be a blessing to you. Some of us are savoring the quiet of the darkness that falls early in this season. Some of us are struggling to get by without the long days of sunlight. For all of us, may we find ways to be in harmony with this spinning planet. Some of us are making joyful plans to gather with family. Some of us are mourning a fresh loss and finding the weight of grief exacerbated by the “holiday cheer” that seems to be everywhere…. Did you know that Directors of Religious Education go to school, too? In order to become a credentialed religious educator a few years ago, I took many classes that taught me everything from Unitarian Universalist history to multicultural religious education. Now, the Unitarian Universalist Association in Boston has honored me by asking me to co-teach one of these classes with a fellow Director of Religious Education who literally wrote the book. 
Annual Giving Campaign Under Way
Annual Giving Campaign Kickoff March 3
WUU Leadership Workshops: Support for You as Leaders, Teachers, Volunteers
training and support, initiated this year by the Leadership Development Planning
team and carried forward next year by a new training team. Other UUA training
programs are also available for next year.
training starting March 30, a Saturday workshop that introduces the program and is
expected to lead to a series of small-group workshops later in the spring. Once the
pilot is completed, evaluated, and revised, it will be offered next year for those
interested in leadership development.What Does It Mean to Be a People of Trust?
instance, our Christian friends sing hymns about God “watching over us” and keeping “an eye on the
sparrow.” Our Jewish friends lift up the Exodus story to encourage faith that God will help us make our
way even when things look bleak. Likewise, prayer practice for our Muslim friends is all about reminding
oneself that you are in Allah’s safe hands. We UUs translate similar sentiments using the language of
trusting “a Love that will not let us go.”Get Ready for the 2019 Auction: Embrace Your Ruuts
What Does It Mean To Be A People of Possibility?
Child Dedications at WUU
Update from the Two-Services Task Force
A Holiday Message from Our Minister
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS FROM OUR D.R.E., AUSTEN PETERSEN
