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You are here: Home / Minister / July Services with OUUC

Jun 02 2022

July Services with OUUC

by Rev. Mary Gear

In many Unitarian Universalist congregations, summer services are a bit different. It is a time for ministers and staff to have time away, so there are more guest speakers and lay-led services. Sometimes congregations with two services go to one service. Services may be more relaxed and experimental.  

In the past few years, experimentation with summer services has included how we manage during a pandemic; how we offer something that is meaningful and sustainable; how we give staff and volunteers a needed break. There have been many creative solutions and we will be part of one this year. This summer, OUUC will be part of a Worship Collaborative, something that other UU churches in this area have done but is new to OUUC.   

For the month of July, we’ll join with four other UU congregations to experience worship together, each congregation leading the worship on one Sunday.  Our partners for this venture will be Saltwater UU in Des Moines, WA, Community UU In Pasco, WA, and Northlake UU in Kirkland, WA.  Some of the services will be led by a minister and some led my congregants.  And, because July has five Sundays, we’ll stream together a service offered by UUA President, Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray.  

Here’s the schedule: 

July 3- OUUC, Rev. Mary Gear 

July 10- CUUC, Rev. Monica Jacobson-Tennessen.  

July 17- Saltwater, lay-led service 

July 24- pre-recorded UUA service, hosted by OUUC   

July 31- Northlake, lay-led service 

Zoom link for Sunday, July 31:
http://bit.ly/NUUC-Sunday
PW: NUUC-W

Many things will stay the same: All services will be virtual on Zoom and we’ll continue to have break-out rooms after the service so we can meet people from other congregations and have meaningful conversation. One thing that will be different is that the services will begin at 10:30 am instead of 10 am. (The other three congregations all had a 10:30 start-time, so we’ll join them.)  There will be someone online for OUUC at 10 am as a reminder or a chat if needed. We’ll return to 10 am services in August. We will open the sanctuary for anyone who wants to gather, but we won’t offer coffee service or childcare (so volunteers get a break!) during the last four Sundays in July.

Last, we’ll pool our financial resources and share our plates with the UU Service Committee Disaster Relief Fund. This fund helps people in Ukraine as well as in other areas facing devastating hardships related to war, climate change, and other challenges. Each congregation will collect donations as usual. 

Thank you for giving this experiment a try. I’ll be eager to hear how it goes for you.  

Rev. Mary  

Minister@ouuc.org 

The sanctuary will be open for all services in July.  After July 3, which will be a usual service, there will be no coffee service or childcare to give volunteers a break.  We also encourage people to have their own watch party to gather with others to watch the service together.

Written by Jo Sahlin · Categorized: Minister, Worship

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