CVUU Monthly News

December 2019 Issue 23

ADMIN & COMMUNICATIONS PUBLICATION

Are you curious to explore other ways of living?

The concept of “living simply so others may simply live” is not a new one, though it grows increasingly relevant as the world around us grows more complex. And the challenge of climate change adds a new urgency to the need to explore other ways of living.

CVUU will be offering a new adult discus-sion group to explore "A Different Way: Living Simply in a Complex World," from multiple perspectives. The group will meet for 7 consecutive Thursdays from 7 to 8:30 p.m. starting Jan. 16th.

Karen Forget is the facilitator and the discussion course is based on a book by the Northwest Earth Institute, a nonprofit organization in Portland, Oregon, found-ed in 1993 with the intention of "inspiring people to take responsibility for Earth.”

Class size is limited to 25 people. The cost is $30 per person. If the course cost is prohibitive, CVUU Environmental Initia-tive is offering scholarship assistance for those who need it.

Titles for the seven weeks of the course: 1. Introduction of materials 2. Finding your why: living a life of happi-ness and meaning 3. Time changes: busyness, distraction and mindfulness 4. Lighten up! Consume less, create more 5. Technology: connection and disconnec-tion 6. Media literacy: resisting materialistic values 7. Moving forward

To register, contact Karen Forget at karenwforget@gmail.com. To read more about the Northwest Earth Institute go to https://ecochallenge.org/hello/

Dear ones of CVUU, Here we are about to enter, or are perhaps already in, a very busy season in the life of our community of faith. Soon we will gather to decorate CVUU with evergreen boughs and welcome Santa and prepare for the holidays, one last hurrah before hunkering down to keep warm in the winter months. Yes, I’ve been with y’all long enough to concur that it does in-deed get cold here, too! On Sunday, De-cember 8th, folks who identify as LGBTQ+ are invited to gather at CVUU for a simple, brown-bag meal and a shar-ing of stories, stories of our coming out, stories of heartbreak and triumph, and the music that we associate with that time in our lives when we knew we were different and then discovered much to our delight (and in a way that for many of us was lifesaving) that we were not

A Word from Rev. Justine

Living Simply in a Complex World New discussion group to begin in January

Cont. page 2

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alone.

In true Unitarian Universalist fashion, we will celebrate Yule one week, Hannukah the next, then two services on Christmas Eve and a Kwanzaa service on December 29th (and I hear tell of a New Year’s Eve party planned for December 31st). On Saturday, December 7th we will host a Kwanzaa festival that looks to be amaz-ing. Mark your calendar! The following week, after worship Dec. 15th, we’ll have a craft show featuring CVUU artisans. So many opportunities to gather and to cel-ebrate the many talents of our growing community. Basically, plan to spend a lot of time at CVUU in December! Something happens when we gather.

The holidays are joyful and festive, but they can also be a difficult time for some. A time of reminiscence, of long-ing, of missed connections, of “happy endings” that did not turn out so happi-ly. So let us invite each other into the festivities, yes, but let us also make room for the sadness that some might feel, expanding our circle of light ever wider to welcome in all those who would find us. And then, let us listen to each other, searching not for mistakes and missteps but for commonality, for shared values, for those things that “bind us together and make us one.”

It is a blessing to serve as your minister.

In faith, Justine

Rev. Justine Sullivan Interim Minister, CVUU T 757-627-5371 C 508-662-0279 Minister@c-vuu.org

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Plans are underway for our 4th Annual Kwanzaa Celebration Saturday, Dec. 7.

Kwanzaa, a week-long annual celebration to honor African heritage in African-American culture, is typically honored from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1.

CVUU invites congregants, friends and members of the greater Hampton Roads community to a film screening in the early afternoon in our sanctuary, followed by fellowship that will include food from the African Diaspora, cultural performances, and an opportunity for guests to purchase

contemporary and handmade crafts, ap-parel, artwork, jewelry, home goods and accessories.

The Bazaar is open to the public in the spirit of Ujamaa (Kwanzaa Principle 4: Co-operative Economics) just in time for the sacred season!

Here is the schedule:

1 - 3 p.m. Film screening of “The Black Candle” - a film that tells the story of this week-long cultural celebration of African American culture.

3 – 7 p.m. Perfor-mances

4 - 7 p.m. Bazaar – featuring Black busi-nesses and organiza-tions throughout Hampton Roads.

Bring your friends and start your holi-day shopping off on the right foot. CVUU will hold a special Sunday service for Kwanzaa on Dec. 29th.

Fourth Annual Kwanzaa Celebration is Dec. 7

On behalf of the Hampton Roads Chapter of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy (VIPCC), please join us for an educa-tional forum focusing on the legal issues, procedures and requirements faced by undocumented immigrants who are trying to remain in the United States.

The forum will take place on Monday, Dec. 2, at 7 p.m., in the CVUU sanctuary.

Speakers include: • Pro bono Immigration Attorney Jen-

nifer Healey of Just Neighbors in An-nandale, VA.

• Jase Hatcher, Welcoming All Coordi-nator of VICPP.

• Sheila Marble, immigration accredit-ed representative at Commonwealth Catholic Charities in Newport News.

• Luis Oyola, Organizer with Legal Aide Justice Center (LAJC) in Richmond.

The panel will not include undocumented immigrants, so there is no reason to ex-pect ICE to be a presence at the forum.

Panelists will explain the different catego-ries of undocumented immigrants and describe the processes by which they are monitored, which includes wearing an ankle bracelet and reporting regularly for check-ins with ICE.

Because immigrants often need transpor-tation to check-ins, we will also hear about efforts to match immigrants with people in the community who can drive them.

Clergy members, lay leaders and congre-gants are encouraged to share news of the forum with anyone in your faith com-munity who you think might be interested in the event.

For info contact Ellen Jaffe-Gill, rabbican-torejg@gmail.com, 757-464-1950.

CVUU to host discussion on immigration issues

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Happiest of wishes

to Suzanne Miles -

12/01; Manoa

Bell, Martha

Mercogliano -

12/02; Mark Ber-

ger - 12/03; Lau-

ren Furey, Anita

Leaboldt - 12/06;

Yani Phillips, Yuri Phillips -

12/07; Tim Hixson - 12/14; Vicki

Caminer, Caleb Reeves -

12/16; Karen Strobino - 12/18;

James Luttrell -12/20; Esther

Sasser-Strom - 12/27; Steph

Sterner - 12/28 and Blue Sterner -

12/30.

December Birthdays

December Services

We offer a weekly service every Sunday at 10:30 a.m.:

Dec. 1 — Living Our UU Values Dec. 8 — Advent: What are We Waiting For? Dec. 15— Yule Dec. 22 —A Light in the dark: Find-ing Miracles Dec. 24 — Two Christmas Eve ser-vices (5 and 7 p.m.) Dec. 29—Kwanzaa

Our Worship Services weave together our experiences with music, beauty, poetry, and words that both comfort and challenge. Our programs for all ages inspire us, and awaken us to our capacities to make a difference in our own lives and in the world.

70s cult film full of UU values When the Novel Idea Book Club (NIBC) decided to discuss the book and subse-quent film adaptation of "Harold and Maude," none of our members realized how very UU our November pick was until we sat down together to discuss it. For those of you unfamiliar with "Harold and Maude," (a novel by Colin Higgins and a cult film classic from 1971) it is the love story of two eccentric souls, Harold, a death-obsessed 20-year-old from a wealthy family, and Maude, a 79-year-old free-spirited bohemian and survivor of a Jewish concentration camp during World War II.

Both the film and the book are tough to pin down to a single genre. The American Film Institute rates "Harold and Maude" as the #9 Romantic Comedy of all time, the #45 Dark Comedy of all time, and the #69 Ro-mance film of all time.

Harold and Maude (in the book and the film) meet while attending a stranger's funeral. It is hilarious, absurd, deeply mov-ing and ultimately endearing. Reading the book after seeing the film (many times!) made me love the story and characters even more. It was especially fun to watch it with friends seeing it for the first time. As we do every month, we shared our fa-vorite written passages with each other - this time we had chosen nearly all of the same ones, but one in particular resonated with each of us as the most UU of all. It was a discussion of God. Harold asks Maude, "who do you think God is?"

"Oh, he has lots of names. Brahma, the Tao, Jove. And for the metaphysically in-clined, there's The First Cause, The One Reality, or the Eternal Root. For me, I like what it says in the Koran -- "God is Love." Harold grimaced. "It says that in the Bible," he corrected. "And anyway, it's just a cli-ché." "Well, a cliché today is a profundity tomor-row -- and vice versa..." "Maude, do you pray?" "Well, I communicate." "How?" "Lots of ways. Through living. Through lov-ing. Different levels of consciousness re-quire different levels of communication. Language isn't the only way of talking." Harold smiled, "Yes," he said. "There's al-ways waltzing. "Right," said Maude. "One dances for grace -- in the theological sense." "But, where is He? Is He inside of us or out-side of us?" "Both, I imagine. There is a little God inside

us to show us where we've been, and a little God outside of us to show us where we're going." "That's pretty mystical." "You're right, Harold. It's a mystery. Frank-ly, I'm not sure if He's Our Father or Our Mother. I only know," she said, patting the trunk of the tree, "He's very creative."

Through their improbable friendship and eventual romance, Harold learns to enjoy life and to open himself up to love. His relationship with Maude breaks norms but also shows the reader/viewer that we al-ienate ourselves from others when we remain separated by class, gender, and age. Maude's character breaks with the usual representation of aging women in film - she is vibrant, sexual and romantic. One of the best features of the film over the book is the remarkable soundtrack by Cat Stevens, which has a kind of symbiosis with the film's big themes. The ultimate message of the book and the film is that we are as happy as we allow ourselves to be - that opportunities are all around us if we would just look for them. This message is delivered best in a song Steven's wrote specifically for the film, "If you want to sing out, sing out." The scene with Maude and Harold singing this song together is one of the best on-screen moments.

"Well, if you want to sing out, sing out And if you want to be free, be free 'Cause there's a million things to be You know that there are ..."

Harold and Maude is available for online streaming at Amazon Prime Video. Hig-gins's novelization has been out of print for more than thirty years, but you can find used copies on Amazon.

Tracy Brune is the Communication Coordi-nator for CVUU and a member of the Nov-el Ideas Book Club.

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Far left: Meet Biscuit! CVUU member Jimmy Luttrell rescued her at only four weeks old. He said she rules the Osgood-Luttrell house (lurking in the background is Kitty the dog). Center: Meet the late Tango, rescued from the Williamsburg SPCA by CVUU members Suzanne and Mike Ludwick. She was their very first pet and lived with them until she was 17. She was well loved and is very missed. Far right: Meet Woody! He is the rescue pup of the Smiley family. Ryan said they got her from the VB SPCA the week before they got married. Woody is 12 and loves fluffy blankets, large pillows, and long naps with lots of snoring.

Beloved Pets of the Month

The youth group has several upcoming events:

December 22nd: We'll watch A Christmas Story and enjoy hot cocoa, popcorn, and other holiday treats at CVUU.

January 18th: Our sister congregation in Wil-liamsburg will be hosting a youth lock-in! Registration is $20 per youth and can be done online at https://forms.gle/UnuD8onwF6LGDfZV7 if financial assistance is needed please email me at ypc@c-vuu.org.

February 7th: The youth group will be serv-ing dinner to our Norfolk Emergency Shelter Team (NEST) guests. Save the date so that your youth can attend and take part in this vital service we provide to the homeless in our community.

If you or your youth aren't currently receiving the youth group reminder emails and would like to please email me at ypc@c-vuu.org with the subject line "youth group remind-ers." Rayven Holmes Youth Program Coordinator ypc@c-vuu.org

Youth Group news!

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For many years our congrega-tion has hosted a potluck-style Thanksgiving meal.

Organizers Marcia Slosser and Sandy Ogletree did a fantastic job coordinating once again.

While CVUU provided turkey and tofurkey, congregants brought side dishes.

A HUGE thank you to the kitchen crew, the set-up crew and the clean-up crew for helping make our CVUU Thanksgiving Dinner a won-derful success. The unofficial count was 47 folks eating and

chatting and sharing blessings.

On a related note, a special hats off for all the donations for the Thanksgiving baskets collected in November for Virginia Beach Community Services as well as a Norfolk group servicing our homeless, or newly housed, neighbors.

CVUU provided 16 families with Thanksgiving Baskets in Virginia Beach and Norfolk. An added plus, we have enough left over to provide 5 Christmas Baskets to some senior citizens. Way to go CVUU!

CVUU hosts full house for annual Thanksgiving meal

Come ‘unwind’ with the CVUU Stitcher's Circle CVUU Stitcher's Circle offers a chance to relax, 'unwind' and enjoy fellowship with other creative friends.

Started last month, this is our fastest growing new group at CVUU! These needle-arts en-thusiasts hold weekly informal meetups from 6:30-8:30 Tues-day evenings in the foyer.

All knitters, crocheters, cross stitchers, and needlepointers, as well as other portable fi-bery-crafters are welcome to drop in. There are no fees. Feel free to invite friends!

The group is considering a joint effort for December to make some hats for the home-

less in sup-port of the Norfolk Emer-gency Shelter Team (NEST).

Don’t know how to knit or crochet but would like to learn? Someone from this group will be happy to help teach you!

Bring your projects and join us as we share our gifts of time, talents, laughter, wisdom and snacks with one another. And for those with wee ones, childcare is available!

For more information, con-tact: office@c-vuu.org

CVUU Book Lovers upcoming reads The CVUU Book Lovers will not be meeting in December but are already looking for-ward to January, February and March se-lections for the fourth Saturdays each month in 2020!

Upcoming book discussions (get on your library wait lists now for these) : Jan. 25th, 2020 for "Nine Perfect Strangers," by Liane Moriarty Feb. 22nd, 2020 "The Dutch House" by Ann Patchett March 28th, 2020 "Trust Exercise," by Susan Choi

As usual, they meet over a potluck lunch-eon at 12:30 pm in Room 201, second floor at CVUU.

Contact Vicki C. at landline (757) 638-0737 or Cell phone (757) 469-1397 vicki0737@hotmail.com or contact the C-VUU office, 757-627-5371, for more infor-mation. All are welcome! (The shared food and discussions are great!)

Bring a friend to NIBC in January The Novel Ideas Book Club, launched in May of this year, is a UU-style, open-to-all gathering & discussion group of biblio-philes who appreciate a wide genre of reads, from history to true crime.

Their next meeting is 6 p.m. Jan. 15th in the foyer. Please bring a friend and some book ideas with you. We will be selecting reads for Feb. March, April, May and June.

NIBC meets at 6 p.m. the third Wednesday of each month (except for July and De-cember). The meetings are BYOB—Bring Your Own Book, Bring Your Own Bottle (Adult refreshment or soft drinks) & Bring Your Own Bowl (of dips, chips or sweets!). Contact Suzanne Ludwick for details and to RSVP: ludwickfamily@gmail.com

Changes in the Social Hall/Foyer You may have noticed a few subtle chang-es in the Social Hall/Foyer over the past few weeks. Our Building Council recog-nized that the current space was growing more crowded, and noisy and decided to ad-dress this with a few small changes:

• We have re-placed the long tables with shorter tables that take up less floor space, but actually seat the same number of people.

• We have set up two “Committee Ta-bles” (designated by the red tablecloths). All groups wishing to have sign ups, sales, petitions etc are asked to use these tables. This will require sharing on some Sundays. Please do not set up any additional tables

in the foyer area.

• By adapting these changes we have more space for people to move around.

• Please do not place anything in the win-dowsills.

• Any literature, flyers etc that you may wish to display should be give to our Com-munications Coordinator for display. We simply do not have space to handle the abundance of materials that end up in the area. We are trying to limit materials to things directly related to CVUU. Materials that just “show up” will be disposed of.

• We will be adding literature racks to the walls outside of the coatroom so everyone will know where to go to look for infor-mation.

The Building Council appreciates your feedback and suggestions as we work to fine tune our spaces to maximize function and aesthetics.

Celebrate Yule with CUUPS Please join CUUPS (Covenant of Unitarian-Universalist Pagans) on Sat. Dec.21,st from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. as we celebrate Yule.

An open-to-all ritual will be followed by a potluck. Please bring a dish to share.

If you want reminders sent to your phone, check out Remind (text charges may ap-ply) Text@cuups81010 Details, contact: cuups@c-vuu.org

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In preparation for Virginia’s 2020 General Assembly session, Virginia Conserva-tion Network (VCN) and its Network partners are con-vening for a preview of what’s in store for our natu-ral landscapes and re-sources. Volunteers, board members, and staff of part-ner organizations — as well as those interested in getting more involved in Virginia’s conservation community — are invited to learn about priority envi-ronmental topics and dis-cuss our collective ap-proach to advancing policy in the upcoming legislative session.

VCN is committed to mak-ing this event as accessible as possible to everyone across the Commonwealth. In order to better accom-modate the vast majority of Virginians who live outside of the region, they are hosting watch parties across the state. The Hamp-ton Roads Watch Party, hosted by Lynnhaven River Now, will be held Saturday,

Dec. 7th from 8:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m. at Virginia Wes-leyan University (5817 Wes-leyan Dr, Virginia Beach, VA 23455), Greer Science Building, Room 225.

This year's preview will cov-er: taking bold climate ac-tion by moving away from fossil fuels and moving to-wards a clean energy fu-ture, securing full funding for our natural resources in order to clean up the Ches-apeake Bay, protect our parks and natural land-scapes & enhance our envi-ronmental agencies and more!

Coffee and breakfast will be served at all locations. Attendees will receive a copy of the 2020 Environ-mental Briefing Book, which displays the breadth of con-servation issues our com-munity is prioritizing. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask ques-tions at the conclusion of each panel and to partici-pate in the regional breakout discussion about next steps.

Prep for VA General Assembly

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Send current requests to Susie Gullixson at office@c-vuu.org or call (757) 627-5371.

When making a request, consider:

Room(s) requested, allowing time for setup and takedown!

Childcare needs – Childcare is available Tuesday and Wednesday evenings from 6—8:30 p.m. and Sunday morn-ings. It is the responsibility of each committee or organizer to arrange childcare directly with our Director of Religious Education, Paul Greggs at DRE@C-vuu.org for hours outside of the above times. It is not the responsi-bility of the Office. Forward your re-quests for childcare at least four weeks prior to your event.

Contact name (with phone number and/or email address)

Person in charge of locking up, sound setup requiring a sexton

Parking needs (note if ‘overflow’ park-ing will be needed)

Large Print Hymnals are available at the table in the foyer. Hearing Amplification Headsets are avail-able at the sound booth in the back of the sanctuary. CDs of the service are available for bor-rowing or for $3 for purchase. Inquire at the sound booth in the sanctuary for CD recordings.

If you stay late, please double check to see the building is secured!

The weekly email, The CVUU Courier, is sent out Wednesday at noon.

The deadline for the Order of Service newsletter is Wednesday and the deadline for CVUU Courier is Monday at noon.

The deadline for the monthly news-letter is the 15th of the month. If you would like to place an ad for January your deadline is Dec. 15th!

*Please Remember, when advertising events to make sure to include BOTH Susie Gullixson & Tracy Brune. Send your media to office@c-vuu.org & comm-coordinator@c-vuu.org

For up-to-date news, check out our web-site: www.c-vuu.org.

Planning an event? Things to consider:

December 2019