Seedling Mentors

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Seedling’s mission is to mitigate the impact of parental incarceration on children in Central Texas through school-based mentoring. When a child loses a parent to incarceration, they lose possibly the most significant person in their life. As a result they can face significant risk factors that can make it difficult to succeed in school.
 
As a volunteer mentor, I (Chanelle Shackelford) visited the school and had lunch on a regular basis with the student I was matched with. Through my rewarding experience, I can say this organization supports our values of community, compassion, and transformation. Seedling believes in the promise of every child: the promise of an education, the promise of a future, and the promise of all they can contribute to society.
 
Seedling recruits volunteers from the community, matches them with eligible children and offers ongoing support to both children and mentors. The mentors provide stable, long-term relationships for the students that can help them develop and maintain positive attitudes towards school.
 
Since 2006, Seedling’s Mentor Program has served over 2500 students, with a presence at one time or another on 150+ campuses in 11 districts and 16 charter schools in Austin and Central Texas.
 
Learn more about Seedling and how to help here: https://www.seedlingmentors.org

This Heat: Why and What we can do About it

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This heat is caused by man made out of date fossil fuel burning energy generating utilities. The tens of millions of tons of toxic waste pumped into our atmosphere acts as an atmospheric cap, like a green house, trapping the oppressive heat causing historic 3 figure temperatures for us and all the people on our planet.
 
One example of what we can do about this is recommended by Texas Scientist Katharine Hayhoe. Watch the attached short video for a positive respectful way to talk about this.
 
One example of the out of date utilities is the Fayette Coal Fired Power Plant Austin (we) own 40% just 90 mins from here in Fayetteville, Tx. What Dr Hayhoe says is an example that grows the local economy and helps us lead as a Nation in the coming century.
 
Here is a report on the tens of tons put out by our out of date coal fired power plant and deaths the report attributes to this deadly site:
 
 
Look at the hopefulness and action steps Dr Hayhoe shares with us. What if we started doing more of what she recommends? 
 
For a full list on Emissions Inventory for all of 2010 – 2021, please reach out to Beki and Richard at green@austinuu.org.

Three steps to share your thoughts about a new Settled Senior Minister

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We want to remind all First UU Austin members and folks attending our worship services about the online Congregational Survey and to encourage everyone who hasn’t filled it out to do so today or at least by the deadline next Sunday, August 13. If you haven’t received an online copy of it, please visit Ministerial Search Committee members in Howson Hall this Sunday, and we’ll give you a paper copy of the Survey.

The Congregational Survey is one of three ways you can inform us of the qualities our First UU Church needs in a Settled Senior Minister as we use your information to discern what our congregation wants and needs.

A second way we want to hear from you will be for you to attend a Search Party and/or Focus Group meeting. We’ll share more about these meetings soon, and the Search Committee will rely heavily on the information we gather from these activities.

The third way you will give us feedback will be by VOTING if you are a member! We want to stress this because you may not know that in our UU faith, the only way a candidate becomes settled minister is through an affirmative vote of the voting members of our congregation present and voting at a congregational meeting, which will be called by our Board.

The Search Committee will complete its discernment and have conversations with Rev. Chris, our Inside Candidate, the first week in October. If both the Search Committee and Rev. Chris mutually agree that he is a good match for the congregation’s needs in its ministry, the Search Committee will ask the Board to announce a congregational meeting to vote to call Rev. Chris as our Settled Senior Minister. The meeting is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, October 29.

If Rev. Chris receives 90% of the vote, he will be our settled senior minister. If he does not receive 90% of the vote, it will be considered a failed search. The church will extend its interim ministry. The search must start all over, a new search committee must be formed and the earliest we can expect a settled senior minister will be 2025. As is the case with all Inside Candidates, Rev. Chris will resign.

Your elected Ministerial Search Committee will share a FAQ with you online and in Howson Hall this Sunday and future Sundays to help you understand more details in our effort to be as transparent and informative as possible. Thank you for your full participation as we all work together to find what our congregation wants and needs in a new Settled Senior Minister.

2023 Question Box Service

by Posted in Uncategorized

For our service on August 20, Rev. Chris and Rev. Michelle will answer your questions about the church, life, the universe, and everything (though neither will pretend to have the answers to all that). We will provide materials to jot down and submit your questions on August 20; however, if you know you will be attending the service virtually or will not be able to attend the service live, please feel free to submit your question ahead of time to info@austinuu.org. Rev. Michelle and Rev. Chris will then answer as many questions as possible in the time allotted.

Blessings for the next chapter

by Posted in Audio available, Erin Walter, Sermons

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Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Erin Walter
July 30, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

In her last service as our interim Minister for Joy and Justice, Rev. Erin Walter will reflect on the congregation’s learning and spiritual growth in the past year, and offer blessings for the church’s future. Rev. Jonalu Johnstone will also join the service by video.

Chalice Lighting

This is the flame we hold in our hearts as we strive for justice for everyone. This is the light we shine upon systems of oppression until they are no more. This is the warmth that we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.

Call to Worship

WE ARRIVE TOGETHER HERE
By Andrew Pakula

We arrive together here
Travellers on life’s journey
Seekers of meaning, of love, of healing, of justice, of truth
The journey is long, and joy and woe accompany us at every step
None is born that does not die
None feels pleasure that does not also feel pain.
The tear has not yet dried on the cheek but the lips curve sweetly in a smile
Numerous are our origins, our paths, and our destinations
And yet, happily, our ways have joined together here today
Spirit of life. Source of love.
May our joining be a blessing
May it bring comfort to those who are in pain
May it bring hope to those who despair
May it bring peace to those who tremble in fear
May it bring wisdom and guidance for our journeys
And though this joining may be for just a moment in time
The moment is all we can ever be certain of
May we embrace this and every instant of our lives.

Affirming Our Mission

Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.

Sermon

Text of this sermon is not yet available.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 23 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.

PODCASTS

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776

Nurturing Spiritual Wholeness

by Posted in Audio available, Chris Jimmerson, Sermons

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Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson
July 23, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

Did you know that the church offers several small group ministries where people gather in groups of around 10 to share deeply, explore personal and collective spiritual growth, and develop sustaining, nurturing practices? Join us to hear from fellow congregants who have helped lead such groups and, in doing so, discovered new spiritual horizons that already existed within themselves.

Chalice Lighting

This is the flame we hold in our hearts as we strive for justice for everyone. This is the light we shine upon systems of oppression until they are no more. This is the warmth that we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.

Call to Worship

From HIDDEN WHOLENESS
Parker Palmer

Philosophers haggle about what to call this core of our humanity, but I am no stickler for precision. Thomas Merton called it true self. Buddhists call it original nature or big self. Quakers call it the inner teacher or the inner light. Jews call it a spark of the devine. Humanists call it identity and integrity. In popular parlance, people often call it soul.

What we name it matters little to me, but that we name it matters a great deal….

Affirming Our Mission

Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.

Reading

From HIDDEN WHOLENESS
Parker Palmer

No fixing, no saving, no advising, no setting each other straight. The rule is simple…

Sermon

Text of this sermon is not yet available.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 23 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.

PODCASTS

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776

Lessons from Chalice Camp

by Posted in Audio available, Chris Jimmerson, Sermons

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Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson, Kelly Stokes, and First UU Chalice Campers
July 16, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

This week we hosted Chalice Camp, a full-day summer camp for UU kids from all around the Austin area. During worship this Sunday, they’ll be sharing some of the songs, stories, and UU history that they learned this week. We’ll also hear a Bridging Homily from a graduating senior about how their faith has informed their understanding. Join us for this youthful – and very joyful – worship.

Chalice Lighting

This is the flame we hold in our hearts as we strive for justice for everyone. This is the light we shine upon systems of oppression until they are no more. This is the warmth that we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.

Call to Worship

GENERATION TO GENERATION
by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

In a house which becomes a home,
one hands down and another takes up
the heritage of mind and heart,
laughter and tears, musings and deeds.
Love, like a carefully loaded ship,
crosses the gulf between the generations.
Therefore, we do not neglect the ceremonies
of our passage: when we wed, when we die,
and when we are blessed with a child;
When we depart and when we return;
When we plant and when we harvest.
Let us bring up our children. It is not
the place of some official to hand to them
their heritage.
If others impart to our children our knowledge
and ideals, they will lose all of us that is
wordless and full of wonder.
Let us build memories in our children,
lest they drag out joyless lives,
lest they allow treasures to be lost because
they have not been given the keys.
We live, not by things, but by the meanings
of things. It is needful to transmit the passwords
from generation to generation.

Affirming Our Mission

Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.

Sermon

Text of this sermon is not yet available.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 23 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.

PODCASTS

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776