One important way First UU lives its mission to do justice is through our Monthly Special Offerings.  These offerings are collected during services on the second Sunday of the month. Each member of First UU may nominate one nonprofit social justice organization that promotes our UU values in the larger community. 

To nominate an organization, please complete the form and return it to us at the Social Action table on Sunday November 28 or December 1,  or by email to David Overton at info@austinuu.org. Nomination forms must be received by Thursday, December 5, 2024 – no exceptions.

Please fill out the Nomination form here.
If you need further information, please contact David Overton at info@austinuu.org.

The First UU Green Sanctuary Committee will join the Sierra Club Climate Crisis Committee on Tuesday, November 5th, at its regular monthly meeting. We will have a potluck, as usual, starting at 6:30 pm. This will be an early election results party for results up to 8:30 pm. This should show the current returns and trends for most of the eastern states and for much of the Central Time Zone states. We will also see the very early results from the Mountain Time Zone. We will celebrate our volunteer election work and play a few election/party games. Victoria will also present a few tips on handling grief for those whose candidate loses (which you can pass on to your Trump friends).

The presidential race will not be declared Tuesday. Even if someone won in a landslide, they wouldn’t call it until the states in the West closed their polls. Most other close races will not be declared until late that night. But we can see some returns, share some community time, and hopefully have some fun.

Expect to see a Dia de los Muertos Altar at First UU in the foyer outside the sanctuary when you arrive for services Sunday, November 3rd, compliments of Austin Sanctuary Network. Some ASN members can’t return to their homeland to honor their ancestors where they were buried to follow the traditions of their communities.

The ceremony will start at 2 p.m. that Sunday to honor loved ones who’ve passed away and UUs are welcome to bring a photo of your loved ones, who you’d like to honor, if you want to join us for the ceremony. ASN will provide simultaneous interpretation in Spanish and English. After the ceremony, we’ll gather in Howson Hall for a potluck of dishes our loved ones enjoyed most during their lives. For more info and to tell us if you plan to attend the ceremony please email Peggy at insideamigos@austinuu.org.

UBarU is a Unitarian Universalist Camp and Retreat Center located on 142 rugged acres in what is, again this year, a peaceful and seasonally-wildflower strewn patch of the Texas Hill Country near Kerrville. Since the property was passed on to us by the Quakers, we have sought to fulfill our UBarU Mission “to provide a welcoming, peaceful place to gather for spiritual, educational, and recreational purposes in harmony with our Unitarian Universalist Principles and the Land.” Over the last 20 years, scores of members of this church have joined in Summer youth camps, Deep in the Heart of Texas Women’s Retreat, Heart of Texas Men’s Retreat, Texas Wine – Texas Stars Celebrations, Fiber Arts gatherings, GenderFUUL welcoming retreats, Dark Sky Star Party weekends, contemplative retreats and personal family reunions.

In 2023, we launched a two-year Capital Campaign, Digging Deeper to Reach Higher! Thanks to generous gifts from many of you, we now celebrate raising the needed funds. We successfully completed swimming pool repairs, drilling a new water well, upgrading our Public Water Supply system and building an accessible new two-bedroom cottage with a great porch and view. We so appreciate your financial support!

Our past efforts to be good stewards of the land have benefitted from grants to expand our solar panels, a grant from H-E-B Environmental for a Rainwater Catchment System, expansive seeding of native grasses and wildflowers, and creating an additional firebreak corridor in the east, adjacent to the Meditation Oak. An additional grant from Live Oak UU Endowment created an active bird blind with native plantings and a wildflower pollinator garden. We have hosted a delightful array of birds, including Scrub Jays, Golden-Fronted Woodpeckers, a Great Crested Flycatcher and a Baltimore Oriole! In addition, our remote camera below the pool has captured photos of White-tailed Deer, Red Fox, skunk and raccoon families as well as wild turkeys and Road Runners.

For those of you that have visited UBarU, you know that all activities revolve around the traditional Quaker-style Meeting House and radiate to the decks, the limestone rock pool by the windmill, the Meditation Oak, the two meditative labyrinths and the evening fire circle. We so much look forward to hosting you this coming year. In January, our summer children’s camps will be open for registration and we will have a full calendar of seasonal retreats and dark sky events. Who knows, you might even see the next comet from a porch at UBARU!

This month, UBarU is proud to have been chosen again by you, the members of First UU Austin to receive the Monthly Special Offering. Thank you for your continuing support. For a more detailed Update Letter or information on upcoming programs or the Capital Campaign please visit www.ubaru.org or check out the many photos on the UBarU Facebook page at www.facebook.com/UBarURetreat.

Want IDEAS for something VEGAN  to serve at your holiday meal? 

The Veganistas of First UU Austin invite you to  A VEGAN PRE-THANKSGIVING POTLUCK DINNER AND RECIPE SWAP

Saturday, November 9th, 6:30 PM in Howson Hall

Bring something festive, or a veganized version of a holiday classic, or your best unique specialty. 

Submit YOUR vegan holiday recipe or find ideas at Veganistas.org.

Bring a VEGAN dish that serves 8. Couples may bring two dishes or one large dish. 

ALL DISHES NEED TO BE VEGAN, meaning no animal products at all. (No meat, fish, eggs, or dairy products including no milk, cheese, yogurt or butter, no animal broth, gelatin, or honey. Please check the ingredients of everything used in your dish.)  This makes it so everyone in our group, vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores can eat anything at the potluck. It is helpful to bring a list of ingredients or even copies of your recipe! As a courtesy, be prepared to give information about allergens. 

For more information, to sign up for the potluck, or to ask questions about veganism visit Veganistas.org

Contact us at info@veganistas.org Letting us know that you plan to attend gives a good head count. But if you forget to sign up, COME ANYWAY!

Sponsored by the Veganistas of First UU Austin and the Austin Vegan and Vegetarian Association 

VEGAN FOR THE ANIMALS, FOR YOUR HEALTH, FOR OUR PLANET

VEGAN FOR THE INTERDEPENDENT WEB OF LIFE, OF WHICH WE ARE ALL A PART. 

Join us on Saturday, October 19th at First UU Austin from 8 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. for TXUUJM’s Empowered Safety Training.

Lunch will be provided. Childcare available upon request. Teens are also welcome to attend this workshop with a parent.

From democracy work to campus protests to Sunday mornings in worship, we face questions of how — and what it means — to keep ourselves and our communities safe. Join the Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry as we deepen our practical and spiritual tools for safety in our congregations, communities, and justice work. In this unique training grounded in UU principles but open to all, you will learn from local and national safety experts about how to respond in a crisis:

• What is an equitable and just definition of community safety, aligned with our values?
• What is needed from UUs, according to community members who face the most risk?
• When faced with creating a critical incident response, based on years of research, in the first few minutes before law enforcement is present, how do we empower ourselves to keep our communities safe?
• Most importantly: how do we make decisions about safety based on our values, and not out of fear?

The training will include a one-day in-person training, as well as two-hour Zoom workshops before the training and after the training, to provide collective grounding and reflection. UUs, partners, and friends are warmly invited, and you are encouraged to register with a group from your congregation or organization, so you may be thought partners in sharing your learning with your wider community after the training.

NOTE: This was a very popular and successful training with our Arizona UU justice network, and we are excited to bring it to Texas with the same facilitators, funded by grants from UU College of Social Justice and the New York State Convention of Universalists.

While Unitarian Universalism comes out of Christianity, many of us have–at best–mixed experiences with the Christian bible. Whether you are bible-curious or concerned about what’s in there, this workshop is for you.

Join UU seminary student AJ Juraska online, Sunday, December 29th from 1 – 3 p.m. to learn tools for understanding the bible from an academic/historical perspective, rather than a “literal” one. We’ll focus on what the bible does–and does not–say about being gay and how to research what bible verses “really” say. A Zoom link will be provided once you register on Church Center.

First UU’s Mission is Building the Beloved Community. By sharing 60 minutes of your time, you can invite First UU’s members and friends to build a world of justice, compassion, and love. Sixty minutes of your time in the comfort of your own home is a great way to demonstrate your spiritual values. We have opportunities to sign up for writing thank you cards and participating in virtual text banks. 

Please share your time with the stewardship team by signing up here.

Building the Beloved Community

With love and joy, we invite you to join the 2025 First UU Stewardship Campaign. Commitment Sunday is coming on Sunday, October 13. This is the day that we will ask all members and friends to make their annual pledge to First UU. What is a pledge?  Making a pledge simply means declaring how much you expect to contribute to First UU during 2025. 

This year, we are striving to make pledging joyful by encouraging positive reasons to give, easy ways to make your pledge, and a churchwide celebration recognizing our congregation’s accomplishments and having some fun.

Join the hundreds of Austin families committed to the spiritual practice of supporting our progressive faith community by pledging on October 13. If you already pledge, we encourage you to increase your support of First UU in 2025. We will then celebrate our commitment to First UU with a party on October 27 from 12:15 – 2. Learn more about pledging and the 2025 Pledge Drive on the Stewardship Webpage.

Are you wanting to deepen or expand your spiritual practice? Would you like more opportunities to worship with your family?

Starting in October, FUUCA will be offering evening Vespers services on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month at 6:30 PM. The 2nd Tuesday will be a meditative service and will be held in the sanctuary. The 4th Tuesday will be a family friendly service in Howson Hall with dinner provided (all ages are welcome).

This month the services will be Tuesday, October 8th and October 22nd. Please reach out to Nancy Mohn Barnard with any questions: okrasalad@gmail.com or 512-914-2917. 

In 2013, co-founders Frances Schenkkan and Dr. Juno Woods expanded on the 2007 organization, Students for Gun-Free Schools in Texas, to create Texas Gun Sense, with a broader focus on public safety. The mission of Texas Gun Sense is “. . . to prevent gun violence and other gun tragedies in Texas through education, partnerships, and policy change. We achieve this mission through a multi-faceted approach centering around education, collaboration, and advocacy.”

Texas uses a common-sense approach to political action and, in doing so, has achieved some careful, measured success in Texas. The 2015 launch of The Texas Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, an alliance of organizations and experts working on gun violence prevention, is one such success, as is the Texas Invest in Us Coalition, designed to secure investment for violence intervention. TGS works politically to prevent dangerous laws from being passed as well as supporting and advocating for new laws. And it
works educationally, an example being its webinar series, “Education to End Gun Violence.” Go to txgunsense.org for more information.

In 2023, during the 88th session of the Texas Legislature, TGS was successful in working with a lawmaker to add a measure to the school safety legislation (HB 3) that requires school districts to educate every child’s parent or caregiver about safe gun storage. The work goes on!

On Sunday, October 13th the collection will promote Texas Gun Sense.

Sign Up for the Green Sanctuary Committee, a Different 1st UU Social Action Pillar, the Sierra Club,
Citizens Climate Lobby – or All of Them

The Green Sanctuary Committee will try a new process. You can sign up as a Green Sanctuary Activist. You will receive a weekly communication about how you can help fight for the climate at local, state, and national levels. You are not expected to take all of these actions. If you are one of the many folks at 1st UU who is too busy with other causes, with work, and/or with family, we encourage you to sign up as a Green Sanctuary Supporter (not money support, action support). We’ll inform you of at least one action a month that will take as little as five minutes yet that, joining hundreds or thousands of others, can exert powerful pressure on our leaders to take action. We’ll also notify you of several meetings each month where you can learn and act with a major climate organization even without joining it.

We’ll also have sign up sheets for the other committees that make up the six social action pillars of 1st UU: LGBT Rights, Anti-Racism, Immigration, Reproductive Justice, and UU the Vote/Democracy.

We’ll also have a sign-up table for Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL). CCL focuses effectively on trying to get the most important climate legislation passes at the national level. They are unique in recognizing that most climate legislation will need bipartisan support to pass, and looking for and supporting legislation that both parties can support. CCL provides superb volunteer training and has a strong Austin chapter.

We’ll have a sign-up table for the Sierra Club. The Sierra Club is the largest grass-roots environmental organization in the country and has strong advocacy programs at the local, state, and national levels. Fighting for the climate and for climate justice is a top priority. They have excellent speakers on climate and the environment at many local meetings. They also provide many volunteer opportunities. They lead excellent hikes in the local area.

Heat claims more climate crisis deaths than anything else. 645 people died from heat in Phoenix in 2023
alone. 47,000 people died in Europe. As heat waves become longer and more intense, even more will
die. Deaths from heat is also a top climate justice. It’s important that we realize that real people are
behind cold statistics about deaths.

We will watch the film Cooked – Survival by Zip Code, the story of a Chicago heat wave. We’ll discuss the
reactions of different people in the U.S. to this tragedy. We’ll of course have popcorn. Children will
watch a different movie at the same time, Seuss’s Lorax. Please join us.

Building the Beloved Community

With love and joy, we invite you to join the 2025 First UU Stewardship Campaign. Commitment Sunday is coming on Sunday, October 13th. This is the day that we will ask all members and friends to make their annual pledge to First UU. Making a pledge simply means declaring how much you expect to contribute to First UU during 2025.  

This year, we are striving to make pledging joyful by encouraging positive reasons to give, easy ways to make your pledge, and a church-wide celebration recognizing our congregation’s accomplishments and having some fun.

Join the hundreds of Austin families committed to the spiritual practice of supporting our progressive faith community by pledging on Sunday, October 13th. If you already pledge, we encourage you to increase your support of First UU in 2025. We will then celebrate our commitment to First UU with a party on Sunday, October 27 from 12 – 2 p.m. Learn more about pledging and the 2025 Pledge Drive on the Stewardship webpage.