{"id":136875,"date":"2022-12-09T09:27:49","date_gmt":"2022-12-09T15:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/?p=136875"},"modified":"2022-12-09T09:27:50","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T15:27:50","slug":"pastoral-support-at-first-uu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/pastoral-support-at-first-uu\/","title":{"rendered":"Pastoral Support at First UU"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Message from\u00a0Revs. Chris, Erin, and Jonalu<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 The holidays may bring joy and peace, family and cheer\u2026.\u00a0
And they may not.<\/p>\n

For many people, this time of the year includes stress and sadness. The season may remind us of loved ones who have died. Gatherings may bring too much drinking or new or renewed family tensions. Or since the season is supposed to be filled with joy, the normal human challenges —\u00a0 illness or job loss or financial stress or relationship issues — that can come at any time of year feel extra hard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Your church wants to be there for you. That includes us as your ministers, and it includes First UU Cares, your lay pastoral care providers. During the pandemic, our lay pastoral care volunteers did their best to maintain connection and outreach. However, people couldn\u2019t visit hospitals or provide much of the human connection that means so much during a crisis. That means we lost volunteers and organization. We\u2019re working to rebuild our First UU Cares Team and rolling out services as quickly, caringly, and appropriately as we can.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0If you have attended any recent memorial services \u2013 and there have been quite a few —\u00a0 you know that church members and friends have come through with plenty to feed to those who are grieving and celebrating a life. That\u2019s organized through First UU Cares, as are cards that are sent out to people in a variety of circumstances where they could use comfort.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0We are starting again to provide meals to those who are sick or juggling a new baby. And to make visits to those who are sick or recuperating.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0For the team \u2013 and the ministers! \u2013 to provide the needed pastoral care, we need two things. First, we need volunteers who are willing to make (or buy) meals and deliver them, and people willing to make home or hospital visits. Providing care to those in our church community offers a chance to deepen ties, to reach out with love. If you are interested in being part of the First UU Cares Team, please send an email to caring@austinuu.org<\/a>. Or express your interest through the volunteer survey.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The second thing we need is to know when someone needs care. Many UU\u2019s are reluctant to ask for help so fail to notify their church when they go into the hospital, experience a loss, or have other concerns. During the pandemic, many of us even forgot that receiving caring from our church was an option. We need to remember that others care, and to do that, everyone needs to name when they have needs. It is a gift to those who have love to give to let us know what you need. And, let us know if it\u2019s OK to share your needs with others in the congregation who may want to help.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0And maybe you\u2019re fine, but you know someone else who could use care. You, too, can let us know what\u2019s going on. To let us know of needs \u2013 yours or someone else\u2019s \u2013 contact one of the ministers or caring@austinuu.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Whatever the season, we at your church want to be part of caring for you. It\u2019s part of what a church community does.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Message from\u00a0Revs. Chris, Erin, and Jonalu \u00a0\u00a0 The holidays may bring joy and peace, family and cheer\u2026.\u00a0And they may not. For many people, this time of the year includes stress and sadness. The season may remind us of loved ones who have died. Gatherings may bring too much drinking or new or renewed family…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136875"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136876,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136875\/revisions\/136876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}