Connect With Us - Unitarian Universalist Society of Mill Creek

Posted on June 24, 2021 Posted By: Office Administrator Categories: News

Read our latest announcement.
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Unitarian Universalist Society of Mill Creek
We are a community that invites you to awaken to love.
Sunday Virtual Worship
June 27, 2021

Until Love Wins

This Sunday we invite you to attend the Livestream of the UUA General Assembly Sunday Worship Service held at 12:00 noon EST.

NOTE: This service replaces our regular Mill Creek worship service.
Today’s challenging times require a nimble and resilient spirituality. We need a demanding, inspiring faith and a love strong enough that it will not let us go. Join us as we draw the circle wide, gather our strength, and promise to stay in the struggle and joy until love wins.

Join the largest annual gathering of UUs joining in worship. Last year, well over 10,000 UUs joined the virtual GA Sunday morning worship! This powerful, communal worship experience will stream on Sunday, June 27^th at 12 noon EST. Members of the public are also welcome to view the service.

UUA President, Rev. Dr. Susan Frederick Gray, selected the First Universalist Church of Minneapolis (https://firstuniversalistchurch.org/worship/) to serve as worship leaders for this year’s GA Sunday Morning Service. Musicians, Franco Holder, Aimee K. Bryant, and Dr. Randal Buikema, and religious professionals, Lauren Wyeth, Julica Hermann de la Fuente, and Revs. Arif Mamdani, Karen Hutt, and Jen Crow will lead the service.

Rev. Greg encourages everyone to join with thousands of UU’s across the world in celebration of our faith.

Check your inbox on Sunday morning for the links to this special service.
IN THIS ISSUE
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** Congregational Life
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** Upcoming events, meetings and news to know
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** Two-for-One Special at Mill Creek this Saturday Evening
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Join us for a campfire, and we’ll include a sunset!
We continue our weekly gathering around the campfire in the Memorial Grove this Saturday, June 26th – weather permitting. We gather around 7 pm. Bring your family and friends of all ages, and bring all your comforts (lawn chairs, blankets, refreshments, etc.). On a clear evenings we have a good vantage point to view a beautiful sunset!

EVERYONE is welcome!! The Memorial Grove is to the left of the main (back) parking lot as you drive in. Please note that the church building will be closed except for restroom use (by one person or family at a time). Contact Jamie Kegerise (mailto:jamie@dsofurniture.com) with questions.

** Your pledge dollars at work!
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We contributed $14,934 to the UUA’s Annual Program Fund during fiscal year 2020-2021.

What is the Annual Program Fund (APF)? Member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association promise to one another their mutual trust and support. The APF is the vehicle for that support and is the largest source of income for the UUA. The amount requested by the UUA is based on a percentage of our reported operating expenditures. Mill Creek is a 25 Year+ Honor Congregation, meaning that we have contributed the full requested amount for twenty-five or more consecutive years. We began our contributions in 1989. Click here to find out more about the UUA’s Annual Program Fund. (https://www.uua.org/finance/apf)

** Mill Creek Meadow & Grounds Spotlight: Milkweed
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Despite having “weed” in the name, the Milkweed plant (Asclepius spp.) isn’t a weed at all – it is a delightful and beneficial wildflower. The plant gets its name from the milky white sap that oozes from the leaves when they are snapped or damaged. This sap can be harmful to pets, livestock, and people as it contains toxins called cardiac glycosides or cardenolides, which are toxic if consumed in large quantities. However, milkweed does not taste good! Most animals and pets ignore the plant because of this.

There are several species of milkweed native to our region, and we have two blooming now: Common Milkweed, which is tall with big pink flowers (pictured below right), and Butterfly Milkweed (or Butterflyweed), which is a shorter plant with deep orange flowers (pictured below left, in the Butterfly Garden).

Although it is considered a wildflower, milkweed is a perennial which can benefit from periodic pruning. Clipping withered and spent flowers will stimulate new growth, resulting in new buds which will prolong the availability of nectar for the monarchs and other pollinators. Milkweed spreads by rhizomes (underground runners or roots) and can be an aggressive spreader.

Milkweed is like nature’s food market for butterflies, pollinators, and insects. It is not uncommon to see flies, beetles, ants, bees and butterflies on the flowers while a monarch caterpillar grazes the leaves – all at the same time.

Monarch caterpillars eat milkweed exclusively, and female monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed plants, thus playing a critical role in the monarch’s life cycle.

Milkweed is popping up all over the Mill Creek meadows! Think of it as an open-air classroom for all ages, especially curious children who would like to learn why it’s so important for the monarch butterfly to have a plentiful supply of this beautiful and life-sustaining plant throughout its miraculous life cycle.

I saw a poet chase a butterfly in a meadow. He put his net on a bench where a boy sat reading a book. It’s a misfortune that it is usually the other way round.
-Karl Kraus (Austrian writer, journalist, playwright & poet, 1874-1936)
We gather every Wednesday afternoon around 5:30 pm to tend to our meadow and grounds. All are welcome! Bring your gardening gloves – we’ll show you what needs doing. OR – come any day of your choosing!
More interested in the scenery? We happily encourage anyone who might be curious about the work we do to stop by at any time for a walkabout. Contact the church office (mailto:administrator@uusmc.org?subject=meadow%20%26%20grounds) with any questions you might have.

The Mill Creek Meadow and Grounds – for everyone to enjoy!

** Mill Creek Board of Trustees Quick Look Report for Wednesday, 23 June
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Our most recent financial data still shows a surplus for the year, primarily due to reduced expenditures.

Planning for having our live Sunday Services broadcast continues. Purchase, installation, and testing of equipment will start in July.

COVID-19 Statistics – The number of daily new cases continues to be above our threshold value of 1 per 100,000 per day needed to have in person Sunday Services. It is impossible to predict when this may occur.

Phased Reopening Plan – The Opening Committee requested the board to determine the criteria for determining what phase we are in. The daily new case rate was approved as being the single criteria for that determination. The Grid that has been developed for the phased reopening was reviewed and input provided.

Sabbatical – The board voted to approve Rev. Greg’s request to take his sabbatical from 1 January 2022 to 30 June 2022.

Music Director Position – The expediting of hiring a music director was discussed.

The RE program for Summer and Fall will be discussed at the board retreat.

The board retreat will be held in the sanctuary.

The Independent Living for Young Adults (ILYA) program was discussed. It will be a joint effort with First U (Wilmington). It is a program in which all of us can participate.

Adjourned at 7:40

** Difficult Grief: Common Grief Misconceptions
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Common Grief Misconceptions That May Contribute to Complicated Grief
Part of a series provided by Rev. Bob Broesler

When grievers have, knowingly or unknowingly, internalized some or all of the following prevalent misconceptions, they are likely to deny their naturally occurring feelings or suppress instead of express those feelings, and possibly end up lost in the wilderness of complicated grief.

Some of these common grief misconceptions can be:
* Grief and mourning proceed in predictable, orderly stages
* You should move away from grief, not toward it
* Tears and other demonstrative behaviors in grievers are signs of weakness, especially for men
* Openly mourning means you are being weak in your faith
* It is best to “get over” your grief as quickly as possible
* Nobody can help you with your grief; it is something you have to come to terms with yourself
* Grief that lasts a long time is abnormal
* The person who died wouldn’t want you to be sad

Such misconceptions are essentially fake maps of the wilderness of grief. “Go this way,” they promise. “This is the fastest, easiest route.” If you have ever had Siri or Google maps blithely lead you to the wrong destination, you understand the trouble that ill-conceived maps can get us into.

Rev. Broesler is a Grief Counselor and a member of Mill Creek. Connect with him by using any of the following links:
Email (mailto:bob@bobbroesler.com)
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/robert.broesler.52)
LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/griefcounselorrobert-broesler/)

** Book Group Announces Next Read
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There will be no meeting in July, but plan to join us on Thursday, August 12th at 7 pm when we discuss Justin Cronin’s The Summer Guest. (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/33717/the-summer-guest-by-justin-cronin/) We will meet on Zoom; look for the link in future communications.

Home

** May & June
Share Our Plate
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We regularly donate a portion of our undesignated plate collection to a local charity or non-profit organization. Although we aren’t meeting in person for Sunday services for the time being, contributions are still being received to support this fund and are donated entirely to the selected recipient. For the months of May and June, the Social Justice Committee has selected Wings for Success (https://wingsforsuccess.org/) , located in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, to be the recipient of this fund.

Wings for Success empowers women in need to pursue employment and economic security through apparel, advice and advocacy. They provide immediate clothing needs for a variety of jobs and industries; offer one-on-one support for resume writing, job seeking tips, interview skills and more; and offer workshops and employment resources.

Use the links below to learn more, and to donate.
LEARN MORE about Wings for Success (https://wingsforsuccess.org/)
DONATE to Share Our Plate (https://onrealm.org/MillCreek/-/give/now)
**Be sure to select ‘Share Our Plate’ as the giving fund**
We believe that generously sharing our gifts and receiving the gifts of others grows our compassion. We find our gifts flow from discerning the intersection of our heart’s deepest yearning and the world’s deepest hunger. We know ourselves to be most alive when we honor the earth and all humanity upon it. – from Mill Creek’s Values, Beliefs and Mission statement
https://onrealm.org/MillCreek/SignIn

CLICK HERE (https://onrealm.org/MillCreek/SignIn)
to access your Realm profile!

We encourage you to continue your financial support of Mill Creek during the closure by using one of the following methods:

1. Mail a check: 579 Polly Drummond Hill Road, Newark DE 19711 (staff is present in the office and the mailbox is checked daily). Please indicate on the subject line if this is a pledge payment, a general contribution, or a contribution to a specific giving fund.
2. Give electronically through REALM: https://onrealm.org/MillCreek/Give or use the link below (remember to select a giving fund).
3. Text-to-Give: text MillCreek and the amount [e.g. MillCreek 50] to 73256.

We sincerely appreciate your support of Mill Creek, especially now while we are unable to gather together for the time being. But the work of the church continues! We gratefully acknowledge that there would be no Mill Creek without YOU. Thank you.
**Click here to GIVE now** (https://onrealm.org/MillCreek/-/give/now)

@millcreekuu
Mill Creek Staff office hours & contact information

Rev. Gregory S. Pelley
minister@uusmc.org (mailto:minister@uusmc.org)
302-369-2712
Hours by appointment – use the link below to schedule:
– Click here to schedule time with Rev. Greg – (https://calendly.com/gpelley)
Debra Damiani, Congregational Administrator
Monday 8 am to 1 pm, Monday-Thursday
administrator@uusmc.org (mailto:administrator@uusmc.org)
302-369-2712

** Upcoming events in our local community
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** Outdoor Movie Nights Starting Soon in Newark
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Two outdoor movie nights coming up soon!

When: Saturday, July 10^th @ 8:30 pm (parking opens at 7:30 pm)
What: Onward, Disney & Pixar’s family friendly animated movie about two teenage elf brothers who get an unexpected opportunity to spend one more day with their late dad and embark on an extraordinary journey.

When: Saturday, August 14^th @ 8:00 pm (parking opens at 7:00 pm)
What: RBG, a documentary on Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life and career as a long-standing Supreme Court Justice.

Admission: $8 per person, per movie; resident discount price is $6

General Info: Both films will be shown at Newark Charter Jr/Sr High School (https://www.newarkcharterschool.org/) (200 McIntire Drive, Newark). Bring your own chairs & blankets, snacks & refreshments to set up for seating on large grass field. There will be no viewing from vehicles.

Registration: registration is required for each person in attendance for each movie – click the button below. (Note: when accessing the page, scroll down to ‘Events’.)
Register HERE (https://secure.rec1.com/DE/newark-de/catalog)

** Local event: Food & Brew Fest
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Saturday, July 31st
12 noon – 7:00 pm

Celebrating the unique relationship between the culinary arts and the brewing sciences!
Enjoy unique beers, creative cuisine, live music, and more at the 17th Annual Newark Food & Brew Fest. This event showcases more than 40 craft beers paired with creative food offerings from more than a dozen Newark restaurants. Unlike most beer festivals, this event takes place within each participating restaurant. Travel from restaurant to restaurant to sample the featured brews and tasty dishes each location has to offer. Beer tastings and food specials begin at 12 noon and run until 7 pm. This is a pay-as-you-go event – no tickets or reservations required. Must be at least 21 years of age to consume alcohol. Use the link below to find out more about the participating locations and featured brews.
Food & Brew Festival: all the details! (https://outandaboutnow.com/newark-food-and-brew/)

** News from the UUA, the Central East Region, and the Delmarva Cluster
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** UUA: Opportunities to Expand Your Mind
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The Unitarian Universalist Association has several publishing arms, each of which feeds the soul in different ways.
Photo: Unitarian Universalist Association
* Beacon Press books seek to change the way readers think about fundamental issues, promoting such values as freedom of speech and thought, the importance of economic and social justice issues, religious pluralism, respect for our environment, and the importance of the arts in a civil society
* Skinner House Books publishes titles directly aimed at the spiritual needs of Unitarian Universalists, seekers, and others who share the values of liberal religion
* Justice and Spirit: The Unitarian Universalist Book Club is a place where all who are interested in spirituality, religion, and social justice, whether Unitarian Universalist or not, can discuss books that relate to these crucial questions
* Tapestry of Faith is the family of curricula and other faith development resources published by the UUA to inspire and support formal and informal Unitarian Universalist faith development across the lifespan
* UU World is the magazine of the Unitarian Universalist Association, celebrating liberal religion and the people it inspires

Click here to find out about these and more (https://www.uua.org/publications)

https://www.uua.org/central-east

**
Opportunities for Connection: Central East Region Update
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June 2021
Opportunities for Connection – click here to learn more (https://uua874.activehosted.com/index.php?action=social&chash=03e7ef47cee6fa4ae7567394b99912b7.5364&s=8983449a6b0e04757c2c9729fa49f044)

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