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Unitarian Universalist Society of Mill Creek
We are a community that invites you to awaken to love.
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Here’s what’s happening at Mill Creek:
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** Congregational Life
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** Upcoming events, meetings and news to know
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** Church Potluck THIS SATURDAY @ 5pm
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A CHILI COOK-OFF, our first themed potluck, takes place on Saturday, October 12 at 5 pm. We hope to have at least 4-6 participants prepare their signature chili dishes in hopes of winning our coveted “2024 Chili Master Extraordinaire” bragging rights. There will be voting!
Please register your dinner contribution by clicking the button below (or see the poster in the gathering space to scan the QR code).
If you will be attending the Drum Circle scheduled for the SAME DAY at 4 pm, please plan to stay for this exciting contest – and for good food and fellowship!
Register your Potluck Dish HERE (let us know what you will bring) (https://signup.com/client/invitation2/secure/781484364064/false#/invitation)
Have questions? Don’t want to bother with an online sign-up form? Contact the committee by email – CLICK HERE (mailto:fellowship@uusmc.org)
** Sunday Worship Service Information
October 13, 2024
10:30 am
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How to be present even when you don’t agree, don’t understand, or just don’t wanna. Join Rev. Schmidt this Sunday for his sermon, “Listening in Love.”
Music for this service will be performed by Blayne Salerni and Marty Lassman. Blayne Salerni studied Trumpet Performance at the University of Delaware and earned a Jazz Studies minor. He toured with the UD Wind Ensemble to Taiwan, where he served as Principal Trumpet. He performed in UD’s premier Jazz Ensembles and has been featured as a soloist. You can find him playing anything from funk with his local band, Universal Funk Order, to Salsa with artists such as Frankie Ruiz Jr, and everything in between. Blayne currently teaches Band at Smyrna Middle School and is chair of the Delaware All-State Jazz Ensemble. After enrolling as an engineering major, Marty Lassman graduated from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor in Music Education. While there, he was a trumpet major and percussion minor and wrote charts for the UD Marching Band. He was the first band director hired for HB duPont Middle School and Talley Jr. High School when they opened. After earning his MMEd with a piano
emphasis from the University of Iowa in 1974, he worked as the band director at Wilmington Friends School for eighteen years, and then as choir director at the Cab Calloway School of the Arts for 28 years. While there, his choirs performed in Delaware, Washington, DC, Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts at the request of our Governors, US Senators, and Cabella Calloway Langsom. His choirs also won awards in Disney World competitions. He retired from public school teaching in 2019 and is currently the treasurer of Delaware’s American Chorus Directors Association and the Jazz Representative for the Delaware Music Educators Association. He also directs an adult jazz choir, Keynote Jazz, that rehearses weekly and will perform here at Mill Creek in January 2025.
Connect with Us In-Person
* Service begins at 10:30 am
* Children’s RE programming is available for ages 4 and up
* Child Care available (infant/toddler, ages birth to 3)
Connect with Us Virtually
Here’s how to get the Zoom link for livestreaming the service:
* Click the link below: ‘Sunday Livestream’ (bookmark it on your preferred device for quick and easy access on Sunday morning); OR
* Get the link by accessing the church calendar (https://www.uusmc.org/news/calendar/) (https://www.uusmc.org/news/calendar (https://www.uusmc.org/news/calendar/) )
Sunday Livestream – CLICK HERE (https://zoom.us/j/97806427419)
** Meadow News & Events
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* Pizza & Beverages in the Meadow The last gathering for pizza in the meadow took place last week (pictured above). The team thanks everyone who volunteered throughout the season to help maintain our lovely meadow and wooded areas.
* Wednesday work evenings continue through the end of October with work starting around 5:30pm. Most of the remaining work will center on planting new trees and primping/protecting/tending our existing trees.
* Native Flower Seed Pod collection after church on Sunday, October 20 is open to everyone to collect native flower seeds from our meadow. Use them in your home gardens, or give to the Land Stewards seed inventory. We will be collecting seeds from Milkweed, Goldenrod, Bee Balm, Aster, Mountain Mint among other species. The Land Stewardship team will be on hand to direct you and help you identify the plants.
* Next Land Stewards meeting will be held on Sunday, November 10, following coffee time in the conference room. All are welcome including non-church members.
See or contact Amy White (mailto:amywwhite@comcast.net) or Jamie Kegerise (mailto:jamie@dsofurniture.com) for more information.
** Concert at Mill Creek – Friday, November 1st
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Brandywine Friends of Old Time Music presents….
A Life of Sorrow: The Life and Times of Carter Stanley featuring Gary Reid
Performed by award winning actor and musician Gary Reid, this unique performance is a one-man play with songs about a mountain music legend.
Carter Stanley, a gifted songwriter and expressive singer, and his brother, famed Appalachian Mountain banjoist Ralph Stanley, helped lay the foundations for what is today known as bluegrass music. Gary Reid’s performance touches on the lighthearted aspects of Stanley’s life, including his childhood days on the family farm in rural Southwestern Virginia, the respect and admiration he had for Bill Monroe, the acknowledged father of bluegrass, to the turbulent side of his life including his jealousies and insecurities, and his struggles with alcohol which eventually cut short his life at the age of 41 in 1966. This mesmerizing performance affords today’s audiences a chance to connect with a bluegrass treasure as “he” tells the story of his life in old-time mountain music.
Friday, November 1 – 7:30 pm
Tickets sold at the door:
$25 general public; $20 seniors; $15 students w/ID; free for kids aged 17 & under
Learn more about this upcoming performance HERE (https://www.alifeofsorrow.com/index.php)
** Holiday Craft Fair
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We’re hosting another Craft Fair:
Saturday, November 9
10:00am — to 2:00pm
All of our vendors will be selling locally made items such as pottery, art work, jewelry, irresistible crochet plushies, holiday wreaths, and more. There will be a make-and-take craft activity for children, and anyone young at heart. Baked goods and hot chocolate/tea will also be for sale from a local chef. Mark your calendar to attend and peruse a variety of one-of-a-kind items.
Vendors: spaces are still available, contact Sara Durham HERE (mailto:saradurham88@gmail.com?subject=craft%20fair) .
Shoppers: get your holiday shopping off to a festive start – bring your wallet and enjoy!
** Current Share Our Plate Recipient
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We regularly donate a portion of our undesignated plate collection to a local charity or non-profit organization. For the months of September & October we are supporting:
Kennett Area Community Service
Strengthening the Southern Chester County community through food, housing, crisis services, and education
From their humble beginnings with a small food closet to their current campaign for a newly constructed building, this non-profit organization has been providing essential life-sustaining services to those in need for 70 years. This new building will feature conference rooms for a variety of workshops, respite services for the community, an expanded food distribution center, and more.
Learn more about Kennett Area Community Service HERE (https://kacsimpact.org/)
Support this organization with your online donation HERE. Be sure to select ‘Share Our Plate’ as the giving fund. Thank you! (https://onrealm.org/MillCreek/Give)
** Recurring Events
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A fantasy tabletop role-playing game
The Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game is about storytelling in worlds of sword and sorcery. It shares elements with childhood games of make-believe. In the Dungeons & Dragons game, each player creates an adventurer (also called a character) and teams up with other adventurers (played by friends). Working together, the group might explore a dark dungeon, a ruined city, a haunted castle, a lost temple deep in a jungle, or a lava-filled cavern beneath a mysterious mountain. The adventurers can solve puzzles, talk with other characters, battle fantastic monsters, and discover fabulous magic items and other treasure. All are welcome to join the group on Sunday, October 13 & 27 at 12 pm in classroom 1. Occurs every 2 weeks on Sundays. Questions? Contact Tom Vincent (mailto:trv302@outlook.com) .
Drum Circle: a group of people playing unrehearsed percussion music
A drum circle is a casual gathering where people play drums and other percussion instruments together to create a group rhythm. The goal is to bring people together to experience the positive benefits of playing unrehearsed music in the moment, and to connect with others through the beat. Drum circles are open to people of all ages and abilities, and no musical experience is required – all are welcome! Please bring your own instrument or use what we have available. Join the group on Saturday, October 12 at 4 pm in the sanctuary. Plan to participate in our themed potluck dinner, a Chili Cook Off. Occurs monthly on second Saturdays. See or contact Sara Durham (mailto:saradurham88@gmail.com) with any questions.
Realm is our church management software program. We use it exclusively for accounting, pledge data, membership, registration events, and more. Use the button below to access your Realm profile to make sure we have your most recent contact information, and make pledge payments and contributions.
Access your Realm profile HERE (https://onrealm.org/MillCreek/SignIn)
Fun fact: you can use Realm to set up recurring online monthly pledge payments using a credit card or your checking or savings account!
Mill Creek Staff
Rev. Christian Schmidt, Minister
In Office: Sundays & Tuesdays
minister@uusmc.org (mailto:minister@uusmc.org)
979-450-2477 (cell)
To request a teleconference, or an in-person or Zoom meeting with Rev. Christian – CLICK HERE (https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/appointments/schedules/AcZssZ1ETx17XToDEx3GC5293hfnHTj-VJpBMu_m7SpHkuCcHozb-ceUiT3H-hDGLbziPku9hYBquodp)
Debra Damiani, Congregational Administrator
Monday 9 am to 2 pm, Monday-Thursday
administrator@uusmc.org (mailto:administrator@uusmc.org)
302-369-2712
Connect with the UUA, Delmarva Cluster, and Central East Region
** How You Can Support Recovery Efforts after Hurricane Helene
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The scale of destruction in the wake of Hurricane Helene has been utterly devastating to many communities in the southeastern United States. Some Unitarian Universalist congregations have been seriously impacted and others are still trying to assess the damage. You can help support Unitarian Universalists and their communities as they recover from this storm by giving generously to the UUA’s Disaster Relief Fund.
Click HERE to donate (https://www.uua.org/giving/disaster-relief)
https://www.uua.org/central-east
**
Opportunities for Connection: Central East Region Update
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OCTOBER 2024
Featured Resource:
Primary Contacts
The 1000+ Unitarian Universalist congregations in North America are grouped into 5 regions: Pacific Western, MidAmerica, Southern, Central East, and New England. The Unitarian Universalist Society of Mill Creek (UUSMC) is part of the Central East Region. To learn more about what’s happening in our region, click the button below.
Opportunities for Connection – click here to learn more (https://www.uua.org/central-east/blog/opportunities-1024)
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