Concord UU Calendar - All Church Events

This service offers a time for meditation, reflection, and renewal through music, brief words, and silence. Come sing, light a candle, and nurture your spirit during this nontraditional worship experience - and bring a friend! There will be a rehearsal from 6 to 6:45 pm for singers who would like to learn the harmonies to the chants we will sing.

We are also looking for instrumentalists interested in participating, but would need to know in advance who is able to come. For more information, please contact Rev. Michael Leuchtenberger at 603-410-4830 or michael@concorduu.org.

Please send your articles for our monthly newsletter to parishnotes@concorduu.org. If you are planning church event, please remember to schedule the event with the office, and request a room if you need one (www.concorduu.org/thyme or email office@concorduu.org) before submitting your article for the newsletter.

This is open to all.

Please join us for the Dances of Universal Peace @ Concord UU, held the third Sundays of each month from 7 - 9 PM. This starts our third year of monthly dance circles and the circle is growing!

The practice of the Dances of Universal Peace cultivates harmony in body, mind and spirit. This community practice includes focus on breath, listening, feeling, seeing and silence. An atmosphere of heart centered peace and harmony is created. The Dances of Universal Peace are led by Sarah-Elizabeth Whitcomb and Jenaabi Finlay with musical support of guitar, harp, flute, recorder and drum. The Chapel will be open a half hour prior to the start of the dance. All are welcome to join us as leaders and musicians connect and create space together.

Come, come, whoever you are! Bring yourself, an open heart and a friend to the dance circle! For more information please contact Sarah-Elizabeth Whitcomb at 365-0852 or sarah_elizabeth@me.com or Rev. Michael Leuchtenberger at michael@concorduu.org or 410-4830.

Keep updated, “like” our facebook page: facebook.com/DUP-ConcordUU.

This on-going Adult Enrichment group meets every week on Tuesday evenings for one hour of meditation including a reading. Come, sit, listen, and meditate with us.

This Adult Enrichment program is led by Beck Anamin, and meets Thursdays, weekly. Yoga is a multipurpose tool for improving a lifetime: the essence of Yoga is nonphysical inner development. To varying degrees for each individual, Yoga brings inner quiet, peace of mind, character strength, and spirituality. We each relate to it and its many physical and inner benefits in ways that suit our individual needs and personalities.

This Mindful Yoga program cultivates the abstract benefits. It encourages a quiet, mindful awareness while doing a full range of classical postures. Postures improve health through strengthening, purifying, and toning of the body, as well as of the nerve, and energy systems. Improved health, self-confidence, and a feeling of well-being, foster the inner results. Although the postures are a valuable tool, their improvement of the body is a byproduct, not the goal of Yoga practice.

Appropriate for a range of students, the approach is sufficiently safe, gentle, and even-paced for new students, while providing depth, variation, and practice options for experienced students.

Adult Enrichment offering

Please note, date is different from earlier publications.

Come and join us for our Imbolc Ritual and Celebration. Newcomers to the path are welcome as always.

Imbolc is the halfway point between Yule, the longest night, and Ostara, the spring equinox. This is a ritual where many celebrate and nurture the growing light.

The winter is cold, and the dark nights have been long. As the sun climbs in the sky, the days grow longer.

Those who are weary of the darkness, the snow, and the ice, begin to feel the hope and promise of the coming spring.

Join the Concord UU Earth Centered Spirituality Group as we celebrate the return of the light, and longer days.

Please bring a candle from your home to bless in the Candle Ritual. Anything from tea light to pillar candle will do (tapers won't work). You can then take that blessing home with you.

Days grow long
Sun grows strong
Magic night
Candles bright
Dance and drums
Springtime comes

We hope to see you there!

Did you know that that our Community Plate, which is passed during each Sunday service, collects an average of $500 each week during the regular church year? That's more than $2000 each month that goes to important projects outside of our church's operating expenses. In addition to collection money, the CSC is involved in Community Outreach projects, collecting food, helping children at the Boys and Girls Club choose and wrap holiday gifts for their parents, buying turkeys for baskets, participating in the Crop Walk and many others.The Community Service Committee (CSC) would love to have you on board, whether it's for one event or the entire year. We also need requests from the congregation for our plate donations (forms available in theoffice.) We should be proud that our church donates to community projects, which include healthy meals for children and adults, community gardens, women rights, peace actions, food banks, summer day camp tuition, animal welfare, environmental programs, hospice and so much more.

You can participate in our work, whether or not you are on the committee or can attend monthly meetings. Here are some of the areas where the CSC needs help:

Collect and deliver food
Souper Bowl Sunday
Wrap gifts at the Girls and Boys club
Take meeting notes
Talk with church members about requesting funds from our Community Plate
Help write a mission statement

You can be any age (think poster making, collecting cans of food, dressing up as a can of food). To learn more, contact Deb Bruss by email: deborahbruss@mac.com. If you don't have email, leave a message at 856-7529.

This is a church-sponsored event lead by LR Berger from Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service of New England

Attention all kids who love music and performing!
We are looking for school age children who are willing to sing a song, play an instrument or create a skit to go with us on February 17^th for an afternoon of performing for elders.
The details:

We’ll rehearse together right after social hour on January 20th, February 3rd and February 10th, assisted by Kristofer Johnson.
On February 17th, it’s show time! We’ll meet after social hour for pizza and then head off to The Birches, where member Fred Gillis is a resident, and then to Presidential Oaks.

If you are interested in having your child participate, look for the sign-up sheet in the parlor starting December 30^th.
You can also go to www.concorduu.org/volunteer.php. On Volunteer Spot, you can indicate how your child would like to participate and you can also sign on as a parent volunteer, helping with driving and supervision, if you’d like to be involved.

Our Adult Enrichment Committee is coordinating a carpool to attend a performance by Peter Mayer at Tupelo Hall in Londonderry.

He's back! Some of you may remember Peter doing a service and performing at our coffee hour about 10 years ago. Peter's acoustic music appeals on many levels. His "Blue Boat Home" from the teal hymnal has been sung by our congregation. Come join friends for a fun, relaxing evening of all-ages entertainment. We will meet at 7pm in church lot for carpooling. Please purchase your own reserved seats as soon as possible at $22 (plus $2 service chg) (see FAQs http://www.tupelohalllondonderry.com/ticket_info.html). They are going quickly!

private meeting for project team & construction reps

sermon: “No Regrets,” Joanna Henderson
As the old year fades and the new year comes on, we need to look back with no regrets.

Meeting at Mary Lou K's

Help raise funds for our church by having lunch or dinner at Uno's Chicago Grill on Fort Eddy Rd. Coupons to participate are available in January Parish Notes and at church. Bring your coupon to Uno's anytime on Jan. 13 for dine-in or take-out, and Uno's will donate 20% of the sale the the church.

Meditation WILL BE HELD as usual on New Year's Day.

This on-going Adult Enrichment group meets every week on Tuesday evenings for one hour of meditation including a reading. Come, sit, listen, and meditate with us.

On Sunday, January 6, we will be collecting “Guest At Your Table” donations either in the small boxes or white envelopes. If you are not in church that Sunday, please drop off your donations in the church office (Monday through Friday from 9am to 3pm) no later than January 20 or simply send it directly to UUSC (mailing information listed on collection box or use envelopes provided in the "table setting" display just outside the main office).

This is the final day the church will accept collection boxes for the Guest At Your Table program. After this point, individuals will be responsible for sending the donations in on their own (information on the side of the collection boxes).

An open circle for all ability levels.

“To Trust the Dawning Future More,” Rev. Michael Leuchtenberger
As a religious tradition we must remember our roots and honor our past. Yet for religion to thrive, for religion to have a viable future it must have reasons to trust the dawning future more. Religious humanism has a colorful history and it has good reasons to look to the future with hope.

“Inside Out,” Rachel Vogelzang.
Tattoos and piercings are a form of body modification that can serve to express some of what is inside a person on the outside. Although sometimes condemned by certain parts of society, these kinds of body modification can encourage us to look more carefully at the ways in which people choose to express their insides on the outside, and look at some of the ways in which we express our own selves to the world.

“Lovestruck Not Colorblind,” Rev. Michael Leuchtenberger
Martin Luther King Jr. called for us to be lovestruck with each other, not colorblind toward each other. To be lovestruck is to care deeply about all people. To be lovestruck means to ask honestly about the role of (state) power in caring for the vulnerable. And it means to ask what we are willing to do in response.

Contrary what was published earlier, Rev. Kate Braestrup, author and UU minister, will not be able to lead the service.

Instead, Intern Minister Lyn Betz will present a sermon entitled "Bodhisattva Shopping."

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
As you consider how you will remember the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, consider joining in a discussion of Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. We’ll meet at 2pm, on Sunday, January 20th. More than 40 years after the death of King, it is easy to look around and see the United States as a post racial society, one in which anyone can go to Harvard, head up a corporation, be the president of the United States.

King warned of the danger for African Americans of being “crucified by conscientious blindness (M.A., p 242).” Alexander argues that we have used the War on Drugs to create a new system of Jim Crow, albeit one that on the surface isn’t tied to race. The lack of overt racism allows us to turn a blind eye to the problem, continuing what King described as a “long trek….[of] limiting of neighborly concern to tribe, race, class or nation (M.A., p 242).”

It is difficult to consider the possibility that mass incarceration might be anything but a necessary by-product of individuals making bad choices. Read the book and then join us to consider the evidence that Alexander presents. It is a painful but necessary book to read in order to understand race relations in the age of Obama. We have copies in the library. I hope you will consider joining us on the 20th.

A worship opportunity for members of the Earth-Centered Spirituality Group.

As we remember and celebrate the life and vision of Martin Luther King, Jr. this month, we'll revisit King's landmark speech, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence. In light of our nation's current policies, economic injustices and commitments to the path of military violence around the world, King's prophetic words still provide a compelling call to action. This 60 minute film contains archival footage, as well as interviews hosted by Tavis Smiley. Discussion follows.

Free to all

Please arrive after 6:45 pm, find on-street parking on Broadway and settle into a comfortable chair for the film which starts promptly at 7 pm.

Co-sponsored by Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service NE, Unitarian Universalist Church of Concord, NH UCC Peace with Justice Advocates, Temple Beth Jacob, American Friends Service Commitee NH and NH Peace Action

For more info contact: LR Berger 496-1056

Memorial Service in Sanctuary to be followed by reception in Fellowship Hall

On Sunday February 3rd, we will be having a Celebration of Burundi Culture: Burundi food, crafts & clothing, song, slides & stories, drumming, dancing, and a chance to learn from each other.

Come to the fundraising luncheon, held after the service, to have the opportunity to taste some traditional Burundi dishes, prepared by the women of the community, along with other African dishes that will be made by adventuresome UU cooks. If you’d like to join in the food preparation, we’ll be in our kitchen cooking on Saturday, February 2.

If you’ve been looking for a way to learn more about the refugee experience, this is a great opportunity. UU Friends of Refugees hopes to increase connections between the UU and Burundi communities.

This week's class has been cancelled. Class will resume the regular schedule next week.

Appropriate for a range of students, the approach is sufficiently safe, gentle, and even-paced for new students, while providing depth, variation, and practice options for experienced students.