Hosted by the Caring Team, the monthly Connectors Zoom meeting is an opportunity for us to check-in with each other, talk about what’s new in our lives, how are things going, etc., within a what’s-said-here-stays-here hour. After check-in, time permitting, the Caring Team will offer a topic of discussion. You can either stay with the topic or choose one of your own.

We look forward to seeing you THIS Friday, May 30 at 6:30 pm!

Click the new link below to join:

Meeting ID: 408 000 1516

Passcode: 228SOcean

The Connectors gathering is hosted by SNUUC's Caring Team - Doris Brass, Ilene Corina, Sharon Kennelty-Cohen and Rev. Sharon Pataky. It is a confidential call, which means that what is said and heard in the call stays in the call unless you say otherwise. The Connectors gathering is the last Friday of the month from 6:30-7:30 pm. Please email Sharon Pataky, Rev.Sharon.P@gmail.com, if you have questions or would like additional information. 

Thank you to the SNUUC Board and helpers for cleaning the Brantley Wing to get the space ready for rental and income for SNUUC. Recently, two colorful events were held in this great space. Do you or someone you know need to rent space for an event or meeting? Speak with a Board member for more information about space rental at SNUUC.

The Argyle Theater is a Professional Equity Theater showing musicals, with an orchestra and concessions, Argyletheatre.com. The address is 34 West Main Street in Babylon. Purchase your tickets using the discount code ISLANDER for $80 tickets. We are targeting the fifth-row area of orange orchestra seats on the right side. You can see theater seating for June 12 online, argyletheater.com. Buy your tickets online or call the box office phone, 631-230-3500. 

Please let Mary Brower know that you are joining the group by texting her at 516-532-2554. See you at the show!

Here’s a fun Summer plan! Come to SNUUC on Wednesday morning, July 2, and enjoy dancing and listening to the Goldentone Big Band Jazz Orchestra with our own Mark Bennett on trumpet. The time is 10 am to noon in the Brantley Wing. Admission is $10 per person collected at the door. Not only will you dance and sing, you will help raise money for SNUUC. Put it on your calendar and bring a friend!

The Flower Ceremony is a simple ritual. Each person brings one or two cut flowers (from the garden, or from the grocery store) to the service on Sunday. We place our flowers, together with all the others, in a vase, and it becomes a beautiful bouquet that we enjoy during the service and bless with our presence. And when we leave to go home, we take a flower, a different flower, to grace our home for a while.

We each bring our unique and beautiful gifts to a congregation. And we take home different beautiful gifts from the work of the congregation. This wonderful image came from the Norbert and Maja Capek, who led a large Unitarian congregation in Prague, Czechoslovakia between World War I and World War II.

Born a Roman Catholic in southern Germany, Norbert Capek rejected that faith as a teenager. He became a Baptist minister and traveled widely in southeastern Europe, preaching and writing. His religious views became more and more liberal and he was forced to flee Europe in 1914 because of those religious statements.

He went to the United States where he discovered Unitarianism. With his wife Maja, he became active in the Unitarian congregation in East Orange, New Jersey. In 1921, realizing that Czechoslovakia was newly independent and free, they decided to take this liberal Unitarianism back to their homeland. Maja also became a minister and their congregation in Prague flourished in the 1920s and early 1930s, but as the Nazi cloud descended over Europe, liberal religion was suspect.

In 1939, Rev. Maja went to the United States where she raised funds for war relief and also served as minister of the congregation in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Norbert stayed with the congregation in Prague and was eventually arrested for the capital crime of listening to foreign broadcasts on the radio. He died at Dachau in 1942.

It was Maja who brought the Flower Ceremony to the United States, the beautiful spring festival that they had created in Prague. It stands as a beautiful tradition for many of our congregations and, for me, as a memorial for the ministerial couple, forced to face separation and death in Nazi Europe.

I hope to see you this Sunday, when we will celebrate spring, our congregation, and brave people.

Rev. Carol

SNUUC is looking for individuals to join our team of Worship Associates. As a Worship Associate, you'll play an important role in supporting our Sunday speakers and ministers during the service, helping everything run smoothly and making a meaningful contribution to our community. Interested? Contact Harriet for more info and to get involved and trained, arnoldharriet00@gmail.com.

After early work as a special education teacher and as an arts administrator, Carol Huston found Unitarian Universalist ministry as the culminating career for her life. Ordained in 1992, she served congregations in Rochester, Michigan and White Plains, New York. As a minister, she enjoyed doing pastoral care and preaching, but she also found much to do in social justice areas. Since retiring from parish ministry, she has been very active in women’s empowerment, civil rights, and poverty issues. She is currently putting energy into the development of a United Nations advocacy team for International Women’s Convocation (IWC), our UU women’s organization which focuses on relationships among UU women’s groups around the world.

On Sundays, the virtual room will open at 10:20 am, the service begins at 10:30 am.

 Join us in the SNUUC Sanctuary or

find a comfortable spot, light a candle and join us from home!

To join the virtual Sunday Service, you'll need to install an application from a company called Zoom. If you haven't installed it already, please install this application before Sunday morning.

Zoom provides a dial-in feature for those who want to listen in.

Coffee Hour is an essential part of the service for UUs. We need to make this a community affair. We ask you to please continue to bring snacks for coffee hour. We are asking people to take a turn doing set up and clean-up, there is a sign-up sheet on the Welcome Table. If all those who are able take a turn do so, this will not be a burden on any one person. As usual you will not be doing it alone, others will help.

Every engaged UU should try to attend General Assembly (GA) in person at least once. There are dozens and dozens of workshops on congregational leadership, social justice, spiritual practices, new ideas – or you might learn about these things from someone sitting next to you in one of those workshops. There are lots of worship experiences, many different kinds. Imagine being in a space with 4000 UUs, singing “Spirit of Life.” You will know you are part of a powerful movement.

GA this year is Wednesday afternoon, June 18, to Sunday afternoon, June 22 in Baltimore, only a train-ride away! Like most small to mid-sized UU congregations, SNUUC cannot offer financial support for attendance. You will need to pay for the train ticket (or driving), and for food and 4 nights in a hotel. Registration is $475 right now, and this cost will go up after May 15. If you dig down on the registration page, you will find a $100 discount for first-time in-person participants.

I am not a first-time participant. I have attended more than 20 GAs, and it is always joyful and inspiring. Please consider going this year. I also encourage you to visit my favorite aquarium, there in Baltimore.

Go to www.uua.org/ga/registration. You will be able to click to the schedule and other information from that page.

During a special Coffee Hour, SNUUC bid a fond farewell and good luck to our recent Sunday Service Musician, John Paul. Joe McAuley, our talented piano and organ player for many, many years met with John Paul and they happily "compared notes".

You can view SNUUC's monthly calendar online.

Go to www.SNUUC.org.

Click on ABOUT at the top of the page.

Click on EVENTS CALENDAR.

OR click on this link... SNUUC Calendar

The Freeport Workers Justice Center of the National Day Laborers Organizational Network held a series of 4 workshops for day laborers. They met at SNUUC to take OSHA courses to earn a certificate about the policies for safety and health in the workplace. The organization also held a series of Nutrition Classes on Monday evenings. The FWJC/NDLON distributes food packages every Thursday morning from 9 to 10 am at the door at the back of the building, in the parking lot by the Brantley Wing.

REGISTRATION IS OPEN! If you are a member of a LIAC member congregation click here LIAC member registration.  All other friends click here Regional Registration

Our Mission is to create an intergenerational Unitarian Universalist community that provides enjoyable, practical, and spiritual experiences in a safe, beautiful, and natural environment that will inspire children, youth, and adults to explore their identities: personal, communal, and Unitarian Universalist.

Who should attend? We offer programs for a multigenerational camp experience. We welcome families of all ages and sizes, young adults, and seniors who hold fond memories of attending with their children. Each community member signs a Covenant by which to live during our week together.

Rev. Ashley DeTar Birt is the Program Manager for New York Unitarian Universalist Justice. NYUUJ serves as the New York State Action Network (SAN) and connects UUs in NYS to justice issues on a legislative level. More information can be found at our website. 

NYUUJ wants to connect with constituents. Click on this graphic which leads people to their mailing list sign up. Their primary method of connection and information is email. 

The Caring Team is Doris Brass, Ilene Corina, Sharon Kennelty-Cohen and Rev. Sharon Pataky. For more information contact Sharon Pataky, Rev.Sharon.P@gmail.com.

Love is the spirit of this church, and service its law. This is our great covenant: To dwell together in peace, To seek the truth in love, And to help one another.

Rev. James Vila Blake