Assembling with Rev Joe June 17, 2022 How’s this for a theme? Meet the Moment: Reimagining Radical Faith Community! That’s the theme of this year’s UUA General Assembly. I’ll be focusing on attending sessions that explore restorative practice and restorative justice. Using restorative practice as a frame for understanding what it means to be in … Continue reading A Cup of Joe
Harmony from Accountability A Cup of Joe, June 3, 2022 Along with some members of the Board and others from the congregation, I am taking a course that introduces something called “restorative process” or “restorative justice.” Restorative Justice efforts are efforts in the legal system to shift from a practice that focuses on punishment to … Continue reading A Cup of Joe
Celebrating Our First Mortgage On the occasion of the congregation burning the mortgage on Sunday, Jan 16, I asked the Founding Minister of the congregation, Linda Hoddy, if she had any thoughts that she would like to share with UU Saratoga. (Rev. Hoddy was minister of the congregation from its founding in 1996 to … Continue reading A Cup of Joe, January 21, 2022
While you certainly know about the events that MLK Saratoga has organized for this weekend, I wanted to call your attention especially to two of the events with a UU connection. First, on Saturday at 10am, Philomena Moriarty is leading a 90-minute online workshop on Nonviolent Communication practice. Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is based on the … Continue reading A Cup of Joe, January 14, 2022
Let’s Go Caroling! The one thing that I’ve missed more than anything else during this Covid time is singing together as a congregation. Christmastime isn’t Christmastime without carols, and caroling is all about singing together. We can still make Christmas caroling happen, though, by using a website! I’ve started learning a new website called Easy … Continue reading A Cup of Joe
Sep 24, 2021 It was a lot of fun getting together to celebrate and share music and desserts last Saturday even in the rain and the dark! Thanks to all of the musicians and storytellers. All of the bakers and folks who helped with setup and cleanup! And thanks especially to Bev Lawson who was … Continue reading A Cup of Joe
What a joy it was to be with so many of you in person last Sunday at High Rock Park to celebrate our annual water communion ritual and kick off the liturgical year! I knew that I had missed being with you all in that way, but it was almost overwhelming to be with you … Continue reading A Cup of Joe
Updated COVID Guidelines, August 2021 The UUA updated its recommendations for congregations regarding COVID this month. The Board and Way Forward Task Force are just digesting this information now and so no new congregational policies have been made, but that will probably change soon. I’ll summarize some of the most relevant recommendations in this column, … Continue reading A Cup of Joe, August 27, 2021
August 6, 2021 We’ve been through the pandemic. And we haven’t gotten all the way through the pandemic. In a recent online gathering of UU ministers who participate in the Soul Matters Sharing Circle, a colleague shared a metaphor that someone had used when they were trying to describe this current moment. It goes something … Continue reading Land ho! — a Cup of Joe
July 9, 2021 Last Tuesday, July 6, I joined with local Black Lives Matter leaders and many others to voice our outrage at the recent comments of Assistant Chief of Police John Catone and Public Safety Commissioner Robin Dalton. On June 28, Assistant Chief Catone and Commissioner Dalton held a press conference to report on … Continue reading A Cup of Joe