Coming of Age During a Pandemic Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship Sunday, December 13, 2020, 10:30 Am

Coming of Age During a Pandemic Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship Sunday, December 13, 2020, 10:30 am

Online at https://zoom.us/j/738363620 Passcode: BUF By phone, for audio only: (346) 248-7799 Meeting ID: 738 363 620 Passcode: 306220

Please mail donations, payable to “BUF” at 1207 Ellsworth, Bellingham WA, 98225 Or donate online at buf.org / Or from your phone, use “Give+” for iPhone / Android

Gathering Music Kevin Allen-Schmid Cat Stevens Medley Welcome Rev Paul Beckel Chalice Lighting Jesse Reynolds Covenant Song Tessie Mandeville, Lisa Heezen, Lawrence Allen #346 Come Sing a Song with Me Eracism Maya Weller Children's Focus Zoe Goggin Love You Forever, Robert Munsch Introductions Genia Allen-Schmid, Noreen Fujita-Sacco Credo Dharma Weller Credo Alex Osborn Slide Show Credo Brendan Leonard Credo Zoe Goggin Social and Environmental Justice Collection for Community to Community Australia Hernandez & Liz Darrow Offertory composed by Jesse Reynolds Credo Jesse Reynolds Credo Maya Weller Song #1019 Everything Possible Closing Reading Dharma Weller Blessing Circle Round Postlude Brendan Leonard, Robin Brown, Marc Leonard Irish Fiddle Medley Coffee Hour Breakout Rooms Our BUF Covenant Love is the spirit of this fellowship, and service gives it life. Celebrating our diversity, and joined by a quest for truth, we work for peace, and honor all creation. This is our covenant.

Come Sing a Song with Me Come, sing a song with me, (x3) that I might know your mind.

And I’ll bring you hope when hope is hard to find, and I’ll bring a song of love and a rose in the wintertime. Come, dream a dream with me, (x3) (Chorus) Come, walk in rain with me, (x3) (Chorus) Come, share a rose with me, (x3) (Chorus)

Everything Possible We have cleared off the table, the leftovers saved, washed the dishes and put them away. I have told you a story and tucked you in tight at the end of your knockabout day. As the moon sets its sail to carry you to sleep over the Midnight Sea, Well, I will sign you a song no one sang to me—may it keep you good company.

You can be anybody that you want to be, you can love whomever you will. You can travel any country where your heart leads and know I will love you still. You can live by yourself, you can gather friends around, you can choose one special one. And the only measure of your words and your deeds Will be the love you leave behind when you’re gone.

Some girls grow up strong and bold; some boys are quiet and kind. Some race on ahead, some follow behind; some go in their own way and time. Some women love women and some men love men. Some raise children and some never do. You can dream all the day, never reaching the end of everything possible for you.

Don’t be rattled by names, by taunts or games, but seek out spirits true. If you give your friends the best part of yourself, they will give the same back to you.

Circle ‘Round Circle round for freedom, circle round for peace For all of us imprisoned, circle for release Circle for the planet, circle for each soul For the children of our children, keep the circle whole

Announcements

Sundays Ahead

December 20 Holiday Music Service Join the BUF Choir, musicians and friends to celebrate the season with a variety of inspiring music, from the intimate to the majestic. The grand finale will be the BUF Choir singing along with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus." You can sing along too, if you like. Email BUF Music Director Kevin Allen-Schmid ([email protected]) for a digital copy of the score. Also, musical suggestions or submissions for the program are invited. Let's make some merry music.

December 24 Christmas Eve Service - Come all Ye Faithful! 6:45 pm We will sing Carols and light candles together live on Zoom. The nativity story is a reminder of the holy and miraculous present even in human frailty and harsh conditions. Use the usual Zoom link/phone-in access (https://zoom.us/j/738363620 / Passcode: BUF / Phone: 253.215.8782)

December 27 “From 2020” Members and friends of BUF will share their reflections arising from this most extraordinary year. This will be an opportunity to learn from and about each other … and an invitation to all of us to look at 2020 from new perspectives. A great way to welcome 2021!

Consider this an invitation to participate: Paul Beckel and Steffany Raynes will collect and weave together your personal expressions and reflections in the form of visual arts (with or without explanation), original poetry or essay, or music (with or without words). We’ll provide any guidance you need to either record or to share live. Please limit your contributions to 3 minutes. Contact [email protected], or [email protected] to talk through what and how you might share. ______

A Little Christmas Spirit at BUF Saturday Dec 19th and Sunday Dec 20th • On Saturday the 19th— Come enjoy a little Christmas Spirit at BUF from 1:00 to 3:00pm. We invite everyone to bring your A Guest at Your Table donation to the church and stay for a few minutes to add a handprint and message to everyone on a mural we are creating outside. We'll have Christmas lights up, music playing and some hot cider and home baked cookies to warm you up as you stay socially distanced. We also will be handing out Christmas Eve candles for the December 24th service. Even though we can't gather together as usual, we can connect through messages and prints on our community mural and by giving to the important work of the UU Service Committee. • On Sunday the 20th-- We have two Fair Trade events, again in the afternoon from 1:00 to 3:00pm. BUF Fair Trade will be there, selling coffees, teas, chocolates etc at special prices. These items make great Christmas gifts. And something new for Fair Trade, we have set up an online shopping event at Ten Thousand Villages (Seattle) from December 9th to December 17th. Shop, find your special gifts or treats and your purchase will be available for pick up on Sunday the 20th at BUF. Please place your order at www.tenthousandvillagesseattle.com/shop. At checkout please - select the shipping option ‘Offsite Event - $0.00’ and - insert ‘BUF2020’ in the Additional Information field. Christmas lights, music playing, Christmas Eve candles and you can also drop off you GAYT donation. Thank you for supporting fair trade!

C2C is the December Special Collection Recipient C2C is in their sixteenth year of working for farmworker justice and immigrant rights. C2C is led by women of color that have lived the reality that U.S. history reveals; that people of color, women, and poor and low-income communities have been excluded from the promise of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” so eloquently expressed in our great country’s Declaration of Independence.

The Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship has been a valuable partner with C2C in this work, and we are grateful for our relationship. Together we have been working toward justice for farmworkers and immigrants in our community for many years. C2C's promotora program fights for and supports our farmworker & immigrant communities through support, solidarity, and service. C2C promotoras are organizing on the ground with impacted communities in Whatcom & Skagit counties to provide pandemic relief and support. Your financial support of this project goes directly to community members who are adversely impacted by COVID-19 in their health & jobs, those who have no access to federal or state benefits, who live with the threat of evictions, and looming deportation and immigration proceedings.

Important Note from the BUF Pastoral Care Team: Especially now, when we are not interacting with each other before and after Sunday service, we need your help! If you or someone you know is having surgery, has had a big loss, or is struggling and needs support, please contact the Pastoral Care Team so that one of us can make contact and provide support. Please call Ginny Baker at 360 752-1550 or Rev. Paul Beckel at 360 820-9995 The goal of BUF Pastoral Care is to provide a ministry of hope and caring so that no member of our congregation need be alone during a crisis or other time of need.

BUF Black Lives Matter Ministry Action Team invites everyone to their December program meeting, Monday, December 14 from 7-8:30 pm. Our program is a 51-minute podcast, “Love Is the Motive,” with Bryan Stevenson and Krista Tippett. We will listen to and discuss the podcast during the meeting. You may also listen to the podcast on your own if you can’t attend: https://onbeing.org/programs/bryan- stevenson-love-is-themotive/ Bryan Stevenson created the Equal Justice Initiative; his story is the basis of the movie, Just Mercy. How to embrace what’s right and corrective, redemptive and restorative — and an insistence that each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve done — these are gifts Bryan Stevenson offers with his life. He’s brought the language of mercy and redemption into American culture in recent years, growing out of his work as a lawyer. It’s a pleasure to draw out his spirit and his moral imagination as we feel our need for healing to become a whole society.

BUF Community Yoga, with Kara Black, meets Sunday at 9am, and meets at the same time and day going forward. https://zoom.us/j/92587497412?pwd=TTZuVGdNVjRhUTFidHFvOERqNXFOZz09 Meeting ID: 925 8749 7412 Passcode: BUF

For more than 45 years, UUSC’s Guest at Your Table (GAYT) program has connected Unitarian Universalists with personal stories of our grassroots partners and amplified the impact of their work and your support. This month BUF kicks off our Guest At Your Table membership drive. The theme for this year is “The Meaning of Home.” A great way to get involved is to put a GAYT box in a prominent place in your home, as a reminder. Stay tuned to our work in December and for more information, contact Linda Fels at [email protected].