This Sunday: Rev. Rollins & Potluck

Please welcome Nate Kojun Hayes, our newest UUFA member. Nate shares: My first memory of the UUFA was during a cold October night, sometime in the late 90’s when a friend invited me out for the Samhain “forest walk-through” and I have such beautiful memories of candles and woodsmoke. Through the years I kept finding myself weaving back to the UUFA, time and time again, finding the community ever-changing but always welcoming. One of the three treasures of Buddhism is Sangha, or community. I feel that the community of the UUFA has always been so supportive of the larger Athens community and sweetly supportive of my journey as well. I’m grateful to finally have committed in a larger way to being a more active part of this community as it truly does take a village for us to not only survive, but to thrive.

If you are a recent new member (or a less recent member) who wouldn’t mine introducing yourself, please email your words to the Greensheet editor, wendasheard@yahoo.com. If you are interested in joining us, please let us know, ok? Thanks!

At UUFA we have identified three basic ideas, or “pillars,” as central to our identity as a faith community: religious pluralism, inclusive community, and sustainable living.

Religious pluralism is a commitment to value and affirm all religions as equally valid traditions of wisdom and spiritual expression, and to support each individual in pursuing their unique spiritual path or experience of connection with something larger than the self. We believe there is one light and many paths to it, and we value open, honest, and caring dialogue among the various paths.

Inclusive community means that religion is for everyone. We believe our duty as people of faith is to offer an experience of community that is welcoming to all, of any race or gender or sexual orientation or age or creed or political inclination. And we seek to integrate that diversity into a rich and harmonious community.

Sustainable living means that we understand ourselves as interdependent, with each other and with the community of life on this planet. Therefore, we are called to work for the good of the web of life in which we participate, and to honor each creature’s place in that web as equal in importance to our own. We seek to live in a way that allows all to live well.
These are the principles that guide UUFA’s ministry in its community. These are the yardsticks by which we measure our efforts to live out our faith.

Sunday, January 12th: Rev. Don Rollins and Beth Casebolt: Vision and Mission

Sunday, January 19th: Defining and Building Community. Katie Evans will share her thoughts on how we define and build community gathered from her own experiences. Come prepared to do some reflecting as well as sharing your own thoughts.