Binge watching happens when the story we’re invested in ends with a cliffhanger, a revelation, or a surprising twist, and we’ve left wondering, “What happens next? What now?” and then, barely pausing, we click “Next Episode” and continue watching. 

If only the questions of “What Now?” and “What Next?” were so easy to answer in real life! For nearly a year and a half now, we’ve been in pandemic reality, eliminating or limiting contact with beloved family and friends, creating new routines, diving into online school, navigating the slow return to in-person school, juggling roles, working to maintain mental health, losing jobs, getting vaccinated or wondering when we’ll be vaccinated, or worrying about being vaccinated, and struggling to make sense and meaning of what has happened. As we move into the summer, many of us are asking, “When will we be able to hug friends and family again? Sing together again? Return to church? How will we ensure a more fair and just post-pandemic world? What Now? What Next?” 

These questions feel urgent because the answers no longer rest in a far-away-time or distant place. The questions are alive in our hearts and minds. But unlike on Hulu, or Netflix, or Amazon Prime, there’s no “Next Episode” button to click to arrive at the answer.

Instead, we are living in the tension of these questions. We can’t binge our way through them. As people of faith, perhaps we can reshape these questions and ask, “What is the spiritual work right now? What spiritual work comes next? How do we hold grief and gratitude, fear and excitement, uncertainty and new found clarity, all at the same time? How can we go slow, and thoughtfully, trusting that the answers will emerge?”

This summer, in worship, we’ll create space to honor and live with these questions, not rushing toward answers, but engaging in spiritual practices and timeless wisdom, as we prepare our hearts for flesh and blood community, for re-engaging with the world, for doing justice work, hand in hand and side by side, with our neighbors and friends. 

Read this week’s issue of our newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal May 27.

Read this week’s edition of The Liberal here: The Weekly Liberal May 20. If you are not receiving our newsletter and would like to you, sign up here.

The First Universalist Foundation concluded the 2021 grant cycle in early May by awarding $150,800 to 15 projects. This represented an increase from 2020 when 11 organizations received $105,000 in grants. The Foundation made the decision to increase our awards this year due to the continued strength of our financial portfolio and the understanding that this past year has been a hardship for many nonprofit organizations and the people who work for and with them. The high quality of the proposed projects reinforced our interest in providing greater funding this year. 

The Foundation embraces the spirit of the original endowment by supporting projects on the cutting edge of racial, climate, gender and immigration justice, and for which our funding can make a significant difference for the grantee organization. While we cannot fund all the grant applications we receive, we are very excited about the positive impact we foresee for the projects we were able to fund.

A list of the recipients and projects awarded for 2021 follows below. In some cases, projects were funded for a portion of their request.

612 M*A*S*H* (Minneapolis All Shall Heal) – Medical Clinic for George Floyd Square 

To solidify the delivery of health services within George Floyd Square, while also working towards expansion of services to other communities in need through development of a mobile unit.

Align Minneapolis – Street Voices of Change

To decrease injustice in the homeless sector by advocating for the rights of shelter residents and to develop a Common Application for rental properties that is fair, equitable, and affordable.

BLUU (Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism) – Northside Cooperative Housing Initiative

To cover expenses for maintenance and care for lots held for building permanently affordable housing for Black and Indigenous single mothers.

Black Men Teach – Diversifying the Teacher Pipeline

To support recruitment and pipeline-building efforts to diversify the teacher workforce with Black men as elementary school educators.

Brightside Produce – Developing a Financially Sustainable Model for Addressing Urban Food Insecurity

To support a financially sustainable expansion of the home delivery service by recruiting a net increase of 50 subscribers.

CLNE (The Center for Leadership and Neighborhood Engagement) – Triumphant Changemakers Fellowship Program

To support emerging leaders as they develop themselves for maximum community impact and explore the ways they would like to engage in social change work.

Conversations with Friends – Major Support for People Jailed in Sherburne and Kandiyohi Jails

To support people jailed by ICE at the Sherburne and Kandiyohi County Jails by providing 

phone cards, hygiene items, or food for those detained or basic clothing for those who are being deported.

discapacitados abriendose caminos – Soluciones Legales (Legal Support)

To provide legal consultation and representation in court by an immigration attorney for Latino youth and family members with status needs in the Twin Cities area. 

Million Artist Movement – Indigenous & Black Solidarity Study

To host three weekend study sessions exploring decolonization and solidarity for MAM artists who will create work in their artistic medium to present in a Community Sharing.

Midwest Food Connection – Activating Youth for Food Justice

To expand and strengthen work with middle school students in North Minneapolis to provide hands-on education in school classrooms on food systems, food access, and eating habits.

MN350 – Frontline Fund

To support requests from the frontline communities of climate justice most impacted by the intersectionality of climate and racial injustice, the COVID 19 pandemic, and the murder of George Floyd.

MIRAC (Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee) – DACA Education and Renewal Workshop

To host a DACA legal clinic to update participants on immigration policies, connect them to resources for immigrants, and provide legal support for DACA applications.

MUUSJA (Minnesota UU Social Justice Alliance) – Pride PSA: Digital/Printable LGBTQIA+ Welcome

To create a digitized poster with QR code linking to statewide UU welcoming congregations and statewide service organizations to disseminate at virtual and in-person PRIDE festivals.

Our Justice – Recruiting and Retaining Volunteers

To provide small stipends to volunteers to ensure the ability to recruit and retain a volunteer base that reflects the populations served.

RISE (Resilient Indigenous Sisters Engaging Coalition)

To educate, empower and inspire native and non-native people in climate justice, environmental sustainability, and Treaty Rights.

The grant-making process started in late 2020 with nominations from First Universalist Church members and we appreciate all the proposals that we received this year. This year the Foundation Board consisted of Foundation Board chair Suzan Klein and committee members Leila Ambrus, Jill Anderson, John Bringewatt, Jared Cruz, Ginny Halloran, Rochelle Hammer, Roberta Haskin, and Anne McBean. We receive important and greatly appreciated staff support from Emma Paskewitz. We want to thank Leila Ambrus (Class of 2021 high school graduate!), Jill Anderson (treasurer), John Bringewatt, and Rochelle Hammer for their years of contributions to the Foundation. Next year, we will welcome four new members. 

We are very excited to see the change work that is happening in our community. It was inspirational to read the applications that we received this year. We wish the best to our grantee organizations that, as you can see, are doing truly important work. 

At our Annual Meeting of the Membership on June 6, we will be voting on a Racial Justice Resolution, written and edited by the First Universalist Board of Trustees and improved by several key lay leaders in Racial Justice groups in our church. You can find the Racial Justice Resolution here on our website. This six-minute video with Board President Bryana French and our Director of Liberation and Transformation Ministries Julica Hermann de la Fuente provides context and more information about how the Racial Justice Resolution came to be. 

Questions? Please join us at one of the Town Hall Meetings listed below:
Sunday May 16, noon
Monday May 17, 7 p.m.
Wednesday May 19, 8:15 p.m.

Join any of the Town Hall Meetings via Zoom here (Meeting ID: 968 0136 3031; to join by phone dial +1 312 626 6799).

Find this week’s edition of The Weekly Liberal here: The Weekly Liberal May 13. If you are not currently receiving our newsletter and would like to, sign up here.

Read this week’s edition of the Liberal here: The Weekly Liberal April 29. If you are not receiving our emails and would like to, sign up here.

The ‘before time’ is how many people refer to the pre-pandemic world we used to live in. We have not yet arrived in the ‘after times,’ in that post pandemic landscape. The pandemic itself is an extended threshold moment, a time between the known and the unknown. Moving across and through a threshold often ushers in a new way of being and belonging. Crossing a threshold can profoundly mark and shape us. Indeed, there is a collective, growing sense that humanity cannot return to ‘life as normal,’ because ‘life as normal,’ was violent, harmful and destructive to so many people and the planet itself. As a global community, we are at a threshold moment. 

And in our own faith community, we are in a threshold season. This month, we celebrate our Coming of Age Youth and Graduating Seniors. Rev. Justin preaches his last sermon. And together, we move gingerly into a future that is still forming, as we ourselves are formed by the thresholds we cross. 

This May, we will slow down long enough to notice and name the thresholds we are approaching and crossing. Together, we will wonder: “What changes when we cross a threshold? What remains the same? How long can we remain in the threshold space, the door between worlds wide open? What blessings do thresholds offer? And does religious community and spiritual practice help us prepare for the inevitable thresholds we will cross?”

Read this week’s edition of the Liberal here: The Weekly Liberal April 15. If you are not receiving our newsletter and would like to, sign up here.

Rev. Justin would love to have videos from First U members bidding him farewell. These videos are sure to be a treasure that he will enjoy for years to come as he looks back on his time with us. If you are interested in saying your Good Goodbye via video, send it to Justin using wetransfer.com (you don’t have to create an account to use it; scroll to the bottom of the page and select “I just want to send files.”) When prompted, enter Justin’s email address, justin [at] firstuniv.org, and upload your video. Justin will be able to save and view these permanently. We ask that your video be no more than three to five minutes and that you submit it by June 6. If you have questions or need help, reach out to Frederic MacDonald-Dennis or Ben Cooper (contact the church office for contact information).

Also, feel free to send a good goodbye email directly to Justin at justin [at] firstuniv.org.  And remember,  letters, notes, and cards are welcome. There’s a special keepsake box in Justin’s office so he can receive them any time and enjoy reading them now and in the future. Send them to: Rev. Justin Schroeder, 3400 Dupont Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN55408. These communications may of course include words to Juliana, Tucker and Jesse. 

And, because you asked: The Good Goodbye team has gotten a small gift for Justin, on behalf of the congregation. But some of you have asked if individual monetary gifts may be made. Of course they may and the question is not a surprising one. We are a congregation of generous, loving spirits. If the spirit moves you, the details below give instructions. But please, feel no obligation. Justin is feeling the love coming from us all in so many ways. 

Electronic gifts for Justin can be made here. Checks can be sent to the church, and made out to First Universalist Church, with “Justin’s Goodbye” in the memo line. Any questions can be directed to Finance Assistant, Chelsea Bertsch at Chelsea [at] firstuniv.org. Please note that such gifts are not tax deductible donations, and they are separate from ongoing church support.

If you have questions or comments about the Good Goodbye (GG) plans, please contact a member of the GG Team: Ginny McAninch, chair; Bette DeMars, Lena K. Gardner, Nancy Gaschott, Rich Jaeger, Frederic MacDonald-Dennis, and Karin Wille. Reach out to the church office for contact information. Together, we will create a good goodbye!