Read the full issue of this week’s newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal July 9

When the church building closed in March and the reality of the global pandemic and economic uncertainty began to sink in, our approach to planned summer renovations shifted. We split the project into two phases, determining that Phase I would encompass work on the education wing of the building and would happen during summer 2020.

In May, staff packed and moved everything from the education wing into the social hall. Though we experienced delays in permitting due to the pandemic, our facilities staff were able to get started on some preliminary work while we waited for the permits to come through. They also used the opportunity presented by the building’s closure to work on projects such as cleaning and painting the kitchen. 

Renovations on the education wing side of the building began in earnest in early June and are now well underway! Construction crews have spent most of the first month on demolition and abatement. Because the plans involve extensive reworking of the layout of rooms, a number of walls on both the first and second floors have been removed, along with existing restrooms, flooring, ceiling tiles, lighting, and electrical.

Now that demo is complete, layout and framing have begun on the second floor, and plumbing and electrical work are moving forward. Additional abatement is scheduled for this coming week, after which contractors can proceed with layout and framing on the first floor.

We have received grants for the high efficiency HVAC units that will be installed on the roof, and we are pursuing grants for new LED lighting throughout the wing.

Phase 1 of the project (work on the eduction wing) is scheduled to be completed this fall. When it is done, we will have realized some of the key visions around which we built our capital campaign: a central entrance that is accessible and welcoming; religious education and adult meeting spaces that better meet the needs of our congregation and our community; and completion of critical repairs.  There will be opportunities for volunteers to help with painting and landscaping when we get to that point later this summer – stay tuned!

A few photos of how the inside of the education wing currently looks are available here!

Read this week’s newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal June 25

A note from Rev. Jen Crow:

This Sunday, we prepare to say goodbye to Rev. Ruth as she retires from First Universalist. I hope you’ll join us in worship as we mark this significant transition in the life of our church. As with any transition, there are griefs and gratitudes, sadness and a preparation of the heart for the new, yet unknown future that will unfold. We need each other as we mark and move through the multiple transitions that are happening for so many of us. And we need to celebrate, too. I hope you’ll swing by the church steps by bike, on foot, or in a car – wearing a mask and socially distanced – if you are able this Sunday between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. and give Ruth a wave and an air high five as she embarks on this new adventure with all of our love. 

Ruth has been a significant part of our ministry and leadership team at church, and with her retirement we’ll be shifting responsibilities to other team members. Going forward, Rev. Justin will lead our worship team – coordinating the work of our musicians, staff, lay leaders and ministers – as we continue in Ruth’s teachings creating engaging, relevant, and multifaceted worship services together. Over the summer, Rev. Karen will lead our ministry of pastoral care. If you or someone you know is experiencing a life transition, a crisis, or are simply in need of a little support and a listening ear – please reach out to Rev. Karen or any of our ministers or staff. We’re in this life together and we need one another more than ever. 

I will be taking some time for vacation and study leave in the month of July, and will be away from the church from Monday, June 29 through Sunday, Aug. 2. I’ll continue to manage the building project, but otherwise all questions and concerns can be directed to Rev. Justin or any member of the staff leadership team (Arif, Lauren, Jenn Stromberg, Rev. Karen) while I am away. 

And speaking of the building project – things are happening over at the church building! Asbestos and lead abatement have been completed and demolition has begun on the interior of the Religious Education wing. We’re making space for:

• reconfigured rooms that better meet our needs
• new, more efficient heating and cooling and technology systems
• gender-neutral bathrooms that welcome everyone
• a multi-use room that has everything a family could need for an extended stay
• a new Cummins Room complete with its own accessible restroom and improved technology that can serve our whole community
• and a new accessible central entrance at the atrium

As the project proceeds, there will be opportunities for you to be a part of the renovations. In August, we’ll be hosting two painting weekends where we’ll be responsible for painting the new rooms in the education wing. After construction of the accessible ramp outside, we’ll be asking for help with landscaping. And all along the way, we’ll be sharing pictures so that everyone can see the transformation that is happening. 

Exciting changes are afoot – and as with any change, let’s take the time to mark what is ending so that we can share our gratitude for what was and turn and face the new beginnings with wide open hearts. 

In gratitude,
Rev. Jen

Read this week’s newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal June 18

Read this week’s newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal June 11

Watch the full recording of our Sunday, June 7 worship service here:

Watch Rev. Jen Crow’s sermon, “The Prophethood of All Believers,” here:

Full Worship Service:

Sermon by Rev. Karen Hutt:

Sermon Transcript

Message for All Ages by Lauren Wyeth:

Transcript of Message for All Ages

Read this week’s newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal May 28

Rev. Jen Crow writes:

Dear ones,

It has been a long day here in Minneapolis, and we know that this long day started a long time ago. The violence inflicted on George Floyd by the Minneapolis police on Monday night may have started this most recent uprising, but the violence that has been inflicted on Minneapolis’ Black community has been going on for generations. Monday night’s murder is simply, and sadly, racism’s most recent public expression in our city and our state.

Many of you have been asking, “What can we do?,” and “How can we help?” This afternoon I attended an interfaith gathering of clergy at Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church on 38th Street. I listened as Black community leaders and clergy told us exactly what they needed. Here’s some of what they said:

Change the narrative. Shift the story from “I can’t breathe.” to “We can’t breathe.” When one of us is hurting, all of us are hurting. The violence did not begin on Wednesday night. The violence began on Monday night, when police killed George Floyd. 

Now is the time to put down our divisions and be together shoulder to shoulder in the struggle for justice. Black and Brown and White. Christian and Jew and Muslim. There is an evil afoot that is so sinister that it will try to divide us. Do not let it. Do not let yourself be separated from each other in this struggle for justice.

We must articulate our goals with one voice. The shared goals are these:

1. Sweep it up – get to work cleaning up the communities most impacted by the protests and the uprising.
2. Secure it up – provide physical presence between protesters and the police so that people can stay safe
3. Serve it up – provide food and resources to the communities most impacted

Rev. Jesse Jackson joined the group, and urged us to continue to protest until the police officers are charged. He also warned that we are dealing with a double threat, the threat of violence from the police and the threat of illness and death from contracting COVID-19. He urged everyone to protest with discipline, wearing masks and observing social distancing, so that we would not find the Black community and the protestors sick and dying in two weeks time. 

These are just a few of the requests from just a few of the Black leaders in our city. We know that we will all need to show up in this struggle for justice in the ways that are right for us. We also know that this is a time of grief and trauma for us all. None of us can breathe right now. So I want to remind you to do just that. To take the time to feel what you are feeling. To let yourself breathe deeply, to let your breath and your tears and your rage catch in your throat. To let the feelings flow through you. And when and if you find yourself ready to rise into action, here are a few ways to connect to this struggle:

• Faith leaders and protesters will be gathering tonight beginning at 5pm at Lake and Minnehaha
• People will be gathering in small self-organized groups to clean up the community
• If you identify as white, you can join Rev. Meg Riley and Rev. Ashley Horan and other UU faith leaders for a one hour online Zoom gathering tonight at 7pm for white people seeking to dismantle racism within themselves and in society 
• Look for ways to share your resources with the communities most impacted
• Join together in worship on Sunday at 10am, when we will gather as a whole church community to mourn and rage and find solidarity with each other

We believe that every person is whole and holy and worthy, each of us wanted and loved. This is the world we have imagined for generations, and this is the world we are building today. My heart breaks with yours today. May our hearts break open and reveal a new world of justice, just waiting to be born.

With love,
Rev. Jen

The First Universalist Foundation concluded the 2020 granting cycle in early May by awarding $105,000 in grants to 11 organizations. Awardees were among 25 worthy organizations and proposals submitted this year. 

The process started in January when the Foundation asked congregants of First Universalist to nominate organizations that operate in the Twin Cities, address human rights at risk, racial justice and/or climate justice and whose leadership includes people of color, women and other underrepresented groups. By the end of January, we had 25 organizations. Nominated organizations were then asked to submit a grant proposal. Throughout the month of April, the nine Foundation committee members reviewed all the proposals. In early May, each proposal was discussed by the Foundation and awards were decided.  

The Foundation is pleased to continue in the spirit of the original endowment by supporting projects at the forefront of racial, climate, gender and immigration justice, and for which our grant seems to truly make a difference in advancing the recipient organization’s mission or project. The 2020 recipients and projects are:

• Alafia Foundation – The Alafia Fellowship Program is a comprehensive leadership development program that invests in the ideas, enterprise and inspiration of visionary nonprofit, small business, and social entrepreneurial leaders who are transforming life in North Minneapolis. Fellowships provide educational scholarship dollars, professional executive coaching, quarterly workshops, stipends and expanded networks of support for Northside leaders as they develop themselves and their organizations for maximum community impact.

• Black Visions Collective (Base Building and Program Outreach) – During Summer 2020, BLVC will launch a seasonal series with a monthly theme (power, resilience, transformation). Each month will offer a political education session, a Black joy gathering, and a cultural workshop. The intention with this work is to build the base of the organization by direct community engagement through door knocking, canvassing, community engagement as a second step to becoming a member.

• Discapacitados Abriendose Caminos – The Emprendedores y Soluciones Legales program will empower young Latinos and their families to soar through and beyond legal status barriers, disability challenges, low household income and limited parental education by comprehensive resource connections, cultural and peer supports, and tailored problem-solving for high school and post-secondary success, and lasting legal solutions.

• Honor the Earth – The Water Protector Education Campaign works on climate justice, environmental justice, and transitional economics. It seeks to educate and empower Native and non-Native community members on water protection and taking greater community action.

• Joyce Preschool (Promoting Latinx Leadership & Advocacy) – Joyce Preschool wishes to strengthen its Latinx parent leadership and advocacy efforts which focus on promoting equity in education. By providing Latinx parents with leadership and advocacy training and direct experience, Joyce aims to involve members of the disenfranchised Latinx community in the work of social change and replace racial injustice with positive outcomes for parents and children.

• Lift Garage (Lift Community Emergency Fund) – The Lift Garage helps move people out of poverty and homelessness by providing low-cost car repair, free pre-purchase car inspections, and honest advice that supports our community on the road to more secure lives. The Lift Community Emergency Fund exists to keep customers and roads safer by subsidizing safety repairs and general repairs when a customer is unable to cover the full cost.

• Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light (Deepening Relationships for Climate Justice) – MNIPL will support a network of movement builders in North Minneapolis, providing leadership development and youth programing, and helping to connect the dots between pipeline resistance and energy democracy. They will work with Eighth Fire Solar to pilot 1 to 4 solar thermal systems in North Minneapolis. XX will lead a tour of solar panel manufacturing facilities in the northland (hopefully in person), building connections between rural and urban opportunities to build economic wealth through the new energy revolution.

• Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop (Updating Science Museum Exhibit) – MPWW will collaborate with the Science Museum of Minnesota to update their standing exhibit on race, Race: Are We So Different? MPWW’s contribution will focus on the disproportionate impact of the criminal justice system on people of color. Included in the exhibit will be poetry written by incarcerated Minnesotans, as well as videos of those poets reading their own work.

• MN350 – The Missing and Murdered Indigneous Women project addresses the direct connection between the rape and desecration of our mother earth and women. Native women are suffering a terrifying epidemic of violence and disappearance — one that is oftentimes linked to the fossil fuel industry. MN350 will use its collective gifts and power to combat the epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls in occupied Anishinaabe and Dakotah territories in the area currently known as Minnesota.

• Navigate MN / Unidos MN (Organizational Resilience) – Navigate MN will boost programmatic capacity to support the breakthrough and resilience of the organization during these times of crisis. The grant will help offset funding and budget cuts due to COVID19- and address  an organizational gap in field work to continue at capacity and prevent layoffs.

• Public Functionary –  The Studio 400 program supports artists of color age 30 and under with subsidized studio space to address disparities in the Northeast Minneapolis art district (particularly for young artists of color) in access to work space and career development opportunities.

We are grateful to First Universalist congregants for getting us off to a great start by nominating organizations. Thank you to Suzan Klein for her chair leadership and to committee members Leila Ambrus, Jill Anderson, John Bringewatt, Jared Cruz, Ginny Halloran, Rochelle Hammer, Roberta Haskin, and Anne McBean. The Foundation was strongly supported in its work by staff person Emma Paskewitz. A big thank you to Emma. We are pleased that the Foundation is able to support organizations that help make our church’s justice goals real in the world. Thank you to all the organizations who were nominated for your great work.

Please mark your calendar and plan to attend our virtual Annual Meeting of the Membership, rescheduled for Sunday, June 14 at 11:30 a.m., following worship.

2019-2020 Annual Report

Annual Meeting Agenda

Slate of Candidates

Proposed 2020-2021 Operating Budget

This year our church business includes approval of the annual budget, the election of members to the Board of Trustees and the Nominating Committee, and a proposal to approve Rev. Ruth MacKenzie as a Minister Emerita.  

We will be meeting virtually via Zoom webinar, and while this will be different than gathering in person, we are confident that we have the mechanisms in place for meaningful democratic participation that are fully in line with the recommendations from the UUA. Because of the virtual meeting, it is really important that you register ahead of time. We will vote using the Poll feature in Zoom. Therefore, each member needs to have their own device for voting – you can use a desktop computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. If you live in a household with multiple members, please have each member register separately, and attend the meeting from their own device. 

A reminder that per our bylaws, only voting members can vote at the annual meeting. To be a voting member, you need to have officially joined the church and have made a pledge in any amount to the current or upcoming annual operating fund or have a ministerial waiver. Please contact Arif Mamdani at 612 825-1701 ext 124 or arif [at] firstuniv.org if you would like to have a waiver from this requirement. If you are a member who would like your vote recorded but do not have access to a device that will allow your participation in the Zoom webinar, please contact Liz Farmer at 612 825-1701 ext 100 or liz [at] firstuniv.org.  

This is a time when we celebrate a successful year and conduct the business of this church that only church members can do. We need a quorum to conduct the meeting – please give us the gift of your time so that we may complete this work!

Register to attend the annual meeting of the membership here. After registering and once your membership has been verified by staff, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Non-members who wish to observe the meeting may do so via YouTube live; the meeting live stream will show up on our YouTube Channel at 11:30 a.m.

We agree with the words of Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray in a recent letter to UU congregations:  “[We] believe congregations who continue to lean into their mission and life-saving ministry will find ways to thrive in this time. Ministry is so deeply needed. As is moral leadership rooted in community care and in science. May we keep offering this to our communities.” 

We need you on June 14 so we can continue our collective mission as a faith community.  Please register and we will “see” you there.  

Bryana French, President of the Board

Christa Anders, Secretary of the Board

P.S. Some of you may have questions about just how this will all work. So for those of you who want more information:

• All members will get their own personalized invitation that will allow them to connect to the Zoom webinar
• We will be sharing documents on the screen so people can see them
• You will be able to see the presenters (Ministers and Board members)
• We will have a parliamentarian 
• We will be using the built-in polling software of Zoom that will allow you to vote using your device (desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone)
• Results of each poll will be displayed for everyone to see
• Questions will be taken via the Q & A feature and answered verbally by the presenters
• If something comes up that needs more attention than just the written Q & A, we have the option to make anyone in the audience a presenter so they can be seen on screen and ask their question via audio and/or video
• The Board Secretary will take minutes of the meeting and they will be available online after the meeting
• We will be sharing the Zoom Webinar, in real time, on YouTube Live, so interested non-members can observe the meeting

Read this week’s newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal May 21