January Services | Minister’s Message | General Assembly | Music Director| Covid Videos | Board Update | Fundraising | Religious Exploration | WORKING FOR JUSTICE: | Charities with Soul | Midcoast New Mainers | Indigenous Awareness | Teen Center | The Santa Project | MEMBERSHIP: | You and UU Class | SoUUp’s On | UPCOMING UUCB EVENTS: Concerts For a Cause | Peaceful Means Workshop | Winter’s Wisdom Gatherings |Art Gallery | Parish Messenger Deadline
January Services
Sun, Jan 7 — Liberated by Love
Led by Rev. Dr. Kharma, Music by Will Bristol
As we kick off a month of reflections on the Gift of Liberating Love, we’ll start closest to home by asking how and if Love has Liberated Us, individually? In the wisdom of the Jewish and Christian scriptures, being able to receive love (or perhaps even more pointedly – to love one’s self) plays an important role in the overall Love project. In other words, how could we ever hope to liberate others with our love, if we ourselves have not first been liberated by love? Join us as we start the year reflectively.
Sun, Jan 14 — Exploring the Beloved Community
Led by Rev. Dr. Kharma, Music by Will Bristol
As we prepare to observe the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, let’s revisit the Beloved Community that was central to his dream for a new global reality. You’ll hear UUs using this phrase “Beloved Community” quite a lot, and it is rooted in King’s use of the term. What is it we’re talking about anyway? Join us for this intergenerational service as we explore the gift of liberating love in a communal context.
Sun, Jan 21 — Set Love Free
Led by guest speaker, Dr. Carla Sherrell, Music by Will Bristol
In this service, we’ll reflect on the challenge of liberating love — i.e. setting Love free! We’ll focus on the ways that love needs liberating inside ourselves and in the world. This requires that we resist minimizing the realities of oppression internally and externally, and that we be fiercely and loving clear (not rigid) about justice inside ourselves and in our world. Let’s consider how we might set love free so the work of love might truly be done.
Dr. Carla Sherrell is currently working as UUCB’s Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Intern. Dr. Carla has been a social justice leader for over 30 years through roles as consultant, educator, counselor, facilitator, speaker, author, and now vocational clergy candidate. Her focus of study, discernment, and leadership is the integration of spirituality, justice, and the body in service to personal, interpersonal, community, and institutional transformation. She is a former counselor educator as Assistant and Associate Professor in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Somatic Counseling Department at Naropa University, where for a decade her work centered on teaching the integration of somatic counseling, social justice, and contemplative education and on embedding justice throughout all aspects of counselor education and university institutional policy, practice, and procedure.
Dr. Carla provides justice consulting services to clients in secular and spiritual contexts, and is also Program Manager of Mary’s House for Older Adults, a nonprofit corporation focused on creating safe, welcoming and affirming environments (via educational, advocacy, and brick and mortar residences) for adults over 60 years of age, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer+/same gender-loving (LGBTQ+/SGL) individuals.
Wed, Jan 28—Lessons in Compassion
Led by Rev. Dr. Kharma, Music by Will Bristol
No exploration of Love, especially the liberating kind, is complete without an explicit focus on the form of love we call compassion. This weekend is International Holocaust Memorial Day, when people around the world will be remembering one of the most tragic times in modern human history. Our reflections will doubtlessly be impacted by the current reality of wars and undeniable human suffering, particularly in Gaza and Israel. Compassion lies at the root of most religious traditions, and has lessons to teach us that are as applicable in this global situation as they are in tiny disputes between family members or the daily challenges we face to be kind to the annoying. Let’s think about it together.
Minister’s Message
The Gift of Liberating Love
The Gift of “Liberating Love” is our theme for the month of January, and it seems to me that this is a perfect, multi-faceted, and very rich topic of exploration and discovery for us – especially this year. 2024 may already sound familiar, as if we’ve been preparing for or living in this reality for a while. We know it’s a presidential election year, and I for one carry some anxiety about all this may mean for our society, and our human relationships. On top of that, we enter this year with the sobering realities of multiple global wars, too many crises at a boiling point (i.e. affordable housing shortage, climate change, an epidemic of gun violence, the escalation of so much hate, etc.). We may face this new year feeling a bit daunted or unprepared, even as we try to sustain personal enthusiasm for goals and growth and dreams.
Here are a few things we’ve been doing at UUCB in preparation, which I want to draw your attention to:
- We are hosting Peaceful Means (Leah Boyd and Hearther Pierson) for an intergenerational workshop on Saturday, January 6th from 2-5 pm. This workshop, rooted in the principles and practices of non-violent communication, will offer people of all ages an afternoon of learning activities, games, and music-making sure to nurture connection, community, and FUN! (See more info in this newsletter.)
- Starting in January, we are holding a three-month weekly study on Compassion. Guided by Karen Armstrong’s Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, we will discuss and experiment together with compassionate practices that can ground and guide us through life, particularly the dicey, contentions parts when Way is not yet made clear. If you haven’t yet signed up, consider joining us Wednesday nights from 6:30 – 8:00 pm via zoom from January through March 27, you can sign up by emailing .
- We’ve been working for many months with Curtis Memorial Library, Building Bridges Maine (and the larger Better Angels organization of which they are a part), the McKeen Center, and some other community partners to host a series of workshops designed to help us connect with others across differences. Please save these Saturday mornings: February 17, March 9, and April 13. More information will be available soon, but if you can hold the time/dates, I think you will find these worthwhile.
“Liberating Love” is a nuanced theme. Liberating could be an adjective for the noun Love, describing the character of love that frees us to flourish in life or liberates us from the confines that diminish us. Liberating could also be a verbal form (let’s just call it a participle or gerund for fun) with the direct object of Love. In other words, Love may itself need to be liberated so that it can find its full expression and power. (As one example, we might think of LGBTQ+ people whose holy love has been denied in too many contexts for way too long.)
In the proposed changes to Article II of the UUA bylaws (final draft can be found here), which describes our purpose, values, and inspirations, Love is placed at the center of our values, along with this statement:
Love is the power
that holds us together
and is at the center
of our shared values.
We are accountable to one another
for doing the work
of living our shared values
through the spiritual discipline
of Love.
Far from being some sentimental or wishy-washy emotion, this kind of liberating love offers us hope, as well a path to travel as we work towards it. The means ought to embody the end itself, if you will.
2024 lies in front of us as something as a blank slate. We have choices to make about what we will carry forward with us, what we will leave behind, and what intentions we want to make more real in the coming year. We’re going to need one another, the resources of our living faith tradition, and a sustained spirit of creativity and imagination this year. I’m so grateful for this community, and the countless opportunities it allows us to focus on living with purpose and integrity, with justice and joy.
May your New Year be Meaning-Full.
Kharma
General Assembly
Welcome Our New Music Director
We are pleased to welcome our new Music Director, Will Bristol, who begins his work with us in January!
Raised in the Unitarian Universalist tradition, Will is passionate about celebrating diversity. He considers this to be a key component of his work as a music director. He believes including a diverse blend of musical genres (both sacred and secular) allows more people to experience the divinity music can invoke. He has experienced music’s ability to bring community together in satisfying, joyful and immediate ways. This informs his own calling to be a vessel for sharing music.
Will Bristol is a keyboardist, singer and teacher who believes strongly in the transcendent and transformative power of music. Will grew up playing piano from a young age–going on to pursue classical studies with many acclaimed teachers including Laura Kargul, from whom he earned a degree at the University of Southern Maine (USM). After leaving Maine in 2014, Will spent a year in France teaching music and then 3 years as a K-12 music teacher, piano teacher, freelance accompanist and choral director in Saratoga Springs, NY. It was here that he branched out as a singer and conductor–taking voice lessons, attending summer courses at Eastman School of Music, and participating in many vocal ensembles (notably the barbershop quartet “Three Beards and a Bristol”). In 2018, Will returned to Maine to take a break “professionally” from music, allowing him more time to practice piano, learn much of the keyboard music of J.S. Bach, and return to the concert stage. Most recently in 2023, Will has been directing and singing in a mixed genre a cappella group, as well as learning to play the organ–finding a passion especially for the music of Durufle and Dupre, and in the art of improvisation.
We are so happy to welcome Will. If you have interest in music, Will is your first point of contact to explore possibilities. He will soon be taking on the email address , and welcomes your communication.
The UUCB Choir practices on Thursday nights at 7:00 pm, and if you’ve ever thought about joining, this is a great time to do so! We’ll all be starting fresh on Thursday, January 4th, and invite you to join us!
Covid Retrospective Videos
Bonus Tracks Available
At our service on November 19th, we were treated to some lovingly curated videos of footage used throughout the Covid Pandemic at UUCB. Thank you, Jud Caswell, for these gifts of art and heart!! Many of you have expressed delight with these videos and said you want to watch them again. If you haven’t seen the service in its entirety, you may want to just do that. If you want to revisit one of these video selections, here are the direct links:
Music
Looking Back
RE Retrospective
Board Welcomes
The Religious Exploration Program Needs Your Help!
Thanks to the volunteers who came and lent a hand to the RE Program this Fall by serving as Meeting Leaders and Helpers, we have a thriving RE Program! But the work is not over! Sign up has started for Winter Leaders and Helpers and, as of December 17th, we have no Leaders or Helpers signed up for January. Some of you might be thinking, “Well, why don’t you ask the parents of the kids to help out?” I have and they do but imagine for a moment that you are a parent of a young child and you are coming to UUCB to connect with the community here and to ground in the spiritual offerings on Sunday mornings. Is it fair for us to ask you to give up one of your few hours to yourself to serve as an RE Meeting Leader? Sure, we can ask for your help sometimes but really, as a community, we have enough hands to create space for families with young children to have the spiritual experience that they come to UUCB seeking.
Some of you might now be thinking, “I am interested in helping out but I am not sure that I would know how.” Well, I will be offering an RE Volunteer Training on Sunday, January 7th in the Merrymeeting Bay Room from 11:30-12:15. We will look over a typical meeting agenda and I will happily answer any questions you may have. You don’t need to RSVP, just show up! Thank you in advance for helping the RE Committee and me make the children of UUCB feel like a wanted, loved, and supportive part of the village.
Toben Cooney-Callnan, DRE
UUCB Board Update
The Holiday Fair was a huge success! Thank you to Lisa Durrell and our amazing community of volunteers, musicians, cooks, wreath makers, knitters, table organizers, sellers, shoppers and greeters. I stayed all day even though I’d only signed up in the morning because it was fun. Our goal was community building while raising funds. Mission accomplished. We raised well over $10,000.
At our December Board meeting Cathey Cyrus, representing the Working For Justice Group, spoke with us about joining the Wabanaki Alliance Tribal Coalition. This non-profit group of Wabanaki nations in Maine was formed to educate the people of Maine and to advocate for recognition of the inherent sovereignty of the Wabanaki Nations. The Board voted to join the Alliance.
You may have noticed growing in numbers of children and youth at Sunday services. Yay! We are delighted. The Religious Exploration program needs volunteers. Contact Toben Cooney-Callnan our Director of Religious Exploration if you’d like a chance to work with our amazing kids.
How do we decongest fellowship hall during coffee hour? We want to chat and greet friends and visitors but it is hard to move around easily. The Membership Committee will start working with other committees to find more elbow room for all. If you have any suggestions we are happy to hear them.
At the congregational meeting on Dec. 3rd we approved accepting the safety grant from FEMA. Thank you, Jennifer Butterworth and the Safety Committee for the hours of research and paperwork involved in getting the grant. During the meeting many members expressed serious concerns about the safety measures and deep feelings were
aroused. The Board is organizing meetings so that we can listen to each other over the issues raised. We want everyone to be heard. We are not alone. We need time to discuss and plan with the congregation about our fears and ideas. If you have thoughts about what to include in these meetings please speak to a board member.
January 6 th from 2-5p.m. a Peaceful Means workshop will be held at our church. The Greatest Gift: listening and reflecting with care and curiosity is the theme. Leah Boyd and Heather Pierson will lead intergenerational learning activities, games and music making to nurture connection, community and fun. Pre-registration is required, email
We wish you a happy, healthy and peaceful 2024!
Joanne Allen, UUCB Board of Trustees
New Fundraising Steering Group Formed
Betsy Williams |
The Board has approved the formation of a new steering group at UUCB: the Fundraising Steering Group. The purpose of the group is to provide a structure for the generation and implementation of fundraising events for the benefit of UUCB’s operating budget. The group consists of Betsy Williams (chair), Penny Elwell, Maryli Tieman, Diane Kew, and Susan Babb. We will meet on an as needed basis, with a kick off meeting in January. Please contact one of these folks if you have a fundraising idea or would like to sit in on first our meeting.WORKING FOR JUSTICE
Charities with Soul
Contact: Stephen Wood
January Charity with Soul: Oasis Free Clinics
The mission of Oasis Free Clinics is to provide no-cost medical, dental and prescription assistance services to our uninsured neighbors in need. The vision is a thriving community that cares for all of its members. The Clinics serve adults 18-64 who live in the towns of Freeport, Durham, Brunswick, Harpswell, and in Sagadahoc County.
Oasis was created almost 30 years ago because of gaps in the healthcare system: There was no place for those experiencing homelessness to receive free healthcare with dignity and respect. Unfortunately, these gaps still exist, especially for those who experience poverty, struggle with mental health and substance use issues, have limited literacy skills, and/or who bring complicated lives into the exam room. We serve those who need something different from the traditional healthcare system and are facing health challenges that require more time than the typical 15-minute visit. We also serve as the primary medical and dental home for adult asylum seekers and immigrants living in the Midcoast community.
Oasis is the only medical and dental clinic whose sole purpose is to provide free care to uninsured adults in southern Midcoast Maine. Currently, they serve over 500 adults in the medical clinic and 350 in the dental clinic. Services are provided by a network of 65 volunteer medical, dental, and mental health providers, as well as administrative volunteers. Bowdoin College students regularly provide administrative and communications support.
Oasis Health Clinic: The Health Clinic provides adult wellness and prevention visits, women’s health visits, vision care services, sick care, chronic disease care, limited mental health counseling services, and referrals to specialty care.
Patients whose primary language is not English has increased from 1 to 2 individuals in 2016, to more than 150 people today. The spoken languages and dialects include Chinese, Creole, Tagalog, Lingala, French, Portuguese, Thai, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese. Since January 2022, Oasis has provided medical care for the adults seeking asylum currently living in the emergency shelter at the Casco Bay Inn in Freeport.
Oasis Dental Clinic: The Dental Clinic addresses the oral health needs of uninsured medical patients by conducting patient intake and health history, taking dental x-rays, doing fillings, providing dental cleanings, restorations, extractions, some oral surgery and endodontics. In Fiscal Year 2023, Oasis provided over $356,000 in free dental care.
Community Prescription Assistance Program (CPAP): CPAP helps community member to obtain free medications through pharmaceutical patient assistance programs. Aid is provided to complete the complicated application process to receive medications, including for clients with Medicare Part D. In Fiscal Year 2023, Oasis procured $1,341,467 in free medications.
Three ways to give:
- At uubrunswick.org, click “Donate Online” Choose the “Plate” option
- Text the amount of your donation to (855) 962-0440, and follow the prompts to complete your donation
- Mail a check to: PO Box 129, Brunswick ME 04011, Memo Line: “plate”
MidCoast New Mainers Group
As announced in The Times Record (12/15/23 ), twenty-three asylum seeking families are finally settling into two of the five newly built apartment buildings at the Brunswick Landing. Most families are from Angola or the Democratic Republic of Congo and have been living in shelters or hotels for many months. Money for apartment furnishings is being raised through Town of Brunswick GoFundMe campaign. Additionally, more than one hundred volunteers are being organized by United Way of Midcoast Maine, and family orientation to basic services in their new community is being overseen by Immigrant Resource Center of Maine. New volunteers should contact United Way through VolunteerME. Another thirty-six families are expected to arrive within the next month after completion of the remaining three apartment buildings.
A critical need is for lawyers who understand immigration law to help families navigate the complex asylum process which can take many years. UUCB has no designated role although some members of the congregation have been trained by Midcoast Literacy to be English language tutors. Others will provide transportation and have generously responded to requests for home furnishings. Mid Coast New Mainers Group (MCNMG) knows to count on UUCB when help is needed.
Indigenous Awareness
UUCB joins Wabanaki Alliance Tribal Coalition
At the spring 2023 UUCB Annual Meeting, the congregation voted unanimously to endorse the Maine Unitarian Universalist Social Advocacy Network (MUUSAN) resolution in support of tribal sovereignty. In November 2023 meeting, the Working for Justice Steering Group (WFJSG) voted unanimously to become members of the Wabanaki Alliance Tribal Coalition (https://www.wabanakialliance.com/coalition) to express publicly the group’s support of Wabanaki tribal sovereignty.
At the December UUCB Board of Director’s meeting, representatives from WFJSG proposed that the congregation of UUCB become members of the Coalition. The board unanimously passed the following motion: The UUCB Board of Trustees, on behalf of the congregation, votes to publicly support tribal sovereignty for the Wabanaki Nations of Maine by joining the Wabanaki Alliance Tribal Coalition. With membership in the Coalition, UUCB would commit to contributing, as we are able, to the work of the Alliance in promoting respect and support for Wabanaki inherent sovereignty by following the lead and invitation of the Alliance and the Coalition to strengthen their efforts.
As a Tribal Coalition member, UUCB joins more than 214 Maine faith-based organizations, youth groups, and businesses. The church will be publicly identified as a supporter of the Wabanaki Alliance and invited to endorse individual actions and priority legislation as opportunities arise to advocate for the environment, for conservation, and for economic and social justice. The hope is that this growing support will strengthen the efforts of the Coalition to get legislation in support of tribal sovereignty passed and, if needed, to override a governor’s veto.
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Brunswick Area Teen Center
L.L. Bean donated more than 25 jackets to the teens ensuring that they have warm coats for the winter. Holiday activities have included decorating cookies, constructing gingerbread houses, making cards, cooking gazpacho as well decorating the Center. In November was a Friendsgiving /Thanksgiving feast followed by planning for a December 21 Holiday Celebration.
Suggestions for donations to teen gift bags include fun/comfy socks, $15.00 gift cards, and movie tickets from Smitty’s in Topsham. All the past support is greatly appreciated.
The Santa Project
I am very happy to report that the Santa Project gave the Gathering Place $1380 worth of Hannaford gift cards. These will go toward helping to make Christmas a little merrier for many clients. I wish to give all of you who gave so generously a huge Thank You. UUCB is such a wonderful and caring communityagain thank you all.
Santa’s Elf,
Sharon Brown
Membership Events
The next You and UU Class
January 13, 2024
On Saturday, January 13, the Membership Committee will host another “You and UU” class from 1:00 – 4:00 PM at the church. New members of UUCB are welcome as well as anyone who is interested in learning more about the Unitarian Universalist denomination. The class will be co-facilitated by Rev. Kharma Amos and Vicki Simpson. With Rev. Kharma’s help, attendees explore their own interests in UUCB and learn about the history and beliefs of Unitarians and Universalists of the past and today.
Members of the UUCB Board and committee members will share information about various committees and activities of the church such as Religious Education, Budget and Finance, Working for Justice, Pastoral Care, Chalice Circles and Circle Suppers and many others. Becoming connected and involved is a special part of UUCB.
SoUUp’s On
March 3, 2024
Looking forward to SoUUp’s On! The Membership Committee is planning a cozy luncheon directly following the service on March 3. We will quickly set up tables in the sanctuary and delicious soups, bread, fruit and desserts will be served in Fellowship Hall. While the sanctuary is being transformed to a dining area, coffee will be available in the RE wing.
We look forward to having a variety of delicious soups to serve. Sign up sheets will be at the Visitor’s Table so that you can tell us what kind of special soup you will bring to share. Also, if your last name begins with A-M, please bring bread or fruit. If your last name begins with N-Z, please bring a dessert, cookies or bars. We are looking forward to SoUUp’s On! Remember to sign up at the visitor’s table. Please join us!
Upcoming UUCB Events
Concerts for a Cause
KindKids Music, a children’s concert
Sunday, January 28, 3:00 pm
Bring the whole family and enjoy a wonderful winter concert with KindKids Music! The show is best for kids up to ten years old, or anyone who enjoys goodhearted family music.
KindKids Music is a dynamic duo with original music, puppets, and a highly interactive performance for all ages. Rob Duquette and Amanda Panda share tools for emotional resilience, foster kindness, and encourage wellness, all while making music and having FUN!
Amanda “Panda” Duquette is a professional early childhood music director, teacher, and performer, dancer, songwriter, and the creator of Music and Magic, an organization that provides musical instruments and creative opportunities to Kids and Families in Maine and beyond.
Rob Duquette, M.A. is a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter and has been performing for children of all ages for over 20 years. He has worked with legendary artist Jonathan Edwards and Maine’s favorite children’s musician Rick Charette. His KindKids Music program has been nationally recognized, and is widely requested at libraries and schools all over the country. He currently works as a world music professor in the University of Maine system.
Sample of KindKids Music:
It’s Gonna Be All Right”
Just For Today
Tickets:
Adults $10, Children $5, Family $30
Available after church services, at the church office, Gulf of Maine Books, or online at https://ticketstripe.com/kindkids
All the proceeds from this season’s concerts go to Midcoast New Mainers Group and Oasis Free Clinics.
Peaceful Means Workshop
Wednesday Wisdom Gatherings
Art Gallery
January Artist: Judith Schuppien
I grew up in Milbridge, Maine, way Downeast, and graduated from the local three-room high school as valedictorian – of a class of 17. Somehow, I ended up at The University of Chicago, and graduated four years later (not exactly at the head of the class) with a BFA. Since entry-level Fine Arts jobs, if you can even find one, don’t pay well, I soon switched to IT and worked as a computer programmer and systems analyst at several large companies in Chicago. I studied at night for an MBA and made very little art.
Eighteen years after I left Maine, my Chicago husband and I moved back, this time to the Augusta area, where we both continued with IT work. But something about coming back to Maine moved art to the foreground again. I met other artists at the Harlow Gallery in Hallowell and at other artists’ organizations. In summer, I paint outdoors with a Damariscotta-based plein air group. My favorite medium is oil, though I still love to make ink drawings. Favorite painting destinations include Stonington and South Bristol and Harpswell, and the old towns along Maine’s big rivers. Most of my art is about loving a place.
In September of 2020, I moved to Brunswick where I live with my husband of 40 years (that same Chicago husband) and our two enormous cats.
My work can be seen at Camden Falls Gallery in Camden, Roux and Cyr Gallery in Portland, Maple Hill Farm in Hallowell, Cathance River Gallery in Bowdoinham, and often in other local exhibits.
Website: www.judithschuppienart.com
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Deadline for Parish Messenger Articles
Due to the holidays, the deadline for February Parish Messenger is Saturday, January 20th.
Send articles to