November at UUCSJS

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Email admin@uucsjs.org or call Jess at 609-965-9400 if you need assistance

• UUCSJS Annual Auction on Saturday Nov. 21. Come to enjoy the fun and fellowship. Sign up for events and services, compete for handmade items, and the special offerings in the live auction, or take a chance on acquiring some unique items for a bargain price. If you haven't donated yet, you can still make a contribution. USE THIS FORM to describe your auction contributions. Descriptions are due before Nov. 7. If you have any questions, talk to Deb Bonar or David Weesner. Watch for the AUCTION CATALOG that will describe all this year's offerings.

• Gratitude to :

• Scouts and UU helpers for their outdoor cleanup, and to Heather Swenson-Brilla for organizing this joint effort on Saturday Oct.31.

• Nancy Watson and the Road clean-up crew for their work clearing litter from Pomona Road.

• Barbara Jetters Celebration of Life on Saturday Nov. 14 at 4 pm. Barbara Sorensen-Jetters was a founding member of our congregation, who attended with her husband JD off and on over the years. She and her husband JD both passed within the last year (link to Barbara's obituary). We will be hosting Barbara's Celebration of Life for her family, who no longer live in the area, and her friends that do. Barbara is remembered by many of us for her quiet, calm, steady presence. Bring a memory, reading, or story to share, or just come to celebrate her passions and her remarkable life with others who knew her and loved her. Use the following link for more information and to RSVP-- https://tinyurl.com/jetterscelebration. Light refreshments from one of Barbara's favorite restaurants will be served.

• This fall, we plan to enter into search for a 75% minister for 2027-2028. This process is guided by the work of the ministerial search team. Our work is just beginning. The goal is to have our congregational profile ready to post in January. Current search team volunteers include: Karen York, Heather Swenson Brilla, David Weesner, Jack Nemez, Theresa McReynolds, Deb Dagavarian Bonar, and Jessica Dunn Safonof and more!

In faith from your Board of Trustees,

Karen York, President; David Weesner, Vice President;

Jack Nemez, Treasurer; Heather Swenson Brilla, Secretary;

Members at Large: Paul Utts, Theresa McReynolds, Angela Wexler

Jewish teaching includes frequent reminders of the importance of a broken-open heart, as in this Hasidic tale: A disciple asks the rebbe: “Why does Torah tell us to ‘place its words upon your hearts’? Why does it not tell us to place these holy words in our hearts?” The rebbe answers: “It is because, as we are, our hearts are closed, and we cannot place the holy words in our hearts. So we place them on top of our hearts. And there they stay until, one day, the heart breaks and the words fall in.

- Parker J. Palmer

Oh how we want to escape our pain.

Worry, loss, death, exhaustion, anxiety, economic instability, the unraveling of our democracy, the destruction of our planet, the ever-present trauma of racial injustice. It’s all overwhelming. We want to stitch up our protective coverings as soon as we can, so our exposed and tender nerves can rest. We want the pain behind us as soon as possible.

But what if the work is to travel toward it? What if proximity to our pain, not distance from it, is the real route to healing?

This seems to be what Parker Palmer is trying to tell us. And what our faith teaches us as well.

Here’s what else Palmer has to say: “When the heart is supple, it can be “broken open” into a greater capacity to hold our own and the world's pain. When we hold our suffering in a way that opens us to greater compassion, heartbreak becomes a source of healing, deepening our empathy for others who suffer and extending our ability to reach out to them.”

This doesn’t just reframe pain and healing; it also helps us reimagine our relationship with vulnerability. Maybe vulnerability isn’t the cause of our pain, like some chink in our armor. Maybe, instead, it is the first and needed step toward healing our pain. Or, to put it another way, maybe vulnerability isn’t so much the problem as the ticket that allows us to get on healing’s train.

If this is true, then our instructions this month seem to be this:

Forget eliminating your pain; lean into it! Don’t run from it as fast as you can; befriend it. Hold it in your frightened and tender hands until you realize it’s more malleable than you thought. Until you realize that your strong and courageous hands can shape it. That you can take its sharp edges and mold them into pathways that connect you with other people’s pain. That you can transform it

from a weapon that has wounded you into a bridge that connects you to the beautiful, broken

hearts of others.

When we do this, we may discover that pain can be more than a cage cutting us off from the world. It can also become a tool that makes room, carving open an entirely new space to live in. A space where we are more deeply connected to each other than we imagined possible.

This of course doesn’t mean the hurt goes away. But it does mean we end up feeling larger, more whole, and more tightly held by the holy web that reminds us we are never alone.

And maybe that is the most important healing of all.

Videos

• You Don't Know What People Are Carrying
• A Prayer for Healing
• On the Grief of Missing Them

Podcasts

• It’s Okay Not to Be Okay
• I Am So Sad And Everything Is Beautiful

Articles

• Heartbreak, by David Whyte
• The Difference Between Curing And Healing, by Courtney Martin
• The Sacred Pause, Tara Brach

Books

• Faith, Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave and Sean O'Hagan
• What It Takes to Heal, How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World by Prentis Hemphill
• Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Amelia Nagoski

Movies & TV

• Train Dreams
• Come See Me in the Good Light
• Earth, Wind & Fire: To Be Celestial vs. That’s the
• Weight of the World
• The Savages
• A Real Pain
• After Love
• A Little Prayer
• Stutz
• The Bear

Music

Healing - traditional thematic playlist

• on Spotify here & on YouTube here

Holding Them in Our Hearts

• on Spotify here & on YouTube here

Healing the Wounded World

• on Spotify here & on YouTube here

Margaret's Circle Women Group will be meeting Thursday, November 5th at 1:00 in the UUC building. An interesting activity is planned, hope to see you there!

On Sunday, November 7, 2026, there will be a collection point set up in the parking lot by the shed. If you have that one or two CFLs, fluorescent tubes, can of spray paint, half empty container of weed or bug killer, unused paint, household cleaner, etc. and didn't want to make a special trip to ACUA, bring it with you on that date. This is your opportunity to safely dispose of these items.

Sunday November 7, 2026 will be the ONLY date and time for this year's collection! Please do not bring items after that date! Do not bring the items into the building. You can check the ACUA website. Click on the "Home" link. Scroll down to "Upcoming Events November 14 - Household Hazardous Waste Day". In that box there is a dropdown to check the guidelines for accepted items. packaging, etc.

If you have any questions contact Richard Schurig.

Find Your Group!

• UU United Writers Group - TBD
• Buddhist Sangha - Tuesdays on Zoom
• Scout Meetings - Wednesdays
• Women's Group - 1st Wednesday of each month
• Men's Group - 3rd Wednesday of each month
• Margaret Circle Women's Group- 1st Thursday of each month
• Social Justice meeting - 2nd Thursday of each month
• Book Club - 3rd Friday on Zoom
• Everyday Spirituality - 2nd Saturday of each month
• Adult Religious Education - 3rd Sunday
• Soul Matters small groups - 4th Sunday
• Vocal Toning - 4th Sunday
• Grief for Our Democracy - varies once a month

Email religiouseducation@uucsjs.org for more information

Beloveds, this election season will not be the end of our struggles, but it can be the beginning of a world we create together.

In the days and weeks after November 3rd, ballots will be counted, results canvassed, and outcomes certified, and each step deserves a community paying attention. Our democracy is protected locally, by people who know their county clerk, show up to public meetings, and refuse to let anyone’s vote be quietly set aside.

Whatever the results bring, our commitments don’t change. Immigrant neighbors facing detention, families living with the threat of separation, and people whose TPS status hangs in the balance need us just as much after the election as before it. The same relationships that got out the vote are the ones that will hold us in that work.

Every vote cast and every vote protected is an act of faith that a more just world is possible. (Need a little spiritual nourishment for Election Day? We invite you to read this prayer from DL Helfer, “Let Love Lead”.)

We gather less than a week after election day to reflect on what we know, what we’ve learned, and the road ahead. Regardless of what happens on and after November 3rd, we know that it is our sacred call to shape a multiracial, interdependent democracy where everyone can thrive.

Join Side with Love’s Nicole Pressley, UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, musician Glen Thomas Rideout, and other special guests to make strengthen your spirit, make sense of this moment in our democracy, and take meaningful action alongside others!

🗓️ Register to join on 11/9 at 8pm ET / 5pm PT: The Gathering: Declarations of Democracy - Election Round Up

The Gathering is Side With Love's monthly event to strengthen your spirit, make sense of the threats to democracy, and take meaningful action alongside others! Join us live or watch the recording later, every second Monday of the month at 8pm ET / 5pm PT / 4pm AT / 2pm HT. Register at sidewithlove.org/the-gathering.

With love and resolve,
The Side With Love Team

Join Ree Leeds and help save The Academy of Natural Sciences!

The Committee on Ministry (COM) invites you—members, non-members, and visitors alike—to share with one or more of us what’s on your mind about the weekly services and other aspects of UUCSJS’s ministry. What ideas do you have? What would you want to change, or see less of? What do you like and maybe want to see more of? Think of us COM members as walking, talking suggestion boxes! We now sport fancy new name tags featuring the image of our Center, so if you don’t recognize any of us by name, look for these tags.

Whatever you share, we promise to keep it confidential if you’d prefer, combining your input with other comments which we’ll discuss and eventually pass on to the Board for possible action. We can’t promise all suggestions will result in change, at least not immediately, but we can promise to listen to what you have to say and take it seriously. Your comments and suggestions will keep us in touch with the wisdom of the congregation.

The Committee on Ministry

Dennis Bohn

David Fenimore

Miriam Pappas-Nemez

Julie Spradlin

Nick Bonar

Contact a member of the Caring Team

Team members can provide you with support during/after an illness, a death in the family, or other loss or hardship. They can find you resources, run errands, or provide meals in time of need.

Email caringteam@uucsjs.org or reach out to:

Tracey Catino, Helen Utts, Tony Zitelli, Barbara Morell, Denise O'Meara, or Marcy Cyter.

Caring Team is looking for members who are willing to attend monthly Zoom meetings and help out when congregants are sick or suffering from hardships. Please contact Tracey Catino if you can join our confidential group.

Sunday Service: 10:30am

Email: admin@uucsjs.org

Website: uucsjs.org

Location: 75 S. Pomona Rd. Galloway NJ

Phone: 609-965-9400