In preparation for the Spring Congregational Meeting, there will be two Town Halls on May 8 and May 15 at 11:00AM. They will be in-person and on YouTube simultaneously. These are an opportunity to ask questions, get clarification, and raise any concerns about items to be voted on. You will also hear from the Board of Trustee candidates themselves on the importance of leadership as we all work to reground our community post-pandemic. YouTube links will be published in the eblasts.

At the Spring Congregational Meeting, members will vote on Board of Trustees and the 2022-2023 Share the Plate Recipients. We will also hear updates from key church leaders: Board of Trustees, Program Council, Minister, and Director of Religious Growth and Learning. Zoom links for the meeting will be sent out in the
eblasts the week prior to the meeting. You will find the agenda and all related documents on the governance page of the website.

This month will see the return of a special event that first happened nearly three years ago! It is with great excitement that on May 19 Oscar, the A Street Band, and our affiliated minister Rev. Kimberley Debus will present a progressive tent revival - old school faith meets modern values.

I've spent my entire adult life as a working jazz musician. But, having been born in Kentucky, my early childhood was filled with those old-time hymns and bluegrass favorites. My grandmother used to take us up to the country
store in Williamsburg, Kentucky, where we could rifle through various thrifted items and hear the local bluegrass jam. Her radio was always turning out Johnny Cash, the Carter Family, Willie Nelson, Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, you name it. It's a part of my musical heritage that I hold very close.

I hope you'll join us out on the patio on May 19 at 7:00PM for what promises to be a very special evening. See you there!

All the best,

Bob Fuson DMA
​
Music Director

​The Annual Church Auction is Here!
Fill Your Bag at Our Auction

For a successful auction, we need you to donate baskets/bags, artwork, handmade items, meals, events, services or tasty treats.

DROP OFF TIMES:  Wednesday, April 13 fro 9:00AM to oon, or Thursday, April 14, from 10:00AM to  1:00PM.
 
BIDDING STARTS:  Bidding begins Sunday, April 24 at NOON.  Bidding ends Sunday, May 1, at NOON.  Check eblasts for the bidding link and instructions. 

QUESTIONS?  Contact Karen Heafer (kheafer@neb.rr.com), Barbara Pearson (barbarapearson@neb.rr.com) or Julie Enersen (julieenersen@gmail.com).

Spring Congregational Meeting - Save the Date!

Our Spring Congregational Meeting will be held on Sunday, May 22, at 11:30AM. We will hold the meeting as a multi-platform meeting, much like we did for the Winter 2021 Congregational Meeting. Ballots will be provided ahead of time in the mail to
those who wish to use paper. For those who prefer electronic voting, a Google form will be linked to their email so votes can be submitted by completing the form. Voting will occur for 48 hoursfollowing the Congregational meeting.

To be ready for the Congregational meeting, we will host two Town Halls. These will occur on May 8and 15, using a multi-platform method of in-person and YouTube simultaneously. This is where we can ask questions, get clarification, and raise any concerns about items to be voted on. We’ll hear from our Board of Trustee candidates as well.

UnSung UU

It’s that time of year again: time to honor one among us as the 2022 UnSung Unitarian! The UnSung Unitarian Award is annually conferred to a church member demonstrating amazing leadership ... but having done so quietly andbehind the scenes. Nominations are offered by the congregation - but it is the Board who votes on the winner. The deadline is April 30, 2022.
Nominations will be passed along to the Board of Trustees for their May meeting on Wednesday, May 11, at 6:30PM on Zoom.
Members are invited to attend the meeting as observers. Email Lori Straatmann(unitarianchurchlori@gmail.com) to get the
Zoom link. The 2022 UnSung UU will be announced at the Spring Congregational Meeting on Sunday, May22. Nominate someone by emailing the church office admin@unitarianlincoln.org by Friday, April 30.
You can review a list of the award's past honorees HERE.  


Share the Plate

It is time to nominate local non-profit organizations or national Unitarian Universalist related organizations that express
our principles to be considered for Share the Plate for August 2022 through July 2023. Each year, we select (about) one Sunday a month in which the offering is given to a local or UU organization. Download the form HERE or email the church office (admin@unitarianlincoln.org) for the form. Please provide three pieces of information on or before Friday, April 29:
1) Nominator's name (you),
2) Nominee (the organization),
3) A short, descriptive paragraph (200 words or fewer) of your nominee's activities, goals and/or purpose.

Ten Share the Plate recipients will be voted on during the Spring Congregational Meeting on May 22. Past Share the Plate recipients can be found on the church's website HERE.

My show in the Art Gallery is called Multiples. Often one plate can get lost on a wall or look insignificant.  In this show, multiple pieces are tied together either with color, shape or subject matter. There are collections of fruit, animals, truc de l’oeil cutting boards, and a cornucopia to test out my idea. 

People often ask why I paint on porcelain.  It is an old-fashioned, if not archaic medium. Not much in fashion. It is simply because I love porcelain. Clear, hard, shiny and smooth it is a perfect surface. The overglaze paint, I use is clear and clean not muddied by oils and solvents. Overglazes are applied thinly in washes. So I can create fine detail and tonality. I have been painting for thirty-five or more years and I’m still not finished. 

So come see my obsession with porcelain on display and join me for an open house reception from 1:00 to 3:00PM on Sunday afternoon, March 6.

There will be some coffee, maybe with a little Irish, and some sweet treats. 

  - Peg Pelter

The Nebraska Chamber Players held their first concerts of the 2022 season at the Unitarian Church of Lincoln in Feburary with great success! The Chamber Players performed selections from Beethoven, Mozart, and Poulenc while introducing their newest member, oboist Darci Gamerl.

On March 11 (7:30PM) and March 13 (3:00PM) they will present a concert of works by Beethoven and Glinka in the sanctuary. Whether enjoying from the seats at 6300 A Street or on the livestream, the Players appreciate our continued support of them and the arts. A special thanks to Linda Brown, chair of the A/V committee, for all her assistance.

The partnership between the church and our state's premier chamber ensemble is a joyous one. ​The Nebraska Chamber Players and the Unitarian Church of Lincoln look forward to more concerts throughout the year!

Please join the Membership Umbrella Committee and the Task Force for Dismantling White Supremacy on March 19, 2022 - virtually or in person - for a discussion of our church's Covenant of Right Relations.

who: The facilitators are members from a variety of committees and the discussion is open to everyone.

what: A facilitated discussion focusing on the usage and history of our church's Covenant of Right Relations.

where:  Virtually on Zoom or in person at 6300 A Street. Watch the weekly eblasts for the Zoom link details. If you are attending in person, the building will be open at 10 AM.  We'll honor whatever safety precautions are in place on March 19.  

when: 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM Saturday March 19, 2022

why: Each year the Unitarian Church of Lincoln’s Board of Trustees chooses three focus areas for the upcoming church year. This year one of the priorities is "to continue engagement with the world through our commitment to dismantle racism, address the effects of climate change, and recertify our LGBTQA+ Welcoming Committee status.” These ideas are totally interrelated. The Board and the Task Force for Dismantling White Supremacy were looking for ways to help support this priority by offering educational opportunities. The Membership Umbrella Committee thought that focusing on our covenant of right relations was something that we could do, and it would bring people together for a conversation. By the end of our time together, we'll hopefully better understand what our covenant is and why it was created. The planners are hopeful that understanding our covenant will further our anti-racism goal. 

For more information contact: Jackie Egan - egan@neb.rr.com  or Judy Hart - judithkhart@gmail.com


LEARN MORE about the Membership Umbrella Committee.
​Read the full text of our Covenant of Right Relations.

COVENANT OF RIGHT RELATIONS PREAMBLE:
As a welcoming congregation, our goal is to inspire a sense of awe, joy and reverence in people of all ages. We celebrate through words, music and the arts. We actively covenant to be an inclusive, diverse, and sustainable community. We each contribute to the work of the church. We provide a safe and nurturing haven for free thought. We treat each other with loving kindness. We cultivate growth and celebrate the changes growth brings.

Our Covenant of Right Relations: Within and beyond the walls of the Unitarian Church of Lincoln, we honor the principles and sources of Unitarian Universalism. We covenant to treat one another as we would wish to be treated: with respect, regard for healthy boundaries, accountability, open-mindedness, and equanimity, freely offering our tangible and sustained stewardship and engagement to realize our vision and mission.

We strive to be guided in our thoughts, words and actions by these attributes and the supporting Statements of Intent found in our handbook upon which we mutually agreed. In day-to-day practice, we covenant to begin our interactions with an assumption of best intentions, to truly listen to one another rather than awaiting our turn to talk, to assure that what is true for each of us is heard and considered, and to share only our own stories, honoring the privacy of others. These are our aspirations.

Mass Atrocities and the Responsibility to Protect
Sundays, February 20 to March 13 • 7:00PM 

Access: The Zoom link will be the same for all sessions. For the Zoom link, email Kelly at the church office at memberadmin@unitarianlincoln.org.
​
Time: 7:00 to 8:30PM
Format: 45-minute lecture followed by an audience-driven Q&A.
Availability: Recorded lectures and Q&A sessions will be posted by the end of March 2022 on the Unitarian Church YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/unitarianchurchoflincoln
WLS Website: More information, including access to the speakers' bios, https://www.unitarianlincoln.org/winter-lecture-series.html

Background:
The UN General Assembly adopted wording in 2005 now referred to as R2P, the responsibility to protect. The language adopted reflects several ideas: that states through their government have a duty to exercise responsible sovereignty by, at a minimum, not allowing mass atrocities; that outside states have a duty to help other states be responsible by acting early through diplomacy to head off trends toward mass atrocity; and that as a last resort the UN Security Council can authorize use of force to stop mass atrocity. Absent this authorization, humanitarian intervention remains illegal. Notably, claiming self-defense for intervention is separate from R2P.

Most observers see the logic of R2P in positive terms. Most observers agree that R2P has not worked well in practice. Our 2022 lecture series examines the evolution of what is called R2P, the reasons for its disappointing impact on world affairs, and whether we can realistically hope for improvements in the future.

Sunday, February 20, 2022, 7:00PM. Professor Thomas G Weiss, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, will present a Zoom lecture on the history of the Responsibility to Protect (written R2P) as it was developed by the United Nations and as it was subsequently applied, misapplied, and not applied to various conflicts.

Sunday, February 27, 2022, 7:00PM. Professor Joshua Landis, University of Oklahoma, will pay further attention to the applicability of the R2P in the current conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

Sunday, March 6, 2022, 7:00PM. Professor Robert Hitchcock, University of New Mexico, will address R2P in Darfur and some other African cases.

Sunday, March 13, 2022, 7:00PM. Professor Parks Coble, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will discuss R2P in relation to the ongoing conflicts in East Asia including Myanmar and China.