Monthly messages and special updates from your Board of Directors.
Moving Forward as Beloved Community During COVID-19
On Sunday we held our first on-line service at the Fellowship. The uplifting feeling of being supported in our community was not diminished by the few tiny technical glitches. Nearly 60 devices were logged in to the meeting, quite a few from outside Peterborough. Many of these represented 2 or 3 people participating. In the feedback we’ve heard that people particularly appreciated the impromptu finale when we could all see each other waving and looking pretty happy. Really well done after only 2 days of planning.
We are holding online services every week. If you missed Sunday’s livestream, you’ll find it right here, and on the home page of our website. The link for this coming Sunday’s service is on the home page too.
On Monday night, UFP leadership representatives met (on-line of course) to make plans for how to fulfill our mandate beyond Sunday services while the broader community is under extra stress from COVID-19 for what looks to be an extended time. We made some “big visible decisions,” and bounced around many other ideas about how we will provide support and community.
The decisions:
- Until at least May 3rd there will be no in-person gatherings at the Fellowship.
- Sunday services will be held via Zoom.
- Not more than 8 people will be in the Fellowship assisting with Sunday services; some of these will be singers to support music during the service.
- These policies will be reviewed in mid April.
While these Sunday changes are really bringing out the creativity of the appropriately named Creative Worship Team, many other changes are in the works with details to roll out as our energetic teams discuss how and who will do what needs to be done.
We are fortunate that we can communicate with most of our members via email and our website. For those members who are not as fluent with these technologies, we will reach out by phone and in person with extra support.
We will explore ways to enhance physical support such as shopping and driving people to appointments. Needs for this kind of help will only increase as this period of isolation extends.
We anticipate that as this crisis continues there will be more need for pastoral care so we will provide ways to make this happen. We are working towards virtual office hours when people can drop in and talk either by phone or by Zoom.
The last few minutes of Sunday’s online service were an impromptu “coffee time,” and prompted us to think about extending it more formally. We are also exploring ways of scheduling a “Zoom Café” a couple of times during the week where anyone can join and share time together.
We have re-invigorated the private UFP Facebook Group “Unitarian Fellowship of Peterborough” to provide another way for people to share experiences and virtual space. Look for an invitation to join — or send a private message via Facebook requesting to join to Stephanie Cee.
Most importantly, we are committed to keeping members of our community informed and engaged as well as possible. So look forward to weekly updates in The Flame and on the website, and anticipate that this difficult time will make us stronger.
— Your Board, Committee on Ministry and leadership team
Online-Only Services
Leadership at the Unitarian Fellowship of Peterborough has decided to suspend in-person gatherings starting this Sunday, March 15 for at least 2 weeks, moving to online services instead. We do this because of the rapid spread of COVID-19 and the risk it poses to our community, and in alignment with the advice of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
We do not take such a decision lightly, knowing how much we all love the fellowship of meeting in person with our community. But with the rapid progress and severity of the disease, we, as a community of faith, have an important role to play in slowing its spread. Equally important, the age profile of our congregation means that many of us are at higher risk than the general population so we need to protect ourselves.
It is not official that this disease has arrived in Peterborough yet, but given how quickly it is spreading it is inevitable that it will be here soon and we feel that caution is in order.
This Sunday we will provide a live streamed version of our service from the sanctuary. You will find instructions on the web site shortly, and in a special mailing tomorrow.
Sunday services are only part of our community activities, and your leadership team invites your help in planning other measures that can provide support during this stressful time when the community we depend on will be wanted most.
March 15: join here.
March 22: join here.
Past Notes From the Board
March 8: Community Conversation — “How We Care for Each Other”
Among the deepest reasons for belonging to a religious community — is the care, connection and community we offer each other. When has the Unitarian Fellowship of Peterborough met your need and longing for community and care? When have we fallen short? We often talk about outreach — and we do so much social justice…
November board message
The board would like to bring everyone up to date on the exciting progress in defining our new relationship with Beth Israel. This extract from the Joint Statement of Intent agreed to by both congregations explains why we are considering this change. “Beth Israel has aspirations for a community where congregational size, resources, and leadership…
Our Budget Meeting on Dec. 8 Will Be Much More Than That — Plan to Be There!
This week we received the disappointing news that our application for a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation to make the downstairs more accessible was not awarded. Only about one in three grant applications is successful, so we are not unprepared for this news. If you attended the informational meeting on September 15 you heard…
Finding Our Way Home — Accessibility, Our Relationship With Beth Israel, and This Building
An Update from our September 15th Special Meeting On September 15th the Board called a special meeting to report on and explore the accessibility challenges we have faced since the stairlift failed a year ago. As background — we are waiting for word on a major Trillium grant application we submitted in June (with Beth…
September 15: A Congregational Information Meeting on Accessibility
This Sunday, following the service Accessibility is an important value for us. The Board has called a meeting to consider possible steps and financial commitments we might make to improve accessibility. We have been exploring a renovation project that would create a more welcoming main floor as we continue to work with Beth Israel toward…
Catch up on our ‘BIG QUESTIONS’ at next week’s AGM
The Fellowship Annual General Meeting is after next Sunday’s service, May 26, with a simple lunch provided. It’s more than a meeting this year. The Board and Co-Visioning Task Force are taking it as an opportunity to connect and catch up in community around some of our “big questions.” You probably know we’ve been working…
Update on the Stairlift
The Board, indeed the whole congregation, continues to be deeply disappointed by the fact that our downstairs hall is not accessible to all. We would like to bring you up to date on progress to correct this issue. As you know we have been trying to limp along with the unreliable stair lift for some time,…
Our 3 Areas of Focus This Year
Members of your Board of Directors would like to bring you up to date on the three main areas of our focus this year: Planning, Policy, and Governance. We are still paying attention to the details but we want you to know that we are putting a higher priority and more time on the long-term…
Building Bridges Between UFP and Beth Israel
As far back as 2004, when UFP first signed a lease arrangement with Beth Israel, people were imagining possibilities between our two communities. The intention was that sharing space created an invitation to get to know one another and swap stories about our religious traditions. Our relationship, it was imagined, could be enriching as much…
Where is Home?
For the first thirty- odd years of our Unitarian existence in Peterborough, we were wanderers. We met weekly in places and spaces all across town, from school libraries to a former billiards hall. The first and only building we owned and was a decommissioned Salvation Army church on Chamberlain Street. We weren’t there long before…
Recognizing Our Choir Director, Welcoming our New RE Assistant
Since January many of us have been at work putting others to work on your behalf. This will not be news to you if you’ve been attending Sunday services, but since March we have officially installed a new choir director and a Religious Exploration Facilitator. Introductions first! Linda Clarke is a professional musician and choir director, among…
CoVisioning With BIS, and Long Range Financial Planning
I’m excited about two recent initiatives at UFP which have the power and promise to shift things within our community. What’s really brilliant is the interconnections between them and that they are happening concurrently, which gives them all the more capacity to affect change. Both endeavours have been on the drawing board for a long…