Upcoming Sunday Services

  10:30am

in-person in the Sanctuary

and on Zoom (link below)

October services are on the theme The Gifts of Heritage

October 8th - Covenant

Rev. Caro Barschow

What does covenant mean in the context of our church, of our denomination? Learn about the heritage and the future of covenants in Unitarian Universalism, with special consideration given to the proposed changes to the covenant among congregations found in Article II of the UUA Bylaws.

October 15th - Searching for the Over Soul

Guest Speaker Dillon Bustin

Nationally-renown storyteller and musician Dillon Bustin will lead a service focused on Unitarian minister Ralph Waldo Emerson's poetry and thought, featuring additional music by Jacqueline Schwab. This service will feature two of Emerson's poems set to music by Mr. Bustin - “Always Something Sings” and “Brahma.” The service overall explores Emerson’s idea of a living, spiritual universe with the concept of Brahman in Hinduism and two theories in contemporary astrophysics.

October 22 - Remembrance

Rev. Caro Barschow

Our ancestors are ones who have gone before us. This service of remembrance will invite us to reflect on the lives of loved ones that have died in the past year. You may wish to bring a memento or photograph of a loved one to display for a ritual of remembrance.

To attend the Sunday services via Zoom,

please go to the Northshore Church website nsuu.org

& click on "Join Service."

Upcoming Activities

Indigenous Peoples Day in Newburyport

For Indigenous Peoples Day this year, why not join NSUU friends in Newburyport to celebrate on Saturday, October 7? Festivities start at 10am at Waterfront Park (36 Merrimac St, behind Firehouse Center of the Arts). Contact Iain Goddard or Cheryl Ferris for carpool arrangements, or sign up in the Fellowship Hall at NSUU. See https://imaginestudios.org for more information on the event.

NSUU Social Action Announcements

Urgent Need for Winter Clothing

The NSUU Social Action Committee is collecting winter clothing for over 80 families receiving emergency assistance in Danvers. These families have lost everything and are in immediate need of warm clothing. Gently used items are welcome.

Winter clothing items needed in all sizes - babies, children and adults:

• Winter jackets and coats, mittens, hats
• Warm everyday clothing (sweaters, shirts, pants, socks, etc.)
• Shoes and boots

Other items that can be donated: 

• Diapers, all sizes
• Gift cards to Walmart or Market Basket

Please bring your donations to the church and put them in the donation basket that will be available on successive Sundays. The collection will continue through November. If you wish to donate a gift card, give it to Cheryl Ferris or Jean Koulack-Young. If you have any questions, you can contact Jean Koulack-Young at 978-587-2935.  

Operation Troop Support - Donations Needed!

Operation Troop Support needs our help! Donations of the following items are needed:

White crew socks for men and women, small toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, shaving cream in non-aerosol containers, razors, small Kleenex, cotton swabs, toothpaste, toothbrushes). Food items in individual servings such as cup of soup, mac and cheese, applesauce, cans of deviled ham, chicken salad, tuna salad. Also playing cards, puzzle books and snacks such as cookies, crackers nuts, beef jerky, pretzels, etc.

These items can be placed in the basket in fellowship hall. Barbara Haight will take these items to the Director of Operation Troop Support. Any questions, call Barbara at: 978-729-5422.

SUPPORTING THE INDIGENOUS LEGISLATIVE AGENDA

Two important bills are coming up for vote in the legislature soon. Please consider writing letters to your representatives to support these bills. Information below.

Write testimony to support two bills that are part of the MA Indigenous Legislative Agenda:

Support Native American Heritage: 

• Write a personal email testimony to the committee. Template here. Fact sheet here.
• OR Take 2 minutes to send this email testimony to the committee.
• 
  

Indigenous People’s Day:

• Write a personal email testimony to the committee. Template here. Fact sheet here.
• OR Take 2 minutes to send email testimony to the committee. You can use the language that is provided, or modify it if you wish.
• Join in person at the hearing on Tuesday October 3. RSVP to come to the hearing in person 

From the Board of Directors

SAVE THESE DATES

Sunday October 15th, 2023 @ 12:00pm after the church service.

Jeri Kroll and Susan Haas will facilitate a discussion of our choices regarding renewing our Contract Minister Rev. Caro Barschow, interviewing a different contract minister OR, beginning a new search for a full-time settled Minister for the next church year.

Sunday November 12th, 2023 @ 12:00pm after the church service.

We will convene for a formal Congregational meeting to vote on this and other issues that will have been presented to the Congregation.

You are encouraged to attend both meetings. Thank you.

Minutes from August 9, 2023

Board of Directors Meeting -

click link below

Church Announcements 

Church Administrator Transition News

Welcome to Our New Administrator!

The ad-hoc hiring team identified a terrific candidate for office administrator, and she accepted the offer! Please read below to learn more about our new administrator, Ariana LaMey-Colón. Ariana impressed the hiring team with her warm, friendly attitude and her relevant office experience, including bookkeeping, project management and graphic design. Ariana will begin training in mid-October.

Learn more about Ariana by reading her bio below.

Office Transition Coverage Volunteers

Here is a coverage list of volunteers for essential duties during this transition period as the new administrator gets up to speed:

Building/rental management

Liaison to Daycare Center - Susan Haas

Liaison to Muslim Society - Rev. Caro

Liaison to contractors (as needed) - Buildings & Grounds (Hal Morse/Bob Ferris)

Liaison to arrange new rental requests - Susan and Hal

Track building and office supplies - Susan and Rev. Caro

Financials

Tracking/Making Deposits and Preparing Checks - Lynette Gray

Payroll Reports (MinistryWorks) - Caro

Maintaining Quickbooks - Bookkeeper at Terranova CPA with support from treasurer Astrida Cutter

Congregational Life 

Respond to phone messages, email, postal mail - Susan

Recording new visitors - Caro

Good Things Are Happening newsletter - Caro (new deadline, Wed at noon)

Order of Service - Lynette (new deadline, Wed at noon)

Online Calendar Requests - Caro

Zoom meeting requests - Caro

For questions, please contact Rev. Caro at rev.barschow@gmail.com or Board of Directors Chair Susan Haas at susanann1812@yahoo.com.



Minister’s Schedule

Office hours for October will be by appointment, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If you’d like to meet with Rev. Caro, please email or phone to set up a time. Rev. Caro will be working remotely 10/6-10/14, due to illness. Appointments will be available by phone and Zoom.

Rev. Caro serves as minister on a 3/4 contract at NSUU. To fulfill this part-time schedule, Rev. Caro works full-time 3 weeks a month and takes 1 week off. Rev. Caro's week off in October is scheduled for 10/23-10/29. During this time, Rev. Caro is available for pastoral emergencies - please call them directly by cell phone.

Please be in touch - Email: rev.barschow@gmail.com Cell phone: 978-473-7980

From the Caring Team

Cards in Fellowship Hall

Our Sexton, Jeff Liacos, is recuperating from knee replacement surgery. There are 2 boxes in the Fellowship Hall. One has unsigned cards wishing him well. Please take one. After signing, you can place it in the other box. The Caring Team will collect and mail them to him in October. Jeff does wonderful work for our church. We want him to know we care.

From the Green Sanctuary Team

Greening the Kitchen

The Green Sanctuary Team is encouraging us to transform our NSUU kitchen into a Green kitchen. We would like to use reusable items whenever we can; compostable items and recyclable items after that. Let’s please get away from Styrofoam and other Single-Use kitchenware!

After the supply cabinet was just cleaned and re-organized, what we have are not Eco-friendly cups, plates, bowls and napkins. Instead we have Styrofoam plates and hot/cold cups and lots of paper napkins as well as canned drinks and bottled water and plastic utensils.

We would like to get the word out that we should not purchase any new supplies, but first use up what we have. Then we’ll replace items we need with Eco-friendly ware.

Also, we will be moving towards water dispensers instead of single use beverage plastic bottles. Let’s avoid contributing to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch!

Good Things Are Happening

New Deadline: Wednesday at noon

Please contribute announcements by Wednesday at noon for NSUU's weekly e-newsletter "Good Things Are Happening." You can do so by sending an email with the announcement to nsuu@verizon.net. Please put in the subject line "For Good Things Are Happening." Please indicate how long you would like the announcement to appear and a contact email or phone number for readers to get more information.

Activities Around Town

Essex County Community Organization (ECCO)

ECCO is a diverse network of congregations and organizations across the North Shore building relationships and power to put human dignity at the center of public life. Its mission is to work together across race, class, and faith lines to ensure that all people on the North Shore can thrive, grow, and dream.

ECCO Community Meeting

Tuesday, October 24th, 6pm

Location provided upon registration

Join us to connect with people from across ECCO’s diverse community, get updated on ECCO’s latest work on affordable housing, community safety, and immigrant rights, and learn how you can make an impact!  Please bring a potluck dish to share. (But if you can’t, please come anyway! We will have lots of pizza!) Register here: bit.ly/ecco-10-24-23

Peabody Institute

Public Library of Danvers

In-person

Danvers Anti-Racist Book Club: White Tears, Brown Scars

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17

6:00—7:00 PM

Location: Classroom, 15 Sylvan Street, Danvers, MA, 01923

Come together in a safe space for a conversation with your community. The conversation will be based on a book focused on anti-racism. The titles and dates are below. Books can be ordered through the library or through Libby. Participants should attend with an open mind ready to listen and learn from one another. Registration required - registration link.

In-person

Living Room Conversations

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18

6:30—8:00 PM

Gordon Room, 15 Sylvan Street, Danvers, MA, 01923

Living Room Conversations aim to promote mutual understanding in our community as we learn to speak and listen to create connection. Join us for an opportunity to engage in dialogue to explore our racial identity, and the assumptions and experiences that come with it. The first conversation will explore advantages held by certain identities, and the impacts of those advantages. This three part series is brought to us by the Heathmere Center for Cultural Engagement in partnership with the Danvers Human Rights and Inclusion Committee. Registration is limited to 30 participants and is registration is required. This program is funded partially by Mass Humanities.

Zoom Program

Author Talk: A Wing and A Prayer: The Race To Save Our Vanishing Birds

MONDAY, OCTOBER 30

7:00—8:00 PM

Anders Gyllenhaal will walk through highlights of his new book, A Wing and a Prayer: The Race to Save Our Vanishing Birds, which he co-authored with his wife, Beverly. This is the story of what’s being done to save birds in the midst of dramatic downturns in North American populations. His talk also touches on the spiritual side of birds and how birding can strengthen your faith. Their presentation draws on their 25,000 miles of travel across the hemisphere researching the book, interviews with 300 people in every station in the world of birds, and scores of photos of the birds featured in these pages. Anders and Beverly are veteran journalists who’ve worked for decades as reporters and editors. Presented in collaboration with the Cary Memorial Library of Lexington. Register to receive link.