Month: June 2021 (Page 2 of 2)

Being Together IRL

June 10, 2021 /

During Sunday’s service, I asked how many of you typically have at least one awkward moment a day. The majority of you raised your hands. After 15 months of profound caution, social distancing, and, for many of us, long stretches of isolation, those awkward moments are more frequent than ever. And that’s okay! It’s normal to have awkward moments. As we explored on Sunday, awkward moments can open the door to deeper connection and, in turn, belonging. It’s also okay to feel like you’re out of practice when seeing others IRL (in real life) – I know I am.  

With vaccination rates rising and cases of Covid-19 declining in Colorado, we’re excited to announce several upcoming opportunities to be together in person – opportunities where you can feel confident that your Foothills family will embrace awkward moments and create a space for you to stretch those social skills that may have taken a backseat during the wild and exhausting ride of the past year. 

For our first IRL series spiritual practice, we’re not only exercising our social skills and embracing the awkward. We’re also supporting local restaurants – so many of which have struggled over the last year. Check out two ways to participate in Friends Night IRL HERE. And stay tuned for information about our second series practice, which will create space for small groups to gather at each other’s homes for pot luck dinners and conversation.

We’re also thrilled to announce the following IRL gatherings:

July 18th: Open House at the church with the ministers
August 21: Summer Picnic at Rolland Moore Park
September 19: Water Communion, outside at church
October 17: Our first, in-person, all-congregation service (Location TBD)

Additionally, there are two service opportunities and a Summer Solstice celebration coming up in June and July! Check out those chances to be together IRL below! 

And remember, as you make this huge transition to life post-pandemic, you aren’t alone. We’re right here with you every step of the way. 

In partnership,

Rev. Sean

Service Opportunities IRL

We have two upcoming opportunities for you to join fellow Foothills congregants in serving the broader Northern Colorado community.

First, join us on Saturday, June 26th for a day of service with Poudre Wilderness Volunteers! We’ll head up to the Comanche Peaks area to clear trails and do ecological restoration work. (The clean-up area about a 90-minute drive away, and we will help coordinate carpooling!) Please CLICK HERE to sign up!

Second, join us on Saturday, July 24th for Habitat Volunteer Day! Foothills is again one of the sponsor churches for the Habitat Multi-Faith Build. This year we will be providing both financial and volunteer support to build a home for Karen. There are two ways to participate (longer and shorter shifts), but spots are limited, so please register soon! CLICK HERE to learn more and sign-up.

Summer Solstice Celebration

Summer Solstice is the time when the Sun is at its zenith.  It is a time of high energy, passion, and growth. The earth is in full bloom. Summer Solstice is also the time when the sun stops its northward movement and begins to slip southward.  

For us in the northern hemisphere, it means we begin to experience the shortening of our daylight and the return of more nighttime hours. So though we celebrate the strength and power of the sun, we also must acknowledge the return of the dark.  

We will mark this occasion on the church’s patio with a traditional solstice fire of cleansing and gratitude. We will also welcome the return of the dark.  All church members and friends are invited to attend and participate. We will practice social distancing according to church guidelines, and masks will be optional. If you would like to share food after the ritual with others in attendance, please bring food to share. Salads and finger foods are encouraged. CLICK HERE to register!

Our Favorite Local Food

June 10, 2021 /

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]People are starting to return to their favorite restaurants! What restaurant(s) do you like to support in town?

  • 415
  • Austin’s (3)
  • Back Porch Café
  • Bann Thai
  • Blue Agave (2)
  • Cacciatore
  • Canino’s
  • Charcoal Broiler
  • Dazbog
  • Domenic’s (near Harmony and Lemay)
  • FOCO Cafe
  • Genoa Coffee and Wine
  • Green Light Café
  • Himalayan Bistro
  • Inca
  • Jeju Japanese Restaurant
  • La Creperie (2)
  • Little Bluebird Café
  • Locality
  • Los Camales
  • Los Tarascos (2)
  • Moot House
  • Mt. Everest (2)
  • Mugs
  • Music City Hot Chicken!
  • Pizza Casbah
  • Rainbow Room (2)
  • Rise (2)
  • Scrumpys
  • Silver Grill (2)
  • Simmer
  • Slyce
  • Snooze
  • Star of India
  • Starry Night
  • Suehiro
  • Taco Stop!
  • The Rio (2)
  • Tom Kha Thai (2)
  • Torchy’s Tacos
  • Uno Mas Taqueria- our neighbor owns it!
  • Vincents

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What We Are Growing In Our Gardens (Or In Our Lives)

June 3, 2021 /

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]What are you growing in your garden this season? Or (for the non-gardeners) what hobby are you currently pursuing?

  • About 18 years ago my wife and I completely replanted our yard, front and back.  Recent heavy snowstorms have seriously damaged several small trees and bushes.  The three maples we planted in the back yard have finally grown together, providing lots of shade.  Unfortunately, between these two, I’m having to dig out and re-design the planting areas, some things just are not happy with all the shade!  So, no garden but I’ll have lots of fun picking out new plants.  Lots of other projects to work on, going to be a busy summer for me.
  • As a condo resident, I have no garden, so I scratch that itch for dirt under my fingernails garden. Iris are at their peak. Beautiful!
  • Basil, parsley, chives, mint, thyme, oregano, spring onions, peas, strawberries, raspberries, cucumbers, lettuce.
  • Basil, thyme, rosemary, chives, cilantro, tomatoes and the three sisters.
  • Biking
  • Carol’s husband is growing a wide variety of veggies: corn, tomatoes, squash, carrots, onions, beans and others. Carol will do most of the freezing and canning.
  • Cherry tomatoes, Plum tomatoes, Red Peppers, Eggplant, Basil
  • Currently, arugula, lettuce, and spinach. Basil, pole beans, and cosmos seedlings I hope are on their way, then tomato, eggplant, chard, kale and cucumbers. Assorted annuals and flower baskets in June.
  • Drought resistant everything : )
  • Garlic
  • Got herbs in and my pots filled with flowers..hurrah..now for glass of wine and enjoy evenings with them on deck….
  • Herbs, shishitsu peppers, eggplant, flowers.😊
  • I have 3 large pots in my apt.: Purple has unknown Hawaiian plant, sky blue pot  has a 3 yrs old amaryllis & sprout of Hawaiian plant, blue pot has a night blooming Cereus & soon a sprout of Christmas cactus. My cats have their own pot for grass, ate their cat grass down, then ate the roots
  • I have a porch garden & have a few flowers, tomato plants, cilantro & attempting a white eggplant
  • I’m enjoying weeding our flower beds, believe it or not
  • Jon’s the gardener. He’s growing strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, pumpkin, zucchini, beets, tomatoes, basil, jalapeños, bell peppers, cucumbers, peas, green beans, cilantro & dill. We also have perennials; rosemary and chives.
  • Kale, broccoli, peas, peppers, carrots.. whiten pumpkins for my daughter. And lots of herbs!!!
  • Lots of great flowers, tomatoes & rhubarb. 😊
  • Lots of veggies – tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, kale, carrots, beets, beans, squash, kohlrabi… want to add some flowers too.
  • Not sure just yet
  • Painting flowers
  • Purple and yellow flowers and playing pickleball
  • Raspberries.
  • Singing
  • Swiss chard
  • Taking it easier than last year when I had so much lettuce and so many carrots it seems I just spent all my time taking care of those two veggies.  Only doing a few veggies this summer.
  • Thyme, cilantro, lettuce, pansies, rosemary
  • Tomatoes, onions, eggplant, beets, carrots, shallots, leeks, summer squash, winter squash, lettuce, cabbage, kale, kohlrabi, ground cherries, peppers, tomatillos, peas, beans, dill, basil, cilantro, and flowers
  • Tomatoes 🍅, I hope.
  • Tomatoes, peas, spinach, peppers and flowers.
  • We joined a local neighborhood pool and will start swimming again after decades.
  • Weeds. Oh and veggies: peas, spinach, arugula, lettuce, onions, garlic, eggplant, broccoli whew, and more. And flowers 💐
  • 🍅, kale, turnip greens, collards, cukes, squash, sweet potatoes, & cantaloupe.

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Annual Congregational Meeting Summary 2021

June 1, 2021 /

While we were celebrating Flower Communion, Christian churches across the world were telling the story of Pentecost. 
 
Pentecost is an amazing, fantastical story where the people gather in one place (already, after this year, we realize the miracle in the story), and they each speak in their native language, which meant different languages from each other. And yet, somehow, when the others heard them, they heard them as if speaking in their native language.  
 
In Pentecost, we have a vision for diverse communities: we can each show up fully as ourselves and be seen and understood even by those who are entirely different than we are. It’s a vision, but it’s rarely how we experience diversity. Instead, we tend to say we value diversity – the story of Flower Communion is a longstanding way we express this value – but then we turn around and mostly seek to emphasize our similarities.  
 
I wanted to come back to this idea after our Congregational meeting this past Sunday because we were not unanimous in our voting, and this is both a great reminder and an opportunity. It’s a reminder that we don’t all think exactly the same about anything and that there are a minority of people who would go a whole different direction than you might’ve been considering. Therein lies the opportunity. There is a risk – and practice in our wider culture – that we would reduce one another to how we vote on any given thing or for any particular person. And so we have the opportunity to let this vote be an invitation for us to commit more fully to know one another, more fully listen to each other and the stories behind the stories, and to invite continued learning in ourselves and across our relationships. It is an opportunity to commit ourselves to agree in love, even when we disagree about what exactly love calls us to do (to paraphrase the Universalist minister Hosea Ballou).  
 
I hope this idea doesn’t feel all that risky in our congregation. And that is a good thing because it gives us a chance to practice a commitment to one another’s full humanity and to keep challenging ourselves to see each other as more than our votes. So that as we practice this within our community, we begin to grow our capacity and our commitment to this practice beyond our community. And, as we practice, we remember what it takes to humanize each other in the days, weeks, and years after any given vote. It is a practice I believe is critical to our congregations, our democracy, and our life together on this planet. To allow each other and ourselves to be works-in-progress, for nuance to matter, and for us to speak in our own languages and yet hear and understand each other fully. 

In partnership,

Rev. Gretchen Haley

Meeting Summary

Our fourth all-online congregational meeting this past weekend was very well attended – particularly for such a beautiful late-spring, late-pandemic Sunday! The Board of Trustees was grateful for such lively participation, with 121 folks in attendance, including 117 verified members.
 
We are thrilled to report that our congregation voted decisively to adopt the 8th Principle of UU values and guidance that was originally proposed by our fellow UUs of color, who are urging individual congregations and our larger faith movement to renew our commitment to creating an antiracist, anti-oppression, multicultural beloved community in our congregations, our communities, our country, and the world. With this adoption of an 8th principle, we are pledging to hold ourselves accountable to this commitment and to fulfill the potential of our first 7 principles for all people.
 
Our new 8th Principle states: We covenant to affirm and promote: journeying toward spiritual wholeness by building a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.”
 
The final tally for the 8th Principle adoption was 106 yeses and 3 noes. (There were three more yes votes, but we could not confirm the membership status of two based on their login information, and the third was from a non-member.)
 
The congregation also voted unanimously to approve a congregant-organized resolution in support of universal health care as a statement of moral conscience. The resolution stated:
 
“The Foothills Unitarian Church affirms it is a moral imperative and basic human right that all people have access to comprehensive healthcare, and we encourage the Larimer County Commissioners and other local governments to formally endorse and advocate for a not-for-profit, single-payer, universal healthcare such as Improved Medicare For All.”
 
The final vote tally for this resolution was 106 yes votes to 0 noes. (And two additional yes votes from unconfirmed members.)
 
The final vote of the meeting was to approve the slate of nominees for the 2021-22 church year, and it also passed resoundingly. I’m delighted to report that Richie Nelson has agreed to serve a 3-year term on the board of trustees as president-elect for the coming year. Linda Kothera and Walter Nash have also agreed to serve 3-year terms on the board as at-large members, and the congregation confirmed all of them with this vote. 

In addition Ben Manvel, a true pillar of this congregation for many decades, and Christine Engelen, have also generously committed their time to the congregation and were voted into 3-year terms on the nominating committee.
 
(The nominating committee recommended, and the board concurred, that two openings on the endowment committee remain unfilled this year as there is currently no active work for the committee to do, with the endowment being invested in the UUA’s Common Endowment Fund and no disbursements being made from it, and because the endowment’s governance structure is expected to be realigned in next year’s Bylaws revision process.)
 
The final voting tally on the slate of candidates was 105 yeses and 2 noes. (And 4 additional yes votes from unconfirmed members.)
 
The board of trustees is so excited for the church year to come and is deeply grateful to the incoming slate of lay leaders who will keep this congregation running creatively, smoothly, effectively, and oriented always towards our mission.
 
In faith and courageous love,
 
Sue Sullivan
President, Board of Trustees

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