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08b24211-90b1-4941-99f5-7e89b53c0ffd < Back to Newsletter January Newsletter Article < Previous Article Next Article > Directory Updates Mike Baxter has a new email: uuseoffice@uuse.org Tracey Jackson has a new email and phone number : uuseoffice@uuse.org cell: 860-646-5151 #JanuaryNewsletter Contact Information modified in accordance with UUSE Privacy Policies.

e0e18f73-8f38-42c6-8876-32195ecf7bfc < Back to Newsletter January Newsletter Article < Previous Article Next Article > Romeos for Lunch Romeos (Retired Old Men Eating Out) meet at noon on the 2nd Tuesday of each month for lunch and conversation at various local restaurants. If you are retired or simply have free time, feel welcome to participate. Contact Annie at the church office to be included on the email call list. #JanuaryNewsletter Contact Information modified in accordance with UUSE Privacy Policies.

298a6940-f619-4dea-b86b-90108737823c < Back to Newsletter January Newsletter Article < Previous Article Next Article > Save the Date Community Contra Dance March 21, 2026, 4-7 PM in the UUSE Meeting Room Live music! Gender-free! Beginner friendly! All are welcome! Contact: Meghan MacRae, uuseoffice@uuse.org . #JanuaryNewsletter Contact Information modified in accordance with UUSE Privacy Policies.

Coffeehouse & Open Mic Join us on the first Saturday of each month, October through May, for an evening of music, poetry, stories, and community! Bring your own songs, poems, stories, or any creative offering — or simply come enjoy the warm, supportive atmosphere as part of our appreciative audience. Sign-ups begin at 6:00 PM, and performances start at 6:30 PM. We feature 12 slots, each about 10 minutes or two songs. BYOB, BYO dinner, and BYO friends — we’ll provide the coffee!. < Previous Next Coffeehouse Next >

UUSE has Sunday School options for children and youth from 1 year olds up to high schoolers, and even programs for adults. Sunday School Click to Redirect to Children and Youth Ministry

53db02f0-e0b7-4070-ac73-c3683ef2ca91 < Back to Newsletter January Newsletter Article < Previous Article Next Article > President’s Column January 2026 I was a product of the times I grew up in, the 60s and the 70s, where women’s rights and civil rights were ascending. Girls were told we could be anything and do anything that the opposite sex could do. Girls could take “shop”, become doctors or veterinarians. With the advent of reliable, easy birth control and women’s reproductive health freedoms, we were as free as any of our male counterparts. The Vietnam War and massive student protest movements ushered in a new enlightened age of social justice and equality, as diverse groups forged a coalition in response to the horrors of an unjustified war. We women took progress as a given, our birthright. I personally took full advantage, leaving my early career in women-dominated nursing to explore new available options and became fully-engaged in what had been a male-dominated field in the corporate world. I never thought twice about it or ever thought it was anything but normal in our new age of enlightenment. And now, we are left in the rubble, wondering what happened and can we ever find our way back? A couple of weeks ago, I read a quote that sounded nonsensical, but when I pondered the words, I was horrified because more and more news comes out that makes you realize that there is A Truth to it. The quote came from a book by Margaret Atwood (1982), Second Words , in an essay entitled “Writing the Male Character”. The quote is as follows: “ Why do men feel threatened by women? I asked a male friend of mine...’They’re afraid women will laugh at them…’ Then I asked women students, ‘Why do women feel threatened by men? ‘They’re afraid of being killed,’ they said.” To me, this is profound. In our current times, in just a short couple of years, all the big wins for women, in fact, all minority populations, have evaporated. Mostly, these changes won’t affect me, a retired white woman, but it seems possible that following generations won’t have nearly the opportunities that I have had. Worse is that safety and predictability, as we knew it, is totally gone. Civility is hardly a word in our vocabulary any longer. With the loss of civility and increased calls for violence from the current regime -- we have seen violence at all levels but predominantly impacting vulnerable populations. Women, LGBTQ+, people of color, indigenous people, and immigrants of all nationalities. Far-right extremist groups, which would have been considered fringe groups in the past, are behind the majority of the violence. According to Reuters, in a Special report (2023), outbursts by extremist groups are the worst they’ve been since the 1970s. We need to choose optimism that we will find our path forward once again. Dr. Martin Luther King outlined hope in terms of tailwinds and headwinds in his 1959 sermon, entitled “Shattered Dreams. “In this sermon, he used tailwinds as a symbol of hope. “At times in our lives, the tailwinds of joy, triumph, and fulfillment favor us, and at times the headwinds of disappointment, sorrow, and tragedy beat unrelentingly against us. Shall we permit adverse winds to overwhelm us as we journey across life’s mighty Atlantic, or will our inner spiritual engines sustain us in spite of the [head] winds? “ It is my hope that our resilience and strength can help us weather the storm and that in 2026 the tailwinds will finally return. Patricia Lisle , UUSE President #JanuaryNewsletter Contact Information modified in accordance with UUSE Privacy Policies.

Liberal Religious traditions are all about justice, including social justice and sustainability and green action. Considering Joining UUSE? Have you taken the Intro to UU seminar? Would you like to become a member of UUSE? If yes, please contact Carol Boster and Janet Dauphin at membership@uuse.org . If you have any other questions, please contact Rev. Josh Pawelek at minister@uuse.org .

This nationally recognized UU program on human sexuality is designed to help adolescents acquire accurate information, develop positive attitudes, and make healthy decisions about the role of sexuality in their own lives. Advisors are trained by the UUA. Participation requires regular attendance and parental permission. Additional Resources (Coming soon) https://www.uuse.org/cym-resources < Back Our Whole Lives (Gr 7-8) This nationally recognized UU program on human sexuality is designed to help adolescents acquire accurate information, develop positive attitudes, and make healthy decisions about the role of sexuality in their own lives. Advisors are trained by the UUA. Participation requires regular attendance and parental permission. Additional Resources (Coming soon) https://www.uuse.org/cym-resources Previous Next

fc593d16-817d-4aee-a16b-f7a29f904a50 < Back to Newsletter January Newsletter Article < Previous Article Next Article > UUSE General Information UUSE Office Schedule: Monday – Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM Meetinghouse Office: 860-646-5151 Office Administrator: Annie Gentile email: uuseoffice@uuse.org Minister: Rev. Joshua Pawelek, 860-646-5151, minister@uuse.org Minister Office Hours: Tuesday 10 AM to 7 PM and Thursday 10 AM to 4 PM Director of Children & Youth Ministry: Emmy Galbraith, 860-646-5151, dcym@uuse.org President: Trisha Corey-Lisle, 805-750--3488, uuseoffice@uuse.org Newsletter Editor: Carol Marion, 860-646-5151, newsletter@uuse.org Website Coordinator: uuse.web@uuse.org UUSE Website : https://www.uuse.org #JanuaryNewsletter Contact Information modified in accordance with UUSE Privacy Policies.

fe03d180-e7ce-4690-99de-8efe452c61b0 < Back to Newsletter January Newsletter Article < Previous Article Next Article > Minister's Column Dear Ones: Our ministry theme for January is practicing resistance. I’m not surprised that our friends at Soul Matters (the independent UU resource hub that provides materials for our monthly themes) have landed on this theme at this time. Unitarian Universalists across the United States have been considering this theme in earnest since the 2024 national elections. As I have discussed elsewhere, the current administration in Washington, DC has engaged in many authoritarian actions (e.g., abducting and deporting people without due process, deploying federal troops to US cities, cutting the social safety net to pay for tax cuts for the nation’s wealthiest residents, freezing funds Congress has already appropriated, defunding universities, criticizing judges, firing federal employees without cause, using the Department of Justice to harass and attack political opponents, etc.). People of liberal faith abhor such actions. We recognize a profound threat to our time-honored democratic institutions, practices, and assumptions. We feel called to resist. So, I welcome practicing resistance as our theme for the month. Again, I am not surprised. Of course, Unitarian Universalists inherit a long tradition of practicing resistance to injustice. I intend to address pieces of that tradition—especially our tradition of resisting racism—in my January 18th service prior to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. But before that, at our January 4th service, I want to address a way of practicing resistance that isn’t as familiar to me, what I call “direct aid.” The bottom line for me is that there is an increasing number of victims of the current federal administration’s policies, and they need help. Two victim groups that stand out to me are: 1) the families of immigrants who’ve experienced the abduction and deportation of a primary bread-winner; and 2) transgender people (or families with a transgender child) who are relocating from states with anti-trans laws to states whose laws are more supportive and protective of transgender people. There are certainly other victim groups. I am keenly aware of middle-income people and families who are losing access to affordable health insurance; and lower income people and families who are finding it increasingly difficult to make financial ends meet due to chaos in the economy. But given the kinds of requests I am getting on a fairly regular basis to support immigrant families; and given what I know is a long pipeline of transgender people who are seeking aid in relocating to Connecticut, I am increasingly led to the conclusion that our congregation has a role to play in providing direct aid. This is not quite intuitive for me. During my seminary years, I received training in how to work for social change—to not simply “give to the poor,” but to dismantle the root causes of poverty. While I’ve always seen the value in providing direct aid to people in need, I’ve nevertheless focused my energy and much of our congregation’s energy on the work of social change. That work certainly continues, but the victims of the current administration’s policies can’t wait for social change. They need direct aid now. Learning as a congregation to offer such aid feels to me like one of the salient ways we can practice resistance. More to come…. With love, care, and hope, Rev. Josh #JanuaryNewsletter Contact Information modified in accordance with UUSE Privacy Policies.

This highly acclaimed Montessori based program engages children using stories from many traditions and group “wonderings”. Children choose work activities, sing songs, and partake in a “Feast” (snack). < Back Spirit Play (4-5 yrs) This highly acclaimed Montessori based program engages children using stories from many traditions and group “wonderings”. Children choose work activities, sing songs, and partake in a “Feast” (snack). Previous Next

< To Upcoming Services Watch the eBlast for the next scheduled To Love Your Neighbor, Know Your Neighbor To Love Your Neighbor, Know Your Neighbor 3 Conversations on the Religions of Our Neighbors The Connecticut Council for Interreligious Understanding and UU's are providing an opportunity to explore nine different religions at 3 Unitarian Universalist meetinghouses in a lively, candid and highly informative question-and-answer forum: Sunday, May 4th from 12:00 to 1:30 P.M. at the Universalist Church of West Hartford, 433 Fern Street in West Hartford (Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism). Sunday, June 1st from 12:00 to 1:30 P.M. at the Unitarian Society of Hartford, 50 Bloomfield Avenue in Hartford (Islam, Jainism, and Sikhism). Sunday, July 20th from 12:00 to 1:30 P.M. at our own UUSE, 153 Vernon St. West, in Manchester (Bahai Faith, Hinduism, Unitarian Universalism). For questions or more information, please contact uuseoffice@uuse.org or call 860-646-5151. See also the flyers around the UUSE building. #eBlast-04-30 To Love Your Neighbor, Know Your Neighbor 3 Conversations on the Religions of Our Neighbors The Connecticut Council for Interreligious Understanding and UU's are providing an opportunity to explore nine different religions at 3 Unitarian Universalist meetinghouses in a lively, candid and highly informative question-and-answer forum: Sunday, May 4th from 12:00 to 1:30 P.M. at the Universalist Church of West Hartford, 433 Fern Street in West Hartford (Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism). Sunday, June 1st from 12:00 to 1:30 P.M. at the Unitarian Society of Hartford, 50 Bloomfield Avenue in Hartford (Islam, Jainism, and Sikhism). Sunday, July 20th from 12:00 to 1:30 P.M. at our own UUSE, 153 Vernon St. West, in Manchester (Bahai Faith, Hinduism, Unitarian Universalism). For questions or more information, please contact uuseoffice@uuse.org or call 860-646-5151. See also the flyers around the UUSE building. #eBlast -04-30 OOS Sermon YouTube