Wellspring Wednesday

Wellspring Wednesday is a multi-generational opportunity to gather midweek at church for food, fellowship, and fun. All are welcome. This is a time to engage in religious community, a time to cultivate our values and beliefs.

Schedule for the Evening 
5:45 p.m.: The evening begins with a hot, nutritious meal and a good conversation. Menus are posted as available both online and in This Week at Unity. Gluten free and vegetarian options are always available. The cost for dinner is: $8/adult, $4/child ages 5 to 12, $2/child ages 2 to 4, and $20/family, and can be paid by cash or check. (Children under the age of 24 months are free.) Reservations for dinner are not required. People with specific food allergies may contact madeline@unityunitarian.org to arrange to have a special preparation. Financial assistance is available to cover the cost of dinners, contact Lisa Friedman by e-mail at lisa@unityunitarian.org or by phone at 651-228-1456 x107. ​If you would like to help prepare the meal for Wellspring Wednesday, please complete the online form!

6:45 p.m.: Everyone is invited to a short worship service in the Ames Chapel.

7:15 p.m.: Classes and programs follow worship and begin at approximately 7:15 p.m. Childcare and children's programming is offered at no cost during this time. Families should check their children in on the evening’s sign-in sheet in the Parish Hall before heading to their program. The Children's Library is also open from 6:00-8:00 p.m. each Wednesday.
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February 26  
Dinner: Roasted chicken and cabbage or baked tofu with coconut kale, tomato braised white beans, salad, dessert

The 2020 Unity Church Congregation Read: DISCUSSION 
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
In this bravura follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize winning bestseller The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys sentenced to reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. This evening is one of two opportunities to come together and discuss the book in small groups. Copies of the book are available in the Unity Bookstall and the Anderson Library, as well as a book read guide. 

Onward Educators • Topic: Take Care of Yourself
Using the work of education, coaching, and resilience researcher Elena Aguilar, we will strengthen and support one another in monthly meetings. Grounded in neuroscience, social science, and psychology, this workshop will change the way we think about emotions, stress, and our purpose as educators. We will focus on the 12 habits that cultivate resilience, and their correlating dispositions, and provide a roadmap for how to feel more effective, more fulfilled, and happier at work. Facilitators Jackie Smith and Julianne Malcom will guide the group through a year of resilience-building exercises and reflections, and participants will collaborate to build their capacity for resilience throughout the school year. The sessions follow an arc throughout the year, but participants are welcome to come to some or all sessions. All educators are welcome.

Artists in Residence: Ina Yukka
Ina Yukka, Unity's newest resident artists, are a Chilean mother-son duo specializing in traditional South American folk music and canción nueva. From February through April they will lead weekly workshops as part of Wellspring Wednesday programming. These workshops will cover a variety of topics, ranging from Andean dance, building and performing on traditional Andean musical instruments, and learning songs connected to the history and folklore of the Andean region.

Embodied Spiritual Practice: Yoga
Pamela Scott will guide participants to use their breath to develop mindfulness and promote a union of mind, body, and spirit. All levels of yoga practitioners are welcome. Dress comfortably, bring a mat and a small blanket if you have one.

Kung Fu
Explore our rich Five Animal Kung Fu to develop a personalized style that suits your temperament and body type. Beginners and experienced martial artist welcome! Be our guest and see if this is the right fit for you. Questions? Email Bryan Kujawski at barney.kujawski@gmail.com. 

Tween Group (grades 5-7)
Unity's Tween Group (grades 5-7) meets on the fourth Wednesday of every month during Wellspring Wednesday. The group gathers at 6:45 p.m. for worship in the Ames Chapel, then heads to Jr. High room 021 — the location for post worship drop off (7:15 p.m.) and pick up after programming (8:30-8:45 p.m.). Guardians, please come and sign your kids in and out! Tweens is led by Ray Hommeyer, contact them with questions at ray@unityunitarian.org.

March 4  
Dinner: Berebere lentils, curried carrots and cabbage, Ethiopian collard greens, split peas and chicken, injera. We’ll offer some non-spiced alternatives for kids at this meal.

Exodus Lending: Freeing Minnesotans from a Debt Trap
Payday loans trap borrowers in a cycle of debt from which it's almost impossible to escape. The typical borrower is a middle-aged woman, just trying to take care of her family. Thousands of Minnesotans get caught in the trap every year and struggle to get free. Exodus Lending is a nonprofit that addresses this issue head-on — both by freeing individuals one by one, and speaking out about and supporting political solutions. Sara Nelson-Pallmeyer is the executive director of Exodus Lending. She has been working in the nonprofit sector her entire career (including at Augsburg College's Center for Global Education, the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches and Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity). 
​
Artists in Residence: Ina Yukka
Ina Yukka are a Chilean mother-son duo specializing in traditional South American folk music and canción nueva. Each Wednesday through April they will lead weekly workshops on a variety of topics, ranging from Andean dance, building and performing on traditional Andean musical instruments, and learning songs connected to the history and folklore of the Andean region.

Stories of Resilience in UU History, Part I
We often tell the story of Unitarian Universalist history as the tale of a progressive faith always on the cutting edge of the reform. While there is some truth in that telling, the full history is more complicated, painful, and challenging. Current UU historians are working to center the stories of people of color, women, and lgbtqa+ throughout our history. Join Rev. Lisa Friedman in an examination of the faithful UUs who have gone before us, and what we might learn from their stories of resilience.

Invitation to Creative Spiritual Practice: Resilience + Dot Mandalas
This group, led by Heather Benedict will explore resilience and engage in the spiritual exercise and meditative practice of making Dot Mandalas. Learn different techniques, try different mark making tools, and leave with an invitation to engage with the monthly worship theme in your daily life and in a creative way.

Intergenerational Violin Orchestra for Beginners
Join Mayra Mendoza for a beginning violin orchestra class — all ages are welcome! We will learn the violin basics while having fun in a friendly, welcoming orchestra class. Please bring your violin/music stand if you have one. Mayra is a violinist and teacher who volunteers frequently with the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphony, McPhail Center for Music and the Minneapolis Public Schools. Questions? Email mayraquitzia@hotmail.com.

Textile Arts 
Open to textile creatives of all ages. Bring your knitting, embroidery, needlepoint, etc. 

Religious Education New Family Orientation
This session is for families new to Unity Church who would like to learn more about religious education.

Embodied Spiritual Practice: Yoga
Pamela Scott will guide participants to use their breath to develop mindfulness and promote a union of mind, body, and spirit. All levels of yoga practitioners are welcome. Dress comfortably, bring a mat and a small blanket if you have one.

Five Animal Kung Fu
Explore our rich Five Animal Kung Fu to develop a personalized style that suits your temperament and body type. Beginners and experienced martial artist welcome! Be our guest and see if this is the right fit for you. Questions? Email Bryan Kujawski at barney.kujawski@gmail.com. 

March 11
Dinner: TBA

Open Page Writing Session: Cultivating Resilience 
How do we bounce back from life’s challenges and traumas? What does it mean to be resilient in the face of difficulty and heartbreak? Can a spiritual practice of writing become one tool for cultivating resilience in demanding times?

Led by Consulting Literary Minister Karen Hering, Open Page writing sessions are invitations to correspond with the "still, small voice within." Using stories, poetry, images and objects as well as wisdom from religious teachings, science and history, and provided prompts, participants reflect on the month's theme in their own words and on their own pages. No writing experience is necessary. Bring something to write with and on; the rest will be provided! Email karen@unityunitarian.org if you plan to attend.

Our Economic Lives
Your economic life is more than your job and your budget. This three part course offered by Jesse Andrew Williams brings a robust language and series of visual frameworks to the conversation of our economic lives - with almost no math at all! At the end of this pilot course you will have a key to understanding your personal economic map and references for further study.

Gather for the Earth
As a follow up to "Gather for the Earth," the Sustainable Living Team is offering a second chance to offer your input. This conversation will consider what we are called to do individually and as a congregation to remediate climate change and champion environmental justice. This will shape the work of the Sustainable Living Team as we create Unity’s UUA certified Green Sanctuary Action Plan. 

Artists in Residence: Ina Yukka
Ina Yukka are a Chilean mother-son duo specializing in traditional South American folk music and canción nueva. Each Wednesday through April they will lead weekly workshops on a variety of topics, ranging from Andean dance, building and performing on traditional Andean musical instruments, and learning songs connected to the history and folklore of the Andean region.

Embodied Spiritual Practice: Yoga
Pamela Scott will guide participants to use their breath to develop mindfulness and promote a union of mind, body, and spirit. All levels of yoga practitioners are welcome. Dress comfortably, bring a mat and a small blanket if you have one.

Five Animal Kung Fu
Explore our rich Five Animal Kung Fu to develop a personalized style that suits your temperament and body type. Beginners and experienced martial artist welcome! Be our guest and see if this is the right fit for you. Questions? Email Bryan Kujawski at barney.kujawski@gmail.com. ​

March 18  
Dinner: Shepherds pie with lamb (or vegan), Irish fried cabbage, Irish soda bread, mint chocolate cheesecake brownies.
Guest cooks! The Black family and friends will help prepare this meal. Do you want create a Wellspring Wednesday meal with your family or a group of friends? Contact madeline@unityunitarian.org.

Interfaith Sanctuary Coalition Book Read
Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen
Jose Antonia Vargas came to the United States when he was 12 but discovered when applying for a driver’s license at age 16 that he was undocumented, that his grandfather had given him a fake green card. Instead of staying silent about it, he published his first story about his life in The New York Times Magazine in 2011, and now has told us the full story in his book, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen.

As a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, he knows that as he tells the story of his own life that he is, in some ways, telling the story of the estimated 11 million undocumented in the U.S. Please join us in reading and discussing Dear America, which Michelle Alexander says, “ought to be mandatory reading for every American.” Sponsored by the St. Paul Sanctuary Coalition (MN Sanctuary Network, Isaiah), Unity Church, and nine other area congregations.

A Parent Circle hosted by the UU Families Initiative 
Do you ever feel that you need an ECFE class for your tween or teen? Looking back, does raising an infant seem relatively easy? How can we call upon our Unitarian Universalist values to help us navigate? Unity's UU Families Initiative is hosting a Parent Circle targeting these transitional years. You are invited to come with an idea of a current challenge you would be willing to share with the group. Parent Circles are drop-in, facilitated discussion groups on parenting topics related to values and spirituality. They are open to parents of kids of any age. The UU Families Initiative has two goals: to develop shared principles and common practices for raising our children religiously in the Unitarian Universalist tradition and to develop a community of families raising our children religiously at Unity Church.

Artists in Residence: Ina Yukka
Ina Yukka are a Chilean mother-son duo specializing in traditional South American folk music and canción nueva. Each Wednesday through April they will lead weekly workshops on a variety of topics, ranging from Andean dance, building and performing on traditional Andean musical instruments, and learning songs connected to the history and folklore of the Andean region.

Stories of Resilience in UU History, Part II
We often tell the story of Unitarian Universalist history as the tale of a progressive faith always on the cutting edge of the reform. While there is some truth in that telling, the full history is more complicated, painful, and challenging. Current UU historians are working to center the stories of people of color, women, and lgbtqa+ throughout our history. Join Rev. Lisa Friedman in an examination of the faithful UUs who have gone before us, and what we might learn from their stories of resilience.

Textile Arts
Open to textile creatives of all ages. Bring your knitting, embroidery, needlepoint, etc. 

Intergenerational Violin Orchestra for Beginners
Join Mayra Mendoza for a beginning violin orchestra class — all ages are welcome! We will learn the violin basics while having fun in a friendly, welcoming orchestra class. Please bring your violin/music stand if you have one. Mayra is a violinist and teacher who volunteers frequently with the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphony, McPhail Center for Music and the Minneapolis Public Schools. Questions? Email mayraquitzia@hotmail.com.

Embodied Spiritual Practice: Yoga
Pamela Scott will guide participants to use their breath to develop mindfulness and promote a union of mind, body, and spirit. All levels of yoga practitioners are welcome. Dress comfortably, bring a mat and a small blanket if you have one.

Five Animal Kung Fu
Explore our rich Five Animal Kung Fu to develop a personalized style that suits your temperament and body type. Beginners and experienced martial artist welcome! Be our guest and see if this is the right fit for you. Questions? Email Bryan Kujawski at barney.kujawski@gmail.com. ​

March 25  
Dinner: TBA
​
Gun Safety for People Who Dislike Guns
According to a recent article in the Washington Post, there are more than 393 million civilian-owned firearms in the United States, or enough for every man, woman, and child to own one and still have 67 million guns left over. Wherever one stands on this highly contentious issue we all want safety for our children and ourselves. Join us in discussion to learn the minimum you need to know about gun safety for when you encounter a firearm by intent or by accident. Unity’s Gun Sense Ministry Team member Richard Birger will talk about basic firearms safety and some of the terminology one needs to know to speak intelligently with others about this vital issue.

Navigating Single Parenthood
Single parents at Unity Church face special challenges, have unique perspectives, and can benefit from building community with other single parents. This interactive workshop will bring together single parents to talk about what’s hard and what’s working well — the burdens as well as successful strategies — and how to build connections with one another. Family therapist and Unity member Bill Doherty will facilitate and share some of what he has learned about community building among families. This workshop could be a springboard for something lasting at Unity Church.

Onward Educators • Topic: Focus on the Bright Spots and Cultivate Compassion
Using the work of education, coaching, and resilience researcher Elena Aguilar, we will strengthen and support one another in monthly meetings. Facilitators Jackie Smith and Julianne Malcom will guide the group through a year of resilience-building exercises and reflections, and participants will collaborate to build their capacity for resilience throughout the school year. The sessions follow an arc throughout the year, but participants are welcome to come to some or all sessions. All educators are welcome.

Artists in Residence: Ina Yukka
Ina Yukka are a Chilean mother-son duo specializing in traditional South American folk music and canción nueva. Each Wednesday through April they will lead weekly workshops on a variety of topics, ranging from Andean dance, building and performing on traditional Andean musical instruments, and learning songs connected to the history and folklore of the Andean region.

Embodied Spiritual Practice: Yoga
Pamela Scott will guide participants to use their breath to develop mindfulness and promote a union of mind, body, and spirit. All levels of yoga practitioners are welcome. Dress comfortably, bring a mat and a small blanket if you have one.
​
Five Animal Kung Fu
Explore our rich Five Animal Kung Fu to develop a personalized style that suits your temperament and body type. Beginners and experienced martial artist welcome! Be our guest and see if this is the right fit for you. Questions? Email Bryan Kujawski at barney.kujawski@gmail.com. ​

Tween Group (grades 5-7)
Unity's Tween Group (grades 5-7) meets on the fourth Wednesday of every month during Wellspring Wednesday. The group gathers at 6:45 p.m. for worship in the Ames Chapel, then heads to Jr. High room 021 — the location for post worship drop off (7:15 p.m.) and pick up after programming (8:30-8:45 p.m.). Guardians, please come and sign your kids in and out! Tweens is led by Ray Hommeyer, contact them with questions at ray@unityunitarian.org.

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Get Cooking!

​Tuesday Night Chopping
Tuesdays, 4:00-6:30 p.m. 
Help prep the Wednesday night meal. Chopping, baking, fellowship!
Sign up at http://bit.ly/choptuesdays

Wednesdays Night Service
Wednesdays, 4:00-7:30 p.m. 
Cooking, table setting, serving, dishwashing, and fun! 
Sign up at http://bit.ly/ucww2019
​
Questions about food ministry? Contact Madeline Summers at madeline@unityunitarian.org.