Archives of Central East Region News and Blog

As we move into the new normal, we have a chance to find models of community and connection that reflect our vision of who we are.

On the morning of Saturday, June 6, members of the Davies UU Congregation drove to their congregation’s parking lot where they one by one came forward to stand in front of the church’s doors, holding up a protest sign or a beloved sacred text of their choosing.

We recognize our interdependence - and we feel it even more poignantly in the midst of the isolation of the global pandemic. We need one another. We need ways to reach out and strengthen relationships, fostering more neighborly interactions and support systems. We need a village.

Find out what's happening in the Central East Region! This month - Primary Contacts, UU Leadership Institute, Time to Update Your Leadership, and more.

I see commercials sometimes that refer to these as “uncertain times”. I don’t know. I think things are becoming pretty certain. I think it’s pretty certain that we’re suffering, pretty certain that our neighbors and families are sick and dying...

If you attended virtual General Assembly last month, you probably read or at least heard about the Responsive Resolution that was adopted: Supporting and Investing in Youth and Young Adults in Unitarian Universalism.

Find out what's happening in the Central East Region! This month - Virtual Summer Camps, Time to Update Your Leadership, Resources for COVID-19 and more.

Have you heard? There’s a new group at MVUC! Arts for Mother Earth. We’re an active branch of the Climate Action Team, an award-winning environmental initiative that is now long term.

“Get In The Way!!!” Congressman John Lewis has reminded us for years that it is our turn to actively make a difference.

It is time to say farewell to you as my position with the Congregational Life staff in the Central East Region of our UUA comes to an end on June 30th. I am passing the baton on to Sana Saeed, who will serve you beginning July 6th.

It's that time of the year again. Your congregation has held its annual meeting and elected new officers, or its on your schedule. You have new committee chairs appointed to lead your work for next year. But have you told anyone outside the congregation about these changes?

How can congregations support each other in this time of online worship? These five congregations have a unique approach.

Find out what's happening in the Central East Region! This month - CER Networking Calls, Virtual General Assembly, COVID-19 Resources

CER Staff Offer Networking Sessions. Mondays at 4, Tuesdays at 6:30, Wednesdays at 5 and 6, Fridays at 1 ET.

Each year hundreds of UUs look forward to Central East Region’s Summer Institute (CERSI) especially the hugs, ice cream with families, long conversations with friends, pop up jam sessions and interesting classes. However, like everything else in the Summer of 2020, Summer...

We are living in times that are upending our routines and requiring us to think in new ways. We know there is no tried-and-true answer "out there" for us to research.

This blog post was supposed to be about UU Youth and Young Adult opportunities for this summer. But as the UUA and the camps, conferences and campuses we work alongside begin to cancel all summer in-person events, we’re left in a weird time of knowing and not knowing.

Although we’re sad to see the interim tenure of the fantastic Paula Cole Jones come to an end on June 30th, we are delighted to announce that we’ve hired a new, permanent field staff person to begin with us on July 6th: Sana Saeed.

Find out what's happening in the Central East Region! This month - Virtual General Assembly, COVID-19 Resources, UU the Vote Hosts Webinar.

To assist you with virtual outreach to your congregants in the midst of the pandemic, Murray Grove has launched the first in a series of free online programs by three prominent, global presenters in their respective fields.

Early in the pandemic crisis my mind kept wandering back to a poem written by my former minister and mentor, Rev Rudy Nemser. The poem, “Long-Haul People,” reminds me that congregations thrive on a million small acts of attention and commitment over weeks, months and years.

Friends, how is it with your bodies, minds and spirits these days? Are you doing regular check-ins with yourself? Noticing some things that weren't there before?

For the last eleven years, youth at West Shore UU Church have spent a cold winter’s night outdoors to raise awareness of homelessness in our community. This year, we decided to do things a little differently. We added a day of learning at an organization working with people...

Find out what's happening in the Central East Region! This month - General Assembly 2020, Pastoral Message from Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, Seaway Gathering, Safer Congregations Resources, Calendar Changes.

Are you struggling with how to share your virtual programming with your members? Here is a resource for you!

I woke up smiling today, on Day Seven in our current State of National Emergency, declared by the President on Friday the 13th. How can I smile in the midst of a viral pandemic, you ask? I can think of two big reasons.

What a week we have had. Seven days ago we were looking at when we might consider switching to virtual services and wondering if a week or two might serve. By Thursday we were rapidly moving to most churches canceling services and moving to virtual alternatives.

Due to the threat that COVID-19 poses to susceptible members of our UU families and communities, we will be canceling, postponing or re-imagining all regional events for March and April.

Conflict is natural and exists in each and every congregation offering opportunities for growth and change. The goal for congregations is to develop a keen awareness of unhealthy conflict so that it can be diffused before it blows up into a major crisis.

Today we are here to celebrate and re-dedicate our house of worship. Believe it or not, this is the culmination of work that began five years ago with a building assessment which produced our Building Condition report.

Find out what's happening in the Central East Region! This month - General Assembly 2020, Seaway Gathering, CERSI & UUMAC open registration and Congregations as Good Employer Resources.

Looking for ways to save money and still attend General Assembly this year? These tips can help.

The 2020 Intergenerational Spring Seminar on Climate Justice is almost here! Discussions and events surrounding climate justice will be held for three days. Here's an overview of what to be excited about, from worship to workshops.

UUMAC, or the Unitarian Universalist Mid-Atlantic Community, gathers together for one week each year to build community and deepen our Unitarian Universalist faith through fun, friendship, music, dancing, learning and worship.

Most – if not all – of our current social ills (war, the climate crisis, racism, immigration, economic inequality, for-profit healthcare, for-profit schools, mass incarceration) are a result of a worldview that looks at both people and planet as things to be used to profit those...

On January 7, the Mt. Vernon Unitarian Church (MVUC) CAT (Climate Action Team) Education group organized a Kids and Klimate! Day for young people from PreK to 12th grade.

Find out what's happening in the Central East Region! This month - WorshipWeb, Conflict Resources, River Rising, GA2020, CER is hiring and What Happens at CERSI?

Stewardship and generosity in congregations is one of our most important ministries, and is an expression of our covenantal practice of working together towards a common mission grounded in love and justice.

My first Summer Institute was at Bethany College in 1996. I was 19, and couldn’t wait to hear what everyone had been talking about. They weren’t wrong. I grew up in the Young Adult program, first being one of 4 total young adults, watching it grow into the robust program it is...

I don’t know if you’re like me, but I have trouble asking for help. First, it takes me forever to figure out I need help. Then I feel strange and awkward about asking - I don’t want to bother anyone.

Want to join the CER Team? Job Opening for Field Staff

Featured Resource Pages—Smaller Congregations

Find out what's happening in the Central East Region! This month - UU the Vote, Stewardship Resources, Money Mythbusters, GA 2020, CER is Hiring!, Summer Institute is looking for volunteers.

From all of us at the Central East Region, we wish you Happy Holidays and a joyous New Year and extend a deep appreciation for our congregational leaders who do so much for our faith.

UUMAC, or the Unitarian Universalist Mid-Atlantic Community, gathers together for one week each year to build community and deepen our Unitarian Universalist faith through fun, friendship, music, dancing, learning and worship.

We live in a perfectionistic society. If you can’t do it perfectly, don’t do it at all. That attitude stifles creativity, thinking outside the box, trying something new. Why? Because we may fail and if we fail it may get plastered all over social media so everyone will know.

First Unitarian Universalist Society of Syracuse is once again hosting its annual Building Beloved Community Beyond the Binary conference on February 8, 2020 8:30 am – 4:30 pm.

Find out what's happening in the Central East Region! This month - Conversations for Liberation, Leadership Development Resources, Winter Programs, GA 2020 Registration is open, The Season of Gratitude and more!

With Thanksgiving past and the holiday season approaching, this marks the beginning of the season of thankfulness and gratitude. And so we want to take this opportunity to say Thank You.

It's time to start thinking about summer and the Central East Region Summer Institute (CERSI - formerly SI)!