Sunday Service will be a simulcast of the GA's Sunday Service.

You can join others at UUCLV Sunday Morning at 9:30 AM to watch it with your compadres or you can watch it with this link from home:
https://www.uua.org/ga/off-site/2022 

 The last few years have not been easy, including in our local congregations. Whole swaths of members have simply stopped coming; COVID is confusing, and polarizing; many ministers have joined the great resignation; and Pew studies and friends alike have pronounced the end of the local church.
​
In this moment, when so many of us might be wondering if we should just give up, and relent, now’s the time instead to double down on our commitment to the local church -this unique community that saves us and also breaks our hearts - often much more of the latter than we’d like to admit. In the midst of our culture of death, the church is a place of life. Or it is, as long as we are willing to bring our own lives to it. Join us for a morning of celebration, witness, and future-visioning for the already and not yet power of the local Unitarian Universalist church.
​
Leading us in worship will be Rev. Gretchen Haley, Rev. Shari Halliday-Quan, Rev. Sean Neil-Barron, Lea Morris, Adam Podd, Joseph and Aimee Santos-Lyons, and Allison King with the GA Choir.

Order of Service available here: 
https://www.uua.org/ga/off-site/2022/sunday-worship

We bid you welcome, who come with a weary spirit seeking rest.
Who come with troubles that are too much with you, who come hurt and afraid.
We bid you welcome, who come with hope in your heart.
Who come with anticipation in your step, who come proud and joyous.
We bid you welcome, who are seekers of a new faith.
Who come to probe and explore. Who come to learn.
We bid you welcome, who enter this hall as a homecoming,
Who have found here room for your spirit. Who find in this people a family.
Whoever you are, whatever you are, wherever you are on your journey,
We bid you welcome.
These words penned by Rev Richard Gilbert tell us almost everything you need to know but not everything.  We at UUCLV bid you welcome if the time is right for you to join us as we grow, engage, seek, sometimes find and hopefully enjoy a Unitarian Universalist congregation together.  Join us as we welcome new friends into our beloved community.

​In order to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus, the UUCLV congregation has eased back into in-person services with a hybrid system. 

You are welcome to join us in-person at our physical location:

          3616 East Lake Mead Boulevard
          Las Vegas, NV 89115

If you are unable to join us live because of concerns for your health or other reasons, please join us online at Zoom.

You can join us at Zoom here: ​https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84823621393 
The password is chalice.

The Zoom room opens at 10:25 AM. Worship begins at 10:30 AM

​Click here to submit your announcements for the end of the service.

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​#SundayService #Community #Zoom ​#NewMember

Prelude: The Best Day by Taylor Swift https://youtu.be/l4_6eQm7RTQ (4:05)(See lyrics below)(Music starts at :30)
Introduction/Zoom Orientation/Welcome with Margaret Johnston
Ringing the Bell
Welcome with Margaret Johnston
Chalice Lighting
Opening Words with The Reverend Gordon Clay Bailey # 439 SLT We Gather in Reverence 
Land acknowledgment
​PRINCIPLES with The Reverend Gordon Clay Bailey and Margaret Johnston

Hymn/Song: What a Wondrous Day by Amanda Udis-Kessler (2:29) (lyrics will be on the screen)
Of Our Hearts with Margaret Johnston
Pastoral Reflection with The Reverend Gordon Clay Bailey
Pastoral Hymn: Pastoral Hymn: All You Need is Love by 165 Countries (3:50)(music at :30)
Offering and Invitations with Margaret Johnston
Story for All Ages: The Water Princess by Susan Verde (Author), Georgie Badiel (Author), Peter H. Reynolds (Illustrator)
Reading with Margaret Johnston The Miraculous Pitcher, By Barbara Rohde
Sermon: Walk In Beauty: Live in Peace with The Reverend Gordon Clay Bailey

Chalice Lighting Today’s chalice lighting comes to us from Florence Caplow. Please join with me… ​

Extinguish the Chalice with Alanna ​

The first Great Awakening - (The Great Awakening was a religious revival that impacted the English colonies in America during the 1730s and 1740s. The movement came at a time when the idea of secular rationalism was being emphasized, and passion for religion had grown stale.) - was a reaction against the Enlightenment, it was also a long term cause of the Revolution and beyond. The groundbreaking that started so long ago I believe has reverberations that continue to this day.  New faiths continue to emerge. For many the overall message is of greater equality, greater inclusion. The Great Awakening in its first incarnation was also a "national" occurrence. It was the first major event that all the original 13 colonies could share, helping to break down differences between them.

It is my hope that Unitarian Universalism is on the cutting edge of where we as a nation and world are heading.  A truly Interfaith spiritual awakening that gives support to its followers.  Seeking the light, the love, the compassion that is required to heal a hurting nation and world. A faith community that excels in teaching, activism and is filled with compassion

There have been 3 or 4 awakening tides that have shifted the spiritual landscape of the United  States. Theological debates go on and on.  Historians parse the subject as if the internal theological nature of humanity can be completely understood across race, class, gender, creed, or any other way we subdivide.

I for one believe that each age, every generation recreates, adds to and constructs a new world before them.  So where are we now UU’s and like minded souls?  What’s burning in your hearts, minds and bodies?

Dear UU’s, where are we at UUCLV?  Our vision and mission are only calling a few of us/you into action.  Our commitment to the congregation at times seems to lack the zeal to make us thrive.  Some might say the minister is a bore?  Others might say we aren’t centered.  Still more might say that their spirituality is not defined within the context of denominational activities nor service.

If I were being totally honest with you and in truth I have no other task or job to do.  Speak the truth, my truth to you with love, compassion and authenticity.  So if I am to be honest with you and that I will be. The reality is in my mind we have been on an Awakening since the second WW2.  The newest incarnation of awakening is happening right now.

Everything about the way this nation is has been changing since WW2.  We can look at things by decades, we can look at society through the prism of religious life and if that be my lens, my frame of reference then I am 100 percent sure that things they've been a changing and that means almost everything we do now needs to be reassessed.

Moving far beyond the realm of traditional "church history," Patrick Allitt - (Patrick Allitt is Professor of U.S. History at Emory University, where he holds the Arthur Blank Chair for Teaching Excellence. He supervises workshops for Emory faculty interested in improving effective teaching skills. His previous books include Religion in America Since 1945: A History and Catholic Converts: British and American Intellectuals Turn to Rome) - offers a vigorous and deep survey of the broad landscape of American religion since World War II. He identifies the major trends and telling moments within major denominations and also in less formal religious movements, he asks how these religious groups have shaped, and been shaped by, some of the most important and divisive issues and events of the last half century: the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, feminism and the sexual revolution, abortion rights, the antinuclear and environmentalist movements, Ableism rights,  Queer power, Black Lives Matter and so many others.

Allitt argues that the boundaries between religious and political discourse have become increasingly blurred in the last fifty years.  OMG, you'd have to have been sleeping not to know this but - He goes on to say having been divided along denominational lines in the early postwar period, religious Americans had come by the 1980s to be divided along political lines instead, (well, well, well) as they grappled with the challenges of modernity and secularism. 

Partly because of this politicization, and partly because of the growing influence of African Americans, Asian, Latino, and other ethnic groups, the United States is unique among the Western industrialized nations, as church membership and religious affiliation generally increased during this period. Religion in America since 1945 is a masterful analysis of this dynamism and diversity and an ideal starting point for any exploration of the contemporary religious scene.

More to my interest here and now is whether or not we are on the verge of The 5th Awakening.  Is something in the air now?  I say yes!  The longing for belonging is real.  The need for connection is palatable.  The Me generation of the baby boomers turned into the me, me, me generation of millennials is both striking and telling.  We now have successive groups of people in our midst that view life, the paradigm of living through their own prism. I guess it couldn't be otherwise. 

Hence my conclusion that we are on the precipice of a change once again.  The confluence of politics, social change, multiculturalism, environmental concerns, legal challenges, technology and so much more make this the day, the time, the season for our faith and all faiths that are open to the wisdom of the ages to assist us as we strive to find ourselves again.  You see, dear UUs and friends of all faith, realities we as a family, the human family must do things differently if we are to survive.  Our vehicle may be science, it may be the UN, it may be the breakup of corporations and even the break up of nation states that must happen if the planet, its inhabitants and the future are really going to happen our way of being needs radical change?  

I think we are poised to be one of the strongest voices for reason, for community, for forwarding the human family towards the Beloved Community of seekers, sojourners, pilgrims, and the rest as we strive into the tomorrow together.

Join me, join UUCLV, join the movement towards inclusion, introspection, inter everything as bravely step into the future together.

In faith, hope and love,
Reverend Gordon Clay Bailey 

Today we honor the accomplishments and real lives of trans people. Please join us for some first person stories from our community and beyond as we honor a group too often neglected and harmed.

International Transgender Day of Visibility (also called TDOV, Transgender Day of Visibility) is an annual event occurring on March 31 dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide, as well as a celebration of their contributions to society. The day was founded by transgender activist Rachel Crandall of Michigan in 2009 as a reaction to the lack of LGBT recognition of transgender people, citing the frustration that the only well-known transgender-centered day was the Transgender Day of Remembrance, which mourned the murders of transgender people, but did not acknowledge and celebrate living members of the transgender community. The first International Transgender Day of Visibility was held on March 31, 2009. It has since been spearheaded by the U.S.-based youth advocacy organization Trans Student Educational Resources. -from Wikipedia

​#UUCLV #UU #UnitarianUniversalist #UnitarianUniversalism #UUCLVEvent 
​#SundayService #Community #Zoom #Transgender

By focusing on and renewing our faith, I am not suggesting to you, that God, or anyone else thinks that your faith hasn't been authentic or valid, even worthwhile?  No, what I am saying to each of us is maybe we need to look again.  I feel like this is an opportunity to re-center ourselves/yourself on what's most important in your life.  To look again without taking the BYOT (building your own theology) course at what is important about your faith.  How do you define your spiritual self, life, and values?

So, Welcome to a brave new world.  Welcome to March 2022.  We are in the midst of an amazing era.  War, pandemic, political upheaval, success for some, failure for others, and lots of questions about life on this planet of ours.  This month renewing our faith is the theme.  Faith, your faith, my faith , do we still have faith. These and so many questions come to my mind.  I hope they are percolating in yours?

Dear UUCLV and people far and wide let me state unequivocally that faith is alive and well in some quarters and going down to defeat in others.  We are indeed in strange times.  The pew research center and other groups that track these things are telling us the landscape of organized religion is changing and changing fast.  In 1999 nearly 70 % of Americans said they belonged to a congregation.  In 2020 that number was down to 47% and dropping fast.

So how can we here at UUCLV find our way?  How do we here in the Vegas Valley deepen our faith? What will make us more relevant to our membership?  What is required of us to create a congregation that is appealing to a broad array of people? What is the appropriate response for Unitarian Universalist as we discern our place in the midst of changing demographics, changing values, heck a changing world?

 I already stated that this month's theme is renewing faith but it is so much more than that.  March is women's history month and I must share some thoughts and facts with you.
Why celebrate women's history month?  This is a no brainer!

This month has been observed throughout the United States since the 1980s.  Women's History Month was born out of a feminist push for equal access to jobs and education—one of the main demands of the Strike for Equality march that filled New York City streets to capacity on August 26, 1970. Women have always been part of history and some of us are tired of his story taking up all of the space!

Why does the U.S. celebrate Women's History Month every March?  The Education Task Force of the Sonoma County (California) Commission on the Status of Women planned and executed a “Women's History Week” celebration in 1978. The organizers selected the week of March 8 to correspond with International Women's Day.  The decision was made to select March as the month and here we are.

So what should or could we do to help?

Every March, Women's History Month provides an opportunity to honor the generations of trailblazing women and girls who have built our Nation, shaped our progress, and strengthened our character as a nation, a state, a community and a congregation!  Maybe we should hang pictures of women that have made a difference in our lives and world up in our sanctuary or other spaces?  Maybe we should find a cause that supports women in the Vegas Valley to help?  Maybe after service each Sunday in March we can share stories of women that have made our lives and the communities lives better?

Every year a theme is selected to celebrate and focus attention on during March. This year's official theme is “Break the Bias,” and the whole month is dedicated to honoring women, shining a light on their current societal contributions and celebrating the many important roles women have played throughout American history.

Women's History Month and renewing faith might not seem like a pair of ideas made in heaven but I am excited more about what happens here on earth so here is what came to mind.-

Why might people of faith around the world care about justice and equality for women and, in particular in relation to our first principle of inherent worth and dignity for all?

Two immediate answers spring to mind: first, half of these believers are women; the rest are their partners, husbands, fathers, brothers, sons and friends.  Secondly (and regardless of the many difficulties women of faith have experienced historically within the structures of religion) because common sense asks us to: honoring women is a core belief for most major faith traditions.  It is central to being UU.  We renew and continue our faith tradition in so many ways because women have been leading the way for a long time now.
 First and foremost, faith offers a vision for women.

For example, Christianity has always placed women in the forefront of faith.  The bible characterizes women as strong, honest, perceptive and deserving of great honor.  Mary the mother of Jesus Christ is the central female of the Christian tradition and she is highly empowered in the Gospel texts.  Biblically speaking, Christian women share equally with men in the calling by God to ‘run the world’ (as Beyonce might say). 

The Quran regards men and women as equals in the sight of God and for more than 14 centuries Islam has granted women, as it does men, fundamental rights to life, property, and opinion.

In traditional Judaism, the rights of women were greater than they were in the rest of Western civilization until the 20th century.  According to Tracey R Rich of Judaism101,  Jewish women had the right to buy, sell, and own property, and make their own contracts, rights which women in Western countries (including America) did not have until about 100 years ago. Moreover, these religious traditions see women as having their own distinct character and vocation (life purpose) which complements but is uniquely different from men. 

From a faith perspective, women have certain characteristics and powers which they carry because they are female; they are expected to bring those gifts to the world in how they love, work and lead.  Despite this, even within many religious traditions people still grapple with what it means for women to be truly empowered.  Many particular interpretations of faith continue to attempt to restrict the rights of women in very significant ways.

It is clear that faith traditions – just like the rest of the world – have much more to do to make their professed esteem for women a lived reality.

This concern for women is relevant here because religious communities claim to profess a special care for the poor and the oppressed of the world. It is integral to the prophetic voice of religion to call for justice to be done ‘even to the least of these’.

Religious faith is often referred to as counter-cultural because it doesn’t measure the worth of a person in the same way as the secular world (which often sees worldly power, wealth and beauty as a measure of success). Looking at the world through the lens of faith requires us to defend the cause of the poor, the weak and those who are imprisoned physically, socially or economically. Given the reality of women’s experiences, those who suffer today are most often female. It is a moral necessity then, for those with faith, UU FAITH to respond to the cause of women.

Given these beliefs about both women and oppression; faith communities are in a great position to influence how we value, talk about and behave towards women worldwide. Faith communities represent 6-7 billion current and potential activists who can and should call for the rights of women to be recognized; together we/they have the power to create and sustain the kind of world where women can truly thrive.

In the words of the UU Women's Federation-

We are -Building covenantal relationships among Unitarian Universalist women that equip us all to be better co-conspirators and allies in the movement for collective liberation.
Let’s work together this month and always to support women and all people.  Our congregation is a beacon.  Let’s make sure our light is shining brightly!
 
In faith,
Rev Gordon

Closing Song: Courage To Change by Sia (See video below) 
Benediction with The Reverend Gordon Clay Bailey
Extinguish the Chalice
Postlude - UUCLV Bridges instrumental
Announcements with Mairin O’Steen
Let’s Talk About It: Choose your own breakout room with Mairin O’Steen
​

Media for Service 03/13/2022
Prelude: Song For The Thankful by Avi Kaplan https://youtu.be/t6s4mbDAmuI
Opening Hymn/ Song - We Are Dancing Sarah's Circle by the UUSL Virtual Choir | Hymn #212 https://youtu.be/1_2hZQEj4tk
Pastoral Hymn/song: The Age of Worry by Yebba https://youtu.be/x1ya5YigHok
Story for All Ages: I will be a hummingbird - Wangari Maathai https://youtu.be/IGMW6YWjMxw 
Music: Royals by Lorde https://youtu.be/98XFrnw7-UM
Closing Song: Courage To Change by Sia https://youtu.be/YAA8vaDfCRk

Unitarian Universalism is today a faith of joiners. If it were not for the more than half of us who have come in by choice made later in life, rather than entering by birth or upbringing, we could not be what we are today. But it is not only the bravery to join that sustains this or any other religion: it is also the courage to stay. In our congregations, and amongst ourselves, it is somewhat common to exchange tales of the faith that we left behind in order to become UU. For some of us, this is an opportunity to unpack , and perhaps to heal wounds from our previous religious lives. What I wish for, and would one day hope to see, are spaces made for those Unitarian Universalists, both "joiners" and "lifers" who have had their hearts turned upside down by this faith and who, despite those wounds, are still here, still trying to grow, still changing the world.  Join us as we hold on! ​

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​#SundayService #Community #Zoom #courage

SNASF funds, promotes and sponsors adaptive recreation and outdoor activities for individuals with physical disabilities. They are a community based program that seeks to help enhance the quality of life for physically challenged individuals through organized recreational activity.

https://www.snasf.org/about
​SNadaptive@gmail.com
Tel: 313-310-1439

​Read about other charities we support here.