Announcements

All Ages Worship (23 February 2025)

Please join us this Sunday (23 February 2025) at 11:00 AM for “Welcoming the Stranger: Immigration Advocacy as a Spiritual Practice” by Frances Kelley.

Frances Kelley (Project Coordinator for Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention – LA AID) is in the pulpit this Sunday to share with us the possibilities for immigration advocacy amid the changing landscape in the days to come.

Joining her as worship associates will be LA AID Volunteer Coordinator and All Souls board member Susan Yellott and UUJME leader and frequent LAAID volunteer Taha Hayat.

We will be meeting in the sanctuary for this worship service.  Please join us in person at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA  71106 if you are able to do so.

Our service will also be livestreamed on Facebook Live here if you cannot attend in person.

State-level COVID data can be found on the Louisiana Department of Health’s respiratory virus dashboard web page.  The most sensitive metric to follow for current COVID trends is the “Laboratory Surveillance Data” link.  The link is currently showing COVID, RSV, and flu rates with a small decrease as of 15 February 2025.

The CDC no longer provides updated risk information for Caddo, Bossier, and De Soto Parishes.  We are relying on the Louisiana Department of Health for COVID risk assessments at this time.

Starting on 13 November 2022, masks will be optional indoors at All Souls.

Anyone who prefers to keep wearing a mask is welcome to do so and attending worship through livestream video is also an option.

We will still have KN95 masks available in the foyer for anyone who needs one.

We continue to recommend that you stay home if you have any symptoms, and that you keep up with all available vaccinations and boosters.

We no longer require proof of vaccination against COVID for all attendees ages 11 and up for indoor events.

However, we do strongly encourage that anyone attending our worship services or other indoor events at All Souls be vaccinated against COVID.

If you are recovering from COVID and have no symptoms, you should mask in public until you have tested negative twice in a 48 hour period.

We also ask that you go by the previous CDC guidelines of waiting at least 5 days past the onset of symptoms rather than the current 24 hour recommendation.

And of course — if you have symptoms (COVID or other respiratory illness) — please stay home and take care of yourself.

Our February 2025 give-away-the-plate recipient is the Highland Center Ministries.

And you can contribute to All Souls using this online resource.

One Book, Many Communities — They Called Me a Lioness: A Palestinian Girl’s Fight for Freedom (9 March 2025)

Please join us on Sunday (9 March 2025) at 3:00 PM for the One Book, Many Communities in the Social Hall at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church.

This is a a Common Read event sponsored by Librarians and Archivists with Palestine and Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East (Shreveport Chapter).

The book for the 2025 One Book, Many Communities event is They Called Me a Lioness: A Palestinian Girl’s Fight for Freedom by Ahed Tamini and Dena Takruri.

Ahed Tamimi became known worldwide when a video clip of her slapping an Israeli soldier went viral — but her struggle against apartheid and occupation began long before that day — and the historical struggle had gone on longer still.

Kirkus Reviews has called Tamini’s book, “A passionately argued, profoundly empathetic, and deeply informed examination of her country’s occupation.”

Copies of the book will be available at All Souls. The cost is $12.00 or whatever you can pay if you can pay.

Please don’t let money be an obstacle to your reading the book and participating in the discussion.

Religious Education for Children and Youth (23 February 2025)

This Sunday’s religious education activity for children and youth during the 11:00 AM worship service will be exploring the inspirations of our faith which include many of the stories, teachings, and practices of various religions of the world.

In the coming weeks, the classes for children and youth will center around some of these stories — always reinforcing our shared Unitarian Universalist values.

Online and In-Person Adult Religious Education (23 February 2025)

Please join us on Sunday (23 February 2025) for our adult religious education class at 9:00 AM.

Our adult religious education class is now a dual-platform class — meeting in person in the church social hall and also on Zoom.

Our dual-platform adult religious education class will begin reading and discussing Love at the Center.

This is an anthology of Unitarian Universalist theological writings by various leaders of our movement seeking to answer the question posed by Rev. Dr. Sofia Betancourt in the book’s introduction:

“We may agree that love is central, but what does that mean to us and what does it require of us?”

This book is currently available only in ebook format pending final edits of the approved revisions to Article II of the UUA Bylaws at the 2024 General Assembly (Kindle, Nook, and Kobo).

For this Sunday, we continue with with Chapter 26 (“Love is a Circle in Time” by Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker) and Chapter 27 (“Love, Our Spiritual Need and Calling” by Rev. Jade C. Angelica).

If you don’t have this book, you can read the chapters online here.

 

The New UU Class Will Not Meet This Sunday (23 February 2025) — Final Class on 9 March 2025

The New UU class will not be meeting this Sunday (23 February 2025).

The final class will be meeting on Sunday, 9 March 2025.

Email Bennett if you are interested in joining this class.

Zoom (and In-Person) Lunch This Wednesday (26 February 2025)

Please join us next Wednesday (26 February 2025) at 12 noon for our weekly Zoom lunch.

Our weekly Zoom lunch is returning to dual-platform access — join us from home using Zoom or in person in the social hall.

Bring your lunch and meet up with your All Souls friends, have lunch, and just catch up.

Meditation with Larry Androes (22 February 2025)

Please join us on Saturday (22 February 2025) at 10:30 AM for our weekly meditation group with Larry Androes.

This group will be meeting via Zoom and not in person.

This is a sitting Buddhist meditation including a brief introduction to mindfulness meditation, 20 minutes of sitting, and followed by a weekly teaching.

16 February 2025 Worship Livestreaming Video

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services.

This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats.

For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook or have a Facebook account to view this video.

You can find the 16 February 2025 worship video here.

9 February 2025 Worship Livestreaming Video

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services.

This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats.

For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook or have a Facebook account to view this video.

You can find the 9 February 2025 worship video here.

All Ages Worship (16 February 2025)

Please join us this Sunday (16 February 2025) at 11:00 AM for “Local History is Black History is History” by Pamela Carlisle.

We will be meeting in the sanctuary for this worship service.  Please join us in person at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA  71106 if you are able to do so.

Our service will also be livestreamed on Facebook Live here if you cannot attend in person.

State-level COVID data can be found on the Louisiana Department of Health’s respiratory virus dashboard web page.  The most sensitive metric to follow for current COVID trends is the “Laboratory Surveillance Data” link.  The link is currently showing COVID rates with a small increase, RSV rates high but decreasing, and flu rates high but decreasing on 8 February 2025.

The CDC does not recommend mandatory masking for all indoor events in “low” risk areas.

Starting on 13 November 2022, masks will be optional indoors at All Souls.

Anyone who prefers to keep wearing a mask is welcome to do so and attending worship through livestream video is also an option.

We will still have KN95 masks available in the foyer for anyone who needs one.

We continue to recommend that you stay home if you have any symptoms, and that you keep up with all available vaccinations and boosters.

We no longer require proof of vaccination against COVID for all attendees ages 11 and up for indoor events.

However, we do strongly encourage that anyone attending our worship services or other indoor events at All Souls be vaccinated against COVID.

If you are recovering from COVID and have no symptoms, you should mask in public until you have tested negative twice in a 48 hour period.

We also ask that you go by the previous CDC guidelines of waiting at least 5 days past the onset of symptoms rather than the current 24 hour recommendation.

And of course — if you have symptoms (COVID or other respiratory illness) — please stay home and take care of yourself.

Our February 2025 give-away-the-plate recipient is the Highland Center Ministries.

And you can contribute to All Souls using this online resource.