Author: Steve Caldwell, Web Editor

All Ages Worship (2 March 2025)

Please join us this Sunday (2 March 2025) at 11:00 AM for “You are Beloved. Yes, You — Living Our Shared Values as Unitarian Universalists” with Barbara Deger, Bennett Upton, Bob Jordan, Claudia Harris, and
Susan Caldwell.

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 22 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 March 2025 give-away-the-plate recipient is Home is Here Shreveport.

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

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Religious Education for Children and Youth (2 March 2025)

We are giving our dedicated religious education teachers a Mardi Gras break this weekend — the children and youth will join us for the entire service for this Sunday (2 March 2025).

There will be an opportunity to listen for all of the JETPIG values and we will have art supplies on hand for all ages who listen better while doing creative activities!

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Online and In-Person Adult Religious Education (2 March 2025)

Please join us on Sunday (2 March 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 chapter 28 (“Love Is God” by Rev. Abhi Janamanchi) and chapter 29 (“Beloved” by Rev. Victoria Safford).

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

 

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Monthly Building and Grounds Work Day (8 March 2025)

Our monthly building and grounds work day usually happens on the second Saturday on the month.

For March 2025, this will happen on Saturday (8 March 2025) from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM (please note the change from the times we used for past building and grounds work days).

There are tasks indoors and out for all ages and abilities along with snacks for the volunteers.

This is a great way to build relationships with your All Souls community — working side by side to maintain the physical structure of our spiritual home.

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St. Patrick’s Day Celebration (15 March 2025)

Please join us on Saturday (15 March 2025) from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM for our annual St. Patrick’s Day Celebration.

We are thankful to Bob Jordan for bringing back our annual traditional St. Patrick’s Day celebration with Irish music, libations for donations (both alcohol and non-alcohol options available), delicious free snacks, and a welcoming spirit for all ages.

The cost is $15.00 at the door or whatever you can pay — and all proceeds benefit All Souls.

Don’t let cost be an obstacle — and if you have a little extra to kick in for somebody else — we will graciously accept that help, too.

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Zoom (and In-Person) Lunch This Wednesday (5 March 2025)

Please join us next Wednesday (5 March 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.

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Home is Here Shreveport — March 2025 Give-Away-The-Plate Recipient

Each month we dedicate all of our non-pledge income to a community organization doing the work that best embodies our Unitarian Universalist values.

For the month of March 2025, we choose Home is Here Shreveport through Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention.

Our Home is Here group is currently raising money for an asylum seeker whose court hearing will be coming up in June 2025.

This is a hardworking person — currently working two jobs legally, learning English, and has even passed their driving test (despite the fact that their interpreter did not show up that day).

Two ways to donate:

Online — Go to our donation site using this link.  If you are paying your pledge, select “2025 Pledges” and enter that amount for your pledge contribution.  Then select “Collection Plate” to give the amount you would like to give to Home is Here Shreveport and then put “GATP MAR 2025” or “Home is Here Shreveport” in the comment section.  All online collection plate contributions for the month of March 2025 will go to the Home is Here Shreveport.

Offline — Please send your give away the plate contribution checks to All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA  71106.  Please put “Home is Here Shreveport” on the memo line of the check if  you want to have 100% of your check go to Home is Here Shreveport.  If you want less than 100% of your check to go to Home is Here Shreveport, please put the amount you want going to Home is Here Shreveport on the memo line.

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Meditation with Larry Androes (1 March 2025)

Please join us on Saturday (1 March 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.

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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.

Share/Bookmark