There will be no 9:00 AM adult religious education class this Sunday (10 November 2024).
The class will resume next Sunday (17 November 2024) as we continue our discussion of Love at the Center with Chapters 6 and 7.
Author: Steve Caldwell, Web Editor
The New UU Class Starting 17 November 2024
The New UU class will be starting up next Sunday (17 November 2024) at 12:30 PM facilitated by Bennett Upton.
This 6-sesssion course is for all new members, people interested in becoming members, and not-so-new members who might need a refresher and reminder of what we’re doing here.
The 6 sessions cover the history of Unitarian Univesralism and this congregation, and explore our practices and shared principles and values.
Email Bennett if you are interested.
Monthly Building and Grounds Work Day (9 November 2024)
Our monthly building and grounds work day usually happens on the second Saturday on the month.
For November 2024, this will happen on Saturday (9 November 2024) from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.
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.
Meditation with Larry Androes (9 November 2024)
Please join us on Saturday (9 November 2024) 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.
The group is free and open to all.
3 November 2024 Worship Video
All Ages Worship (3 November 2024)
Please join us this Sunday (3 November 2024) at 11:00 AM for “A Way Through the Weight of Waiting” by Rev. Barbara Jarrell.
Whether you love the alliteration or roll your eyes in response, you know this is what you need right now.
Join us this Sunday — members of the All Souls Choir will sing.
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.
Regional 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 a downward trend in COVID positive tests as of 26 October 2024.
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 November 2024 give-away-the-plate recipient is the Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana.
And you can contribute to All Souls using this online resource.
Religious Education for Children and Youth (3 November 2024)
This Sunday’s religious education activity for children and youth during the 11:00 AM worship service will be exploring Unitarian Universalist principles and values in the stories from our Jewish and Christian Heritage.
The stories from the Jewish and Christian scriptures contain important lessons and values that our children and youth can learn without the baggage associated with these stories.
For this week — Noah and the Ark.
Online and In-Person Adult Religious Education (3 November 2024)
Please join us on Sunday (3 November 2024) 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 4 (“Reflections of a Japanese-Descent UU on Cultural Contexts of ‘Love'” by Rev. Shigue Sakurai) and Chapter 5 (“Beloved Community is Love at the Center” by former UUA President Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray).
If you order from the UUA inSpirit Bookstore, you will be pre-ordering a printed copy that will be available in January of 2025.
If you have trouble accessing an ebook for financial or technological reasons, text Susan and she can help you.
Zoom-Only Lunch on Wednesday (5 November 2024)
Please join us next Wednesday (5 November 2024) at 12 noon for our weekly Zoom lunch.
Our weekly Zoom lunch is for this week only.
Bring your lunch and meet up with your All Souls friends, have lunch, and just catch up.
Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana — November 2024 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 November 2024, we choose the Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana.
The mission of the Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana is to serve as the primary resource for fighting hunger in Northwest Louisiana.
Their vision is to ultimately end hunger in Northwest Louisiana by ensuring a consolidated network of effective food collection and distribution which will provide universal access to food for the needy in our communities.
Two ways to donate:
Online — Go to our donation site using this link. If you are paying your pledge, select “2024 Pledges” and enter that amount for your pledge contribution. Then select “Collection Plate” to give the amount you would like to give to the Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana and then put “GATP NOV 2024” or “Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana” in the comment section. All online collection plate contributions for the month of November 2024 will go to the Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana.
Offline — Please send your give away the plate contribution checks to All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA 71106. Please put “Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana” on the memo line of the check if you want to have 100% of your check go to the Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana. If you want less than 100% of your check to go to the Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana, please put the amount you want going to the Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana on the memo line.