News from Reverends Kristin and Christian Schmidt, April 14, 2020

Dear members and friends of UUCB,

The last few weeks have been a time of great change and big feelings as we grapple with life while sheltering in place. The ways the members of UUCB have shown up for one another and our wider communities during these days of quarantine really reflect who this congregation is at its best. We write to you today with some news about yet another big change, news which feels strange to share in this context, news which we wish we could share with you in person.

Rev. Kristin has accepted an offer to be the ministerial candidate for the UU Church of Silver Spring in Maryland where our family plans to move over the summer. Rev. Christian is exploring interim and contract ministry options in the area and plans to grow his clergy tax preparation business. We have not made the decision to move lightly, nor have we made it because we are unhappy as your ministers. When we took up the co-ministry of this congregation four years ago we had two children and both sets of our parents were alive and healthy. Over the last four years we lost Rev. Christian’s mother, welcomed two children from our extended family into our home, and learned our youngest has special needs. Moving to Maryland will be a move back “home” for Rev. Kristin and will allow our children to grow up with one set of their grandparents.

We had no idea when we first began discerning this potential move a few months ago that a pandemic would befall the world this spring. We regret that the timing of this announcement is so difficult, and that we cannot be together with you in person at this time, but we hope you can understand why this transition is right for our family. The vulnerabilities in our society that this public health crisis has revealed have only reinforced our longing to be closer to family at this time in our lives.

We also want you to know how much we value our shared ministry with UUCB. We are proud of our work with all of you to expand and support lay leadership, bring the congregation closer together across generational lines, strengthen our staff team, transition Family Ministry into a program better suited for 21st century families and volunteers, and clarify the congregation’s accounts and finances. While the days ahead hold uncertainty for us all, we hope you will embrace the gifts your next interim minister brings to bear and continue to discern how UUCB is being called to serve here and now, especially in this time of rising need.

Rev. Jonipher Kwong from the Pacific Western Region will join us this Sunday, April 19 after worship on Zoom (in lieu of Virtual Coffee Hour) to answer your questions about what comes next and to share the options UUCB has moving forward. We hope you will join us and him on Sunday after the service and that you’ll let us know if you’d like to schedule a time for a phone or Zoom conversation with either or both of us.

We will be working with the Board and the Committee on Ministry to find the best ways possible to say goodbye and celebrate the ministry we’ve all done together before our last working day on June 15. We wish the very best for UUCB and for each of you and are grateful to have had the honor of serving our faith together with you for the last four years.

In faith and affection,

Reverends Christian and Kristin Schmidt

Letter from the Board March 23, 2020

Announcement March 18, 2020

Dear UUCB friends,

Six Bay Area counties announced a “shelter in place” order for all residents on Monday directing everyone to stay inside their homes and away from others as much as possible for the next three weeks as public health officials desperately try to curb the rapid spread of coronavirus across the region.

The directive began at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday and involves San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Marin, Contra Costa and Alameda counties, and it is to stay in place until at least April 7. Three other Bay Area counties — Sonoma, Solano and Napa — were not immediately included.

These are anxious and uncertain times, and we want each person in our congregation to remain as healthy as possible. We encourage you to find creative ways to occupy your time. If you need some inspiration, feel free check out how our Italian brothers and sisters are making the best of this situation here.

While we are not able to physically connect with our loved ones and our community, we are blessed with modern technology that allows us to check in on each other over video and text messaging, phone calls, emails, etc. We will offer virtual Sunday worship for the next several weeks via Facebook Live, and any groups that wish to meet online are welcome to use UUCB’s Zoom video conference account. For more information about how to set up a meeting on Zoom, please email Rev. Christian at RevChristian@uucb.org.

We invite you to gather virtually with us for the following opportunities to be in community:

Thursday, March 19

Vespers and Community Check-In
7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
After lighting our chalice and hearing a centering reading we will enjoy a time to check in with one another and be together in community on Zoom! Click this link to join us: https://zoom.us/j/500955388

Sunday, March 22 

Morning Worship
11:00 to 11:30 a.m.
We will gather on Facebook Live for a simple service of readings, music, and prayer. Make sure to have a candle handy! 

Virtual Coffee Hour
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
After worship we invite you to switch over to Zoom for a time to connect “face to face.” The link to Virtual Coffee Hour is listed below, but we will also share it in the comments on the Facebook Live feed during worship. Click this link to join us: https://zoom.us/j/249116376 

Instructions for Facebook Live

>From a computer:

• Open a web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Windows Explorer, etc.)
• Make sure your computer’s sound is on and turned up
• Go to https://uucb.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5a84a51e329988f782183e97b&id=a447f655da&e=3b850e1c0d
• Click on the “Videos” tab on the left side of the screen
• Once the worship service has started, the video will begin on the screen. If it doesn’t, try refreshing the page (click a symbol that looks like this: ⟳), and it should come up.
• If you don’t have a FB account, you can follow the same steps. When asked to sign in, don’t. The live feed should still come up without signing in to an account.

>From a smartphone

• Make sure your phone’s volume is turned up.
• Open the Facebook app.
• Using the search tool (top of the screen), put in “UU Berkeley”, our church page should be the top choice, and click on it.
• Scroll left through the light grey options (below the “Learn More” blue button) and click on “Videos.”
• At the time of the worship service a notice should pop up that we are showing a FB Live video, which you can then watch.

It’s hard to predict how something so unpredictable may impact our church’s budget, but we have a lot of faith in your commitment and generosity. You know as well as we do that our Good Neighbor organizations are depending on our support now more than ever for the incredible work they do in our community, and that the church continues to serve our mission even when we cannot gather in our building.

In times of anxiety it can be tempting to pull back, but we hope you will join us in continuing your generosity practice. You may send a payment to PayPal (give@uucb.org.)

We strongly encourage you to please reach out to us if you need a pastoral call. We are all in this together, we have a tremendously caring congregation to lean on, and we have many ways to give and receive support even though we cannot gather in-person. May our prayer be for comfort through the storm, for love and kindness to guide our actions, and for the well-being of our friends and neighbors.

May love and compassion be our guides as we move through the days ahead, together in spirit and purpose.

In faith and affection,

Christian and Kristin
Senior Co-Ministers

Announcement March 14, 2020

Dear UUCB friends,

Today ends what has been one the most unusual and unnerving weeks in living memory for many of us. A week ago the prospect of cancelling events at church was still controversial, but now even the NBA, NFL, and Disneyland have shut things down to slow the spread of this virus. Parents are grappling with what to do with their kids while schools are closed for several weeks. People who have been advised not to leave their homes more than necessary are looking for ways to stay healthy and keep busy. Hourly wage earners are anxious about how the slow down in business will impact their paychecks. Many households are navigating more than one of these concerns.

Over the next several days a team of caring UUCBers will be making phone calls to try and check in with every member household in the congregation. We are so grateful to everyone making these calls, and even if you aren’t one of the “official” callers we encourage you to pick up the phone and check in on the people you know at church, from your book clubs, your neighbors down the street, and anyone you know of who might be having a hard time right now. This is the time those of us who are not higher risk can offer to make grocery and pharmacy runs for those who are. This is the time to tuck a sudoku or crossword puzzle booklet in your neighbor’s mailbox. This is the time to schedule video chats with the grand kids so you can read to them while their parents put their feet up. This is a time when our whole community needs all of us to act with love and care, to act in safe ways to stay connected.

We are gearing up for another way to connect tomorrow morning. We hope you’ll give our online worship a try at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow (Sunday). We’ve been working with Acting Director of Family Ministry, Catherine Boyle, and Music Director, Bryan Baker on the service and are looking forward to being together with you then. Here, again, are the instructions for tuning into Facebook Live:

From a computer

• Open a web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Windows Explorer, etc.)
• Make sure your computer’s sound is on and turned up
• Go to https://www.facebook.com/uuberkeley/
• Click on the “Videos” tab on the left side of the screen
• Once the worship service has started, the video will begin on the screen. If it doesn’t, try refreshing the page (click a symbol that looks like this: ⟳), and it should come up.
• If you don’t have a FB account, you can follow the same steps. When asked to sign in, don’t. The live feed should still come up without signing in to an account.

From a smartphone

• Make sure your phone’s volume is turned up.
• Open the Facebook app.
• Using the search tool (top of the screen), put in “UU Berkeley”, our church page should be the top choice, and click on it.
• Scroll left through the light grey options (below the “Learn More” blue button) and click on “Videos.”
• At the time of the worship service a notice should pop up that we are showing a FB Live video, which you can then watch.

And if you are not in the higher risk category, we encourage you to come to the Social Hall tomorrow any time between Noon and 2:00p.m. to pack Connection Kits for our elders and Spirit Kits for our children.

We also wanted to address a concern that several of you have raised in the last few days regarding how this pandemic may impact the church’s income. This is a realistic concern, and yet right now we think it’s most important to focus on those among us who are struggling with how this is impacting their well-being and livelihoods. While it’s hard to predict how something so unpredictable may impact our church’s budget, we have a lot of faith in the commitment and generosity of all of you. You know as well as we do that our Good Neighbor organizations are depending on our support now more than ever for the incredible work they do in our community, and that the church continues to serve our mission even when we cannot gather in our building.

In times of anxiety it can be tempting to pull back, but we hope you will join us in continuing your generosity practice. Whether you send a payment to PayPal (give@uucb.org) or mail in a check or some cash to the church office, we hope you will continue to make offerings each week. We also encourage you to take a look at the latest Stewardship Videoand hear about why Michael Armstrong loves and gives to UUCB.

We hope to “see” you tomorrow for worship on Facebook Live, and we hope you will let us know if you need a pastoral call. Don’t forget to wash your hands, turn off the news sometimes, go outside for a walk (keeping a distance of 6 feet between you and anyone else), and reach out by phone, text, or email to your neighbors. May love and compassion be our guides as we move through the days ahead, together in spirit and purpose.

In faith and affection,

Christian and Kristin
Senior Co-Ministers

Announcement March 12, 2020

Dear UUCB,

We continue to monitor the recommendations made by both the CDC and local health departments and have made some important decisions to protect everyone’s health that will significantly impact congregational life.

Event Cancellations

• The service in memory of Gwendolyn White will take place as planned this Saturday, March 14 at 1:00 p.m. in the Sanctuary. We urge anyone who falls into the higher risk category (60+ or any age with underlying health concerns) and who is concerned for their health to stay home.
• In-person worship and all Sunday morning events are cancelled this Sunday, March 15 and until the Contra Costa County Health Department lifts its recommended ban on gatherings of more than 50 people.
• Please be in touch with the leader of any group you are part of at church to determine whether your group will be meeting next week. We encourage all groups with several members at higher risk to cancel their gatherings or move to meeting online using UUCB’s Zoom video conference account. For more information about how to set up a meeting on Zoom, please email Rev. Christian at RevChristian@uucb.org.

Online worship Friday and Sunday
In lieu of in-person worship, we will be mailing worship resource packets out to members of our congregation who have little or no access to the internet. We will also offer the following services via Facebook Live (instructions for accessing Facebook Live appear at the end of this e-blast):

• Online Vespers service this Friday, March 13 at 7:00 p.m.– this is a great chance to virtually connect with our community, center yourself after a wacky week, and give Facebook Live a try before Sunday morning.
• Sunday Morning Worship on March 15 at 11:00 a.m.– we will offer an abridged version of our usual Sunday morning worship, complete with Time for All Ages, music, prayer, and reflections. Stay in your jammies, brew up a cup of tea or coffee, and tune in for a time to be together, even if we can’t gather all in the same physical space.

Ways you can help
We have heard from many of you who are eager to help provide support and comfort to those who may be feeling isolated during this time of social distancing. Thank you! Here are a few ways we could use your help keeping everyone connected:

• Phone calls– Members of the Board and other lay leaders will be making phone calls to check in on everyone in the congregation. Please email Rev. Kristin at RevKristin@uucb.orgif you would like to join in the effort. She will send you a basic “script” of topics to cover and a list of names and phone numbers to call.
• Connection Kits– Many in our congregation may not be capable of or feel comfortable leaving the house much in the coming days and weeks. We invite anyone who is not in the higher risk category to join us in the Social Hall on Sunday any time between Noon and 2:00 p.m. to pack up small kits with basic necessities and expressions of our congregation’s support. All participants will be required to wash their hands when they arrive and we will maintain a distance of a few feet between one another at all times. People in the high risk category or who appear to be under the weather will be sent home immediately. We will have information about how you can help deliver these kits when you arrive on Sunday.
• Spirit Kits for Kids – Many classes and events for kids are being cancelled and it’s possible that schools will cancel their classes in the near future. We invite all families who do not have anyone in their household who is in the higher risk category to join us in the Social Hall on Sunday any time between Noon and 2:00 p.m. to make Spirit Kits with games, activities and ideas for spiritual practice to help children and youth pass the time. All participants will be required to wash their hands when they arrive and we will maintain a distance of a few feet between one another at all times. People in the high risk category or who appear to be under the weather will be sent home immediately. We will have information about how you can help deliver these kits when you arrive on Sunday.
• Continue making offerings– If we let it, fear and anxiety can lead us to make different decisions than we usually would. So, we encourage everyone to keep up your practice of generosity during this pandemic. The church will continue to serve out our mission even when people cannot gather in our building and our Good Neighbor organizations will still depend on our offerings to fund the good work they do in our community. To pay with PayPal send your offering to give@uucb.org. Or, you can mail in cash or a check to the church office. In all cases, please be sure to indicate it is for the weekly offering in a note.

It’s tough for us as an organization whose purpose is to “create loving community” to cancel in-person gatherings. The support and connection we give and receive as part of this community is important, and though we are working on ways to help keep people connected through the mail and online, I know it doesn’t replace being together in person. And yet, keeping physical distance right now is the kindest, most loving thing we can do for one another, and especially for those among us whose bodies are more medically vulnerable.

We are all in this together, we have a tremendously caring congregation to lean on, and we have many ways to give and receive support even though we cannot always gather in-person. May our prayer be for comfort through the storm, for love and kindness to guide our actions, and for the well-being of our friends and neighbors.

In faith and affection,

Kristin and Christian
Senior Co-Ministers

Here are instructions on how to access worship via Facebook Live:

From a computer

• Open a web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Windows Explorer, etc.)
• Make sure your computer’s sound is on and turned up
• Go to https://www.facebook.com/uuberkeley/
• Click on the “Videos” tab on the left side of the screen
• Once the worship service has started, the video will begin on the screen. If it doesn’t, try refreshing the page (click a symbol that looks like this: ⟳), and it should come up.
• If you don’t have a FB account, you can follow the same steps. When asked to sign in, don’t. The live feed should still come up without signing in to an account.

From a smartphone

• Make sure your phone’s volume is turned up.
• Open the Facebook app.
• Using the search tool (top of the screen), put in “UU Berkeley”, our church page should be the top choice, and click on it.
• Scroll left through the light grey options (below the “Learn More” blue button) and click on “Videos.”
• At the time of the worship service a notice should pop up that we are showing a FB Live video, which you can then watch.

Announcement March 10, 2020

Dear friends,

We have been monitoring the spread of COVID-19 (also known as the novel coronavirus) as well as recommendations by the CDC and local health departments about what we can do to keep ourselves and one another healthy. We’d hoped that by encouraging common sense illness prevention methods we would be able to avoid significant impacts on worship and programming. However, the growing number of confirmed cases in our region as well as new public health recommendations mean we must take greater precautions:

Continuing illness prevention

• While this virus does not pose a serious threat to some, it has been deadly for older people and those of any age with underlying health conditions. Even if someone is symptom-free they can be a carrier for the virus, which is why the CDC has recommended that people over 60 and people and with compromised health stay home as much as possible.
• The most effective way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and any similar virus is by washing your hands thoroughly, with lots of soap, for at least 20 seconds. Washing your hands every time you return home, before you eat, before going to sleep, and after sneezing or coughing can help prevent the spread of most illnesses.
• If you are not feeling well, whether you think it could be related to COVID-19 or not, please stay home.
• Should you or someone in your household show symptoms that are consistent with COVID-19 please contact your doctor immediately. If you test positive for COVID-19, or if your doctor encourages you to self-quarantine, please notify the Co-Ministers as soon as possible by calling 510-592-8738.

Worship and other gatherings

• Depending on a number of factors, we may need to cancel in-person worship and other gatherings for a period of time. We will let the congregation know by Friday, March 13^th whether the service on Sunday, March 15 will continue as planned.
• Whether we cancel in-person worship or not, we will offer worship online via Facebook Live each Sunday for the foreseeable future. Just tune in to the UUCB Facebook page at 11am on Sunday morning. Please note that worship may be different from the descriptions on the website and in the Beacon for the near future.
• While we will take necessary precautions to protect everyone’s health, the memorial service for Gwendolyn White this Saturday, March 14 at 1:00 p.m. will continue as planned.
• In light of the CDC’s recommendations we are reaching out to the leaders of all church groups to discuss modifying or cancelling their gatherings. For example, our Music Director, Dr. Bryan Baker, has already cancelled choir rehearsals and the choir will not be singing on Sunday mornings for the time being.
• Our kitchen team is suspending Sunday’s snacks and light lunches until further notice. Other groups that usually share food should reconsider what to do during this outbreak.

We know that opinions about how to navigate public life during this pandemic span the gamut, but as Michael Levitt, former Secretary of Health and Human Services said in 2007, “Everything we do before a pandemic will seem alarmist. Everything we do after a pandemic will seem inadequate.” Our chief concern in all of this is protecting everyone’s health, and especially those most vulnerable to this virus.

We encourage everyone to check in by phone or text with your neighbors and to reach out to friends in the congregation about their wellbeing. While this is a time for extra precaution, it is also a time to draw together in safe ways and to care for one another.

In faith,

Rev. Kristin and Rev. Christian
Senior Co-Ministers