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For the UU Congregation of Grand Traverse in Traverse City, Michigan, being forced to learn Zoom is a silver lining of the pandemic. Interim minister the Rev. Dr. Cathy Harrington said, “There’s so many folks who can’t come in to worship on Sunday, or who go down south for the winter. We’ve discovered it’s quite a lovely way to stay connected and to reach people in ways we haven’t reached before.” (Traverse City Record Eagle, April 12)
The Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva, Illinois, has partnered with local businesses to reach out to those most vulnerable in their community—including splitting the $400 cost of a homeless shelter meal with the restaurant that prepared the food. (Daily Herald, April 11)
The UU Church of Lawton, Oklahoma, purchased a handwashing station for homeless people and will install it outside the church’s building. The congregation’s president, Joanne Butler, said, “If we can alleviate suffering in any way in just our little corner of the world, then we will. And if the other churches in the area can buy into this and do the same thing, it’s a cheap, inexpensive way to save lives. That’s literally what it’s doing. It’s saving lives.” (KSWO, April 8)
Two Tennessee congregations, Foothills Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Maryville and Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Oak Ridge, held a joint online Easter service this year. The Rev. Laura Bogle, Foothills’ minister, said, “Technology is allowing us to be together in different, creative, and collaborative ways. During this time of so much sorrow in our nation, as well as distance and uncertainty for our communities, we will remember how we can still be woken up by love.” (Daily Times, April 11)
The Rev. Craig Schwalenberg, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Oneonta, New York, imagines the Easter we will celebrate when the worst of COVID-19 is over: “What else but a resurrection would you call it when this is all over and we go back to living, and we all finally hug each other again and look at the sun?” (Daily Star, April 10)