What do Unitarian Universalists have to offer the religious world as well as to secular seekers at Eastertide? Why do we often tiptoe around the sacred saga so as not to offend those who find the Jesus kerygma less than compelling?

Perhaps if we told the story honestly we could do away with religion once and for all.

Come and find out why Easter may be the highest of our holy days.

Joining Rev. Stewart to officiate at the flower communion is the Rev. Bela Botond Jakabhazi, visiting scholar at Starr King School for the Ministry from Nyomat, Transylvania. Also leading worship will be Pastoral Care Minister Rev. Fred Rabidoux, Community Ministers Rev. Alyson Jacks and Rev. Kay Jorgensen, Religious Education Director Betty Skwarek, Ministerial Intern Jeremy Nickel, Worship Associate John McCoy, and Youth Worship Associates Olivia Ong and Dewi Beer.

Music will be provided by our choir, bell choir, and violinist Val Tisdal. If you have been thinking about inviting your friends to worship, this is the Sunday to do so!

If you are able, please bring a flower for the flower communion and drop it into the special vases on the way into the Sanctuary.

from Betty Skwarek,
Acting Director of Religious Education

Families are invited to sit together in the Sanctuary for the Easter Sunday service where all will celebrate the flower communion. Childcare will be available in the nursery/toddler room for children five and younger.

Two egg hunts will roll through the building after the service. The eggs for the children in childcare will be hidden on the preschool playground by the staff with the help of volunteers. The eggs for the elementary age children will be hidden on the big kids' playground by the Junior Youth and adult volunteers. The seekers in the elementary-age hunt will line up in the Religious Education (RE) hallway while the eggs are hidden. Interested non-participants can watch from outside the fence!

If your child will be hunting, please something to collect eggs in. If possible, please also bring a dozen decorated hard-boiled eggs to the RE hallway by the old RE office or, if your child will be in child-care, please take the eggs to the infant/toddler room.

There will be no art, children's choir, or 3rd grade Rite of Passage program this week. So that the King Rooms can be readied for Tenderloin Tessie's feast, the Forum will also be dark.

Join Unitarian Universalists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the San Francisco Vegetarian Society for a delicious lunch and learn more about preparing healthy meals which not only benefit us but other creatures!

On the menu are a green salad, pea soup, baked veggie lasagna, delicious deserts, coffee, tea, and apple juice!

Silvia Kellum, Physicians for Responsible Medicine Advisory Board member, and Elliot M. Katz, DVM, Founder and President of In Defense of Animals, will talk with the group. The video "Dining with Miyoko" will be screened, and participants will be entered in a raffle with exciting prizes!

A donation of $10 on a sliding scale will be accepted. No reservations are needed, but if you want more information contact Dolores.

Congratulations to Shirley Gibson who was elected a trustee of the William and Alice Hinckley Fund Tuesday evening. Shirley succeeds former Moderator Dore Schwab whose health will not let him continue to serve.

Up On Top is a free after school program for children from very low income families in the Tenderloin and neighborhoods around the church. They have just started their spring volunteer enrollment.

How do you want to help?

• Helping with homework
• Tutoring
• Going on field trips
• Creative art projects
• Administration assistance
• Special events
• Summer internship for teens and college students

Rev. Gregory Stewart opened and closed the program which included a broad range of Bay Area peacemakers. State Senator Carole Migden, Matt Gonzalez, Cindy Sheehan, Iraq Vet Joe Wheeler, and Vietnam anti-war icon Daniel Ellsberg were among those who spoke for peace.

The commemoration began the 6 pm newscast on San Francisco's Univision KDTV Channel 14, it was the #2 story on Channel 2's 10 pm news, and was seen on other Bay Area stations.

Following the ceremonies, participants walked to the War Memorial Building on Van Ness. They read the names of the war dead as they marched, and the group lit candles and left flowers at the building.

The Rev. Meg Whitaker-Greene and the Rev. Paul W. Sawyer, were among 41 religious leaders and other peace activists arrested Friday, March 7, in Washington, D.C., in a nonviolent public witness against the Iraq war.

Rev. Whitaker-Green is a Member of this Congregation who has been traveling throughout the country.

UUA President William G. Sinkford has released a pastoral message in print and video, tied to the Easter holiday and the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War. In it he writes, in part:

"It has been five long years of war and occupation in Iraq. Five years. Nearly 4,000 U.S. soldiers dead; many more wounded and maimed. An unknown number of Iraqi dead, some estimate a million; certainly hundreds of thousands. And millions of Iraqis displaced from their homes....We know that the invasion of Iraq and the occupation were based on lies. We know that our nation chose to act unilaterally, disregarding the international community. We know that if there had been no oil beneath those sands, and no oil in the region, this war would never have taken place. And we know that this war has squandered the reputation of this nation; squandered the sympathy and solidarity the rest of the world felt for us after 9/11."

And, Sinkford points out, "perhaps the greatest cost [of the war] has been to the spirit, to the soul of this nation."

Social conservatives are paying signature gathers and using networks of churches to try to qualify a ballot measure for the November, 2008 election that would amend the state constitution to prohibit same sex couples from marrying in California - a radical step to enshrine anti-gay discrimination in the constitution.

The Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry (UULM) Action Network is joining with many civil rights, faith, labor, choice, and community of color organizations around the state in the Equality for All Campaign to make sure that people do not unwittingly sign this anti-gay, discriminatory petition, and to keep it from qualifying for the ballot.

Volunteers are being accepted to help in front of stores in Sacramento, in the office, or on the phone. Training is provided, and you will find a great sense of camaraderie and spirit.

Unitarian Universalists are organizing across the state to help in key cities. To volunteer, for one shift or many, please send your name and best phone number to the Chris Clark at the UULM Action Network at (916) 441-0018 x 201, or by email.

These volunteer shifts are available:

Contact Chris directly, or email Kathleen if you have any questions.

Rev. Gregory Stewart welcomes visitors to Easter Service in a video being readied for the Society's home page. Tweaks to the audio will be completed today (March 20), and the final product will be published before the weekend. The video will also be posted on the Society's YouTube Channel.

Here's the work in progress (you'll need to turn up the volume):

Check the website late today or tomorrow. Then email a link to the completed video to your friends and invite them to Easter at the church!