Econnection: July 25, 2024

EConnection

Jul 25

Written By Renee Moreno

Econnection - July 25, 2024

Featured Events

Austin Pride Parade

Sign Making: August 4 | 12 pm

Float Building: August 5 - 9

Parade Marching: August 10 | 7 - 10 pm

Join the UUMC Community as we march in the Austin Pride Parade on August 10th to support and celebrate our queer community! Come to one event or come to them all. If you plan to march, we’d love for you to sign up at uumc.org/pride. This way we can reach out with any last-minute updates if we learn more from the organizers! We’re also looking for a truck and driver to help make our float a success. If you have any of these items you’re willing to loan to the float, please contact AV at alicia@uumc.org

UUMC’s Got Talent

August 11 | 12 pm | Fellowship Hall

Join us for our third annual UUMC's Got Talent! Everyone is invited to a potluck lunch to celebrate the many talented humans who make up our congregation.

Sign up to share your talents, anything from dancing to poetry reading, singing, science demonstrations, recitation of your favorite dinosaurs: the more the merrier!

Email AV to sign-up!

August 18

Join us for a Sunday full of getting to know about UUMC! If you’re new to UUMC, want to get connected, or are hoping to make church a priority this year, today is the perfect day to join us! We hope you’ll join us for what is sure to be a fun Sunday for everyone! If you already feel connected, bring that friend you think would love UUMC, it’ll be a great Sunday to introduce us!

Back to School Orientation

8/18 | 9:45 am

Learn More

Sunday School

Meet and Greet

8/18 | 10 am

Learn More

UUMC Ministry Fair

8/18 | 12 pm

Learn More

Worship | Sunday @ 11 am
Online or In-Person

Join us for worship! Pastor Earl is preaching on the miracle story of feeding the multitude in the Gospel of John and its enduring message of the world that Jesus wants to make with us here and now. During the worship service, the Tenor Bass Choir will share the special music, “I’m Gonna Sing Til’ the Spirit Moves in My Heart” by Moses Hogan.

“At its essence, a miracle is a message… A miracle is God’s extraordinary message in the midst of the ordinary; it is an exercise not in the supernatural or in the irregular but in communication.”

– Peter J. Gomes

News

Sanctuary Organ News

UUMC is a church that offers a wide array of sacred music as an integral part of our worship experience, supported and enhanced by a quality pipe organ. We have all experienced the power of Dr. Eun Joo Fierro's playing, whether in a stirring prelude or postlude that shakes the sanctuary, or her masterful accompaniment underpinning the heartfelt songs of our choirs and leading our congregational singing.

But you may not realize that our instrument is 54 years old, and its components are past their "shelf life" and are failing. An organ is a system of interlocking components, from keyboard to electrical control system to wind chests to pipes. Our organ consists of 45 ranks, 2,465 pipes arranged in four divisions: Great, Swell, Choir and Pedal. Every component of our instrument is failing; only Dr. Fierro's skills have disguised the organ's problems.

To address these issues, a dedicated group of UUMC members and staff have formed an Organ Task Force, which has spent the past 18 months assessing and researching the condition and maintenance requirements of our organ. They have brought their findings to our Church Council, which has approved their request to begin discussions with interested congregants and others to assess support for a capital campaign to fund an organ rebuilding project. Now the Organ Task Force is ready to add more participants, and to begin conversations to educate the congregation and discern our wishes for the future of our organ. A rebuilt or refurbished organ would ensure that UUMC can continue offering healing and spiritual renewal through sacred music for the next 50 years.

We'll keep you updated on this important process!

Open Door Library Needs

Do you have books or magazines to share with the unhoused neighbors who visit our Open Door and Fig Leaf ministries on Saturday mornings? Please consider donating them! Our guests enjoy popular fiction and nonfiction, general-interest magazines, and religious publications. Westerns, mysteries, and "lawyer dramas" are especially welcome. Please refrain from offering anything you wouldn't consider reading yourself. Boxes of books and magazines may be left in the first-floor elevator lobby, near the bins for clothing donations. Thank you!

Bishop Update

Our Conference to Receive a New Bishop

Bishop Robert Schnase of the Río Texas Conference is making the decision to retire. In a recent letter to clergy and lay delegates, Bishop Schnase writes,

"I have a deep commitment to the continued sustainability and fruitfulness of the United Methodist Church and feel that my decision is best for our collective mission and the communities we serve. This places us in a better position to navigate this period of contraction and to emerge stronger and better equipped to serve our current realities. I make this decision for the sake of the new church that is emerging."

This means our episcopal area will be receiving a new bishop. This week’s Jurisdictional Conference Meeting assigned Cynthia Fierro Harvey as Bishop of the Rio Texas Annual Conference. Her term with Rio Texas begins Sunday, September 1, 2024.

Learn More about Bishop Schnase’s Retirement