**June’s Theme: Flourishing Together**

**Worship Services Sundays thru June 21st at 10 a.m. EST:**
June 7th: **Many Hands, One Living Faith: Celebrating Ministries Sunday**
June 14th: **The Holy Work We Do Together** with Rev. Lori & Hayley
June 21st: **Flower Communion & Father’s Day**
**Summer Worship Services Begin on June 28th when we gather from 8:30 - 9:00 a.m EST. in the Parish Hall.**
If you can’t join us in person, please tune in via our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@uucsb

Hello wonderful people,

June’s theme is Flourishing Together! And we certainly are. It has been a year of growth, joy, some pain, stretching and love! We have tried things that have stuck and some that haven’t. We have taken risks in service of growing a more loving and hopeful community internally and for the world. I am so proud of you and to be a part of this community that holds one another through it all! Not perfectly, but in the spirit of love at our center! And there is yet more truth and light to break free for our continued flourishing! We just had several members join! With growing membership there are needs to grow programs to support ourselves and it is all in the works. We will end our “normal” church year with some traditions. First a Sunday led by the ministries of our church. It should give you a glimpse of the wonderful work folks do in service to the community and an opportunity to hear why they love it and what they dream of. As you learn more, we hope you will feel the call to deepen your relationship with us.

We will also have our annual meeting. While these can seem bureaucratic and boring (and I probably should have kept that to my inside voice), they are a super important part of our polity and our relationship together. They tell our story of who we have been and who we are becoming. They also invite your voice into this important narrative. Despite my comment, annual meetings are a profound spiritual experience in the UU tradition. I invite you to think of that and attend in that very spirit. Offering gratitude for the love, and sweat and tears that have been offered in service, and commitment to be part of continuing the work of love for the community and the world. That is what makes us flourish. We end our month with flower communion! Lay led Sundays begin on June 28 from 8:30-9:00, so please sign up.

I believe the entire creation is conceived and materialized in interdependence. The world often tells us that flourishing is something we do alone,that success belongs to the strongest, the fastest, the brightest.

But nature teaches another truth.Forests thrive because roots intertwine beneath the soil. Rivers grow mighty because many small streams flow together.Life flourishes through connection. So it is with us.

We flourish when we care for one another, when we make room for joy and struggle, when we share burdens and celebrate hope. None of us blossoms alone. As we head into summer, let’s keep that in the front of our mind and reach out to one another. Meet up for coffee or an ice cream cone. Take a walk with a new friend or a long time one. May we remember and continue to nurture communities where all can grow, rooted in compassion,reaching together toward the light.

With Peace and Many Blessings.

Rev. Lori

(She/Her/Hers)

Ellie in a red sweater with a salmon colored shawl sits beaming at the piano.

“Singing tends to wounds that people cannot see, that words cannot touch and that medicine cannot heal.”

Author unknown

Flourishing Together! That’s what we do in choir. We have many beautiful individual voices in our choir and throughout our congregation, and it is always a gift to hear them sing. But when we bring our voices together, something new is created. Someone recently suggested to me that our choir has become an “ensemble.” Many of us have been singing together for a long time, and along the way we’ve learned to truly listen to one another and to hear one another as we sing. That spirit of collaboration allows the music to flourish, just as it does in the many ministries and committees throughout our church.

Rehearsals: Pick Up Choir typically rehearses on the 2 nd and 4 th Sundays of each month followed by singing in church on that day. We gather in the Parish Hall at 8:45 to start. Want to help with set-up? Arrive at 8:30. *= Not a 2 nd or 4 th Sunday. June is one of those atypical months as I will be out of town.

June 21* (last service of the year)
September 13, 27 (an earlier rehearsal may be held to sing something special for our homecoming service in September)

Participation: ‘Pick up Choir’ means that you do not need to commit to every Sunday that we sing but if I can know in advance that you’ll be there it helps me plan for appropriate music.

Special Music: Do you like to sing solo or play an instrument? Special music is always a welcome addition to a service.

All are welcome who love to sing or who want to be involved with our Music Ministry!‍ ‍

Email Ellie for more information

Special Music for June

June 7th: Rev. Myra Robinson

Rev. Myra, long time member of UUCSB is a writer, artist, songwriter and musician. She says ‘I experience creativity as a deep spiritual practice that opens a path to (and from) Source. I strive to promote peace within all beings, and the world, through awareness of our inter-connectedness on a quantum, vibration level; so, I employ a vibrational modality in the form of ‘sound-baths’ with Crystal Singing Bowls and other instruments for health & healing. With my ministry of music, mindfulness, & motivation, it is my calling as well as my joy to offer special music to our congregation.”

June 14th: Thomas Clukey

Thomas Charles Clukey is a Maine-based singer-songwriter with roots in small-town life and a love for honest music. Raised in St. Albans and now living in Saco, Thomas writes songs about real people, real places, and the moments that shape us. His blend of Country, Roots, and Americana is simple, sincere, and built on stories from home. Photo credit to Melissa Warren.

June 21st: UUCSB Pick-Up Choir

The UUCSB Pick Up Choir – Our choir, directed by Ellie Rolnick, will offer special music and often supports the congregational singing. Make a joyful noise with us!

Beloved Congregation,

June– the end of our fiscal year, church year and the first year of the "new Board". It has been a momentous year of growth and changes. In the summer we started on our plan to improve the accessibility of our building by tearing up the trip hazard carpet and installing the welcoming awning. We mounted the rainbow banner proclaiming our beliefs. Ben, Ryun and Morgan, three (3!) new contractors, have helped us grow into our potential. The School Street Coffeehouse has impacted the lives of local artists and music lovers. A guest who camped on our front steps in the summer and again in the winter literally brought the housing crisis home to us and we responded by offering a warming service, collecting needed items and packing kits with necessities for folks living in nearby encampments. Almost 30 people have officially joined the church and many others have been lending their time and energy to help keep this place going. Sunday attendance has grown and the joy of fellowship is palpable whenever we gather.

Not all of our changes have been comfortable. Maybe the biggest challenge had been communication. It has been difficult to integrate new communication ideas without some people feeling that they had been left behind. We often found that we had stepped on somebody's toes by neglecting to post something on a bulletin board and the online calendar, or to check the calendar before booking a space. The website works great for some people as a resource for information and communication tools, but much less so for others. Sometimes we missed deadlines for getting info to the Friday Flyer or Order of Service or forgot to do it at all. And we just couldn't seem to get the directory updated and accessible in the way we had envisioned. I'm sure feeling were hurt and I know people experienced confusion and frustration.

Throughout this year, most of the time, we offered each other grace. Change can be hard. Communication is hard. We will keep trying. Please help us keep the communication channels open!

The Board of Trustees has been a strong team this year. We practiced speaking hard truths with love and listening well. We shared responsibilities.I'm very grateful for this group and proud our work!

Love,

Randa Thomas, Board President

Annual Meeting: June 14th 11:15- 1-ish

The Annual Meeting is a crucial element of our church's democratic process. It is at this time that members come together to discuss and vote on key actions of church life. This year's agenda with include:

Entering the minutes of last year's annual meeting and committee reports into the record.
Vote on the budget for the coming fiscal year.
Vote on nominees to next year's Board of Trustees.
Vote on members of next year's nominating committee.
Acknowledge and celebrate special accomplishments.

The official meeting agenda and copies of the reports and the budget will be available at the church and will be sent to all via email in early June. If you have not yet prepared a report from your committee you may do so by using this form or by sending your report to Brian asap. If you have any questions, contact any member of the BoT.

All are welcome at this Annual Meeting. If you have been an official member of the church for at least 30 days, you are eligible to vote and to speak.

Budget Update

Board meetings are the 1st Wednesday of the month. You are welcome. As always, feel free to contact any Board member if you have questions or suggestions.

Learn more about your Board of Trustees

From the Caring Connection Committee

Our last meeting for this fiscal year will be June 14th. It is with great sadness but also great joy that our long time member, Pat Snyder, will be leaving us to move to Ohio in order to be close to her daughter and family there. She will miss us but we will sorely miss her! Pat is responsible for the food pantry. She will happily show one or two people how she has done this. Pat, we wish you well on your new adventure!

We have been busy sending well wishes to our community. Edite continues to be housebound and awaiting definitive news about her condition. Although she’s unable to see anyone hearing from us is always welcome !

Summer is (finally!) approaching, maybe even here! We wish you all a summer of adventure, relaxation for some and stay healthy and safe. Please know that our committee continues to be available throughout the summer. Don’t hesitate to reach out to any of us.

Pat, Rosemary, Paula, Anna, Birdie and Marilyn

Learn more about Caring Connection

Invitations & Requests from Fellow Congregants

Less Lawn, More Life Challenge:

An Invitation from Sonja G.

I was inspired to join this challenge and hope that you might consider trying it as well! We have a 3/4 of an acre and are fortunate to have a stream running through our mostly wild yard. BUT, even if you only have a patio you can become an important part of the pollinator pathway that will connect your planter with others in you neighborhood and beyond!

From the Website: Less Lawn More Life Challenge

This spring, join thousands across America restoring nature in their own backyards. The Less Lawn More Life Challenge is fun, easy, and free!

This exciting program guides participants through a step-by-step journey to turn their outdoor space into a thriving habitat, one small action at a time.

Over the course of 12 weeks, participants will be guided through a series of fun, expert-led weekly challenges that show up in their inbox. It all kicks off with the Wildr Score, a free digital assessment on the ecological health of their yards. They’ll also be invited to go deeper with industry leaders forging this new wave of conservation via a series of live webinars and Q&As.

Whether you’re new to habitat gardening or a long time rewilder, there is something new to learn for everyone. Already took the challenge last year? Try it again! There are brand new experts, resources, and tools, including the new Wildr App!

Watching birds, butterflies, and hummingbirds return to your yard isn't just joyful for you, it's a gift to your kids, your community, and the living ecosystem we all depend on.

So dig in, sign up, and let nature surprise you! Join the Less Lawn More Life Challenge.

The LESS LAWN, MORE LIFE challenge kicked off last month with keynote speaker Robin Wall Kimmerer, botanist & author of Braiding Sweetgrass, The Service Berry, Gathering Moss and most recently a children's book, Bud Finds Her Gift. I hope you will watch the video with Robin by joining at https://www.lesslawnmorelife.com/ to learn how even YOU can make a difference! The following paragraphs are Robin's words.... Join me and thousands of others and become inspired!

~ Sonja G.

Dear Planters,
Happy Planting Time!

I was walking up the hill to my pond the other day and stopped for a breather (I do that a lot more now!), giving me a moment to admire the brand-new blossoms of wild strawberries. I had a heavy bucket in each hand—one of native trees to be planted and one of tools. I’m planting climate adapted species for the future. It got me thinking of the “two buckets” many of us are carrying—a bucket of heartbreak in one hand and a bucket of joy in the other.

My bucket of anger holds the decision to build a mine near the Boundary Waters, the dismissal of the National Science Board, threats to the Endangered Species Act, and the planned removal of bison from Federal Land… and that’s only the beginning.

My other bucket is so full it sloshes against my leg. It is filled with the songs of returning birds, of buds and spring lambs prancing over a brilliant green pasture next door. It is overflowing with the energies of folks turning out for tree plantings coast to coast. At our local land trust reforestation day, record numbers came to replant a native forest. My bucket is brimming from last week’s visit to a limestone glade lovingly restored to health by Kansas City Wildlands, from a microforest planted in a neighboring town, and lawns becoming meadows from Michigan to Oregon. We are not alone, friends. Together we resist destruction with regeneration, filling that bucket with joy and justice.

This is what resistance and reciprocity feels like, a bucket in both hands. I’m grateful for the resisters challenging harmful policies, we will join you in the ruckus. I’m grateful for the buckets of trees, activism with seeds and shovels. Don’t underestimate the power of the garden-gloved raised middle finger!

A Special Request From Pat S.

Hi All!

As most of you know. I am relocating to Ohio, probably in July. I’m hoping to find some folks take on a couple of well loved services at church.

The Lil Food Pantry is a pillar in our community at our church that welcomes people to “Take What You Need, Share What You Can”. It is utilized daily! I have been taking care of it for several years and find it a very rewarding and fun way to give back to our community. We are looking for someone or a committee to take over this well used service.

It involves going to the Saco Food Pantry on Fridays at 10:20 to pick up food that they do not want to keep over the weekend. Usually, fresh fruit and vegetables, chips, snacks and baked goods. Then you would fill our little pantry. I usually get enough to last the week. I refill on Friday, Sunday and one other day through the week. If you can’t get to it 3 times, Friday and Sunday will suffice.

If you can take over this project, I’ll gladly pick you up on a Friday between now and end of June so you can see how fun it is!

Another project is the Puzzle and Book shelf at the church.It is a puzzle and book exchange that is used regularly by our members. It only needs some straightening now and then and a new supply of puzzles and books every so often. Every other month or so, I go to the local “Puzzle Shack” and trade out puzzles. I usually take about 20 puzzles and trade them for 20 different ones.

The books have a pretty good turnover on their own. Slipping a reminder in “The Messenger” that they are there for anyone’s enjoyment and encouraging folks to bring books from home is all that’s needed.

Please contact me if you can help with these fun jobs! Thanks, Pat. S.

Welcome to Our New UUCSB Members

Who You Are Enriches Us All

by Monica Jacobson-Tennessen

Welcome! What you bring—who you are—enriches us all.

We say “Welcome” to your joy, your hope, your pride.
We say “Welcome” to your grief, your fear, your anger.
And the parts of you that are not yet ready to be seen and heard—
Welcome to them as well.

For we are people of faith:
Faith in our expansive welcome
Faith in our ability to grow
Faith in the precious gift of our truths
Faith in the promise of trying, learning, changing
Faith in our capacity to know ourselves and each other ever deeply.

Welcome to you who are gay, straight, bi, pan, lesbian, queer, questioning, unable to be contained in any word.
Welcome to you who are trans, cis, genderqueer, nonbinary, intersex, agender, beyond words.
Welcome to you who are human.
Welcome to you who love and are loved.
Welcome to you who are blessed (which is all of you).

May this time together be a blessing.

Meet a Few of UUCSB’s Newest Members

Thomas Charles Clukey

I grew up in St. Albans and now live here in Saco with my partner Melissa (Scout) Warren and Juniper. I’m a local songwriter who finds peace in the Maine outdoors and all it has to offer. I also serve on the School Street Coffeehouse committee, helping out with the technical side of things. I value the simple things in life and I’m happy to be a part of the UUCSB community!

Cricket Conant & Doug Kolmar

Doug moved to Saco from Long Island, NY in 2002 with his wife, Kristin, and their sons, Colin and Pip. Music, family, and community have long been at the heart of his life. Doug is a songwriter and semi-professional musician who now works with MaineHealth. Kristin was deeply loved for her warmth, kindness, and compassion, which she shared generously with family, friends, and the children she worked with in the Saco Schools before her passing in 2018.
Cricket’s connection to Unitarian Universalism began in 2004 at West Wind Unitarian Universalist Church in Norman, Oklahoma, where she found a spiritual home rooted in compassion, acceptance, and social justice. When she first walked through the doors of UUCSB in early 2025, she felt that same sense of warmth and belonging again.
Cricket and Doug met in 2023 at the Dar Williams Songwriting Retreat in Connecticut. What began as a friendship through music and shared connection gradually grew into love across the miles and eventually brought Cricket home to Maine.

James Gaffney

James Gaffney first set foot in our church the beginning of November 2025. Originally from the Cleveland area, he first moved to Maine in 1997. After a handful of years back in Ohio in the 2010s, he returned to Maine in late 2018. James has spent more than 30 years working in higher education - with more than half of that time at the University of New England - supporting students’ academic, career, and leadership development. He is a strong supporter of the performing arts, especially live theater. Having grown up and being very active in the Catholic church (including Most Holy Trinity here in town), then some time in an independent church in Cincinnati, James admits he walked away from organized religion a few times. He has appreciated the welcoming community here and the focus on love of one another, caring for others, and personal growth (as opposed to rigid doctrine and theology).

Matt Murah

Matt Murah grew up in NH. While growing up, he spent a lot of time outdoors in the woods, near a mountain and lake. He felt safe. He liked swimming, hiking and also enjoyed drawing.
Matt moved to Biddeford Maine in September 2025. Someone who lives in the same house mentioned the UU Church so he looked into it. He likes that our church is non- denominational, all inclusive, and has a strong sense of community. The church beliefs align with his own, which include compassion and love for one another!

K Mae Shares

I have craved community since I landed in Saco two years ago. It took me this long to recognize this UU family as mine.
Grateful for the warm welcome and inspiration during and beyond Sunday service, I see a way to be more effective, to do things that make me proud. I am still getting up to speed. As my son says to me, we are stronger together.

Summer Service Schedule

June 28th to August 30th
8:30 – 9:00 AM
In Parish Hall
Sept 7th – No service – Labor Day Weekend
Sept 14th Regular Service Resumes at 10:00 AM

June @ UUCSB

Celebrate Pride Month with the School Street Coffeehouse!

Support the Church and find your next treasure!

June 9th: Kit Making for the Unhoused from 6:30 - 8 PM

Scroll through to see other upcoming UUCSB meetings and events. Click on an event to learn more about it. For the calendar view, click here.

Community Events

June Outreach

Share the Plate: June 2026

Each month, UUCSB chooses an organization to split weekly donations made by congregants during the course of Sunday services. As many of you attend virtually, we are providing an online venue for these donations.
This month, we ask for donations to be split between UUCSB's general fund and Equality Community Center. From their website:
*The Equality Community Center is a collaborative workplace for LGBTQ+ and allied social justice seeking non-profit organizations.*
*We strive to provide a safer and more inclusive gathering space with social and educational programming for all, while supporting the most marginalized in our communities.*

Donate Now to Support both UUCSB & the Equality Community Center

SURJ Biddeford Saco Social Justice Demonstration

Join others in **ongoing** demonstrations supporting social justice! Every Friday 4-5:30pm at Mechanics Park at corner of Main and Water St. in Biddeford while construction is happening near the Saco Transportation Center.

Other Ways to Support UUCSB’s Bottom Line

Make a Donation online to our General Operating Fund

By Mail: Send donations and pledge payments to: UU Church of Saco & Biddeford, 60 School Street, Saco, ME 04072

Two Ways to Donate to the General Operating Fund Without Spending an Extra Dime!

Are You Thinking About Becoming a Member of UUCSB?

To learn more about our congregation:

Please speak to any member or someone from the Membership Welcoming Committee. Plan to attend a Sharing Your Spiritual Journey orientation.

To learn more about our faith and practice:

Various aspects of Unitarian Universalism are explained in brochures kept in a rack as you enter the sanctuary. You are welcome to take these home. You can also talk with members of our congregation.

Our Church:

We are a voluntary association of those committed to this special religious community. We share common values, but we do not require or expect conformity to any specific religious beliefs. We welcome each person’s spiritual exploration and expression.