The time has come for me to wrap up my affiliation as community minister for the church. Please join me at church on Sunday, May 19, so we can honor and celebrate our 9 years of ministry together — two when I was your intern minister and 7 as the affiliated community ministry — as well as milestones in others’ lives, such as graduations and retirements. May 19 is Milestone Sunday! I look forward to honoring and celebrating our time together. Please watch this video for more from me, and know I won’t be far away, since I will stay in relationship with the church via my leadership of the Texas UU Justice Ministry, my band Parker Woodland‘s music ministry, and my daughter’s role in the Wildflower youth group. It’s just time to make room for the next chapter for Wildflower — and for me to streamline my commitments for the sake of sustainability in my own life.
Thank you so much for these beautiful years of spiritual affiliation! I will have more to say and share on May 19th.
This month our worship services explore the topic of CELEBRATION.
Celebrations are important because they give us opportunities to:
Appreciate ourselves
Appreciate those in our lives and in our community
Take note of how far we’ve come
Make memories
Reflect
Be present
Inspire others
Find community
Mark the passage of time
Join us for our upcoming Sunday worship services held at 11:45 am (Zoom link is available on our website’s home page) and other community gatherings in May.
Sunday, May 5th, 11:45 am, (hybrid): “Joy of Joy.” Wildflower’s mission is growing spiritually together, spreading love, justice, and joy! Join us as we celebrate World Laughter Day with Laughter Yoga and other joy practices. We will also celebrate welcoming our newest members of the congregation. Stay afterwards for our popcorn social in the Community Room. (Speaker: Simone Monique Barnes)
Wednesday, May 8th, 7 pm (on Zoom and Livestream)DRUUM Public Worship Service, “Choosing Joy! Living with Intentionality and Purpose.” Discover how a joyful heart can be your sanctuary, even when spirits are tested. A celebration of resilience, purpose, and the healing power of joy. (Guest Preacher: Rev Ali K.C. Bell, Director of Music: Saunder Choi, Liturgist: Rev. Carol Thomas Cissel.) Wildflower is one of the sponsoring congregations of this public worship of DRUUM (Diverse & Revolutionary UU Multicultural Ministries). For the Zoom link or Livestream, RSVP on DRUUM’s website https://www.druumm.org/events/
Sunday, May 12th, 11:45 am (on Zoom): “Celebrating Transformation on the Path” On this day, we look to Buddhist teachings and practices as a source of inspiration and celebration, as many Buddhists observe Buddha’s Birthday (also known as Vesak or Wesak) this month (Speaker: Sarah Riehl)
Sunday, May 19th, 11:45 am (hybrid): Milestone Sunday! On this day we gather together to celebrate the many milestones of our community, such as graduations, recipients of our scholarship program with Travis ECHS, career milestones, and much more. Want to share a milestone with the congregation? Complete this form. (Speaker: Simone Monique Barnes and others). Stay afterwards for our potluck (and bring your favorite dish, entree, or snack to share)
Sunday, May 26th, 11:45 am (hybrid): We celebrate joy with our guest preacher of the day, Rev. Krista Weber Huang
During our social hour after services on the 1st and 3rd Sundays in the Community Room, look for our new table talk conversation starters prompts, to help spark meaningful conversations on the theme of the day.
And, speaking of celebrating our community, our 2nd offerings this season will focus on deepening our connection and relationships with the youth, educators, and families of our neighborhood and the Travis ECHS community.
We will also have a special offering for DRUUM (Diverse & Revolutionary UU Multicultural Ministries), which we support as a congregation, which aids in their good work, public worship, and much needed good trouble in our world.
Lots to celebrate!
In closing, the vibrations are still resonating from last month’s service celebrating the music and message of Prince, which was so rich with the diverse gifts of the congregation and the community, with LOVE being our master plan (love, not dogma, policies, politics, nor anything else that divides us; only love), and amplified by the many other iterations of love that we uplifted in April, I leave you with these simple, yet wise words of the Purple One:
“Instead of hate, celebrate.”
Prince
In joyful celebration,
~ Simone
Simone Monique Barnes Director of Membership and Spiritual Life Wildflower UU Church, Austin TX
Congratulations on your achievements! From infants to adults, we want to celebrate you! Our Milestone Sunday Service will be held Sunday, May 19th, 2024, at 11:45 am.
Please let us know about important milestones for which we should recognize you or someone else.
We want to celebrate your graduations, moving up ceremonies, retirements, awards, and more. Please submit this form by Sunday, May 12, 2024.
(Note: During this service we will also recognize our three Travis ECHS scholarship recipients!)
Wildflower will be welcoming our newest church members on Sunday, May 5, during the 11:45 am CT worship service!
Are you interested in becoming a member? We’d love to support you in your journey and pathway to membership. Questions? Let us know at membership@wildflowerchurch.org
(For those who complete their new members orientation after May 5th, our next New Member Ceremony will occur in the fall/winter 2024.)
Fatigue, exhaustion, expenses, the “news,” car trouble, isolation, stress—where’s the joy in that! Do we ever get a break? Yes!
Join Simone, as we celebrate World Laughter Day, at Wildflower UU Church, 1314 Oltorf St, Austin TX 78704, on Sunday, May 5, 2pm, with Laughter Yoga, a fun, interactive, accessible session for all bodies that offers tools for finding joy, joy that isn’t reliant on our current circumstances.
Laughter Yoga is a scientifically based body-mind practice that began almost thirty years ago in Mumbai, India, that unites unconditional laughter and deep yogic breathing. Through group laughter exercises, meditation, and deep relaxation, participants will bring more oxygen to their bodies and brains, and connect with other people in a heartfelt way without relying on language, or jokes, or even a sense of humor.
Participants will leave with a few techniques they can begin using immediately to feel energetic, more relaxed, connected to others in a safe and meaningful way, and able to transform frustrations into happy, endorphin-filled meditative experiences through Laughter Yoga.
Wear clothes that you can move in and that don’t restrict your abdomen. NO YOGA MATS NEEDED. Wheel Friendly class. All ages and all abilities welcome.
This Laughter Yoga session is FREE and open to the public, and will be held IN PERSON at Wildflower UU Church 1314 Oltorf St Austin TX 78704
As we continue our April worship theme of love, loving our neighbors is another way of living out our mission and values.
This quarter (April, May, and June 2024) we are focusing our outreach and donations on our closest neighbor, Travis Early College High School. You are invited to learn more about Travis ECHS at this link: Travis Early College High School | Austin ISD
On any given day, as you move along our church campus grounds, you’ll note that our congregation serves as one of the unofficial chaplains of the neighborhood, and our courtyard is often a place of respite and connection for many Travis ECHS youth. Our offerings will support deepening our relationship with the school community.
The 2nd offering team has worked to identify a range of needs to help the students and the teachers have their basic resources for effective learning. These range from school supplies to tablet chargers. Our offering will be used to fund these types of needs.
The objectives of our Second Offerings is to deepen our understanding and work with the chosen nonprofit recipient, and to highlight the good work happening in the community outside of our church walls.
Throughout the quarter we will highlight other ways we can engage with our neighbor Travis Early College High School, including teacher/staff appreciation.
