Min. Krista's Office Hours this week: by appointment (you can also email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to set up another time to talk)

For more information or questions regarding Membership please email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For pastoral care concerns please contact our Caring Team at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

If you have joys or sorrows, church or community news you would like printed in the Flash, or Sunday announcements, email the SMUUF Admin email account at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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To make a pledge or general donation at any time:

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Adult Religious Exploration

Racial Identity/Justice Conversations

Adult RE will be focused on racial identity. For this program we will have separate groups for white people led by white people, and for people of color led by people of color. This is to help create space for honest, open conversations and learning that may be challenging and painful but are often very different based on our racial identities. If both groups feel ready, there will be opportunities to share our insights all together near the end of the program.

In Rev. Scottie’s words “Many people, especially white people who are accustomed to being in the majority in most groups, including our church, question this and think we should all be talking together to learn from each other. Others see the value of safe spaces, in which all can be freer to be honest without worrying about hurting the feelings of our friends in the group in which we are not. Many people of color are asking that they not be expected to speak as “experts” on their particular culture, race, or ethnicity and to be expected to teach white people about racism. Because of the system of white supremacy and white privilege we have all lived under in this country for hundreds of years, people of color have had to be less than honest most of the time, suppressing their true feelings and opinions for their own emotional and often, physical safety.“

We ask that you respect the requests of people of color in our congregation. Minister Krista will be announcing days she is available for in personal pastoral conversations in the Friday Flash. You can also email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to set up another time to talk.

RE is held every week at 9:30-10:45. The schedule is as follows:

Please contact Marissa Fehler at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you are interested in upcoming RE. 

Coffee and childcare is available during adult RE, and all are welcome to attend. 

This Sunday – Donate-the-Plate to the Indigenous Cultures Institute

Dr. Mario Garza, Board of Elders Chair of the Indigenous Cultures Institute, will be with us Sunday to talk about the Institute and how the donation will be used.

The Institute works to preserve the culture of Native Americans indigenous to Texas and northeastern Mexico (primarily Coahuiltecan bands that were in this area when the Europeans first arrived) and maintain their covenant with sacred sites. They provide ten cultural programs such as the annual Sacred Springs Powwow, Repatriation, and Indigenous Arts Summer Camp, with an all-volunteer Native staff.

Our donation will go to help fund the Indigenous Arts Summer Encounter, a week long ceremonial experience teaching students ages 9 to 13 about the indigenous identity of people mislabeled Hispanic/Latino, using the arts as a powerful vehicle for knowledge.

Please give generously. Make your check out to SMUUF with D-T-P on the memo line.

Every Sunday at various restaurants 

This week: Shai Yo Thai Cuisine & Grill at 700 North LBJ, Suite 109, San Marcos

This restaurant is in the strip shopping center at the corner of Sessom and LBJ across from Texas State University and near Grins.

The Fantastic UU Diners eat together after church at a different local restaurant almost every Sunday. They love to have new folks join them! See Jeannie Lewis or Lee Bricker after worship. They’ll save you a seat!

Annual Congregational Meeting - Sunday, June 2 after service

12:30 p.m. @ UCM Sanctuary
Lunch available with vegan options

We will have our annual congregational meeting. The agenda will be sent soon, which will contain important items up for vote, including board positions for 2019-2020.

While only members who have signed the Membership Book are able to vote, all are welcome to attend.

Annual Gathering on the Craddock Property, including Flower Communion Service - Sunday, June 9

We will have our annual gathering on the SMUUF Craddock Street grounds. The Flower Communion is an annual ritual that celebrates beauty, human uniqueness, diversity, and community. Everyone in the congregation brings a flower. Each person places a flower on the altar or in a shared vase. The congregation and minister bless the flowers, and they're redistributed. Each person brings home a different flower than the one they brought.

We encourage you to stay after service, and bring outdoor toys and games, balls and frisbees, sunblock and bug spray. We'll eat and play – this is a great opportunity to bring family and friends!

Hospitality Teams get it done every Sunday! 

Members of Hospitality Team 3: MUUvers & Shakers are serving in May. Thanks to these folks for making coffee, providing refreshments, greeting, and generally making the church ready for worship and fellowship!

Dear SMUUF Families with Children,

The YUUTH will be leading the service this Sunday, May 19. It is an all ages service, so there will be no RE, just childcare. Our service topic is "Creative Synthesis; Solving problems... together!" We will do a drama game/improv approach and games will illustrate team building and working together to solve problems. Please come be a part of this fun service for all ages.

Our semester is coming to a close with our May theme of "Synthesis". Our final RE for the semester will be held on May 26th. Starting June 2 we will have childcare, but no RE. While there is no RE, we won't disappear. We are planning a great Summer camp in late July. (See below for the dates of "summer camp") You can look forward to RE starting again on Aug. 25th. We will have kick off event for the fall semester. More information on this event will be forthcoming.

Church Gathering
We hope families will attend the church gathering on June 9 at the church property on Craddock Ave. There will be fun activities for the whole family and great opportunities for getting to know your fellow church members a little better.

RE Summer Camp
Announcing our summer camp theme: "Bats, Bugs, Birds and Bees". We are sure to have a wiggly, giggly good time studying these creatures. Be a part of it on July 21, 28, August 4, 11, @ 11-12 p.m. (during service)

O.W.L. (OUR WHOLE LIVES: LIFESPAN SEXUALITY EDUCATION)
We hope to organize an O.W.L. classes for our young people. We have seven adults training as facilitators for grades K-1, 4-6 and 7-9, 10-12 at First Unitarian Church of Dallas on Friday, July 12, 2019 - 5:00 pm CDT to Sunday, July 14, 2019 - 3:00 pm CDT. If anyone else is interested in being a facilitator, deadline for registration is June 15, 2019. Contact Laura Haygood ASAP (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) . There are some scholarships available.

UbarU CAMPS
The UBarU Summer Family camp weekend (May 24-27) will feature Kiya Heartwood from Austin. https://ubaru.org/home/FamilyCamp

Spend time with your family in the beautiful Texas Hill Country! This Memorial Day weekend of camp will offer opportunities to learn, grow, and share as a family, as well as opportunities for parents to enjoy some free time and activities designed just for them. Kiya Heartwood and Rev. Betty Skwarek will lead the musical programming and worship. Other activities will include cookouts, campfires, archery, swimming, games, nature education, and star party (pending conditions). Programming is being planned for kids and adults.

There is an event to be held at UbarU October 4-6 for grades 8-10. I would love for some of our YUUTH to attend this "Coming of Age" retreat. See the flyer:

There is much happening at SMUUF. We look forward to seeing you and your families each Sunday.

Laura Haygood

RE Class Time

Children meet downstairs right after "Time for All Ages". Parents are asked to help children pick up their name tag at the top of the stairs and go into service. Children are welcomed into service in order to help them link with our larger community. They will be sung out after the story and met by teachers to go downstairs.

Room and Teacher Assignments:

Here are some upcoming events to mark in your calendar:

(A calendar is posted downstairs with dates and themes)

SEE YOU SUNDAY!!

Week of Friday, May 10 - Thursday, May 16

Check the SMUUF Calendar for current listings of activities

SMUUF Choir

Sewing Guild

Meets Wednesday afternoons at 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
The Allen Family home in Martindale

The Sewing Guild has made and delivered over 700 quilts to children in need.

Friday "Talk, Then Walk"

Meet at Redbud Roasters, 169 South LBJ Drive @ 10:00 a.m.

Enjoy good company, conversation, refreshments and a healthy walk. We usually walk about 45 minutes around the San Marcos River, Lower Purgatory, Ring Tail, Spring Preserve and other nature trails. Hope to see you there!

For more information, contact Garrie Borden at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Call for Volunteers at Respite Center at the Texas border

One Voice for Justice March - One Voice. One Light. One Love for Justice.

We are uniting our prophetic faith voices for Reproductive Justice, Immigration Justice, and LGBTQ Justice into One Voice for Justice at the Capitol.

Join us at First United Methodist Church at 10:30 a.m. as we gather united in faith. We will make a joyful noise all the way to Capitol South Steps as we march for justice for all Texans. The march will conclude with a rally beginning at 11:30 where we will shout as One Voice For Justice and shine as One Light Overcoming Darkness and share One Love for All.

Come join us for the march and invite your friends. Let’s make our One Voice a mighty and strong voice heard throughout the Capitol!

The Facebook event page is HERE. Please join the event and SHARE.

SMTX Mental Health Coalition Meeting

This is a friendly reminder that our last meeting of the spring semester will be next Wednesday. Please note, the meeting this month will not be at the SMTX Activity Center, but at the Dunbar Center. Subcommittees will present work done to-date so that we can formulate our June report to the City of San Marcos Commission on Children and Youth, and we will discuss the way in which we’d like the Coalition to move forward in the fall.

As you know, May is Mental Health Month and the San Marcos Daily Record wrote about our efforts in an article in Sunday’s paper: https://www.sanmarcosrecord.com/news/mental-health-draws-spotlight-may

Also, Texas Care for Children has good updates on what’s happening with mental health bills in the Texas legislature: https://txchildren.org/posts/2019/5/1/four-things-to-watch-at-the-lege-if-you-support-kids

Grand Opening of New Autism Center in Kyle – Family-friendly event!

Thursday, May 30 @ 5:30-7:00 p.m.

Meet the Newest Autism Super Hero’s at our New State of the Art Center Grand Opening Celebration!

Meet Kyle’s Super Heroes: The Kyle Police & Fire Department!

Tour a real life Fire Truck & Police Squad Car!

Meet the Behavioral Innovations Super Hero Staff, including Board Certified Behavior Analyst, Bobbie Cordell (SMUUF Member and Choir member).

ALL FAMILIES WELCOME, not just those affected by autism. We want everyone to come and celebrate with us.

Super Hero themed games & snacks for the entire family!
Many Door Prize Opportunities!
Costumes (especially Super Hero themed) Encouraged!

For more details, please check out our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/674716366310225/

Seeking Stories for “The Every Day UU: Now and Then.” Submissions due June 30

We are writing to you to invite you to submit stories for our collection, “The Every Day UU: Now and Then.” As part the UU History Renaissance Module, we were required to create a final project that would connect with what we had learned in the course. It became evident to us that although we have numerous stories that document the achievements of some UUs, many voices are missing. In addition, we noted that there are certain famous UUs that attract our attention for the huge efforts they made. But we don’t have a collection of stories about UUs, who in living their faith, make small differences every day. Moving forward we thought it would be great to begin this process of sharing stories about our congregants from the past and present.

What are we looking for?

Each submission should be between 300-500 words submitted as a Word Document. You may submit as many stories as you like. Please include details about the person and when and where the story took place. Please provide a picture of the person if you can.

The deadline for the initial collection of stories will be June 30, 2019. Depending on the interest in this project, additional collections may be requested in the future.

We envision this collection being used in several ways. Church committees may choose to read a story as inspiration at the beginning of a meeting. Religious Educators may find stories that would work for A Time for All Ages. Congregants might read a story each day as a spiritual practice.

Please send all stories, photos and release forms to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

We look forward to receiving your stories. Release form and sample stories here.

Sincerely,

Joanne Dingus Director of Religious Education, Newport News, VA

Twinks Hastings, Children and Youth Ministries Director, Brewster, MA

Gender 101: Understanding Gender Diversity as a Spectrum 

The Transgender Education Network of Texas, TENT, presents “Gender 101: Understanding Gender Diversity as a Spectrum”. TENT Board Member Jamie Zapata will lead this program.

Artists' Reception – SMUUF Members featured

UUA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Spokane, Washington | June 19-23, 2019

General Assembly is an unforgettable experience for the thousands of Unitarian Universalists that attend each June. Attendees leave with a renewed sense of energy, inspiration, and innovative ideas to take back to their congregations and communities. GA is even more enjoyable if experienced with a delegation of congregational peers who can share expenses and meals and provide mutual support during the conference. This year, in addition to Theme-Based Programming, the schedule will feature Role-Based Track Programming, including time for discussion among attendees, sharing inspiring models and stories, and concrete suggestions for how to further the work or "take it home." 

Please contact Marissa Fehler at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you are interested in attending.

UBarU Camp & Retreat Center Upcoming Events

There are some fun events coming up at UBarU Camp & Retreat Center! For more details and to register please go to www.ubaru.org. If you want to rent a cottage for a quiet weekend not during a retreat, email Robyn at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Click each date to view the flyer (if available).

May 17-19 - Work Bee weekend
May 25-28 - Summer Family Camp
June 9-29 - Youth summer camps (dates based on age)
July 28-Aug 3 - Sky & Earth youth science camp
Aug 4-10 - Human Sexuality camp based on OWL values - for rising 8-9th graders

UBarU Camp & Retreat Center is offering a Human Sexuality camp this summer. It is based on the values of Our Whole Lives targeted content for rising 8-9th graders (13-14 year olds) from Aug 4-10, 2019. Thank you for sharing this information with your families. Click here to view the informational flyer.

A week of camp at UBarU is a time to make new friends and reconnect with old friends. We will swim in the beautiful limestone swimming tank, ponder the Milky Way on clear evenings, do some community service, walk the labyrinth, and take field trips to enjoy the gorgeous Texas Hill Country. And of course, we spend some time having fun while we deepen our UU faith.

Joys and Concerns

 - SMUUF Donate the Plate to Centro Cultural

Our Donate-the-Plate collection last Sunday yielded $670 for Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos. We have donated once a year to Centro for several years and have developed a close relationship with them. We are happy to help support their many programs. Thank you SMUUF congregation for your continuing generosity to deserving local organizations.

Jeannie Lewis (SMUUF Social Justice Chair), Karen Muñoz (SMUUF Board Member at Large, Social Justice Team and Centro Board Secretary), Dr. Ricardo Espinoza (Centro Executive Director), Rosalba Merchant (Centro Board Member), Dr. Rosina Valle (Centro Board President), and Gloria Salazar (Centro Program Coordinator).

- Texas UU Justice Ministry (TXUUJM) Conference Call with SMUUF

Jeannie Lewis, SMUUF Social Justice Chair, is on the TXUUJM Advisory Council and participates in a Conference Call each month with TXUUJM Executive Director, Chuck Freeman, and other representative from UU churches all over Texas. Chuck fills us in on current legislative issues and activities and gives us each a chance to share what our church is doing in the area of social justice.

One activity Chuck urged us to share with our congregation is the May 9 March for Reproductive Justice, LGBTQ issues and Immigration with the Texas Freedom Network and Allies. See more details elsewhere in this newsletter and attend if you can.

TXUUJM lobbies the state legislature on issues that align with UU values. Each legislative session member congregations are asked to vote on the top three issues we want to focus on at the state. This year they are reproductive justice, LGBTQ issues, and immigration.

We also discussed House Bill 1035, which gives businesses and organizations the right to refuse to serve LGBTQ clients for religious reasons, and on House Bill 3172, which gives the right to refuse to marry LGBTQ clients. We also discussed Senate Bill 22, which is against Planned Parenthood.

Jeannie shared with the group our Donate-the-Plate last month to PFLAG and WFLAG and our Donate-the-Plate to Centro this month. She also told them about SMUUF's participation in the month-long Hays County Food Bank Spring Harvest Healthy Food Drive Challenge.

Guided by Unitarian Universalist principles, TXUUJM educates and organizes member congregations and partners with sympathetic organizations in order to advocate effectively for public policies that:

Uphold the worth and dignity of every person;
Further justice, equity, and compassion in human relations;
Ensure the use of the democratic process;
Protect religious freedom; and,
Promote respect for the interdependent web of all existence.

SMUUF Social Justice Team Selects Donate-the-Plate Recipients for 2019

The SMUUF Social Justice Executive Team met Sunday morning, December 16, to review the applications for Donate-the-Plate recipients for next year. There were 18 applications for only 10 slots. We usually leave two months open for unexpected situations like Hurricane Harvey, which we donated to and the backpacks for the homeless that we are donating to for December.

We were actually able to select 11 recipients because we combined PFLAG (San Marcos) and WFLAG (Wimberley) to share one Sunday and split the donation 50/50. The recipients selected were:

The recipients are all very grateful. We are busy now trying to schedule them into months that are best for their schedule.

This Donate-the-Plate monthly giving program in SMUUF has created strong alliances with local nonprofits and gained great respect in the community. I frequently hear from community members that they appreciate what we do in the community! -Submitted by Jeannie Lewis, Social Justice Chair

Sermon Podcasts

Our most recent sermons are available on the website under the Past Sermons tab, and as podcasts from iTunes and Stitcher. Click the links to go to the SMUUF channels and subscribe. If you would like to listen to a past service not in the list of podcasts, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Automate Your Pledge

Tired of writing checks for your pledges? There are three ways you can avoid check writing, and never miss a monthly gift.

1. If your bank has bill pay, you can set up an automatic monthly check to SMUUF directly from your bank. It's simple, and it costs you and SMUUF nothing, it should be a free service if offered by your bank.
2. You can authorize a regular withdrawal (known as ACH) directly from your bank to ours.
3. You can authorize a regular charge on a credit card that SMUUF can process.

For the latter two options, use our donation app to set up recurring payments either by credit card or direct deposit. It's painless!

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Legacy Society

Board Meeting Minutes available