<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><font size="4">For its discussion this week, the Today's Issues group will focus on issues in Unitarian Universalist Congregations, including but not limited to ours.  Everyone is welcome, but we do ask participants to do the reading in advance.   </font><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">The readings have circulated on the church mlist and been linked from Confuence, so you may have read them already.  They are linked from this email as well.</font></span></div><span id="gmail-docs-internal-guid-ff258634-7fff-f59a-3145-712761777fee"><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-left:36pt;text-indent:18pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">The Today's Issues group meets at 9:30 on Sunday mornings in person in the parlor of the Religious Education buildings next to the church and on zoom   We will meet this Sunday, <span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">Feb 4</span>, 2024,  <span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">to discuss the following readings.  </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-left:36pt;text-indent:18pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline"><br></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-left:36pt;text-indent:18pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><a href="https://praywithyourfeet.org/2019/01/23/why-we-arent-growing-an-open-letter-to-my-unitarian-congregation/" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline">Why We Aren’t Growing: An Open Letter to my Congregation</span></a><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">, by John Halstead. This is from a member of another congregation, but the issues raised apply to FUUSM as well.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-left:36pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">    </span><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1A4OqcdJffEYjmSQdlda2nWKhyu-cVzrpMN2H8_OoFb4/edit?usp=sharing" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline"> The Culture Wars Dividing America’s Most Liberal Church</span></a><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">, from the Financial Times.<span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">  This is more focused on the UUA, it may not be as important for our discussion. But it is quite readable and informative and has good photographs if you go to the  FT site.  I've also provided a printable Google Docs, text only.  </span></span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-left:36pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">Click on this link to join the discussion on Zoom. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-left:36pt;text-indent:18pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><a href="https://zoom.us/j/92505235702?pwd=RmUyN1FOUjhBVHRYSDBWY2dUZWxFQT09" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline">https://zoom.us/j/92505235702?pwd=RmUyN1FOUjhBVHRYSDBWY2dUZWxFQT09</span></a><span style="font-size:13pt;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">  </spa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