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The Legacy of Thanksgiving
Reverend Dr. Stephen H. Furrer and Director of Religious Education, Claire Moss.
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Why Gratitude?
The road to feeling gratitude and thankful can be rough. Let's explore!
Dale Osborne
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Sermons are available on the website and are updated every Thursday morning, please visit our website at pacificunitarian.org.
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A BIG THANK YOU
On behalf of the Board of Trustees I would like to extend a Thank You and a Job Well Done to the volunteers named below for going above and beyond the call of duty during last week’s Rummage Sale. The Sale was coordinated and efficiently run by Linda Jensen and her band of merry volunteers (and by the end of three days, very tired volunteers!). PUC cannot run without the constant help of the many volunteers who perform a variety of tasks throughout the year. During this time of transition, it is ever more important that volunteers step forward and help the church grow. The Rummage Sale raised nearly $3,000.00.
Linda Jensen Andy Kissner
Lee Ann Hart Joani Thompson
Darcy Carroll Betty Saunders
Pam Harris Valieda Richards
Gary Hart Robin Paterson
Judith Shaffer Vivien Hao
William Koelsch Barara Marriot
Yvonne Godfrey Penny Good
Janet Steinberg Denise Shiozawa
Judi Carter Barbara Paulsen
Linn Jackson
Thank you also to the many PUC members and friends that donated items to the sale. Thanks to Bruce Lewis, Facilities Chair, for coming to the rescue one late afternoon to fix a broken Hall door. As well as Dee Masters for removing some large left over items to the Salvation Army.
Thank you all again, your efforts do not go unnoticed.
Mike Buttitta
President Board of Trustees
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Child Dedication Service
Would you like your child to join the Child Dedication Service planned for a Sunday in January? We already have two families who have signed up and would be happy to have your child join them. Contact Claire Moss at DRE@pacificunitarian.org if you are interested!
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Sunday Hospitality
Volunteers
It takes many hands to
make a Sunday. Special thanks
to all of our volunteers!

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Greeters
Betsy Walters
Ray Waters
Welcome Table
Marlene Barone
Greg Garcia
Top Chef
Andy Kissner
Usher
Greg Garcia
Melissa Tyrrell
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HOLIDAY FAIR TRADE
Sunday, Nov 20th after church, enjoy PUC’s Holiday Fair Trade event. Find the work of artisans and farmers from around the world. Represented will be Ten Thousand Villages, Vida Verde, Tribu (Equador), Samantha (Mexico), Bali Rose silver, Canaan Fair Trade, Seastra, Baobob Collectives, as well as our own UUSC.
Fair Trade is an organized social movement that promotes standards for international labor, environmentalism ,and social policy as related to consumer products.
Our compassionate consumption is a way UUs are part of the "interconnected web of all existence."
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Sunday on the Patio: Your Holiday Purchase Can Support Fair Trade with Palestine |
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Canaan Fair Trade is committed to sustainable farming practices, working directly with rural communities in Palestine to bring their traditional products to the international community. Canaan guarantees a fair price to farmers even when markets are low, and buys all their production, in good years and bad. A fair price or "living wage" allows producers to cover the cost of harvest and tree maintenance and plan for their future: planting crops and providing food, shelter, education, and medical care for their families. Canaan bottles and finishes all products in Palestine, thus spreading these benefits to their fair trade factory workers.
Judy Shaffer
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Consider olive oil and tapenades for your
holiday entertaining and gift giving
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MEDIA EXPERT SOUGHT
Recently found boxes and bags full of pictures of PUC people dating clear back to our very beginnings in 1957 are calling out for someone to put together some video presentations. PUC’s 60th Anniversary is February 17, 2017, and a history through pictures for that celebration would be dandy. Most of the pictures have been sorted by event and/or date, many have the participants identified on the back. This will be an interesting and informative project for someone with the special skills needed to bring these historical low-tech photos into our modern high-tech world. Contact Betty Paieda, her e-mail and phone number are in the PUC Directory.
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Girl Scout Gold Award, “Path of Enlightenment” Is Complete
On October 16th at our Sunday Service, Marina Kissner, who is in YRUU and has attended PUC for 6 years, presented her Girl Scout Gold Award. Marina has been a Girl Scout since the first grade and is a senior at South High School in Torrance. The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award that Girl Scout Ambassadors can earn and consists of a minimum 80-hour project that helps a community.
For Marina’s project, she created a “Path of Enlightenment” along the hiking trail at PUC. Along the trail, she labeled the major religious figures and native plant life. There are two brochure racks, one at each trail starting point (at entrance to parking lot and/or behind meditation garden). A QR code is available to follow the path on your smart phone or you can visit the link online at http://pathofenlightenmentpuc.blogspot.com/. Marina has also created a seven-minute video for those who are not physically able to hike the path so they can enjoy it virtually.
Marina’s goal is to help people learn about different religions and plant life as they walk the trail. She is hopeful that after acquiring the knowledge, people will realize that all religions are very similar and that the earth needs to be taken care of.
Marina is thankful for her YRUU classmates for helping put the numbered markers on the path and for Sylvia Velasquez Lawrence from Pacific Sage Preschool for letting her walk the path with the preschool children to get ideas for the children’s activity. She is also thankful for Bruce Lewis for being her project advisor and the PUC Board for approving and supporting her project.
Marina hopes you will enjoy the path and learn something new!
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DINNERS WITH UUs
Our “Dinners With UUs” program is looking for a volunteer coordinator. These monthly gatherings at members' homes are a long time part of PUC’s programs to bring people together in informal settings. No experience needed to fill this volunteer position, just a willingness to seek out hosts and guests and maintain a schedule for the dinners. And as a wonderful plus, the coordinator will get to know lots of really great PUCers! Interested? Contact Judy Shaffer, her e-mail and phone number are in the PUC Directory.
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Last month Dee and Teri Masters hosted a dinner for 9 at their house in Torrance. The guests included folks who have been PUC members for a long time and some who are relatively new to the church. It was a pleasure for those attending to get to know each other in a friendly and intimate setting. If you are asked to host a Dinner with UUs, do it! It's not difficult, the meal is potluck and the number of guests depends on you. And if you would like to be a guest at one of these dinners, the signup sheet is at the Welcome Table. Get to know one another and have a great time at a Dinner for UUs!
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Playing in the Sage…
“Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.”
-----Leonardo da Vinci
It is in human nature to create. Children do it with energy and abandon. Come and support the “Holiday Fair Trade Faire” on Sunday. Help keep that spirit alive!
Warmly,
Sylvia
Director
Pacific Sage Preschool
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Religious Education
Upcoming Calendar
Sunday 11/20/16 - Intergenerational Service - no RE classes today. Childcare is available for children 5 and under during service.
Sunday 11/27/16 - Children’s Chapel
Sunday 12/4/16 - RE Classes
Saturday 12/10/16 - Holiday Tree Trimming
Sunday 12/11/16 RE Classes
Thursday 12/15/16 7:30pm-9:00pm One Voice
Sunday 12/18/16 Intergenerational Service
Get involved with RE Social Justice during the Holiday Season
Guest at Your Table - collect money for the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC). Our 2rd-5th graders decorated their boxes on 11/6. Other ages will have boxes to take home in the coming weeks. Look for an activity after service if you are interested but don’t have a child in RE.
Giving Tree - donate hats, socks and scarves of any size to Harbor Interfaith Services in December.
Toy Drive - Help us purchase toys for children at Toberman Neighborhood Center in December.
See the bulletin board for updates and information! RE has the left third of the board.
Enroll for Fall RE by clicking on this link
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Because you care!
Are you interested in Social Justice Issues? Whether your interest is in food justice, the environment, Black Lives Matter, children/education issues, are generally interested in making the world a better place, join us for the first meeting of the new Social Justice Team. We are meeting on Dec 7th at 7pm in the PUC library. We are taking a new approach to social justice and if you’d like to be in on the ground floor, this is the meeting to show up to!!
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Be an Usher Coordinator and be a critical part of PUC's Welcoming Team. You don't need much more than a friendly smile. Our Usher Coordinator ensures we have enough ushers to staff each of the four Sundays each month, and trains new ushers that come on board. We currently have an outstanding team and all positions are filled.
You can train a new usher quickly and easily on one Sunday morning and there's an easy to read duties sheet that is used as a reminder of what needs to be done.
Anyone interested please contact Brad Shreve. His phone number and email are in the church directory, or you can simply tap on his shoulder on Sunday mornings.
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Plan to do any shopping this holiday season at Amazon.com? If so, use smile.amazon.com instead.
You get the exact same amazon but Amazon makes a small donation to Pacific Unitarian Church when you shop.
Happy shopping! http://smile.amazon.com/ch/95-2250196
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Did You Know....You can contribute $$$ to PUC when shopping at Ralphs? Go to www.ralphs.com and register choosing Pacific Unitarian Church as your non-profit community organization. Yearly registration started in September, so if you haven't registered/renewed since September, you are not currently participating in Ralphs Community Contribution Program. Scan bar letters are available in the office for those who prefer to register by taking this letter into Ralphs when shopping and syncing up their Ralphs Card. It doesn’t cost you anything. Ralphs gives PUC a percentage of what you spend there.
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Women Reading & Responding Book Club
Third Monday of Each Month
11:00 a.m. PUC Library
We will be taking a break for the month of December. We will be reading Anne Perry's "The Face of a Stranger" for January, a Victorian mystery with psychological, feminist, and political overtones. Meet William Monk, a police investigator who battles amnesia, and Hester, the nurse who practised medicine in the Crimean War and fights an uphill battle to bring the lessons of the battlefield home.
All are welcome to come and join us the third Monday of every month. All you gentleman are welcome as well.
November 21st: The Road to Character by David Brooks
Come and check out a discussion even if you haven’t read or finished the book.
Thanks,
Lisa Sites
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To have your joy or concern appear here, send it to
joysandconcerns@pacificunitarian.org
or call the PUC office. For information on how to do so,
scroll down to the end of The View.
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