The Compass/News & Views, June 4, 2026
- Jun 4
- 10 min read
What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured. —Kurt Vonnegut
“Who you are is beautiful and amazing.” — Laverne Cox
Happy Pride Month! Here we are, my beautiful, amazing friends, approaching the end of another church year. We welcomed 8 new members last week, and that makes me smile and do my “I CAN FEEL THE FUTURE, AND IT’S GOOD” dance. It’s been a great year, and I hope our time together has been spiritually satisfying, informative, inspiring, and joyful.
Speaking of joyful, I have to give a big shout-out to last week’s Puppet Service and the performers, especially Ed Rooney, whose Big Idea this was, and who worked hard to put it all together. This service was like finding a hundred-dollar bill in an old coat. It seems like every day there’s some fresh hell waiting for us, and when something as special and fun as that service comes along, well, I think it took us all to a place we really needed to be: a place of absolute, unabashed silliness and delight. I felt the weight of the world being lifted in that space and time, and tears fell just a little watching the faces of the people in the pews and feeling their spirits rise. The joy stuck to me all day.
It made me think about how rare that can be and how important it is to find multiple ways to bring some joy and surprise into our lives, especially when times are difficult, and it seems like there’s so much negativity. It made me realize, deeeeply, how much I needed that and maybe you did too.
So let’s make a congregational pact to make room this summer for excursions of pure delight, to follow joy wherever it leads, and to look for opportunities to do something you’ve never done before. We are blessed to live in this beautiful area where there are tons of things to do for low or no money. Choose to find happiness where and when you can, and even better if you end up surprised by where and when you find it when you venture out and see what unfolds.
I am having a hard time processing the fact that ten years have passed since I took on the role of minister to this congregation and community I love and have loved for so long. I joked with a friend today that we must be living in a simulation because it feels like I took a few breaths, I processed a tremendous amount of data, and then I landed here, now; somehow smarter, wiser, and with lots of aches in my body from all the experiences. And I can’t get the grin off my face. Because I remember.
I remember joining this church 30 years ago, and I remember all the lessons I’ve learned within these walls from such a diversity of amazing people. I remember looking out on our congregation that first time as your minister, feeling a little anxious, but knowing deep in my bones that I was exactly where I was meant to be and that these people before me needed and deserved joy and love more than anything else, and that all I wanted to do was to bring that here with words and deeds. I remember all the babies I’ve blessed, couples I’ve married, and souls I have guided into the next world. It continues to be an ineffable privilege to have your trust.
The last thing I want to say before the end of this year is a huge THANK YOU to Yasmin Flefleh Vincent, who has been our Director of Religious Education since 2012! She has been a wonderful influence on the kids in our church, as well as the adults, always bringing her best self to the job. Yasmin is retiring as our DRE, and we are so lucky to have had her skills and positive attitude for so long. BIG LOVE YASMIN!
Thanks to all our staff, trustees, committees, thrift shop volunteers, members, and friends for a great church year. Have a safe and joyful summer, and we’ll see you in September! Bright Blessings-Karen
Soul Matters: Welcome to Flourishing Together
Campfire Stories is a documentary film series that features people who are trying to belong to the earth and each other in new and transformative ways. One of their films features a man named Adam Wilson. He runs a community farm that is also an experiment in non-commercial food systems, sustainable living, alternative economies, and what Adam calls “radical neighboring.” As they film, Adam tells this story:
It was about a farm that began with three farmers, longing to grow food for their neighbors in a place where that had largely become impossible due to rising land prices. And so, they approached a group of interested neighbors with a plan, or at least a proposal or a plea, for the possibility of local food again in that place. This plan included a budget for what it would cost them to undertake a year of growing a year's worth of vegetables for 30 households. Vegetables, as well as milk and meat.
The farmers gathered the interested folks in a circle. They asked if they could go around the circle and have people pledge different amounts of money until the budget was covered, and it took a couple of rounds, but they did it.
A few years into the project, a woman came to one of the farmers, and she said, “You know, my husband and I love being a part of this farm and community, but we're gonna have to drop out of the farm because we've both lost our jobs.”
The farmer then said to her, “You know, I think you could do us, as the farmers and the membership as a whole, a real service, if you came to the meeting, and you pledged zero.”
And by golly, she had the courage to do just that.
Then the farmer told me that what happened next was that there wasn't a dry eye in the room.
So, there you got a bunch of middle-class folks weeping in a way that usually would have been downright embarrassing in public.
So what happened there? Why were they weeping?
Well, we could tell a story that says they were weeping out of pity, that they pitied the poor woman and her family. But that might be a little bit too easy of a story to tell.
Maybe instead, in that moment, they had a felt sense of themselves as people who had the capacity to carry their neighbors. Which also means that they realized they lived among people who had the capacity to carry them on the day that they might need to pledge zero.
So friends, maybe the invitation this month is to pay attention to when you feel like weeping. A theme like flourishing carries the connotation of blooming, as if this month is solely about helping each other blossom brightly into the fullness of all we can be. But maybe it’s also about softening. About waking up to the reality that our culturally-encouraged pursuits of independence haven’t made us safe; they’ve only made us brittle.
Maybe what this month wants most for us is a retrieval of tenderness. A reconnection to that part of us that longs to be vulnerable, that hungers to stop pretending we’re stronger than we are, that understands that flourishing also involves unfolding our ability to say, “I hurt,” “I’m scared,” and “I need help.” Who wouldn’t weep if they discovered that there really was a world like that out there?
REMINDER: Soul Matters packets will no longer be attached to the newsletter and will be placed on the members' only page here. If you need the password, please email admin@uunewbedford.
Thrift Shop Update
June sale: 50% off pre-season summer clothes
ATTN: Committee Chairs
Please plan to hold a meeting before the end of the Fiscal Year on June 30 to identify new committee members and/or select a chair for the committee if you are stepping down.
FY27 is going to be the year of COMMUNICATION and building our committees!!
Thank you to Dani, who will be co-chairing the Social Justice Committee with Izzy.
Events, Outreach, and Fundraising Meeting Scheduled for Sunday, June 14, at noon
Continuing the conversation from the Annual Meeting and our May 26 meeting, we will come together to continue the conversation of improving communication, break down silos, and explore the possibilities for committees in FY27. Please come with an open mind and positive suggestions.
Garden Committee Update
The Garden Committee is raising money for the church by selling seedlings and house plants outdoors under a tent at the Jazz Service on Sunday, June 28. All are welcome to bring in your extra garden starts, perennial plant divisions, and house plant babies and join us!
Did you miss the last Sunday Service? Watch it here!
June Services
Flower Communion this Sunday, June 7. Please bring a flower to church! It can be a flower from your yard, or something you pick up at a store. We will also have some flowers at the church if you need them.
Only 3 Services Left of the Church Year!
You read that right, folks! We are in the single-digit numbers of how many services are left.
But, we want to keep the momentum going! Are you interested in leading a discussion group, book club, hosting a dinner at the church, or offering lessons in a craft? Let's stick together this summer. All ideas are welcome!
Please email admin@uunewbedford.org with any ideas you may have.
Jazz Concert, June 28—All Hands on Deck!
We need organizers and planners for food. Are we doing a bake sale? Providing sandwiches? Providing drinks? We need one person to be the point of contact and main organizer of food.
Volunteers to help with gift baskets and selling raffle tickets.
Please fill out the form below to indicate how you would like to help!
Postcards to Swing States
I recently ordered 200 postcards from Postcards to Swing States to send to voters in North Carolina this fall. Years of research proves that GOTV (Get Out The Vote) postcards are the most effective way to help rally people to vote from your home. If you would like to get a pack of 25 postcards along with a voter list and instructions with proven message options, please email me at admin@uunewbedford. You'll provide the postcard stamps (currently $0.61) and return the completed postcards with postage to me. I will mail the postcards on the date provided.
If enough people are interested we can have a group postcard writing party!
—Jessica
FAQ
Why send postcards to voters?
Writing postcards to voters is a gateway to activism for hundreds of thousands of volunteers across the country. Postcards help grassroots groups recruit new members, build community, and win elections. Writing postcards is an especially great option for remote activism. They’re also fantastic for folks who have brief windows of time to help rather than blocks of a couple hours on weekends or evenings, when door-to-door canvassing shifts and phone banks are normally scheduled.
How do we know postcards work?
Our award-winning research proves that postcards increase Democratic turnout by 1.3%. In 2020, our postcard program added thousands of votes in states critical to President Biden’s victory. In the 2022 midterms, our postcards added 22,500 votes in key races across the nation. This impact is roughly equivalent to 45,000 hours of door-to-door canvassing!
Our five published randomized controlled experiments with handwritten postcards have won three Expy Awards from the Analyst Institute. We have tested 14 total handwritten messages, all but one of which found statistically significant increases in voter turnout. The enormous size of our programs allows us to test messages, timing and volume with a high degree of statistical confidence.
See results from our 2025 Virginia News Boosting postcard experiment
See results from our 2022 Senate general election postcard experiment
See results from our 2022 Neighborhood Letters general election experiment
See results from our 2022 Pennsylvania primary postcard experiment (in partnership with messaging expert, Anat Shenker-Osorio)
See results from our 2021 Neighborhood Letters Virginia primary election experiment
See results from our 2020 Wisconsin primary postcard experiment
See results from our 2020 general election experiments
See results from our 2018 Illinois primary election experiment
We explain our strategy in more detail in this blog post.
Please share these events with your family and friends, and consider attending yourself. We would love to see you!
FREE Events Happening at UUNB
Being Human takes place every Friday at 11 AM. Please use the parking lot door.
Friday, June 5, at 11 AM
Advocacy Days & Fun on the Fridge
Interfaith
● Summer Solstice/Litha (Pagan/Wiccan) - June 21, 2026
Unitarian Universalist
● Norbert Capek celebrates first Flower Ceremony - June 4 (1923)
● General Assembly - virtual business meeting, June 12-14, 2026; national online gathering,
June 26-28, 2026
● Olympia Brown was ordained - June 25 (1863)
National & Cultural Holidays
● Salem Witch Trials convened - June 2, 1692
● Anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando - June 12, 2016
● Father’s Day - June 21, 2026
● Juneteenth Emancipation Celebration - June 19
● World Refugee Day - June 20
● Stonewall Uprising - June 28
For Fun and On the Fringe
● National Garden Week - First week of June
● National Trails Day - First Saturday in June
● U.N. World Environment Day - June 5 (Sponsored by a different country each year)
Our Mission is to encourage diversity and mutual acceptance and work for positive change in ourselves and our community.
"We envision a congregation in which we practice the principles of our faith. We seek to enjoy peaceful reflection and inspiration in intellectually and spiritually satisfying church services. We aim to embrace the people and efforts of our church community by supporting our children and their programs, our committees and their goals, our staff and their efforts on our behalf, and each other."
Our Promises
Each person is important.
Be kind in all you do.
We help each other learn.
We search for what is true.
Each person has a say.
Work for a peaceful world.
The web of life’s the way.
Build the beloved community, free from racism and oppression.
First Unitarian Church in New Bedford
71 8th Street, New Bedford, MA 02740
(508) 994-9686
Administrator ext. 10
Minister ext. 13
Karen cell: (508) 441-9344
Thrift Shop ext. 12
Board Members & Officers
Steve Carmel, President
Charles Morgan, Vice President
Deborah Carmel, Treasurer
Elise Rapoza, Secretary
Trustees
Camilla Brooks
Niko Tarini
Mary Rapoza
Jack Vitale
Committee Chairs
Staff
Rev. Karen Leblanc, Minister
Yasmin Fle-fleh Vincent, Director of Religious Education
Randy Fayan, Director of Music
Jessica DeCicco-Carey, Administrator
Tony Gonsalves, Facilities Manager
John Manning, Sunday Sexton
Mari Fay-Martin, Sunday School Teacher
Sam Angelini, Sunday School Teacher
The Thrift Shop is open Tuesdays and Saturdays from 10 AM to 1 PM
(508)994-9686 ext.12
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