Greetings, CTU Members and Friends –

In August, our theme will be Resilience! And for us soggy Capetonians, we have had to cultivate resilience through a rainy July, with the wonderful outcome of us having full dams! How do each of us cultivate resilience in our lives so that we are prepared to better ride the waves of chaos that are a natural part of life?

The first Sunday is our annual Pan African Unitarians day! This will be CTU’s 157th anniversary!

Check out a new activity, “Spirituality From Many Perspectives”. After the Service on the 18 August, at 12 - 1:30 pm. Join us in person or online for an opportunity to share your current spiritual or philosophical passion and hear from others about theirs. It’ll be fun!

With love and light,
Nima
nimajanettaylor@gmail.com // WhatsApp 076 024 9120

In This Issue of the Newsletter

Check out our events page to view our church calendar. This includes events posted in the building and outside of the building. If you would like your event added, please contact us at via email: community@capetownunitarians.org

Sunday Services
Calendar of Events: Somerset West Fellowship, Mid-week Meditations, Create Space, Wardrobe Rejuvenation, Chalice Kids, Community Choir
Community Corner
Community Updates, A Note from Your Council Chair

UPCOMING SUNDAY TOPICS

Please note: All Sunday services are hybrid and start at 10:30 am

4 August– Pan Africa Unitarian Day: Join us for a celebration of our 157th anniversary and celebration of Unitarians across Africa. Bring something to share as we have a lunch/snacks after the service.

11 August - Our spiritual direction and priorities as a community. CTU is evolving, and we need everyone’s input on how to best cultivate our community and shift our direction as needed. This Sunday, we’ll have time to explore together where do we want to invest our community’s time, talents and treasures! Come prepare for any insight or feedback or suggestions you might have for our beloved CTU.

18 August - Swami Vidyananda, Hindu spirituality: "The Yoga of the Bhagavad Gita is relevant for every seeker. It teaches how to discover the Divine and how to live in the consciousness of the Divine in daily life."

25 August - Nicola Robins: Nicola is a sustainability practitioner and African diviner / traditional healer (sangoma). As co-founder of Incite advisory network, she supports organisational leaders, practitioners and teams in responding to an unfolding polycrisis. She was called to train as a diviner following an extraordinary experience while consulting to Australia’s Argyle Diamond Mine in 1999. Graduating within the Vondo lineage in 2002, she has spent two decades exploring how to bring these traditional perspectives into the boardroom, in a way that informs effective strategy and maintains respect for the tradition. For her, work is an expression of spiritual practice; for her clients, it is more fittingly framed by complexity science, while acknowledging its traditional African roots. Nicola lives on Porcupine Ridge in the Cape’s South Peninsula, a short walk from the edge of the Great African Seaforest.

Nicola Robins will be our guest speaker on August 25th

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES

“Spirituality From Many Perspectives”. After the Service on the 18 August, at 12 - 1:30 pm. Join us in person or online for an opportunity to share your current spiritual or philosophical passion and hear from others about theirs.

Saturday 10 am 3 August
Vonke House, Chapel Room at 121 Lourensford Road
Guest Speaker: Rev. Nima Taylor
Topic: From Fear to Love

What can we learn from the mystics? As human beings, we are designed to experience love and play, not fear and anxiety that currently pervades our culture. Imagine the possibility that we can each and together return to and cultivate this essence of our being. Nima Taylor will share some of the science behind our true nature, as well as some beautiful insights from the Gnostic Gospels, ancient teachings of Jesus, only recently found hidden away and now verified as additional Gospels that were left out of the Bible. They demonstrate this true essence of who we are. Nima has studied with Cynthia Bourgeault, a contemporary Christian mystic, and will incorporate some of Cynthia's insights from her many books and courses on this topic.

Nima Taylor is a former Buddhist nun and current minister of the Cape Town Unitarians. Her spiritual journey has taken her deep into the teachings and practices of Tibetan Buddhism, specifically Dzogchen, for decades and her seminary training brought her back to Christianity from the perspective of the mystics. She now finds a beautiful symmetry between these two seemingly different paths.

Cost: Free, as well as free light refreshments.

We are limited to having 30 attendees. That means you will need to sign up for each meeting when it is publicised. You can do this by phoning us on 021 850 0863 or emailing davidjeanmayes@gmail.com

Midweek Meditation (online only)

We’re back at 12:30 pm on Thursdays, starting 6 June. Join us every week for some light meditation instructions. We start promptly at 12:30 pm and end promptly at 1 pm

Create Space ~ Woman’s Day Celebration
10 August, Saturday, 10am through 6pm
In our building

When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it's bottomless, that it doesn't have any resolution, that this heart is huge, vast, and limitless. You begin to discover how much warmth and gentleness is there, as well as how much space. ~ Pema Chödrön

August is Women’s month, and 9 August is Women’s Day. The campaign theme for Women's Day 2024 is ~ Inspire Inclusion. When we inspire others to understand and value women's inclusion, we forge a better world. It is with this intention, that you are invited to create space, not just for yourself, but also for your fellow tribe sister (and brother) … as we gather in community, in a safe and welcoming space of belonging, of creativity, and a celebration of small kindnesses

Come and make some art, compare favourite tabloid gossip, listen to your girl gang anthems, indulge in some ‘high tea’ yummy goodies, and receive a little pampering. This is your time to gift yourself ~ so come indulge in a warm & welcoming, gentle, limitless space

Please contact Hans via WhatsApp for any questions +27721276497. Any delectable eats, sweet and savoury treats to share, are welcomed and greatly appreciated see you on Saturday!

Wardrobe Rejuvenation will be part of Create_Space!
Saturday, 10 August, as part of Create_Space
in our building

Wardrobe rejuvenation sessions led by Annie Akinyi Kamya consist of knowing the basics of sewing. Machine stitch can be taught if you provide your domestic machine. The main skills will be hand-stitching (basic, blanket, secret, cross); crochet; knitting; embroidery; pattern reading and making; and basic tailoring (hemming, etc.).

Cost: R100 per lesson
RSVP: Email missaakamya@gmail.com

Please bring your own machine if you have (or learn to use our new professional sewing machine!) and the item(s) you would like to repair or knitting needles, Crochet hooks, etc. to practise.

Chalice Kids - IN PERSON

We have a robust Chalice Kids education project every month. If you would like your child to participate, email Nima at nimajanettaylor@gmail.com. She will help you choose the right group for your kid(s) and share the homes where we are meeting.

CTU Community Choir - Next Rehearsal August 7th, 2024

Community Corner

Celebrating Patsy, Pius, and Alexios!

Alexios and his dad working on the clock at Cape Town City Hall

Council Updates

Council met on Sunday 14 July and discussed a variety of topics. There are many possibilities for our community, so it is an opportunity for the Council to determine those possibilities and choose our strategic priorities for the next twelve months. (Please consider attending the service on Sunday, 11 August, to share your perspective with everyone!)

The Council is also considering having a one-day retreat to have time to more deeply consider all the possibilities.
Nima noted that the CTU grant to the UUA received $12,000 for the next year to plan and implement a pan-african Unitarian training program.
Gur will be ordained from the Unitarian seminary in May 2025.

With sadness, our Council Chair Jeremiah Pietersen has had to resign. He is grateful to everyone at CTU while he takes time for himself, and will be back when he feels ready. The Council accepted Altaira Hatton’s generous offer to take over as Council Chair. Thank you, Altaira.

Our next Council meeting is in September. All of our church meetings are open to members to observe. Feel free to join the fun!

A Note from Your Council Chair

Hi all! Altaira here. I’m delighted to take on the role (roll?) of Council Chair. I have so many ideas for our sweet community, and I recognize that much work has gone into creating it, and there is much more work to do. Going forward, I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas. Please feel free to email (community@capetownunitarians.org) or reach out at a service or event-I’m the one in the zippy wheelchair.

In other news, CTU was incredibly honoured to receive a sizable grant from the Unitarian Universalist Association this cycle! Fewer than half of the grant proposals to UUA were funded, and we are quite lucky to have our work chosen. "African outreach to expand Unitarian values" is the umbrella title of our accepted projects, which will include a pan-African newsletter, and support for African Unitarians wishing to pursue studies to become a minister. We will be applying to more grant opportunities going forward. If you would like to be part of the fundraising team, please let us know!

Have questions or comments for Council? Please email us at community@capetownunitarians.org.