Photo by pure julia on Unsplash
Greetings, CTU Members and Friends –
We continue our exploration of our Principle Statement in April with the theme of “What does respect look like?” We encourage you all to join us as we explore how we can practice respect in all our interactions.
Please consider joining us in Somerset West on Saturday 4 May as we celebrate Dave and Jeanie Mayes for the decades long stewardship of the Somerset West fellowship!
And we’re prototyping a Buddhist sangha meeting this month!
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
Upcoming Activities: Community Choir
Community Highlights: Interfaith Iftar, Heart Fund Creation, First Thursday in April
Council Updates
Sunday Services
Please note: All Sunday services are hybrid and start at 10:30 am SA time
6 April - What does respect look like? Join Nima and others as we explore this important element of our Principle Statement. Let’s reflect together on how we demonstrated respect in all aspects of our community interactions.
13 April - Respecting as a Dialogic practice . Nima will share of the physicist David Bohm’s groundbreaking work on Dialogue as a generative process of “thinking together”. One of the important tools to include is the practice of respecting.
20 April - Katleho. Join us for a special spiritual smorgasbord this Easter Sunday…Katleho (aka Madeleine aka Jabulani aka Georgia) will be hosting a heart-opening Cacao ceremony where we will be reflecting on how the rainbow of Christ-mysteries show up in our lives.
27 April - Music Sunday: Come Sing a Song With Me. Singing is a deeply vulnerable and personal experience. It is also at the heart of humanity. For generations, community singing has drawn people together irrespective of age, region, economic status, or any other social identity. Yet, so many of us are plagued with fear or judgment of our own voice, we choose to exclude ourselves from this otherwise intuitive activity. In this service, we will explore what it means to use our voices and join them collectively, no matter how our voices join in the songs. Everyone’s voice matters, and community singing is only improved by having more voices in the room. Please join us as we explore our voices both independently and as a congregation.
UPCOMING ACTIVITIES
Somerset West Fellowship
10 am Saturday 3 May 2025
Vonke House, 121c Lourensford Rd, Somerset West, 7600
"Memories & Celebration as vehicles of Identity and Inspiration - Sharing the history and stories of Somerset West Fellowship."
Join us as we celebrate Dave and Jeanie Mayes who have led the SW fellowship for the last two decades.
Buddhist Sangha gathering
Hybrid
64 Hout Street / Zoom
Saturday 12 April 10 am - 12 pm SA time
We will be trialing a new monthly gathering on Saturday afternoon to explore different Buddhist topics. No Buddhist experience needed! Our first meeting will be Saturday 12 April 10 am- 12 pm SA time. Hybrid. RSVP to Nima.
CTU Choir
You are welcome to join your voice when you are ready. All are welcome, irrespective of experience level.
Please contact Camille with any questions you may have about the choir.
Community Highlights
Interfaith Iftar!
co-hosted by the Queer Faith Collective and CTU on the 29th of March
Celebrating our choir members and their awesome new video!
Heart Fund Creation
CTU is delighted to announce the creation of a new “Heart Fund”; a donation fund held by the church for the express purpose of offering temporary support to members in need. This fund can be applied to for support for medical emergencies, emergency bill pay, and food access. Funds may be applied for no more than 2x/year. In some cases we may consider small business start-up requests(in situation of members in long-term poverty).
Please apply using this form:
https://forms.gle/cJq5tR3rZbcdHcaU6
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Please donate by contacting Altaira, Nima, Camille or Hans.
Donations can be made by EFT: Unitarian Church
Standard Bank, Branch 051001, Account # 070440719
Swift Code: SBZAZAJJ
Notate funds to be used for Heart Fund, or email us
We have already received several donations from community members!
First Thursday in April at CTU!
We will showcase local artists, healers, musicians, and craftspeople! Light snacks and non-alcoholic beverages provided. If you are a community member with a talent, handi-craft, or art to showcase, please contact Phakiso ASAP for a spot! We will be accepting donations from vendors and participants. We have space to display several large artworks on our walls. Volunteer greeters wanted. Everyone welcome!First Thursday in April at CTU!
Council Updates
Here is a recap of our council meeting that was held on Sunday, 16 March:
Two new grants will be written in support of our building and our various projects
We are working on establishing a “Heart Fund” for CTU members in financial need. More information to follow.
We have new postcards that share our Principle Statement and contact information. Feel free to pick some up next time you’re in the building to distribute.
Nolu is preparing all the necessary documents for Department of Social Development.
The Finance team is working with Investec to enable our monthly reports to be easily accessible.
Next meeting Sunday 4 May 12-2 pm. Contact Nolu if you’d like to attend and receive the documents.
Notes from the Chair
What a memorable month we’ve had! From Pride, to Dudeism, to our beautiful iftar in conjunction with The Queer Faith Collective and Al Gurbaah Foundation.
CTU represented very well at Pride🏳️🌈, wearing our new t-shirts, and honouring the legacy of Imam Hendricks.
Mid-month, we had a fun and irreverent look at religions and spiritualities on the edge, from “Dudeism” to Pastafarianism and beyond. Then Catherine Arendse spoke to us about indigenous health and healing, and then our own Gur presented to us on recognizing toxicity in religion/spirituality.
On the 26th, we hosted an iftar for 50 people in our space. There were members of Al Gurbaah, the larger interfaith community, and from CTU. Hans provided an amazing art installation, featuring light covers in gold, white and green with 12 of the names of god in Arabic. He also added fairy lights everywhere. There was good food, and prayer, and it was simply exquisite.
Our church building is attracting new renters, and special occasions. It’s so nice to see people getting good use out of our building, and the larger community learning about us. Toward this end, Nima has printed up lots of quarter sheet info cards. Next time you’re in the building, grab a few to share with your friends.
It’s also super helpful to have an “elevator speech” about Unitarianism, as you never know when you’ll meet someone seeking a funky milieu of oddballs like us. I like to say that Unitarians think everyone is right! All paths lead to the same place, and we both respect, and endeavor to experience or practice all religions and spiritual paths. It’s also totally acceptable to be an agnost, an atheist, a humanist or an animist. We’re a community of people who have agreed to disagree, or in other view; a community of people who like church, but not dogma. A mutual aid network and community of explorers.
It’s fun to see how much this can surprise people! The word “church” evokes some pretty strong feelings in many, and there is an unfortunate historic association with exclusion, not integration. When many people hear that we accept everyone as they are, it creates disbelief, and sometimes leads to rather intense discussions of who is “right” or “wrong”. It’s fairly paradigm stretching to not give a damn about either.
That space created, one where there isn’t an expectation of your religious beliefs, or spiritual practices, or lack of belief, or sexual orientation, or class, or race, or a mutually accepted “other”, serves to create a sort of unexpected positive pressure. A safe space.
I’m really delighted to see lots of new faces experiencing that safe space. I hope we’re able to offer it to more, and to create networks of community. The planet is having a rough year, and it doesn’ look like it’s headed for a quick turn-round just yet. We all need more safe spaces.
Happy Autumn!
Altaira
Have questions or comments for Council? Please email us at community@capetownunitarians.org.