Kids learn about themselves and others through play until they reach a certain age, then they are told to abandon such childish pursuits. But in doing so, they cut themselves off from precious paths of growth, understanding, and empathy. Let’s rediscover those paths together and remember how to play!
In this service, we celebrate the gifts of our interconnectedness with the animal world. Bring your well-behaved or crated pets to the sanctuary or to your zoom camera to receive a blessing in this intergenerational service. Pictures of shy or departed pets, stuffed animals, or other symbolic animals are invited to receive a blessing too!
Are you starting something new this fall? Does it involve a notebook, a backpack, a briefcase, or a lunch box? Perhaps you’d like to bless your laptop bag or carry-on suitcase for your upcoming travel? Let us join together in worship to support these folks, making bold choices, with a deep, heartfelt call to carry our love alongside them on these new adventures.
Growing up as a pastor’s kid in the Methodist Church, Luke (he/him) fondly remembers helping his mother with her sermons. He’s excited to be involved with First UU in this way! Like many others in the congregation, Luke values community and coalition building as a means of activism and care. He is currently a graduate student in social work and education, which he uses as a means to connect others and platform voices that don’t often get listened to.
This Sunday, we reflect on the power of questions in our lives, and take time in service to offer our questions on matters of spirituality and social justice to Rev. Abbey and our new Faith Formation Leader, Mark Caswell, to answer in this spontaneous, unscripted service!
Mark Twain once said “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time”. This service will explore the diverse beliefs Unitarian Universalists have on death and the afterlife while challenging us to live fully in the now. We will also hold space for those who we love who have passed away.
How can we even talk about abolishing prisons? First because prisons don’t work. This service will focus on the failures of the current prison system: it does not rehabilitate people in prison to prevent further crime or keep others in the community safe. Second, because we are true to our roots. Our UU ancestors called for abolition, and we are following in that tradition. Third, we also need to talk more about possible alternatives to prison.
Unitarian Universalism’s 7th principle invites us to respect the interdependent web of which we are a part. While we may long for more connection and mutual support in our lives, living interdependently can be hard in today’s society. What makes interdependence challenging? And how can we work towards more interdependent living within our communities?
*Title drawn from Gwendolyn Brooks’s 1970 poem Paul Robeson
Stop me if you’ve seen this one on Facebook: an impoverished teenager discovers an engineering breakthrough that will change the world.
In reality, most scientific breakthroughs are conducted by teams of highly trained experts, usually working for well-funded agencies or corporations with the resources needed to fund the R&D. Most discoveries are produced by for-profit companies. How can we balance hope for a better future with the realities of scientific research?
Margery Kempe was a medieval mystic who lived in England in the early 15th century. This service will explore her intimate, vulnerable, shocking and at times notably annoying autobiography, widely considered to be the first of its kind in the english language. Through Margery’s many pilgrimages, visions, and altercations with religious authorities, she becomes, if not a saint as she may have hoped, a beacon of authenticity, personal devotion, and self expression.
Our UUA General Assembly calls us to ask the hard and holy questions: Where are we placing our energy? Who are we partnering with? And how do we make change that ripples outward — through our congregation, our communities, and our denomination? This Sunday, Rev. Christe will reflect on what we might carry home from GA to feed us and inspire us to engage in our collective resources that can meet the urgency of this moment — not someday, but now.
161 years ago, 2.5 years after the emancipation proclamation, the final group of enslaved Black Americans in Galveston, Texas, heard the news of their freedom – the first Juneteenth. And this Sunday, we celebrate the Summer Solstice and Father’s Day as well. In a beautiful world with so much injustice, how do we decide whether to “save or savor the world?”
