Join us each Sunday as we celebrate and worship as a community. This month, we welcome the public to seven special holiday services of spirited celebration, quiet reflection and forward-looking inspiration.
Sunday, December 9
Heart and Soul Service: Mystery
SERVICE AT 5 PM
Catie Grasso, preaching
Heart and Soul is a quiet, contemplative service held each month on the second Sunday evening. It is a time of fellowship and sharing, with more silence than many services. All are welcome to join us in the sanctuary for this vespers-like experience.
Sunday, December 16
A Star is Born
SERVICES AT 9 AM AND 11 AM
The Rev. Greg Ward, preaching
James Witker, Worship Associate
There are religions of every kind that explore birth. Because birth is such a miraculous and sacred event in our lives, it has become a hearth at the center of many religious stories. A buddha’s birth (as opposed to ‘the Buddha’) is the central story of Buddhism – how a devotee begins their path of enlightenment. Jesus’ birth as an agent of the world’s salvation is a central story of Christianity. Science and Cosmology also have a birth story involving the origin of the universe, including each and every galaxy, star, solar system and planet. This service is the sacred story of this planet’s birth and it’s ability to call into existence a radical array of life.
Sunday, December 16
Winter Solstice Celebration
SERVICE AT 5:30 PM, ANGELINE FORBES HAL
Rima Snyder, Worship Leader
This year we commemorate the solstice by learning about the Iranian festival of Yalda, the longest night. Join us to celebrate the beginning of winter and the emergence of the light with music, poems, and shared community.
Sunday, December 23
The Star of Bethlehem
SERVICES AT 9 AM AND 11 AM
Kathleen Hogue, preaching
Margot Page, Worship Associate
Why do we celebrate Christmas? As Unitarian Universalists, most of us believe that Jesus was a human being, that he was an inspired spiritual teacher and compelling social revolutionary. For some of us, we do celebrate the story of the only Son of God come to save the world, and that belief is welcome here today. For others, the culture in which we live tells this story, over and over, and we gather to experience it once again. But it is not only the Christian religion that needs to tell this story, over and over. As a Unitarian Universalist people of faith, we, too, need to tell this story over and over because, like all great religious myths that have been told through the ages, this night and this story hold essential spiritual truths. Come and experience the story once again, with all the characters you know and love including our congregation’s beloved Friendly Beasts! Join us for a Christmas Nativity pageant in word and song with the timeless story of Mary and Joseph, the kings, and the shepherds.
Monday, December 24
Ring the Bells and Light the Lights
SERVICE AT 4 PM
Kathleen Hogue, Worship Leader
Teri Lucas, Worship Associate
Join us for a multigenerational worship service complete with holiday music, story, and ritual. You are invited to bring an ornament (either a bell or a star) to trade with someone else. Our interactive story, The Sounds of Christmas by Deb Brammer, gives everyone an opportunity to make joyous noise. Cookies, cider, and hot chocolate will follow the service.
Monday, December 24
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
SERVICES AT 6 PM AND 8 PM
The Rev. Greg Ward, preaching
Margot Page, Dorothy Steinicke, and Robin Stillwater, Worship Associates
We’re all familiar with the traditional story the describes a particularly dark moment in humanity’s existence, and the birth of a child that grows up to be a great light. We are certainly in dark times today. This traditional Candlelight Christmas Eve service of lessons and carols will be a contemporary adaptation of a sacred story based on Unitarian educator Sophia Lyon Fahs’ prophecy that “every night a child is born is a holy night.” We will imagine what it would look like if the prophet called to bring light to the world were born today. Come to sing, hear stories, light candles, and rejoice in the shared calling for us all to create Peace on Earth. The choir will perform at both services.
Sunday, December 30
A Sense of Purpose
ONE SERVICE ONLY AT 11 AM
The Rev. Kikanza Nuri-Robins, preaching
Leon Henderson-MacLennan, Worship Associate
Making meaning of the old year and the new year to come.
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Sunday, December 2
Millennials are Ruining…
SERVICES AT 9 AM AND 11 AM
Robin Stillwater, preaching
Abby Arnold, Worship Associate
Millennials can seem like a separate species from the older adults in congregations. How does one even talk to these strange creatures? More importantly, as Unitarian Universalism ages, how do we welcome in millennials; offering them sanctuary and hope in a too-often toxic and attacking world?
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Sunday, December 9
Confessions of an Apocaloptimist
SERVICES AT 9 AM AND 11 AM
The Rev. Greg Ward, preaching
Rima Snyder and Natalie Kahn, Worship Associates
The Urban Dictionary defines an apocaloptimist as “someone who knows it’s all going to s–, but refuses to lose theirs in the process.” We can all find reasons to panic about the environment, the economy, the rise of corruption and greed, or the collapse of human civility. How can we look at the world earnestly – with its capacity to break our hearts – and not lose hope? A person who can stand amidst impossible odds and still be engaged and idealistic is an apocaloptimist.
