Gathering for Sunday services in person and online, 10:15 am.
There are so many different ways to part with money, even to give money, and they feel so many different ways. Giving can be joyful, or done out of duty, or inspired by fear, and while the effects look the same in our bank accounts, they are very different in our emotional and spiritual accounts. Music: Ihang Lin, piano, hymns
Do the universe and its events have meaning, or do we invent meanings for the things that happen? To paraphrase Dumbledore, “Just because meaning comes from us, why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” Music: Aaron Lington, saxophone
Our democracy has been tested by division, mistrust and cruelty. Sometimes we don’t even know how to talk to each other. But building connections helps, and one way to do that is to make music together. As Dan Harper wrote when he initiated the “Singing for Democracy” group shortly after the 2016 election, making music together helps build our democracy — and “you can never have enough singing.” So on this Sunday before the Fourth, we’ll hear what harmonies emerge when we both raise our voices and listen. Percussion instruments and song leaders will be there. Song Leaders: Edie Keating, Barry Nayler . . . Music: Ihang Lin, piano
We’re very accustomed to linking maternity, the feminine, and the earth; we have a Mother Earth, and Mother Nature, and mothers are supposed to nurture and bring forth life. But as we explore the UU sources, one of which is Earth-centered spirituality, how about a thought experiment for Fathers’ Day? What if we thought of nature and the earth as masculine instead of (or in addition to) feminine? What might change about how we saw the earth? What might change about how we regarded flesh-and-blood fathers? Music: Ruth Huber, piano
Even well-meaning UUs who embrace all kinds of people and try to respect what is good in all religions have some tough questions they’d like to ask about Islam. Amy’s been asked them, and she’s changing the topic of the service for Sunday, June 11 to answer them: Five Questions about Islam Posed to a Liberal-Religionist. Music: Jessica Martin, guitar, vocals
One of the specific sources of our UU tradition is “Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God’s love by loving our neighbors as ourselves.” Why are these religions mentioned when all others are thrown into one basket of “the world’s religions”? Are they better, more central, more relevant than the others, and if not, why specify them? Delving into this question illuminates important issues of where we come from, who we are, and what we are to do with our roots when they seem to hold us down more than they give us strength. Music: Karen Van Dyke, flute
For this intergenerational service, please bring a flower to exchange in our annual ritual. Dan will tell the story of how the Flower Celebration came to be, and we will take home a flower brought by someone else, like the inspiration and strength we receive from others. (Forgot a flower? Don’t worry, there are always more than enough–bring yourself!) — Worship Associate: Autumn Vandiver
Our service today will be part of the Black Lives of UU’s White Supremacy Teach-In campaign. We won’t create a world without white supremacy in one Sunday, but we will face the right direction and move toward justice and freedom. —
Music: Eric Leong
In our intergenerational Easter service, Dan tells the Easter story as his Unitarian mother relayed it to him, and Amy suggests some practices that may make resurrection a reality in our daily lives. Our pianist, Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, provides special music along with the By Your Side Singers, our new group that offers pastoral care through song. Join us for the Easter Egg Hunt after the first service.