Past Services

Sunday, July 19th, 2015

"Poetry and Nature"

Sophie Wadsworth

A journey through poetry of nature and spirit. Sophie will read poems of the natural world: about gardening, wild animals, and wry reflections on being human, Sophie will share words from poets ranging from Basho and Keats to Mary Oliver and Billy Collins. Poetry may deepen our spiritual life, and our spiritual life may deepen our friendship with words. We’ll take time for reflection and sharing responses…

[Sophie has taught writing and creativity to students of all ages, most recently as Adjunct Professor at the UMass, Lowell. Author of a collection of poems, Letters from Siberia, Sophie works with naturalists and
lop-eared rabbits at a non-profit, The Nature Connection.]

Sunday, July 12th, 2015

"Love, Love, Love!"

“If music be the food of love, play on!”* Come hear the Parish Jazz Band play music that celebrates love (the spirit of our Church). There are all kinds of love: romantic love, brotherly love, maternal and paternal love, spiritual love. And a simply enormous part of the musical repertoire is on themes relating to this rich, complex feeling. Often the music is joyous, sometimes sad, occasionally goofy or filled with longing. But it always speaks to the heart.

Come enjoy a morning of great jazz rejoicing in the number-one human emotion, including pieces by Victor Young, Jimmy Van Heusen, and Cole Porter!

*Shakespeare, Twelfth Night

Sunday, July 5th, 2015

"NO SERVICE TODAY"

NO SERVICE TODAY   JULY 4TH WEEKEND

 

Childcare will be provided at

all summer services.

WORSHIP WILL CONTINUE ALL SUMMER WITH A SERVICE EACH

SUNDAY MORNING AT 10 AM.   THERE ARE MANY GREAT

SERVICES PLANNED.  

 

 

SUMMER SERVICES WILL BE HELD EITHER IN

THE COMMUNITY ROOM OR THE HALL

Sunday, June 28th, 2015

"Yoga, Spirituality, and Philosophy and Practice"

Our guest, John Calabria, who is a yoga instructor, will share thoughts about the practice of yoga to balance mind, body and spirit. Note that this is not a yoga class.

 

Childcare will be provided at

all summer services.

WORSHIP WILL CONTINUE ALL SUMMER WITH A SERVICE EACH

SUNDAY MORNING AT 10 AM.   THERE ARE MANY GREAT

SERVICES PLANNED.  

SUMMER SERVICES WILL BE HELD EITHER IN

THE COMMUNITY ROOM OR THE HALL

Sunday, June 21st, 2015

"Work family and gender— addressing Long Term Unemployment and upward mobility bias"

Meg Costello will share her work focusing on social class and classism in vocational theory and practice. Meg has presented this work to a class at Lesley College and a Working Class Studies Conference at Georgetown University.

 

Childcare will be provided at

all summer services.

WORSHIP WILL CONTINUE ALL SUMMER WITH A SERVICE EACH

SUNDAY MORNING AT 10 AM.   THERE ARE MANY GREAT

SERVICES PLANNED.  

SUMMER SERVICES WILL BE HELD EITHER IN

THE COMMUNITY ROOM OR THE HALL

 

Sunday, June 14th, 2015

"Stories From Around The World "

ONE SERVICE AT 10 AM OUTSIDE WEATHER PERMITTING
ANNUAL PICNIC SUNDAY

Join us for coffee before church at 9:45 with our outside service beginning at 10:15.
Following the service there will be a picnic.

Elisa Pearmain will use her  gift of storytelling to engage the whole congregation with wise and witty folktales from around the world with messages to move us as we end our year together.

Elisa Davy Pearmain is a professional storyteller with over 30 years of experience telling in schools, libraries, churches and festivals around New England.  Elisa is a teacher of storytelling, and a licensed therapist, helping adults to hear their own stories in new ways for personal growth and healing. In addition to her other work, Elisa has been telling stories in churches for over twenty-five years. Her first book,  Doorways to the Soul: 52 Wisdom Tales from around the World (1998) contains 52 short tales from different spiritual, religious and folk traditions designed to be read one per week with exercises to deepen our connection to the wisdom in the stories, and to foster personal and spiritual growth. Her second book Once Upon a Time: Storytelling to Teach Character and Prevent Bullying is a favorite in RE classrooms.  Elisa is a former author and consultant for the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Tapestry of Faith curriculum.

Childcare will be provided at

all summer services.

WORSHIP WILL CONTINUE ALL SUMMER WITH A SERVICE EACH

SUNDAY MORNING AT 10 AM.   THERE ARE MANY GREAT

SERVICES PLANNED.  

SUMMER SERVICES WILL BE HELD EITHER IN

THE COMMUNITY ROOM OR THE HALL

 

HAPPY SUMMER!

 

 

Sunday, June 7th, 2015

"FLOWER COMMUNION SUNDAY"

ONLY ONE SERVICE AT 10 AM

An intergenerational Service led by our Sabbatical Minister, Rev. Dr. Judith Wright.

We bring our regular season of Sunday Morning Worship in our sanctuary to a close with our beautiful flower communion ritual.  Please be sure to bring a cut flower or two.  We will bring them all together in one bouquet symbolizing the unity in our diversity.  In doing so, we will recognize the many blessings, gifts and talents we each bring to this community.  In gratitude for all we receive from others we will leave with a flower that another person brought.  This is a very meaningful service that really communicates the heart of our Unitarian Universalist faith tradition.  Rev. Judith will lead worship.

 

Sunday, May 31st, 2015

"YOUTH SERVICE"

ONE SERVICE AT 10 AM

Our Senior Youth, along with the Junior Youth, will present a service for all on this Sunday.  An integral part of the service will be the presentation of personal credos by our 10th and 11th grade youth as a culmination of their year-long participation in the Coming of Age Program.  Be prepared to enjoy a wonderful service presented by a group of truly awesome youth!

Audio icon service-5-31-2015.mp3

Sunday, May 24th, 2015

"Impermanence"

ONE SERVICE AT 10 AM

Shakyamuni Buddha taught that “all is impermanent.”   On this Memorial Day weekend, we will reflect on impermanence - that life goes on, and people who were with us last year are no longer alive, but have passed on.  Change within ourselves, in others, and in our environments is a continuing part of what is.   Rev. Judith Wright will lead worship this morning.

Sunday, May 17th, 2015

"The Circle: What It Teaches Us as UUs"

ONE SERVICE AT 10 AM

Shapes surround us each and every day. Symbols are incorporated into our day-to-day lives. Sometimes we lose sight of what significance both shapes and symbols can hold for us. Our guest, Rev. Joy Christi Przestwor, a candidate for ministry in our UU tradition, will help us reflect on the possibilities of widening our circles. She will be joining our discoveries of how much this shape and symbol has to teach us regarding the interconnection between our vulnerability and being an active participant in our faith. Come discover what “being circular” may have to offer your continued spiritual journey!

Rev. Joy Christi Przestwor was born in South Bend, IN and has lived on both the East and West coasts. Joy Christi was a member of the Adrian Dominican congregation of women religious from 1965 to 1978. She left this Catholic community of women during her second year at Harvard Divinity School where she graduated in 1980. In 1992 she moved from the West coast to the North Carolina Mountains and lived on a 33-acre dedicated space called Angel Springs Sanctuary until moving to West Hartford in the fall of 2014. Joy Christi has been a member of the Asheville, NC congregation since February of 2008. After over forty years of teaching, from primary education to graduate levels, she retired in 2012. Joy Christi was ordained as a priest in the Liberal Catholic Faith of the Malabar Rite on July 27, 2012 after completing a ministerial program with concentrations in Esoteric Christianity and Spiritual Mentoring at Sancta Sophia Seminary in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Joy Christi has been a candidate for dual affiliation through our UU ministerial program since 2009 with ordination on the 2016-2017 future horizon. 

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