Sunday, February 7, 2021
Rev. Claudia Jimenez, Minister of Faith Development
Join us for an exploration of the depth of Rosa Parks’ activism beyond the historical account of the passive, tired woman who gave up her seat on the bus. How does her story inform our activism today?
Sunday, January 24, 2021
Rev. Mark Ward, Lead Minister
When poets confront science they offer new grounds for our imagining. Come hear what happens when they do.
Sunday, January 23, 2022 11am Zoom
Rev. Claudia Jimenez, Minister of Faith Development
Join guest minister Rev. Dr. Jade Angelica and Rev. Claudia in an exploration of improvisation, yes, the theatrical kind, as a spiritual practice. We will reflect on how the curiosity, playfulness, and vulnerability inherent in the craft of improvisation can enrich our spiritual lives.
Sunday, January 17, 2021 Live ZOOM
– Rev. Claudia Jiménez, Minister of Faith Development
On this Sunday as we honor the work of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. we will explore his call to create a Beloved Community which “requires a qualitative change in our souls as well as quantitative change in our lives.” What does that change look like?
Sunday, January 10, 2021
Rev. Mark Ward, Lead Minister
The work of building a liberal theology begins on the land that gave us birth and is our final resting place. How do we frame the ultimate end of all things?
Sunday, January 3, 2021
Rev. Mark Ward, Lead Minister
This new year dawns on the cusp of so much change for us as a congregation. How will we rise to meet it?
Sunday, January 2, 11am YouTube and In-person
Rev. Kathy Harrington, Interim Lead Minister
and Joyce Hooley Gingrich
Wholeness is never lost; it is only forgotten. – Rachel Naomi Remen, Kitchen Table Wisdom
What have you forgotten about yourself? What might need to be undone in order to free yourself to be who you are? “Wholeness is never lost; it is only forgotten.” Poet Charles Bukowski once asked, “Can you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be?”
Join us for a service designed to help to rediscover and restore the wholeness we have forgotten. The service will be structured around a powerful four-point spiral developed by environmentalist Joanna Macy in her Work That Reconnects. Point One is grounding ourselves in gratitude. Point Two is honoring our pain. Point Three is Seeing in New Ways. And Point Four is Going Forth.
As we move into this brand new year, let’s pause to honor our wholeness before we dive into resolutions designed to fix or change ourselves.
Sunday, December 27, 2020 11am ZOOM
Rev. Mellen Kennedy, Guest Minister
Rumi was a 13th century Sufi poet and mystic. We’ll gather to hear his poetry, sing or chant and listen to stories about his inspiring and challenging life. He grew up and lived in a time of turmoil and his insights speak so clearly to our time. Join us for a celebration of Rumi. You’re invited to bring your favorite Rumi poem to share if you’d like to share.
Thursday, December 24, 4pm Zoom
Rev. Mark Ward, Lead Minister and Rev. Claudia, Minister of Faith Development
Christmas Eve at UUCA this year will unite our two traditional services into one live Zoom service at 4pm. Our time together will be centered on Christmastime stories and music from members of our congregation and special guests. And, to end the service, be sure to have a candle ready in the room where you Zoom so we can do our traditional candle lighting and sing “Silent Night” together.
Since we’re not able to have our usual 9pm Christmas Eve Service and Pre-Service Mini-Concert, we’re offering a video concert of carols performed by Finn Magill, Fiddle; Sue Richards, Celtic Harp; Olanna Goudeau, Soprano; and Dr. Leslie Downs, Music Director.
This is our gift to those of you who enjoy Christmas music.
Sunday, January 31, 2021
Rev. Mark Ward, Lead Minister
It’s the title that Disney engineers give themselves: “Imagineers.” But in many ways it is what we seek in our spiritual lives. Find out how.
Sunday, December 13, 2020
Rev. Mark Ward, Lead Minister
We’ll explore how the writer David Foster Wallace used that question from a Sufi teaching story to prod us to reflect on how we think about the present moment.
Sunday, December 6, 2020
Rev. Mark Ward, Lead Minister
UUSC and Guest at Your Table
Our Unitarian Universalist Service Committee will lead a service inviting us to consider how our justice efforts support the notion of home, a place where we are safe, secure, and cared for. Sunday afternoon we will accept your holiday donations and make available our Guest at Your Table boxes to support our UUSC collection.
Sunday, November 29, 2020 Jim Scott, Guest Artist
Come celebrate the earth with the music of renowned UU musician Jim Scott. Jim is a composer, guitarist and singer and former member of the Paul Winter Consort who has contributed several hymns to UU hymnals. Join him for this live Zoom service.
Sunday, November 22, 2020 11am Live ZOOM Service
Rev. Mark Ward, Lead Minister and Jane Bramham
Gratitude is the balm that soothes weary souls. This Sunday we’ll explore how.
Sunday, December 20, 2020
Rev. Mark Ward, Lead Minister
The stillness of the longest night of the year invites us to embrace the dark and with it the mystery it holds.
Sunday, November 15, 2020 11am Live ZOOM Service
Rev. Claudia Jiménez, Minister of Faith Development
Our Board of Trustees has set UUCA on a path to be an anti-racist congregation. This move is grounded in our UU faith, literally requiring us to act for justice. But what does it mean to be an anti-racist congregation? What are we currently doing? How will we change, because we surely will. What are our dreams of what is possible?
Sunday, November 8, 11am Live ZOOM Service
Rev. Mark Ward, Lead Minister
This live service will be a moment to take stock of how our lives have been changed by this most consequential election.
Sunday, November 1, 2020 9am
Rev. Mark Ward, Lead Minister
Gratitude is the balm that soothes weary souls. This Sunday we’ll explore how.
Sunday, October 25, 2020 Live ZOOM
Rev. Claudia Jimenez, Minister of Faith Development
In this time when our highly polarized nation prepares to vote, what does love call us to do? Join us for a service inspired by the work of Valerie Kaur, author of See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love. Kaur asks us to reclaim love as a revolutionary act so we will explore Kaur’s mission of fighting for justice through the ethic of love — love for others, our opponents, and ourselves. (Yes, she means love for those with whom we deeply disagree. What does that even LOOK like?)
Sunday, October 18, 2020
Rev. Mark Ward, Lead Minister & Carol Taylor
Do we? Hear each other, that is? In a time of toxic politics, how do we develop a discipline of listening?
Sunday, October 11, 2020
Rev. Mark Ward, Lead Minister & Joyce Hooley Gingrich
Uncertainty is one of the shoals of the religious life. We think we’ve got things figured out and then, oops, along comes something that throws us into doubt. Maybe that’s not an altogether bad thing.
Sunday, October 4, 2020
Rev. Mark Ward, Lead Minister
The change of seasons always offers a good reminder of the ever-evolving flow of life. How do we come to terms with the fact of impermanence?
Sunday, September 27, 2020 9am link
Rev. Scott, Neely, Guest Minister
Beyond being an ally, in the fight for racial justice. That we may all be free.
Bio: Rev. Scott Neely serves as minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spartanburg, SC. He is a facilitator and strategist for Speaking Down Barriers, an organization that uses dialogue to build our life together across the differences that divide us. In April 2015 he presented a TEDx talk on race and racism entitled “What Will I Teach My Son?”
Sunday, September 20, 2020 9am link
Rev. Mark Ward, Lead Minister
Our forgiveness service this year focuses on how we hold ourselves accountable, and how we respond when we fail.
Sunday, September 13, 2020 Live ZOOM Service
Rev. Mark Ward, Lead Minister
We begin our fall worship season with Ysaye Barnwell’s song of celebration to gather us once again as a community memory and hope. In this time of COVID, meeting and worshipping online, who do we proclaim that we are?
Sunday, September 6, 2020 9am ZOOM
Rev. Mark Ward, Lead Minister
The last time our nation was struggling to recover from economic catastrophe, then-President Roosevelt urged a way forward centered on renouncing fear. Here we are again in economic calamity with fear, once again, in the driver’s seat. Perhaps there’s another way.
Click on this link for a print version of the service.
Sunday, August 30, 2020 (Live ZOOM Service)
– Rev. Claudia Jiménez, Minister of Faith Development
Celebrate water and the life it supports with an amazing, amusing cast of characters.
Join us for this year’s Live Zoom version of our annual water service. Be prepared to share your water from home representing places in your life or places you would like to visit once the pandemic subsides. Puppeteer Jennifer Murphy has created a special toy box theater for the telling of this year’s story. You don’t want to miss this. See you there!
Speaking of seeing you there, we really do want to SEE you. It’s half the fun of these live events. If at all possible, please leave your camera on; everyone wants to see each other. It’s all we’ve got for now.
Sunday, August 23, 2020
Jane Bramham, Worship Associate
Every day we are creating new educational, occupational and recreational realities; cheering those creating needed vaccines; and reviving or adding new artistic skills to our creative toolbox. We gather to celebrate and nurture our universal creative spirit, and to attend to how creative the useful can be.
Creating your worship space
Do you have a button jar? Or just a loose button or two in the drawer? Set them with your chalice or candle near your watching device.
You can download and print a coloring page connected to Time for All Ages
Sunday, August 16, 2020
– Rev. Lisa Bovee-Kemper
We welcome back Rev. Lisa, our former Associate Minister, now Developmental Minister of the Greenville (SC) UU Fellowship, who reflects on the thrills and chills of trying to solve adaptive challenges using technical solutions. (BTW, it’s not going well.)
Sunday, August 9, 2020
Matt Meyer, Guest Artist
Our favorite songs, whoever the artist or whatever the style, were created in a strange alchemy of study and inspiration, of strict practice and of letting go. Spiritual Practice and social justice work are a similar combination of dedication, muscle memory, and perhaps a little divine inspiration. Join us for a musical exploration of learning to risk, building the muscle memory of courage, and the spiritual practice of relationship.
Matt Meyer is a musician and worship leader who has led hundreds of services for UU congregations across the country. He has a degree in hand drumming and serves as Director of Community Life for Sanctuary Boston.