This year our broad theme for summer services is “Navigating the Unexpected.” People’s People will speak on this theme in a variety of ways. Each service will include a ten-minute reflection from a speaker followed by group discussion.
On our annual Memorial Day weekend service of remembrance, we will remember those who have died in war and military service. We will also honor church members and others who have died in the past year and the griefs that so many of us carry.
In our April question box service, a People’s person submitted this note: ‘This isn’t exactly a question, but something I’ve grappled with. I always thought of myself as a tolerant, open-minded person, but as so much extreme thought/actions have occurred (infringing what I consider basic rights), I will not be tolerant of those. So I’ve come to understand my tolerance and open-mindedness definitely has limits.’ The service will explore the limits of tolerance.
May first is Beltane, the pagan wheel of the year festival that falls between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Rev. Rachel will preach on this festival of spring, fertility, and fire.
Come celebrate our connection and commitment to our precious planet with this all-ages service led by People’s Church youth (the team that brought you the wonderful Encanto-themed service last December), and Rev. Rachel.
Every week, the preschool class at People’s Church lights a chalice with the words ‘We light this chalice as a symbol of Unitarian Universalism. This is the church of the open mind. This is the church of the helping hands. This is the church of the loving heart. Welcome, everyone!’ How can we best help one another in hard times? In this service, Rev. Rachel will share wisdom for being a helpful helper. There will also be a chance to sign up to offer care (such as meals, rides, and visits) to other folks when the need arises.
On this Easter Sunday, Rev. Rachel will explore stories of resurrection (including Jesus and Zombies) as well as the scientific reality that our atoms continue to cycle through ecosystems and other living beings long after we die.
It is a day for questions at People’s Church (but isn’t every day a day for questions?) Bring your questions about meaning, ethics, integrity, People’s Church, Unitarian Universalism and more (but please no math problems). Rev. Rachel will do her best to answer as many of them as she can during the service – and all of them will help shape the focus of our worship services and church programming over the coming year.
In this service guest preacher, Amy G. S. A. Brooks, will reflect on the question of “why we do what we do” in our congregations and communities.
Rebecca Solnit writes, “Think of the Carboniferous as a sixty-million-year inhale by plants, sucking carbon dioxide from the sky, and the last two hundred years as a monstrous human-engineered exhale, undoing what the plants did so long ago.” How might we, residents of this time of exhale, during a month that local activists have called Climate Emergency Month, transform our grief at climate change into ferocious love and courageous action? This episode is the sermon ONLY. For the FULL service, please check it out on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/jwplr29Vp3c