This is our “Year of Living Covenantally”!
Soul Matters theme: Renewing Faith
Unless otherwise noted, services are led by the Rev. Andrew Clive Millard and take place at 11am on Sundays. You can register in advance for an in-person spot in the Sanctuary, or otherwise connect via Zoom at https://uuma.zoom.us/j/920676087 or telephone to 646-876-9923 (Meeting ID: 920 676 087).
March 6th: “Adopting the First Principle”
“We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person.” There is a long- running conversation amongst UUs about how to practice our First Principle. Must it apply to the worst person we can imagine? Does it mean we let someone get away with doing harm? How do we distinguish between the person and the behavior? And do we apply it to ourselves?
March 13th: “Two Years in the Wilderness (Not Just Surviving, but Thriving!)”
On March 13, 2020, the global coronavirus pandemic turned everything upside-down. The UUFP had just voted to move to a bigger and better property, but we hastily shifted gears and began holding services and all of our other programs on-line. Two years later, we have continued to work toward our move (including our incredibly successful capital campaign), we have deepened our commitment to our faith, and we have learned a lot about what it means to be a community.
Daylight Saving Time begins at 2:00 a.m. on March 13!
March 20th: “Is Unitarian Universalism a Religion? If So, How So?”
What makes a religion? Does religion entail belief in one, more or many deities? Often, surely, but not always: think of Buddhism which presumes no deity. Is religion the place where we find answers to a set of elemental human questions: the ‘how’, ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘where’ and ‘why’s of existence? Or is questioning and seeking itself the sacred, defining trait? Bek Wheeler and Kathryn Ozyurt explore these and other questions.
Rebecca Wheeler is a Professor of English Linguistics at Christopher Newport University. She has been an atheist since childhood and a UU for nearly forty years. Bek serves as President of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the Peninsula and hopes this service will help her answer friends who ask, “How can Unitarian Universalism be a religion? They don’t even believe in God, do they?” Bek lives happily in Newport News with her best companion, Delta, Labrador extraordinaire.
Kathryn Ozyurt is a lifelong Unitarian Universalist and co-chair of the Leadership Development Committee. She was a member of UU congregations in Salem, OR, Mobile and Auburn, AL, and Oak Cliff, TX, before moving to Newport News. Kathryn experienced the tumult of the 1960s and 70s as Unitarians and Universalists worked together to blend their beliefs and values amid social and political upheaval. Moving through the second century of her UU experience, she continues her quest for learning and understanding, and how to apply her UU beliefs, values and lessons learned in daily life today.
March 27th: “Are We There Yet? Our Journey Toward Wholeness”
Twenty-five years ago, congregational delegates to the UUA’s General Assembly passed a historic resolution, “Toward an Anti-Racist Unitarian Universalist Association”. It called upon Unitarian Universalists — individuals, leaders, congregations and the UUA itself — to affirm and promote our Principles by making a commitment to transform Unitarian Universalism into a truly anti-racist, multi-cultural faith. So how are we doing?