Welcome from our Ministers

We are so glad you’ve found your way to this congregation! We hope you will find a spiritual home here as we learn together what it means to be human; exploring life’s deepest questions, engaging in our personal healing, while striving towards collective liberation.

You can learn more about Unitarian Universalism here.

You can find out about our worship services here.

Learn more about religious education for children and youth here.

For Adult Faith Development you can check out this link.

We are a Welcoming Congregation which means that we particularly welcome our LGBTQ+ siblings. On the front of our building hangs a Black Lives Matter sign and we are striving to be anti-racist and to learn to recognize the culture of white supremacy so that we can dismantle it. Our the(*)logies are varied (theologies spelled this way makes space for a variety of gender identities for God/not-god.

We hope you will attend a few worship services, whether online or in-person, and explore more of the website to get to know us a bit more. We are eager to meet you and to become part of your journey!

In faith and with hope,

Rev. Wendy Bartel and Rev. Lynn Gardner

Would you like to talk with Kristin about UU & UUSS?

Hi, I’m Kristin Cleveland, the Congregational Life Coordinator for the UU Society of Schenectady (UUSS). My role is to help people get connected to UUSS programs and to each other. Feel free to contact me at clc@uuschenectady.org or (518)374-4446 X7 if you have questions or would like to set up a time to chat about Unitarian Universalism and UUSS.

Some Frequently Asked Questions:

Who is welcome here?

We are generally a liberal religious community, and Unitarian Universalism is guided by seven Principles. Read about our shared faith in more detail here.

If you are on a journey to figure out what you believe, you are welcome here. If you have more questions than answers, you are welcome here. If you want your life to demonstrate your faith, you are welcome here. If you want the world to be a more kind, compassionate, and just place, you are welcome here. If you want to learn how to dismantle racism and end oppression, you are welcome here. If you are a person who is gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, heterosexual, asexual, and/or questioning, you are welcome here. If you are a person of color, white, multiracial, Indigenous, or unsure of your ancestry, who wants to learn how to live more equitably and celebrate a diversity of human expression, you are welcome here.

What do you believe?

Ours is a non-creedal faith. We can tell a lot more about one another by how we live than what specifically we say we believe. And we value congruence between our beliefs and our actions. This Living Tradition draws from six sources include the wisdom of the world’s religions, philosophies, science, and direct experience of transcending mystery and wonder. At our best, we are open to one another’s discoveries of truth and meaning that increase Love’s presence in the world. Throughout the denomination, one can discover UUs who identify as Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Pagan, and blends and combinations and none of these.

What goes on during the Sunday service?

At least three services a month are led by one or both of our co-ministers. The other services are led by members of the congregation or by visiting speakers. While the format of the service remains fairly constant, the content varies considerably. Because of our expansive outlook on religion, we do not restrict our sources of liturgy or music to any one sacred book or calendar. On most Sundays, the children attend the beginning of the worship service with parents/guardians, and after a story or message for all ages, the children follow their Religious Education teachers to classrooms. Sometimes the younger grades have a Children’s Chapel as their Religious Education program for the day. About once a month everyone is in the Great Hall for the entire service, as we program special worship for all ages, with stories, music and messages that are engaging and inspiring for all.  Upcoming services are described here, as well as publicized in our weekly e-mail newsletter, Circuits.

How can you be a church if you don’t all believe the same thing?

We have shared values that prioritize affirming and promoting one another’s worth, care for the Earth, speaking out against harm, and the democratic process. We strive to practice compassion, equity, and justice in how we live in the world. And we engage in a responsible search for truth and meaning because none of us can know everything. We need one another on this journey and our beliefs are tested in community, that we might refine, reframe, or recycle them.

Becoming a Member

If you have been attending worship and/or religious education classes for a while now, you are invited to attend one of our Getting to Know UU sessions for a deeper dive into this faith and this congregation. Once you’ve attended that class, you will be invited to a Membership Class where you learn more about what being a member means in this congregation. As this is a personal decision, there is no pressure or rush in becoming a member. We just want you to know there is a process. If you were a UU in another congregation, you are still encouraged to attend the GTKUU class though it can be waived with a short conversation with one of the ministers.

Accessibility

The main building is wheelchair accessible. The top row of the worship space, sometimes known as the Great Hall, is wheelchair accessible. There is a t-loop and we have a small supply of headsets to amplify the sound.

Where to find us

We are navigating the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic as we strive to care for one another. When metrics allow, we provide for both an online Zoom experience as well as an in-person worship at 1221 Wendell Ave. Schenectady. Need assistance to find us? Write to Kristin Cleveland, our Congregational Life Coordinator clc at uuschenectady dot org