There is a hymn that was the inspiration for the theme of our installation service in 2018 and that we have sung in other services since then. Together We Are More weaves together hope, courage, and the power found in community. Sunday’s Locavore Lunch hosted by the Green Sanctuary Team, accompanied by postcard writing with #UUtheVote, and support from the Social Justice Action Team was a wonderful example of synergistic energy when we work together!

Kids were stamping completed postcards, connections happened over delicious food and writing to voters. And, of course, none of this happened with UUSS alone. The postcards and address lists were provided by UUA partners at Reclaim Our Vote. Much of the food was grown and raised by local farmers, and only possible because of water, soil, air, and sunshine and a willingness for UUSS folks to prepare and bring it to church.

The CommUUnity Gala on October 17th will be a celebration of the congregation… but more importantly for this particular event, the congregation’s connections with the wider community. We really hope to see you there. The Team has worked hard for several months planning a wonderful celebration and we want to share some love with our guests who we are giving awards to for their work and dedication in the wider community. See the announcement below to buy your tickets ASAP. And a few folks in the congregation have bought tickets even though they can’t go, hoping to help someone else attend, so if cost is a real barrier for you attending this event, reach out to us because together, we are more! More Fun! More Compassion! More Justice! More Joy!

In faith~
Rev. Lynn & Rev. Wendy

“The scale of our breathing is planetary,” wrote Alexis Pauline Gumbs in her powerful book, Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals. This is a profound way to articulate our interdependence.

Breathing in peace and breathing out love is a valid practice for making a difference in the world. May you find moments today, maybe even right now, to pause, to engage in mindfulness with your breath- Breathing in, I breathe in peace… breathing out, I breathe out love… at your own pace, repeating as many times as feels good. Perhaps you send some of that love to a friend, a colleague, Canada, or some deeply troubled place or person that would benefit from some love today. Or you could sing or breathe along to #1009 by UU Sarah Dan Jones.

Sending you peace and love,
Rev. Wendy and Rev. Lynn

Unitarian Universalist congregations include folks who grew up in the tradition, and many people who have come to this faith later in their lives, often seeking a place in which to explore spiritual concepts and practices in community with others. As UUs, we affirm that learning and faith development is lifelong, and often happens in relationship. We might learn something or discover or experience something on our own but then realize when we test it out with others, it may or may not still ring true. Being in community with others while learning what it means to be human and what we perceive about life’s big questions can be hard to imagine for folks who have not experienced it as so many other religions require a creedal statement or declaration of belief.

This Sunday will be the beginning of this year’s Religious Education classes for children and youth. Teaching and volunteering in RE programs and/or with children and youth in other ways in our home congregations was a way for us to learn, connect, and serve, all at the same time. We are so grateful for all those who are participating and volunteering this year. What will you learn? How will you grow? Don’t forget to register your children and youth! It’s one of the ways we can help keep them safer and to honor our adult volunteers who want to prepare for their arrival to class.

And if Sunday morning teaching isn’t your jam, consider facilitating a Covenant Group. Or attending Grief Group. Or stopping by the #UUtheVote table to pick up some postcards to encourage voters to vote! There are so many large and small ways we can make a difference.

With anticipation,
Rev. Lynn & Rev. Wendy

As we explore the value of interdependence, we share this poem by Charles Thomas:

Living
by Charles Thomas

We are living in a universe
possibly part
of a multiverse.

We are living in the Milky Way
a part
of the Local Group of galaxies
a part
of a supercluster of galaxies.

We are living in a solar system
in a spiral arm
of the Milky Way.

We are living on a planet
powered by
the sun.

We are living on a planet
called Earth
with rocks and trees
and birds and leaves
and oceans
and mountains
and lakes
and everything beautiful
and everything good
to care for
as they care for us.

We are living today
with time to do good
for ourselves
and for each other.

We hope to see you Sunday as we continue to explore interdependence and this congregation’s 125th September! Bring water for the water communion ritual. Bring something to share for the potluck picnic. Bring yourself, your family and/or friends, or neighbors who might be needing a community such as UUSS.

In faith
~ Rev. Wendy & Rev. Lynn

Happy new congregational year!

We are grateful to have had three weeks of vacation in July to tend to our own bodies and minds and spirits. Rest is important, sometimes even revolutionary when capitalism (and run amok government officials) demand more More MORE or do more and more egregious harm. We hope you have had a chance to have some rest, relaxation, and to do something that nourishes you.

Though we were not in the pulpit this summer, we worked for several weeks, preparing for and facilitating the pilgrimage to Follensby Pond, with participants from three different congregations. We are grateful for what we experienced, learned, and witnessed. Thanks to John Reschovsky, Catherine Miller, and Tom Comparin for the time and care they offered as volunteers to this adventure and fundraiser for the congregation.

Our summer work time also included preparing for and leading the Board Retreat in four sessions, 2 3-hour evenings and 2 full days strengthening leadership skills, tending to one another and our relationships, exploring governance, creating a new covenant, writing a new Annual Focus of Ministry, and deciding on two new Open Questions so that the congregation can offer input and provide some guidance to the Board’s work. They created some goals and are in the process of finalizing work products they will delegate to the three Advisory Committees of the Board. You’ll hear more about all that over the next couple of weeks. We also offered some pastoral care, did some reading and filing, and connected with staff periodically to support their important work on behalf of the Congregation’s mission.

We are so grateful that in Unitarian Universalism, we have a shared pulpit. As your Co-ministers, we are responsible and accountable for the worship life of the congregation and per the Letter of Agreement that guides congregations and ministers of the UUA, we are expected to lead between 30 and 35 services a year (range is somewhat dependent on denominational commitments and other factors). The other Sundays are wonderfully and ably led by guest ministers and lay leaders. The voices of lay leaders and guest ministers enrich those who participate in worship or who access the recordings available online as no one person knows everything about anything and no one person knows something about everything. Deep and heartfelt thanks to those who led worship this summer as we all continue to live lives of meaning-making and creating a congregation where more find a sense of belonging.

We also had a week of Study Leave-reading, engaging in spiritual practices, contemplating the year ahead, and learning more about a new pilot program of the UUA. (see below)

For those celebrating Rosh Hashanah later this week, may the candles illuminate hearts towards peace; may the new fruit inspire renewed faith; may the apple, challah, and honey bring sweetness not just to tongues but to your whole year. May you be inscribed into the Book of Life. Shanah tovah!

We look forward to being with you… to reconnecting with those of you we know, and meeting folks who have started attending UUSS over the summer.

With anticipation,
Rev. Lynn and Rev. Wendy

 

(published September 9th)

What a wonderful year it has been celebrating Unitarian Universalism and the 125th anniversary of this congregation through a Launch Lunch and a MayFest CommUUnity Celebration! So many of you have whole-heartedly engaged in the shared ministry of UUSS and we are grateful to be in the work of the UUSS mission with you: Connecting in spiritual community, we celebrate life with joy, grow in compassion, and create justice! We did a lot of thanking in the service on June 14 but in case you weren’t there – Thank you if you have been showing up, participating, pledging, and/or volunteering! It matters. YOU matter.

Each year the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) chooses a book called The Common Read. UUs all over engage in reading and with the resources/curriculum generated by the UUA. Recent common reads have been: On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg; Authentic Selves: Celebrating Trans and Nonbinary People and Their Families interviews by Peggy Gillespie; Social Change Now: A Guide for Reflection and Connection by Deepa Iyer. And the UUA has announced the Common Read for 2026-27 as Love at the Center: Unitarian Universalist Theologies with Sofía Betancourt as the editor of this series of essays.

The UUA has its own publishing, too. Beacon Press books “seek to change the way readers think about fundamental issues…” Beacon Press has published several national bestsellers over the years. Skinner House Books publishes titles specifically for the “spiritual needs of Unitarian Universalists, seekers, and others who share the values of liberal religion.”

If you are looking for a good book this summer (or several), you might find just what you are looking for in the library at Waters House or at the UUA bookstore! There are books for all ages there!

According to the Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography, Margaret Fuller, born to Unitarian parents, “possessed more influence on the thought of American women than any previous to her time.” So wrote Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in their 1881 History of Woman Suffrage. … A brilliant and highly educated member of the Transcendentalist group, she challenged Ralph Waldo Emerson both intellectually and emotionally.” Many found her work and her thoughts life-changing. She is quoted as having once said, “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.”

As we consider reading an important part of Unitarian Universalism and an informed electorate, may reading (or listening to stories if that is more your jam) bring you meaning and strength and joy for the journey ahead.

Summer blessings!
Rev. Wendy and Rev. Lynn

A number of folks have asked what our plans are for the summer, and while the responsibilities of the end of year are taking precedence over our specific planning for the summer, we do intend to take some time for vacation and some study leave.

Study leave is time for us to engage in practices that nurture and sustain our well-being. Study leave may include time to reflect, go on retreat, engage in spiritual practices, read, write, learn, attend training and/or workshops, continuing education, and to begin preparations for the year ahead.

Vacation may be more obvious what it is but it might not occur to some that it means we are away, as in not working, even if we are at home. We need to be able to rest and reset just like everyone else which means we are not reading email or answering texts or otherwise working. If there is an emergency, you can contact Lillian the Church Administrator and she will decide, sometimes in consultation with Board President Stephanie Maslanka, what the right course of action is. If you see us out and about, of course you can say hello. Please do! But let’s not talk about church business or congregational life. Feel free to tell us how your summer is going, what you’ve been doing to protest the government, and things like that.

Whether we are on vacation or study leave, we will also continue to resist fascism, work for justice, and care for our neighbors, because we know it is important to live our UU values all year long, to the best of our ability on any given day. We hope you’ll join us in your own way.

Our hoped for plan is that much of July is full of vacation. In August, we will be ‘at work’ preparing for and then co-leading the pilgrimage to Follensby Pond and preparing for and meeting with the Board over several days for the annual Board Retreat. There will also be some study leave sprinkled in. And, we shall see how the days unfold. This is your last call to register for the Follensby Pond trip, a fundraiser for the congregation and a nurturing experience for those who go with us to ponder our history, reflect while held by the Earth, and connect with other UUs in a deeper way all in an incredibly beautiful place in the Adirondacks.

We are grateful for the shared ministry of this congregation, that includes the Staff, the Ministry Teams, the Board, and Advisory Committees, and lots of volunteers each doing your part.

We hope that your summer includes activities and connections that bring you joy. There will be lots of wonderful things happening at UUSS and we hope that you choose to show up, participate, and connect with others in the congregation. There are so many wonderful folks here! If you need any care and support, please contact the Caring Team member listed in Circuits. Other questions can go to Lillian Johnson, Church Administrator.

With love and care,
Rev. Lynn & Rev. Wendy

Each June the Unitarian Universalist Association holds a General Assembly where delegates from all congregations who make up the UUA, as well as anyone interested, attend general sessions where the business of the Association takes place, worship, workshops, and time for caucus gatherings and other times of connection.

This year, General Assembly is taking place mostly online, with small groups gathering as well. It is a different schedule than has happened before, and there are lots of thoughts and feelings about the changes. Starting this past Sunday afternoon, and concluding today, there have been General Sessions where delegates elected incoming Board & Nominating Committee members, heard and discussed a proposed bylaw change that was voted down as it would not have solved the issue raised, and a business resolution that was passed, that will create a task force to review the processes and support offered that impact ministerial transitions, particularly when there has been conflict or concerns raised.

Today’s sessions are focusing on Actions of Immediate Witness that could result in suggestions for ways that congregations can engage with certain social justice issues. There is also two business resolutions in favor of actively supporting more youth participation in next year’s GA, which will be in San Jose, CA.

There are parts of General Assembly that are open and available to all, whether registered or not. These are available on the UUA website.

However you choose to devote your energy and time this week, may your life reflect the values we share and profess, with love at the center, always. In faith – Rev. Lynn & Rev. Wendy

As we explore Beauty in Community this month, we are reminded, again and again, how grateful we are for the many volunteers at UUSS!

For all who sign up, show up, and serve…. Thank you! For all who are interested in volunteering in the future… hooray!

We hope to see you on Sunday so that we can share gratitude together.

in faith~ Rev. Lynn & Rev. Wendy

Happy May!

Some of you have heard us say that being a Unitarian Universalist isn’t something that can be contained or limited to Sunday mornings, or within the church buildings, or lived quietly at home. It involves living our values in the wider world, too. For many of us, that means connecting with people and organizations in the community that contribute to creating, sustaining, or protecting the world in which we want to live. That was one reason we were so grateful for the community organizations that were able to be part of MayFest, and it is definitely why we are excited about the CommUUnity Gala and Awards Dinner that will be happening in October.

And, this is where you come in. If you can think of a person, business, or organization that exemplifies compassion, or justice, or joy as named in our UUSS mission statement, please nominate them for one of these awards! Are you sure that someone else has already nominated them? Please do so anyway, as that will give the planning team more information. (A link to the short nomination form is in the announcement below with the 125th logo!)

The Gala Planning Team will be choosing our award recipients next week, so that we can confirm their availability for the awards dinner, and include their names on the invitations. Hooray for 125 years of UUSS, and for our neighbors and partners in the community, too! In faith~ Rev. Wendy & Rev. Lynn