We hope you’ll join us on Wednesday, April 6 at 7 p.m., for the continuation of our Wednesday Spring Seminarian Series, hosted by Rev. Karen Hutt. This week, we’ll hear from three seminary students as they share about their plans to do good in the world. Please join us! Wednesday Meditation is an online-only midweek time of meditation, reflection, and connection that usually lasts about 30 minutes.

Connect to the livestream here – 7 p.m.

Webinar ID: 117-312-320.
Dial in: 1-312-626-6799 and enter the webinar ID.

Things rise and fall every day: not just baked items in the oven but energies, emotions, commitments, willingness. Though the idea of ‘onward and upward forever’ has been long proven to be a lie; most of us use our days trying to create more of what we want in ourselves, our families, our communities, and our world. What are some of the obstacles and what can help us to rise, even a tiny bit? Join us this Sunday, April 3 at 9 or 11 a.m. as we begin to explore the April worship theme, This is How We Rise.

ORDER OF SERVICE

Offering: Give via our online giving portal, on the CashApp , or text firstuniv to 73256. You’ll receive a link to a secure form where you can enter your information. Select the “Offering Plate” fund from the dropdown menu.

First Step – in person, immediately after each service (option to zoom in after second service on the first Sunday of the month)
Facilitated by one of our members, First Step is a brief, casual orientation to Unitarian Universalism and First Universalist Church. During this 40-minute class, participants will learn about the foundations of our faith tradition and opportunities to get involved. If you attend First Step, please fill out the Visitor Connect form so we can follow up with you! Thank you!

First Step meets in person every first and third Sunday of the month after each service- roughly 10:05 a.m. and 12:05 p.m. On the first Sunday of the month, there’s an option to join via zoom after the second service- roughly 12:05 p.m. If you join us in person, look for the facilitator holding a “First Step Meets Here” sign at the front of the sanctuary after the worship services. We look forward to welcoming you!

Join us on Wednesday evening for the launch of our Spring Seminarian Series, hosted by Rev. Karen Hutt and led by a different seminary student each week. Wednesday Meditation is an online-only midweek time of meditation, reflection, and connection that usually lasts about 30 minutes.

This week, we’ll hear a message from Meg Mercury—“Theology for a Time of Smashed Street-Lamps”—which invites us to consider how we are to respond theologically/philosophically as people of good faith to times of crisis and turmoil. They draw on the words of James Luther Adams, UU theologian, and Jan Carpenter Tucker, BLUU essayist, in conversation with the poem “Lines to a Poet” by Josephine Jacobsen (see below). They discuss the importance of loving community, JLA’s concept of the prophethood of all believers (truth-telling), and Tucker’s discussion of sankofa (drawing wisdom from our past).

Meg Mercury (they/them) is a student of Religion and Theology at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, and they live in Minneapolis with their dog, Molly. Their passion is constructing theologies (and philosophies) that are life-affirming and critical of oppressive systems of power. And yes, they’re a lot of fun at parties.

Connect to the livestream here – 7 p.m.

Webinar ID: 117-312-320.
Dial in: 1-312-626-6799 and enter the webinar ID.

“Lines to a Poet” by Josephine Jacobsen

Be careful what you say to us now.
The street-lamp is smashed, the window is jagged,
There is a man dead in his blood by the base of the fountain.
If you speak,
You cannot be delicate or sad or clever.
Some other hour, in a moist April,
We will consider similes for the budding larches.
You can teach our wits and our fancy then;
By a green-lit midnight in your study
We will delve into your sparkling rock.
But now at dreadful high noon
You may speak only to our heart,
Our honor and our need:
Saying such things as, “See, she is alive . . . “
Or “Here is water,” or “Look behind you!”

We talk a lot about love here. A love that will not let us go. A love that draws a circle so wide that everyone is included. A love that works to end oppression in all of its forms and build beloved community. The Universalist spirit of love and hope. But what does it mean to live a life through the lens of love? This Sunday, as author bell hooks would say in her essential text, it’s all about love.

ORDER OF SERVICE

We invite you into a simple space of meditation, silence, poetry, song, and shared company. Come, tend to your spirit each Wednesday evening by joining us for this brief (~15–30 minute) midweek time of meditation and connection. All are welcome, and no experience is needed. Wednesday meditation is offered online only.

Connect to the livestream here – 7 p.m.

Webinar ID: 117-312-320.
Dial in: 1-312-626-6799 and enter the webinar ID.

In this bigger togetherness, what do you need promised to you?

In this bigger togetherness, what do you promise to those around you?

In this bigger togetherness, what aspirations stretch you to who you want to be?

This Sunday, March 20, let’s talk about covenant and the promises we make, the promises we want made to us, and what it is that we’re reaching for when we covenant together in this ever bigger togetherness.

ORDER OF SERVICE– as a google doc or on our website

Offering: Give via our online giving portal, on the CashApp, or text firstuniv to 73256. You’ll receive a link to a secure form where you can enter your information. Select the “Offering Plate” fund from the dropdown menu.

First Step – in person, immediately after each service
Facilitated by one of our members, First Step is a brief, casual orientation to Unitarian Universalism and First Universalist Church. During this 40-minute class, participants will learn about the foundations of our faith tradition and opportunities to get involved. If you attend First Step, please fill out the Visitor Connect form so we can follow up with you! Thank you!

First Step meets in person every first and third Sunday of the month after each service- roughly 10:05 a.m. and 12:05 p.m. On the first Sunday of the month, there’s an option to join via zoom after the second service- roughly 12:05 p.m. If you join us in person, look for the facilitator holding a “First Step Meets Here” sign at the front of the sanctuary after the worship services. We look forward to welcoming you!

We invite you into a simple space of meditation, silence, poetry, song, and shared company. Come, tend to your spirit each Wednesday evening by joining us for this brief (~15–30 minute) midweek time of meditation and connection. All are welcome, and no experience is needed. Wednesday meditation is offered online only.

Connect to the livestream here – 7 p.m.

Webinar ID: 117-312-320.
Dial in: 1-312-626-6799 and enter the webinar ID.

Sometimes the swirl of the world, our communities, our lives, is just too much. Rest and stillness are part of the story – and so is change. This Sunday, March 13, we’ll explore what it means to let go of perfection and live in full progress – risky, messy, beautiful becoming.

Webinar ID: 861 805 984
Dial-in on a phone for audio-only: 312-626-6799

ORDER OF SERVICE- as a google doc or on our website

Offering: Give via our online giving portal, on the CashApp , or text firstuniv to 73256. You’ll receive a link to a secure form where you can enter your information. Select the “Offering Plate” fund from the dropdown menu.

We invite you into a simple space of meditation, silence, poetry, song, and shared company. Come, tend to your spirit each Wednesday evening by joining us for this brief (~15–30 minute) midweek time of meditation and connection. All are welcome, and no experience is needed. Wednesday meditation is offered online only.

Connect to the livestream here – 7 p.m.

Webinar ID: 117-312-320.
Dial in: 1-312-626-6799 and enter the webinar ID.

As we live into new and more expansive ways of being together, what will we hold on to, and what will we release? What fierce and holy imagination will guide us as we drop the ways of being that weigh us down, taking only what we need into a future full of justice, liberation, love and joy for the generations to come? Join us on Sunday, March 6 – or listen later in the week – as we allow ourselves to imagine and experience a bigger togetherness.

ORDER OF SERVICE

Offering: Give here or text firstuniv to 73256. You’ll receive a link to a secure form where you can enter your information. Select the “Offering Plate” fund from the dropdown menu.

First Step – in person, immediately after each service (option to zoom in after second service on the first Sunday of the month)

Facilitated by one of our members, First Step is a brief, casual orientation to Unitarian Universalism and First Universalist Church. During this 40-minute class, participants will learn about the foundations of our faith tradition and opportunities to get involved. If you attend First Step, please fill out the Visitor Connect form so we can follow up with you! Thank you!

First Step meets in person every first and third Sunday of the month after each service- roughly 10:05 a.m. and 12:05 p.m. On the first Sunday of the month, there’s an option to join via zoom after the second service- roughly 12:05 p.m. If you join us in person, look for the facilitator holding a “First Step Meets Here” sign at the front of the sanctuary after the worship services. We look forward to welcoming you!