with Musician Gary Rossi and Cantor Rachel Walters Steiner As is the tradition at UU Petaluma, we will be gathering to reflect on the years just past and the one to come, and take time to write letters to ourselves to be delivered in a year. If you wrote a letter last year, you should … Continue reading Letters to Ourselves
with Worship Associate Nancy Blake, Cantor Rachel Walters Steiner, and Pianist Gary Rossi Our forebears faced the darkening days of winter with some trepidation. Would warmth and light return? Perhaps it was best to light fires and sing and pray that it would. We may now take the turning of the seasons for granted, but … Continue reading Facing the Unknown
with Worship Associate Nancy Blake, and musicians Tony Blake and Gary Rossi. The holiday season is upon us, with all of its joy, wonder, pressure, and heartache. Join us today for an experiential service in which we will consider some ways to slow down and reduce the stress of the Fall and Winter holidays. Drumsound … Continue reading Resisting the Rush
With Worship Associate Nathan Makdad, Cantor Rachel Walters Stein, and musicians David Dodd on piano and the Larking About Choir. Generosity of Spirit is to act with kindness, to be open and willing to share with others without any expectation of receiving something back in return. It means to celebrate the success and efforts of … Continue reading Generosity of Spirit
Protests about institutionalized racism this summer have been compared to those of 1968. Dr. Buehrens heard his call to ministry then. As an historian, he would also compare them to the polarization in America over race going back to the 1850s, when both Unitarian minister Theodore Parker and Black abolitionist Frederick Douglass were calling for … Continue reading Conflagration: The Prospect of a Second American Civil War
In a society which so often focus on the need for more, for better, for the push to be extraordinary and to have and to experience extraordinary things, perhaps the path toward compassion for ourselves and others might be found in focusing instead on what is enough. We will send out the link to the viewing … Continue reading enough.
Our Soul Matters worship theme of the month is compassion. Being a people of compassion means moving from empathy (feeling) to action. What might this look like close to home? Please join us for this online service. We will send out the link to the viewing gathering in our newsletter. (Sign up for our newsletter, … Continue reading Compassion Practice: Looking with Love
In this peculiar pandemic time, we don’t just stand at a threshold–we have fallen down the rabbit hole into a world between worlds. In this time of disorientation, it is possible that the Caterpillar has the most important question. Rev. Dr. Lynn Ungar returns to join us virtually. We will send out the link to … Continue reading Down the Rabbit Hole
The Unitarian Universalist Flower Communion was first celebrated in 1923 by Dr. Norbert ÄŒapek, who founded the modern Unitarian movement in Czechoslovakia. He was inspired one day by the riot of spring around him, and he asked church members to each bring in a flower. Gathered together, the flowers remind us, “These flowers are like … Continue reading Flower Communion
The UUP Board of Trustees has cancelled worship services and other church-related gatherings through the end of April. Please be well, and stay in touch with one another for mutual support! Check your e-mail for links to upcoming online services and music. Rev. John Buehrens served as the sixth President of the UUA, 1993-2001. He retired … Continue reading Cancelled: Spiritual Friendship and Social Justice
