Heritage UU Church

Celebrating Life. Creating Community. Seeking Justice.

Celebrating Life
Creating Community
Seeking Justice

Sunday, March 27: “Rebirth and Renewal” (Easter Sunday)

DaffodilsRev. Bill Gupton.

Each of us is part of the Interdependent Web of Existence – part of a vast cycle of birth, death, and renewal. It is a natural ebb and flow that includes trees and flowers, birds and beasts and – yes – human beings. This Easter Sunday, we celebrate the Spirit of Life. We celebrate rebirth and renewal, as made manifest in the perennial return to life of our natural world. Our Choir will sing uplifting music, and our rituals will help us rejoice in the return of Life – in our world, and in our hearts.

Worship Associate: Kathy Wade.

March 2016.

Sunday, March 20: “If You Really Knew Me…”

Rev. Greg MartinRev. Greg Martin.

We often go through life assuming that if people really knew us, they would not accept us if not outright reject us in many instances. We harbor secrets and inner pain. We can expend enormous energy keeping ourselves secure and impregnable. Or we can discover that part of being human is to suffer. When we openly acknowledge our sufferings to others in a safe space, in other words become vulnerable, we can find courage and a new power in living.

Rev. Martin is the minister at Miami Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Dayton, Ohio.

Worship Associate: Bill Lyon.

March, 2016.

Sunday, March 13: “It’s Who We Are”

Offering Plate - Do good and distributeRev. Bill Gupton.

Generosity is part of who we are, at Heritage Church. This congregation has shown its abundant generosity in so many ways lately – from a capital improvements campaign to an increase in hours for our Assistant Minister for Religious Education; from opening our doors to support groups in the greater community to reaching out to hurting members; from outreach offerings to social justice work. We give, with a spirit of love, in so many ways. Today, we begin the season of commitment to our annual operating budget, with reflections on generosity from our Minister, our Vice-President, our wonderful Choir, and more. Join us as we celebrate “who we are” and the generosity that lies at the heart of our church.

Worship Associate: Bob Staggenborg.

March 2016.

Wednesday, March 9, 7:00 p.m.: Vespers Service

Five CandlesWorship in a meditative atmosphere with readings, song and silence. Participants are asked to enter the sanctuary in silence and to leave the same way. As always, people are welcome to linger after the service. Childcare is not provided. Contact Connie with questions.

During the 2015-16 church year, Vespers Services are being held from September through May on the second Wednesday of every month (September 9, October 14, November 11, December 9, January 13, February 10, March 9, April 13, and May 11).

Sunday, March 6: “Safe Passage”

Immigrant Children in Detention CenterSenior High Youth Group.

In 2014 over 68,500 unaccompanied children arrived in the United States, an increase over the prior year by more than 30,000. Many of the children apprehended at the border are fleeing unspeakable violence in their home countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Some members of our human family are throwing their arms wide to welcome those seeking mercy and seeking home; others are nearly taking up arms to drive them away. Join us for a youth-led interactive service regarding immigration in the U.S. from the perspective of the youth.

Worship Associates: Maddie Horton and Bill Lyon.

March 2016.

Sunday, February 28: “Healing Waters”

Water Pouring over HandsRev. Bill Gupton.

Water. Without it, there is no life. Two-thirds to three-fourths of our body is water (depending on our age and gender). As any athlete knows, water has remarkable healing qualities. Today we will experience the healing properties of the water that was gathered by more than a hundred of us, from all over the Earth, last summer, and that was shared in the Water Ceremony that annually marks the start of our “church year.” Come experience how that water has been transformed. Come see how you can be transformed, in a new ritual of healing and grace. Our Choir will also sing this morning.

Worship Associate: Karen Rush.

February 2016.

Sunday, February 21: “Religious Freedom”

Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale, 1800

Thomas Jefferson

Rev. Bill Gupton.

Two hundred and fifteen years ago this week, the most famous Unitarian of them all – Thomas Jefferson – was elected the third President of the United States, following a controversial electoral college tie, 35 inconclusive ballots in the House of Representatives, and one of the most divisive and chaotic elections in history. Jefferson’s ideas about religious freedom – still debated, and often misunderstood, today – became one of the key issues in that election. This morning, we will look at the astounding political (and religious) legacy of the man who once wrote, “I trust that there is not a young man now living in the United States who will not die a Unitarian.”

Worship Associate: Shannon Murley.

Update: Text of Rev. Bill’s reflection.

February 2016.

Sunday, February 14: “Love Is the Spirit”

Lighting the chalice at Heritage Universalist Unitarian Church.

Lighting the chalice at Heritage Universalist Unitarian Church.

Rev. Bill Gupton.

It’s Valentine’s Day! What better day to examine – and share – the Love that is the spirit of this church? Come for the silence of the sanctuary, come for the friendship, come for the reflection, come for the Choir and the singing . . . but by all means, “Come, let us worship together.”

Worship Associate: Jill Beyette.

February 2016.

Wednesday, February 10, 7:00 p.m.: Vespers Service

Vespers Altar Candles 2Worship in a meditative atmosphere with readings, song and silence. Participants are asked to enter the sanctuary in silence and to leave the same way. As always, people are welcome to linger after the service. Childcare is not provided. Contact Connie with questions.

During the 2015-16 church year, Vespers Services are being held from September through May on the second Wednesday of every month (September 9, October 14, November 11, December 9, January 13, February 10, March 9, April 13, and May 11. ).

Sunday, February 7: “Healing Historical Trauma”

Rosalynn Carter and Mary Pember at The Carter Center

Rosalynn Carter and Mary Pember at The Carter Center

Mary Pember.

Our congregation’s own Mary Pember writes: “During 2014 I was immersed in trauma. I received journalism fellowships from The Carter Center in Atlanta and the University of Southern California-Annenberg supporting my work focusing on the impact of historical trauma and unresolved grief on the lives of Native peoples and ways that the community is working to heal and build resiliency. At the end of my year of writing and publishing the work in the news website Indian Country Today Media Network, I delivered a presentation at the Carter Center describing the work and the process. Today I share this presentation with HUUC. You can read some of the stories at www.mapember.com.”

Worship Associate: Shannon Murley.

February 2016.

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