One of the most important ministries of People’s Church is providing the Our Whole Lives Comprehensive Sexuality Education program for our children and youth. In this service, Rev. Rachel and People’s Church youth who have participated in the Our Whole Lives program will reflect on the importance of comprehensive sexuality education rooted in the values … Continue reading Our Whole Lives
As we prepare for an upcoming capital campaign to pay for maintenance and improvement of our current church home (see other parts of the newsletter for more details on that), this Sunday, we will look back at the various homes this church has had over the years, from the Fireman’s Hall in 1855 to two … Continue reading Mortar and Stone, Windows and Walls: A History of the Buildings of People’s Church
It’s time for our annual question service – bring your questions about life, religion, and meaning to the service (or send them to Rev. Rachel in advance) and she will respond to as many of them as she can during the service. This Sunday service will also contain a recognition of our partnership with Scouting … Continue reading Living the Questions
Loss and grief touch our lives in myriad ways, yet many of us feel unsure how to respond when they show up in our communities. This sermon reflects on what it means to be a grief-literate community and invites us to grow our capacity to accompany one another through loss with honesty, humility, and love. … Continue reading On Being a Grief Literate Community
Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III has said: “When the people sing together something happens that can’t be replicated by singing alone…” We invite you to our hymn sing service; People’s people will reflect on hymns and songs that have had special meaning to them over the years and then we will sing a few verses from … Continue reading Hymn Sing (Again)
On Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, we will remember the life of Unitarian Universalist Civil Rights martyr James Reeb. Reeb, a white Unitarian Universalist minister serving in Boston who went to Selma, Alabama in 1965 to support voting rights. While there, he was attacked by white supremacists and died. We will learn (or re-learn) his … Continue reading Remembering James Reeb
Rev. Rachel has been reading disability history and theory recently. She was struck by an idea from Jennifer Natalya Fink that our cultural ableism and fear of disability is, at its core, a fear of needing care. In our community, we know that we are interconnected and we try to care for each other. Can … Continue reading Help, Care, Fear & Disability
Is it possible to separate the art from the artist? How do we navigate the ethical thicket that arises when we learn that art that is meaningful to us is made by people who have acted abhorrently? There are no simple answers, but Rev. Rachel will explore some guidelines that might help us live with … Continue reading When Bad People Make Good Art
In this service, we will mark the end of 2025 with rituals to let go of what we do not want to take with us into the coming year (by dramatically burning it up using magicians’ flash paper!) and to set our intentions for the year ahead. You can access the order of service HERE. … Continue reading Burning the Old Year: An All Ages Service
Join us to remember and retell the story of the Nativity as we hope for the rebirth of love and peace in the present day. This service will feature music, poetry, storytelling and candlelight. You can access the order of service HERE. Please join us on Zoom or in person! Services are normally held in the … Continue reading Christmas Eve Service
Join us to celebrate the darkest day of the year and the return of the sun with music, story and crafts. We will also celebrate the purchase of the solar panels on the church roof. You can access the order of service HERE. Please join us on Zoom or in person! Services are normally held in … Continue reading Solstice Celebration! A Service for All Ages
Unitarian Universalism teaches us that no one is beyond love’s reach… not even the parts of ourselves that annoy us. Loving those parts of us (and each other) can be challenging, yet it’s as important now asever. How might we practice that love, and what can we learn about it from the mountain-climbing-platformer video game … Continue reading A Love So Wide
Rev. Rachel’s children recently observed, ‘the days you are sad are the days we dance in the living room.’ What does it mean to practice joy, now, given everything unfolding in the world? Inspired by the line from poet Wendell Berry that gives this service its title, Rev. Rachel will explore how simple, joyfulpractices might … Continue reading Be Joyful (though you have considered all the facts)
Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III has said: “When the people sing together something happens that can’t be replicated by singing alone…” We invite you to our hymn sing service; People’s people will reflect onhymns and songs that have had special meaning to them over the years and then we will sing a few verses from … Continue reading Hymn Sing
The creations of Jim Henson—including Sesame Street, The Muppets, and more—hold so many lessons about how to create community across difference. This service will feature some iconic music from The Muppets and Sesame Street. This service will be most meaningful if you have a basic knowledge of The Muppets and Sesame Street characters. There are … Continue reading (Almost) Everything I Need to Know about Beloved Community I Learned from The Muppets
Theodore Parker was a Unitarian minister and a leading theologian and abolitionist in the middle of the 19th century. In this moment when our values are calling us to act in new and different ways, Rev. Rachel invites us to take a moment to learn (or re-learn) some of the stories of this good ancestor … Continue reading Remembering Theodore Parker
This service will feature a (probably) brief congregational meeting about the proposal to purchase the solar panels on the roof of the church building (for more information on this proposal, CLICK HERE), as well as music, meditation, reflection and (most) everything else you expect from a Sunday service at People’s Church. You can access the … Continue reading A Question of Solar Power
Nov 2 is the “Day of the Dead” in Italy, a festivity concomitant with Halloween and yet very different from its American equivalent. Thanks to the guidance of Rev. Rachel Lonberg and her Writing Sermon Class, I am glad to share my experience with you. There will be a ritual at the end. Please bring … Continue reading The Day of the Dead
On the Sunday before Halloween, we continue our occasional series on the meaning of monsters. In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, a small team is trying to make sense of mysterious deaths. A vampire doesn’t initially seem like a reasonable explanation to our heroes, as they are steeped in science. Can they trust their experience over their … Continue reading Dracula, Epistemology, and the Search for Truth
The story goes that when physicist Albert Einstein was asked if he believed in God, he responded, “First tell me what you mean by God, and then I’ll tell you if I believe in him.” This Sunday, Rev. Rachel will echothis approach, exploring ideas of God that aren’t in alignment with Unitarian Universalist theologies, in … Continue reading The Gods I Don’t Believe In
