Past Services

On this Memorial Day Weekend Sunday, we’ll remember and honor Fellowship members who have died in the past year. We’ll remember the origins of Memorial Day.  We’ll consider life before death, and life after death, and what “two deaths” means. With Revs. Jill McAllister and Leslie Chartier.

If you would like to have someone you’ve lost named and remembered in this service, please let Rev. Jill McAllister know (minister@uucorvallis.org) by Thursday May 23. 

In many ancient descriptions of the seasons, when calling the four directions, East is associated with Spring, and Spring is the direction of morning, of beginnings, and of Air. To be alive is to know Air, is to be breathing: to be human is to be aware of being breathed. This fundamental truth is a grounding source of gratitude. Breathing is also the source of singing, which is one of the ways we let Air move through us, and one of the ways we give voice to our gratitude.

Our service this morning gives thanks for Air, for breath, and for the music which lives in us and through us. We’ll also give thanks for our choir as they share several new and old pieces of music. Come join us as we open ourselves to the movements of Air, breath and music!

New members will be welcomed during the service, and following the service all members are encouraged, needed and invited to stay to participate in our Annual Meeting, beginning at 11:45 AM.

Jill will welcome guest speaker Jen Shattuck. Jen is a UU religious educator and author who serves on the staff at both the Unitarian Church of Barnstable MA and Sanctuary Boston. She is the author of The Tending Years, a book for those caring for preschool-age children, and is also the creator of Ellery Churchmouse, a video series for UU kids and their families.

In her sermon she’ll consider “who” we bring when we come together – our many identities, experiences, hopes, needs and more. The service will include a dedication of children, and special music from Johanna Beekman. Afterward Jen will host a post-sermon discussion, which might include questions about the sermon, about her book “The Tending Years” (copies available), about neurodivergence and more.

Beltane is a season of creative energy on the earth. Come share in a creative process of committing your energies to a new dream, and in the spirit of May Day, carry a flame of community home to warm and support your ongoing efforts.

With Priscilla Galasso, Patricia Parcells, Diana Titus, Gaylee Goodrich, Wolfgang Dengler, Brandi Tucker, and the UUFC Sunday Band.

In this year of building new ways, our Earth Day Sunday will focus on needed and possible changes in habits and assumptions about our relationships with ourselves, others and the Earth. Members of our Climate Action Team will share insights and facilitate conversations among us beginning with this perspective: that our actions affect our own health, the health of those we love, and the health of Earth.

Following the service, all are encouraged to attend the preparation Town Hall for our May 19 Annual Meeting.

This Sunday we’ll consider stewardship, pledging and what difference each of us makes when we make a commitment. Oh, and while we’re at it we’ll join in a game of Jeopardy – UU-style – plus some good singing and sharing of sorrows and joys – a regular Sunday at the Fellowship (is there such a thing?) which really means the joy of being together.

with Jill McAllister

Unitarian Universalists have wrestled with the Easter story for centuries. Should we focus on its pagan roots, its ample metaphors, its timeless insight into both human frailties and human strengths? Luckily there is not just one answer, because like all good stories, it opens so many possibilities. And, there is so much more to the story, especially in the history and evolution of its telling. What might we learn this year?

Rev. Jill McAllister

We welcome the Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt as our preacher today. She is a long-time UU minister who serves as the President of one of our two main theological schools – Starr King School for the Ministry. Before she entered the UU ministry, Rev. McNatt was a writer /editor for the New York Times Book Review. Before going to Starr King she served as Senior Minister of the Fourth Universalist Society of the City of New York. Rev. McNatt has been voice of reason, challenge, wisdom and leadership within UUism for decades. Plan now to join us! You are invited to a reception for Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt, after the Sunday Service, at 2 PM Come for refreshments and conversation, to learn about what’s happening in theological education for UU minister, and to help us welcome and thank her for joining us this Sunday. Let Rev. Jill McAllister know if you plan to attend.

As we look toward Ostara, a fleeting moment of balance in the Wheel of the Year, we pause to reflect on what it means to embrace the seasonality and impermanence of all things on the Earth and within ourselves. This Sunday we’ll share a moment of transition between the Wheel of the Year services we’ve come to know and love and the inevitable “what’s next” with an experimental worship service for all ages offered by Director of Religious Exploration, Skyla King-Christison.