SUNDAY SERVICE DETAILS
When: Sundays at 10 A.M.
Where: Find us on the corner of Circle Blvd and NW Firwood Drive, just West of the Corvallis Zen Circle. You may also join the service on Zoom.
Directions: Find us on the corner of Circle Blvd and NW Firwood Drive, just West of the Corvallis Zen Circle.
Map:
JOIN ONLINE
There are two ways to attend Worship Remotely:
- Join on Zoom: we use this same Zoom link every week. (Clicking on the link will open a Zoom meeting). If you have not used Zoom before, here is a guide: Joining a Zoom Meeting.
- Facebook Livestream: We livestream the Sunday services to the UUFC FaceBook page.
The Order of Service is available if you like to follow along. We sometimes make changes all the way up until Sunday morning, so the Order of Service may not be available until a few minutes before the service.
WHAT TO EXPECT AT WORSHIP
Most of our Sunday morning services typically include inspirational readings, a story for children, choir and congregational singing, and a sermon by our minister or guest. We also have a variety of special services.
Summer Sunday services are less formal with a variety of guest speakers in addition to our minister.
Dress for UUFC services is mostly casual, but ranges from tees to ties. Dress in whatever way is comfortable for you. Children and youth usually attend Religious Exploration classes, but are welcome in services too. Children mainly wear play clothes.
Following our services, we have a Coffee and Conversation hour in the Social Hall adjacent to the Sanctuary. Come meet and greet!
And once a month we have a delicious Action Lunch to support charities in our community and throughout the world. Please join us. We want to get to know you and want you to get to know us.
ABOUT WORSHIP
What is worship?
The word “worship” means many things to many people, and is defined in many different ways. It refers to acts and attitudes, celebrations and rituals, events shared by groups, and individual experiences. It refers to ascribing value or worth to ideals, ideas, and beliefs; to giving homage and praise to a god or gods; to taking time and intention to centering oneself and focusing on values and ideals. Definitions of “worship” are generally understood and shared within specific cultural contexts. There is no one right definition or one shared definition.
What does worship at UUFC look like?
Historically, Unitarian Universalism is a tradition which evolved from the radical wing of the Protestant Reformation, a decades-long struggle within western Christianity to define sources of religious authority and forms of religious community. Because of this heritage, the most common Sunday Service in a UU congregation looks more like a protestant Christian worship service than any other kind of worship. Yet, in the nearly 200 years of American Unitarian/Universalism, much as changed, as the religious culture has become much more diverse. Therefore, our services include diverse formats and elements and broad aims.
What generally happens during a worship service?
Welcome – brief introductions from service leaders and participants, and an assurance that all are free to attend and participate
Introit – usually a song or music, to signal the setting aside of regular or daily concerns and the intentional turning to a time of reflection and aspiration, together
Opening Words – a statement to remind us why we gather in this place in this way
Lighting of the Chalice – the symbol of our liberal religious heritage, an affirmation of our core values of religious freedom, reason and embrace of diversity
Opening Song – re-affirming our gathering and our intentions, using our bodies and breath
Affirming Our Connections
Having taken time to settle in and focus our attention and intentions, we move to Affirming Our Connections, which usually includes:
Wisdom from the World’s Traditions – a reading from one of the sources of wisdom for our religious growth and learning, from any and all of the classical religious traditions, or from poetry, prose, science, etc.
Time for All Ages – a story for all ages, aimed primarily at elementary aged children, to help them learn about our tradition, to help them know and feel that they are a valued part of our inter-generational community, and to help them understand what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist. The children and youth leave for their Religious Exploration sessions following this time of sharing.
Sharing of Sorrows and Joys – a time to share with each other the most important things that are happening in our lives –-experiences of loss and gain, of birth and death, of fear, of joy and gratitude, of sickness, recovery and health. This kind of sharing is very important for us as a community, to know what is true and real for each other and therefore for ourselves – to affirm the realities which connect us. It is also a very big challenge: to tell our own truths and to focus on the most important things. This is not a time for political opinions, announcements of events, stories about other people, or long-winded details. This practice of sharing truths is usually followed by a meditation on breathing and on connectedness, then shared singing.
Searching for Wisdom and Inspiration
Having been reminded of what we share, we move into Searching for Wisdom and Inspiration, which usually includes:
Spoken Meditation and Sharing of Silence – to nurture contemplation, honesty, and inner peace
Music for Reflection
Readings – expressions of important points to be explored in the sermon
Sermon, Homily or Presentation – focus on a topic of importance for our religious, spiritual, and congregational lives, by a minister or guest speakers.
The Offering – the sharing of our resources towards living out the mission and goals of the church
Giving Thanks for All That Sustains Us – our collective reminder that life is a gift, and together we can make a difference
Returning to the World
Finally, we arrive at the time for Returning to the World, which usually includes:
Announcements – an educational moment, to describe some of the priorities, work, and events of the congregation
Closing Song– once again to engage our bodies and breath in our intentions
Closing Words– a reminder to keep our ideals in our minds and hearts amidst the distractions of daily life
Postlude – music for going out together
FORMS OF WORSHIP
Sunday Services
Historically, Unitarian Universalism is a tradition which evolved from the radical wing of the Protestant Reformation, a decades-long struggle within western Christianity to define sources of religious authority and forms of religious community. Because of this heritage, the most common Sunday Service in a UU congregation looks more like a protestant Christian worship service than any other kind of worship. Yet, in the nearly 200 years of American Unitarian/Universalism, much as changed, as the religious culture has become much more diverse. Therefore, our services include diverse formats and elements and broad aims. More about Sunday Services.
Wheel of the Year
Every six weeks or so, we gather at each of the eight points on the Wheel of the Year as an intergenerational community to celebrate holidays from nature-based neo-pagan tradition with story, song, and ritual. Some of these holidays are widely known, like Yule, the Winter Solstice. Some, like Lughnasadh, are not as well recognized. The eight sacred days on the Wheel start with Yule in December, then proceed to Imbolc in February, Ostara in March, Beltane in May, Litha in June, Lughnasadh in August, Mabon in September, Samhain in October, and then right back around the Wheel to Yule. This cycle of celebration echoes the cycles of the changing year, and it honors the interdependent web of which we are all a part.
More about Wheel of the Year Services
Dance Planet
Dance Planet is a community dance celebration for everyone. Move your own way to a joyous blend of music from all around the planet and across the decades. Admission to this family-friendly event is a suggested $5–$15 donation, but nobody is turned away for lack of funds. One hundred percent of proceeds go to local Earth-friendly causes.
Kirtan
Kirtan is a very simple & powerful way to meditate. It’s effortless & joyful; the music does the work for you as you flow with the melody & rhythm. As you sing you experience a deep connection with the musicians, the other audience members and yourself. And when the music stops, your mind is quiet.
Because kirtan has roots in India, many of the chants are sung in Sanskrit. These ancient chants contain powerful renewing & transformative energy that helps us reconnect with the Divinity that resides within all of us. If you’ve ever chanted responses in Latin or Hebrew in your religious tradition, then you know how powerful singing in an ancient, holy language can be. You can be completely immersed in the sound, with no words to distract the mind — the magic of the chants can then carry you within. While singing along at a kirtan concert, you can experience your own voice becoming as beautiful as those performing—all voices merge together to become One Voice.
We have kirtan every Friday night at the Fellowship. The 1st and 3rd Fridays are a Community Kirtan in person in Room 7, other Friday nights we hold the kirtan on Zoom. We also host live events.
From the Minister
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Between Us
May is my birthday month, and reflecting on having been once again carried by the Earth thru this part of the universe, on a full rotation around the Sun, even taking all the hard things into account, I’m very glad to be alive! As a small token of my deep gratitude for all the gifts that I receive every day, I’ll be making a contribution to the UUFC Birthday Club again. The older I get, the more I love this: that on my birthday I celebrate by giving gifts to others, including an amount of dollars at least equivalent to my age, to the Fellowship. When it is your birthday month, I hope you’ll do that same.
One of the reasons I like to give to the Fellowship, again as a SMALL token of my deep gratitude, is that the Fellowship has been for so much of my life a community of companionship and nurture, in which I have in so many ways learned to be the kind of human being I want to be. When I first became a UU, here at the Fellowship, I was deeply interested in the history and development of liberal religion. I was in need of the kind of religious freedom the Fellowship, and UUism offered. I was thirsty for theological and social perspectives that were wide open and inclusive and progressive. It was heady and exhilarating, and I decided to make it my life work.
What I didn’t know at the time is that while the ideas are important, the opportunity to be in relationship with other people – to be in community, as we so often say – is even more important. Both are needed: the evolving ideas AND the chance to practice them in real time with real people. That’s my bottom line:
how do any of our ideas stack up in relation to how we interact with other people (and all of the living world?) I have to say, to myself as well as to you who might be reading, that as UU’s we are quite good at articulating, discussing, and debating ideas and not as good at living into our highest values. Like almost everyone else in the world, we still get hung up in self-centeredness, in a need for comfort and security, in an outsized need to be right, in the perspective of ego.
And so, I am grateful to be alive in order to keep trying, keep learning, keep aiming to be the kind of person I want to be.I hope I have many more years to do this work, because the more I learn the more I see that I have to learn. I have a long way to go. Thank-you for being my companions on this journey!
Author
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Between Us
May is the month for our Fellowship Annual Meeting (May 19). Planning for the meeting, and the participation of many of us which even this small democracy requires, has been underway for several months. Not everyone quite gets this juxtaposition between the religious life of the congregation (and our own religious lives) and the necessity…
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Passover, Freedom and Liberation
For Jewish people around the world Passover began on Monday April 22 and continues through Tuesday April 30. It is the annual observance of the story of the Exodus – the central story of Judaism. This is the story of the escape of the Hebrew people from Egypt, of their liberation from slavery thanks to…
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Between Us, 4/21/2024
Some decades ago, a well-known and seasoned UU minister wrote a sermon about joining a UU congregation. His summary was this: There is only one reason to join a UU congregation; you join in order to support it! That perspective has fostered lots of conversation over many years, and the longer I consider it, the…
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Between Us – 4/14/2024
Last week I mentioned a musician who often reminds their audiences that “This is not entertainment – this is a spiritual practice.” It’s a beautiful ideal for a UU congregation such as the Fellowship. At our best we are a community of practice, aiming at high ideals! So much more than interesting conversation and fun…
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Between Us, 4/7/2024
April is Stewardship Month at the Fellowship, among other good things (like Earth Month and Poetry Month…) This means it’s the time we each consider our role as part of the congregation, as part of the covenant, as part of this living tradition. It’s the time when we make pledges of support – of our…
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These Ancient Modern Stories
The Jewish and Christian traditions are foundational in the long evolution of stories which have shaped Unitarian Universalism. It is now the season for two of the most important of those stories: the exodus of the ancient Hebrew people from Egypt – the Passover story, and the death and resurrection of Jesus – the Easter…
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Daily Practice: A Weekly Reminder, 3/22/2024
Along with trees and bushes and bulbs, the Fellowship seems to be in a season of blooming! Events and activities abound – so many ways to get together with others, to share in religious learning and growth, to increase justice and peace step by little step. New formats and methods for communication are emerging. The…
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Daily Practice – A Weekly Reminder, 3/17/2024
This is the week – Spring has definitely arrived. Daffodils and jonquils have been holding on thru cold rainy days – and now they are standing proudly! The long line of ornamental plum trees around the corner are purple pink today. When the crescent moon appeared last night, with Jupiter shining close by, frogs and…
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Between Us, 3/10/2024
At the end of every OSU term I mark out ten to twelve hours on my schedule to have short one-to-one meetings with all the students in my class on World Religions. There are usually around 45 students, so it takes a while. I have learned that it is one of the most worthwhile things…
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From the Board President – Sheryl Stuart, 3/1/2024
I’ve been reflecting on the beautiful work of our RE team over the past several years in helping us be more attentive to the needs of multiple generations within the Fellowship, recognizing that there are differences in experience, expectations and more between different generations. As we’ve been blessed with more, younger children being present, especially…
MUSIC
Music is an important part of the life of the Fellowship, and of every Sunday service. If you love to sing or play instruments and want to get involved, please read on!
Congregational Singing
Every Sunday morning we sing together. We sing together because it feels good and it builds community. It may be the most important thing we do on Sunday.
UUFC Choir
The choir rehearses Wednesday nights from 7 to 8:30 and sings twice a month for Sunday services. This dedicated group works hard to provide choral music that uplifts and inspires all who hear them on Sunday mornings. The choir is a wonderful supportive and welcoming community for singers of all skill levels. The choir is where all the important stuff happens at any church. So if you want to get close to the action, join the choir! Everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate. If you are interested, talk to the choir director, Steven Evans-Renteria.
House Band
We now have a house band at UUFC that plays once a month for Sunday services. We have guitars, percussion, singers, piano, and guitarron. Once in a while the choir and the house band join forces, and it really rocks! Check us out on Sunday morning.
Guest Musicians
We’ve had a number of wonderful guest musicians show up to services to add to our music, including Johanna Beekman, Roy Zimmerman, Peter Mayer, and others, including local groups like Compass Rose and the Delgani String Quartet.
Other Musical Opportunities
Before the pandemic we had regular music events at the Fellowship including the Holiday Sing-Along, Music Sharing nights (basically open mic night). We hope to begin incorporating more events like this in the coming months, so watch the newsletter and weekly announcements for updates.
SUNDAY SERVICE VIDEOS
We have saved videos from most of the services from the past several years. Occasionally a service video doesn’t get recorded, or saved. If you can’t find a on the YouTube playlists, it might be in the Facebook live stream videos.
YouTube Playlist – Services from 2024
YouTube Playlist – Services from 2023
Service Videos (January 2020 – March 2023): The link opens a pdf of an older method of storing links to service videos, before we started uploading them to YouTube.
Our Mission
Explore. Love. Act.
We gather as an inclusive religious community to search for meaning, build deep connections, and inspire action toward a better world for all.
