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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There is no way to include everything we’ve done together, but I want to begin a list here. And perhaps a better way to describe it is who we’ve been together….
We renewed the mission of the Fellowship – Explore, Love, Act — and birthed the Council structure from the mission. The Justice Council took form, we began to work collaboratively, and our impacts increased. Stewardship increased. We professionalized more of our staff. We renewed our pastoral care structures and created the Fellowship Care and Support Team. We divested from fossil fuels and invested in local solar energy projects. We continued a partnership with Unitarians in Transylvania and increased our global connections to the Philippines and Burundi. We welcomed and supported refugees from Burundi and El Salvador. We became a Sanctuary Church. We created the Justice Outreach Fund to make grants, and leveraged one of those grants to help create Unity Shelter. We created an Emergency Aid Fund. We invited and enjoyed UU singer-songwriters. We welcomed Kirtan as a form of worship at the Fellowship, and later Dance Planet. We collaborated with a local Zen Buddhist sangha, then sold them the house next door and became neighbors and partners.
We re-started project to renovate and expand our buildings; in a successful capital campaign we raised more than 2 million dollars. We allowed ourselves to change course in the building project several times, for good reasons, and finally we have completed the renovation of our classroom wing. The Grounds Stewards program increased creativity and participation on our grounds and began a process of strategic planning. WE SURVIVED THE PANDEMIC. We became much more technologically diverse. We made commitments to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and sought training to learn more skills toward anti-racism and multi-culturalism. We became more intentional about strengthening inter-generational connections. Together we learned new ways to tend to grief, and depression. In worship we focused on annual themes including Faithfulness, Courage, Deepening, World Religions, and more. We created connect-up activities and groups. We welcomed new members. We gathered to share the sadness of deaths among us. We weathered conflicts and learned to focus on right relations. We created a disruptive behavior policy, a Right Relations Team, and a new Covenant of Right Relations. We partnered with the Mid-Willamette Valley Trans Network. We looked forward to, and appreciated, our Sunday music and musicians, weekly flower arrangements, and the ministry of our coffee crews. We reviewed what worship means to us……. And so much more. What do you remember and appreciate?
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Daily Practice: a Weekly Reminder 10/29/2023
Samhain, Halloween, All Souls and All Saints Days. All describe a point on the Wheel of the Year when the veil between worlds is thinner, according to the ancient Celtic calendar and other traditions. Inwardly, it’s a time to remember that the world we live in is many worlds, many layers, constant connections between life…
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Wheel of the Year – Samhain/ Halloween 10/29/2023
All Ages Together We’ve moved into the season of longer nights and shorter days, and we arrive at the point on the Wheel of the Year called Samhain and Halloween. We’ll honor this season, considering our lives within in, considering the ancestors who made our lives possible and live in us still, considering our connectedness…
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Daily Practice: A Weekly Reminder 10/22/2023
Once a week on Sundays, we enter together into a time of reflection and centering, as we prepare to share and hold sorrows and joys among us. I often note, as we begin that practice, that centering involves discerning what is most important and what is not most important. Perhaps that distinction is obvious, but…
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“God is Not One, and Neither are We” 10/22/2023
One of the unique characteristics of our religious movement is pluralism – the willingness to be different and be together at the same time. Historically, this meant we did not require allegiance to a specific theological creed or doctrine. Now it is a much wider effort. The main question is not whether or not we…
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October 15th, 2023, Daily Practice: A Weekly Reminder
When we first entered into the pandemic shut-down, in March of 2020, we also entered into a shared daily practice to help ourselves stay connected to each other and to our religious lives. Over several months we began to consider skills that could help us, including cultivating inner nobility and steadiness, naming our fears and…
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“What Is Transformation?”
It would be hard to argue that things don’t change, or that they aren’t changing constantly, and not always in ways we understand or are prepared for. Take this week for example, or almost any of the past seven years. A new generation of UU’s describes a need for us to be able and willing…
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Daily Practice: A Weekly Reminder
Autumn is a season of amazing contrasts. One could spend much of a day simply watching the sky. The colors of the clouds – from white to gray-brown to gray to dark deep blue-gray – all can be present at the same time. And when sunlight illumines red and yellow trees against the dark clouds…
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Not So Like-Minded After All
It’s not uncommon for UU’s to note that they like being part of a congregation because they’re among “like-minded” people. It turns out, the more we learn about how brains function, and the more we listen to people instead of making assumptions about them, we’re not very like minded at all! What, then, do we…
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9-24-2023, Daily Practice: A Weekly Reminder
I’ve been traveling with family this week, and this morning we woke up to rain. As I paused to listen to the gentle, steady drizzling, and to breathe in and feel the day begin, the listening became its own kind of morning prayer. Do you ever hear or feel a prayer as you begin a…
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Between Us (September 2023)
September arrives and soon we’ll begin a new Fellowship year. First, however, we’ll take a small break in the usual routine of Sunday services – a Sunday off, a chance to intentionally pause, a chance perhaps to consider and mull: what does this routine mean to me? What is it for? Whom is it for?…
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.
YouTube Playlists:
- Services from 2025
- Services from 2024
- Services from 2023
- Services from 2022
- Services from 2021 (incomplete)
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.
