Archives: Services

December 8th: Amazing Grace

Reading: Grounded – Finding God in the World – A Spiritual Revolution, by Diana Butler Bass “In the twentieth century, Jewish theologian Martin Buber explained that most arenas of human activity  –politics, economics, and education–  actually alienate us, because they treat human beings as objects. Modern culture has trained us to distance ourselves from one … Continue reading December 8th: Amazing Grace

A Portable Sanctuary

Reverend Helfer is a Unitarian Universalist minister, a gender queer individual, and a believer in truth-telling. Reverend DL serves the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of South County, in Peace Dale, RI. • Two services at 9am and 11am, with the choir at 11am • Nursery care available at 9am for 6 months. to 4 years old … Continue reading A Portable Sanctuary

There is Room at the Table (this service includes a surprise!)

Story: In God’s Hands by Larry Kushner and Gary Schmidt https://books.google.com/books?id=X99bPugixuEC Homily: It might have kept going that way indefinitely, the story tells us.  Jacob, the rich man, coming to synagogue, falling asleep, waking up and walking home. And David, the poor man, coming and cleaning and going home hungry.  Neither, looking for miracles. Both, … Continue reading There is Room at the Table (this service includes a surprise!)

From Attention to Intention: Building Foundations Under our Dreams

“You have built castles in the air. Now build foundations under them.” What we pay attention to has an impact. What we notice, where we look, who we see all affects what we end up doing. How might focusing our attention help us bring our loftiest intentions to life? How might we bring all of our dreams a little closer to reality?

Where Your Heart Is

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21, Christian Bible. We pay attention to money: our bank accounts, our retirement funds, whether we have enough for a vacation or that smartphone. And we pay attention to our hearts: whether we are sad or happy, frustrated or serene. But what might we learn when we focus not just on one or the other, but on the relationship between the two? How are our “treasure” and our hearts connected? And what might that show us about how to live our lives?

Creating Home

Scott Taylor writes “Just saying the word ‘belonging’ conjures it up: The hunger to be included; the longing to be let in. […] It’s the hoped for Holy Grail at the end of our journeys…. Or is it just the beginning?” Congregational life is a place to belong, to feel at home, to know you’re … Continue reading Creating Home

Who are we? “Whose” are we?

From the time we are born we are defining who we are – I like sushi, but not broccoli. I prefer tennis to ice hockey. I want to go into politics or absolutely not. And from the time we are born our identity impacts “whose” we are – I’m a girl/boyscout and here is my troop, I’m a sports fan like the rest of my family, I’m a Republican/Democrat/Independent just like (or not like) the rest of my neighborhood. How does our identity – the one we create or the one we are given, shape our sense of where we belong? How might we expand our feeling of being at home in the world?

Reconnect with Your Sense of Belonging

So many people report feeling out of place in the world, without a sense of deep belonging. As we approach the end of the Jewish High Holy Days, let’s take inspiration from this time of turning and returning to find our way back. How might this holiday help us reconnect to our sense of belonging to ourselves, to each other and to the world?