All Blog Posts (276)

It is big sky and its changes,

the sea all round and the waters within.

It is the way sea and sky

work off each other constantly,

like people meeting in Alfred Street,

each face coming away with a hint

of the other’s face pressed in it.

It is the way a week-long gale

ends and folk emerge to hear

a single bird cry way high up.

It is the way you lean to me

and the way I lean to you, as if

we are each other’s prevailing;

how we…

Summer 2018 Beacon

Enjoy the June Beacon! 

download here

Join us for our monthly contemplative evening worship service, a time to rest from the demands of the world and immerse ourselves in the beauty of singing meditation and a candlelit Sanctuary. Want to help lead? Come at 6PM with your voice or an instrument for a drop-in musical rehearsal prior to the service, or to help set up.

Join us for our monthly contemplative evening worship service, a time to rest from the demands of the world and immerse ourselves in the beauty of singing meditation and a candlelit Sanctuary. Want to help lead? Come at 6PM with your voice or an instrument for a drop-in musical rehearsal prior to the service, or to help set up.

During the 2018 Annual Membership Meeting, our budget for the fiscal year of 2018 - 2019 was approved unanimously! 

Click here to download the FY 2018-19 Budget Narrative

The May 2018 edition of The Beacon is now available to download. Get your copy right here!

May 2018 Beacon

The April Beacon is here, hot off the press. Enjoy!April%202018%20Beacon%20Newsletter.docx

All upcoming dates below are available for a flower donation:

• Jan 22nd
• Jan 29th
• Feb 5th
• Feb 12th
• & all dates beyond

Donating flowers is a great way to honor a loved one or celebrate a momentous occasion while simultaneously adding beauty and color to our church services. When the service is finished, take the flowers home with you to enjoy. You may also include a special message about the person you're honoring or…

All upcoming dates below are available for a flower donation:

• Oct 9th
• Oct 16th
• Oct 23rd
• Oct 30th
• & all dates beyond

Donating flowers is a great way to honor a loved one or celebrate a momentous occasion while simultaneously adding beauty and color to our church services. When the service is finished, take the flowers home with you to enjoy. You may also include a special message about the person you're honoring or…

Donating flowers is a great way to honor a loved one or celebrate a momentous occasion while simultaneously adding beauty and color to our church services. When the service is finished, take the flowers home with you to enjoy. You may also include a special message about the person you're honoring or event you're celebrating which will be printed in the order of service and read during the sharing of joys and concerns.

The following upcoming 2016 dates are available:

• Sept…

Many of you have requested copies of recent sermons... you can find them at "Sermons" on the Worship menu, or here

I especially highlight the post-Candidating sermon "Now What?"... and soon you'll find Rev. Abbey's sermons there as well!

I appreciate your continued engagement with our worship services and the preaching I do!

Rev. Susan

Our regular person who procures flowers for our Sunday flower donations will not be available for the upcoming 3 weeks.  We are looking for volunteer(s) who would be willing to do the following:

• Stop by Flower Expressions at 18th and Sansom (115 S 18th St) between 11am & 5pm
• Pay $30 cash
• Deliver bouquet to the church, place it into a vase, and leave in the office
• Submit receipt for…

Donating flowers is a great way to honor a loved one or celebrate a momentous occasion while simultaneously adding beauty and color to our church services. When the service is finished, take the flowers home with you to enjoy. You may also include a special message about the person you're honoring or event you're celebrating which will be printed in the order of service and read during the sharing of joys and concerns.

The following upcoming 2015 dates are available:

• May…

The unanim ous vote to support the Black Lives Matter movement and to hang a Black Lives Matter banner outside our church is worthy of celebration.  I am filled with gratitude for all who worked so thoughtfully and diligently to bring this to a vote, and to the congregation who supported the motion.

The discussion on Opportunities for Congregational Action that…

Donating flowers is a great way to honor a loved one or celebrate a momentous occasion while simultaneously adding beauty and color to our church services. When the service is finished, take the flowers home with you to enjoy. You may also include a special message about the person you're honoring or event you're celebrating which will be printed in the order of service and read during the sharing of joys and concerns.

The following upcoming 2015 dates are…

PLEASE NOTE:

Owing to severe weather on January 23, the congregational meeting planned for January 24 has been rescheduled. Please join the lay leaders after the service on Sunday, January 31 for important updates about our finances, our building, and our settled ministerial search; no votes will be taken.

After the service on Sunday, February 21, we will gather with the Social Justice Ministry Team and Rev. Susan to vote on the…

I write this dry-eye and sickened at heart.  No “thoughts and prayers” will ever be enough.

In January 2011, after the mass murder at Virginia Tech, I wrote a blog post called “Men with Guns”.  Then some of the questions were “What happened, who is to blame… should the university have “shut down” sooner?  What kind of strong police response would have helped?  What have we learned?”

It’s this last question that haunts me, as we approach the third (third!)…

This Sunday is the Philadelphia Marathon... although the main runners should be finished by the time our Service starts (11 AM), there will be travel disruptions for anyone driving.  Please plan accordingly.

http://philadelphiamarathon.com/sites/default/files/GORE-TEX%20Philadelphia%20Marathon%20Street%20Closures%202015.pdf

We hope you'll still be…

We will celebrate el Día de Los Muertos at First Unitarian Church, creating a festive altar of remembrance called an ofrenda.  It  brings those who have died, people whom we remember and cherish, into our circle by adding a picture or small memento to the ofrenda. 

It does not matter if  the death was recent or their…