All Blog Posts (276)

AM I RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR LIFE? AM I RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR DEATH?

These are unsettling questions.  How much are we responsible for others in this complex world?  It depends in part on your relationship with another person.  If you are a relative, spouse or committed partner, you may well be responsible for the life and death of your loved one, but only when the necessary legally binding documents are in place.

If …

With the meeting on March 25 to select a new theme for the FirstUU social justice concentration, you might be wondering just what will happen to the projects created under the “old” Education/Literacy theme. They won’t be dropped; they’ll continue under the aegis of the Social Justice Ministry Team as on-going projects.  In fact, as an indication of their continuing interest and support, the SJMT has recently adopted two expansions of the Reading Buddies…

"Having Your Voice " is an upcoming seminar that meets for 4 weeks,  8 hours total.  Register here today!

The seminar begins on Monday, April 2nd and runs through April 23, meeting at 7:00 PM each week.

Here are some facts:

1.  In a number of surveys 80% to 90%  of people polled said that they would like to die at home with their loved…

On Sunday March 4th, our service will question whether your health care is another person's problem. In a four week seminar in April I will be addressing another relevant and important question: Is my death your problem?

The upcoming Adult Religious Education seminar entitled "Having Your Voice to the End of Your Life" will provide opportunities for participants to address issues as to how they want to be cared for…

March is National Women’s History Month, with “history” being a misnomer. Although women’s stories are intertwined, and shared with men, several factors such as social, religious, economic, and biological  have worked to create a unique sphere for women's history. Women’s stories have become a separated because they have often been pushed to the margins of our history books, or have been omitted…

The First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia is lucky to have Reverend Addae Ama Kraba as our Community Minister! While Rev. Addae spends most of her time as the Consulting Minister to the Dorothea Dix Unitarian Universalist Community Bordentown, she often leads services at First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia, and also leads…

If you've looked at today's copy of The Inquirer,  you see that two UU's from First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia are featured:

Christine Carlson is on the first page with a piece about her…

Willie Frances Smith Penn Johnson, 79, expired on December 15 2011 in Philadelphia, PA. She was the daughter of the late George W. and Arletha McArthur Smith and step-daughter of the late Cleveland B. Hairston.

Born in Winston-Salem, NC, Willie Frances was a member of Mt. Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church and graduated from Atkins High School in 1950. She…

Be on the lookout for Religious Education's month-long food drive!

Beginning March 18th the children from our RE program will be greeting you each Sunday collecting food for Philabundance. 

Each Sunday will have a special fun theme beginning with PB & J Sunday on March 18th and ending with a traditional Easter EGG CAN Hunt on Sunday April 8th.  What a fun way to…

 We had a great MLK Day Barcoding Event at the Andrew Jackson School Library! 

30 Unitarian Universalists with the help of 16 volunteers from the Federal Reserve Bank worked hard and had fun attaching barcodes and call numbers to 950 books.

Amazingly in two hours all labels were attached and the books were shelved! What is even more exciting is that some volunteers have continued volunteering at Andrew Jackson as new Reading Buddies, Computer Technicians and…

 The books from the Holiday New Book Drive Books were just delivered to the Andrew Jackson School and oh what a hit they are!

Thanks to all who purchased and donated a book for the Andrew Jackson School Library.  The excitement which these new books caused was a thrill to see.

The fifth graders who helped carry the boxes of books up to the library argued about who was going to check out one of the sports books first.  Then a fourth grade class came into the library, spotted the…

Currently the congregational social justice them is "Education and Literacy." The recent Social Justice Theme Brainstorming Session resulted in a lively discussion and lots of ideas for expanding our Congregation’s Social Justice focus. As a result, six Proposal Teams were formed:

The climbing ivy in our church garden will be removed in the next week or two.  You might wonder "Why?"  The short answer is "to protect our local…

Here is a link to a Google document where you can see the schedule for the next couple months for food/meal donations for Becky and her family: http://bit.ly/1stUlovesBecky .

Anytime you'd like to bring in meals or groceries, you can change and add entries on the Google document (even at the last minute) and we'll make arrangements for delivery or pick up. Stay tuned for the childcare schedule!

You can…

Be Love Now!

It’s that time of year again the month of February, the only month out of twelve with focus solely on heart shaped everything from coffee mugs to doughnuts and dog bowls. Whether sharing breakfast, lunch, or…

          A memorial service for Gerry Parchman will be held in the chapel on Saturday, January 14th, 2012 at 4:00 pm followed by a reception in the Parish Room.

          Lonnie Gerald “Gerry” Parchman, 73, of Riverton, N.J. died December 21, 2011 at Cooper University Hospital. …

Willie Frances Smith Penn Johnson, 79, expired on December 15 2011 in Philadelphia, PA. She was the daughter of the late George W. and Arletha McArthur Smith and step-daughter of the late Cleveland B. Hairston. 

     Born in Winston-Salem, NC, Willie Frances was a member of Mt. Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church and graduated from Atkins High School in 1950. She…

As a new year begins, I want to celebrate a major milestone of 2011 – completion of all masonry repairs to the south porch!

In previous posts, I described how all of the joints were…