One Hundred years ago, Rev. Norbert Fabian Čapek (pronounced “CHOP-eck”) introduced a new ritual to the people in his congregation. The Flower Communion (or celebration or ceremony) has endured as a much beloved ritual among us. As we celebrate its centennial, we will learn a little more about it together. We hope to see you … Continue reading 100 Flowers
There is a bittersweetness to all of our living, joy and sorrow mingled together. Joni Mitchell’s song “Both Sides Now” reminds us that by embracing the sorrow and loss as well as the joy and love, we can move past our illusions of life to appreciate the beauty of it all. We hope to see … Continue reading Both Sides
Gather in the sanctuary for stories and music to celebrate Christmas eve. This service will be held live and also streamed on Zoom. We hope to see you in person! Online information ..https://zoom.us/j/97989696520?pwd=ZG9NclFYQm9VV0NTb2VhNVM0R00xQT09 Meeting ID: 979 8969 6520 Passcode: 183183Phone: +1 929 205 6099 Order of Service: uubinghamton.org/order-of-service/ UUCB Social Hour You are invited to join the … Continue reading Christmas Eve Service
The world around us (and sometimes within) needs more joy, more of us bringing light and life to every situation. As Howard Thurman famously said, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” We hope to … Continue reading The Fire in Your Bowl
Reproductive rights are being undermined, our democracy has taken a heavy political blow, Nazis are back in the public square, our society is divided, and corporations continue to post record profits while regular folks suffer economically. And it is not mere pablum when I affirm: even still, all these fascists are bound to lose. We … Continue reading How This All Gets Better
While attending church every Sunday is good, I’ve learned that it is not usually a transformative, identity-shaping experience. That happens more reliably in two other settings: during retreats (such as our annual Spirituality Retreat) and at camp (such as Unirondack). We hope to see you in person! Here is the current in-person gathering policy. Online … Continue reading This Earth, This Spirit
This is going to happen. The “Seven Principles” will be revised, rewritten, replaced. These particular words and phrases have been powerfully important to us for more than a generation. But they are going to be changed. What won’t change is the values and message behind the words. We hope to see you in person! Here … Continue reading Shaking the Faith
We are meant to be connected. We are meant to have roots that go down and also runners that travel out! We are meant to be in this together so we all might thrive. All this isolation and division around us cannot last and does not serve. We are meant to be connected. We hope … Continue reading Rooted in Beauty
On the first Sunday after Labor Day, we kick off the new congregational year with an Ingathering service, and a beautiful Water Communion ritual (or Water Ceremony). We invite you to bring a small amount of water from a place you have been to share with us. We hope to see you in person! Here is … Continue reading Celebrating Ingathering
Over the centuries, we UUs have kept a ‘freedom of conscience’ concept in our central definitions of ourselves. We are not going to insist we all believe the same. This means we have some significant tensions around our beliefs. I find this makes them more interesting to explore! We hope to see you in person! … Continue reading Agreements and Tensions
