It’s been a rough few years, and it would be reasonable to face 2023 with some trepidation. But we were made for this. Let us find and nourish our balance point — our quiet, glowing center — and from there, welcome this new year.

We are ushering in the New Year with rest and rejuvenation, and we invite you to do the same. Please click on the links below to enjoy a soulfully selected musical playlist. We hope you enjoy it and Happy New Year from FUUBC .

Many UU ministers put together a service for our congregations to enjoy this morning.  This special service will be pre-recorded and not bound by schedule, available to view any time here.

If you’d like to come dressed as your favorite character from around that manger, please do so.  We will also be offering  head adornments which help you to determine which “part” you will play in this No-Rehearse Pageant for all ages.

The end of the calendar year brings not only the multi-holiday season, but also the tax year’s end.  Charitable giving, as well as ethical shopping for all of those gifts for our beloveds, are on many people’s minds.  How do we practice our values when it comes to our finances? 

Think about a time when making a new friend meant that something changed in your outlook, or your schedule, or a habit or two, simply because of this one person’s presence.  When we widen our circle at church, as in our lives, we are open to all the scary new changes, and the unexpected joys.

“Family of choice” is how most of us grow our own friend circles so that we are not alone.  When friends come together to carry out old traditions, make new ones, and blend those family ties with bonds of friendship, we’ve got “friends giving thanks” for those life-sustaining relationships.  Come for the service and stay for a potluck after.  (Bring something to share if you can.  Your presence is more important than your food offering;  do not stay away simply because your presence is what you brought!)

Come and share a ritual wherein we bring in the breads of our families, our childhoods, our heritage, to share in a bread communion.  Show up this morning with bread that you make or buy around this time of year and be prepared to say a few words about it.  Then enjoy the bounty after the service.

Contracts and covenants are all around us, both by being implicit, like social constructs, or explicit, like those which get discussed and written together, like church covenants.  When we know what to expect, we function better; let’s look at how spelling it out ahead of time makes us feel more free, not less free.

It is said that voting is a civic sacrament.  On this last Sunday before Election Day we will review and lift up the importance of voting and democracy in our religion, all while practicing the Real Rules.