Awe
Date and Time: 07/17/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Rev. Christian Schmidt
One of the most powerful forces in our lives is awe: the feeling of being overcome by the power and majesty of something, like our universe! Embracing awe can be transformative and meaningful for us.
What is Faith?
Date and Time: 07/10/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Rev. Rebekah Savage
One of our shared principles as UUs is the ongoing search for truth and meaning. So, we shall explore together by asking the question: What is faith? Is faith, at its core, unfolding truth and meaning? Is faith the ongoing search? Is faith trust in something Greater Than Ourselves? Each of us has a different understanding of what faith is and how it transforms our lives—or not.
Joint Worship With All Souls, DC – Online!
Date and Time: 07/03/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Rev. Christian Schmidt
But for most of us, we will start on MVUC’s Youtube channel with a short opening service led by Rev. Christian and our worship team at 10, then shift over to the joint Zoom service at about 10:20; To do that, you can go to all-souls.org, scroll down to a large red button, and click that, which should allow you to join their Zoom worship, which will begin with music at about 10:20, followed by the service.
Though we don’t anticipate doing this often, we’re excited about joining together in this special service.
Cranks and Healing Crystals: How to Tell Good Science from Bad Science
Date and Time: 06/26/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Alan Bunner
The UU 4th principle is the free and responsible search for truth of which the Scientific Method is an example. How can distinguish good science from the claims we are exposed to every day, on the web, on Facebook, in the news, from our friends? We can easily be fooled by reports that look solid – but are they really? The internet and Facebook have today made it all too simple for anyone to promote a false idea. We are constantly exposed to information, mis-information, and dis-information. How do we determine where the truth lies?
The Power of Forgiveness – What We Should be Judged By
Date and Time: 06/19/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Dan Cohen
Justice, compassion and empathy are defining pillars for healthy human relationships, especially embodied in the acts of giving and receiving forgiveness. We all make mistakes, sometimes tragic mistakes. The heart-rending story I shall share will focus on how forgiveness surely becomes a nutritive element within the soil through which our human roots must grow and prosper. Stay tuned and have tissues!
Peace: Music and Poetry
Date and Time: 06/12/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Mark Zimmerman and Rev. Christian Schmidt
Mark your calendars: the annual Music Sunday is here! Music will start at 9:45 am, so do get in your chair early. Performing will be a guest violinist and our Jan MacPherson, piano; the MVUC Adult and Children’s choirs; plus our Handbell choir; and the amazing Dr. Yee Von Ng. The focus of our service will be on music and poetry that supports the very important subject of peace, which is so crucial right now. See you in church or online!
Bridging Service – Dealing with Uncertainty
Date and Time: 06/05/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Rev. Christian Schmidt and Ann Richards
Why We Die
Date and Time: 05/29/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Evan Wallach
Memorial Day recalls those service members who died in our national conflicts. What impelled those mostly young people to risk and lose their lives? Why do we set aside a day to remember them?
Being Good
Date and Time: 05/22/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Rev. Christian Schmidt
This pandemic time has exposed fault lines around how individualism and community can come into conflict. Through the work of several contemporary ethicists, we’ll explore how we can make good choices, what we owe to each other, and how our foundational ideals inform those ideas.
Question Box
Date and Time: 05/15/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Rev. Christian Schmidt
As UUs, we believe wisdom comes from many sources: including our questions. Send your questions to minister@mvuc.org, and Rev. Christian will answer as many as possible in the service.
The Original Mother’s Day
Date and Time: 05/08/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Rev. Christian Schmidt
When Julia Ward Howe proclaimed the first Mother’s Day, she didn’t have in mind the holiday we know now: no, she was calling upon her fellow mothers to rise up and demand peace and an end to wars. We will also celebrate the Flower Ceremony, so bring a flower to share.
LSG in Bloom: Lifespan Spiritual Growth Service
Date and Time: 05/01/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Lifespan Spiritual Growth Council
It’s spring, and it’s not just MVUC’s flowers and greenery that are growing and blossoming. At MVUC we all have a chance to change in beautiful ways, and that’s what Lifespan Spiritual Growth is about. Join us to explore how we’re coming out of the dark days of winter and Covid to celebrate, prosper and bloom.
Earth Words
Date and Time: 04/24/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Rev. Christian Schmidt
Earth Day has long been a celebration of our world, of nature, of our connection to life. But in the era of climate change, how do we reckon with that fratctured relationship?
Rising Again
Date and Time: 04/17/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Rev. Christian Schmidt
On Easter Sunday, we tell the story of Jesus: his life, death, and legacy, and what it can mean for us whether we celebrate the Christian story or not.
Is This the UU “Good Book”?
Date and Time: 04/10/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Mimi Stevens
MVUC member Mimi Stevens has asked—and suggested the answer to—this question over the past 20 years or so, beginning as a summer service at MVUC, and—with modifications—at UU congregations from Massachusetts to Montana, and as a Plenary presentation at the annual conference of what was then still called the Unitarian Universalist Musicians Network in 2017.
Why Anti-Racism Matters
Date and Time: 04/03/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Rev. Christian Schmidt
Many congregations in the UUA have engaged anti-racist work; that is, not merely trying not to be racist, but to work actively against racism and for equality. We live in a society and world with many barriers for people because of their identities, and undoing that takes serious reflection and work.
What’s Next?
Date and Time: 03/27/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Rev. Christian Schmidt
Futurists attempt to project trends into the future, to get some idea of what things might be like decades from now. Their predictions are sometimes eerily accurate, sometimes hopelessly wrong. When we talk about mission and vision, we are talking about what we want and work for in our congregation for the future. Join us to talk about what’s next.
Stewardship Starts at Home
Date and Time: 03/20/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Rev. Christian Schmidt
During our annual stewardship campaign, we ask members and friends of the congregation to consider how they can best support MVUC in the coming year. That means talking money, volunteer support, love, and all the other things we need to keep this amazing community vibrant!
In What World Does Love Win?
Date and Time: 03/13/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Partner Church
For many years, we have been beating the drum for our beloved community and widening the circle. But what skills are we trying to learn in the process? How do we culture religion in our communities? What cultures are we growing? How shall we grow into the people of the new earth? Are we still believing and imagining fiercely? How do we even start to like each other?
What Are We Even Trying to Do?
Date and Time: 03/06/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Rev. Rob Keithan
UU congregations have done a great deal over the years to promote justice locally, nationally, and even internationally. Our bottom line is clear—we want to have a positive impact. Beyond that, there are many choices we have to make about how to focus our limited time, energy, and resources. The same is true for each of us as an individual, or a family. We can’t do it all. How do we prioritize?
Amazing Grace
Date and Time: 02/27/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Rev. Christian Schmidt
We often hear of grace, that quality of elegance or something said at mealtimes. In religious parlance, grace refers to an unearned good thing — a gift we receive despite not having done anything to deserve it.
The Hard Call to Love
Date and Time: 02/20/2022 10:10am
Presenter: Rev. Keary Kincannon
Reverend Keary Kincannon has been a major force with poor and marginalized people in the Route 1 Corridor for more than 25 years. Starting out of the trunk of his car, Kincannon founded the Rising Hope Methodist Mission Church which has offered spiritual and physical support to hundreds of people over the years. MVUC members, as well as people from other local churches of different faiths, have supported the winter hypothermia shelter for years with meals and overnight supervision of the shelter, leading many to contemplate more directly poverty, homelessness and social needs, consistent with our second UU principle: Justice, equity and compassion in human relations.
Love, Love, Love
Date and Time: 02/13/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Rev. Christian Schmidt
There are many forms of love — the Greeks spoke of storge, agape, eros, and philia. In our culture, we
Finding Silence
Date and Time: 02/06/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Rev. Christian Schmidt
It takes discipline and courage to admit that you don’t know something or aren’t the right person to tackle a particular challenge. Being an effective presence for change in our world can also mean learning when to be quiet and listen and when to support others’ work. Part of a healthy spiritual life is learning when to do this.
The Hard Work of Welcome
Date and Time: 01/30/2022 10:00am
Presenter: Rev. Roberta Finkelstein
When Deborah Matthews and Roberta Finkelstein initiated the MVUC Afghan Allies Task Force we had a well-organized plan. However, in the almost year that we have spent on this project, nothing has gone according to plan! In this service, Rev. Roberta will bring us up to date about our ‘adopted’ family and reflect on the ways that this project has taught us about perseverance, flexibility, gratitude, kindness, and generosity. The sermon title was a phrase used by the organizers at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services to describe the depth of the challenge of resettling Afghan families devastated by years of warfare and the suddenness of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan.
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