During our potluck, join us for Gathered Here discussions. Gathered Here is a program of the Unitarian Universalist Association to discover our common aspirations and explore the future of our faith.
We will join other UUs across the continent who have participated in these structured conversations, and we will provide our stories and positive experiences to help to shape a collective vision for the UUA and the future of Unitarian Universalism. Additionally, we at UUYO hope the conversations will provide us with future direction, much as the Roundtable Conversations did. We hope you will be able to join us for this two-hour conversation.
“Everything we do should be worthy of our undivided attention.” These are the words of one of Matt’s spiritual teachers. Only by being focused and attentive can we really see what is around us and make sense of the world.
Worship Leaders: Rev. Matt Alspaugh and Karen Schubert
Students in the RE Program, under the direction of Becky Ann Harker and their respective teachers, enjoyed doing art projects to exhibit in their yearly Student Art Show.
Honoring the legacy of Mother’s Day, we will explore the spiritual tasks facing us as individuals and as a progressive religious movement to help bring to birth justice and compassion.
Worship Leader: Mary Grigolia
Worship Associate: Audra Carlson
Rev. Mary Grigolia serves as a consultant to congregations, facilitating workshops and retreats focusing on team building, goal setting, and change work, as well as programs specific to pastoral care, social justice, and adult spiritual development programs. She was ordained a UU minister in 1992 and has served for 16 years as parish minister in Northeast Ohio and in Durham, NC.
Daniel Materna, Psy.D. and a member of our church, will discuss the outline of his upcoming book. Learn new ways of thinking about common love problems and solutions.
UUYO’s all-church auction theme is Livin’ La Vida “LOCAL” – a play on words that brings to mind keeping your entertainment budget right here in the local UUYO and Youngstown community. Come and bid on great local items and events donated by UUYO members.
Admission is $10 for adults (includes a delicious local-foods dinner). Admission for kids is free, and while the adults are bidding and enjoying dinner, the kids will enjoy their own fun time with pizza and a movie (with advance notice please, so we know how many kids to plan for!)
Watch this space in late May for a link to our auction catalog. A little taste of the items to be offered: a pontoon boat ride, dinners for 8, a barbecue and tractor pull, theatre tickets, group hikes and picnics, gift baskets, past-life regression, massage and more!
Tickets on sale Sundays after church in Channing Hall, or call the UUYO office to reserve yours.
This is a pulpit exchange between Youngstown and Canton UU Fellowship. Pulpit exchanges are an old part of our religious tradition dating back to the earliest churches in America.
Dogs and children and fun galore on Sunday, April 29, when Matt blessed a multitude of canine friends. The meditation was noisy and joyful, with babies, children and pups of all sizes.
Healthy Congregations is a new way of thinking about both the congregation and its leadership. Participants learn to view the congregation as a whole, as an organism, as a system. Instead of seeing separate parts, participants will see interrelated parts and their interactions. The congregation is seen as a whole unit in need of care by the leadership. The concepts of Healthy Congregations are also applicable to many work and family life situations.
Our Minister, Matt Alspaugh, is a certified trainer in the Healthy Congregations program, has led a six-session training for the cluster of nearby UU churches — several UUYO leaders have participated in this program. In this introduction, he brings the essentials of Healthy Congregations to UUYO. Anybody associated with the congregation is welcome to attend; you do not have to be a member or in leadership to be part of this.
A lunch will be served. Participants are asked to contribute $10 (less if necessary) as a free will offering for the lunch.
This, the second of three discussions, will focus on native voices in the question of the Doctrine of Discovery, and the rights of indigenous peoples and migrants.
When Christopher Columbus first set foot on the white sands of Guanahani island, he performed a ceremony to “take possession” of the land for the king and queen of Spain, acting under the international laws of Western Christendom. Although the story of Columbus’ “discovery” has taken on mythological proportions in most of the Western world, few people are aware that his act of “possession” was based on a religious doctrine now known in history as the Doctrine of Discovery. Even fewer people realize that today – five centuries later – the United States government still uses this archaic doctrine to deny the rights of indigenous peoples. Read Five Hundred Years of Injustice: The Legacy of Fifteenth Century Religious Prejudice by Steve Newcomb of the Indigenous Law Institute.
What role has it played in American history? Why should we repudiate it? We’ll explore these questions with discussion, readings, and videos. Leader: Matt Alspaugh
As a kindness, please email the office or call the office at 330-746-3067 if you are planning to attend.
After a successful potluck in March, we want to continue! We will have an all-church potluck luncheon after the service. The theme is Ethical Eating, so bring whatever items fit that definition for you: home made, or vegetarian, or locally produced, sustainably grown, fair-trade, etc. We’ll see what Ethical Eating means to us!
As we come to better understand the nature of other species, we find greater commonality in makeup and behavior than we previously imagined. How does this change how we relate to animals? This is our annual (at least, second year in a row) Animal Blessing Service. You are invited to bring your well-behaved pets, or pictures of your pets, to the service. This is a multigenerational service.
UUYO is growing in numbers and vitality. Eight new members, along with Matt, Karen O and Carole, attended the New Members Orientation on Saturday, April 21. Participants engaged in lively conversation, learned a bit about UU history, and discovered the many ways they can participate in our UU community. Following the morning session, they ate a delicious Moroccan lunch prepared and served by Marcia and Ralph, and paired up for a scavenger hunt around the church
The activity level at UUYO on Saturday morning was high. While the New Members Orientation met upstairs, Martin Berger and his B and G Team repaired ceiling tiles near the office.
