Upcoming Services

September and October 2021
10 AM Sunday Morning Virtual Services
In the unlikely event you are prompted to enter a meeting ID or password, they are:
​Zoom Meeting ID: 893 1023 7454
Passcode: 1955

September 26 - "The Turning Point"   Autumnal Equinox Service led by Jen Raffensperger

Here we are at that time of year where the balance shifts. Past the pause at the time of the astronomical equinox, annual harvest festivals and celebrations invite us both to celebrate and to take stock of what we have set aside for the months ahead. What do we carry with us into the turning of the year?  

​Join us as we honor the next phase in the wheel of the year. 

Zoom Link
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89310237454?pwd=VlNPYTgrSTZWclZNa3BvVlVWMG9HZz09​

October 3 - "Do You Love Me?"   Rev Dr. Richard Speck, guest speaker

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Throughout my life no one taught me how to be in relationships with others.  There are no classes in school that tell us how to have healthy and happy relationships.  We are often just navigating them on our own and learning as we go.  Given that we are often uneducated on healthy relationships, what are some things one can do to cultivate better relationships with others?  We will explore what makes for healthy relationships this Sunday.  

The Reverend Doctor Richard Speck is the retired District Executive for the Joseph Priestley District (JPD) of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. Richard continues to be active in social justice programs like the Black Lives Matter and The Coalition to Dismantle the New Jim Crow in Delaware. He conducts weddings, memorial services, and funerals and continues preaching widely and teaching leaders in proper governance and emotional systems thinking.​

Zoom Link
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89310237454?pwd=VlNPYTgrSTZWclZNa3BvVlVWMG9HZz09​

October 10 - "Call the Spirit Back"   Service led by Jen Raffensperger

In October, we are calling to mind the theme of Cultivating Relationships. On this weekend of Indigenous People’s Day, let us consider many kinds of relationships, both broken and healing, both external and internal. We will consider our own ‘postcolonial insecure jitters’ and some of the complexity of our interconnected, interdependent world.

If you would like to do some reflection prior to this service, our primary text will be Joy Harjo's poem 'For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in its Human Feet,' which you can read here." 

Zoom Link
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89310237454?pwd=VlNPYTgrSTZWclZNa3BvVlVWMG9HZz09​

October 17 - "Cinderella Liberator"   Rev. Mary Doane and Sylvia Foster, guest speakers

Rev. Mary Doane and Sylvia Foster will treat us to a morning of music to accompany a service on generosity, transformation, and gratitude.  Excerpts from Cinderella Liberator by Rebecca Solnit will highlight characters who have empathy for those who are poor and will be paired with a sermon that takes us beyond the myth of scarcity that currently forms the basis of our U.S. economic system to question what is humanity’s new role on planet earth since the virus, what we deem sacred, and how we care for one another.  The teachings of constant competition and unlimited consumerism are being examined, and we are called to ask ourselves, “How might our human gifts go toward healing and building better lives for all?”

​Rev. Mary Doane has been involved in starting an environmental arts organization twenty years ago called  “Project Nature” developing and implementing programs for children in which she teaches new ways of experiencing the natural world. She is retired from the Exeter church, and from her studio in Dover, New Hampshire she teaches piano, incorporates puppetry arts into her programs of study, and leads a local choral group.
 
Sylvia Foster grew up in the Bangor, Maine, Universalist Church and has been a member of the Exeter, New Hampshire UU church for thirty years. She has been a leader of committees on social justice, green sanctuary, and equity & inclusion.  She remains on the teaching staff in the Women’s and Gender Studies program. She also currently serves on the Boards of 350NH Action for renewable energy and The Racial Unity Team of New Hampshire.

Zoom Link
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89310237454?pwd=VlNPYTgrSTZWclZNa3BvVlVWMG9HZz09

October 24 - "Reach, Relationship, Responsibility"   Service led by Rev. Jen Raffensperger

As we continue our exploration of Cultivating Relationship during October, we will take time to examine how our relationships change with proximity and understanding.

During this LGBTQIA+ History Month, and not long after the celebrations of National Coming Out Day on October 11, what lessons can we take from the ever changing face of our society when more people than ever feel empowered to live fully into their many layered identities? How can we expect to grow real relationships with people we do not know or try to empathize with?

​Zoom Link
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89310237454?pwd=VlNPYTgrSTZWclZNa3BvVlVWMG9HZz09

October 31 - Samhain Service led by Mari Rosario, the Earth-Centered Spirituality group, and Rev. Jen Raffensperger

Samhain is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or "darker-half" of the year.

In the northern hemisphere, it is held on 1 November, but with celebrations beginning on the evening of 31 October, as the Celtic day began and ended at sunset.

​Zoom Link
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89310237454?pwd=VlNPYTgrSTZWclZNa3BvVlVWMG9HZz09