Join us for our annual Intergenerational Thanksgiving service - the re-telling of the Stone Soup story with our focus on embracing community, including those whom we don't yet know and those with whom we don't necessarily get along, from a sense of abundance, love, and deep kindness. And, we'll be making soup! (Please sign up to contribute to our soup HERE and sign up to receive soup delivered to your home HERE!) Please come with a spirit of generosity and welcoming! NOTE: This is NOT a hybrid service. It will be in-person in the Fellowship Hall.

With Rev. Kristin Grassel Schmidt Unitarian Universalism has been pluralist for generations, and wisdom from other traditions is one of our named sources of faith. But putting these values into practice isn't always easy or straightforward. Join us this week as we consider our faith's approach to pluralism, and how we strive to relate to other faiths with humility and respect.

Life comes with struggles and sadness, ups and downs. The state of the world - war, democracy, poverty, climate change, etc - all add to the strain of daily living, causing more people to feel fragile and vulnerable. We talk seasonal blues, today, and making our way through the tough times. This is a Blue Sunday service.

This morning we explore Hanukkah, Christmas, and other traditions and talk about expectations of the holidays, ourselves, the world.

How does generosity lead to a deepening experience of true friendship between faith traditions? Come celebrate our Holiday Play multi-generational service with us as we explore an interactive and heart-warming story between Jewish and Christian families. All kids are invited to attend and participate in the play!

A morning of poetry and classical guitar music from Wayne Osgood and Paul Amato. They started playing music almost thirty years ago, when they were both in Lincoln, Nebraska, continuing when they both moved here a few years later. After the Sociology Department’s rock and roll band, Lost Faculties, dissolved about 10 years ago, they regrouped playing classical guitar duets. All kids (Pre-K through Middle School) are invited to join in "Gift-Making" (craft making and art) from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm on Sunday, Dec 24. Parents are welcome to drop off and pick up by noon. Sign up for Gift-Making [...]

with Elaine Jurs and Friends... The coming of a new year calls us to be present and attuned to the blessings and wonders of life around us - to family, friends, community, to sun and moon, to the trees and animals, to the rivers and the seas, to all of the beauty of this planet, and the goodness and compassion in the human heart. Let us make time in this season to pause, to nurture love and care for each other. And to find joy in the many gifts we already have and the peaceful moments wherever we find them. Please [...]

with Rev. Tracy Sprowls...  What seeds are you planting for the new year? How are you weaving your magic into your relationships with others? How can we center beauty and goodness and love in all that's ahead?

with Rev. Tracy Sprowls and Ashley Hamlin, DLRE ... Join us as we journey through the "proud origin story" of Black Americans - "one that did not start in slavery, in struggle, and in strife." Nikoe Hannah-Jones and Renee Watson. This service will weave together the Social Justice music that our kids and families have been learning as well as a poetic presentation from the book, The 1619 Project: Born on the Water. We welcome Dr. Charles Dumas as our guest presenter!

with Rev. Tracy Sprowls... How to talk about war and violence? This has been a noticeable challenge for me as I have avoided saying much of anything, until now. How do you talk about things that hurt so deeply? Let’s talk War and Peace and Love. Side With Love is the Social Justice umbrella of the UUA. Todays’ service kicks off their 30 Days of Love 2024! It is an annual month of spiritual nourishment, political grounding, and shared practices of faith and justice.  

with Cathi Alloway...National gun violence and suicides are at an all-time high, calling us to action for safe and  healthy communities.  Learn about the Centre County Interfaith Coalition for Gun Safety and the imperative for action NOW.

with Rev. Tracy Sprowls... As we move forward together, shifting our ministry’s scope from one of transition to one of ongoing relationship, it seems a good time to look at shared ministry and the role of the minister.

with Rev Tracy Sprowls...  This morning we look at democracy through the lens of book banning.

with Rev. Tracy Sprowls... We end our 30 days of love with a conversation about love. What are we talking about when we use the word love in the context of justice?

This lay-led service will search for wisdom and inspiration in the 35 year struggle for homosexuality to be considered natural and healthy by the medical establishment.  Starting in 1952, a short paragraph in the American Psychiatric Association's influential Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders tragically listed homosexuality as a type of mental disturbance.  Through readings, poetry and music we examine why this happened and the great injustices it caused; and we celebrate and learn from the inspiring history of how a small number of people overcame powerful biases and entrenched institutional forces to prompt removal of homosexuality from the APA’s [...]

...with Rev. Tracy Sprowls.  The Poor People's Campaign, headed by Rev. William Barber, is rallying in 32 capitals on March 2. The hope is to draw attention to poverty as the fourth leading cause of death in the USA and to mobilize poor people to vote.

...with Cathi Alloway. Learn about the global fair trade movement through the work of the Ten Thousand Villages store in State College. Fair trade strives to eliminate poverty by paying farmers and craftspeople a fair wage for their labor. A sale of fair trade goods will be held after the service

...with Colleen Kennedy.  This year, Music Sunday falls on St. Patrick's Day. Join the Jazz Band and the Choir as we celebrate all things Celtic. And remember to wear your green!

Join us for Pledge Sunday - March 24, 2024.  This year we are "Committing to Community."  Our home at UUFCC makes it possible for this to happen, because we know that together we can do more than what we can do alone!  What does commitment look like?  What does where we put our money say about us?  Why do we have to pledge anyway?  Rev. Tracy Sprowls will lead us for this very special service.

...with Rev. Tracy Sprowls.  This morning we look at other faith traditions, including Christianity (And Easter), and their practices and rituals of honoring Spring.

...with Rev. Tracy Sprowls.  Attention spans are shorter, young children exposed to screens are less verbal, and teenagers struggle with mental illness or isolation. Is technology and social media the culprit? How does technology change our brains? How does it affect our ability to relate as humans? What about our spiritual lives? This sermon idea comes from Peter Kemper who bought the sermon at the 2023 Service Auction.

...with Rev. Tracy Sprowls.  Rev. Kimberley Debus suggests there is a clear arc of our Unitarian Universalist values seen in our hymns throughout our history. Where have we come from and where are we today, especially as we vote on Article II at General Assembly in June? More information about Article II here.

...with Rev. Tracy Sprowls and Ashley Hamlin, DLRE Enough is enough and not one stitch more! Come share in story and song with us as we explore our relationship to our earth and pledge to transform ourselves more deeply into people of loving connection with all things. We welcome our guest musician, Hannah Bingman, and our UUFCC kids who have prepared a special song for us!

...with Penny Eifrig. Scams are becoming more and more prevalent, yet people are still often too embarrassed to talk about it. But a scam is a violent crime, not unlike getting mugged. What can we learn about ourselves when we begin to learn about how your reptile brain functions, than when manipulated, can make you (and others) do things that seem inconceivable? Penny Eifrig shares her recent experience with amygdala hijack, and how it can explain many behaviors in today’s world.

...with Rev. Tracy Sprowls. We celebrate our history through the people that created and continue to create our community. We will honor long time members, share stories, and a few more surprises!

...with Rev. Tracy Sprowls.  Mother's Day was originally a proclamation against war and for mothers around the world to claim peace as a moral right for all people. We will honor and celebrate all those who mother today and revisit the original intention of the day.

...with Rev. Tracy Sprowls and Ashley Hamlin, DLRE Join us as we celebrate the wonder, growth, and joy we've encountered over this past year and celebrate two new babies, two HS graduates, and all of our families, kids, and adults as we've traveled together to learn, love, and be transformed.

...with Elaine Jurs and Peter Jurs. We will take you to the Arizona border where immigrants are turning themselves in to the border patrol to enter the asylum system. We will share our own recent experiences there with Samaritans providing humanitarian aid to migrants. You will watch a video clip from the PBS News hour with Amna Nawaz at the border wall.

...with Rev. Tracy Sprowls and Ashley Hamlin, DLRE The Unitarian Universalist Flower Ceremony originated in 1923 with Rev. Dr. Norbert Capeck, a Czechoslovakian and a Unitarian Minister. The ceremony is an annual ritual that celebrates beauty, human uniqueness, diversity, and community. Our theme this year comes from the hymn, Spirit of Life. Bring a flower or flowers to share!

...with Mark Hayes, Michel Lee Garrett, and Tracy Sprowls What is an ally and how can we be allies to our LGBTQ+ friends? This pride day wear your rainbow colors, show your pride, and let’s dance! ~Orange is a color in the rainbow and also is worn to bring awareness to gun safety. Wear orange on Sunday and join in the group picture we will send to UUJusticePA~

...with Rev. Tracy Sprowls We’ll catch up on the business of the Unitarian Universalist Association, plus we’ll have a belated Juneteenth celebration. And we will have a baby dedication!

We will meet for a short hybrid service, then in-person folks can join the crowd to spruce up the Fellowship grounds and building for Summer! Jobs for kids, gardeners, and junk removers. This time we are also offering indoor tasks as well for folks who have ability challenges or want to be indoors. Wear your UUFCC t-shirt (we have t-shirts for sale!) or favorite t-shirt and dress comfortably to get dirty, bring tools, gloves, buckets, hats, sunscreen, even your weed whacker. Work for an hour (in or out) and then come inside and enjoy goodies from the hospitality folks by 11:15 [...]

...with Rev. Dr. Susan V. Rak Now that the 4th of July festivities have faded, let us consider the importance of making democracy work again from a faith or spiritual perspective.

...with Cee Pollard A presentation of some of Vonnegut's ideas, with time for congregational response.