The annual “Gathering of the Waters” at the MMUUF Barn on September 14 is the first service of the season, and one where we bring actual or virtual water from a special/favorite spot we visited over the summer. The service is also an opportunity for attendees to share what they had hoped to do since our last service in June, and if they were able to complete their hopes or if they did other things instead.
Join the Sunday Service Committee for a service of reflection, gratitude, and celebration of our fellowship year. And in what has become our end of year tradition, come prepared to write on a card what you hope to do/see and/or where you hope to go over the summer, to be saved in the Barn until our opening service in September.
The Cares and Concerns Committee of MMUUF will be hosting a memorial service honoring our beloved dead. Members and guests will have an opportunity to remember a beloved one no longer with us. This could be a person, or dog or cat, or any creature that caused your heart to swell with grief. Folks are asked to bring some items for our beloved dead altar, even if they aren’t speaking. But we would love to have people, members or guests, share a brief memory or a few words about whoever you are honoring. Children may also share before they leave for RE classes. It will be received with respect and love.
Join us to joyously celebrate Beltane, an ancient Celtic trading that brings community together to welcome the greening of the Earth back after the cold of winter. We will do a little drum trance to remember the ancient ways. If we are lucky we will once again dance the Maypole.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit.” are the first words of Jesus in the first section of teaching in the first book of the New Testament. Guest speaker Rev. Austin Hornyak will present this week’s service and share his thoughts on what these words tell us about the nature of spiritual life.
Rev. Austin Hornyak joins us from Shelburne, Vermont. He attended Duke Divinity School and has served United Methodist congregations in North Carolina and his native western Pennsylvania. For the past ten years, he has worked at Howard Center in Burlington as a social worker supporting individuals with developmental disabilities. Rev. Hornyak enjoys spending time with his partner Yasamin and her daughter, hiking, reading, doing crossword puzzles, and spoiling his cat, Quinn.
