May 2026
Awakening Curiosity

May 32, 2026: Rev. Sara Goodman: Flower Communion Celebration & Community

May 24, 2026: Rev. Sara Goodman: Mourning What We’ve Lost, Imagining What’s to Come: Memorial day is a time for honoring the past and perhaps we can turn to imagining a more peaceful future.

May 17, 2026: Rev. Sara Goodman: From Fear to Wonder: As Unitarian Universalists we believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and that means we are against Queerphobia in all its forms. When the world is full of fear, how to we look at it with wonder?

May 10, 2026: Rev. Sara Goodman: But Why? Kids today ask the most annoying important questions. Why? What if? Are we there yet? Curiosity is what shapes our childhoods, but how can we awaken our curiosity about life in adulthood and a time of crisis? .

May 3, 2026:: Guest Minister Kristin Fritz: Confessions of an Anti-perfectionist What role does perfection play in our lives? Does it align with our UU values? What impact does perfectionism have on us individually and collectively?

April 2026
Embracing Possibility

April 26, 2026: Rev. Sara Goodman: Choose Your Superpower: Invisibility or Teleportation? Which super power would you choose to save the world? New Member Sunday, Continuing possibilities of larger connections with cluster

April 19, 2026: Rev. Sara Goodman: Our Earth, Our Legacy As we imagine a future for our grandchildren, we must remember that our planet is the only one we have to leave them. What legacy are we planning for their future?

April 12, 2026: Rev. Sara Goodman: How the River Flows When the world is full of chaos and concerns, we may feel powerless as individuals, but like drops of water, together we are powerful like a river.

April 5, 2026: Rev. Sara Goodman: Easter Eggtacular Come on out of your shell and join us for this interactive, all ages worship experience to celebrate Easter!

March 2026
Paying Attention

March 29, 2026: Adena Dannouf: Practice Paying Attention The Olympics may have come to an end… but now is the time to show up for practice! Practice for what you may ask?? Practice PAYING ATTENTION! This doesn’t mean just sitting still and being quiet (neuro-spiciness is welcome here!) Instead, come engage in an interactive multigenerational service that invites us to look at paying attention in new ways.

March 22, 2026: Rev. Sara Goodman: Calling Our Attention Home Our attention is being pulled in a hundred different directions, causing us stress, anxiety and other negative feelings. How can we call our attention home?

March 15, 2026: Rev. Sara Goodman: The Holy Body: Embracing Embodiment What do our bodies have to tell us about how we are experiencing the world?

March 8, 2026: Rev. Sara Goodman: When the World Feels Upside Down How do we live in a world that’s turned upside down? Our best attemp will come from paying attention to what is and being curious about what could be.

March 1, 2026: Guest Chaplain Jennifer Springsteen: Empathic Witness Chaplains use skills of deep listening to create relationships. How our witness of one another can show our love. Jennifer Springsteen is a hospital chaplain, writer, and a Unitarian Universalist Minister.

February 2026
Embodying Resistance

February 22, 2026: Rev. Sara Goodman: It’s gonna be Golden When darkness meets the light, this is what it sounds like. *pledge announcements. New Member Ceremony

February 15, 2026: Rev. Sara Goodman: Power of Collective Like a murmuration of birds, or the many stones that make a mountain, there is power in the collective. We are many, so we together have the power to make this church, this world, a powerful collective for good! *pledge announcements

February 8, 2026: Rev. Sara Goodman: How to Fall Down.

February 1, 2026: Guest Minister Casey Akers: Chipping away at Oppression

January 2026
Practicing Resistance

January 25, 2026: Rev. Sara Goodman: TBD: As we are seeing some historical patterns emerging, we consider how can we resist falling into these patterns, culturally and within ourselves

January 18, 2026: Rev. Sara Goodman: Beyond the Dream: As we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr., we are reminded that the work of building the beloved community continues on. How do we fit in?

January 11, 2026: Rev. Sara Goodman: When Tomorrow’s Not Enough: Sometimes tomorrow is as far ahead as we can look when we are in survival mode. But if we are to change the world for the better, we need to have a vision for what it is we’re heading towards.

January 4, 2026: Rev. Kimberely Debus: Road Conditions: We begin the new year considering the ongoing journeys of our lives – individually and as communities: how do we handle changing conditions, detours, and rough terrain?

December 2025
Chosing Hope

December 28, 2025: Rev. Sara Goodman:Burning Bowl: As we reach the end of our calendar year, we’re called to reflect on the year and begin imagining what the new year will bring.

December 24, 2025: Rev. Sara Goodman: What Star is This: Join your Unitarian Universalist Community Church family as we celebrate Christmas Eve! Come enjoy a festive holiday concert at 4pm followed by our traditional candlelight Christmas Eve Service at 5pm! In this season of unknowing, what star will lead us on?

December 21, 2025: Adena & Kids: Trouble on the Tree: The Holiday Season has come and it’s time for a seasonal favorite… decorating the tree!! There will be songs, lights, ornaments, and of course the star! But what happens when things don’t quite go as planned?? Come join in this annual and interactive “Children & Youth Holiday Service” to find out!

December 14, 2025: Rev. Sara Goodman: Hope is Hard to Find: It’s a hard time of year for many, as we move into the holiday season, some of us aren’t ready to find hope just yet. What helps you keep moving forward when hope is hard to find?

December 7, 2025: John Countryman: Hope and Meaning: Given all that’s happening in the country and the world at the moment, we’re all in need of a robust dose of hope, especially during the holidays. A groundbreaking new study from the University of Missouri has determined that hope may contribute more to our sense of life’s meaning than even happiness or gratitude. Join us to learn how!

October 2025
Cultivating Compassion

October 26, 2025: Rev. Sara Goodman: To Plant and Plow: What can we learn from gardening and farming about living into compassion. RISC Commissioning + Richmond Pledge.

October 19, 2025: Rev. Sara Goodman: The Give and Taking of it: What does it mean to be in a caring community? We need to both give and take care too – which is harder than it looks. Care Commissioning.

October 12, 2025: Rev. Sara Goodman: Notes from the Other Side: In our divided society, how are we communicating and finding common ground with those on the “other side” ?

October 5, 2025: Charlene et Al: SUUSI: SUUSI is the Southeast Unitarian Universalist Summer Institute, an intentional community of UUs and kindred spirits. It is the second-largest gathering of Unitarian Universalists, after General Assembly. For more than 70 years SUUSI has come together for a week in July to explore interconnectedness, delight in the outdoors, enjoy music and learn new ways of seeing our world and each other. In today’s service, some of our UUCC members and friends will share about their experiences of the SUUSI magic!

September 2025
Building Belonging

September 28, 2025: Rev. Sara Goodman: Cherished Belonging: How do we give our love and offer dignity to all, in times of great divisions? Father Greg Boyle wrote the book on it, come hear Rev. Sara’s take

September 21, 2025: Rev. Sara Goodman: Longing to Belong: We are all longing for belonging. In a culture of isolation and exceptionalism, finding belonging is harder than ever.

September 14, 2025: Rev. Sara Goodman: Water Communion: The waters are rising, a storm is coming, and we need to prepare for it. Our annual Water Communion service invites folks of all ages to participate in this interactive ritual based service. Bring water from somewhere important to you – a favorite body of water, your tap, or from UUCC to add to the common bowl.

September 7, 2025: Adena Dannouf: Just One Stone: What does one stone have to do with EVERYTHING? Come to our annual fall Outdoor Service to find out! All ages are welcome to join in for this multigenerational, story-based and interactive service. We will ponder the answer to this question together, while enjoying the land we share at UUCC!

August 2025
The Practice of Delight

August 31, 2025: Rev. Sara: Fruits of our Labors: Have you seen the billboards around town? “We Make They Take” what does this mean for us on this Labor Day weekend?

August 24, 2025: Rev. Sara: Everything is Tuberculosis: Based on the Book Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green: Tuberculosis has been entwined with humanity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it. Tuberculosis has shaped our world and now our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis.

August 17, 2025: Rev. Sara: Walking on Water: Walking on water is impossible, but we can make the illusion of walking on water seem real. Illusions have brought us joy for centuries, does learning how the illusion works dim the delight?

August 10, 2025: Rev. Sara: Daily Delights: What Daily Delights are keeping you sane in this time of shocking transformation?

August 3, 2025: Shellie Smith, Amy McKnight, Adena Dannouf: Christmas in “July”: The message in almost every holiday special is to “keep the spirit of Christmas in our hearts all year long”. So, let’s try to honor that with a participatory, multigenerational service of fun and MERRY-ment. If you’re dreaming of cooler temperatures, break out your best (warm weather!) holiday attire and prepare to CELEBRATE “Christmas in July” (… in August)!

July 2025
The Practice of Creativity

July 27, 2025: Misha Sanders: Thirsty Prophets: Is it true that to help others we must not show our own vulnerabilities?  This week we will explore the idea that vulnerability, along with deep listening, might just be the best way to truly minister to each other. 

July 20, 2025: Jane Mitchell & Dorothy Fillmore Speakers: What’s It All About? Come reflect upon a diversity of ideas from key philosophers on the meaning of life and then share your own thoughts.

July 13, 2025: Cindy, Susan, Carol, Rev. Sara, Adena: Meet The Moment: The UUA held its General Assembly in Baltimore this year, with the theme of Meet the Moment. Members and staff of UUCC attended this meeting, both in person and virtually. Come hear reflections on what we learned.

July 6, 2025: Kendall Nordin: Small Moves: Lessons from the Studio: In a time of overwhelming events and circumstances, what can we do? Though we may feel powerless, we can always reconnect to our fundamental agency. What can we learn from artists, from their practices and observations in the studio, that can help us to live into this world moment with creativity, paying attention to the unique ways we can contribute, build a future we long for, and keep ourselves whole. 

June 2025
The Practice of Freedom

June 29, 2025. Kendall Nordin: Be Water: Lessons from the river. From a larger series of sermons and art about the James River, Seminarian Kendall Nordin will use observations from the river at the heart of Richmond to think about the practice of freedom, the constraints and myths of a river bank, surface tension, and the bonded cohesion required to reshape the world.

June 22, 2025. John Countryman: Humility.  It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble – it’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.

June 15, 2025:  Mary Shelden: Empowering the Spunky Girl Heroine. Our service will consider what can happen when we — all of us — embrace the spunky girl heroine within ourselves and in one another. Youtube Link

June 8, 2025: Rev. Sara: This Is Me! Reclaiming freedom to be authentically you while things aren’t so free out in the wider world. We will celebrate Pride month and embrace our ever-expanding definition of love. Youtube Link

June 1, 2025: Rev. Sara: From Bud To Bloom. Bring a bud or bloom to share for our annual Flower Communion, and help us celebrate the many folks living the transition from bud to bloom this time of year with graduations, retirements, and other life changes in this service for all ages. Youtube Link