UU Community Church of Washington County's Podcast

Judy Blume's most loved coming-of-age book is called Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. Eleven-year-old Margaret keeps god up-to-date as she seeks a religion that works for her, amidst the trials and tribulations of trying to fit in with her friends as they approach puberty. In this service, we explore how god might defend, explain or apologize for the way life rolls.

Transgender parent Trystan Reese will share his experiences as a pregnant man navigating a world that assumes pregnancy is uniquely linked to femininity. While he experienced hardships, he ultimately came to cherish his time as a pregnant man, learning a lot about himself and others along the way. 

A gifted storyteller who has been featured on The Moth radio hour, Trystan is delighted to bring his powerful story to our UU congregation. 

Were you taught to take up space in the room, to make your voice heard within an assertive culture? Or perhaps your spidey sense tingles when someone else is behaving like that. What happens when democratic values bump up against the will to command attention? Rev. Ben will share lessons learned from improv theatre about how to take space and how to make space for others.

Like leaves taking a plunge from a tree in fall, our freedom to explore spiritual paths can be unsettling.  But our congregation can make for a safe landing.  Come meet our neighbor Ms. Apprehend, who will learn important lessons from our youth about leaves, science, and our nurturing church community.

On this Bring a Friend Sunday, with a church celebration after the service, we explore what makes for a meaningful life. What do you need, for yourself, your neighbour, your loved ones, to open the heart, open the mind, and share in the journey?

Come and hear four church members—Gary Conaway, Julia Surtshin, Kathryn Warrior, and Kathy Foldes—express how meaningful covenant groups have been to them. 

Rev. Ben will do an introduction to what Unitarian Universalism is all about.

Every day, when we decide how to present ourselves to the world, we create a story of who we are.  How we dress shows who we want to be.  The world of cosplay, where participants dress up as and embody fictional characters, holds lessons for us in how we can use clothing to explore different ways of being.  We are all playing roles: which roles are yours?

How are we accustomed to thinking about our mortality? Can we adjust our thinking to help us make more of the lives and times we have?

Do you ever wonder how people can be in the same world (or the same room!) and experience entirely different realities? Where do our different lenses come from? We will explore how our brain’s plasticity benefits us, but also how it can lead to dysfunctional interactions when the stories we tell ourselves about the world don’t match.