Join Us for Sunday Services Online or In Person
Currently, services are held in person in our Sanctuary and simultaneously online via YouTube.
It is good to be together. We would love to see you, either online or in person.
Join us for service online by clicking on the link on our homepage a few minutes prior to the scheduled start time of 10:30 a.m.
Why Sunday Services
We gather together on Sundays and in small groups because we need each other and because we learn and grow together. When we gather, we connect to and remember what matters most in life. Amidst the challenges of our personal and communal lives, our congregations and communities call us to reflect, to reach out and to re-imagine interdependent communities that center love, equity, justice, transformation, generosity and diversity. We learn to live with more wisdom, more connection, and more compassion through relationships and commitments to one another.
Our Sunday Services are weekly reflections that weave together our own thoughts and experiences with music, beauty, poetry, and words that both comfort and challenge. Our programs for all ages inspire us, and awaken us to our capacities to make a difference in our own lives and in the world.
We are inspired not just by a wide range of religious sources but by the people with whom we journey: the diverse and spirited Unitarian Universalists.
Connect with us to join together.
What to Expect in Sunday Services
Come as you are! We gather in worship to find meaning and live more deeply. Worship creates connections within, among, and beyond us, calling us to our better selves, calling us to live with wisdom and compassion and engaging us in compelling questions.
Unitarian Universalist worship styles vary by congregation, and even within congregations. Some congregations’ worship is contemporary and high tech. Some congregations’ worship is traditional and formal. Some feature exuberant music; some include long periods of silent reflection.
At VUU, you will find a little bit of each of these as we weave together hymns and contemporary songs, a live band and the voices of our choirs, images and words onscreen and a state of the art sound system that includes hearing assistance devices. We hope to engage our participants in body, mind and spirit. Our congregation’s worship is centered around the ideas of bringing love and reason to life in order to build a just and compassionate world.
Elements of a typical Unitarian Universalist Sunday morning service include:
- Words of welcome
- Lighting a flaming chalice, the symbol of our faith
- A Time For All Ages, which includes stories, interactive conversations, and songs
- Music, both instrumental and vocal and in a variety of styles
- A centering time that includes a meditation or prayer, rituals and movement to hold our joy and grief, and contemplative music
- Readings—ancient and contemporary
- Reflections from Worship Associates and a reflection given by a professional minister, a guest speaker, or a member of the congregation
- An offering, collecting financial donations for the congregation or for justice work in the community.
From time to time, services incorporate holiday celebrations from different religious traditions, multi-generational interactive services and pageants, longer musical performances, new member ceremonies, child dedications, and coming-of-age ceremonies. We offer childcare and learning programs for children and youth during the Sunday service.
After Sunday worship service participants can connect with pastoral care, enjoy refreshments, attend a Welcome Circle for visitors, and stay for presentations and workshops with local partners in our advocacy, service, and justice work. (We call these a “Deep Dive.”) Additionally, we hold congregational conversations on important issues needing discussion and congregational meetings where we vote on our budget, elected leaders, and other important decisions being made by the congregation according to our bylaws.
Prior to the service every Sunday, the Dalai Lama and Friends Workshop meets. This is an opportunity to learn from the Dalai Lama and other modern Buddhist teachers on how to become more compassionate and cultivate our minds through Buddhist practices. A 30-minute meditation begins at 8:30 AM followed be a one-hour discussion during which participants are encouraged to share their personal experiences on a variety of topics.