Rev. Erin Gingrich

We All Take the Bait

Click here for video (YouTube) Celebrant, Martha Sherick Shen We all react. We all get our buttons pushed and try as we might to not react, we do. We are wired to respond faster than we can consciously organize our thoughts and feelings with our deepest values and beliefs. Recognizing this, people in 12 Step programs have compassionately said, "I’m not responsible for my first thought, only what I do with it." Let us slow down and compassionately unpack the experience of how we engage our first thoughts to reinforce the ways we can do something different with them.


The Joy of Stepping on Eggshells

One Service at 10:00 am Celebrant, Martha Shen   Have you ever considered that walking on eggshells might actually be satisying if we weren't trying to prevent the inevitable? Let's consider how we can speak from a place of beauty and care, rather than fear of activating someone else's reactivity. We'll continue an exploration of nonviolent communication (or compassionate communication).


The Ancestors of Summer

One Service at 10:00 am Celebrant, Birch Spick   This June marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots (June 28-29, 1969), a watershed moment for LGBTQ liberation movements in the United States. On this Capital City Pride weekend, join our community as we consider what beauty we find in resistance. As we gather together, may we consider how the fore-runners of the queer and trans liberation movements teach us this.


The Beauty of Community

  Click Here for Video (You Tube) In this service that precedes our annual congregational meeting, we celebrate the beauty of community. Members here aspire to make our First Unitarian community warm and welcoming and to make a positive difference in the world. To paraphrase the draft mission statement, we're here to inspire spiritual and ethical growth; to prepare ourselves for service within and outside our walls; and (beginning with ourselves) to heal the world. This mission encapsulates the beautiful community we aspire to be. Today we celebrate the ways that as a community we are living into our aspirations—despite, and sometimes because of, the bumps and glitches we experience along the way.


Integrity as Wholeness

  Click here for video (You Tube) In the documentary, "The Feminist on Cellblock Y," male inmates are examining patriarchy and sharing what adhering to it has cost them personally. They identify the requirement to compartmentalize oneself and one's emotions in traditional masculinity as the underlying problem in their lives. We will look at their insights about patriarchy and gender and their prescription for integrity as we consider how we can be a people of wholeness together.


The Perfect Heart

Service at 9:15 and 11:00 am Celebrant, Birch Spick On this Sunday, the last day in our exploration of the theme Journey, David Witke shares his "Religious Journey" during Our Life Together; the Search Committee reveals the conclusion of their journey in the search for a candidate to be our next settled Senior Minister; and children who participated in the Kids Celebrate! class help tell the Paulo Coelho story, "The Perfect Heart"—about a village that learns what special trait the "perfect" leader really needs. Through story and song, we explore the ways our journey together is one of love and trust. This is a service for all ages. Service for All Ages/ Child Dedication; Note: this is the service from the Sunday we were closed due to snow. Special Music: Small choral group to sing When Jelly Beans are Criminal


The Journey of Belonging

  Click here for video (YouTube) Service at 9:15 and 11:00 am Celebrants, Susan Gross and Martha Shen Unitarian Universalists affirm the worth and dignity of all people in the first of our seven principles. Living into this, our most fundamental belief, is not as easy as it sounds, either for us as individuals or as a faith community. What would it take for us to grow as a people in our ability to welcome and the worth and dignity of “others”? We will look at our neurobiology as well as our more conscious choices. Special Music: UU Singers


It’s All About the Journey

Service at 9:15 and 11:00 am The youth of First Unitarian share their perspectives on the journey through high school and into the rest of their lives. In this service, they anticipate all that life has to offer and the myriad of ways their futures might unfold. "Welcoming" written and performed by Madeline Echternacht


The Trust that Love Built

Service at 9:15 and 11:00 am Celebrant: Ben Spick On this Sunday soon after Valentine's Day, we celebrate the power of love to build trust. Through story and song, we explore the ways that love can build trust. This is a service for all ages.