Recent Services

October 31 Service at 10:30 AM on Zoom

Rev. Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

We’ll conclude our reflections on cultivating relationships with a service dedicated to our relationships with those we love that have died. As we watch the leaves don their finery, let go and fall to earth we’re reminded that death is part of the cycles and seasons of life. Death and decay are the source of new life and the cycle continues. This is true for the loved ones we’ve lost and the gifts they pass on to us as well. When we remember them, honor them and celebrate their gifts, we lift up their legacy and the cycles and seasons continue. We continue to grow in relationship with them. 

 NOTE: Our videographer extraordinaire, Gary Nelson, has agreed to put together another one of his amazing slideshows for this service. You are invited to send a photo of a loved one who have died to Gary at: ammodytes2000@yahoo.com by Friday, October 29th. Please include the person’s name and their relationship to you. 

October 24 Service at 10:30 AM on Zoom

Rev. Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

Unitarian Universalism is a covenantal tradition, rather then a creedal one. In other words, we don’t ask people to sign on to a particular set of beliefs. We invite people into covenantal relationship. Covenants are simply the promises we make about how we want to be together.

Making those promises explicit grounds our relationships on a firm foundation of mutuality and trust.  What might a congregational covenant at NSUU look like? What are the promises we want to make explicit that can ground our relationships in mutuality and trust.

Congregational Meeting to follow the service at 11:45 a.m.

October 17 Service at 10:30 AM on Zoom

Jennifer Revill

Small groups have the power to weave threads of connection that can deepen our relationships with others and ourselves. Jennifer Revill, Helen Brandt, Judy Putnam, Samantha McCune and Rev. Carol have been exploring a model for developing small groups that promote this kind of listening and sharing. They will share what they’ve been learning and why they are so excited about potentially facilitating small groups at NSUU using this model. 

“There is a quality of listening that is possible among a circle of human beings, who by their attentiveness to one another create a space in which each person is able to give voice to the truth of his or her life. There is the miracle of authentic narrative, made possible by listening that holds still long enough to let our truth be told.” Rebecca Parker 

October 10 Service at 10:30 AM on Zoom

Ed Vaeni

The familiar face of minister Ed Vaeni will be our speaker on Sunday, October 10. Ed is retired now but spent many years as both a settled and interim minister. He spent the last ten years of his ministry as a Hospice Chaplain in Dover, NH.

In Ed’s words, “I take it as given that we are living in a time when all of our relationships; personal, communal, institutional, and environmental are being shaken to the depths. There may be many ways or no ways at all to resolve these relational conundrums. But for today I want to return to an ancient Jewish tradition known as Tikkun Olam to see if it can serve in o ur struggle to make and keep human life human. Tikkun Olam may be translated as repairing or mending the world. It speaks to a way of relating to the world that is very different for us post-modern Americans. Let’s look at it and reflect together.” 

October 3 Service at 10:30 AM on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

We’re going to kick off our theme for October, “Cultivating Relationship” with a service dedicated to lifting up our connections with all creatures great and small, especially our animal companions.

 Members of the Salem Universalist Church have been invited to join us as we bless the animals. We invite everyone to bring your well-behaved pets to our virtual service on Zoom. We’d love to meet them if that works for them. Everyone is invited to send pictures of their beloved animal friends to Gary Nelson. He will create a slideshow for the occasion. Please send pictures in .PNG or .JPG format to Gary at ammodytes2000@yahoo.com by noontime on Friday October 1st. 

Together, we’ll bless them all; our beloved animal companions, both living and deceased, and honor the many gifts they share with us. In doing so we rededicate ourselves to nurturing and protecting the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. 

September 19 & 26 Service at 10:30 AM on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

This two-part series will explore possibilities for widening the circle of inclusion both as a member congregation of a larger association, the Unitarian Universalist Association and as a particular congregation of people located on the Northshore of Massachusetts in the fall of 2021.

September 12 Service at 10:30 AM on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

Water Ceremonty Part I – Saturday, September 11.  Water Ceremony/Ingather Meet at 10:00am on the patio at NSUU. Bring a little water that has special meaning for you to NSUU. This will be an outdoor gathering. Please wear a mask, practice social distancing and remain outdoors as much as possible.

Water Ceremony Part II – Sunday, September 12 at at 10:30am via Zoom “Putting Out the Fires” Water is the source of life. It not only has the power to create life. It also has the power to extinguish the flames scorching the Earth and our thirsty souls.

Rev. Strecker, Interim Minister

September 5 – Labor Day weekend: There will not be a service.

Saturday, September 11 –

Water Ceremony/Ingather Meet at 10:00am on the patio at NSUU. Bring a little water that has special meaning for you to NSUU. This will be an outdoor gathering. Please wear a mask, practice social distancing and remain outdoors as much as possible.

Sunday, September 12 –

Water Ceremony Part II at 10:30am via Zoom “Putting Out the Fires” Water is the source of life. It not only has the power to create life. It also has the power to extinguish the flames scorching the Earth and our thirsty souls.

Rev. Strecker, Interim Minister

August 8 Service at 10:30 AM on Zoom

Jennifer Revill

The word “trajectory” implies more than just a path; it’s a path overlaid with the function of time. The spiritual  experience of most human beings could be said to be a trajectory; this is usually called a spiritual “journey.” Each of our journeys is unique and takes shape because of who we are, where we are, when we are, and the  environment and context of our lives. This service offers some ways to think about our own individual spiritual  trajectories – their origins and destinations, and the forces that shape them. 

August 1 Service at 10:30 AM on Zoom

Edith Fenton

The Summer Reading Service will offer an overview of the types of books that have been published in the past year and how those titles reflect the issues of our current culture. Our hope is that each of you will speak briefly about the book that has been most meaningful to you over the last year. Reading was something we could do when here was no place to go. Now that we have places to go again, there is still time to read good books.  I will develop a list of books including those you suggest.

Click HERE to View the Reading List

July 25 Service at 10:30 AM on Zoom

Terri Hansen

After our historic and earth-shaking pandemic year, we are happily approaching a return to normal. But can we  ever return to normal again? What was the old normal anyway? What have we lost and what have we gained?  And what would a new normal look like in our lives now – on a personal level – on a congregational level – or  even perhaps on a national level? We may not have all the answers to these questions, but we ought to consider  them, and perhaps seek some spiritual guidance as we face the future.  

July 18 Service at 10:30 AM on Zoom

Join us for a virtual Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Sunday (UUSC) with UUSC President and CEO Rev. Mary Katherine Morn as we explore how congregations have brought our Unitarian Universalist values to the fight for human rights since UUSC’S founding in May of 1940.

July 11 Service at 10:30 AM on Zoom

Susan Haas

Susan Haas became a certified Master Gardener in May of 2019. That was just the first step towards becoming an Environmental Gardener. Susan celebrates, “the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part,” every day in her gardening activities. Please join Susan for a lively discussion of environmental gardening.

June 27 Service at 10:30 AM on Zoom

Virtual Service via Zoom 

Join us to watch the annual UUA General Assembly Virtual Sunday Service. This powerful, communal worship  experience is the largest annual gathering of UUs convening virtually for worship. We will be streaming the  service over ZOOM at our usual worship time 10:30am.

June 19th Gathering and 10:30 AM

June 20th Virtual Service at 10:30 AM on Zoom

Rev. Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

Join us Saturday and Sunday for an in-person and virtual celebration of the beauty that is unity in diversity, a tradition with deep roots in our Unitarian Universalist faith. Each of us is a unique flower with gifts of great beauty to share. We’ll honor the unique gifts of several very special people including volunteer recognition and the Ann Milender and Frank Farnum awards.

 Our celebration will begin on Saturday, June 19th. Bring a flower to NSUU between 10:30am and 11:30. Together we’ll make a beautiful bouquet as we greet one another in the parking lot! From 11:30 until noon you’ll have an opportunity to choose a different flower than the one you brought to take home with you; symbolizing the unique beauty in every flower and the impact that beauty has on our lives together. We’ll create a video on Saturday that we’ll include in our Zoom service on Sunday morning, June 20. If you are unable to join us in person on June 19^th, Barbara Reeder has volunteered to arrange for someone to deliver a flower to your home. Please contact her at barellenroth@yahoo.com if you’d like to receive a flower from the bouquet.

On Saturday you’ll also have the opportunity to explore the Memorial Garden. We’ll set aside flowers for people connected to NSUU who have died, remembering their unique gifts and how their loss touches us all. Please wear a mask, practice social distancing and remain outdoors as much as possible during our gathering on Saturday. This will allow us to be as inclusive while keeping everyone as safe as possible.

Click HERE  for the Order of Service 

June 13 Service at 10:30 AM on Zoom

Rev.Carol Strecker, Interim Minister 

There are some ways in which the last 15 months have felt like one, interminably long “Time Out”. There are other ways in which we’ve been so challenged by the rapid-fire nature of change and uncertainty that we all could use a “Time Out” from the stress of daily living in the midst of a pandemic. 

Henry David Thoreau spent two years living in a one-room cabin on the shores of Walden Pond starting in 1845. He embraced simplicity and mindfulness over a hundred years before they became contemporary paths to spiritual development. His direct experience of mystery and wonder in nature has become one of the sources from which Unitarian Universalist draw inspiration. What might these practices and his words have to say to us today? 

Click HERE  for the Order of Service

June 6 Service at 10:30 AM on Zoom

Rev. Carol Strecker, Interim Minister 

June is PRIDE month; celebrating the many ways people express gender and sexuality in our culture – many of which transcend cultural norms; male and female. Learning from each other and expanding our understanding of the full range of human experience is an important way Unitarian Universalists can honor the worth and dignity of all people. Finding a spiritual home where you feel seen in the fullness of your humanity is what being a Welcoming Congregation is really all about. 

Click HERE for the Order of Service

April 4 Service at 10:30 AM on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

This is the season of new life! We’ll celebrate with gratitude what’s being born in the natural world and in us as the seasons and cycles of life continue.

You are invited to send a picture of yourself/family/pets in your Easter finery; bonnets/bunny ears, etc…. for a virtual “Easter Parade” to begin our celebration.

Send your pictures by Friday, April 2nd via email to Gary Nelson at ammodytes2000@gmail.com.

Click HERE for the Order of Service

March 21 Service at 10:30 AM on Zoom

March 7 Service at 10:30 AM on Zoom