UU Society of Cleveland

Each of us is on a journey through our lifetime. We collect friends, heartaches and stories along the way. Join us as we feature friends from First Unitarian Church, including the YoUUth choir! Service led by Rev. Joe Cherry and First Unitarian Church of Cleveland  Director of Religious Education, Allan Georgia.  The worship associates are Jess Levy and Debbie Kuehm.    Musicians are First Unitarian Church of Cleveland, YoUUth choir and also Karin Tooley   From 12/23/18 worship service. 

In our continuing celebration of Chalica, Rev. Joe Cherry explores the Second Principle: Justice, equity and compassion in human relations. Sermon from 1/13/19

Over the next seven weeks we will be observing Chalica, a celebration of the Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism.  Join Rev. Joe Cherry and Amy Collins, CLM, as they explore the First Principle: The inherent worth and dignity of every person. Sermon from 1/6/19

Guest Reverend Beth Marshall leads this morning's service and shares the inspiring true story of how one person shared the gifts he was given and in doing so touched the lives of countless others.  Worship Associate - Jess Levy.  Musician - Karin Tooley Rev. Beth Marshall is a life-long Unitarian Universalist.   She began seminary at John Carroll University in Shaker Hts., with a detour through Southern Methodist University in Dallas, finally completing her Masters of Divinity at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago.  Since ordination in 2003, she has served congregations in Southold, NY; Toledo, Ohio; Findlay, Ohio; and Erie, Pennsylvania.   She is currently serving as a contract minister for both First Unitarian church in Cleveland and the UU Congregation of Greater Canton.  She and her husband, Tony Wilgus, have made their home in Oberlin, Ohio.  Together, they are parents to five grown children and grandparents to seven grandchildren – who live across the country in five states and three time zones.    From 12/16/18 Worship Service

Join Reverend Joe Cherry as we explore the mystery of pets.  Scientifically, pets don't make sense. They cost us money, they don't really do anything and that's not likely to change.  Scientifically, pets make a lot of sense because they offer us chances to lower our blood pressure, make many social interactions easier and help prevent loneliness. So, which is it?  Maybe it's just that pets and science don't mix? This episode also includes the lighting of several holiday candles including the Hanukkah menorah and Advent wreath.  The worship associate is Peggy Lagodny. Our guest musician is George Foley.    From 12/9/18 Worship Service  

Join the UUSC 2018-2019 Worship Team ( Amy Collins, Jess Levy, Peggy Lagodny) as we begin to unravel this month's theme of Mystery.  Jess provides a reflection titled, "What's Your Why?" and Peggy shares her reflection titled, "The Little Mysteries."  The musician is Karin Tooley.     Sermon from 12/2/18 worship service

Change is never an easy process, and the UU Society of Cleveland is facing a big one. Join visiting minister Rev. Janet Onnie as she explores how to face the inevitable unknown, framed with a story by Rev. Meg Barnhouse. The Reverend Janet Onnie has joyfully served the Unitarian Universalists in the tri-county area surrounding The Villages since 2011. Her ministerial career has focused on Florida and the Caribbean. She has supplied pulpits, trained congregations in the program of Lay Pastoral Care Associates, facilitated workshops and Board retreats, and co-founded the Venice Interfaith Community Association. She currently serves the Florida UU Ministers Association as President. Rev. Onnie mentors two ministers in Preliminary Fellowship, and supervises the TriUU ministerial intern. She is an outspoken advocate for racial justice and is a frequent contributor to newspapers and public forums. Sermon from 11/25/18

Memory's Shadow Commissioned Lay Minister Amy Collins explores the role of memory as it relates to identity. How do our memories shape us? When we or our loved ones begin to lose our memories, in cases of dementia, Alzheimer's, or just the natural aging process, who are we/they? The mind is a complex maze of neurons and there remains much to learn about how memory and identity relate.  Musician, Karin Tooley.    From 11/2/18 service      

Can a Symbol Be Enough?   Do religious symbols inspire you to create sanctuary? Join Rev. Joe Cherry as we learn about these symbols and the people who created them.   The worship associate is Jess Levy, and the musician is Karin Tooley.     Sermon from 10/28/18 service Special Note:  This service took place the day after the massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh and includes words of remembrance for the victims.

Sanctuary is not some far off place, not a place reserved only for Sundays. Sanctuaries are everywhere, if we but look for them. Join us (Rev. Joe and Amy Collins, as well as Karin Tooley, our musician) this Sunday in a conversation about wonderful things in ordinary spaces.    Sermon from 10/21/18 Service    

  A sanctuary is a sacred place - one often used as a safe space for people or animals or plants. What if instead of a place, we ourselves embodied the charge of sanctuary and imagined a practice of sheltering God in the world by the way we engage with it?  Join Rev. Kristina Spaude, who is returning to UU Cleveland for to minister the first time since her ordination, as well as Worship Assocate Amy Collins, and Musician Karin Tooley   From 10/14/18 service

Join guest minister Reverend Keith Rasey as he explores seemingly diverse, yet interwoven lessons from his football playing days, inspiration from Matthew 5: 38-41, and even the bluegrass song, "Turn it Around" by Harry Chapin.  Elizabeth and Mark DeMio return as guest musicians.    Rev. Keith has 25 years of experience as a United Methodist minister having served churches in Connecticut, Michigan and Ohio.  For seven years, he worked as a hospice chaplain.  He has been part of the hospice movement almost since its beginning in the United States.  He has degrees from Eastern Michigan, Yale and Kent State Universities.  He is the author of several books and many articles on spiritual care at the end of life." Worship Associate: Jess Levy. Guest musicians: Mark & Elizabeth DeMio   From 10/7/18 Service

If you're joining us today as a guest, know that you are witnessing this Unitarian Universalist congregation doing sacred work: collectively, we will wrestle with what it means to be a majority-white faith whose anti-racist intentions have not always been borne out. We invite you to witness this moment of transparency and vision, and to join us on future Sundays for a more traditional worship service. The service leader is Rev. Joe Cherry.  The musician is Karen Tooley, and the worship associate is Peggy Lagodny.  Service from 09/30/2018

September is Suicide Prevention month, a time when we acknowledge the specter of suicide in our society while also strengthening our resolve to build a suicide resistant culture.   This morning, along with Rev. Dr. Rina Shere we gather in hope and courage seeking to bring love and wholeness to our people. Sermon from 9/23/18.  

Inspired by the poetry of Sonya Renee Taylor, together we will step into a bolder love of self.  Join Reverend Joe Cherry talks about the courage of Radical love.  The guest musician is Mikey Silas, and the worship associate is Jess Levy.  Sermon from 09/16/18

This Sunday we gather together, from many summer adventures, as a congregation once again. Please join Rev. Rina, Rev. Joe and Peggy Lagodny as we take time to reconnect as a community through the ritual of Water Communion.  Rev. Joe provides the sermon, “Water Flows”. Sermon from 9/9/18

UTILIZING YOUR MINISTRY Often we underestimate our own abilities to affect the world around us. We say things like "I'm just a...." No one is "just a...." Join us this Sunday as we explore how the ordinary is actually extraordinary. Worship Led by Rev. Joe and Amy Collins, CLM.  Wisdom From The Global Scripture is a recording of "All of the Ways I Kept Myself Alive" by Hanif Abdurraqib.   Sermon 09/02/18

Our topic this week is Old Stories. We'll consider what they are and what uses they might have for UUs. Regardless of your age, be prepared to feel younger when you leave.  Robert Horan is a pretty new member of First Unitarian; it is the only church he's joined. Dr Horan is Professor Emeritus, Department of English & Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. A resident of South Euclid, Bob serves on the boards of the South Euclid-Lyndhurst Historical Society and First Unitarian Church; as a tutor at the Saturday Tutoring Program sponsored by Church of the Covenant; as a saxophonist with The Italian Band of Cleveland, and as a member of the Emerald Necklace Traveling Golf League.  Dr. Horan’s sermon is titled, “The Stories That Matter.”   Sermon from 8/26/18

We've spent August exploring stories from the third person, to the first person and this week we'll look at this collective story of ours that we are living right now.  Reverend Joe Cherry provides a sermon about Process Theology and Collective Story Creation this Sunday. Sermon from 08/19/18  

Rev. Joe Cherry is back in the pulpit this Sunday.  What is the story you tell others about you? What is the narrative that you share in public places, that may be a little revealing, but mostly concealing, about your innermost life? How does that story differ from what you think of as your actual story? This Sunday our service centers around personal story, challenge and truth telling. Sermon from 8/12/18