Seeking Truth, Building Community, and Promoting Justice
Welcoming Congregation
We are a welcoming congregation that seeks to be a spiritual home for people of free faith. We value the full range of human diversity, including race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, affectional/sexual orientation, age, national origin, socioeconomic status, and ability.
We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional and sacred land of the Anishinaabe and Dakota people. In honor of their stewardship throughout the generations, we commit ourselves to protecting that land and working to mitigate the effects of climate change.
The St. Cloud Unitarian Universalist Fellowship is a small religious community serving the central Minnesota area. We are a welcoming congregation and a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association which has more than one thousand congregations in the United States and Canada.
Our denomination has a shared set of principles to guide us rather than a prescribed creed. Each individual has an opportunity to seek their own spiritual path. Our efforts and growth are encouraged through intellectual, aesthetic, supportive and spiritual programs and activities and through discussions among members and friends.
If you are seeking an open and welcoming religious environment, please visit us and share in our fellowship.
On the first and third Sundays of each month from September to May, a Children’s Religious Education (CRE) experience, based on UU Principles, is offered for children and youth ages 5 – 16. Recent topics have included: Democracy for Dinosaurs, Insects, A Creative Expression of Thankfulness, Bullying, Beekeeping, Meditation and Racism.
A “CRE Corner” in the Sanctuary has quiet games and activities for youngsters to enjoy during the other Sundays of the month. “Time for Children” story time is offered early in the service and a nursery is available for infants and toddlers.
Sunday Services and Events
SUNDAY SERVICES WILL BE MULTIPLATFORM. YOU MAY USE ZOOM OR ATTEND IN PERSON.
PRESENTERS PLAN TO PARTICIPATE IN PERSON.
View our Calendar for more events and information.
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March 2024
10:30 a.m. Sunday, March 3: Building Community Through Art – Sarah Drake
Creating art that shows Black people in a positive light so her biracial daughter can see herself represented in the world around her is what drives Sarah’s creative practice. Learn how she uses her lived experiences and the art making process to help people better understand those who appear different from them. Sarah doesn't create just to have something pretty to look at, but also to generate dialogues and build community.
Children’s Activity: Bright Bulb Kidz Korner. Soup Sunday meal after the service.
10:30 a.m. Sunday, March 10: Ramadan and the Pillars of Islam – Hassan Yussuf (Daylight Savings Time Begins Today: Spring Forward!)
On this day when Ramadan begins for our Muslim neighbors, we’ll learn about the Five Pillars of Islam, and focus on the critical importance of Ramadan. We'll delve into the reasons behind fasting, the abstentions required, the individuals obligated to fast, those who are exempt, and the essential conditions for fasting. How does this impact individuals and the community?
Children’s Program (CRE): Youth Roundtable – School year successes, CRE Field Trip, Partnering with Pastor Buddy’s Jubilee Church kids, CRE Planning for Spring, etc. Bring your top three wishes to the Roundtable.
10:30 a.m. Sunday, March 17: Investing In Our Values – Rev. Shelley Dugan
Ministers must learn how to discuss three topics without avoidance, stammering, lowering our voice, or using euphemisms: Death, Sex, and Money. Today we throw our constraints to the wind and discuss money: more specifically, money and the church. Join us as we begin our exploration of the relationship between the power of religion and the power of money.
Children’s Activity: Bright Bulb Kidz Korner. Soup Sunday meal after the service.
10:30a.m. Sunday March 24: Communication Impacts Every Part of Your Life
The term communication refers to the sharing of ideas in common. In other words, it is the transmission and understanding of facts, ideas, opinions, feelings or attitudes. This program will be presented by Judy Foster from our communications committee and Wendy Schoen from our program committee.
Children’s Program (CRE): Introduction to drumming on hand drums and djembes with drummers and educators Jane Barth and Erin Hughes. History, protocol and songs for the Mother Drum. Perhaps a performance to look forward to?
10:30 a.m. Sunday, March 31: Aligning Our Hearts – Myo-O Habermas Scher
Waking up this morning, before we step our feet on Mother Earth who holds us unstintingly, with what do we align our hearts? How we lead ourselves through our ordinary days, and how we are led by them is no small matter. Spiritual practicing touches this alignment over and over. We touch the world, over and over, bringing blessing, being blessed. Let’s investigate this miraculous process together.
Children’s Activity: Bright Bulb Kidz Korner and Youth Drummers share a song or two.
April 2024
10:30 a.m. Sunday, April 7: Indian Recovery Act (IRA), A Minnesota Bill for Reparative Justice – John Kellen
John will give us a brief history of the Indigenous Peoples of Minnesota, details of the Indian Recovery Act (Case Study), and suggested actions we can take to support this bill and Indigenous Rights in Minnesota. John has worked with a wide variety of cultures around the world and now he’s learning to be an ally of native people.
Children’s Program (CRE): FIELD TRIP! to experience and learn from the faith traditions at Jubilee Worship Center in St. Cloud, welcomed by the youth at Pastor Buddy King’s dynamic faith home. We’ll meet at the Fellowship at 9:30 to caravan together. Dunkin Donuts anyone?
10:30 a.m. Sunday, April 14: India revisited, USA re-assessing, India recalling – Malcolm Nazareth (rescheduled from November)
Terrible outcomes of climate change and the recent rise of fascism and bigotry have caused the Nazareths to vacillate between returning to India which seems to have recently embraced Brahminical Hindu Nationalism, on one hand, and, on the other, remaining in their adoptive USA which seems to have recently been bewitched by White Christian Nationalism. Not an easy discernment to make, they see it now as a life-or-death decision. For the past twenty years, Malcolm and Mariani have promoted opportunities for interfaith/intercultural dialogue and their leaving would be a big loss for our community.
Children’s Activity: Bright Bulb Kidz Korner.
10:30 a.m. Sunday, April 21: The Lessons of Water and Wu Wei in a Time of Climate Crisis – Meleah Houseknecht, UU seminarian
Water is a potent symbol in nearly all the most ancient philosophical and religious traditions, and philosophical Taoism gives us a particularly rich teaching on water as both a metaphor and a model for effective action in and on the world. Water as a way of being is closely associated with the important Taoist concept of “wu wei.” What can the softness, adaptability, and humility of water teach us about power and finding our way back into right relationship with each other and the non-human world?
Children’s Program (CRE): Arbor Day Festivities. How do we set up a tree for success in a new home on our Fellowship’s property? And, let’s read a story and play a game together. Please bring a non-fighting game from home to teach the gang. Querkle and Scotland Yard will be available (super fun!)
10:30 a.m. Sunday, April 28: “A Listening Practice” – Karen Erickson
In an increasingly noisy, violent and polarized world, listening is often taxing and challenging, but it is essential for people and communities to co-exist and thrive. Listening can be transformative and life-affirming, to the listener as well as to the one who feels the gift of being heard. How can we increase our capacity to listen longer, in healthy ways that honor both speaker and listener, even or especially when we don’t agree or understand? What practices of listening can we develop to help us meet the needs of our day?
Children’s Activity: Bright Bulb Kidz Korner.