“The most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.” – Kurt Vonnegut How can the practice of humanism act as an antidote to America’s crisis of loneliness and purposelessness? And how can the humanist movement catalyze Vonnegut’s dream of “stable communities” for the tens of… Read More »Curing Loneliness: How Humanism Can Bring Us Closer Together, And How We Build Bridges to Humanism

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Widening the circle of inclusion is always limited by a group’s identity, so that the push to be inclusive gets tugged at by resistance to changing who we are. Who belongs at FUS, and what are the costs, and the benefits, of exclusion?

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Albert Camus famously wrote that “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.” For many, this year Imbolc — the midpoint of astrological winter — simultaneously brings a sense of growing light and of growing darkness. Today, our Seasonal Celebrations Team will present a candlelight program that will honor… Read More »Imbolc: On Joys and Concerns

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Here We Are, a new administration is about to take office. What Now? We are facing 4 years of national political leadership hostility to the idea of addressing climate change while witnessing the effects of inaction. Where does this leave us? And what can we do about it now? Please join the FUS Climate Action… Read More »Here we are: What now?

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This is a great week to bring a friend with you to FUS! Here on the cusp of a presidential inauguration and Martin Luther King Jr Day, events that hold disparate visions, we are called to name the stories and the values that we insist upon claiming.

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The human species operates by stories. They can guide or misdirect us, inspire or limit us, while providing both meaning and perspective. So as we enter 2025, let’s ask… Which stories ring true for us, and what are the stories we choose to live by?

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Spiritual congregations have a lengthy tradition of offering critiques of what they believe to be societal ills, and UUs and Humanists are no different. Theodore Parker, John Dietrich, Carl Storm, and Kendyl Gibbons — the last three were settled ministers here at First Unitarian Society — all witnessed deeply challenging times, and offered words of… Read More »We’ve Been Here Before

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Stillness. Quiet. The presence of winter. Twinkle Lights. Glittery snow. Crisp starry nights. The gifts of the natural world surround us.

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In his essay on Sisyphus, Albert Camus ends with these haunting words: “one must imagine Sisyphus happy.” Camus invites us to wrestle with the appropriate response to absurdity. Is it suicide? That is to say, is the killing of oneself in light of the human condition, the existential angst and ontological trauma we face, a proper… Read More »The Audacity to Imagine Sisyphus Happy

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Call it mindfulness, call it intentionality, call it witness…there is a way of being in relationship whereby we fully show up for one another. How might we offer our simple presence as a gift to the world?

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