News and Announcements

To help us build a stronger sense of community during this time of transition, the Board has decided to experiment with having only one service on Sunday mornings, beginning on Homecoming Sunday, Sept. 7, and extending through Oct. 19. The service will be at 10 a.m. in the Sanctuary.

Toward the end of the trial period, members and friends  will be asked for feedback on this experiment, which will be vital in determining the service schedule in the future.

Based on attendance figures at both services during the past year, space in the Sanctuary and R.E. classrooms appears adequate to handle all in one service, except perhaps at certain holidays. With regard to the issue of parking space, the parking available–in both our lot and CRC’s, as well as on Kingshighway and Waterman Boulevards–seems to be adequate.

Nancy Belt, Church President

Tags: Board, Unitarian Universalists, Worship by admin

This morning we will explore how life has a way of welling up on earth and in humans in unexpected ways. Our job is to pay attention and then to nurture it in the way it is supposed to go.

Susan Palmquist has been a member of First Church for more than 10 years. She is ordained in the United Methodist Church and works as a hospice chaplain with BJC Hospice. Susan has worked in the religious education life of the church, most recently as a mentor.

Tags: Sermons by admin

Longtime Unitarian Universalist Minister Rolfe Gehardt suggests two possible metaphors for our religious experience-adventure and healing. What merits are found in each and why these images might be particularly on our minds recently, will be the subject of this sermon.

Scott Talbot Lewis was our Lewis Ministerial Intern for the 2007-2008 church year. In the fall he will be serving the Unitarian Universalist Church of Rock Valley and completing his studies at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago.

Tags: Sermons by admin

Music by the Ohlemiller family

Are devotion to science and empirical observation inherently inconsistent with a belief in God? Does increasing use of technology threaten our humanity and spirituality? I’ll take on these topics from my experience as a scientist.

But you should come anyway-for the music!

Kevin Ohlemiller has been a member of First Unitarian since 1994. Kevin is on the faculty at Washington University School of Medicine, where he teaches and runs a research laboratory focusing on hearing loss. At First Church, Kevin has taught in the religious education program, co-chaperoned the Youth Group trip to Kiln, Miss., helped direct local activities of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, and participated in UUSC coffee sales.

Tags: Sermons, Speakers, Worship by admin

Within the past six months, as part of considering how we can foster a stronger sense of church community, several persons independently have suggested the same idea — holding one Sunday worship service instead of two. In response to that suggestion and our Interim Minister’s wholehearted support of it, the Board would like to hear your input.

Please stop by Fellowship Hall after the service on August 10 to talk with Board members about this idea and others. Or call or e-mail us. The Board, which will receive input from the Worship Committee, the R.E. Committee, the Music Committee, and church staff, is also eager to hear from you.

Tags: Board by admin

On Wednesday night, July 30, a memorial vigil at Eliot Chapel, led by Rev. Daniel O’Connell and Rev. Bonnie Vegiard of Eliot Chapel, Rev. Khleber Van Zandt of First Unitarian Church of Alton, and Rev. Krista Taves of Emerson Chapel, honored the memory of those killed and wounded in the attack at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Sunday, July 27, 2008.

A number of First Church members attended the vigil, in which music by members and friends of Eliot Chapel graced the chapel and solemn prayer reminded us that while we acknowledge and may even pay tribute to the manner in which someone has died, especially in moments of heroism, we must emphasize and honor the life that each person has lived. As important, the theme of what Unitarians are called to do—to seek truth, to work for justice, to reach for a higher light, and, most difficult of all, to forgive even the worst offense—offered sustenance to those in attendance.

The service closed as a young church member sang “The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow,” from the musical Annie, which was being performed by children and youth when the gunman entered the sanctuary and began his assault. As the young girl sang, congregants passed on the chalice’s flame, symbolizing our own internal light, our connection to the wider community of Unitarian Universalists, and our belief that the light of our free faith will never be extinguished.

— Teresa Sweeney

Tags: St. Louis UU Community, Unitarian Universalists by admin