Upcoming Sunday Services
Sunday Services at begin at 10:30am and end around 11:45am. You can join us in person or on Zoom.
In person, at 67 South Randolph Avenue, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601.
On Zoom, using your computer, tablet or smartphone: https://zoom.us/j/327711271. On your phone, dial in at +1 646 558 8656. If asked, enter Meeting ID: 327 711 271. The password is 12601.
Upcoming Sunday Services
PROGRAM COMMITTEE
The Program Committee is responsible for coordinating Sunday morning worship services. Our pastoral care minister, Reverend Diane Diachishin, conducts at least one service a month. Other services can take many forms: guest ministers or speakers, panel discussions, multigenerational, musical, poetical, theatrical, meditative, experiential. We hope to enrich, enliven and expand perspectives and spirits.
We welcome feedback and suggestions! Please feel free to contact us at programs@uupok.org
APRIL'S SOUL MATTERS THEME: EMBRACING POSSIBILITY
We should open ourselves to the impossible and embrace a psychology of possibility.
Ellen Langer
APRIL 5, 2026: CELEBRATING PASSOVER
Please join us for our second Annual Passover Breakfast, with our own UUFP Haggadah. And, since it's also Easter, there will be a bit of a twist.
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APRIL 12, 2026: SPRING: A SEASON OF REBIRTH AND HOPE
Reverend Diane Diachishin
Spring, a time of emerging beauty, to glimpse the good that is yet to be. We make space for a new breath, a new healing, a new possibility to take root.
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APRIL 19, 2026: A MATTER OF LIFE
Award winning poet Lucille Clifton once said that "Poetry is a matter of life, not just a matter of language." Join us as we explore how poetry can uplift, illuminate and transform our lives.
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APRIL 26, 2026
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MAY'S SOUL MATTERS THEME: AWAKENING CURIOSITY
The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.
Anatole France
MAY 3, 2026: BUILDING THE FUTURE
Robert Wright, Executive Director
Nubian Directions II, Inc.
For more than 30 years, Nubian Directions has provided thousands of individuals with training, education, and essential resources to ensure success in our community. What's in store for the future? Come find out!
Nubian Directions, recipient of our Fifth Sunday Collection in May, is a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering youth and adults through education, technology training, and community development. Their mission focuses on uplifting individuals to overcome obstacles, ensuring future community success, and offering GED classes and paid training programs.
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MAY 10, 2026
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MAY 17, 2025: REVEREND DIANE DIACHISHIN
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MAY 24, 2026
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MAY 26-MAY 31, 2026: COMING TO THE TABLE 20TH ANNIVERSARY
Details are being worked out, but Reverend Alexa will be returning for a week with her friend Anthony Cohen of Coming to the Table.
Stay tuned for more information!
https://comingtothetable.org/#
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JUNE'S SOUL MATTERS THEME: FLOURISHING TOGETHER
Time, effort and imagination must be summoned constantly to keep any relationship flourishing and growing.
Jim Rohn
JUNE 7, 2026: "YOU HAVE TWO HANDS, ONE FOR HELPING YOURSELF,
THE OTHER FOR HELPING OTHERS"
A UUFP Panel Discussion with Paula Greenspan, Jolanda Jansen & Terry Novicki
Joe Cosentino, Worship Coordinator
Sam Levenson wrote, “You have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” Studies show helping others helps the person you are helping, society at large, and yourself. As John Holmes wrote, “There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.” This service will feature inspiring stories from three UUFP members who made a difference by helping others.
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JUNE 14, 2026: KROONER KENTE
Soyal Smalls, Worship Coordinator
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JUNE 21, 2025: REVEREND DIANE DIACHISHIN
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JUNE 28, 2026: “The Beauty of LGBT+ Love Poetry in Historical Contexts"
Rabbi Adam Cerino-Jones, Jewish Congregation of New Paltz
Joe Cosentino, Worship Coordinator
Federico Garcia Lorca wrote, “To burn with desire and keep quiet about it is the greatest punishment we can bring to ourselves.” LGBT+ people have been with us since the beginning of time as has their poetry. In this Gay Pride service, Rabbi Adam will share his insights on important LGBT+-themed poetry in historical contexts.
Rabbi Adam Cerino-Jones (he, him) has been the spiritual leader of the Jewish Congregation of New Paltz since 2022. Ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Rabbi Adam previously worked for congregations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and for the Hillels of the University of Delaware and Haverford College. He is also a skilled musician and composer of Jewish music.
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What to Expect on Sunday Mornings
During the pandemic, we met exclusively on Zoom. Since we resumed meeting in-person, our services have been hybrid, with some of us in person and some on Zoom. Very occasionally, due to weather or other events, we meet just on Zoom, but we try to let people know as soon as possible when that is going to happen.
Sunday services typically include opening words, welcome & announcements, the chalice lighting, an opening song, "Words For All Ages," the singing of the children to their classes, the sharing of joys & concerns, the passing of the collection plate (accompanied by a hymn), the sermon or activity, an opportunity for congregational reflection, a closing song, and closing words.
On two Sundays a month, children and youth stay in the sanctuary for the first twenty minutes of the service. "Words for All Ages," usually in the form of a story, often told by the Minister, concludes their time in the sanctuary, and they are then released to go to Sunday School. Once or twice a month, there will be a multi- generational service when the children and youth remain in the room and we all worship together.
From time to time, we actually have an activity and even make things during a service. These services are a real opportunity to engage with the world around us in a tangible way, whether it is making meals for those experiencing food insecurity, connecting with the environment more directly. Such services also serve to forge interpersonal bonds between congregants. Below is a photograph of birds happily feasting on all-natural bird feeders made during our March 17, 2024 service, A Host of Sparrows.
Following the worship service is the Fellowship Hour, a social hour during which refreshments, including Fair Trade coffee and tea, are served. On the third Sunday of every month, we also host Third Sunday Lunch. Every other month, this lunch takes place at a local restaurant, while on the other Sundays it's pot-luck or something simple at the Fellowship.
Hospitality Hour
Since 2002, we have been participating in the Interfaith Program of a very special fair trade coffee company called Equal Exchange. It is the only coffee we serve during hospitality hour following the Sunday service.
Equal Exchange is a for-profit Fairtrade worker-owned, cooperative headquartered in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Equal Exchange distributes organic, gourmet coffee, tea, sugar, cocoa, and chocolate bars produced by farmer cooperatives in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Founded in 1986, it is the oldest and largest Fair Trade coffee company in the United States. Dedicated to concepts of economic justice, the highest paid employee of Equal Exchange may not make more than four times what the lowest paid employee receives.
Essentially, Equal Exchange brings together the producer and the consumer in an equitable and meaningful way. The middleman (in the case of coffee, called Coyotes), and establishes a more direct connection between the producer and consumer.
