This is a fundamental view of the world. It says that when you build a thing you cannot merely build that thing in isolation, but must repair the world around it, and within it, so that the larger world at that one place becomes more coherent, and more whole; and the thing which you make takes its place in the web of nature, as you make it.

Christopher Alexander

After a tumultuous election season in the US, and a year filled with horrors of genocide, famine, and extreme weather, how do we as UU's move forward with a mindset of repair?

In 2016, after the Pulse Nightclub shootings, an encounter with the minister of Poughkeepsie’s Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and other leaders of liberal faiths, led Taylor on a journey of deconstruction of his evangelical history towards a more expansive, open and affirming faith. The service will examine in a new way a poignant moment in the Christian faith when John the Baptist questions whether his cousin Jesus is the chosen one.

Rev. Taylor Holbrook is the retired pastor of the Hopewell Reformed Church, where he served for 20 years, current President of the Dutchess County Interfaith Council, and head of the Dutchess Interfaith CROP Walk, which raises funds to fight hunger locally, nationally and around the world. He and his wife, Cathleen Bast Holbrook (who also comes from a line of RCA ministers), have three adult children and five (soon to be six) grandchildren.

Please join us as we gather on the Sunday before Thanksgiving to break bread together and celebrate our gratitude for another year in the life of our beloved community.

A sense of the universe, a sense of the all, the nostalgia which seizes us when confronted by nature, beauty, music - these seem to be an expectation and awareness of a Great Presence.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Many of us experience discomfort when faced with conflict, both individually and as a congregation. All congregations experience these challenges, but conflicts need not be an adversity. Instead, they can be embraced as an opportunity for growing individually and together. Unitarian Universalist history shows us that when addressed appropriately, conflict can lead to positive change.

Please join us on the cusp of the new year (can you believe we’re already a quarter of the way through the “new” century!?!) as we review the past, ground ourselves in the present and contemplate what the future may hold. 

The  stories we tell literally make the world. If you want to change the world, you need to change your story.                                                          

Michael Margolis

The Fellowship is lucky to have several published authors in our midst. Please join us for an exploration of the creative process of story-telling and its importance in the world. 

Diversity is a fact. Inclusion is an act.

A songwriter of great depth and passion, Reggie Harris writes from a personal sense of mission that merges a world wise point of view with a singularly hopeful stance that life, though often challenging, is filled with possibility and hope. His songs reveal thoughts about life and love and some of the deep aspects of the human experience and cover topics from his own personal journey to world issues and history.

All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.
 J.M. Barrie

Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships.

Stephen Covey

Patricia Healey will explore manifestations of the femnine divine, including the Eleusinian Mysteries, a pre-Christian tradition.

New Middle Class is Barbara Borok (lead vocal) and songwriter Mike Borok (guitar/vocal).  Their award-winning music has been played on over 60 radio stations world-wide.  Intertwined musically and romantically for too many years, Barbara and Mike sing about relationships and current events gone awry, the origin of the universe, life, death, and dessert.

I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.

Rabindranath Tagore

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

Albert Einstein

For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

Nelson Mandela

Transgender elders coun't survive the box in which they wre born. Sterling Cruz-Herr will share insights from seven trans eleders who managed to not only surviv but to thrive. Topics include the freedom to be true selves, opportunities for intergenerational connection, the power and pitfalls of being role models, and commitment to on-going evolution. The stories of how they fought their way out are as individual as they are, but e power of their eldership is universal. 

Before launching Transclue (a trans-owned coaching, training, and consulting company), Sterling Cruz-Herr served as chief engagement officer of SAGE (a national nonprofit advocating for LGBTQ+ elders), was a grant-maker at the Chicago Community Trust, and taught nonprofit management at DePaul University. Sterling is also a budding woodworker.