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
Upcoming Sunday Services
PROGRAM COMMITTEE
The Program Committee is responsible for those Sunday Services not conducted by a minister, approximately two Sundays a month. Our services can take many forms: guest ministers or speakers, panel discussions, multigenerational, musical, poetical, theatrical, meditative, experiential. We hope to encrich, enliven and expand perspectives and spirits.
We welcome feedback and suggestions! Please feel free to contact us at programs@uupok.org
February's over-arching theme is the Practice of Inclusion.
Diversity is a fact. Inclusion is an act.
FEBRUARY 23, 2025: LOVE IS SERVED
A Celebration of Community
Multigenerational Service
Choir Performing
Judith Knauss, Worship Coordinator
March's over-arching theme is Trust.
5 Sundays
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
MARCH 2, 2025
Stephen Haff
Paula Greenspan, Worship Coordinator
MARCH 9, 2025: CASA COMUNITARIA DE RECURSOS
GABRIELA VEGA-MATTHEWS
Judith Knauss, Worship Coordinator
Casa Comunitaria de Recursos is a space where we connect with dignity and respect, strengthening and uniting communities.
We are especially dedicated to migrants and the Latino community, offering information, education, resources and support to foster their personal and community development.
We believe in inclusion and equity, promoting an environment where everyone can thrive.
We work to create opportunities, ensure equal access to essential resources, and cultivate a strong sense of belonging in our communities.
MARCH 16, 2025
SPRING CLEANING: SPRING EQUINOX AND ST. PATRICK'S DAY
Multigenerational Service
Spiral Web and the LFDC
Choir Performing
Pledge campaign kick-off.
MARCH 23, 2025: TRUST IN THE FEMININE
Patricia Healey
Paula Greenspan, Worship Coordinator
Dutchess Community College Faculty member Patricia Healey will explore manifestations of the femnine divine, including the Eleusinian Mysteries, a pre-Christian tradition.
MARCH 30, 2025: ARGUING WITH GOD
NEW MIDDLE CLASS
Pat Lamanna, Worship Coordinator
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.
April's over-arching theme is Joy.
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
APRIL 6, 2025: CAREGIVERS PANEL
Jill Barasch, Worship Coordinator
APRIL 13, 2025: EXPLORING PASSOVER
Lifespan Faith Development and Program Committees
Mulitgenerational Service
APRIL 27, 2025
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May's over-arching theme is Imagination.
May 4, May 11, May 18, May 25
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
MAY 4, 2025: MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU!
Soyal Smalls, Worship Leader
Please join us for an exploration of Afrofuturism and mainstream media. This service builds on themes touched on in our "Black to the Future" service of February 2.
MAY 18, 2025: TELLING THE BEES
Jared Flagler of Vine & Hive
Queen Bee Cait Johnson
Multigenerational Service
MAY 25, 2025
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June's over-arching theme is Freedom.
June 1, June 8, June 15, June 22, June 29
5 Sundays
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
JUNE 1, 2025: FREEDOM
Evan Pritchard
JUNE 8, 2025
THE FREEDOM TO BE WHO WE ARE: MANNA FROM TRANS ELDERS
Sterling Cruz-Herr
Joe Cosentino, Worship Coordinator
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.
JUNE 22, 2025: REGGIE HARRIS
JUNE 29, 2025
REVEREND TAYLOR HOLBROOK
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SUMMER 2025
July 6, July 13, July 20, July 27, August 4, August 11, August 18 and August 25
JULY 20, 2025: DAVID ROTH
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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.
