Welcome September – the start of our “church year” as a member of the UUA
Hold Fast to Summer
Hold fast to summer. Enjoy with heightened appreciation these still-warm September days. Create more memories, take more pictures. Enjoy a bit of denial. Suck all the summer sweetness out of your sun-warmed garden tomatoes. Smile at someone. Squeeze a hand. Put up some jam or pickles. We store these things up as we approach the uncertain seasons. And our summer companions will be our winter support and sustenance. In celebration of the changing seasons, we gather together in community.
September 2026 UUFA Sunday services at a glance:
All services are held at 184 Longview Hts., Athens Ohio 45701 and begin at 11:00 AM
September 6 – Fall Ingathering and Water Communion
Fall Ingathering and Water Communion – Please join us for our annual fall Welcome back to the church year. We will celebrate our community by sharing water from our summer travels or water that is special to you. This is a UU traditoin begun in 1980 by UU Women. Service leaders are Barb H. and Nellie J.
September 13
The Interdependent Web in Our Backyard with Dr. Margaret King
Local photographer and gardener Margaret King will share her journey as a backyard gardener and photogropher living in harmony with the natural world around her. Margaret has developed every inch of soil in her gardens over many years and what she has created is an amazing and interdependent web of life in her own backyard. Please join us this day as we welcome Margaret King . Service leader is Barb Harrison
September 13 following service – 2nd Sunday potluck. Please join us. If you are able to contribute a dish please provide ingredients so that folks with special dietary needs can be informed. We appreciate your attention to this matter. Hope yoi can join us.
September 20 – The Democratic Process and the Supreme Court with Jessie Roberson, J.D.
For many years, longtime UUFA member and retired OU professor Drew Evarts spent part of her summers working at the Supreme Court. Each year before the start of the new Court term on the first Monday in October, Professor Evarts would do a review of the religion cases from the Court’s prior term and preview religioin cases on the docket for the coming term. Jessi Roberson will carry Evart’s tradition and share some insights about the work of the Court.
September 27 – Healing Our World: A Path for Environmental Action
Join us for a service exploring the Unitarian Universalist principle of interdependence through the lens of modern environmental politics. Dr. Nancy Manring, author of A World of Wounds: Rebuilding a Bipartisan Environmental Movement and Cultivating Authentic Hope, will discuss the current political climate surrounding environmental challenges. Moving past frustration and despair, her talk offers a look at our planetary realities and concludes with an inspiring, grounded message of authentic hope and collective action for a better future. Pete Mather service leader.
UU Justice Ohio will hold a Zoom gathering on September 26. The topic will be Critical Fall Election preparation. September 26 from 10:00 am – 11:30 via Zoom. After Pre-Registration you will receive the Zoom Meeting link via email. If interested please follow this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/fGsDLsoeRXCFdjMuQOf2Ig#/registration
UUA News
Fall Ingathering and start of new congregational year is in September at most UU congregations. This is a time when congregants are asked ot bring a small sample of water from their summer travels to contribute to one chalice that represents the coming back together after time away. Here is our UUA President., Rev., Dr. Sofia Betancourt with an inspirational new year beginning.
https://youtu.be/gkAZPVfnFhQ?si=rEJVjztqjRPlueCZ