The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Oxford - UUCO Service Schedule

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Oxford

Sunday, March 2, 2025

2/25/2025

"Deep with Song"
March 2 - 10:30 AM

This Sunday's service, we'll be joined by musicians Wendy Garrison and Sophia Doyle, exploring the question: "how can we respond when bad things happen?" With guidance from poetry, song, and philosophy, we will consider how to respond to bad things as a congregation - and go out into the world singing.

Sunday, February 23, 2025

2/17/2025

“All Bodies are Beautiful: Celebrating Our Whole Lives”
Speaker: Rev. Sarah Osborne
Feb. 23 - 10:30 AM

Join Rev. Sarah this Sunday as we learn more about the award-winning sexuality health program, Our Whole Lives, also called OWL. Explore how UUCO wants to bring this program to Mississippi, our community, and our congregation. We will explore the very real justice issues of promoting healthy relationships and bodily autonomy. In times such as these, where governments are trying to take away bodily rights and dictate narrow definitions of identity, we offer life-giving and life saving affirmation that all bodies are beautiful.

Sunday, February 16, 2025

2/10/2025

"Truth in Trying Times"
Speaker: Rhondalyn K. Peairs
Feb. 16 - 10:30 AM

Without a doubt, our nation and world are in the mist of troubling times. We find ourselves asking, how we got here and where do we go from here? Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. queried famously in 1968 would America move towards chaos or community. In this season the same questions lie before us. We must lean, speak and act on truth like King, Hamer, Evers and many others did in their time in order to push our society and world towards community and away from chaos.

Rhondalyn Peairs is a native Oxonian committed to the progress of the LOU community and the larger Hill Country region. She serves her local congregation, Oxford First United Methodist Church, as lay leader, administrative council chair, trustee and church historian. As a civically engaged citizen and professional, she has served as a public school teacher, cultural entrepreneur, public historian, election worker and even census taker.

Sunday, February 9, 2025

2/3/2025

Thank You For Being a Friend: Bring a Friend to Church
Speaker: Rev. Sarah Osborne
Feb. 9 - 10:30 AM

Bring a friend to UUCO and enjoy a service that explores what it means to be centered in love as Unitarian Universalists. And join in the chili cookoff for potluck. Will you provide the most fabulous pot? We'll vote for our favorites. And it's ok if you'd rather bring other dishes to share too.

In addition to drawing from the six sources, Unitarian Universalists also like to draw from a variety of flavors. Help us celebrate UUCO’s 3rd Annual Chili Cook Off with some delightful flavor combinations!
Whether you're a seasoned chef or a novice cook, we encourage everyone to participate and savor the variety of flavors our community has to offer.
Categories for the Chili Cook Off:

Best Vegetarian Chili
Best Meat Chili
People's Choice Award

How to Participate:

Whip up your best chili creation (choose a category or go crazy and enter multiple!)
Bring your chili in a slow cooker or pot (we’ve only got 4 burners) to the designated area at least 10 minutes before the start of the service
Include a card with your chili’s name and any relevant information (vegetarian/vegan/meat/etc.)
Grab a tasting card and indulge in a chili-tasting adventure
Cast your vote for the awards

Bragging rights are up for grabs.

We can't wait to see you there!

Sunday, February 2, 2025

1/27/2025

Born From A Flame: Saint Brigid, Hope, and Transition
Speaker: Daniel Doyle
Feb. 2 - 10:30 AM

This weekend marks the Gaelic festival of Imbolc, the beginning of spring and a cross-quarter day falling between the winter solstice and spring equinox. Also known as Saint Brigid’s Day for Irish Christians, it is a time for reflecting on our relationship with nature and the land, to celebrate new life and yes, to clean house. As we share this space and time of in-betweens, we are not only splitting seasons (perhaps more unpredictably so than in the recent past) but are also currently facing big questions about our societal, ecological, and spiritual future – in short, our relationship with nature, with one another, and with the future of life. It is not clear and far from certain what will be born out of this period we’re in, but let’s reflect on the moment together and look with hope towards sunnier and livelier days to come.

Sunday, January 26, 2025

1/20/2025

“Choose Our Own Adventure: A Book Communion”
Speaker: Rev. Sarah Osborne
Jan 26 - 10:30 AM

Do you remember those kids’ books from the 80’s that let you pick what happens next in the story? Would you choose the right path or fall to your doom? Was it possible to change the ultimate outcome? On this experimental Sunday, our service will be a choose our own adventure. Are you brave enough to make a choice on the fly for our Order of Service? How will the service unfold? Let’s celebrate our UUCO story and the stories that inspire our lives. We will have a book communion this Sunday. Bring a book to give away and take home a new-to-you book during communion-this will work much like our Flower Communion. Join Rev. Sarah for this exciting service!

Sunday, January 19, 2025

1/13/2025

"Living in China: What is Freedom?"
Speaker: Dr. Doug Robinson
Jan 19 - 10:30 AM

Doug was a Professor of English at Ole Miss for 21 years. Since 2010 he has been living in Greater China, first 10 years in Hong Kong, now 4 1/2 years in Mainland China. He will be talking about living in China in the light of American assumptions about "freedom" (as a spiritual practice).

Sunday, January 12, 2025

1/6/2025

"The Wisdom of Pooh"
Speaker: Rev. Sarah Osborne
Jan. 12 - 10:30 AM

What can we learn from the beloved characters of the Hundred Acre Woods? From the wisdom of the
fluffy bear to the bouncing tiger, there are spiritual lesson for mindfulness, acceptance, compassion and
gratitude. Building upon the sources of wonder and awe, let us explore how we can a community of
care. Join Rev. Sarah for a bit of honey this Sunday and stick around for our monthly potluck! Bring a
savory or sweet dish to share.

Sunday, January 5, 2024

12/30/2024

“New Year's Toast, Boast, and Oath”
Speaker: Dr. Andrew Pfrenger
Jan. 5 - 10:30 AM

Building on Rev. Sarah Osborne’s “Wintering the Solstice” service, Dr. Andrew Pfrenger will speak about the significance of symbel (sumbel or symle) among pagan Germanic and Scandinavian cultures of the Middle Ages. This reflective and celebratory service invites us to raise a glass (of juice) and offer gratitude, share our proudest accomplishments, and set meaningful intentions for the year ahead. Let’s welcome 2025 with a toast, a boast, and an oath!

Sunday, December 29, 2024

12/23/2024

"In the Between Times"
Speaker: Rev. Gail Tapscott
Dec. 29 - 10:30 AM

Using as her primary text the lyrics of a Dolly Parton song, Rev. Gail (retired UU minister & former professor of world religions) will attempt to help us address some of the fears as well as hopes we tend to harbor at the start of a new year, and in this case at the start of what may be a very different atmosphere in our country as a whole. We are all stronger in community and we will need our liberal and welcoming community more than ever in 2025.