“Now OId Winter Starts to Fail - A Celebration of Imbolc, Brighid’s Day or Candlemas”

Imbolc, traditionally celebrated around the 1st of February, marks the first stirring of plant life under the Earth.  At harvest time, we give thanks for good things past.  At Imbolc, we give thanks for good things yet to come.

“The Last of the Old-Fashioned Winter Lovers”

At Solstice we celebrate the beauty of Winter, but come January 1st the lights go out, the tinsel is in the garbage and the parties are over.  But we who dwell in Northern climes still have three months (at the very least) of cold and darkness to live through.  This service will explore the possibility of finding a way to enjoy this time rather than simply enduring it.

"Bring Back the Snakes! An Alternative Look At St. Patrick's Day"

The "snakes" that St. Patrick drove out of Ireland were actually the Druidic, Pagan and Celtic ways that the people there had followed for centuries.  Whether he drove them out by violence or assimilation, St. Patrick destroyed religious practices and beliefs that were very much life-affirming - among other things, the idea of living in harmony with the natural world and thinking for oneself instead of following authority!  Hmmm.....sounds kinda Unitarian, doesn't it...  Let's bring back the snakes!

"Reverence and Glory:  The Songs of Dave Carter"

Dave Carter (1952-2002) was an American folk singerand songwriter who self-described his style as "post-modern mythic American folk music."  Many of his songs speak of things that UUs like to think and talk about.  This service will consist of some of our favorite Dave Carter songs interspersed with reflections on why we like them. (P.S. for Heidi - Dave Carter also wrote a number of songs he described as "goddess material."  One of those is in this service).

"Every Day We Will Remember - Reflections on The Burning Time"

During what has come to be known as "The Burning Time" in Europe and Amenca, which included the Inquisition, it's estimated that as many as 9 million innocent women, men and children were persecuted under the varying official definitions of "witchcraft."  Of course, this type of persecution is as antithetical to Unitarian Universalist beliefs as could possibly be imagined.  In these enlightened times, no such horrors could possibly happen again - or could they?  This service will be a reminder that UUs must continue to stand against intolerance and hatred based on "differences" between people.

"Respected Elders, Not Old Bags - Upgrading the Image of Older Women in Our Culture"

Older women are the last social group that it is socially acceptable to disrepect and make fun of.  This service will discuss the need for Unitarian Universalists, male and female, to resist this cultural bias and to begin to move the rest of the world in the same direction.