Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Durham

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Durham Growing in Spirit, Celebrating Life, and Living our Principles in Brooklin, Ontario. Join us Sunday

If you are someone who is seeking, or simply curious and open to the possibility of a different way of considering and practicing spirituality, we offer you a hearty invitation to spend a moment getting to know us. Our Sunday services celebrate the mystery of life while honouring the joys and sorrows of living. Through music, story, and silence, we are reminded that each of us is whole just as we

are, and that we belong to the larger, magnificent whole of life. We meet at 10:30am on Sunday mornings at the old Brooklin Community Centre at 45 Cassels St East.

Potluck time!Each month on the last Sunday of the month we share food together after our 10:30am worship service. It hel...
05/30/2026

Potluck time!
Each month on the last Sunday of the month we share food together after our 10:30am worship service. It helps us to stay connected as a community and deepen our connections. And it's delicious too!

Tomorrow afternoon our members will also gather for our yearly AGM, because we also highly value democracy and shared decision making in all the ways we operate our congregation.

As always, all are welcome!

What is your favourite potluck dish?

What if we could could train our brains to look for glimmers of good each day?This is what Dr. Mary Morrison spoke with ...
05/27/2026

What if we could could train our brains to look for glimmers of good each day?

This is what Dr. Mary Morrison spoke with us about this week, and I think we all came away with some excellent strategies to try!

What she offered us wasn't about toxic positivity or forcing ourselves or others to "just be grateful". Rather, it was science backed, simple tips that feel really actionable and allow us to meet each other where we are.

For example, the What Went Well and Why technique invites us to write down at the end of each day 3 small things that went well that day. Maybe you got to your appointment on time, or got to eat your favourite breakfast. The key step is to also write down why it went well, which builds in gratitude and self-efficacy. Perhaps you'd already put gas in the car yesterday, or your husband bought bread the other day.

Doing this for just 2-6 weeks has been shown to have beneficial results for up to 6 months in terms of increased overall happiness and decreased depressive symptoms, so this kind of preventative mental health exercise feels really doable - why not give it a try and schedule it into your yearly routine a couple of times a year?

What is one thing that went well for you today?

If you could replace Victoria Day with a different holiday, what would you name it? What would it be?Over this Victoria ...
05/19/2026

If you could replace Victoria Day with a different holiday, what would you name it? What would it be?

Over this Victoria Day long weekend we tried something a little different than our usual worship service format, and shared tea, cookies and small circle conversations on a variety of topics.

What makes a gathering truly welcoming?

What does “living with dignity and compassion“ look like in ordinary moments?

What small daily rituals help you stay grounded in your values?

The result was beautiful (and nourishing for both tastebuds and souls) and I think we all came away knowing each other a little better.

We just may have started a new tradition ☕🫖

☀️

05/15/2026

That's what Unitarian Universalism offers. Freedom to explore or even abstain from belief. Freedom to be loved and accepted exactly as you are 🏳️‍🌈

And freedom to not have to go it alone anymore. To have community, whatever you believe.

We are so grateful every time Rev. Lynn Harrison joins us for the beautiful music she shares!

Join us this Sunday at 10:30am for an all ages tea party ☕🫖

Thank you to everyone who made the Bloom & Grow Crafting Afternoon such a successful event! It was an afternoon that bro...
05/05/2026

Thank you to everyone who made the Bloom & Grow Crafting Afternoon such a successful event! It was an afternoon that brought people together to make something meaningful, to spend time with friends, and to form new connections with others. Many people chipped in to help and it felt like a real group effort. Not only that, but we were able to raise nearly $500 for the Youth for and ongoing Youth activities.

It was such a joy to gather together and to witness the creativity and connection in the room. Like seeds we plant in a garden, creativity grows with care and time, in small, meaningful ways.

As we enter this new season of renewal, may you find ways to weave creativity into your daily life and engage in meaningful activities that inspire you and help you grow. While it's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day busy-ness of life, it is important to make space for what truly brings us joy!

🌸

"When you have the view of compassion, you don't need to know the details. You can simply assume that this person, just ...
04/29/2026

"When you have the view of compassion, you don't need to know the details. You can simply assume that this person, just like you, wants a life full of love."

Irania Ledesma teaches Tibetan Buddhism meditation online through the Paramita Centre and is a co-owner of the 360 Eco Market in Oshawa

She shared some of her personal journey from an intellectual understanding of Buddhism to a life grounded in community, ritual, and practice.

Through shared ritual, she learned how to transform thirty minutes of meditation into becoming a better person and helping her to find the meaning she needed in life.

One important lesson was the difference between pain and suffering. Pain is losing someone you love; suffering is the feeling of having nowhere to stand because you cannot accept that they are gone.

We are so grateful for the perspective she shared with us on Sunday.



What does the word grace mean to you?This week, Rev Lynn Harrison asked us to reflect on some of the different meanings ...
04/24/2026

What does the word grace mean to you?

This week, Rev Lynn Harrison asked us to reflect on some of the different meanings and understandings of grace that show up in our lives.

Grace periods, saying Grace, Grace under pressure, being graceful...

She invited us to consider, what if The grace of God, or perhaps the grace of "Good," comes to us not as a reward for good behaviour, but as something naturally arising out of the Great Reality that is Life Unfolding.

If all of life is a Creative Happening, might the little "happenings" we create encourage us to find the gold within everything we find challenging or frustrating.

Living with grace can be returning to "who we are, what we are, where we are."

Opening to all of it.

If we find ourselves coming up against feelings of powerlessness, fear, anger, bewilderment and thwarted expectations of all kinds...

We may find renewal in the simplest expectation of all: that we are here, now, and drawing one more breath.

"When we open ourself up to a pause, a quiet, a space inside us, we will hear an uncommon wisdom." This week, Rev Wayne ...
04/17/2026

"When we open ourself up to a pause, a quiet, a space inside us, we will hear an uncommon wisdom."

This week, Rev Wayne Walder visited our congregation again, and shared a message about different types of discipline. Although our culture often confuses discipline with willfulness, real discipline is the practice of keeping our minds still enough to hear the wisdom within. Like a child naturally learning to walk, this internal focus allows us to move toward growth in patience, kindness, and peace.

Thank you Rev. Wayne!

Address

45 Cassels East
Whitby, ON
L1M1B5

Opening Hours

10:30am - 12pm

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