Unitarian Universalist Church of Augusta

09/05/2026

One final reminder: we will not worship at our main campus on Walton Way Ext. tomorrow. Instead, we will have our annual ingathering and water communion service at our new UUCA Retreat Center at Diane Pond - 1232 Brown Rd, Hephzibah. There's still about a mile of dirt road remaining once you arrive to the address on Brown road, but your navigation systems should know that and take you all the way to the house. That said, we put up some wonderful signage today (made by Deena Dowd) that should help guide you along the way. There is plenty of parking available at the site, but feel free to carpool. I've attached two parking diagrams which should help guide you when you arrive (it's advisable to look at them together as they complement one another). Thank you to Board Secretary Sy Qadri for volunteering as parking attendant, which should help even more.
Other important things to remember:
Bring a little water with you from home for the water communion
Bring a folding chair
Bring a sack lunch
I'm really excited for you all to see this wonderful new asset generously donated by Diane Smith. And I'm really excited for all that we can accomplish together this year. Whether on Walton Way Ext., Brown Rd, or anywhere we create Beloved Community throughout our interdependent lives!

09/01/2026

Our annual Ingathering service and Water Communion is this Sunday, 9.6.26 at 11AM, at our new Retreat Center at Diane Pond (address in image). Please bring some water from your home to include in the ritual. You're also invited to bring a folding chair and sack lunch to enjoy following worship.

08/29/2026

John us tonight for some live tunes and a vibe you can't find anywhere else in town!

08/15/2026

If they're coming at us, we're doing something right. And, this is a reminder that we need to remain vigilant... Hopefully not so much so that we can't find the grounding, connection, resilience, liberation, and joy church* should nurture. Let's keep up the good faith and good trouble. Fascism is here. But it need not stay.

Rev. Nic

*Or any good faith religious orgs. Christian nationalist orgs masquerading as such notwithstanding.

BREAKING: Between December 2025 and May 2026, DHS sent undercover agents into at least five churches, according to court documents.

Their targets were Lutheran, Baptist, Episcopal, and Unitarian Universalist churches in the Twin Cities and Michigan that hosted activism trainings and organizing meetings.

Houses of worship are sacred sites. The Department of Homeland Security MUST STOP spying on churches immediately.

Sign our petition here: https://support.interfaithalliance.org/a/dhs-spying

08/14/2026

Amen.

Beloveds,

There is a whole lot of nonsense swirling around out there about transgender athletes. People with power are hell-bent on making transgender people into some scary “other” in order to have a bogeyman that helps them hold onto that power. These people have determined that putting a spotlight on transgender athletes is effective in scaring people because they are counting on the fact that to most folks, both biology and statistics are foreign languages that we would rather avoid.

It turns out I know a thing or two about both of those things. I spent a good ten minutes this morning looking for my actual Ph.D. diploma to attach to this email. Sadly, you’re just going to have to trust that I have, in fact, earned an entire doctorate in cell biology that required advanced study of genetics, receptor biology, and even biostatistics. The scientist in the lab next door to where I studied was on the team that discovered the SRY gene (look it up), and she taught seminars on it to the graduate students.

I hope you can also trust me when I point out that manufactured fear over transgender athletes is transphobia masquerading as concern and shrouded in a willfully incomplete understanding of biology.

The weekly minister’s message not being a great medium to teach about either biology or statistics, I’m not going to get into the weeds of those subjects. Suffice it to say that people come in a great variety of different shapes and sizes, with an enormous variation in musculature and endurance. There are a lot of things that can change these things, including training as well as hormones (made in the body or added), hormone receptors, and genetics. More importantly, biology is not destiny.

The part that we need to be concerned about is that all of the arguments about this are smokescreens to justify anti-trans hate.

Trans athletes matter. Allowing trans youth to compete with others of their gender identity matters. And it matters because youth athletics are supposed to be life-giving and fun.

Some 500,000 athletes compete in college athletics in the US. Fewer than ten of those athletes are transgender. And every one of those ten young adults matters, just like every one of the maybe 100 trans high school athletes out there. The fullness of their humanity matters.

It is too easy to dismiss this issue because it doesn’t affect that many people. We see politicians trying that on all the time. It’s like they’re calculating who they might be able to throw under the bus to avoid being labeled someone who loves the folks that have become “other.”

The thing is, we love our trans kids. And our trans adults. We love our trans athletes and our trans couch potatoes. We love our trans disabled folks and our trans able-bodied folks. We love them whether or not people with power want to make them “other.” And we love them so fiercely that we can see through what people with power are trying to do.

Don’t buy the BS, beloveds. Trust me when I say that we cannot cede the margins of our society to those who embrace death and destruction. Our beloveds matter too much.

Yours in faith,
Rev. Dr. Michael Tino
Lead Ministry Team

08/10/2026

Thoreau’s three chairs offer a simple image for the different kinds of connection that sustain us.

There is solitude: time to listen inwardly, reflect, and reconnect with what grounds us.

There is friendship: relationships where we can be known, cared for, challenged, and changed.

And there is community: spaces where we practice belonging, live our values alongside others, and join together in the work of creating a more just and loving world.

A full life asks us to find a balance among all three, and to trust ourselves to know when each one is needed.

07/29/2026

These days understandably cause fear and distress for so many beloveds. Fear for individual safety and wellbeing, and for the safety of our families and communities runs deep for many right now.

Please know that as Unitarian Universalists, we will not forsake you. The deep theological roots of our faith, going back to transcendentalists in early U.S. history and inspired by nonviolent resistance around the world, call us to resist unjust laws and refuse to cooperate with oppression. The very symbol of our faith – the flaming chalice – originated as an offering of hope and refuge to all who seek to live freely. We will continue to show up for our communities, demand justice of our leaders, and work together to protect the basic human rights that each one of us deserves.

Ours is a faith of courage, of resilience, and of moral witness. The time to protect our communities and our democracy is now. Holding fast to one another, we will meet this moment courageously, together.

06/20/2026

We had a great time at the Augusta Juneteenth Festival yesterday. Many thanks to all the volunteers who helped staff and craft a lovely booth.

Next week we'll be in the fairgrounds again for AUGUSTA PRIDE. Like last year, I'll perform a quick (and free) wedding ceremony for any q***r couple interested. Just bring a marriage license along for me to sign if you'd like to get hitched; ya know, to make it official 😊

- Rev. Nic

06/20/2026

Though we are streaming the live virtual worship from General Assembly tomorrow, we are still meeting here at the church. We're still gonna have fellowship time after the service. We are still going to light and extinguish our chalice. And we're still gonna sing Spirit of Life together at the end of worship.

Speaking of singing, you're invited to come at 10:30 tomorrow for a hymn sing along. Though we may not be able to hear them all, we'll be raising our voices alongside UU's across the country. I hope to see you there. I hope to hear you there :-)

In good faith and good trouble,

Rev. Nic