First Universalist Parish of Chester

05/29/2026

Please join us, all are welcome. Sunday, May 31 service begins at 10 a.m. led by Lauren Fierman. "Comparative Religion 101: The Creation Myth." In 2011, Richard Dawkins (a renowned British biologist who is considered one of the foremost authorities on atheism) wrote, of all things, a children's book entitled "The Magic of Reality: How We Know What is Really True". In it, he reviews the creation stories of a dozen different cultures, from the Judeo-Christian story to the Maori, from the Nordic to the Japanese. These stories show us how people have tried to explain what they did not understand about their worlds in a variety of similar, and also different, ways. Join us for a discussion of those stories, a brief consideration of how religions begin, and a look at the notion that earthbound science and reality encompass a poetic magic that is every bit as miraculous as anything that might have come from the heavens.
Hymns led by Valerie Linck

In person or on ZOOM

ZOOM LINK
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89015513349?pwd=R00vUEZLbGFkYjdyTmMvMHdqeEpGQT09
Meeting ID. 890 1551 3349
Passcode. 086577

Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise cloud communications.

05/16/2026

Please join us. All are welcome. Sunday, May 17th service begins at 10 a.m. Daryll Kale will lead us - "Listening for Purpose, Living with Intention."

This service is a little different...We find ourselves in a time of change and some uncertainty, and that makes it worth asking again: why are we here, what matters to us, and what do we want our church to be now?

And just as important—how can this church serve you, in the midst of your own lives? Church isn't something "out there"—it's just us, showing up as we are, figuring it out as we go. So we'll make space for honest conversation, listen to one another, and see what might be calling us forward in this moment.

And then we'll break bread together over bowls of homemade soup!

You can chime in on ZOOM:

ZOOM LINK https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89015513349?pwd=R00vUEZLbGFkYjdyTmMvMHdqeEpGQT09
Meeting ID. 890 1551 3349
Passcode. 086577

Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise cloud communications.

05/10/2026

Please join us, all are welcome. Sunday, May, 10 service begins at 10 a.m. led by Will Hunter. "Original Thinking in a Cut and Paste (or AI) World." - The idea of cutting a piece of writing – on paper, with scissors – and then pasting that piece, together with others and some new writing, on a new sheet of paper. It sounds quaint, like something from another era. It is: now we click and highlight, click again, and have the paragraphs we just copied appear where we want them, looking just like ones we've composed from scratch. Or we can ask AI and get a fully-developed, cogently expressed answer in a matter of seconds. Amidst all this, how do we find space and time for really original thought? And does it matter?

Join us in person or on ZOOM
ZOOM LINK
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89015513349?pwd=R00vUEZLbGFkYjdyTmMvMHdqeEpGQT09
Meeting ID. 890 1551 3349
Passcode. 086577

Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise cloud communications.

04/26/2026

Please join us, all are welcome. Sunday, April 26. Service begins at 10 a.m. led by Buffy Boke: “Poems of Life ~ Poetry Sunday”
April is Poetry Month! Be thinking about a poem you would like to share for the Poetry Service on April 26. If you have a favorite poem but would prefer not to read it yourself, Buffy will read it for you.
Remember that there are song lyrics that serve as poems, so if you think you don’t have a favorite poem, maybe you have a favorite song to share.
Hymns led by pianist, Valerice Linck.

04/17/2026

Please join us, all are welcome, In person or on ZOOM. Service is followed by a (free) Soup Luncheon in the church Community Room Sunday, April 19th. Service begins at 10 a.m. led by the Rev. Dr. Nancy J. Crumbine. "Listening" - This April let us wander into the country where listening teaches us what we need to know. Let us walk into that silence that breaks us open to the sacred, where we gain the strength and insight needed to help save the planet, as well as ourselves.
Hymns led by pianist, Valerie Linck

ZOOM LINK
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89015513349?pwd=R00vUEZLbGFkYjdyTmMvMHdqeEpGQT09
Meeting ID. 890 1551 3349
Passcode. 086577

Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise cloud communications.

04/06/2026

This Wednesday, join us for good food and good conversation. Hope to see you there!

04/03/2026

Please join us, all are welcome. Sunday, April 5. Service begins at 10 a.m. led by Will Hunter: “Thinking About Shiva This Easter”
Most of what I know about Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction who facilitates rebirth, comes from Wally Lamb's "I Know This Much is True." An Indian therapist explains to the central character why she has a statue of Shiva in her office. "Shiva represents the reproductive power of destruction. The power of renovation. Which is why he's here in this room, where we dismantle and rebuild." As we look around our world, we see lots of things that should be destroyed – as well as a lot of things that are being destroyed. Since we know that destruction doesn't lead automatically to rebirth, renovation and rebuilding, we may be reluctant to take the first step – but we need to embrace the reality that rebirth can't happen without it.

Hymns led by pianist, Valerie Linck.

ZOOM LINK
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89015513349?pwd=R00vUEZLbGFkYjdyTmMvMHdqeEpGQT09
Meeting ID. 890 1551 3349
Passcode. 086577

Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise cloud communications.

03/27/2026

Please join us, all are welcome. Sunday, March 29th. Service begins at 10 a.m. led by Buffy Boke, "From the Passing to the Enduring:
Thoughts on What the Story of Jesus Might Mean for Us Today."

March 29 is Palm Sunday in the Western Christian calendar. Joseph Campbell wrote: "God and Buddhas in the Orient are not final terms like Yahweh, the Trinity, or Allah, in the West - but point beyond themselves…the ultimate aim is to effect…a psychological transfiguration through a shift of…[one's] plane of vision from the passing to the enduring." Buffy will reflect on this, drawing upon Lao Tzu, Camus and Sartre.

Hymns led by pianist, Valerie Linck

Service followed by fellowship hour in the Community Room. All are welcome in person or on ZOOM.

ZOOM LINK
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89015513349?pwd=R00vUEZLbGFkYjdyTmMvMHdqeEpGQT09
Meeting ID. 890 1551 3349
Passcode. 086577

Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise cloud communications.

03/13/2026

Please join us. All are welcome. Sunday, March 15 service begins at 10 a.m. led by Will Hunter. "Beware the Ides of March." 'This Sunday is the Ides of March, a day that is memorable because of the warning a soothsayer gave Julius Caesar in Shakespeare's play. In the play, Caesar sees the soothsayer again early in the day and confidently laughs off the warning—only to be stabbed to death a short time later. On cold, snowy days this year, climate deniers confidently talk about the climate change "hoax," and go back to dreaming of the next gas guzzling vehicle they plan to buy. Hindsight is 20:20, and Monday morning quarterbacks always see how games could easily have been won. As we look around us, and look ahead, do we really want to open our eyes and ears to warnings?'
Hymns led by pianist, Valerie Linck

This is "Soup Sunday" - lunch follows the service!

03/03/2026

Please join us, all are welcome. Sunday, March 8. Service begins at 10 a.m. Led by the Rev. Dr. Nancy J. Crumbine - “Keeping the Sacred Alive in a Secular World.” While we find meaning and joy in the depth of the present, we live in a culture that has no time for the present, that moves us from one moment to the next -- one disaster to the next, so it seems these days -- in which dread permeates our being. How can we reclaim the spiritual in our lives, what habits strengthen the spiritual core that can inform and inspire the resistance to which we are called.

Hymns led by Valerie Linck