Earth Day 2020 marked the 50th anniversary of Earth Day; for many of us, it and all else in 2020 were put on pause. As we prepare to enter a post-pandemic world, we’ll hear from Ann Fisher-Wirth – poet, University of Mississippi Professor of English, and Director of the Environmental Studies Minor – and her thoughts on a world with “frogs hiccupping and spring peepers shrilling, invisible, somewhere around the lake, and all around, ... tiny insects, the sun hitting their wings, like translucent diminutive angels.

As a long-time educator and Oxford School District (OSD) administrator, including 2019 Administrator of the Year, Yolonda “Lisa” Logan has been guiding young people toward who they were meant to become throughout her career. In addition to serving as the head of the OSD alternative high school, Lisa recently became the director of the District’s first family support center. She will share her story of becoming, and of how her myriad roles create opportunities for helping others with their journeys.

We are a welcoming congregation and invite you to join us for services this Sunday via zoom.  Unfortunately we are unable to publish the link to the service due to security concerns.  You may contact Sandra Moss at uucostaffer@gmail.com to have the link sent to you.  Please request link before Sunday morning.

Beethoven reportedly said, “Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom or philosophy.” UUCO is blessed with many members and friends who speak through music. On April 11th, four community favorites – Reynaldo Budhi, Quinoa Soedsaue, Greg Johnson, and Dan Mattern – will share respective stories about music as a part of who they are, and each play a piece of music that speaks to them. April 11th is also special in that UUCO’s annual meeting will follow the service.

UUCO is a welcoming congregation and we invite you to join us online this Sunday.  However, due to security concerns we are unable to publish the link to the service.  Contact Sandra Moss at uucostaffer@gmail.com to have the link sent to you.  Please request the link before Sunday morning.

​All invited to bring a flower – or a whole bouquet! 
Special Reflection by Rev. Dr. Gail Stratton
Stories for All Ages – Including Blake Shedd’s ‘How To Meet A Flower’
Service Leader: Eunice Benton

It is our tradition to celebrate this season’s time of birth, new life and transformation by lifting up images of beauty, love and hope! And surely a spring has never been more welcomed than this one, as we begin to emerge from a pandemic’s challenges and losses. This morning there will be favorite music and stories and a special reflection. Beaming in from his still-emerging-from-winter garden in Austria, Blake Shedd will share 'How To Meet A Flower.' And our own Rev. Gail Stratton will share her thoughts on this rarest of years and this particular spring. All will be oriented for an intergenerational audience. 
 
All are encouraged to contribute to our Online Flower Communion by choosing something budding or blooming from yard or environment to share beside you in this video service. Nothing fancy - just grab a jar or plastic cup and thus have a little 'vase of flowers' for all to see in the camera view of you. In this adapted way, the flowers we bring can be shared with all, in the spirit of our traditional Flower Communion!   Of course it's just fine for those calling in by phone or participating without video to skip this (unless you just want some flowers for yourself... and then you can tell us about them during 'coffee hour'!!) 
 
And - about eggs and egg hunting!! In recent years we have ended our Easter morning with an egg hunt - where the young people have hidden eggs for the adults! This year we'll need egg hunting stories since we can't do this in real time! We'll make time for a story or two...!!

We are a welcoming congregation and invite you to join us this Sunday.  However, due to security concerns we are unable to publish the link to the online service.  Contact Sandra Moss at uucostaffer@gmail.com to have the link sent to you.  Please request link before Sunday.

While in UU world, women in ministry and in leadership has long been a given, the battle was a long one. In the world at large full equality for slightly over half of humanity is still an unresolved question. Rev. Gail Tapscott will take a look at what has been and the work we must still commit to continue.

UUCO is a welcoming congregation and we invite you to join us this Sunday.  However, due to security concerns we are unable to publish the link to the service.  Contact Sandra Moss at uucostaffer@gmail.com to have the link sent to you.  Please request link before Sunday.

Rev. Justin McCreary, Unitarian Universalist Minister from the UU Church in Jackson.

Poets, theologians, musicians, and cartoon bears have for many a year discussed the heart. When we discuss relationships we say, “The heart wants what the heart wants,” Danielle Steele even wrote a book called “Matters of the Heart.” When we think of love we think of the heart, when we think of compassion we think of the heart, yet we create a dichotomy between the heart and the head, and, whether we intend it or not, we can articulate that reason is cold and without the heart. What theology, what philosophy, what reason, can we as UU’s take from the wisdom of the heart? 

We are a welcoming congregation and invite you to join us this Sunday at 11 am.  However, due to security concerns we are unable to publish the link to the service.  Contact Sandra Moss at uucostaffer@gmail.com to have the link sent to you.  Please request link before Sunday.

In one fateful week in 1965 in Selma, Alabama, the history of the United States was changed. The events in Selma, AL were pivotal for voting rights. Many of the images from that time are etched in our memories from seeing it on TV (for those of us who are older) or in later recounting of the event. Leaders such as John Lewis and Martin Luther King, Jr. were instrumental in navigating that fraught time. ​

There were also many others who were also key in all that happened at Selma and our service this week will focus on the commitment of these others. Following the murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson, for weeks before bloody Sunday, children were involved in marches for voters rights. The children were often jailed, sometimes for days at a time. These foot soldiers were also present and beaten on Bloody Sunday. After Bloody Sunday, Martin Luther King put out a call via telegrams urging all ministers to come bear witness in Selma; over 400 UU Ministers answered that call. In addition to the tragic death of Jimmie Lee Jackson, a Unitarian Universalist Minister, Rev. James Reeb was murdered in Selma. A few weeks later, another Unitarian Universalist, Viola Liuzzo, a woman who came from Michigan, was shot in her car as she transported marchers. Our service will share clips of the film “Bending the Arc; The Vote" in order to lift up the stories of these heroes and martyrs. Their commitment to democracy is inspiring and motivating. 

The film Bending the Arc; The Vote was created by Pam Powell and is available: https://bendingthearctojustice.com. While not a requirement, we want to invite everyone to watch the film before the service. 

Rev. Gail Stratton will lead this service. Content Warning for parents: we will use clips of the film that discuss the violent deaths of Jimmie Lee Jackson, Rev. James Reeb and Viola Liuzzo. In addition, the film spotlights foot soldiers who were jailed as children.

We are a welcoming congregation and invite you to join us online this Sunday.  However, due to security concerns we are unable to publish the link to the service.  Contact Sandra Moss at uucostaffer@gmail.com to have the link sent to you.

The internal conversations about justice, equity, dignity, fairness, sacrifice, and peace and its power to transform spheres of influence.  Our speaker is Von Gordon, Father, Husband, Son, Brother
Youth Engagement Manager - William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation

We are a welcoming congregation and invite you to join us this Sunday.  However, due to security concerns we are unable to publish the zoom link to the service.  Please contact Sandra Moss at uucostaffer@gmail.com to have the link sent to you.