Category: News

Art at Hobbs Hall Gallery: Collages and Watercolors: The Artworks of Jan Noden

Posted on by MaryBeth Hannan

July 18 – September 18, 2026

Artist Statement:

Collage is my passion. This genre engages me with the challenge of integrating my paintings , drawings, photographs, and monotypes- mediums that I love. I begin my work with a subject in mind, one inspired by themes of nature or themes of personal experiences. Next, I select a medium, whichever captivates my interest that day. My initial feeling is one of complete exhilaration with the freedom to express myself, knowing that each piece has the potential of becoming a larger piece that I haven’t yet envisioned. It’s exciting to imagine the possibilities of what the day’s work might become with each piece having an extended life or rebirth in a future collage. Finally, in the last stages of my process, I attempt to select and position the various artistic elements to energize each other in a unified work of art.


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Sunday, July 26, 2026 The mystery of Revelations and the revelations of Mystery

Posted on by MaryBeth Hannan

One service at 11 AM in Hobbs Hall.

Join us as we explore the Christian Book of Revelations, a source of comfort swaddled by authoritative certainty and a UU concept of Mystery, a source of comfort unbounded by joyful curiosity.

Sunday Morning Schedule:

10:00 AM

Religious Education for Children and Youth

Facilitated Drop-In Small Reflection Groups for Adults

Location: Fessenden Hall

This Week’s Wondering Questions:

11:00 AM Service — meeting in Hobbs Hall and on Zoom

Led by Rev. Christie Anderson and Worship Associate Randy Bish

CLICK HERE to view or print the Order of Service.

11:00 AM Zoom Information:

For those joining via Zoom, our meeting room opens 15 minutes prior to the start of the service (at 10:45 AM) for weekly announcements. We request that everyone joining the service please display your first and last name. Thank you!

https://zoom.us/j/97464785626
Meeting ID: 974 6478 5626
Dial by your location:  1 646 558 8656 (New York)
Meeting ID: 974 6478 5626
Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/acCRYGAK

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Sunday, August 23, 2026 The Grove of Elders

Posted on by Renee Ruchotzke

One service at 11 AM in Hobbs Hall.

In a multigenerational community where members of all age groups are able to flourish, what are the particular gifts and potential roles of our elders in the social fabric?

Sunday Morning Schedule:

10:00 AM

Religious Education for Children and Youth

Facilitated Drop-In Small Reflection Groups for Adults

Location: Fessenden Hall

This Week’s Wondering Questions:

  1. Who was an important person in your early life who was 2 generations older (e.g. a grandparent)? What did you learn from them?
  2. Have you had someone who mentored you or helped you navigate some “adulting” phase of your life? Tell a short story about it.
  3. Have you had the opportunity to mentor someone else, or help them navigate some “adulting” phase of your life? Tell a short story about it.

11:00 AM Service — meeting in Hobbs Hall and on Zoom

Led by Rev. Affiliated Community Minister Renee Ruchotzke and Director of Music Ministries Emily Hall, with Marty Beech.

CLICK HERE to view or print the Order of Service.

11:00 AM Zoom Information:

For those joining via Zoom, our meeting room opens 15 minutes prior to the start of the service (at 10:45 AM) for weekly announcements. We request that everyone joining the service please display your first and last name. Thank you!

https://zoom.us/j/97464785626
Meeting ID: 974 6478 5626
Dial by your location:  1 646 558 8656 (New York)
Meeting ID: 974 6478 5626
Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/acCRYGAK

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Sunday, August 2, 2026 Transition Through a Time of Radical Change

Posted on by Renee Ruchotzke

One service at 11 AM in Hobbs Hall.

Our world is always changing, yet so are we. In a time where change itself seems to have accelerated – where technology may beget superintelligence, where our planet is becoming drastically transformed – how can we peacefully, yet consciously, transition? Today, we will use the perspectives of young adults to encounter the transition into life in a new world. The understanding brought forth from these experiences with anxiety and distress will call for reflection, and an active participation in the world we see ahead – no matter how scary it may be.

Sunday Morning Schedule:

10:00 AM

Religious Education for Children and Youth

Facilitated Drop-In Small Reflection Groups for Adults

Location: Fessenden Hall

This Week’s Wondering Questions:

  1. How do you respond to change in general?
  2. What is a big change in your life that you had to adapt to?
  3. Is change a result of life, or the nature of life itself?

11:00 AM Service — meeting in Hobbs Hall and on Zoom

Led by Colemann Packer, with Avian Gillig, Cooper Slater, and assisted by Affiliated Community Minister Rev. Renée Ruchotzke

Special musical guest Ginger Doss.

CLICK HERE to view or print the Order of Service.

11:00 AM Zoom Information:

For those joining via Zoom, our meeting room opens 15 minutes prior to the start of the service (at 10:45 AM) for weekly announcements. We request that everyone joining the service please display your first and last name. Thank you!

https://zoom.us/j/97464785626
Meeting ID: 974 6478 5626
Dial by your location:  1 646 558 8656 (New York)
Meeting ID: 974 6478 5626
Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/acCRYGAK

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Fessenden Hall Gets a “Refresh”

Posted on by Renee Ruchotzke

News from the Building and Grounds Team!

This summer, we will patch the ceiling and walls, apply a few coats of paint and, possibly, update the lighting fixtures to make the space a bit more inviting.

Special thanks to Henri Stevens for taking the lead in this project. 

We plan to work around any scheduled Fessenden activities to keep the space “open” during this work.

Randy Ruchotzke, Randy McCrystal, and Jennifer Gregg (“on leave” until August 15)
Buildings and Grounds Coordinators

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July Special Collection: ACLU Immigration Rights Project

Posted on by MaryBeth Hannan

Our July special collection will support the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project protects the civil liberties and due process rights of non-citizens in the U.S.  Through impact litigation, advocacy, and community outreach, the project challenges unconstitutional detentions, discriminatory profiling, family separation, and unlawful enforcement tactics at the federal, state, and local levels. 

CLICK HERE to learn more.

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Sunday, July 19, 2026 O Frabjous Day! Nurturing the Spirit of Play, Inviting the Gift of Joy

Posted on by MaryBeth Hannan

One service at 11 AM in Hobbs Hall.

When was the last time you got to do something that made your heart happy? Play is creative, generative, and healthy for people of all ages. Join us for this fun service exploring the power of play in our lives!

Sunday Morning Schedule:

10:00 AM

Religious Education for Children and Youth

Facilitated Drop-In Small Reflection Groups for Adults

Location: Fessenden Hall

This Week’s Wondering Questions:

11:00 AM Service — meeting in Hobbs Hall and on Zoom

Led by Rev. Kristina Church.

CLICK HERE to view or print the Order of Service.

11:00 AM Zoom Information:

For those joining via Zoom, our meeting room opens 15 minutes prior to the start of the service (at 10:45 AM) for weekly announcements. We request that everyone joining the service please display your first and last name. Thank you!

https://zoom.us/j/97464785626
Meeting ID: 974 6478 5626
Dial by your location:  1 646 558 8656 (New York)
Meeting ID: 974 6478 5626
Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/acCRYGAK

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Sunday, July 12, 2026 – Feel Something, Make Something

Posted on by Renee Ruchotzke

One service at 11 AM in Hobbs Hall.

Feel Something, Make Something explores how we can turn to art, creativity, and one another when we feel helpless and overwhelmed by the state of the world. We’ll look at how the creative process helps us release tension from our bodies, make sense of our roles in the community, and express the deep truths that words often fail to capture.

Sunday Morning Schedule:

10:00 AM

Religious Education for Children and Youth

Facilitated Drop-In Small Reflection Groups for Adults

Location: Fessenden Hall

This Week’s Wondering Questions:

This week we are going to have an opportunity to create a Haiku and then reflect together on the process:

Haiku prompt options:

  1. What in nature brings you joy?
  2. How has a friend helped you?
  3. What gives you a sense of meaning?
  4. What is your happy place?
  5. Anything you would want to describe that is meaningful.

Share the poem, then how the process of writing it made you feel.

What are other art forms that help you process feelings?

11:00 AM Service — meeting in Hobbs Hall and on Zoom

Led by Kate Starks, Malachi Stevens, Susan Herrera and friends

CLICK HERE to view or print the Order of Service.

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July 5, 2026 My America Is…

Posted on by Renee Ruchotzke

America is 250, and we’re at a crossroads. So much beautiful, and so much ugly. Holding the many contradictions together feels weighty. In all of this: what is America now? What have we lost? What is it becoming? Please join us on this auspicious day as we explore, through music and personal storytelling, national identity in our precarious moment.

Sunday Morning Schedule:

10:00 AM

Religious Education for Children and Youth

Facilitated Drop-In Small Reflection Groups for Adults

Location: Fessenden Hall

This Week’s Wondering Questions:

  1. How did you come to learn about the United States? 
  2. What about the United States makes you feel proud? What about it makes you feel ashamed? 
  3. Polarization, or the deepening of political differences, has never been higher in our lifetimes. Are there still themes or values that connect or resonate across these differences? 

11:00 AM Service — meeting in Hobbs Hall and on Zoom

Led by Chris Hook and Henri Stevens and Worship Associate Heidi Sumser

CLICK HERE to view or print the Order of Service.

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Sunday, June 28, 2026 The Power of Shared Ministry

Posted on by MaryBeth Hannan

One service at 11 AM in Hobbs Hall.

What do Unitarian Universalists mean when we talk about shared ministry? Leadership of a congregation is bigger than any one person or position– so how do the roles, tasks, and processes of a congregation get distributed? Join us for this exploration of what it means to work together in service of the whole, in a ministry that invites us to share our unique gifts with the world.

Sunday Morning Schedule:

10:00 AM

Religious Education for Children and Youth

Facilitated Drop-In Small Reflection Groups for Adults

Location: Fessenden Hall

This Week’s Wondering Questions:

  1. Do you have a wild idea– a new program or a group you’d like to share or create with our congregation? What would it take to make this new thing happen here?
  2. What do you need to do to regain your faith in a future where we will all flourish together?

11:00 AM Service — meeting in Hobbs Hall and on Zoom

Led by Rev. Kristina Church with Worship Associate CLM Kathy Kerns

CLICK HERE to view or print the Order of Service.

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Sunday, June 21, 2026 Meet the Moment: General Assembly Closing Worship with Rev. Jen Youngsun Ryu

Posted on by MaryBeth Hannan

One service at 11 AM in Hobbs Hall.

Join us for a powerful communal experience – the largest annual gathering of UU’s in worship. This year we’ve been brought to tears by grief and rage, and been lifted by hope and joy. Sunday’s worship invites us to pause in the gap, one breath deep, between what we’ve shared and the faithful action ahead. At this threshold, we practice the spiritual discipline of Love.

Sunday Morning Schedule:

10:00 AM

Religious Education for Children and Youth

Facilitated Drop-In Small Reflection Groups for Adults

Location: Fessenden Hall

This Week’s Wondering Questions:

  1. Is there a way you practice taking a pause or a breath before responding to stressful situations? How can “pausing in the gap” help you respond from a centered place?
  2. Today’s worship highlights our sacred relationship with UUs all over the country– people we may never meet. Has your flourishing ever been made possible by a stranger? How has that knowledge changed the way you move through the world?

11:00 AM Service — meeting in Hobbs Hall‘

CLICK HERE to view or print the Order of Service.

Our usual Zoom will not be available this morning. CLICK HERE to directly access the General Assembly Sunday Worship.

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