Today, for All Souls Day, we honor our ancestors through spiritual music from various traditions. We will also be remembering beloved Chalice members who have passed within the last year. Please bring photos of your ancestors for our communal altar.
We pray a lot here at Chalice. We “give thanks for the gifts and the givers”. We consecrate things like babies and backpacks. We say prayers of petition or lamentation. We are a reverent community, but why? Who are we talking to? Join Rick Wells this week as he engages this existential question of how we create a meaningful life and what this thing called prayer has to do with that creation.
How do we continue to get up each morning and face all the horrors the world offers, without being paralyzed by fear or despair? How do we hold onto our humanity, our joy, our love and peace amidst it all? How do we keep finding the light among all the darkness surrounding us? Join us for this deep dive into what it means to be human at this time.
It has been over 180 years since the Ventura Chumash community has built a tomol in Ventura. They are currently finishing their first tomol in over 180 years… “We are due!” writes Alan Salazar, Chumash elder, who will share this story with us for Indigenous People’s Day.
The unconditional love we receive from our animal friends and family members is a gift. In honor of all they have given us, today we offer them a blessing of love, happiness, and good health as we are reminded that our lives are so much better with them.
Join us for a musical celebration of the life and wisdom of Singer-songwriter, Social Justice and Environmental Activist, Carolyn McDade.
A former zen seminary student and poet in residence on the Flathead Indian Reservation, Alex Alviar shares two short essays and an ancient buddhist sutra that explore how to feel at home in one’s own skin no matter where in the world you are.
What if our interactions with the earth, and rocks in particular, shape us and we shape them? How do we shape them and what do these interactions say about our culture and values? We will explore stones of: 1. geology and fossils 2. stones of building materials and tools, 3. commerce and trade, 4. art and 5. ritual.
The poet, John O’Donohue, wrote: “May this house shelter your life. When you come home here.” This Ingathering Sunday we come home to Chalice and gather around a living fountain, reminding us of the source that nourishes and sustains our lives. Home is not only where we live, but where we are seen, loved, renewed and inspired. Today we come home to one another, for the new congregational year, celebrating this community and connections that sustain us.
Some time back, Ayanna Gaines presented a service that centered on the concept of the soul: what it is and what do Unitarian Universalists believe about the soul. Now, Ayanna is revisiting the concept of the soul, this time from a popular culture perspective: why do we call Stevie Wonder’s songs “soul music,” or fried chicken “soul food”? How does this connect to the soul in our hearts?
