Sunday, September 18, at 10:00 am
“Deepening Our Spiritual Lives”
Annette Marquis, Guest Worship Leader
WUU’s covenant, which expresses how you choose to live in community together, includes a statement that reads, “To try to live morally and deepen our spiritual lives.” In this service we’ll explore the meaning of the “s” word. What is required of us to live a spiritual life? Whether you’re theist, agnostic, atheist, earth-centered, Buddhist, or a follower of any other path, this service will help you understand whether a spiritual life is for you and if so, how you can deepen it.
Annette Marquis is the Director of Operations for the Living Legacy Project, Inc., a non-profit organization that educates people about the enduring lessons of the American Civil Rights Movement. Previously, she served the Unitarian Universalist Association as LGBTQ and Multicultural Programs Director, as acting Southeast Regional Lead, and District Executive for the Southeast District. Annette is the author of Resistance: A Memoir of Civil Disobedience in Maricopa County. Her writing has appeared in various journals and anthologies including Coming Out in Faith: Voices of LGBTQ Unitarian Universalism and The Women of Katrina: How Gender, Race, and Class Matter in an American Disaster. Annette lives with her wife Wendy in Richmond, VA, where she is a member of First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond. With Anita Lee, Annette is co-founder of The National Pledge to End Racism Initiative.
Sunday, September 25, at 10:00 am
“UUs, Faith and Reason”
Rev. Doug McCusker, Guest Worship Leader
Unitarians and Universalists have long been the tightrope artists of religion. We have tried to find a balance between faith in something greater and unseen with reason and scientific facts. Finding our niche as a religious tradition that is centered on the personal, human experience enables us to be engaged in the present moment with awe and wonder. Join Rev. Doug McCusker in an exploration of the philosophical roots of liberal theology.
Rev. Doug McCusker comes to us today from Fredericksburg, Virginia, the ancestral land of the Patawomeck people along the Rappahannock River. He is starting his eight year as the settled minister of the UU Fellowship of Fredericksburg. Since 2016, he has facilitated a prison ministry with a UU Group at the Coffeewood Correctional Center in Mitchells, VA. He graduated with a Master of Divinity degree from Meadville Lombard Theological School in 2014, and is an alum of William and Mary, class of 1980. Doug is a certified Mindfulness Outdoor Guide. Whenever he gets the chance, he leads groups in an outdoor sensory immersion practice known as Forest Bathing. Before going into ministry, he retired from a 32-year career as a cartographer and systems engineer with the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.