Sunday, October 16, at 10:00 am
“Adopting the First Principle”
Rev. Andrew Millard, Guest Worship Leader
“We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person.” There is a long-running conversation amongst UUs about how to practice our First Principle. Must it apply to the worst person we can imagine? Does it mean we let someone get away with doing harm? How do we distinguish between the person and the behavior? And do we apply it to ourselves?
Rev. Andrew has served the Mission of the UU Fellowship of the Peninsula (Newport News, VA) since 2010. Born and raised in England, he came to the United States for graduate school in physics; some years later he joined the Sierra Club, the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science, the World Pantheist Movement and the Unitarian Society of Hartford (in that order). He went back to school at Hartford Seminary before transferring to the Iliff School of Theology in Denver. Andrew lives in Gloucester, VA with Allison, their pre-teen daughter and their furry family.
Sunday, October 23, at 10:00 am
“Befriending Fear”
Scott Varney, Guest Worship Leader
Although fear can be one of the most useful emotions we can experience (after all, it is trying to protect us), it is usually the emotion we push away or run from the quickest. With Halloween around the corner, the holiday can be a reminder of how sometimes we can find joy within our “negative” emotions. What would happen if instead of running from our fear or pushing it away, we invited it in and allowed it to have a seat at the table?
Scott Varney picked up the bass at the age of 14. As his musical talents have grown, he’s refined his musical tastes into a singular but hard to define style that draws from a blend of funk, jazz and even folk/world music. Scott’s current solo project is where he has truly found his way. Performing solo since 2002, he makes his way from his home in Williamsburg, VA to wherever his original sound takes him. His debut CD “The Child’s Eye” contains 10 original tracks recorded at Sound of Music studios in Richmond, VA with Producer/Engineer John Morand. Scott played all of the instruments on the album, i.e six-string bass guitar, percussion, vocals and even the occasional mouth trumpet and toy piano. Scott is currently working on his long overdue follow up CD that will be titled “Wanting and Waiting” after a new song by the same title.