Worship
Worship Services are onsite and online. The placeholder image below allows one to login early or click for a notification when the Service goes live. Onsite mask wearing is encouraged. Masks are required when singing. Livestreams are available on uucsr.org/worship, on Facebook, and YouTube. Podcasts available afterward. Also aired on NSTV. Watch live with other members and newcomers at the Sunday Morning Experience on Zoom (uucsr.org/calendar).
Sunday Worship Service: Songs My Mother Taught Me (Mother's Day and Child Dedication), led by Rev. David Carl Olson on May 14, 2023. On a morning of recognizing the strength, compassion, and courage of mother love, our congregational musicians will share songs their mothers would love to hear. Rev. Olson will reflect on the origins of the Mother's Day holiday as a day of recommitment to peace. We will share a ritual of flowers and a blessing for families of many shapes and sizes in conjunction with a child dedication ceremony. Please contact Ministers’ Assistant Sharyn Esposito ( or 516.472.2960) to include your family in the dedication ceremony.
May Soulful Sundown: "Creativity and Imagination" Rev. Dr. Natalie Fenimore weaves spoken word with music from the Cosmic Orchestra LIVE Onsite. Masks encouraged.
Onsite-only Coffee House follows with Special Guest Musical Artist Andy Falco
Where music resides at the heart of religious experience.
Sunday Worship Service: Creating Possibility in Times of Uncertainty, led by UUA President Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray with Rev. Dr. Natalie Fenimore on May 7, 2023. We are living in uncertain times. So much of our world is fraught—from climate disasters and war and growing political challenges to democracy. It can be easy to despair. But there is an aliveness in nurturing possibility and creativity in these times—and these are absolutely needed now! Let’s reflect on how this aliveness is a source of strength for our communities and our values.
Sunday Worship Service: Color Me Red Color Me Green , led by Rev. David Carl Olson on April 30, 2023. April 30 marks the arrival of spring in northern Europe, and bonfires are lit to burn away the last of the winter. May 1 is a holiday birthed by the working class of the United States that is celebrated internationally as a workers’ holiday. This Service is a call to reflection and action to be in solidarity with resistant workers who live closest to the earth, and to love and act for our resilient Mother Earth herself.
Music Sunday Worship Service: A Plea for Peace, led by Stephen Michael Smith and Rev. Jaye Brooks on April 23, 2023. This Music Sunday service, the first since the pre-pandemic Spring of 2019, features a cantata by Ralph Vaughan Williams: his great work, “Dona Nobis Pacem” (“Grant Us Peace”). Considering a world where peace may seem impossible, Vaughn Williams wrote this music in 1936–after one world war and before the next–as an explicit plea against war. It is, sadly, still relevant today as it lifts up the human longing for peace. Lyrics include poems by 19th-Century Unitarian Walt Whitman.
Sunday Worship Service: Earth, Teach Me, led by Rev. Rev. David Carl Olson on April 16, 2023. The lessons of spring offer the promise of life’s renewal. A community of faith finds time, too, to listen to the earth’s call and to renew itself. Our congregation considers the lessons of the earth and launches its own call for membership renewal, a recommitment to our way of being and becoming. Becoming & Belonging Member Renewal Celebration and Luncheon will immediately follow in the Social Hall.
April Soulful Sundown: Erol Delos Santos, Student Minister, weaves spoken word with music from the Cosmic Orchestra LIVE Onsite. Masks encouraged.
Onsite-only Coffee House follows with Special Guest Musical Artist Jonah Smith
Where music resides at the heart of religious experience.
Sunday Worship Service: The Open Heart, led by Rev. Jaye Brooks on April 9, 2023. The Christian celebration of Easter centers on an opening—a stone rolled away, a new era beginning. In the human heart, is there a stone that keeps us from change, from renewal? How do we roll that stone away, so that we greet each new day with an open heart? This is a family service with children present for the entire time. The Easter Egg Hunt follows the Worship Service
Sunday Worship Service: Resisting Oppression, led by Rev. Dr. Natalie Fenimore on April 2, 2023. The Jewish Passover story tells of a journey from slavery to freedom. This journey continues for many people and communities today. Can we find ourselves in solidarity with those who are resisting oppression?
Sunday Youth Worship Service: Life in Crescendo, led by Youth of Shelter Rock with Erol Delos Santos, Student Minister on March 26, 2023. This year's youth-led service is inspired by the late Steven R Covey's final book (published posthumously) with the same title, as Shelter Rock youth lift up the idea that the best part of life is always ahead. The many musical talents of our youth resonate with their spoken words. Come hear wonderful songs and stories from the congregation’s youth as they celebrate the unfolding mystery of life. When you live your life in crescendo, you continue to build your life's purpose and grow your individual and our collective impact in the world.
Sunday Worship Service: Walking Barefoot, led by Rev. David Carl Olson with Women's Group on March 19, 2023. Unitarian Universalist Viola Liuzzo walked barefoot during the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery. Her daughter said, “She just hated shoes.” In the Hebrew Bible, removing one’s sandals is a recognition of humility when in the presence of the holy. Did Viola imagine that her walk for justice was an act of humility? Did she see herself in the presence of something divine?
Sunday Worship Service: Healing, led by Rev. Jaye Brooks on March 12, 2023. The poet Wendell Berry's prose poem, "Damage," and its companion, "Healing," speak to the ways that we humans cause harm and heal from harm. The insights these poems offer have long been meaningful to Rev. Jaye Brooks and to pianist Nathaniel LaNasa. Together with Music Director Stephen Michael Smith and the UUCSR choir, we offer this Worship Service that touches on the human character trait of vulnerability and its power to help us heal.
March Soulful Sundown: Rev. Dr. Natalie Fenimore weaves spoken word with music from the Cosmic Orchestra LIVE Onsite. Masks encouraged.
Onsite-only Coffee House follows with Special Guest Musical Artist David Wilcox
Where music resides at the heart of religious experience.
Sunday Worship Service: Hearts and Hands, led by Rev. Dr. Natalie Fenimore with Women's Group on March 5, 2023. Our Unitarian Universalist tradition has many stories of social justice and community outreach efforts which helped to change the world for the better. Our tradition also calls for us to do in-reach, that is to be of service to those here among us. Our congregation’s women have long supported these efforts for the benefit of all. What are the ways that women have shown us how to care for one another in our faith tradition and in this congregation – and how do they lead the way for you to be more involved?
Sunday Worship Service: Environmental Love, led by Rev. Dr. Natalie Fenimore on February 26, 2023. When the North Shore Unitarian Society moved from Port Washington to eventually become the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock in Manhasset, it took on the responsibility for stewardship of a large property. What does it mean to love this land now and in the future?
Sunday Worship Service: I’ll Bring a Song of Love, led by Rev. David Carl Olson on February 19, 2023. When W. E. B. Du Bois taught and wrote about The Souls of Black Folk, he elevated the songs that were “a haunting melody” from the music that welled up from the community of Africans in the US. This service shares some of the songs of liberal religion and its attempt to sing the human soul.
Sunday Worship Service: Loving Connections that Heal: Partnering for a Just Transition, led by Rev. Mary Katherine Morns on February 12, 2023. How do we stop systems based in relentless extraction and move towards ways of being that heal and restore? Communities in the front lines of the climate crisis are leading the way towards the transformations necessary for our collective survival and flourishing. Join us as Rev. Mary Katherine Morn, president of Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), shares stories of the remarkable work UUSC partners are engaging in around the world with the support of our UUSC members.
Bio: After 30 years in faith-based leadership, the Rev. Mary Katherine Morn joined UUSC as President and Lead Executive Officer in 2018. She has helped to grow a number of progressive congregations serving their members and the larger community.
Soulful Sundown, Friday, February 10, 2023
Led by Rev. David Carl Olson, weaving spoken word with music from the Cosmic Orchestra, onsite and online. Onsite-only Coffee House follows with special Guest Musical Artist Janie Barnett. Masks encouraged. Soulful Sundown…where music resides at the heart of the religious experience.
Sunday Worship Service: Mahal Kita, led by Erol Delos Santos on February 5, 2023. "Mahal Kita" means "I Love You" in Tagalog, a language spoken in the Philippines. Join Erol Delos Santos as we explore the complexities of love, togetherness, and community through the lens of Indigenous Filipino folk culture and traditions.
Veatch Sunday Worship Service: From the Ground Up, led by Rev. Dr. Natalie Fenimore on January 29, 2023. Building a Multiracial Democracy: Join Dorian Warren, Co-President of Veatch grantee Community Change, for Veatch Sunday. A nationally recognized organizer, scholar, and commentator, Dorian leads a visionary institution that advocates for racial equity, worker rights, and social transformation. Join the Veatch Board of Governors to hear Dorian speak from the pulpit about how organizers are building the ideals of our multiracial democracy. An Order of Service is available HERE.
The Human Spirit, led by Rev. Jaye Brooks on January 22, 2023. How do we human beings "find our center," as this month's worship and learning theme suggests? This Sunday explores the human spirit and the yearning to be connected to something greater than ourselves. To honor the Lunar New Year, our RE children will appear after the service in dragon form. An Order of Service is available HERE.
Preparing the Way for the Beloved Community, led by Rev. Dr. Natalie Fenimore on January 15, 2023. The Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change was founded by Coretta Scott King in 1968. The King Center’s mission is to empower people to create a just, humane, equitable and peaceful world by applying Dr. King’s nonviolent philosophy and methodology. Unitarian Universalists also seek to create the Beloved Community which Rev. Dr. King envisioned. What might be our philosophy and methodology which would empower us to move closer to this goal?
Soulful Sundown, Friday, January 13, 2023
Led by Rev. Jaye Brooks, weaving spoken word with music from the Cosmic Orchestra, onsite and online. Onsite-only Coffee House follows with special Guest Musical Artist Cassandra House. Masks encouraged. Soulful Sundown…where music resides at the heart of the religious experience.
Love at the Center of our Convenants and Relationships, led by Rev. Jaye Brooks and Rev. David Carl Olson on January 8, 2023. Denominational Affairs Sunday: Our tradition includes the sacred notion that there is power in our choice to associate freely with each other and with other congregations. We express this in a number of settings—the UU Service Committee, the Long Island Area Council, Black Lives of UUism, the UU United Nations Office, and many more.
Each year, General Assembly is the most authoritative expression of our faith. In 2023, it will be especially important. We will elect a new UUA President to serve a six-year term and we will move forward to amend our basic Principles and Purposes. An Order of Service is available HERE.
From I to We: Telling Our Stories in the Aftermath, led by Rev. Oscar Sinclair, Guest Minister on January 1, 2023. COVID-19 was a universal experience, but its impacts were often felt individually. Drawing on lessons learned this fall at The Unitarian Church of Lincoln, we'll look at one way of building community through sharing our stories.
Christmas Day Worship Service: Christmas Stories on December 25, 2022. Our Christmas Day gathering is for all ages, and will feature some lovely, mostly true, Christmas stories. To allow as many of our staff as possible to have a much-deserved day off, the service will be humbly live-streamed--recalling, perhaps, that humble manger and the visitors who, if they'd had smartphones, would have posted live video.
Christmas Eve “Vespers Service" 7 PM on December 24, 2022. The 7 PM Christmas Eve Worship Service will be a meditative evening service with music, readings, and candle lighting.
Christmas Eve Family Service “Together in Song and Light" 5 PM on December 24, 2022. The 5 PM Service will be a Family Service full of music with the Young People’s Choir joining with the Adult Choir and Jazz Ensemble to present the music of A Charlie Brown Christmas. There will be candle lighting and "Silent Night."
Winter Solstice Service and Celebration on December 21, 2022. Celebrate the Longest Night of the Year! We light a fire in the fire pit and tell the story of the sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami, "Heaven-Shining She." Led by our children, we sing and dance to welcome back the sun.
Willow Women's Interfaith Chorus leads us in singing the Winter Solstice chant. We cast a sacred circle and share favorite poetry of the season. We receive from the community a modest token of hope, and show our generosity by leaving a modest cash contribution. "Good for good," some neopagans say!
At the end, we toast the new year with mulled cider and sugar cookies!
Love Makes Miracles on December 18, 2022. The winter holidays are full of the stories of miracles. These miracles are a product of love and faith. Can it be that love and faith continue to make miracles happen all around us now? Our First Graders will present their annual Nativity Play. Lunch will be a celebration of the first day of Hanukkah. Please send recordings of your Hanukkah memories to be shared in the Social Hall to Steve Schwartz ( ).
Star of Wonder, led by Rev. Jaye Brooks on December 11, 2022. December is a month of wonder: Hanukkah in the Jewish tradition (Dec. 18-26); Yule and Solstice in pagan traditions (Dec. 21); and Christmas in the Christian tradition (Dec. 25). So let’s pause to contemplate the nature of miracles. Whether it's the magic of light in the darkness, the turning of the year, or the birth of a baby, we human beings experience wonder. There’s wonder, too, in the Fibonacci numbers that predict the spiral shape of our galaxy and in the ever-renewable light made possible through solar technology. Join in the spirit of curiosity, discovery, and wonder as Rev. Jaye Brooks shines a little light on the mysteries and miracles of the season. An Order of Service is available HERE.
Soulful Sundown
Friday, December 9, 2022
Led by Rev. Dr. Natalie Fenimore with the Cosmic Orchestra. Followed onsite by Coffee House Artist Lucy Kaplansky.
Where music lies at the heart of religious experience.
What Wonderous Love, Rev. Dr. Natalie Fenimore on December 4, 2022. As our Unitarian Universalist Association once again considers its Principles and Purposes, the Article II Bylaws Commission asks us to center Love as the enduring force that holds us together. What are your thoughts on the re-visioning of the Principles and Purposes of our Association? How might we move love to the center of the mission and vision of our faith? An Order of Service is available HERE.
Settle the Sands, Erol Delos Santos, Student Minister on November 27, 2022. When faced with change, we often feel like we are standing at the edge of a precipice, looking out into uncertainty. One way to help adapt to change is to lean on the things that provide stability in unstable times. Join Erol Delos Santos, Student Minister, to reflect on identifying spiritual resources and how to use them to soften moments of transition.
A Great Plenty, UUCSR Ministers on November 20, 2022. Our Annual Multigenerational Celebration of the Thanksgiving Holiday
This annual celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday is a family Service. We will have music from the Young Peoples Choir, Jazz Ensemble and Adult Choir. We will once again have a time to come together and tell about the bread which nourishes us.
Please bring bread to share in the Social Hall after the worship service. Guest at Your Table Boxes from the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee will be distributed.
The Same Ax Twice, Rev. Jaye Brook on November 13, 2022. Change is remarkable in the way it leaves us different and yet at heart still the same person. But human change is also complex—the way anything is complex when human beings are involved. Howard Mansfield’s insightful 2001 book, The Same Ax, Twice, explores how the restoration of things—like an old ax with a new handle—involves both change and stability. What about people? How do we retain stability while allowing change to equip us for better, values-based living? An Order of Service is available HERE.
Soulful Sundown LIVE is a monthly collaboration between UUCSR ministers and live musicians. On November 11, 2022, Erol Delos Santos, Student Minister, weaves spoken word with music from the Cosmic Orchestra, onsite and online. Onsite-only Coffee House follows with special Guest Musical Artist Jesse Terry. Masks encouraged. Soulful Sundown…where music resides at the heart of the religious experience.
Change the Story, Rev. Dr. Natalie Fenimore on November 6, 2022. This month we will celebrate Thanksgiving and many people will tell the story of the "Pilgrims and Indians." The story is based in truth but has gained mythic status. There is, of course, more than one perspective in the story and more than one way to tell any story. How can we/should we change the story to be more inclusive?
That Which Shelters All, Erol King Delos Santos, Ministerial Student on October 30, 2022. In a time when information is available to us in an instant, we often don't dwell in the uncomfortable space of the unknown. The truth is that there are limitless possibilities in 'not knowing'. Imagination thrives in the fertile grounds of mystery. There is something sacred in the secrets of the world around us. Join Student Minister Erol Delos Santos to reflect on the courage required to be curious, to be contemplative, and to remain lost but seeking.
How Annoying, Rev. Jaye Brooks on October 16, 2022. One of the hallmarks of social life in America today is how many things out there are annoying. Confronting the myriad annoyances without losing it takes a remarkable level of centeredness. And maybe courage, which may be a strange character trait to associate with the ability to meet incoming annoyances with serenity. Even so, today's worship service explores the strange quality of courage in the face of annoyance.
Soulful Sundown LIVE is a monthly collaboration between UUCSR ministers and live musicians. On October 14, 2022, Rev. David Carl Olson wove spoken word with music from the Cosmic Orchestra. Coffee House follows with Guest Musical Artist kj Denhert. Onsite and online. Masks encouraged. Soulful Sundown…where music resides at the heart of the religious experience.
Listening to My Gingko Tree, Rev. David Carl Olson on October 9, 2022. The notion of taking responsibility for “the seven generations yet to come” comes from a Native American aphorism that became quite popular in both the New Age and ecology movements. But it is sometimes read in a very linear way that can make it feel burdensome. There is another way of thinking that asks us to create the conditions today for living a rich and full life. We’ll think together and hold a space for imagining the fullest life that we may offer to many generations around us now.
Courage, Rev. Dr. Natalie Fenimore on October 2, 2022. Courage is the ability to do something that frightens you. It is not actually having no fear at all. From where comes the courage of this community? From the Jewish tradition of Yom Kippur we are asked to have the courage to examine our actions, reflect and repent – atone and begin again.
A New Year, Rev. Dr. Natalie Fenimore on September 25, 2022. In the Jewish tradition, Rosh Hashanah commemorates the creation of the world and marks the beginning of Days of Awe, a 10-day period of prayer and reflection which culminates in Yom Kippur. How would you celebrate the birthday of the world? How would you begin anew? An Order of Service is available HERE.
Homecoming, led by the Ministry Team on September 18, 2022. Everyone is invited to our Homecoming Service. A welcome back after our summer adventures. Come see friends who have been away. See how children have grown-listen to the choir. Homecoming is a Family Service and RE classes begin the following Sunday on September 25. Annual Homecoming Picnic follows this Service. Please register at uucsr.org/homecoming22.
VIDEOS OF WORSHIP SERVICES AT UUCSR
The Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock is committed to providing support and assistance to our members and our community. Please bookmark the UUCSR homepage for updates. Join the UUCSR mailing list here.