Please join us for worship on Sunday mornings. Composed of inspiring words and stirring music, our worship services seek to provide spiritual sustenance for our living.
Sunday, September 5, 2010 at 10:15am:
All Work and No Play
Rev. Louise Green
You know what they say! When work takes over living, life grows dull. How do we add shine to our days? Labor Day weekend/last single-service Sunday.
Sunday, September 12, 2010 at 9:30am and 11:15am:
Homecoming Sunday
Rev. Rob Hardies
We return to two services and begin the new church year.
All Souls Church, Unitarian is a progressive
religious community located in the heart
of Washington, DC, at the intersection
of the Mt. Pleasant, Adams Morgan,
and Columbia Heights neighborhoods.
We walk diverse spiritual paths to find
meaning and purpose in our lives, but
we are united in our belief in the worth
and dignity of all people, and the
obligation to express our faith through
acts of justice and compassion. We
hope you'll join us as we create a
diverse, spirit-growing, justice-
seeking community that is true
to our name, All Souls!
-- Rev. Robert Hardies
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Rev. Robert Hardies and five All Souls congregants were in Hiroshima, Japan for a commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the bombing of that city and for the opening of an exhibition of the Hiroshima Children's Drawings. The following is a pastoral letter from Rev. Hardies on the occasion.
August 6, 2010
Hiroshima, Japan
Dear All Souls Members and Friends,
Today marks the 65th anniversary of the United States’ bombing of the Japanese city of Hiroshima, an event that killed over 100,000 people, reduced the city to rubble, and inaugurated the atomic age. For the first time, we possessed the awesome power to destroy both our species and the Earth that we call home.
I, along with five All Souls members, have the honor of being in Hiroshima to commemorate this terrible event and to celebrate a seed of hope that was planted in its aftermath: the small but significant exchange of gifts of peace between the children of All Souls Church and Hiroshima’s Honkawa Elementary School.
Many of you know the story. Inspired by a call to action from All Souls’ minister, the Rev. A. Powell Davies, the children of All Souls in 1947 collected half a ton of school supplies—crayons, paint, and paper—to send to the children of Honkawa school. In appreciation, the Japanese children sent back beautiful drawings of Japanese life slowly returning to normal in the wake of the devastation.
In a moving ceremony last Saturday these drawings—recently restored—were reunited for the first time with the children (now in their 70s and 80s) who created them. They are now on exhibit at the Honkawa School Peace Museum and in the last week alone have garnered thousands of visitors and significant attention from the Japanese press. We are accompanied in Japan by filmmaker Bryan Reichhardt who is completing a documentary about the drawings and the relationship between All Souls Church and Honkawa School.
This has been a rich and moving week for our delegation. In addition to meeting with the hibakusha who created the drawings (hibakusha is the name given to survivors of the atomic bomb), we were warmly received by the current students and faculty of Honkawa school and other schools to whom All Souls sent supplies, we worshipped with our friends at the Japanese Buddhist sect Rissho Kosei-kai (longtime partners of Unitarians in international peacemaking), and at a memorial service last night for the Honkawa schoolchildren who died in the bombing, we were honored to be the only non-Japanese invited to lay flowers at the shrine to the dead.
I am reminded during this trip that relationships place upon us responsibilities. We have a duty to be morally accountable to the relationships we’ve entered into. I believe our relationship with the people of Hiroshima places a responsibility on us to continue to share the story of these drawings and to work for a world that is no longer threatened by the specter of nuclear annihilation. We are called to be peacemakers.
Our small group looks forward to returning to Washington to share with you the stories and images from our trip and to explore ways that, together, we can take up the responsibilities of this important international relationship. Personally, I look forward to returning to the pulpit on August 22 and celebrating Homecoming Sunday with all of you on September 12. And I wish you both love and peace on this important anniversary.
In faith,
ROB
A message to Fenty and Gray: It's all about jobs
The Washington Interfaith Network held a candidates forum on Monday, July 26. WIN leaders, The Revs. Anthony Minter of First Rock Baptist Church and Roger Gench of New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, have an op-ed piece in the Washington Post.
Multicultural worship at All Souls
The UUA, as part of its video series, A Religion for Our Times, is featuring All Souls and how we reflect our community in the ways we worship.
Getting to know ourselves
At All Souls, our mission is to create a diverse, spirit-growing, justice-seeking community that is true to our name. To do this, we need to know who we are now and what we might be in the future.
Please take some time to tell us about yourself and your family by filling out the All Souls Congregant Profile. Available at www.surveymonkey.com/s/allsoulscongregantprofile2010, it should take no more than five minutes to complete.
Help us fulfill our mission and build a more connected All Souls community. Your participation is vitally important.
All Souls to Assisi
In 2011 (September 27-October 3), Rev. Rob Hardies will lead a group of Souls to Assisi, Italy, where St. Francis spent his last days. Each day, we'll walk with others or alone, often in silence, seeking peace and joy. Every evening, the community will gather before dinner to reflect on our journey. Along the way, we'll experience Umbrian culture, food and wine, and magnificent views across the hills.
The walks will be easy and the distances short, so all are welcome. More details here.
All Souls B&B
Coming to DC? Stay in an All Souls Church, Unitarian B&B. All proceeds from the program benefit our historic church and support our many spiritual and social justice ministries. More information here.
Joyful music is central to our life together at All Souls Church. The All Souls Choir, one of the first multiracial choirs in DC, celebrates a half century of musical excellence, singing a repertoire as diverse as our congregants. The artistic versatility of the singers allows the ensemble to perform everything from ancient church chant to Fauré, spirituals to South African songs, jazz to gospel.
The Ministers' Journey towards Social Justice
1821-Present
We still deal with many of the same issues today that the All Souls ministers have been challenging their members to consider through almost 200 years in the nation’s capital: race, rights, environment, peace and more. The Ministers’ Journey tells a story of leadership, courage and justice through almost two centuries of work in contentious times.
Silver Souls cordially invite you to visit this fascinating exhibition in the main hallway of the lower level, weekdays 11:00 am - 5:00 pm and weekends 9:00 am - 3:00 pm. Or view it online.
1500 Harvard Street NW, Washington DC 20009 (at the corner of 16th and Harvard); (202) 332-5266
