Past Services

Unitarian Universalism pitches a big theological tent in which we can draw on wisdom from all the great traditions. What holds us together is not a creed of belief but a covenant, a set of promises and relationships of accountability. The practice of covenant has changed since Yahweh’s promises to the people who would become the Israelites and may need to change in our times with church possible at-a-distance for some and accountability lived out in virtual as well as physical spaces.

Join us for this hybrid, ASL interpreted worship service with music from Jen Hayman and the All Souls Choir and Akoma @ All Souls! After service, stay on the same Zoom link for a social hour or come to Pierce Hall for coffee hour!

One of the benefits of living in Washington, DC, is that our local media and culture encourage a national and international perspective on things. However, we’re also a city of real people with real problems, including poverty, racism, police violence, and lack of affordable housing. How can we connect pride, reality, and possibility?

Join us for this ASL interpreted worship service with music from the Jubilee Singers and guest director Melanie DeMore! Stay on the same Zoom link for social hour or join us in the Reeb Lobby for coffee hour.

Please join us in-person or online for our Vespers service this month!

Our Vespers worship service is modeled after the traditional Taizé worship service, which uses silence, scripture, prayer, and repetitive singing of short chants and rounds to quiet the mind and promote deep meditation. The Taizé Community promotes peace and justice through prayer and meditation. Our Vespers service mirrors Taizé-style attention to silence, holy words, prayer, and singing, but has also evolved to include other meditative traditions such as yogic singing and Buddhist chanting. Followed by a time for community gathering. Every second Wednesday of the month.

Click here to log in to Zoom.
Dial in: 301.715.8592; meeting ID: 997 7201 2495; passcode: 927624

To live in abundance, it may be necessary to recognize how deeply we have embraced scarcity as the truth of the world. Believing that there is another and a deeper truth is a challenge for people of faith. It is no small task. That is why we call it faith.

Join us for this ASL interpreted worship service with a Story of All Ages from Lara Profitt and the CYRE students and music from Jen Hayman and the All Souls Choir! Stay after service for coffee hour in Pierce Hall, or on the same Zoom link for social hour.

Our February themes of Power and Sankofa call us to inquire into looking back to move forward. The word Sankofa comes from the Akan people of Ghana, and literally means “to go back and get it.” On this Sunday we will examine ancestral lineage: the power, the gifts, and the harm of generational relationships. As we wrestle with the limitations of our individual and collective pasts, how might we break through to new understandings and more active commitments?

Join us for this ASL interpreted worship service with music from Rochelle Rice and guest musicians. Stay on the same Zoom link for social hour or join us in-person in Pierce Hall for our monthly luncheon after service!

What does Sankofa mean?

The word Sankofa comes from the Akan people of Ghana. It is an Akan term that literally means, “to go back and get it.” One of the Adinkra symbols for Sankofa depicts a mythical bird flying forward with its head turned backward.

The egg in its mouth represents the “gems” or knowledge of the past upon which wisdom is based; it also signifies the generation to come that would benefit from that wisdom. There are several overlapping interpretations:

Taking from the past what is good and bringing it into the present in order to make positive progress through the benevolent use of knowledge. Going back and reclaiming our past so we can move forward; so, we understand why and how we came to be who we are today.

One basic and important meaning still lies; one’s past is an important aspect of one’s future. So in order to make the best of one’s future, one must visit one’s past.

In our spiritual theme of “Power”, we explore what it means to harness the power of pleasure, or as writer Adrienne Maree Brown describes as “the politics of feeling good.” What does pleasure have to do with justice work and our collective liberation? How does radical honesty relate to joy?

Join us for this ASL interpreted worship service with guest minister Rev. Rebecca Savage, with music from Jen Hayman, and the All Souls Choir! After service, stay on the same Zoom link for social hour, or come to in-person coffee hour in Pierce Hall.

Wake, now, my senses, and hear the earth call; 
feel the deep power of being in all; 
keep, with the web of creation your vow, 
giving, receiving as love shows us how. 

“Giving, receiving as love shows us how.” The familiar hymn makes the case. The Spirit of Life, however we know and name it, calls us to wake, calls us to feel the power in our individual lives but also the possibility when we come together as we do in this church called All Souls. 

The Spirit of Life calls us to keep our covenant: To receive inspiration and energy, solace and support. But also, to give of our time, talent and treasure. 

Join us for this ASL interpreted worship service, with music provided by the Jubilee Singers with guest director, Francisco Ruiz .

Please join us in-person or online for our Vespers service this month!

Our Vespers worship service is modeled after the traditional Taizé worship service, which uses silence, scripture, prayer, and repetitive singing of short chants and rounds to quiet the mind and promote deep meditation. The Taizé Community promotes peace and justice through prayer and meditation. Our Vespers service mirrors Taizé-style attention to silence, holy words, prayer, and singing, but has also evolved to include other meditative traditions such as yogic singing and Buddhist chanting. Followed by a time for community gathering. Every second Wednesday of the month.

Click here to log in to Zoom.
Dial in: 301.715.8592; meeting ID: 997 7201 2495; passcode: 927624

Mainstream politics is certain that “Defund the Police” was a wrong turn. Concern for Public Safety is far too widely shared. In the spiritual space, safety and protection are always in tension with transformation and growth. Does our faith ask us to look for safety? Or does it call us to use our power for change?

Join us for this ASL interpreted worship service with a Story for All Ages, and music from Jen Hayman and the All Souls Choir!

Watch on YouTube.

Music often plays a vital role in the struggle for liberation. Protest songs are a rallying cry against oppression. Songs of lament give voice to suffering, offering solace to the soul in hard times. Others lift our spirits with an imagination of what’s possible. Some do all three, or more! This service will celebrate the power of music, and honor Lenard Starks in his final Sunday as Director of All Souls Jubilee Singers after more than 25 years. All are invited to a reception after the service as well.

As Rev. Bill said last fall, the inclusive embrace of our tradition welcomes us to come as we are into Unitarian Universalist communities, but not to stay as we are. If freedom of choice is what allows so many of us to feel welcomed into, and even saved by our congregations, what in our living tradition will compel us to become transformed, as well?

Join us for this ASL interpreted worship service with music from Jen Hayman and the All Souls Choir! Following service, join us in Pierce Hall for the Find Your Ministry Fair! If you’re joining us virtually, stay on the same link for a virtual social hour and check out our Find Your Ministry Fair webpage!

“When you dream of something, you can begin to take it upon yourself, make it yours, change it. But you have to dream it first. And Unitarian Universalists don’t dream…You have to think of the world as you would really have it. I don’t mean wish it, I mean dream it. And sometimes I think Unitarian Universalists wish more than they dream.”
-Henry Hampton, Founder of Blackside and creator of Eyes on the Prize

What dream calls us forward? Theodore Parker, who coined the much-borrowed phrase that “the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice,” also said that he could not see far along the curve. How is the dream being shaped in us today. Is more of the Beloved Community coming clear?

Join us for this ASL interpreted worship service with music from the Womens 8! We will be celebrating Dolores Miller, our retiring Director of Children’s and Youth Religious Education on her last Sunday at All Souls.