Past Services

Unitarian Universalism is considering new language to describe how we do religion. As we begin another church year of transition, the question of mission is on many minds. Why do we do church the way we do? What challenges persist and what opportunities open when we place love at the center of our concern?

Please join us for this hybrid, ASL interpreted worship service with music from Keith Arnold and the All Souls Choir! Stay afterward for coffee hour in Pierce Hall or on the same Zoom link for social hour!

We expect the church to preserve the traditions we treasure, to be conservative in the best sense of that word. We also expect the church to support our liberation into greater freedom and deeper meaning. That is the radical hope of the church. How can we use our history to fuel our growth?

Guest Roberta Finkelstein will join Rev. Sinkford in the pulpit. Please join us for this hybrid, ASL interpreted worship service with music from Dr. Carl DuPont and the Jubilee Singers! Come to Pierce Hall afterward for special programming around the upcoming Capital Campaign or stay on the same Zoom link!

Unitarian Universalism has long affirmed evolution as a scientific concept. But what happens when we move from the conceptual level to the personal, and consider our own adaptability? What is our environment–and our faith–calling us to do, and how do we do it?

Join us for this hybrid, ASL interpreted worship service with music from Keith Arnold and the All Souls Choir! Stay on the same Zoom link for social hour after service or come to Pierce Hall 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.

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Dial in: 301.715.8592; meeting ID: 997 7201 2495; passcode: 927624

Happy Homecoming, All Souls!

Each of our lives tells a story, often more than one. Our faith does not promise that we will reach some specific destination. How we live is the critical question for us as religious people, but we also hold hope that our living will point us and our world toward liberation.

Join us for this hybrid, ASL interpreted worship service with music from the festival choir and guest director Melanie DeMore! Come to Pierce Hall for coffee hour or stay on the same Zoom link for social hour!

**No Childrens Religious Education this Sunday, please join us in the Sanctuary. The nursery will be available for families with children 4 and under to use if needed (Headsets to listen to the service are available).

Labor Day weekend so often brings a range of feelings about the bittersweet movement towards fall. What are you savoring at the end of summer? How could this enliven your next season? A reflection on work, play, and the joy of labor.

Join us for this hybrid, ASL interpreted worship service with music from David Cole and band! Stay for social hour on the same Zoom link or come to the Reeb Lobby for coffee hour!

As summer draws to a close and we prepare for another busy fall of school, work, and activism, how might we center our continued spiritual growth even as the swirl of activity intensifies? How can we find even greater spiritual meaning in weekly worship through deeper engagement with shared symbols and rituals, such as the lighting of the chalice and the singing of “Spirit of Life”? How can our “spirit-growing” enhance and inform our “justice-seeking,” two pillars of the All Souls mission?

About today’s speaker: Kirsten Lodal is an All Souls-sponsored candidate for UU ministry. She has been attending All Souls since 2001 and became a member in 2007. She recently graduated from Union Theological Seminary in NYC with a Masters of Divinity, having spent the prior two decades of her career in anti-poverty organizing and advocacy.

One of our hymns suggests that “just to question is an answer.” If there is a question of faith in your heart, or a question about the faith that centers All Souls Church on your mind, Rev. Bill will respond to as many as time allows. A sermon for all of us will surely emerge as the responses take shape. Send your questions in advance to allsouls@allsouls.ws, with QUESTION in the subject line.  Or you can bring your question written on an index card to the service.

Join us for this hybrid, ASL interpreted worship service with music provided by Angela Walker Powell! Stay after service on the same Zoom link for social time or join us in the Reeb Lobby for coffee hour!

Our Unitarian and our Universalist religious ancestors got it right: each and every one of us is a child of God, blessed from birth with the potential to offer blessing to the world. That was Good News back then and it is still Good News today. The question has always been what a faith grounded in love means for the real lives we live.

Join us for this hybrid, ASL interpreted worship service with music provided by Dr. Carl DuPont and our summer pickup choir! Stay after service on the same Zoom link for social time or join us in the Reeb Lobby for coffee hour!

When it comes to finding ourselves–ie, claiming our own authentic identity–it’s easy to approach it as solitary work, sometimes in literal isolation. This approach may work for some, but it’s also true that our society relentlessly enforces individualism. So what if the opposite is true–or at least an equally valid option?  What does it look like to find our independence through interdependence? 

Speaker: ASC Member Erin Uritus, who serves as the CEO of Out & Equal, a worldwide organization that works exclusively on LGBTQ+ workplace equality.

Join us for this hybrid, ASL interpreted worship service with a pickup choir led by Acting Director of Music & Arts, Keith Arnold! If you would like to sing this Sunday, come for a 9:30am rehearsal prior to service. Stay after service for coffee hour in the Reeb Lobby or stay on the same Zoom link for social hour!

Although the idea of being “in the club” tends to be associated with something particular and exclusive, the reality is that we are all constantly moving in and out of various groups throughout our lives. Some groups are intentionally chosen, some are not. What can we do to understand and navigate this process better?

Join us for this hybrid, ASL interpreted worship service! Stay afterward on the same Zoom link for social hour, or join us in Pierce Hall for coffee hour!

This special service is the third and final show of a unique theatrical production happening at All Souls in July. Little Central America, 1984 is a live performance written and performed by Elia Arce and Rubén Martínez that explores the origin story of the “Little Central Americas” established across the United States as a result of the civil wars of the 1980s. It brings together poetry, live music, and testimonials recreating the era when the conflicts in Guatemala and El Salvador displaced over one million people and spawned transnational solidarity through the Sanctuary Movement.

Recognizing the historic and ongoing role of Columbia Heights, Mt. Pleasant, and Adams Morgan as cultural and organizing centers, the cast will include several local performers as well. The show culminates with a ceremony honoring Central American activists and their allies who played a role in the original Sanctuary movement or who have responded to the ongoing contemporary refugee crisis. Gala Hispanic Theater is a partner in the production. In addition to being our worship service on Sunday at 10:30 AM, there are ticketed shows on Friday, July 21 and Saturday July 22 at 7:00 PM.