UPCOMING & PAST SERVICES/EVENTS
A Time of Celebration…A Time of Reflection. Please join us! WHAT ARE SUUF SERVICES LIKE?Skylands UU is a lay-led congregation, meaning that members from the Fellowship manage all aspects of our organization, through volunteer committees and elected congregational boards. Lay members also design and lead the majority of Sunday Services, which follow a monthly theme. We also invite outside members of the community to occasionally lead services. During the fall and spring we generally have one Sunday each month that is a "Service Sunday", where we all work on buildings and grounds projects together rather than having a presentation. Each service follows a similar format including chalice lighting, readings, music, a time for expression of Joys & Concerns, Offeratory, a children's story, closing words, and extinguishing the chalice. The content of the main presentation can be very different week to week so we encourage folks to come back a few times to get a feel for the full range of all we have to offer. There are also classes for the children during many services, although there are also services designed to be multigenerational and include children. Despacho Ceremony |
11/26/2023 - Thanksgiving weekend
No service 11/19/2023 - Annual Meeting The SUUF annual business meeting will be this coming Sunday, We will be meeting in person. We urge you to arrive early to visit so we can start right at 10am to cover everything. Childcare will be provided beginning at 9:45am. All interested people may attend and participate in the meeting, but only members may actually vote. If you have been attending for awhile and feel that you’ve found a home at Skylands, please consider becoming a member. Let us know! This is the time of year when we review the activities of the past year, celebrate our accomplishments and plan for the year ahead. We hear the annual financial report and we vote on the budget for the coming year. We will also be voting for Board positions. Please join us! 11/12/2023 - Joy This Sunday will be a JOYFUL day!. Through verse, music, meditation and discussion we'll look at the experience of joy and share our differing perspectives and experiences and how that relates to Unitarian Universalism. Since we have many diverse understandings of "Spirit" in our SUUF congregation, hopefully we can have a robust conversation around this sometimes elusive emotion. Please join us! 11/5/2023 - Dia de los Muertos This Sunday while we observe Daylight Savings (remember to turn the clocks back! ), Skylands will be celebrating 'Dia de los Muertos' with a fun intergenerational service that will discuss the origin and how and why it came to be. There will be a fun and messy craft project for the kids as well!! 10/29/2023 - What Should I Do With My Body? Natural/Green Burials What to do with your body after death? Traditional burial? Cremation? But what if you wanted to leave a smaller footprint on this planet in death as in life. Well, a better exit plan might be a natural or green burial. No formaldehyde, no vaults, no 1600° F needed for several hours of fire. Bob Prout, Director of Prout Funeral Home in Verona, a leader in natural burials in New Jersey will be our guest speaker at our Sunday Service at 10:00 a.m. on 10/29. Prout Funeral Home was the first firm in New Jersey and one of the first in the nation to be certified by the Green Burial Council. Learn about the history of natural burials and local cemeteries, such as Vale in Parsippany, who are setting aside and maintaining land for natural burial with woodlands and walking trails. And who ever thought of having the repast at the cemetery. A beautiful tribute and experience. 10/22/2023 - Belonging We will gather at the Fellowship to explore what it means to be a people of belonging, and how our UU faith can help us connect with others. There will be Religious Education classes for the children. 10/15/2023 - Green Sanctuary We will explore UUA Green Sanctuary 2030 and in what ways SUUF can reasonably and meaningfully participate in this initiative. Green Sanctuary is much more than reduce, reuse and recycle. Green Sanctuary also addresses in depth the ramifications and need for mitigation of the effects of climate change on historically marginalized communities. We're familiar with our 7th principle that asks us to affirm our commitment to the interdependent web of life. We are probably less familiar with the proposed eighth principle which states: ."...journeying toward spiritual wholeness and working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that....dismantle racism....in ourselves and our institutions". The UU Green Sanctuary movement asks us to look at the intersectionality of the effects of climate and institutional racism. Our mighty little Fellowship has already done some big projects that put us on the right path! We'll have a brief overview, a slide show and hopefully a thoughtful and robust discussion about how and if to move forward with this initiative. 10/8/2023 - Acknowledging National Indigenous People's Day Join us 'Acknowledging National Indigenous People's Day'. It will be an Intergenerational Service for all ages discussing National Indigenous People's Day, and how we can think about this in terms of recognizing those who have lived on the land before us. 9/24/2023 - Autumn Equinox We will celebrate the Autumn Equinox together. We’ll reflect on the turning of the year, the end of summer and the harvest time of Autumn. There will be Religious Education for the children. After the service please plan to spend a few extra minutes as we will work together to set up tables for our yard sale. 9/17/2023 - How Does Our Garden Grow? And Garden Dedication Reflecting on and celebrating a communal effort of transformation. Slide show of the creation of our pollinator garden and dedication of the garden. Special thanks to the The Xerces Society and their Habitat Kit Program for all of the wonderful plants! 9/10/2023 - Water Service We will be returning for our first official service of the new year on September 10th, 10AM. This will be our annual Water Service. Bring water from a sacred place to share, or we will provide water for you to use to celebrate coming back together as a Fellowship after the summer break. There will also be an ice cream social for the children. 9/3/2023 - No Service There will be no service held on this Labor Day weekend. Services will resume on September 10th. 8/27/2023 - Annual Clean Up We gather today to remove the cobwebs and clean up our space for the new year, inside and out. We will dust and vacuum, organize the kitchen and RE spaces, mow our grass, and weed our gardens. We need helpers of all ages. Then we will enjoy a potluck picnic lunch. So bring something to share and we'll eat outside or in the cool basement if it's a hot day.. 5/21/2023 - Service Sunday We will continue the work started on Saturday, breaking ground on our new Memorial Gardens! There is still dirt to move, and some raking to do as we prepare beds for native plants arriving in June from the Xerces Society and their habitat kit program! We will also prep our stairs and ramp as they get a new coat of paint for 2023! 5/14/2023 - Flower Communion We will gather at Fellowship to celebrate Flower Communion, our annual Unitarian Universalist ritual that celebrates beauty, human uniqueness, diversity, and community. Please bring a flower(s) to contribute to a communal vase that will be a central part of the program. The flowers can come from anywhere: your yard, a garden, etc. This will be a short intergenerational service, with a planting project for the kids. 5/7/2023 - Vesak Mother nature is giving us mixed messages this spring. Her perspective has been a little erratic. There are many perspectives of spring. Sunday we will enjoy A Buddhist Perspective of Spring and learn about a most sacred day for Buddhists, Vesak. 4/30/2023 - The state of censorship: defending the right to read In schools and libraries around the country, protestors are attempting to ban books and trample students’ First Amendment right to read. In a discussion designed to educate, aggravate, and activate, award-winning school librarian Martha Hickson will deliver the latest news on school censorship and share strategies to keep free people reading freely. Martha Hickson holds a Masters degree in Library and Information science from Rutgers University and has been a librarian at North Hunterdon High School in Annandale, NJ, since 2005. She has written for a variety of publications, including School Library Journal, Booklist, Knowledge Quest, the American Library Association Intellectual Freedom Blog, and CNN.com. She has been a presenter at conferences and webinars, including the American Association of School Librarians, Future Ready Librarians, and the New Jersey Library Association. Her defense of intellectual freedom has been recognized with awards from the New Jersey Association of School Librarians, the New Jersey Library Association, the American Association of School Librarians, and the National Council of Teachers of English. In 2022, the National Coalition Against Censorship presented Martha with the Judith Krug Outstanding Librarian Award and the American Library Association presented her with the Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced with Adversity in recognition of her “energy and bravery in the face of persistent and ongoing hostility,” while advocating for students’ First Amendment right to read. You can read more about Martha here or in an article feature with CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/31/opinions/school-libraries-banned-books-lgbtq-hickson/index.html 4/23/2023 - UU Principles This year at the Unitarian Universalist GA Convention, there will be a vote on a long considered change to the Seven Principles. On Sunday, we will review and reflect on our Seven Principles, what they mean to us individually and as a congregation, view a video on the proposed changes and have a hopefully robust discussion that will guide our representative to GA in how to cast a vote, either to pass this along to next year's Assembly or to vote down any changes. The Story for All ages will address ideas....what do you do with them...and what changes they engender. It's for the kids.....and for all of us too! 3/26/2023 - Service Sunday Sunday will be a Service Sunday where we will clean up the sanctuary from the rummage sale and then set up for the Seder. We ask kindly that concentration be on these two initiatives first as they are large undertakings. Leaders will be on hand to direct everyone as to what to do as efficiently as possible so no one is waiting around. We also ask for patience, some of the process can not be fully planned beforehand, people arrive at different times and we can only direct one area at a time. We may need helpers to disburse unsold items to various organizations. 3/19/2023 - Rites of Spring We will celebrate the Rites of Spring, marking the Vernal Equinox. With poetry and stories and participation, let’s welcome the new growth of this time of year. We will set a table with symbols of Spring, so please bring something to place there—maybe something from your yard or a decoration or something from a Spring activity you are looking forward to. There will be Religious Education classes for the children, and coffee afterwards. 3/12/2023 - Ancestry and Legacy Inventor of the locomotive. Founder of the American Red Cross. Creator of Dungeons and Dragons. Inventor of the World Wide Web. Discoverer of oxygen. Author of Peter Rabbit. What do these people have in common? If you are curious, you can find out their commonality and hear about many other notable Unitarians and Universalists who have made significant contributions to our society this Sunday at 10AM. Some will definitely surprise you. 3/5/2023 - Exploration of Shinto This Sunday please join us for an exploration of Shinto, the ancient faith practice of Japan. As familiar as the Torii gates are that symbolize Japan, for most of us this faith is as unknown and confounding as the multitude of Kami. We will learn what it means to practice Shinto and how it survives in a land where few claim to be Shinto yet the majority keep it in their lives. We will see how the animism of ancient Japan met and coexisted with Tao inspired Chinese Buddhism. We will witness how the veneration of the Kami and the folk lore of the darker Yokai merged to inform and inspire modern anime & manga to teach new generations the importance of respect, recognition and preservation of Nature, Harmony and Purity. 2/26/2023 - Service Sunday This Sunday we will come together to help out on some projects around the Fellowship. 2/19/2023 - Hike at Rockport Game Farm This Sunday we are going to take advantage of the warmer weather and meet for a short hike at the Rockport Game Farm at 700 Rockport Rd. in Hackettstown. Map 2/12/2023 - Healing and Decriminalization - Standing on the Side of Love Standing on the Side Love is a Unitarian Universalist tradition, highlighted in February, a month that encompasses Valentine's Day and chocolate and flowers and cards and pink and red and white and lace.and little candy hearts with cute sayings....And sometimes presents and engagements and...what's not to like?? (or love?) But sometimes love is hard and asks for more than a sonnet. On Sunday, February 12, we'll look at decriminalization and healing and what that means for us as individuals and as a part of a liberal faith tradition. This is a hard discussion and I believe a complicated one, Hopefully, our discussion will encourage all of us to look at our preconceived notions and implicit biases with a goal of healing and reconciliation. 2/5/2023 - Walking a Sacred Path: Finding Meaning not Minotaurs Mid winter, a time to look inward and tend the fertile ground within just as the earth tends the seeds beginning to stir within her. A journey through a labyrinth with its single continuous, circular path brings us to our own center and encourages us remove the weeds and till the soil of our internal gardens and prepare our fertile ground. 1/29/2023 - Luminescence This Sunday we will celebrate he Unitarian Universalist holiday of Luminescence. The term “luminescence” refers to the generation of light in a way other than from burning. As happens with a match, a piece of paper, or a wood-burning fireplace, burning creates light but eventually uses up the source, extinguishing the light. In the Unitarian Universalist holiday of Luminescence, through the lighting of five candles, we celebrate the nurturing of our own personal sparks along with the light that resides in all that is around us. We rejoice with delight the fact that these lights do not extinguish as they’re used. We reaffirm that the light that resides within us GROWS each time we share it! Through nurturing, we cultivate the expansion of even more illumination throughout the world. We celebrate the principles that guide us to transformation. And we rejoice in the openness our faith provides toward seeking truth through both the blaze of spirit and the light of reason. 1/22/2023 - Calling the Four Directions This Sunday we will be honoring an age old practice, used by various cultures around the world. We can learn to pay attention to the cycles of the universe within ourselves. Each of the four directions offers us “gifts” to help us do this. Learn their powers, symbolisms, and how they can affect our lives if we embrace and draw them into ourselves. The service will be led by Maureen Bonner. 1/15/2023 - Film and discussion on 'Selma- The Bridge to Ballot' Film provided by SPLC. Talk and refreshments to follow. Adult themes best for older students ( 13+ ) and adults. There will be regular religious education classes as well as nursery for those attending with small children. On Monday, January 16th, we invite you to join us in helping at the ‘Northern Hunterdon County MLK Day of Service’, 12-2PM at the Lower Valley Presbyterian Church in Califon. 1/8/2023- Climate Change We will gather at the Fellowship (1811 Rt. 57, Hackettstown) at 10 AM where Josh will lead a service on climate change. We will hear from Katherine Hayhoe, a climate scientist and evangelical Christian, who will share with us the most important thing we can do about climate change. There will be Religious Education classes for the children. 12/24/2022 - Christmas Eve Celebration We will be having a Christmas Eve service at 5pm on the night of December 24th at Skylands UU Fellowship. It will be a traditional Christian service of lessons and carols, telling the story of Jesus’s birth, with UU bookends. We will be inside the sanctuary so we can use our piano for singing. 12/18/2022 - Solstice Celebration This Sunday at Skylands Fellowship we are going to have a Solstice service outside around a firepit. This will be followed by a potluck inside. Please bring something to share if you are able. Prior to this, starting at 2PM we will be making gingerbread houses. 12/11/2022 - Meaning of Hanukkah This Sunday at Skylands Fellowship we'll have a service starting at 10 AM on the meaning of Hanukkah, including a short video. And we get to enjoy the lovely decorations from last week! 12/4/2022 - Decorating! 11/20/22 - Annual Meeting The SUUF annual meeting will be in person and on Zoom to accommodate as many people as possible. Childcare will be provided. All interested people may attend and participate in the meeting, but only members may actually vote. If you have been attending for a while and feel that you’ve found a home at Skylands, please consider becoming a member and be in touch with us. This is the time of year when we review the activities of the past year and plan for the year ahead. We hear the annual financial report and we vote on the budget for the coming year. 11/13/22 - Service Sunday We are happy to report that our last rummage sale of the year this past Friday and Saturday was very successful! On Sunday, 11/13, we will have a 'Service Sunday' at the Fellowship where we help clean and pack up what was not sold for the Lupus Foundation as well as take care of any concerns like leaf clean up before winter is upon us. 11/6/22 - Gender and Sexual Fluidity Traditional ways of doing and thinking about things have become challenging in today’s society. Even something that we thought was quite basic, the use of personal pronouns, has now become confusing for some of us. People refer to themselves as she/her/her, he/him/his, they/them/their, per/per/pers, ve/ver/vis? What are all those labels? What is the + at the end of LGBTQ? Why do some people like to label their identity and some do not care? How can someone be off the spectrum? The names of gender and sexual identity labels keep growing, why? As a Welcoming Congregation it is important that we understand the “why” and that is what Lori Sweetman intends to help us do at this Sunday’s service entitled, Gender and Sexual Fluidity. Lori Sweetman is an LGBTQ life coach, advocate and educator. Lori’s mission is to uplift, empower, and support LGBTQ+ individuals and families so they may craft empowered identities and embrace the transformational change they desire. 10/30/22 - Role of Human Existence There are many faces through which God is known and understood. Do you have a god story? I lost my God for awhile but I have found my God and my name. Our service will be led by Maureen Bonner. There will be an activity for the children. Service will be held at 10:00am in the John Fisher Pavillion. This is about 25 minutes west of the fellowship. Use 150 Lakeside Dr. W, Belvidere, NJ in your GPS. This will get you right across from parking and the Pavillion. There are backless picnic benches or you may want to bring a chair. There are a couple of wonderful hikes around the lake and a deli with awesome food if you are looking to spend more time outside before or after our service. 10/23/22 - Bring Many Names There are many faces through which God is known and understood. Do you have a god story? I lost my God for awhile but I have found my God and my name. Our service will be led by Maureen Bonner. There will be an activity for the children. Service will be held at 10:00am in the John Fisher Pavillion. This is about 25 minutes west of the fellowship. Use 150 Lakeside Dr. W, Belvidere, NJ in your GPS. This will get you right across from parking and the Pavillion. There are backless picnic benches or you may want to bring a chair. There are a couple of wonderful hikes around the lake and a deli with awesome food if you are looking to spend more time outside before or after our service. 10/16/22 - Service Sunday Our originally scheduled service on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot and picnic has had to be cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. Instead we will be doing a Service Sunday and picnic outside. This is the time we come together to do any cleaning and repairs that are needed on our beautiful church building.. There is always something to repair, paint or clean but it is a second home for most of us and we pride ourselves on making it a special and welcoming place for the community. Bring a dish and a canned item for the food pantry! 10/9/22 - Visit to Melick's Farm This Sunday, we will be visiting Melick's Town Farm in Califon for some apple or pumpkin picking. The price is $5.99 a person and includes the hayride and corn maze. This is in line with our 7th Principle about the interdependent web in which we live ( and to enjoy nature as much and as often as we can!). 10/2/22 - Forgiveness The service this Sunday will be on the topic of forgiveness. It will be led by Martine Kieffer, a licensed clinical social worker, and will discuss and explore the concept of forgiveness. During this service we will explore different spiritual and psychological perspectives on forgiveness. We will look at when it’s appropriate to forgive, and finally how to forgive when we choose to do so. We will use mediation and prayer to support our journey through this rather complicated topic. 9/25/22 - Bending the Arc of the Universe Toward Justice The journey of our faith is ever changing, ever growing. Our is one of the most transformative faiths because we are defined not by creed but by how we choose to be in covenant with each other. 9/18/22 - Autumn Equinox This week we will observe the Autumn Equinox upcoming on Thursday with readings and meditation. There will be Religious Education for the children. Please join us! 9/11/22 - Water Service We will gather for our first service of the fellowship year! We will have our traditional Water Service, where we use water to symbolize reuniting as a community after being away. You can bring a small container of water from home or a trip you went recently, and we will also provide water for everyone to use. We will be gathering in-person at SUUF. |
