News: October 31, 2025
Greetings, Members and Friends!
The last time I contributed to the newsletter, I’d been your ministerial Intern for just three days! The past two months have offered more learning, growth, and joy than I could have ever anticipated. In this season of gratitude, I count each of you as a blessing in my life.
Many nourishing Sundays are planned for November. Illuminating the month’s theme of “Paradise Lost: Religious Dissent in Times of Defeat,” Reverend Colin will return to the pulpit on November 19th and call upon Rebecca Solnit’s wisdom to discuss how to live as dissenters in society. Solnit’s associated book, No Straight Road Takes You There, will be the focus of the Senior Minister’s Book Group, meeting on November 4th and 18th.
This Sunday, November 2nd, we have two very special services planned to highlight the rituals we use to tend to our dead. The 9:30am Día de los Muertos service will be fully in Spanish, while the 11:30am All Souls Day service will be in English. We’ll have special music, both services will highlight personal stories from our community, and all will be invited to participate in rituals honoring the dead.
On November 9th, Reverend Scott will invite us into greater thoughtfulness about the impact of our lives at his service called “The Butterfly Effect.” In today’s world, it’s easy to think our decisions and actions may not have much effect. But like the flapping of a butterfly’s wings, we may have more impact than we realize!
Bread Communion is the 23rd, led by Reverend Scott and Director of Religious Exploration Kinsey. This is an annual celebration of diverse community that links us to our cultures and ancestors. We hope you’ll amplify our shared UU value of generosity by bringing some bread to share.
And, finally on November 30th, I’ll be preaching “Lessons from the Long Night,” focusing on the theological lessons of the season of cold and darkness.
In additional to Sunday worship, I hope you’ll join us for the various arts, religious exploration, and justice programming offered this month. I’d like to extend a special invitation to anyone who hasn’t already signed up for our Surviving Religious Trauma class, running for six Tuesdays starting on November 4th (with November 25th skipped for Thanksgiving/Thanksgrieving week). If you’d like to unpack high-control religious experience with the support and love of a community, this is the right group for you. We’ll use The Religious Trauma Survival Guide by Anna Clark Miller, and I’ll be supporting Reverend Scott in facilitating this important group.
We are a busy community!
Whether this time of year means dressing up for parties and trick or treating, or dressing down for scary movies and football games, I send you all my best and look forward to another wonderful month of loving the world together.
Love,
Nina
Where are the Ministers?
Rev. Colin will be visiting his son in Michigan at the beginning of the month and returning to the office for one day on November 4th. From November 5th to 8th, he will be at the Unitarian Universalist Studies Network convocation at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, where he will be presenting a paper on “Unitarian Universalist Humanism, Human Rights, and Political Theology.” On November 9th, he will return to Houston to accept a peacemaker award from the Houston Peace and Justice Center on behalf of Houston Interfaith for Middle East Peace. He will be in Houston until the 19th, helping with his parents and the Koch/Cookston family’s pesto party on the 14th and preaching on the 16th. From November 20th to 24th, he will be in Boston for the American Academy of Religion. When he returns on the 25th, he will lead the Senior Minister’s Book Group.
Rev. Scott returns to Houston on November 2nd, just in time to vote the next day. He begins the Surviving Religious Trauma workshop with Nina on November 4th and will preach that Sunday. On November 23rd, he will participate in our annual Bread Communion right before Thanksgiving.
Nina is excited for another month of worship, justice, and joy with this community. On November 23rd, she’ll be leading worship at Emerson UU. Otherwise, she’ll be around, including leading worship at First UU on November 30th.
