Upcoming Sunday Services

    Sunday Services at begin at 10:30am and end around 11:45am. You can join us in person or on Zoom.


    In person,  at 67 South Randolph Avenue, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601.


    On Zoom, using your computer, tablet or smartphone: https://zoom.us/j/327711271. On your phone, dial in at +1 646 558 8656. If asked, enter Meeting ID: 327 711 271.  The password is 12601.

    Upcoming Sunday Services

    • PROGRAM COMMITTEE

      The Program Committee is responsible for coordinating  Sunday morning worship services. Our pastoral care minister, Reverend Diane Diachishin, conducts at least one service a month. Other services can take many forms: guest ministers or speakers, panel discussions, multigenerational, musical, poetical, theatrical, meditative, experiential.  We hope to enrich, enliven and expand perspectives and spirits.


      We welcome  feedback and suggestions! Please feel free to contact us at  programs@uupok.org

    • SUMMER 2025

      Summer Sundays, a little more laid-back than "regular" Sundays, begin on July 6 and continue through August 31. 

    • AUGUST 17, 2025: 

      JOAN BAEZ: HOW HER QUAKER FAITH SHAPED HER MUSIC AND ACTIVISM

      Reverend Diane Diachishin

      Joe Cosentino, Worship Coordinator


      Joan Baez is known as the voice of a generation. The Queen of Folk. A legend. An icon, the one who sang “We Shall Overcome” alongside Martin Luther King Jr. at the 1963 March on Washington. As much as anyone, Joan Baez embodied the spirit of that decade of soaring dreams and songs and dramas set in motion that echo through this world of ours. The sermon and music (with the help of Kathy Duncan, Pat Lamanna, and Amy Strom) will look beyond Baez’s unmistakably ethereal voice and powerful lyrics and examine how Joan Baez's Quaker faith played a pivotal role in sculpting her music and fueling her tireless activism.


    • AUGUST 24, 2025

      Paula Greenspan, Reed Asher, Bruce Epstein, Rachael Epstein


    • AUGUST 31, 2025: PETE SEEGER AND THE SEVEN VALUES

      PAT LAMANNA AND RICHARD MATTOCKS


    • SEPTEMBER'S SOUL MATTERS THEME: BUILDING BELONGING

      What matters is that should difference enter the world of beloved community, it can find a place of welcome, a place to belong.                                                                                                                                                                                      Bell Hooks

    • SEPTEMBER 7, 2025: BORN OF WATER AND SPIRIT

      OUR INGATHERING WATER CEREMONY

      WITH NEW MEMBER WELCOMING

      Multigenerational Service


    • SEPTEMBER 14, 2025: 

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    • SEPTEMBER 21, 2025: REVEREND DIANE DIACHISHIN

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    • SEPTEMBER 28, 2025: SPACE 2 MEDITATE

      JON AARON

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    • OCTOBER'S SOUL MATTERS THEME: CULTIVATING COMPASSION

      Compassion and empathy are not luxuries: they are necessities for human survival.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Dalai Lama


    • OCTOBER 5, 2025

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    • OCTOBER 12, 2025: REHABILITATION THROUGH THE ARTS


      RTA's mission is to help people in prison develop critical life skills through the arts, modeling approach to the justice system based on human dignity rather than punishment. The program's values are: 

      • Dignity: we recognize the universal humanity of all people and treat everyone and ourselves with respect and compassion.
      • Creativity: We are creative problem solvers and turn imaginative ideas into reality. We believe that the arts are an essential part of our humanity and make life better.
      • Commitment: We take responsibility for our actions and understand the effect our actions have on the whole. We uphold our obligations to each other and to our work.
      • Collaboration: We listen, share and depend upon each other. We believe that change and growth happen when we work in partnership.

      The US prison system is based on punishment. The problem is, it doesn’t work – more than half of people released from prison are back within three years. This revolving door breaks down families and communities and costs taxpayers billions. 


      RTA offers a better approach. Launched at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in 1996, RTA is a world leader in arts-in-prison programming. RTA teaches communication, collaboration, problem-solving, and other critical life skills through a unique mix of art forms. RTA works with professional teaching artists to lead year-round workshops in theater, dance, music, creative writing, and visual arts.


    • OCTOBER 19, 2025: REVEREND DIANE DIACHISHIN

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    • OCTOBER 26, 2025: SAMHAIN

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    • NOVEMBER'S SOUL MATTERS THEME; NURTURING GRATITUDE

      This is a wonderful day. I have never seen this one bfore.

                                                                                                                                Maya Angelou

    • NOVEMBER 2, 2025: HOPE ON A MISSION

      Cara Mia Bacchiochi


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    • NOVEMBER 9, 2025

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    • NOVEMBER 16, 2025: REVEREND DIANE DIACHISHIN


    • NOVEMBER 23, 2025: THANKSGIVING BREAKFAST

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    • NOVEMBER 30, 2025

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    • DECEMBER'S SOUL MATTERS THEME: CHOOSING HOPE

      Once you choose hope, anything is possible.

                                                                               Christopher Reeve

    • DECEMBER 7, 2025

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    • DECEMBER 14, 2025: REVEREND DIANE DIACHISHIN

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    • DECEMBER 21, 2025: SOLSTICE

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    • DECEMBER 24, 2025 (WEDNESDAY): CHRISTMAS EVE

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    • DECEMBER 28, 2025: THE THRESHOLD OF THE YEAR

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    • JANUARY'S SOUL MATTERS THEME: PRACTICING RESISTANCE

      Resistance is the first step to change.

                                                                                 Louise Hay

    • JANUARY 4, 2026

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    • JANUARY 11, 2026

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    • JANUARY 18, 2026: REVEREND DIANE DIACHISHIN

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    • JANUARY 25, 2026

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    • FEBRUARY'S SOUL MATTERS THEME: EMBODYING RESILIENCE

      When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. 

                                                                                                                       Franklin D. Roosevelt

    • FEBRUARY 1, 2026: BRIGID/IMBOLC

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    • FEBRUARY 8, 2026

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    • FEBRUARY 15, 2025: REVEREND DIANE DIACHISHIN

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    • FEBRUARY 22, 2026

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    • MARCH'S SOUL MATTERS THEME: PAYING ATTENTION

      The simple act of paying attention can take you a long way.

                                                                                                                                             Keanu Reeves

    • MARCH 1, 2026

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    • MARCH 8, 2026

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    • MARCH 15, 2025: REVEREND DIANE DIACHISHIN

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    • MARCH 22, 2026

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    • MARCH 29, 2026

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    • APRIL'S SOUL MATTERS THEME: EMBRACING POSSIBILITY

      We should open ourselves to the impossible and embrace a psychology of possibility.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Ellen Langer

    • APRIL 5, 2026

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    • APRIL 12, 2026

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    • APRIL 19, 2026: REVEREND DIANE DIACHISHIN

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    • APRIL 26, 2026

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    • MAY'S SOUL MATTERS THEME: AWAKENING CURIOSITY

      The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Anatole France

    • MAY 3, 2026

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    • MAY 10, 2026

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    • MAY 17, 2025: REVEREND DIANE DIACHISHIN

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    • MAY 24, 2026

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    • MAY 31, 2026

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    • JUNE'S SOUL MATTERS THEME: FLOURISHING TOGETHER

      Time, effort and imagination must be summoned constantly to keep any relationship flourishing and growing.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Jim Rohn

    • JUNE 7, 2026

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    • JUNE 14, 2026

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    • JUNE 21, 2025: REVEREND DIANE DIACHISHIN

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    • JUNE 28, 2026

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    What to Expect on Sunday Mornings

    During the pandemic, we met exclusively on Zoom. Since we resumed meeting in-person, our services have been hybrid, with some of us in person and some on Zoom. Very occasionally, due to weather or other events, we meet just on Zoom, but we try to let people know as soon as possible when that is going to happen.


    Sunday services typically include opening words, welcome & announcements, the chalice lighting, an opening song, "Words For All Ages," the singing of the children to their classes, the sharing of joys & concerns, the passing of the collection plate (accompanied by a hymn), the sermon or activity, an opportunity for congregational reflection, a closing song, and closing words.


    On two Sundays a month, children and youth stay in the sanctuary for the first twenty minutes of the service. "Words for All Ages," usually in the form of a story, often told by the Minister, concludes their time in the sanctuary, and they are then released to go to Sunday School. Once or twice a month, there will be a multi- generational service when the children and youth remain in the room and we all worship together.

     

    From time to time, we actually have an activity and even make things during a service. These services are a real opportunity to engage with the world around us in a tangible way, whether it is making meals for those experiencing food insecurity, connecting with the environment more directly. Such services also serve to forge interpersonal bonds between congregants. Below is a photograph of birds happily feasting on all-natural bird feeders made during our March 17, 2024 service, A Host of Sparrows. 


    Following the worship service is the Fellowship Hour, a social hour during which refreshments, including Fair Trade coffee and tea, are served. On the third Sunday of every month, we also host Third Sunday Lunch. Every other month, this lunch takes place at a local restaurant, while on the other Sundays it's pot-luck or something simple at the Fellowship. 

    Hospitality Hour

    Since 2002, we have been participating in the Interfaith Program of a very special fair trade coffee company called Equal Exchange. It is the only coffee we serve during  hospitality hour following the Sunday service.


    Equal Exchange is a for-profit Fairtrade worker-owned, cooperative headquartered in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Equal Exchange distributes organic, gourmet coffee, tea, sugar, cocoa, and chocolate bars produced by farmer cooperatives in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Founded in 1986, it is the oldest and largest Fair Trade coffee company in the United States. Dedicated to concepts of economic justice, the highest paid employee of Equal Exchange may not make more than four times what the lowest paid employee receives.


    Essentially, Equal Exchange brings together the producer and the consumer in an equitable and meaningful way. The middleman (in the case of coffee, called Coyotes), and establishes a more direct connection between the producer and consumer.