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

    • DECEMBER'S SOUL MATTERS THEME: CHOOSING HOPE

      Once you choose hope, anything is possible.

                                                                               Christopher Reeve

    • DECEMBER 14, 2025: INSPIRING HOPE THROUGH ACTION: 

      REMEMBERING JANE GOODALL

      Reverend Diane Diachishin

      With Joe Cosentino


      Sometimes referred to as "The Mother Theresa of the Environment," this sermon will look at the moral and spiritual wisdom that emerged in Goodall's extraordinary life - and hope that, to the end, sustained her. 

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    • DECEMBER 21, 2025: TIS THE SEASON


      This is the time of  year when we are surrounded by seasonal celebrations involving light, from the Winter Solstice, which heralds the return of the sun, to Christmas, to Hanukkah, to Kwanzaa, and more. 


      Please join us as we gather around our own glowing hearth to connect with each other and rejoice together in the light.

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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: IN THE TRENCHES

      MANNA JO GREENE


      Please join our guest speaker, Manna Jo Greene, who will provide examples of struggles that worked, those that still present challenges, and of course new ones that aim to set back the hard won progress we have made.


      Manna Jo Greene has served on the Ulster County Legislature for 12 years and served on the Rosendale Town Board for 8 years prior.  She was the Environmental Action Director for Hudson River Sloop Clearwater for 23 years, retiring in June of 2023 to work full-time on developing and implementing Climate Solutions. While at Clearwater, she helped coordinate Congressional briefings and regional forums to educate community members and elected officials about the environmental dangers of PCBs and other pollutants, and the need to protect the Hudson River and everyone living in its watershed.  She was instrumental in getting the Environmental Protection Agency to require General Electric to clean up Hudson River PCBs and helped to create the Indian Point Decommissioning Oversight Board to ensure its safe remediation.  Most recently she helped develop a successful campaign to prohibit the discharge of radioactive waste water into the Hudson River.


      Before coming to Clearwater, Manna served as a Registered Critical Care Nurse for 22 years, during which she organized two union campaigns, and then, as Ulster County's Recycling Coordinator/Educator for 10 years, she helped take the County's recycling rate from 4% to 40% in less than a decade.  


      Manna currently serves on the Ulster County Energy, Environment and Sustainability, Chairs the Climate Smart Committee, and coordinates a Working Group to develop an implementation plan to achieve 70% renewable energy generation by 2030, municipality by municipality, in Ulster County.  She lives in Rosendale with her son, daughter-in-law, and 7-year old grandson, Emmett.


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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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    • List Item

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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.