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
SEPTEMBER 6, 2026: LIVING YOUR VALUES
Judith Green
with Ellen Waggener
Please join us to hear an inspiring and heart-warming account of how Judy Green and her supportive community of friends and family truly lived our UU principles, taking in the vulnerable and helping them to grow and prosper.
When the troubles in the world seem overwhelming, never forget that
we can find joy in helping the ones who are nearby.
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SEPTEMBER 13, 2026: INGATHERING WATER CEREMONY
Reverend Diane Diachishin
This Sunday is our annual Water Communion service, a special day when we all come back together after the summer, bringing water from a place or time that is special to us.
We will share why the water we bring is meaningful, and then pour it into a common bowl where it will mingle and blend—a symbolic act reminding us of our shared faith coming from many different sources.
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SEPTEMBER 20, 2026
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SEPTEMBER 27, 2026: “Holding One Another Up”
Rabbi Sivan Rotholz
The Jewish High Holidays are a time of repentance, renewal, and rejoicing. Rabbi Sivan will offer a brief overview of the High Holiday season before turning to a central question these holidays raise: What does it mean to hold one another up, not just in moments of crisis, but as an ongoing practice of belonging? Drawing on Jewish teaching and tradition, this service will explore what it takes to build a community sturdy enough to matter — and open enough that no one stands outside it.
Rabbi Sivan Rotholz earned her Master’s Degree in Nonprofit Management and Leadership from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and was ordained as a rabbi by the Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in 2024. She is currently the Rabbitzin of Congregation Emanuel in Kingston.
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OCTOBER 4, 2026
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OCTOBER 11, 2026
REVEREND DIANE DIACHISHIN
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OCTOBER 18, 2026
PROPHET KEENAN
Soyal Smalls, Worship Coordinator
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OCTOBER 25, 2026
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NOVEMBER 1, 2026
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NOVEMBER 8, 2026
REVEREND DIANE DIACHISHIN
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NOVEMBER 15, 2026
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NOVEMBER 22, 2026
THE ANNUAL THANKSGIVING BREAKFAST
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NOVEMBER 29, 2026
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DECEMBER 6, 2026
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DECEMBER 13, 2026
REVEREND DIANE DIACHISHIN
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DECEMBER 20, 2026
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DECEMBER 24, 2026: CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE
5PM
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DECEMBER 27, 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.
