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
MARCH'S SOUL MATTERS THEME: PAYING ATTENTION
The simple act of paying attention can take you a long way.
Keanu Reeves
MARCH 5TH SUNDAY COLLECTION
The recipient of March's Sunday morning collections will be Reunite Migrant Familes. Reunite’s Mission is to support immigrants and asylum-seekers and to influence immigration policy and the immigration process to make it more humane. While special attention has been given in the past to immigrants and asylum-seekers at our southern border, the focus is now on supporting our new neighbors here in our local community in the face of escalating threats to their liberty and life. Our It Takes a Village Babies Shower was in support of RMF, but this community, literally under siege, needs so much more.
Type the content for this list item here. This is just example text to show you what it will look like when you enter text content into this list item. Your unique, authentic, and appropriate text will be filled into this section. Once you click into this text area, you will see the filler text disappear.
MARCH 15, 2025: CREATING AN ISLAND OF SANITY IN THIS CRAZY WORLD
REVEREND DIANE DIACHISHIN
“The great theologian Howard Thurman says, “Resilience is to watch a gathering darkness, until all light is swallowed up completely without the power to interfere or bring a halt. Then in that darkness, to continue one’s journey with one’s footsteps guided by the illumination of remembered radiance. Resilience has to do with staying the course in the midst of pain guided by a “remembered radiance.” It has to do with remembering what was good and beautiful, and holding that memory in the heart while moving forward into the future…”
MARCH 22, 2026: IT'S LUNACY
Spiral Web
Multigenerational
This is the time of year when things start (hopefully) really warming up, the days are getting noticably longer, and green is pushing through. Some things, like St. Patrick's Day, are fixed dates, while others, like Passover, Ramadan, Eid and Easter, move around. What's up with that? And what do these holidays have in common?
Type the content for this list item here. This is just example text to show you what it will look like when you enter text content into this list item. Your unique, authentic, and appropriate text will be filled into this section. Once you click into this text area, you will see the filler text disappear.
MARCH 29, 2026:
“Can I Get a Witness? The Importance of Showing Up (Even When You Don't Want To)”
Rabbi Jack Sherratt
Stephen Hawking once said, “showing up is half the battle.” Showing unconditional attention and support for others is a basic underpinning of strong and vital relationships and communities, leading to stronger bonds and greater joy. Rabbi Jack Sherratt will share the individual and community benefits of showing up.
Rabbi Jack Sherratt attended the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He is also a master carpenter, seasoned beekeeper, and aspiring scribe. Rabbi Jack is the rabbi of Congregation Emanuel of the Hudson Valley.
Type the content for this list item here. This is just example text to show you what it will look like when you enter text content into this list item. Your unique, authentic, and appropriate text will be filled into this section. Once you click into this text area, you will see the filler text disappear.
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
Type the content for this list item here. This is just example text to show you what it will look like when you enter text content into this list item. Your unique, authentic, and appropriate text will be filled into this section. Once you click into this text area, you will see the filler text disappear.
APRIL 12, 2026
Type the content for this list item here. This is just example text to show you what it will look like when you enter text content into this list item. Your unique, authentic, and appropriate text will be filled into this section. Once you click into this text area, you will see the filler text disappear.
APRIL 19, 2026: REVEREND DIANE DIACHISHIN
Type the content for this list item here. This is just example text to show you what it will look like when you enter text content into this list item. Your unique, authentic, and appropriate text will be filled into this section. Once you click into this text area, you will see the filler text disappear.
APRIL 26, 2026
Type the content for this list item here. This is just example text to show you what it will look like when you enter text content into this list item. Your unique, authentic, and appropriate text will be filled into this section. Once you click into this text area, you will see the filler text disappear.
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
Type the content for this list item here. This is just example text to show you what it will look like when you enter text content into this list item. Your unique, authentic, and appropriate text will be filled into this section. Once you click into this text area, you will see the filler text disappear.
MAY 10, 2026
Type the content for this list item here. This is just example text to show you what it will look like when you enter text content into this list item. Your unique, authentic, and appropriate text will be filled into this section. Once you click into this text area, you will see the filler text disappear.
MAY 17, 2025: REVEREND DIANE DIACHISHIN
Type the content for this list item here. This is just example text to show you what it will look like when you enter text content into this list item. Your unique, authentic, and appropriate text will be filled into this section. Once you click into this text area, you will see the filler text disappear.
MAY 24, 2026
Type the content for this list item here. This is just example text to show you what it will look like when you enter text content into this list item. Your unique, authentic, and appropriate text will be filled into this section. Once you click into this text area, you will see the filler text disappear.
MAY 26-MAY 31, 2026: COMING TO THE TABLE 20TH ANNIVERSARY
Details are being worked out, but Reverend Alexa will be returning for a week with her friend Anthony Cohen of Coming to the Table.
Stay tuned for more information!
https://comingtothetable.org/#
Type the content for this list item here. This is just example text to show you what it will look like when you enter text content into this list item. Your unique, authentic, and appropriate text will be filled into this section. Once you click into this text area, you will see the filler text disappear.
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
Type the content for this list item here. This is just example text to show you what it will look like when you enter text content into this list item. Your unique, authentic, and appropriate text will be filled into this section. Once you click into this text area, you will see the filler text disappear.
JUNE 14, 2026
Type the content for this list item here. This is just example text to show you what it will look like when you enter text content into this list item. Your unique, authentic, and appropriate text will be filled into this section. Once you click into this text area, you will see the filler text disappear.
JUNE 21, 2025: REVEREND DIANE DIACHISHIN
Type the content for this list item here. This is just example text to show you what it will look like when you enter text content into this list item. Your unique, authentic, and appropriate text will be filled into this section. Once you click into this text area, you will see the filler text disappear.
JUNE 28, 2026: Rabbi Adam Cerino-Jones, Jewish Congregation of New Paltz
Type the content for this list item here. This is just example text to show you what it will look like when you enter text content into this list item. Your unique, authentic, and appropriate text will be filled into this section. Once you click into this text area, you will see the filler text disappear.
List Item
Type the content for this list item here. This is just example text to show you what it will look like when you enter text content into this list item. Your unique, authentic, and appropriate text will be filled into this section. Once you click into this text area, you will see the filler text disappear.
List Item
Type the content for this list item here. This is just example text to show you what it will look like when you enter text content into this list item. Your unique, authentic, and appropriate text will be filled into this section. Once you click into this text area, you will see the filler text disappear.
List Item
Type the content for this list item here. This is just example text to show you what it will look like when you enter text content into this list item. Your unique, authentic, and appropriate text will be filled into this section. Once you click into this text area, you will see the filler text disappear.
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.
