Read the unanimous public statement issued by our Board of Trustees on our commitments in these times. You can also view a video version.
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Joys and sorrows
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Were you inspired by Church President Kim Wade’s sermon about radical neighboring on Aug. 17?
Have you been dreaming about barn-raising, tool libraries, childcare collectives, mutual aid, or other community care projects?
Join us after church from noon to 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 31 to talk about it and see what might emerge! Bring a sack lunch and/or a snack to share.
Mark your calendar to join UU leaders to deepen collaboration, troubleshoot together, and nurture our culture of shared ministry at quarterly leadership meetings scheduled from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on the following Saturdays: Sept. 6 and Dec. 5, 2025 and March 7, 2026.
All leaders, as self-identified, are invited to attend, including folks who want to get more involved in leadership or who are working on a new idea. Meetings will include snacks and coffee and will be held in the Greeting Area.
Philosophy Club, led by Michael Davis, is a group for anyone interested in discussing a topic more deeply with others. No philosophical training is needed, all worldviews are welcome, and any member can submit a subject to be discussed from spirituality to sociology, psychology, ecology, science and anything else. The group will meet at church from 11:50 a.m. to 12:50 p.m. on fourth Sundays.
Join us on the first Friday each month from September through May for Guidebook to the Garden, an all-ages workshop to engage the theme of the month with creative prompts. We’ll get started from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 5 in the Sanctuary. Participants will receive a blank book to fill up with inspiration over the course of the year. Come get inspired with us!
Rev. Molly has announced that UU minister and cultural geographer Jordinn Nelson Long will be visiting with us during the 2025-2026 church year to support her research on thriving progressive faith communities.
Jordinn will be with us for most of September and from January to mid-March. She will be embedding herself in the congregation, meeting many of you, and learning what we’re up to. She will also lead us through some reflection about our community connections and the impact of our work.
Rev. Molly has known Jordinn for many years, and she is one of Rev. Molly’s most enlivening thought partners.
As part of her planning, Jordinn is seeking a homestay for the time she is here. She has $500/month funding available from her university to rent a room in a congregant’s home. If you are interested in the possibility of hosting Jordinn, please email Rev. Molly.
See a document from Jordinn with details about her research.
Every year at Christmas time we take up a collection for our Discretionary Fund that allows us to meet immediate, urgent survival needs for our members and neighbors. These are things like utility assistance, emergency short term housing in very hot and very cold weather, grocery gift cards, gas gift cards and other transportation assistance, help with medical and prescription expenses, and more.
Every year our community is beautifully generous. And every year, the needs keep coming. And this year, under cruel federal and state budgets and administrations, the need will keep growing even more. Our safety nets are being slashed. And as a community we are committed to opening up our arms to catch as many of us as we can.
Every year by July our fundraising from December is nearly depleted, and I turn to ask your generosity again. If you have some resources to spare, I would be grateful to help direct them to those in our community suffering under the violence of this system and these federal and state policies.
You can give by check to the church with “Discretionary Fund” in the memo line, or online at uucomo.org/give by selecting “Discretionary Fund” in the drop-down menu. If you have spare gift cards to grocery or big box stores, you can drop them by or mail them the church, and I can also pass those along to those in need.
Thank you for your care,
Rev. Molly
Check us out on the UUCC Facebook Group Page
For Meditation, Forum meetings and Worship,
drop-in childcare is provided. No reservation needed.
Mindfulness Meditation takes place at 9 a.m. every Sunday. Beginners and experienced meditators are welcome. If the outside temperature is 55° F. or higher and weather permits, meditation will take place at the Fire Circle behind the church. Otherwise, meditation will be in the Lower Level-Centering Room. For more information, email Anna Lingo or Susan Pereira.
Labor Day Weekend – “Mutual Aid, Labor and Faith” – Rev. Dr. Molly Housh Gordon
Can the church be a site of alternate economy? On this Labor Day weekend, join us to explore the long history of interaction between mutual aid efforts, labor organizing, and communities of faith.
Submit Joys and Sorrows by 8:30 a.m. Sunday before worship:
Online Donation or Pledge Payment
Visitors participating in our online worship services
are invited to fill out our Visitor Connection Card:
Our summer children’s programming is all about giving children an opportunity to connect with each other and with our adult R.E. volunteers in a relaxed way, giving friendships and fun a chance to flourish. This takes the form of Park R.E., where, weather allowing, we will head to Shepard Boulevard Park after a centering time in the worship service for some fun and games. On rainy days (or extra hot days!), we will stay inside with Legos, board games and craft supplies for some indoor fun.
Free nursery care for infants to 3-year-olds will be available until 11:45 a.m. Read about our Youth Religious Education program.
Enjoy beverages and conversation in the Greeting Area after worship.
Were you inspired by Church President Kim Wade’s sermon about radical neighboring on Aug. 17? Have you been dreaming about barn-raising, tool libraries, childcare collectives, mutual aid, or other community care projects?
Join us after church from noon to 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 31 to talk about it and see what might emerge! Bring a sack lunch and/or a snack to share.
Our minister, the Rev. Dr. Molly Housh Gordon, is the recipient of the 2024 Skinner Sermon Award from the Unitarian Universalist Association for her Oct. 20, 2024 sermon “How to Have an Enemy,” the UUA has announced.
The announcement said the sermon was recognized “…for its powerful clarity, deep power analysis, and unwavering solidarity with vulnerable communities. The award committee praised her bold affirmation that on the path away from empire and toward liberation, naming our enemies can be not only necessary—but empowering.”
The Skinner Sermon Award honors sermons that boldly express Unitarian Universalist social principles. Since 1959, it has uplifted prophetic voices that speak truth with courage and care.
You can watch the sermon on Youtube or read a transcript. You can find more information about the Skinner Award at https://www.uua.org/justice-programs/awards/skinner.
Rev. Molly has announced that we will be serving as a teaching congregation once more for the 2025-2026 program year. In September we will be welcoming Monica Clark-Robinson to UUCC to complete the second year of her two years of ministerial internship. She completed the first year at Church of the River UU in Memphis, Tenn.
This is something of a beautiful full-circle moment, as Monica was a member of our congregation from 1999-2001 while living in Columbia before graduate school. UUCC was, in fact, the first Unitarian Universalist congregation that Monica and her wife Greta joined as members! She remembers the warmth and creativity of our congregation fondly.
Monica currently lives in Little Rock, Arkansas (where she has been a long time UU lay leader), and will be with us for a part-time, hybrid-style internship: She will be in residence here in Columbia for an intensive 8 days each month, spanning two Sundays, and then will offer a limited amount of virtual ministry in the remaining weeks of the month. Monica will be with us on this schedule from September through May.
Monica is a seminarian in her final year at Meadville Lombard Theological Seminary and was also previously the Intern Minister at the Church of the River in Memphis. Before seminary, Monica received an MFA in Acting from Michigan State University and an MFA in Writing from Hamline University.
She’s the author of several children’s books, including “Let the Children March,” illustrated by Frank Morrison, “Standing On Her Shoulders,” illustrated by Laura Freeman, and the forthcoming “Teaching for Change: Septima Clark’s Legacy of Literacy and Liberation,” co-written with Yvonne Clark-Rhines, Septima Clark’s granddaughter. Monica’s books have won an International Literacy Association Debut award and a Coretta Scott King Honor award for illustration.
She has also worked with two different organizations teaching and mentoring incarcerated writers. Monica has spent time as an actor, theatre and English professor, unschooling mom, and vegan cook.
For fun and leisure, she loves to write poetry, read, cook, watch episodes of The Walking Dead, sing, act, work on her stand-up comedy set, and go thrifting. Monica lives in a yurt in the woods of Arkansas with her wife and daughter and is currently pursuing an honorary doctorate in Kitty Snuggles.
Members of our Board of Trustees unanimously adopted a public statement regarding our commitments in these times at their March meeting. The statement was circulated by email to church members and friends on April 29. You can also view a video version of the statement. The statement also was published on April 29 on the editorial page of The Columbia Missourian.
Allie Gassmann, leader of the Honduras Ministry Team, provided this report on the team’s March 22-29 service trip, which includes 15 photographs. This is the sixth trip our church has sponsored to aid the people in a rural area of Honduras by building latrines and working on other projects.
Thirteen UUCC members and friends went on the trip. This year the travelers painted a school and got a good start on building 10 latrines in the upper hills area of El Pital and in Las Mangas, which were finished by the local residents.
Minister’s Office Hours
Regular office hours are:
If you need to meet at some other time, you can schedule an appointment by emailing Rev. Molly.
Gentle Yoga with Karen Dwyer – Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
Gentle Yoga is offered at the church:
Additional information is available from Karen Dwyer, or contact the church office.
Living Earth Meditation – 9 a.m. Saturdays
Living Earth Meditation holds weekly sessions at 9 a.m. Saturdays at 1400 Gary St., facilitated by Peter Holmes, Ph.D., Jared Belden, M.A., and Tricia Straub. Sign up to attend by email. During cold weather months, the Living Earth Study Group meets on first and third Saturdays from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at Show-Me Dharma, 1600 West Broadway. It is facilitated by Peter Holmes, Ph.D. and Jared Belden, M.A. Sign up to attend by email. The meditation and study group programs are a joint project of UUCC, the Columbia Friends Meeting and Show-Me Dharma.
Exploring Radical Neighboring & Mutual Aid – noon Sunday, Aug. 31 – Sanctuary
Were you inspired by Board President Kim Wade’s sermon about radical neighboring on Aug. 17? Have you been dreaming about barn-raising, tool libraries, childcare collectives, mutual aid, or other community care projects? Join us after church on Sunday, Aug. 31 from 12-1:30pm to talk about it and see what might emerge! Bring a sack lunch and/or a snack to share.
Conversations, Etc. – 3 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 3 – online
Conversations, Etc., the UUCC senior women’s group, will meet via Zoom. We gather together to enjoy the company of women friends. If you would like to join us, email Pam Springsteel.
“Guide to the Garden” worship theme workshop – 6:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 5.
Join us in the sanctuary from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on the first Friday each month from September through May for Guidebook to the Garden, an all-ages workshop to engage the theme of the month with creative prompts. We’ll get started on Friday, Sept. 5. Participants will receive a blank book to fill up with inspiration over the course of the year. Come get inspired with us!
You can read the Joys and sorrows shared with the congregation by clicking the button below. The page is also accessible from the Members/Friends drop-down menu. The Joys and Sorrows page is password-protected, so you must be logged in as a registered user of our site to see it. If you have not already registered, you can do so here.
You can submit joys and sorrows online by clicking this button:
