We embrace diversity within the congregation’s membership and in theology. We are committed to being a vital and growing progressive congregation within our larger community. And we promote spiritual growth, religious freedom, and ethical action.
We hope you will visit our church. Our worship services are at 11:00am; children’s and adult religious education classes are at 9:30am.
Sunday Schedule
9:30 a.m. Religious Education Classes
11:00 a.m. Sunday Worship Service
12:00 p.m. Coffee Hour
Past Services: HVUUC YouTube
Upcoming Services (Sundays @ 11 a.m.)
Unitarian theologian James Luther Adams once said "Church is a place where you get to practice what it means to be human." In these days, how do we welcome, encourage and protect the humanity of each other?
With guest preacher Rev. Laura Bogle
The power of religions to make homes, cross boundaries, intensify joy, and confront suffering. These reflections invite us to think more deeply about what religion is and how it helps u navigate the human experience.
With guest speaker Dr. Jennifer Axsom Adler
Our annual interactive and intergenerational Water Communion service where we celebrate our interconnectivity. Many people bring water from their travels throughout the year, or from another water source that holds meaning for them.
How will our church meet the calling of this moment in history? That was the question that drove programming at this year's General Assembly, the annual international meeting of Unitarian Universalists. Our delegates, Noel, Dana and Alesha report on what they saw and learned at General Assembly.
Headlines
Minister’s Note
RE News
Holy Ground Workshop
Backpack Blessing
Church Picnic
Game Nights Return
Click here to read the entire newsletter.
Click here for past newsletters.
You can also find a few printed copies at our visitors table in the sanctuary.
Up to date church info is always available at www.hvuuc.org
The Social Justice Committee is happy to share that we raised over $500 for TriPride during June's 5th Sunday service!
Email sjchair@hvuuc.org to learn how you can get involved with our social justice team.
Pastoral Care Support is Available during Rev. Tiffany's Sabbatical from our DRE, Justin Ridley
As you may know, Rev. Tiffany is currently on sabbatical through the end of August. During this time, I will be coordinating pastoral care for our HVUUC community, working closely with our dedicated Caring Team.
My name is Justin Ridley, and I'm your Director of Religious Education. I'm honored to step into this expanded role and offer support to our congregation. My five years of hospital chaplaincy experience and nearing completion of spiritual director training uniquely equip me to walk with you through life's challenges.
I am available to offer confidential support during times of crisis, grief, and other significant life events.
If you need support beyond the scope of our Caring Team, I have office hours available for appointments.
Please email pastoralcare@hvuuc.org to receive a link to schedule a time.
I look forward to being a supportive presence for you during this interim period.
Upcoming News and Events
Click through for a collection of upcoming news and events at HVUUC. Click the images to be directed to more information.
The Religious Education Collaborative is collecting feedback on a potential topic for an RE class. There has been some interest by Religious Education members for a class on the topic of Jesus. To help facilitate this interest please fill out the survey below.
Survey Link: https://forms.gle/c1iHoCWD7Gd7XRVo9
For questions please contact our DRE, Justin Ridley, dre@hvuuc.org
Join us for church on July 27, 2025!
9:30am RE
11:00am Sunday Service
12:00pm Coffee Hour
“The Library of Alexandria: What, Why, and Who Cares?”
Historians pine about the ancient knowledge lost in the Library of Alexandria, but how much is legend and how much is fact? Guest speaker Bradley discusses the history of the library, why people like it so much, and whether or not its reverence is justified.
Summer temps are still with us, but we still need our coffee and conversation. Please consider volunteering to host coffee hour. August has five Sundays, so there is room for anyone interested. If you need help or instruction on what coffee hour hosts do, just email coffeehour@hvuuc.org. Thank you.
Please email all submissions for the August newsletter by Wednesday July 30th to newsletter@hvuuc.org.
Service Info:
Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Sunday, August 10
Title: Making Homes and Crossing Boundaries: What Teaching World Religions Has Taught Me
Description: The power of religions to make homes, cross boundaries, intensify joy, and confront suffering. These reflections invite us to think more deeply about what religion is and how it helps you navigate the human experience. With guest speaker Dr. Jennifer Axsom Adler
Workshop Info:
Time: 12:30 - 3:00 pm, Sunday, August 10
Title: Holy Ground: Reimagining the Religious Landscapes of Appalachia
Description: How do we understand religion in Appalachia beyond familiar church steeples and denominational labels? Join Dr. Jennifer Axsom Adler, a historian of religion at East Tennessee State University, for a workshop that explores the surprising diversity of religious life across the Appalachian region. Dr. Adler invites participants to explore how sacred landscapes, lived experience, and vernacular religious practices have shaped Appalachian identity, often in unexpected ways. This workshop offers an opportunity to challenge stereotypes, reflect on your own community’s religious history, and gain new insight into what religion has meant—and continues to mean—in Appalachia.
BIO: Dr. Jennifer Axsom Adler is an assistant professor of history at East Tennessee State University, where she teaches courses in world religions, American religious history, and religion in Appalachia. Her research focuses on sacred space, material culture, ritual practice, and lived religion in American life. A first-generation college student and native of Indiana, she earned her A.B. in Government from Harvard College and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Religion from Vanderbilt University.
Additional Information: Childcare is available for both the service and the workshop. The Youth Group will be hosting a Pizza Sale Fundraiser between the service and workshop during coffee hour -- 12:00 - 12:30.
Upcoming News and Events
Click through for a collection of upcoming news and events at HVUUC. Click the images to be directed to more information.
Dear HVUUC family, unbeknownst to the congregation, I have spent the last half a year doing my best to try to care for an ill family member. It has taken a toll on my well-being. With the support and encouragement of the Committee on Ministry, our Board of Trustees, and our excellent Staff Team, I have decided that I must take a mini-sabbatical in the month of August.
The Religious Services Committee, along with a few wonderful minister colleagues of mine, are working to ensure that we have truly excellent programming in August while I am out. I hope you'll enjoy what they're cooking up for you in August!
Justin Ridley, our Director of Religious Education, has agreed to offer Pastoral Care support in our absence. He comes to us with extensive experience as a hospital chaplain, and is currently studying to be a spiritual director, so he is quite qualified to offer support should you decide you need it. He will be available for Pastoral Care by appointment only so please reach out to him at pastoralcare@hvuuc.org if you have a need. And of course, our Caring Team is always available for support as well, and you can reach them at caring@hvuuc.org
I have a week of vacation schedule for right before this sabbatical begins, so my last day before I'm off is this Sunday, July 20th. I'll be back to it on Friday, August 29th, hopefully with renewed energy!
Join us for church on July 20, 2025!
9:30am RE
11:00am Sunday Service
12:00pm Coffee Hour
“Just More Joy”
The spiritual practices of joy and pleasure are not optional, but are essential for building resilient communities who are grounded in Love. Come explore with Rev. Tiffany and your community, how we can engage with Joy!
You are invited to join the community install of artist Aaron McIntosh’s participatory artwork: Invasive Queer Kudzu. This event will be taking place on Thursday, July 31 from 2 to 4 pm at the Reece Museum.
Invasive Queer Kudzu will be the final artwork that is installed as part of the Reece Museum’s upcoming exhibition, The Place Speaks. This exhibit is designed to explore intersections of Appalachian culture, folk art, and folk religion, as well as interpretations of nature and Appalachian placeness as it reveals the divine to artists. The Invasive Queer Kudzu project raises visibility of Southern queer folks and their communities by using the metaphor of kudzu to exponentially grow queer stories across the South.
Participants of this workshop are invited to craft their own stories or messages of support that will contribute to the growing mass of Southern queer kudzu. Participants will be provided with a cloth kudzu-shaped leaf, which they can write/draw/adorn with their stories using fabric markers, embroidery floss, and other embellishments, which could include small personal mementoes, symbolic vestiges, or tokens of memory brought from home. “Engulfing hills, trees and old buildings in a dense stranglehold, the kudzu vine colonizes, and alien landscapes emerge. An ‘invasive’ species, kudzu taps into our fears of otherness, connecting it in many ways to perceptions of queerness.” – Aaron McIntosh.
Aaron McIntosh (b. 1984, Kingsport, Tennessee) is a cross-disciplinary artist whose work mines the intersections of material culture, family tradition, sexual desire, and identity politics in a range of works including quilts, sculpture, collage, drawing, and writing. As a fourth-generation quilt maker whose grandparents were noted quilters in their Appalachian communities, this tradition of working with scraps is a primary platform from which he explores the patchworked nature of identity. Since 2015, McIntosh has managed Invasive Queer Kudzu, a community storytelling and archive project across the LGBTQ South.
This event is free & open to the public. Invasive Queer Kudzu will be part of the exhibition The Place Speaks: Sacred and Artistic Genealogies of Appalachia, which opens on Monday, August 4, 2025.
The Reece Museum is a unit of the Center of Excellence for Appalachian Studies and Services, which is housed in the ETSU Department of Appalachian Studies. The Reece Museum is located on the campus of East Tennessee State University and is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Follow the Reece Museum on social media for more content and digital programming. For more information, please visit http://www.etsu.edu/reece or phone (423) 439-4392. ETSU is an AA/EEO employer. For disability accommodations, call the ETSU Office of Disability Services at 423-439-8346.
Upcoming News and Events
Click through for a collection of upcoming news and events at HVUUC. Click the images to be directed to more information.
Join us for church on July 13, 2025!
9:30am RE
11:00am Sunday Service
12:00pm Potluck
“Creepies and Crawlies”
A service about bugs, spiders, and snakes. What can we learn from these little creepy crawlies that inspire fear in so many people?