Unity Church-Unitarian
  • Home
  • Newcomers
    • Welcome!
    • Map and Directions
    • Sunday Services
    • Pathway to Membership
    • Unitarian Universalism
    • Visiting with Kids
  • Worship
    • December Services
    • Ministers
    • Monthly Theological Themes
    • Music >
      • Arthur Foote Music Sunday 2019
      • Arthur Foote Music Sunday 2018
      • Arthur Foote Music Sunday 2017
      • Arthur Foote Music Sunday 2016
      • Arthur Foote Music Sunday 2015
      • Music Collection
    • Sermon Archive & Podcasts
    • Sundays >
      • Parish Hall Table Request
      • Welcome Teams
      • Worship Associates
  • Service & Learning
    • Adult Learning & Spiritual Practice >
      • Artist in Residence
      • Chalice Circles
      • Spiritual Direction
    • Cairns Arts Journal
    • Children and Youth >
      • Religious Education >
        • Registration
        • Calendar
        • Teacher Resources
        • Nursery Care
        • Spirit Play - Ages 3-6
        • Workshop Rotation: Grades 1-6
        • Grades 6-8
        • Our Whole Lives
        • Grade 9 Coming of Age
        • High School Tower Club
        • Summer Sundays in the Garden
      • Family and Story Sundays
      • Celebration of New Lives
      • Chalice Camp
      • Childcare Request Form
      • Children's Musical >
        • Children's Musical Cast Page
      • Christmas Pageant >
        • Pageant Centennial
      • Fellowship Opportunities
      • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Community Outreach Ministry Social Justice >
      • Affordable Housing
      • Evergreen Projects
      • Generosity Ministry
      • Gun Sense
      • Mano a Mano
      • Obama School
      • Partner Church
      • Racial and Restorative Justice
      • Rainbow Chalice Alliance
      • Sustainable Living
    • Library and Bookstall
    • Literary Ministry
    • Music Ministry
    • Parish Hall Artists >
      • Art Share
    • Pastoral Care >
      • Affiliated Ministry
    • Volunteer Corner
    • Wellspring Wednesday
  • Fellowship
    • All Groups
    • Children and Youth
    • December Events
    • Dine with Nine
    • LGBTQ+
    • Men
    • Wellspring Wednesday
    • Women
    • Young Adults
  • Governance
    • Board of Trustees >
      • Anti-Racism Leadership Team
      • Ministerial Transition
    • Values Mission Ends
    • Unitarian Universalist Association
    • Unity Consulting
  • Stewardship
    • Annual Pledge
    • Broker Information
    • Make a Gift/Payment
    • Planned Giving • Heritage Society
    • Spring Fundraiser
  • News
    • commUNITY Newsletter >
      • Current Issue
    • This Week at Unity
    • Beloved Community News
  • Calendar
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • Employment
    • Facilities & Rentals >
      • EPT
    • Map and Directions
    • Membership Directory
    • Staff
    • Unity Church History
    • Unitarian Universalism

Sundays at Unity Church

Sunday worship at Unity Church is a cornerstone of our religious community. It is where we envision and create a new reality for a better world.  It allows us to come together for community and deepen our individual spirit. It is about us coming together as a religious family. It is where we practice being our best selves. It is an encounter with mystery and awe to plumb our spiritual depths.

​During the church year,  worship services are held at 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., and 4:30 p.m., except where noted. From the Sunday before Memorial Day through the Sunday before Labor Day, there is just one service each week at 10:00 a.m. 

The entrance to the Sanctuary is at 733 Portland Avenue and parking is available in the church's lot on the corner of Portland Avenue and St. Albans Street. Map and Directions
​

December  Sunday Worship

December 1 • The Narrow and Crooked Path to Reverence
Thoreau once advised: “Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.” Often that path is hard to find amid the pressures of daily living and a starkly troubled world. But, perhaps, this is exactly when we need to cultivate reverence the most? Join Rev. Lisa Friedman and worship associate Kara Younkin Viswanathan as they explore what a practice of reverence might offer us this holiday season and beyond.
Musicians: Unity Singers (9:00/11:00). No soup supper.
Offering recipient: Days for Girls
​
December 8 • Take a Knee: Witness in the Practice of Reverence
In 2016, 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the playing of the National Anthem setting off a national debate about the role of witness and resistance in settings like football games. Worship associate Shelley Butler and Rev. Janne Eller-Isaacs will examine the role of witness and resistance in the spiritual practice of reverence for life.
Musicians: Unity Choir (9:00/11:00), Women's Ensemble (4:30)
Offering recipient: Amicus Winter Warm Up Drive
​
December 15 • Love the Guest
In the season of waiting, as the cold deepens, and old comforts take hold, we do what we can to prepare our homes and our hearts to welcome the one who is on the way. Rev. Rob Eller-Isaacs and worship associate Richard Lau will invite us to consider how best to welcome our guests.
​Service music at 9:00 and 11:00 will be offered by the children and youth of the church. Musician at 4:30 is Gabriela Solis, alto.
Offering recipient: Sierra Leon Foundation for New Democracy
​
December 22 • When the Guns Fell Silent
Come worship with the whole church family! After the carols have been shouted or requested and sung, Rev. Janne Eller-Isaacs, Rev. KP Hong, Rev. Rob Eller-Isaacs, and worship associate Erika Sanders will pause to reflect on the spiritual courage of the soldiers who defied their orders and lay down their guns and exchanged carols, cigarettes, and photographs from home, with their enemies on the battlefields of World War I. Musicians: Unity Singers and Unity Choir
Offering recipient: Minneapolis Crisis Nursery
​
December 29 • Because They Were No More • 10:00 a.m. only
In his great poem “Journey of the Magi” Eliot asks; “Were we led all this way for birth or for death? I had seen birth and death but thought they were different.” Called “Innocents Sunday” among our Anglican friends, the Sunday following Christmas is set aside to recall and acknowledge the children left behind in Bethlehem when Mary and Joseph took the baby and fled into Egypt. Having always asked our interns to preach on what happens when evil comes into the story, in this, his final year at Unity Church, Rev. Rob Eller-Isaacs will wrestle with the story on his own.
Musicians: Unity Choir
Offering recipient: Monarch Join Venture


Family and Story Sundays

Family Sundays 2019-20
Family Sundays take place five times each church year:
  • Sunday, September 8: Merging of Waters
  • Sunday, November 24: Thanksgiving
  • Sunday, December 22: Carol Sing/Shout
  • Sunday, April 12: Easter
  • Sunday, May 17: Flower Communion
On Family Sundays, children experience the entire worship together with their families in the Sanctuary. A children’s message and activity books related to the stories and sermon help children to engage in the experience of worship. Regular religious education programming does not take place on Family Sundays; however, the nursery is open for children under three years of age.

Story Sundays 2019-20
Story Sundays happen frequently throughout the church year, with children in grades 1-8 beginning in worship with the congregation in the Sanctuary. After the opening hymn, prayers, and children’s message, Workshop Rotation children (grades 1-5) proceed with their Journey Guides to their classrooms for religious education programming while junior high youth (grades 6-8) remain in the sanctuary for the entire worship service.
  • Sunday, November 3
  • Sunday, January 19
  • Sunday, February 23
  • Sunday, March 22

Coffee and Fellowship Hour 

Everyone is invited to the Parish Hall for coffee and fellowship following the morning service. If you or a team you are working with would like to request a table in the Parish Hall as a way to share information with the congregation about a project, class, or other learning opportunity, please CLICK HERE. Parish Hall tables are reserved for programs and groups affiliated with Unity Church.
© Unity Church-Unitarian • 733 Portland Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55104 • 651-228-1456 • unity@unityunitarian.org • A Welcoming Congregation
rainbow banner