Tamar Wasoian - "Celebrating Dr. Tamar Wasoian" Our wonderful DLRE, Dr. Tamar Wasoian, is leaving BAUUC to pursue her own calling to ministry. Join us to celebrate the work she has done with us and to wish her well on the journey ahead! All children and families are invited to join the service in the sanctuary.

J Sylvan - "Judith Sargent Murray" The Strength to Speak an Unpopular Truth" - It’s easy to repeat soundbites or go along with the opinions of the majority. It’s much more difficult to give voice to truths we ourselves have noticed, but don’t fit the popular narrative. Winding down our January series on great spiritual women, we’ll take a look at the work of Judith Sargent Murray, an 18th Century Universalist and the first American to publish writing advocating for gender equality.

J Sylvan - "Hildegard of Bingen: The Gifts of Being a Late Bloomer" -We know our culture is fixated on youth, especially when it comes to women and feminine people. How do we get those youth-obsessed voices out of our heads? Continuing our January series on great spiritual women, we’ll take a look at the wildly influential life of 12th century German polymath Hildegard of Bingen, learning from the body of work she didn’t begin until the second half of her life.

J Sylvan - "Set Fire to Heaven: Breaking Free from the Problem of Reward" - Why do we want to live well? Is it because we think we’ll get something we want in return? To begin Minister J. Sylvan’s January series on great spiritual women, let’s learn from Lucy Barnes, a Universalist, and Rabi’a al Basri, a Muslim Sufi, as we look at what “doing good for good’s sake” really means.

J Sylvan - Christmas means carols, readings, stories, and wonderful music from our Choir. Our Christmas Eve services will be on Friday night December 24 at 5:30pm

Ralph Krog - "Hope in the Face of Despair" - 2022 looks to be scary. Much will change. Probably not for the better. How will we deal with it?

Catherine Vance - "A Confederate in the Woodshed at Year's End" - Around the end of December many of us traditionally reassess what we want to do differently in our lives. We make "New Year's resolutions." But what if the things we want to change or set aside are much larger than we are? Several years ago in the dead of winter Catherine Vance took a solo pilgrimage to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. How, she asked herself as she toured the great Civil War battlefield, can I put my family's Confederate past behind me when I can't disown it? But more than that, how can we, whether individually or as a nation, acknowledge our failings and divisiveness and resolve to grow into Something Better, into our greater ideal? Catherine Vance has been a member of BAUUC since 2018. She is a writer and a chaplain at MD Anderson Hospital in Houston.

J Sylvan - "Darkest Days: The Holiness of the Winter Solstice" - Praise rest, regeneration, and renewal. Join J Sylvan in a meditation on sacred darkness as we look back on the previous year and prepare for the Longest Night.

J Sylvan - "The Media or the Message?: Modern Media vs. Our Minds, Hearts, and Relationships" - Is social media the downfall of society? Will cable news spark a civil war? J Sylvan doesn’t know, but they urge us to look at how these communication streams affect us in our daily lives.

J Sylvan - "Season of Hope: Advent, Chanukah, and the Dim Stubbornness of Faith" - Tis the season to keep going, even when all seems lost. Drawing from multiple traditions, J Sylvan will explore what has given people hope throughout human history, and how we might find it today.

Guest Speaker - Johnny Peden - "Happy Hanukkah or not?" - Prior to graduating from college (B. A.) and seminary (M. Div.), Johnny preached his first sermons and performed weddings, memorials, and funeral services. Since then he officiated several hundred weddings in the greater Houston-Galveston area. Two years ago, he was voted the #1 Wedding Officiant by the readers of OutSmart magazine and was nominated again this year. In addition, Johnny has spoken at UU congregations in Galveston, Houston, and Victoria. With today being the beginning of Hanukkah in the Jewish tradition, he will be explaining what it is and what we UUs can learn from it. The title of his message is "Happy Hanukkah--or not?" https://youtu.be/1vcRjY36iZE?t=935