All Souls Indianapolis

How do you find comfort amindst chaos? Where do you turn to feel safe and peaceful when the world is harsh and cruel? Let's explore the symbol of water as a rejuvenating source.

Come for this special chance to hear our beloved guest minister as she continues her series on navigating change. If you missed her last visit on June 10, you might want to go back and listen to the first part of this series.   Julica Hermann de la Fuente is a Lay Community Minister and a candidate for UU ministry. Prior to answering her ministerial call, Julica had been a social justice educator and a life coach. In addition to an MA in Leadership Studies from Meadville Lombard Theological School, she also holds an MSW and an ABD in Sociology from the University of Michigan, and two coaching certifications. She is also privileged to serve on the Beloved Conversations Retreat Leader Team and as a Program Leader for the UU College of Social Justice.   Born and bred in Mexico, Julica often finds herself living on the bridges between multiple identities: bicultural, bisexual, bilingual. She also identifies as a temporarily able-bodied, cisgender, upper middle-class, trauma survivor, immigrant, white Latina, and

What can we learn from Unitarian and Universalist history that can inform how we engage with major justice issues of today? How has our history shaped where we are called to move in this moment in history?

Julica Hermann de la Fuente is a Lay Community Minister and a candidate for UU ministry. Prior to answering her ministerial call, Julica had been a social justice educator and a life coach. In addition to an MA in Leadership Studies from Meadville Lombard Theological School, she also holds an MSW and an ABD in Sociology from the University of Michigan, and two coaching certifications. She is also privileged to serve on the Beloved Conversations Retreat Leader Team and as a Program Leader for the UU College of Social Justice.   Born and bred in Mexico, Julica often finds herself living on the bridges between multiple identities: bicultural, bisexual, bilingual. She also identifies as a temporarily able-bodied, cisgender, upper middle-class, trauma survivor, immigrant, white Latina, and feels it is a privilege to leverage the complexity of these identities and the intersections thereof in the service of social justice education and anti-racism.

Coming of Age is the UU-affirmation program to help our youth ponder the questions of the universe and share their perspective with the congregation.

The first step is usually the hardest one to take. The issues closest to us are usually the most challenging to address. How can we start close in and grow out in our own lives? In our lives together as a community? Why is this our best path to growth and wholeness? This Sunday, we welcome our incoming Minister of Congregational Life, Rev. Kayla Parker. Kayla will be providing pastoral care, directing adult programming within the congregation, and growing our engagement outside the congregation.

We don’t always have to fight for all the good that comes our way; sometimes Beloved Community perches itself near us. Sometimes, gloriously, we have open minds and loving hearts and discover that we have found ourselves unexpectedly in Beloved Community. Rev. Anastassia preaching.

Sometimes Beloved Community is created by an opening of heart spirit within our souls. We may feel love and compassion suddenly open our heart, but we are each capable every day of doing this important soul work. Rev. Anastassia preaching.

“Beloved Relationship: Transcending the Walls”: The Beloved Community is so precious because human beings require both connection and a feeling of significance, yet the world – its inequities, injustices, and sometimes just simple hatred -- seem to keep Beloved Community beyond our reach.  We sometimes do not have the strength to remake the world, but we can still build relationships of Beloved Community that transcend these barriers. Rev. Anastassia preaching.

Rev. Dr. David Eaton said that we should seek out and find the Beloved Community, and if we cannot find it, then we should create it.  We have created a type of Beloved Community at All Souls: a place where we know and are known, forgive and are forgiven, where we are challenged to live our values, and where our memories are formed. If the walls of our church could speak, they would bear witness to acts of covenant, presence, and ritual.  These three form the bonds that keep love in. Rev. Anastassia preaching, featuring Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout with the All Souls Choir.

On this Easter Sunday, we recognize the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. We know that human beings both require and desire connection with one another, yet our cultures, our fears, even our laws sometimes insist on dividing us.  This Easter Sunday, we will remember human examples of people who transgress false boundaries to establish relationship. During the service, we will enact our Flower Communion ritual.  We invite each person to bring a flower to contribute. Rev. Anastassia preaching, with Alex Mulligan, guest musicians, and the All Souls Choir performing music from Glory and Hamilton

Let's go to the heart of honesty by exploring where we are honest with ourselves and where we are truthful in relationships.  We will explore ways to develop honesty authentically within ourselves.  How do we honor our inner truth?  And there are times when being honest with others can feel like a risk.  How do we discern where to be honest and where to keep out thoughts to ourselves? Rev. Lane Campbell, Minister of Religious Education, First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus, Ohio preaching, with the All Souls Choir.

Dottie Huffman joined All Souls Unitarian Church in 1948. Over the past 70 years, she has generously given herself to our community – through her presence, her music, and her leadership.  Together lets celebrate a life well-led, and hear some of the organ music she wrote and loved.  

Every life leaves an imprint. What do you want your legacy to be? How would you define a life well-led?  Come hear Rev. Anastassia share how generosity should be at the core of any legacy we attempt to build.

What is the key to spiritual connection? Mystics across religious traditions have found the key to unlocking intoxicating experiences of complete oneness.  How can we open ourselves to such connection – with the beauty of the world, with the deep core of your being, with God?

To whom in your life have you given the key to your home? What about the key to your heart? Come unlock the secret to making this connection last a lifetime.

In this youth-led service, come hear our youth share their thoughts and insights about what they desire – for themselves and our shared world.  

The Unitarian Universalists and the United Church of Christ named their sexual education and justice curriculum Our Whole Lives, to actively reflect the reality that we are embodied, sexual beings at all stages of our life. Why is this a blessing? Kathleen will encourage us to embrace sexuality as an important part of the human experience, and suggest how healthy sexuality can be encouraged at all stages during ones lifetime.  

Using personal narrative and attention to recent socio-political developments, special guest Dr. Anthony Pinn explores the manner in which the current historical moment speaks to the continued troubling nature of difference in the United States. Through the lens of humanism, and the insights of key commentators on American life, such as W. E. B. Du Bois as well as the sensibilities of the blues, this talk reflects on ways to think about the ethical challenges facing as well as what we might anticipate as the outcome of struggle for change. Anthony B. Pinn received his BA from Columbia University, Master of Divinity and PhD in the study of religion from Harvard University. He is currently the Agnes Cullen Arnold Professor of Humanities and professor of religion at Rice University. Pinn is the founding director of the Center for Engaged Re-search and Collaborative Learning (CERCL) also at Rice University. Pinn’s research interests include religion and culture, humanism, and hip hop culture. He is the author/ed

In order to clearly articulate our church’s mission, we need to try to discern answers to life’s ultimate questions like: What does it mean to be human? What ideals should I strive for? How can we create a more wholesome future for our children? Rev. Bruce Russell-Jayne will relate a framing of what UUs believe by the Rev. David Bumbaugh, UU Humanist hero. Rev. Russell-Jayne served UU churches in Ohio, Utah, and Illinois, and as a Chaplain at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. He and his wife Cece live in Carmel near their daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren. He volunteers as Treasurer for Hoosier Interfaith Power & Light, which helps congregations combat Global Warming by conserving energy and generating solar power.