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The Unitarian Society of Germantown
6511 Lincoln Drive
Philadelphia, PA 19119
Phone: (215) 844-1157
Parking lot GPS address: 359 W. Johnson St, go all the way down the driveway to the lot.
# Unitarian Society of Germantown
Building Beloved Community
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#### Our Sunday service is at 10:30am, in person and on You Tube Live
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# OWL: Our Whole Lives
**Sexuality Education for 8th & 9th Graders, offered in 2024-25. Registration is closed.**
The Unitarian Society of Germantown offers OWL –  for 7th and 8th or 8th and 9th graders –  generally every other year. This remarkable program is taught across the United States at Unitarian Universalist Congregations. People say this was one of the most valuable experiences they had as Unitarian Universalist teens.
OWL is a nationally recognized program that was co-developed by the UUA and the United Church of Christ denomination. The UUA website reports, “In a 2011 assessment of sexuality education curricula by the Virginia Healthy Sexuality Workgroup of the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, the Our Whole Lives program (OWL) was among four recommended as “promising healthy sexuality curricula” in terms of their ability to prevent harmful/risky behaviors.”
Contact owl@usguu.org for more information about the program.
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### Upcoming Events for Young People
- No events
### Next Service
* January 26, 2025 at 10:30am
  Our current political climate engenders feelings of anxiety, fear, and despair. Sowing a sense of chaos is the point. How can we root down deep in the community of USG to find reprieve from the daily onslaught? How can surrendering our ability to control the 
### News and Blog Posts
© 2025 Unitarian Society of Germantown
# Coming of Age and Youth Group
***Coming of Age (COA)** every other year, offered next 2025-26*
Coming of Age is the Unitarian Universalist way of marking the passage from childhood into adolescence. Throughout the course of the year, students are challenged to deepen their understanding of UUism, the work of USG and their own beliefs. Sunday morning meetings will invite students to dig deeply into the ideas and ideals that are central to their lives. In keeping with the fourth UU principle, “we affirm and promote a free and responsible search for truth and meaning,” it guides them through the very UU process of examining information, talking about it, and then making their own decisions about what they believe (now). The COA year includes opportunities for service, fellowship, fun and adventure. The culmination of the program is the youth-led Coming of Age service in the spring when the group will present their faith statements, or credos, to the congregation. If your youth is interested in joining this class, please contact lead teacher, Treva Burger, coa@usguu.org.
***Youth Group***
*The goal is for* ***Youth Group*** to be primarily youth-led, as they design and facilitate most activities. It is a place where youth deepen relationships with one another, build community and establish life-long friendships. We don’t currently have a youth group, we hope to again soon.
### Events
# Adult Spiritual Development
### Opportunities at USG for Adults of All Ages
### 
**If you have questions about ASD courses and programs, please contact Director of Spiritual Development, Zoë Johnston at dsd@usguu.org.**
The Adult Spiritual Development (ASD) Committee of USG is committed to offering a variety of programs that deepen and broaden the range of spiritual practices in our congregation. ASD seeks to promote offerings that engage the heart and stimulate the intellect and create opportunities for USG members to share their talents and wisdom, as we strengthen the bonds of our Unitarian Universalist community. We are now offering some things in person, outdoors and indoors, and we are still offering many things on zoom**.**
**Small Group Ministry** is a form of Adult Spiritual Development, visit the webpage 
**This page has discussion-based spiritual development**, **for** **practice-based spiritual development – meditation & yoga – visit the  page.**
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**Unitarian Universalism 101 in person on 3rd Sundays at 12 noon**; or by appointment on Zoom
An introduction to Unitarian Universalism for visitors and friends. **Please contact Eric Foster and Charles Gabriel at uu101@usguu.org** if you are interested.
**Feminist Thealogy:
Healing from Sex-Negative Religion**
**Sunday, January 5
12-1:30pm in Sullivan Chapel**
Rev. Dr. Beverly Dale will share thought-provoking revisions to common negative religious teaching with affirmations and exercises from her new book, .
The Reverend Beverly Dale is a minister in the Disciples of Christ denomination, and founder of the Incarnation Institute of Sex and Faith.
*See the lineup of Feminist Thealogy programs for 2024-25 *
****A Week of “Sticking with Love”
with Esther Wyss-Flamm
Online, Jan 20 – Jan 24, 8:30 – 8:50 am****
Let’s live into MLK’s words: **“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”** To honor his legacy during this pivotal time in our country, we will meet briefly via Zoom (at ) for five mornings to activate the power of Love through **meditation, breath practices, and gentle movement.**
Come once or every day. This is a FREE community event. For more details, see  – White Flame Yoga or contact Esther Wyss-Flamm: ewyssflamm@gmail.com.
***Authentic Selves* Book Discussion Group
A UUA Common Read
with Margaret Thompson**
*Authentic Selves* is a sweeping compilation of life stories and portraits of trans and nonbinary people, as well as their partners, parents, children, siblings, and chosen family members. Through interviews and photo portraits, the subjects of *Authentic Selves* invite readers into their real lives–their revelations, challenges, joys, and networks of support.
     The Unitarian Universalist Association selected *Authentic Selves* as the book for UUs and their congregations to read and explore in 2024-25. USG will host an in-person book discussion across **four Mondays: Feb 10 & 24, Mar 10 & 24**. The discussions will be held in **Sullivan Chapel from 7 to 8:30pm**.
     You don’t need to read the whole book before the first meeting in order to participate in the discussion, though you will need to read some of the portraits before each meeting in order to get the most out of the discussions.  Among the portraits are the first person stories of Sarah McBride, recently elected Congressional representative for Delaware, and her family.
     Copies of *Authentic Selves* are available for purchase, even if you can’t come to the book discussion.
     Contact Margaret Thompson at CommonRead@usguu.org if you have questions and/or you want to participate and want to receive updates about the book discussion meetings.
**Racism Book Study**  will be on hiatus until April in support of the Common Read above. We will start  by William A Darity and A Kirsten Mullen when we resume.  Email bookstudy@usguu.org for more info or the link.
Find  linked here.
BLUU Boxes contain historical and inspiring treasures from the Black Lives of UUism and are available to everyone. If you would like to receive them and notices of times to gather and discuss, please contact bookstudy@usguu.org.
**Offered by the Meadville-Lombard UU Seminary**
**The Fall session has been cancelled. Click  to learn more about the program and check back in the late winter**.
They are currently building new communities of learners in the Within phase, with *Un/Learning for Liberation* program (for white participants) and the *Gathering Our Selves* programs (for Black, Indigenous, People of Color participants.) **Join them for a deep dive into the personal, transformative, spirit-growing work each of us needs to do around issues of race, identity, and justice,**in relationship with other folks who share some similar experiences!
*Within* is a 12-week spiritual formation program that mixes multi-media learning and reflection at your own pace, processing in small groups, and worshipping together in community! You can access it entirely online and the materials are accessible for up to a year after the start of the program.
**Check out the *Beloved Conversations*  for lots of information about *Within* and all of our exciting programs!**
Follow the *Beloved Conversations* for updates!
# BLUU Resources for Black UUs
Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU) has a number of offerings specifically and exclusively for Black UUs and Black folks from other faith traditions who share our values. See below for descriptions and links. The best way to stay up to date on BLUU offerings is to subscribe to their .
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| **BLUU Haven Philly**Join us to engage with other local Black U/UUs. **Our next meeting** is TBA. For Zoom meetings, join at < bluuhavenphilly@gmail.com to RSVP and get the meeting information. Some meetings will be via Zoom, some in person. For information about Black Lives of UU (BLUU) refer to: |
**BLUU Worship**
Second Sunday of the month, 4pm Eastern. We are awaiting the link for 2025. Try accessing via Facebook linked below.
All of BLUU’s online worship services are Black Sacred Space in their entirety – by and for Black people, with the words and voices of Black folks across the diaspora – and we hope that Black UUs and Black UU-adjacent folks (who share our values) from far and wide will join us!
For our non-Black siblings in faith, please DO share this invitation with Black folks in your life and community. Getting the word out about BLUU’s gatherings and other programming is one powerful way of lending your support, and we deeply appreciate it!
For all of our services, feel free to come into our BLUU Zoom Room as early as 15 minutes before the start of the service to get settled, say hello to the folks who are already gathering, and listen to the music softly playing as we all prepare for our time together. You can also join their  for access to worship.
**Black Sacred Space** is by and for Black people. If you are a Black UU or a Black person who shares our values of love, justice, and liberation.
Community member, Alice Ocrey, facilitates BLUU Meditation
on the third Monday of every month from 8:25-9 p.m. ET.
Using BLUU Zoom, she gives a brief six-minute presentation
gleaned from readings of mostly Black Buddhists, followed by
the meditation.
You can 
*Alice Ocrey has practiced Secular Buddhism since 2009. She became more involved with Secular Buddhism when she joined Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Chicago in 2010. When the Tuesday evening Sangha was held there, she was an avid participant. During the earlier parts of the pandemic, she was one of five people who facilitated a Daily Meditation. To date, Daily Meditation welcomes between 20- 60 participants. Some participants Zoom in from Seattle, Portugal, Pakistan and other parts of the United States and the world. Whenever you come, you will be welcomed with open hearts.*
**Pastoral care** is a model of emotional and spiritual support that can be found in all cultures and traditions. People who provide pastoral care offer support to people in their joys, sorrows, and uncertainties associated with specific life events occurring while part of the community in which pastoral caregivers serve. Spiritual care is a multi-faceted model of support in individuals’ search for meaning, purpose, wholeness, and connection in day-to-day life.
BLUU is blessed with a community filled with pastoral and spiritual leadership. Please don’t forget that the BLUU Ministerial Network has a pastoral care line available for Black folks. You can text or call **984-219-8710** to schedule a time to speak with a BLUU chaplain.
**Become a BLUU Beloved!**BLUU Beloved is an opportunity for Unitarian Universalists and UU-adjacent who are Black/People of African descent to further connect, build community and develop leadership within the work of BLUU and our connection to broader liberation movements. For more information visit: 
| **Community Conversations Resource!**We encourage everyone to learn from BLUU’s monthly Community Conversations recorded in 2019!The full list of our previous Community Conversations can be found here:  These videos are great for small group discussions and personal study! |