Following the deaths of her four children, eminent Saratogian Katrina Trask (1852–1922) devoted several decades to activism in various causes. A particular focus was addressing the vast divide between Gilded Age high society, and the servants and laborers who made the upper class lifestyles possible. In 2014 local visual artist Rumara Jewett researched sculptor Daniel … Continue reading Katrina Trask and Social Justice
What does it mean to love something into freedom? Melissa offers a Mother’s Day reflection exploring the central tension of mothering: that genuine love and good parenting requires nurturing another human toward the very independence that takes them away from you. OOS 5-10-26
In honor of this time of year with its transitions, celebrations and liminal spaces through which many of our beloveds walk, this week we muse on what I call the Venn diagram of life. OOS online 5-3-26 PDF Music Sheet 5-3-26
We gather inside a living system. The Earth moves through our lives as breath, water, and ground. Earth Day invites attention. What we take. What we return. Our lives participate in something larger and continuous. And so we are not merely guests here. We are in relationship, bound by more than gratitude, called to more … Continue reading Earth Day Service: What Does It Mean to Be in Covenant with Our Living World?
The Hudson-Mohawk Custer will hold its shared worship service at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady. Join with UUs from our congregations in Albany, Catskills, Glens Falls, Saratoga Springs, and Schenectady as we welcome Rev. Cathy Rion Starr from the Side With Love staff for a service of resilience and joy! The worship will include … Continue reading Hudson-Mohawk Cluster Shared Worship Service
What is this strange thing called religion? How can we begin to make sense of a practice that has played such an impactful role in the unfolding of civilization and yet, like its forebear spirituality, remains mysterious and frequently troublesome? If the answers to great existential questions remain elusive, might that be a good thing? … Continue reading Pondering the Art of Religion
Easter is a holiday of miracles. It is life from death, joy from sorrow, celebration from mourning. Easter reminds us that all is never lost; that the story continues as long as we are here to tell it. So gather up your worries—we are going to bury them beneath the ground and watch them transform … Continue reading Easter Service
Kevin O’Brien, MSP ACSW, now retired Director of Catholic Charities, Director of Caleo Center outpatient Mental Health Clinic, Clinical Director at Conifer Park, and private practice psychotherapist in the Adirondacks, reflects on what he learned over 40 years and how that might help us, as the bareness of our personal “winter” transforms into the “fullness … Continue reading The Inward Journey: Psychology, Spirituality, and Spiritual Metaphor
We observe World Poetry Day. OOS for website 3-22-26 Music sheet 3-22-26
The courage to begin again reminds us that renewal remains available in every moment, and that each of us carries the capacity to shape what comes next. OOS 3-15-26 WEBSITE Music sheet 3-15-26