News & Updates

Sunday, February 1st, 2026 2-4pm

Reading — Call to worship Excerpt from “Beyond Vietnam” MLK, Jr. April 4, 1967 at Riverside Church, New York I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. I join you in this meeting because I'm in deepest agreement with the aims and work of the organization which has brought us together: Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam.

Mark Twain once wrote a sentence which is wise counsel to writers everywhere: “the difference between the right word and the almost-right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.”

An old Gospel song sets the question of the day: why do people who act badly not get the punishment they have so richly earned? This type of question philosophers call theodicy: if God is all-powerful, all knowing and all beneficent, why are there people going around committing bad acts? (October 26th, 2025)

For hundreds of years, Christian churches have observed a ritual in early November of remembrance of loved ones who have died. Perhaps the most elaborate ceremonies are those of Mexico, where it is called Dia de los Muertos. Here at UU Marblehead, we will observe it in the service as All Souls Day. Those who wish are invited to bring a photo or some other object which is associated in memory to someone close to you who has died. The time usually occupied by the Heart Ritual

Next Wednesday is one of the holiest days in the Jewish Calendar, Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement.  It occurs ten days after Rosh Hoshana, the Jewish New Year.  The Hebrew Bible has elaborate rituals for Yom Kippur which are supposed to atone for any wrongs which have been committed in the year just past.  They involve the sacrifice of animals, including two goats. One of the goats is released into the wilderness. This animal is called the scapegoat.