​Jamestown, N.Y. – “My soul needs fed every week. It is impossible to keep going without spiritual nourishment,” says Ruby Wiles, founder of Warren, Pennsylvania’s Free Books for Kids Town.

The former Lutheran pastor will speak on “Nourishment for the Soul” at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown’s (UUCJ) 10:30 a.m. hybrid service on Sunday, February 5.

Wiles explains that, “Feeding the soul is crucial to keep one moving forward to a more just world. I will offer what I have found to be nourishment for my soul and hopefully for you, too.” 

Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote seven Principles, which are held as strong values and moral guides. This message reflects the fourth and sixth Principles: A free and responsible search for truth and meaning and the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.

Wiles served as a pastor in North Dakota, New York City and Kane, Pennsylvania.

In 2017, she received the UUCJ’s Richard T. Parker Award for Social Justice. She inspired the church’s Social Justice Committee to promote reading by giving books to students in Jamestown’s Washington Middle School English as a New Language program and to Fletcher Elementary School kindergarteners, having a free children’s book box in front of the church, and holding a Halloween Book Giveaway during Jamestown’s Trick or Treat hours. 

Pat Brininger will be the service leader and Julie Anderson, the pianist. A social time follows.

Participation can be either in person at 1255 Prendergast Avenue in Jamestown or online. To join virtually, use the link at UUJamestown.org/calendar.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown is a progressive, liberal religious community serving the southern tier of Western New York and Warren County, Pa. The UUCJ’s mission is to support and celebrate each other, encourage spiritual and individual growth, and serve the wider community.

​Jamestown, N.Y. – This past year Lakewood, N.Y., native and resident Sally Naetzker Baer has worked tirelessly on behalf of the people of Ukraine. 

In 2022 she spearheaded the raising of more than $670,000 in aid and support and made frequent visits to the country. She has driven a van from Poland into Ukraine with supplies and returned with refugees.

Naetzker Baer will tell of her experiences at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown’s (UUCJ) 10:30 a.m. Sunday service on January 29, 2023. 

Her inspiration is her faith and knowledge that The Light always overcomes the darkness. She will share about the light and hope of the money raised from 700 donors and volunteers during this difficult time for Ukraine and the world. 

With her husband, Tom, Naetzker Baer and their three youngest children moved to Ethiopia in 2009 and spent most of their time there until 2016. They taught English in Kazakhstan and Nepal and volunteered throughout the United States. When their plans to move to Kazakhstan were disrupted by the pandemic, they returned to Lakewood, where they reopened and redesigned their gift shop into an old-fashioned toy and candy store. 

To learn more, friend Sally Naetzker Baer on Facebook. Donations to support her work can be made at 6 Baers Toy & Gift Shoppe, 50 Chautauqua Ave., Lakewood, N.Y., or at her website BaerEssentials.org. 

Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote seven Principles, which are held as strong values and moral guides. Her message reflects the Principles of: (1) the inherent worth and dignity of every person; (2) justice, equity and compassion in human relations; and (6) the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.

Bryan Heath is the service leader. A social time follows.

Participation can be either in person at 1255 Prendergast Avenue in Jamestown or online. To join virtually, use the link at UUJamestown.org/calendar.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown is a progressive, liberal religious community serving the southern tier of Western New York and Warren County, Pa. The UUCJ’s mission is to support and celebrate each other, encourage spiritual and individual growth, and serve the wider community.

Jamestown, N.Y. – Andrea DiMaio teaches yoga and leads outdoor adventure groups with special focus on folks in larger bodies. 

At the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown’s (UUCJ) 10:30 a.m. Sunday service on January 22 she will present “The Outdoors Are For Everyone,” exploring how people in marginalized communities are left out of the outdoor conversation.

DiMaio will look at how those whose bodies don't fit a specific "outdoorsy type,” as well as LGBTQIA, BIPOC and people with disabilities, can feel unwelcome in the outdoor community and how we can change that. 

Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote seven Principles, which are held as strong values and moral guides. This message reflects the first Principle: The inherent worth and dignity of every person. 

After DiMaio climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa, with them, WHOA Travel started WHOA Plus and hired her to be a group adventure leader. She led a group of plus-sized women on a hike of the Salkantay Trail in Peru and a similar group on hikes and adventures in Iceland. 

As DiMaio describes, “In 2015 an accident triggered a slow transition in the way I viewed my own body and others that didn't fit the traditional ‘outdoorsy’ body type. In 2017 I started Ample Movement as a local hiking group for people who didn't see themselves represented or felt intimidated by other hiking groups. I have expanded Ample Movement to include other forms of outdoor adventure as well as yoga. I consider myself an adventure seeker and a social justice activist, looking to learn and end all forms of oppression and to work towards liberation for all.” 

After graduating from Southwestern High School and Jamestown Community College, DiMaio went to Oswego University and then the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Returning to the area, she had her own dog grooming and training business which she sold and retired from in 2019 after 20 years working with dogs. 

More information about DiMaio is at her website, AmpleMovement.com. 

Linnea Haskin will be the service leader, and Janine Chimera will provide music.

A social time follows the service.

Participation can be either in person at 1255 Prendergast Avenue in Jamestown or online. To join virtually, use the link at UUJamestown.org/calendar.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown is a progressive, liberal religious community serving the southern tier of Western New York and Warren County, Pa. The UUCJ’s mission is to support and celebrate each other, encourage spiritual and individual growth, and serve the wider community.

Jamestown, N.Y. – Angus Watkins returns to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown (UUCJ) to deliver the message at the 10:30 a.m. hybrid service on January 15, 2023.

The in-person message asks the question: “Are We Leaving Nature?”

Over one million species of the earth’s plants and animals are facing extinction. At last December’s COP15 Summit on Biodiversity in Montreal, Canada, 153 countries pledged to protect at least 30% of our planet’s land and water habitats by 2030. Watkins will contemplate this ambitious challenge in light of our current experience, addressing the final of the seven principles Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm, promote and hold as strong values and moral guides: Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

A graduate of Ohio’s Bowling Green State University with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts, Watkins received his master’s of divinity degree from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He lived outside Ashville, N.Y., in North Harmony Township for over 25 years with his wife, Anne, a member of the UUCJ. Now residing in their native Buffalo area, both will be at the service. 

Janine Chimera is the guest musician.

A social time follows the service.

Participation can be either in person at 1255 Prendergast Avenue in Jamestown or online. To join virtually, use the link at UUJamestown.org/calendar.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown is a progressive, liberal religious community serving the southern tier of Western New York and Warren County, Pa. The UUCJ’s mission is to support and celebrate each other, encourage spiritual and individual growth, and serve the wider community.

​Jamestown, N.Y. – Verdis LeVar Robinson, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown’s (UUCJ) regular first Sunday preacher, speaks next on Sunday, January 8, 2023.

Robinson’s topic at the 10:30 a.m. hybrid service is “That was Then, This is Now.”

The newly fellowshipped UU minister will offer a reflection on the concept of a “New Normal.” Are we there yet? Can we ever get back to the way things were? Should we?

The sermon primarily relates to the fourth of the seven principles that Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm, promote and hold as strong values and moral guides: A free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Secondarily, it relates to the third principle: Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.

Robinson is a candidate for a Master of Divinity at the Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago. He earned degrees from Boston University, SUNY College at Brockport and SUNY University at Buffalo.

A western New York native, Robinson serves the Unitarian Church of Montpelier in Vermont as their ministerial coordinator of worship arts production and adult religious education. He is also the new artistic director of the Montpelier Community Gospel Choir. 

For ten years Robinson was a tenured assistant professor of history and African American studies at Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York. Before joining the First Universalist Church of Rochester in 2008, he was a confirmed local minister in the African American Holiness-Pentecostal tradition. He is currently an associate of the Kettering Foundation, specializing in deliberative democracy in community colleges and interfaith institutions. 

Julie Anderson is the in-person pianist for the service, and congregant Linda Hiers is the service leader.

A social time follows the service.

Participation can be either in person at 1255 Prendergast Avenue in Jamestown or online. To join virtually, use the link at UUJamestown.org/calendar.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown is a progressive, liberal religious community serving the southern tier of Western New York and Warren County, Pa. The UUCJ’s mission is to support and celebrate each other, encourage spiritual and individual growth, and serve the wider community.

​Jamestown, N.Y. – The COVID pandemic is much more than a terrible physical virus. It has changed, perhaps permanently, how society goes about its business and how we all relate to each other and ourselves. 

Jamestown Community College Professor Frank Corapi will discuss “The Social and Emotional Consequences of the COVID Pandemic” at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown’s (UUCJ) 10:30 a.m. Sunday service on December 18, 2022.

Fear of infection, avoiding social contact, wearing masks, using distance formats to engage in important activities, vaccinations, and the politicization of vaccines, have all been significant forces in the lives of everyone. 

Corapi’s talk will address the social and emotional implications of these changes, as well as what they likely mean for our future and what can be done to restore our social and emotional health.

Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote seven Principles, which are held as strong values and moral guides. This message reflects the fourth Principle:  A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;

Corapi is Professor of Psychology, Director of Social Sciences and Coordinator of Professional Development at Jamestown Community College. Prior to joining JCC’s faculty in 2002, he was an instructor in psychology at Edinboro University in Edinboro, Pa. He has also worked as a clinical program director with a variety of behavioral health treatment programs for Stairways Behavioral Health in Erie, Pa., and was in private practice for 10 years. 

Violin instructor Brittany Baglia of Panama, N.Y., is the guest musician. 

A social time follows the service.

Participation can be either in person at 1255 Prendergast Avenue in Jamestown or online. To join virtually, use the link at UUJamestown.org/calendar.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown is a progressive, liberal religious community serving the southern tier of Western New York and Warren County, Pa. The UUCJ’s mission is to support and celebrate each other, encourage spiritual and individual growth, and serve the wider community.

Jamestown, N.Y. –  “Qanon, psy ops, authoritarianism, climate change, disinformation: It's so confusing! How do we even begin to understand what’s going on?”

From this perspective, Linda Hiers speaks on “Toto!! Where the Heck Are We?” at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown (UUCJ) hybrid service on Sunday, December 11, 2022, 10:30 a.m.

The message most relates to the fifth of the seven Principles that Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote: “The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.”

A member of UUCJ for more than 15 years, Hiers has a keen interest in social justice issues, reading and studying national and global issues that are currently challenging democracies around the world. Her talk is a manifestation of that interest and her sense of alarm as our nation's democracy is under assault.

Hiers received a BA in Sociology from the University of Texas and her Masters in Social Work from the University of Buffalo. Now retired, she worked primarily as a clinical social worker, providing mental health counseling in various inpatient and outpatient settings. The last years of her career she spent as a hospice social worker.

A social time follows the service.

Participation can be either in person at 1255 Prendergast Avenue in Jamestown or online. To join virtually, use the link at UUJamestown.org/calendar.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown is a progressive, liberal religious community serving the southern tier of Western New York and Warren County, Pa. The UUCJ’s mission is to support and celebrate each other, encourage spiritual and individual growth, and serve the wider community.

Jamestown, N.Y. – As the “first Sunday” preacher for the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown (UUCJ), Verdis LeVar Robinson returns to deliver his sermon virtually on December 4, 2022.

Robinson’s topic at the 10:30 a.m. hybrid service is “The Audacity of Universalism.”

Of his subject, Robinson asks, “What is Universalism calling us to in this time? Can its theological claims renew our faith in humanity?”

The sermon most relates to the first and seventh of the seven Principles that Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote: The inherent worth and dignity of every person and respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

With the exception of January, when he will speak on January 8, 2023, instead of New Year’s Day, Robinson delivers the message on the first Sunday of the month at UUCJ.

A native western New Yorker, Robinson serves the Unitarian Church of Montpelier in Vermont as their ministerial coordinator of worship arts production and adult religious education. He is also the new artistic director of the Montpelier Community Gospel Choir. 

Robinson is a candidate for the Unitarian Universalist ministry and a Master of Divinity at the Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago. He earned degrees from Boston University, SUNY College at Brockport and SUNY University at Buffalo.

For ten years Robinson was a tenured assistant professor of history and African American studies at Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York. Before joining the First Universalist Church of Rochester in 2008, he was a confirmed local minister in the African American Holiness-Pentecostal tradition. He is currently an associate of the Kettering Foundation, specializing in deliberative democracy in community colleges and interfaith institutions. 

A social time follows the service.

Participation can be either in person at 1255 Prendergast Avenue in Jamestown or online. To join virtually, use the link at UUJamestown.org/calendar.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown is a progressive, liberal religious community serving the southern tier of Western New York and Warren County, Pa. The UUCJ’s mission is to support and celebrate each other, encourage spiritual and individual growth, and serve the wider community.

​Jamestown, N.Y. – Janine Chimera is a singer and song-writer with two recorded CDs. She plays piano, guitar, Native American flute, hand drums and a variety of other sound tools. 

At the 10:30 a.m. hybrid service of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown (UUCJ) on Sunday, November 27, 2022, Chimera will share her music and her message, “Sound Vibration, a Progressive Healing Modality.” 

As a speech/language pathologist with a master’s degree, Chimera understands the human need for connectedness and the power of communication. For more than three decades, she specialized in working with students with limited or no verbal communication. 

As a musician, Chimera knows the communication power that music and sound have. Her professions lead her to pursue studies and training in the fields of therapeutic music, sound vibrational therapy, and group drumming for wellness. She became a certified therapeutic music practitioner and a HealthRHYTHMS drumming facilitator. 

Chimera describes the world of sound vibration as extremely vast. She will address the power of sound as it relates to supporting health and well-being, sharing information about basic scientific concepts of sound vibration, current research, and its therapeutic application as a healing modality that is gaining more recognition.

In the Chautauqua Institution artist in residence program, Chimera has worked with students with special needs through hand drumming. She facilitates group events called Sound Journeys where people receive the healing benefits of sound vibrational therapy instruments in a relaxed and calming environment.

The virtual message relates to the final of the seven Principles that Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote: respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

A social time follows the service.

Participation can be either in person at 1255 Prendergast Avenue in Jamestown or online. To join virtually, use the link at UUJamestown.org/calendar.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown is a progressive, liberal religious community serving the southern tier of Western New York and Warren County, Pa. The UUCJ’s mission is to support and celebrate each other, encourage spiritual and individual growth, and serve the wider community.

Jamestown, N.Y. – Every year around Thanksgiving time, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) launches their Guest at Your Table campaign to raise funds for projects around the world. 

The UUSC is a nonprofit, nonsectarian organization advancing human rights together with an international community of grassroots partners and advocates.

At the 10:30 a.m. hybrid service of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown (UUCJ) on Sunday, November 13, Janet Forbes will kick off the 2022 Guest at Your Table campaign. 

 With the belief that the transformational solutions needed come from communities most directly impacted by injustice, Guest at Your Table raises funds to address the goal of a world free from oppression.

The local church’s congregational liaison with UUSC, Forbes will focus her message on this year’s theme, “Hope, Courage, Action.” 

The message relates to four of the seven Principles that Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote: (1) the inherent worth and dignity of every person, (2) justice, equity and compassion in human relations, (6) the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all and (7) respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Forbes has been a member of UUCJ and the UU Fellowship of Chautauqua for more than 40 years and is a long-time UUSC supporter. She received her nursing degree from Jamestown Community College and her B.S. in Human Services from SUNY Empire State College. Now retired, her work experience included WCA Hospital, Cassadaga Jobs Corps Academy, and Chautauqua County Health Network. Her volunteer activities include American Association of University Women, Audubon Community Nature Center, Cornell Cooperative Extension Chautauqua County Master Gardeners, James Prendergast Library, and YWCA Jamestown.

A social time follows the service.

Participation can be either in person at 1255 Prendergast Avenue in Jamestown or online. To join virtually, use the link at UUJamestown.org/calendar.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown is a progressive, liberal religious community serving the southern tier of Western New York and Warren County, Pa. The UUCJ’s mission is to support and celebrate each other, encourage spiritual and individual growth, and serve the wider community.