UUFSMA: Courage for the Resistance…and the Relationships

Courage for the Resistance…and the Relationships

Sunday, September 23, 10:30am
Hotel Aldea, Ancha de San Antonio 15

Courage for the Resistance…and the Relationships
Rev. Amanda Poppei

Unitarian Universalists everywhere are engaged in social justice work and political action in the attempt to change the recent direction of the United States. At this week’s UU Fellowship Service, the Rev. Amanda Poppei proposes ways to maintain hope and build up our courage for that work.

The sermon explores the tension we experience between fighting for our values, which sometimes means fighting “with” or “against” others, while honoring the worth and dignity of every person. Do we have to choose to not be in a relationship with people we disagree with, or are there ways that we can stay in relationship and also stay true to our Unitarian Universalist principles?

She’ll also talk about courage more generally. What is it? How do we get it? Is it like a muscle that you can exercise and build, or are some people born with it? Amanda draws on words from Bryan Stevenson, the Biblical story of Exodus, and others, as well as looking to penguins for advice.

Rev. Poppei has a Masters of Divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC, and a BA in Religious Studies from Yale University. She was ordained as a UU minister in 2008 and accepted a call to serve as Senior Leader at the Washington Ethical Society (WES), a humanist congregation in Washington, DC. WES was founded in 1944 as part of the Ethical Culture movement begun in 1876 by Felix Adler to create something new to bring people of different beliefs together for action.

After beginning at WES, she completed a parallel process to become clergy in Ethical Culture (called a “Leader”). She enjoys her “dual affiliation” mirrored by WES itself, which became a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association in 2008. Amanda is also a co-founder of the Humanist Clergy Collaboratory, which brings together clergy serving humanists in many traditions–UU, Ethical Culture, Humanistic Judaism, and more–for fellowship and shared thought. She also currently serves as President of the UU Humanist Association, where she has a particular interest in lifting up the voices of women and people-of-color humanists and expanding our understanding of UU humanism. Rev. Poppei lives in Silver Spring, MD with her husband, Peter Verchinski, an attorney at the Government Accountability Office, and their daughters Marcella and Joanna.

The UU Fellowship meets every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at La Posada de la Aldea, Ancha de San Antonio 15 and welcomes people of all ages, races, religions, sexual orientation, and gender identity. For information about our Children’s Sunday Program, contact us at chris.chase1955@gmail.com. Visitors are invited to attend the service and then join the UUs for hospitality and discussion afterwards. Wheelchair accessible. For additional information, visit our web site:

http://www.uufsma.org/