UUFSMA: “Joy and Woe Are Woven Fine”

UU Service-Rev. Amanda Poppei

“Joy and Woe Are Woven Fine”

10:30 a.m., Sunday, Sept. 30

La Posada de la Aldea, Ancha de San Antonio #15

The Rev. Amanda Poppei explores the way our happiest moments are often intertwined with our saddest ones at this Sunday’s Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Service. How do we navigate the mixture of celebration and loss that life brings, and how do we not just accept, but welcome, both?

Looking at weddings, adoptions, and other major life milestones, Amanda discusses the reality that life isn’t simple. What brings us joy might bring another pain, and that kind of mutuality is inescapable. How do we reconcile all of that, knowing that we can’t make everyone happy? And how do we handle the way that our own lives often hold joy and pain at the same events (ever cry at a wedding? laugh at a funeral?). Life is so much more complicated than Hallmark cards would have us believe. Using (with permission) a very personal story from a family whom she has served in ministry, Amanda invites us all into reflection about the connections we have with each other and how those connections make us human.

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 at uufsma.org.

Our fellowship was born in 1987 when a small group of expatriate religious liberals came together to meet as Unitarian Universalists in San Miguel de Allende. The fellowship has been active and thriving ever since. Every UU church has it’s own flavor, and we are no exception. We are a combination of expats and visitors, each actively engaged and contributing to this wonderful Mexican community we love. Because there is a coming, going, and returning aspect, our spiritual community is extremely fluid.  There is a magic in San Miguel which draws us in and binds us together—both as members of the church and of the larger community. Our programming is led by visiting ministers, community leaders, and church members, so the variety is lively. We have opportunities to meet as UU’s each week at discussion groups, breakfasts, luncheons, and in various other ways. Depending on the season, attendance fluctuates between 40 and 140. Our primary focus is on funding social action within the surrounding community. We love good music, good discussion, good food, and having visitors. We invite you to join us any Sunday morning.

Members regularly post updates and information on this site. We also post meeting minutes and announcements there.

To join our Yahoo group site click on this link:

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/UUFSMA/info

Click on “membership”and follow the directions.

Posting a notice on the Yahoo site is easy. Just go to your regular mail browser, type in the address line: uufsma@yahoogroups.com , type your message and hit send!

We encourage you to use this site to communicate with other local UUs.