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>>> Aug services: 10 am, Parish Hall ~ Starting Sept 5: Sanctuary at 11 am >>>

>>> Why I Am a Unitarian Universalist: by First Unitarian Young Adults >>>

Sunday Services

In the light of truth, in the warmth of love,
We gather to seek, to sustain, and to share

Small Miracles Happen in Our Church Every Sunday

Our regular Sunday service includes readings, music, candles of joys and sorrows, more music, prayer and meditation, still more music, a sermon (with occasional visiting ministers),  and of course, more music. Take a look at a typical Order of Service.

Several times a year we have special services to celebrate a renewal or an historic event.
~ Homecoming Service each September has a special Water Ceremony.
~ Winter Solstice service celebrates the shortest day of the year.
       Photos - 2007      Photos - 2008
~ Springfest sends Winter off and welcomes Spring: photos.
~ Goddess Service celebrates the coming of Spring, a season of hope: photos.

Although a service may focus on a particular theme, the messages are varied. Our ministers offer sermons on a wide array of topics - there is something for everyone. To attend a Sunday Service at the First Unitarian Church of Baltimore is to receive a weekly gift.

Music

An eighteen-person choir, 2 organs, and a piano are important features of our service. The choir provides anthems, leads the congregation in hymns and songs from The Living Tradition, our hymnal, and performs alone with piano or a cappella. Occasionally we have guest choral groups or instrumental or voice soloists.

Children and Youth 

Children and youth in the religious education program join their families in the sanctuary for the first fifteen minutes of each service. There they enjoy a Time for All Ages with a special story, after which we sing them to their classes.

We provide childcare for younger children during all services and set aside a quiet corner of the sanctuary for children who are not ready to attend classes.

Fellowship

Greeting our neighbors during services and coffee hour after service are two of the many ways we encourage fellowship on Sundays. And sometimes the music motivates us to dance in the aisles during services. Coffee hour is an opportunity to meet with new and old friends while enjoying refreshments.

Visitors

We welcome visitors from all ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds. It is our hope that the diversity of our congregation will cause all visitors to feel at home.

We invite visitors to

  • Fill out a Visitor Card so we can send you our newsletter and respond to your interests
  • Allow us to welcome you at the beginning of the service
  • Join us during coffee hour to meet our members and stop at the Visitors Table to learn more about our church

Parking

Parking in the Franklin Street garage, opposite our front entrance, is free on Sundays until 1:00 pm, then $1/hour (max $4). Metered parking is free on Sundays.

Special Services

Flower Communion

 is part of our Atonement and Reconciliation Service that takes place in June on the last Sunday of the church year.

Homecoming Service and Water Communion

Celebrated each year on the first Sunday after Labor Day, Homecoming marks the beginning of a new church year and the end of summer. We begin outside in front of the church by welcoming all in word and song, continuing to sing as we file into the church. We observe Homecoming with a special "water communion" ritual, used in many UU churches, in which we invite members to bring a small amount of water symbolic of a place they have been during the past year that they feel has renewed their spirits. As they empty their water into a common bowl, they may choose to say to say a few words about its source. The water may be from a distant stream or ocean or from the kitchen tap or the Inner Harbor. The purpose is not a travelogue but rather a witness to our spiritual journeys - that which most sustains us.

Union Sunday  

On the first Sunday in May we invite Baltimore and Washington area Unitarian Universalist congregations to join us in celebrating William Ellery Channing's great "Baltimore Sermon," preached on May 5, 1819 at the installation of our first minister, Jared Sparks. The Channing Sermon is regarded as the "declaration of independence" for the about-to-be-born Unitarian movement, as it emerged from New England Puritanism over issues of the use of reason in interpreting the Bible. Channing, who came from Boston for the occasion with a distinguished entourage from Harvard, is often seen as the "father of Unitarianism" in this country.