Short answer:
We try to live according to our principles.

Long answer:
We are a young congregation. We are optimistic, kind, and we are strong. We have a simple goal to establish a sustainable congregation advocating liberal religious principles in Upper Montgomery County. Our efforts are built upon the practice of accepting one another and supporting each other in our spiritual growth. We are a group of individuals and we act independently and together in our quest for truth and meaning. The operative word is to act. The super majority of our services and all of our governance are by individuals giving and volunteering their time, money, and efforts. We have each other. We have a part time minister and a part time religious education coordinator. We recently moved to 5 acres of land bordering Seneca State Park.
Our mission statement

Visitors are welcome at services and coffee hour. Please feel free to visit us, and sign our guest book to receive the newsletter!

Jean Carr, Chair
Misty Bloom, Vice Chair
Donny Bliss, Secretary
JP Vidas, Treasurer
Board of Trustees/Liaison Areas
Jean Carr, Chair	Ministerial relations
Misty Bloom, Vice-Chair	Community caring
Donny Bliss, Secretary	Website, publicity
Adam Styles	Membership, finance
Spencer Hines	Pledge, rentals
David Klein	Grounds, green santuary, nominating
Chris Hager	Sunday services, religious education
Sara Hull	Construction, facilities, aesthetics, fund-raising
Myron Andes

"At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another."
Albert Schweitzer

The basic concept of sharing a meal together is a cornerstone of many human traditions. We are a faith of many faiths and we celebrate many traditions. One important tradition we have is circle dinners. Circle dinners are a group of 4 to 6 households that get together on a monthly basis to share a meal and share the lessons of life. The WOW dinners are a part of the circle dinners. The world is a better place when neighbors get to know each other, support each other, and share responsibility for their surroundings and love ones. Circle dinners are an effort to spark the eternal spiritual fire of our community.

Committees organize our efforts.

If you have an idea that fits within our principles then you can create a committee too!!

The elective body that governs our congregation, at the discretion of the congregation, is the Board of Trustees.

Ultimately all decisions regarding the congregation rest in the hands of each member of the congregation governed by the democratic process, our by-laws, and Roberts Rules of order at our congregational meetings.

We pledge. Each household or family makes a yearly commitment during our pledge drive. Our pledge committee carefully, mindfully, gently and without nets approaches members each year to discuss pledging and our members' pledge. The Treasurer and finance committee creates a budget with the Board that is presented to the congregation and voted upon by the congregation during our Congregational Meeting at the start of our fiscal year in June. It's a wonderful LEAP OF FAITH. Members and Friends pledge each as they are able. We encourage everyone to give until it feels good and not until it hurts.

There's also the FUNdraising committee. We have fundraising events throughout the year to help us meet our financial commitment. Our most prominent fund-raiser is our Annual Concert and Auction.

Part of our religion entails moving chairs around into various configurations and then moving them back into the configurations deemed appropriate by our landlord. We have moved chairs in a school; in a bank; and in a Mason Hall. Soon we will move to a Yurt on our land and we will move chairs less frequently. We hope. Until that time we have Setup groups.

Setup groups are organized for each Sunday. Some people volunteer to setup for service and some people volunteer to take down after service. The worship committee maintains the setup list. Our custom is for each person who is willing and able to sign up for one Sunday a month. Therefore people sign up for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Sunday. May, August, and October of 2004 have 5 Sundays. For the magical 5th Sunday we depend on the Serendipity Group to appear and help setup and take down.

We share the load and the effort is fun.

We're a musical group. Many people sing and play instruments. We have a Choir. Our musical tastes are eclectic. If you listen real hard you can hear the harmonica lessons being held at Sugarloaf House right now.

We have coffeehouses, yes there is a committee.

We have an eclectic choir.

We welcome you to become part of something important to you, your family, your community, and your world and universe.

Relevant and Interesting links

• International Association for Religious Freedom
• Chocolate and Slavery
• Fact Index - Unitarian Universalism
• Greater Washington Association of Unitarian Universalist Congregations

We welcome you to become part of something important to you, your family, your community, and your world and universe.

Relevant and Interesting links

• E. E. Cummings
• Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Don Marquis, creator of Archy and Mehitabel

Be impeccable with Your Word
Don't Take Anything Personally
Don't Make Assumptions
Always Do Your Best

1
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have
not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all
mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so
as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3
If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be
burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4
Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful;
5
it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its
own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
6
it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.
7
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all
things, endures all things.
8
Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away;
as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will
pass away.
9
For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is
imperfect;
10
but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.
11
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a
child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I
gave up childish ways.
12
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.
Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as
I have been fully understood.
13
So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest
of these is love.

The returning birds
blossoming tree --
Spring is enough
resurrection for me.
______
 
Scatter me wide
Or bury me deep
Short of death
I shall know no sleep

Mailing address:
SCUU
PO Box 320
Germantown, MD 20875-0320

16913 Germantown Road - Germantown
Phone: 301-540-0575
Map, directions and info

E-mail: office@scuu.org