Possibly the most favorite tradition of our church has been the annual Santa Lucia ceremony.  Each year for the past 50 years, we nominate a youth from our congregation to play the part of Lucia to lead the Star Children into the sanctuary and deliver saffron buns on the Sunday closest to Santa Lucia Day (December 13).  To celebrate this anniversary, we present the story of how Santa Lucia came to UUCM in the words of our beloved Elsa Reichle in an interview made for Indiana Public Radio in the late 2000s.     Interviewer:  Michael Sullivan Special Thanks to Indiana Public Radio, Stephanie Weichmann, Managing Editor, for permission to repost this audio interview.

  Join us for a special music appreciation service that combines narrative and music to honor two composers whose lives were cut short: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Kevin Oldham. Rev. Joel and Dr. Helton will alternate between telling the story of their lives and playing music they created.

  Jesus probably never ate a banana. He definitely never ate a tomato or a potato. Where does our food come from both historically and currently? How can our value system guide us in what we eat?   Kirk’s first memories of cooking and baking are from nearly 70 years ago. His family would work together to can and freeze fruits and vegetables from their garden. They often made pizza, baked loaf breads, and a family favorite – Swedish tea ring, a yeasted coffee cake that you can still find recipes for on-line.   Fast forward a few years and while studying chemistry, sociology, and counseling Kirk often invited friends over to his apartment and cooked for them. When Mary convinced him that he should take her out, a standard date often involved him cooking only for her which evolved into his current role as Mary’s personal chef.   Kirk is one of the few people who read cookbooks like most read novels. He has accumulated over 500 covering almost every kind of food. The collection still keeps growing.

The Ghost Dance emerged in 1889 based on the prophetic experiences of a Paiute man named Wovoka. In time, the movement was adopted by First Nations throughout the Western U.S. Join us as we explore what the Ghost Dance was, and the impact it had on the history of indigenous peoples of the west.
Photo Credit: By Cullen328 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,

  Join us for an exploration of the topic of existentialism. What is existentialism? In what ways is Unitarian Universalism existentialist?

      Come and listen to Bibi as she shares with you how the values of kindness, community can lead to building a peaceful, inclusive world. Her journey from Afghanistan to Muncie has taught her so much about the power of compassion and connection, and she hopes to inspire you to embrace these values in this community.

  Hiding who you are, for a half century, is terribly unhealthy, physically, mentally and emotionally. In 1967, at 12 years of age, I didn't know of the term “Transgender.” I'm not sure it had even been defined that way yet. All I knew then was that I dare not say a word - to anyone. And so, I didn't tell a soul, hiding my feelings and identity from my parents, family, pastors and most assuredly, employers. It wasn't until my parents passed, Mom in 2003 and Dad in 2014, that I slowly began my transition. The importance of affordable access to mental healthcare is essential. It has a direct connection to the high suicide rate among Transgender, both kids and adults. Coming out was the healthiest thing I ever did for myself. Charlize grew up in Muncie, Indiana and has called Muncie home for fifty years. After completing a forty-year career in Retail and IT Management, the last twenty in Chicago where she held several executive positions, Charlize returned home to Muncie and has become a voice for the LGBTQIA+ community. Now retired, she advocates, via the Human Library, a global non-profit whose purpose is to breakdown prejudicial walls to gain better understanding of those who live life in the margins. Additionally, she volunteers with the Community Foundation of Muncie & Delaware County and the Heart of Indiana United Way, working to expand diversity and understanding within our community. She resides in Muncie with her wife Sally and daughter Kaitlyn and

  Article 2 of our UU bylaws, newly revised this summer, lists the first of our shared values as interdependence, proposing, “We honor the interdependent web of all existence. With reverence for the great web of life and with humility, we acknowledge our place in it.” When you contemplate the interdependent web of all existence, how do you think of it? How expansive is it? What does it mean to “honor” it? What is “our place” within it? And how do we acknowledge that place with “reverence” and “humility?”   Join Katie Williams as she explores these questions in the quest to make this web of all existence less abstract and more concrete by considering the place that factory farmed animals occupy in the anthropocentric world we live in. Facing this culturally-induced, culturally-enforced problem is neither easy nor comfortable, but, with an open heart and an open mind, challenging the mindset that underlies it can help us make a more compassionate world, even as it enlarges and liberates us spiritually.   In 1988, when Katie Williams first saw the term speciesism—the belief system that orders species in a hierarchical order of value and importance, placing humans at the top—she scoffed. Two years later she was in the streets of Washington, D.C., protesting the exploitation of animals in the March for the Animals. She’s been passionate about and ever mindful of the plight of animals living in a speciesist world ever since.

  A UU-wide Climate Revival is taking place this weekend, organized by UU Ministry for the Earth (UUMFE). Come be part of our own celebration of the environment and environmentalism. Our service will celebrate and deepen our love for Nature and the Earth.   The service will contain a blessing of backpacks. Bring your backpack/book bag for a back-to-school blessing from our chaplain.

  Unitarian Universalists are generally optimists and idealists. Yet striving to build a better world and beloved community can be exhausting. What do we do when we find ourselves drained? Join us as we explore tips for coping with moral fatigue.