Rev. Diana Smith

  • Nourishing Our Hearts

    Join us to celebrate what binds us to what is most important in our lives, how we stay present, and how we welcome our whole selves.  Due to COVID rates, we are now in Phase 2 of our reopening plan, and this service will only be offered virtually over Zoom. Click the service title or "Read more" for more information.

  • We’ll Build a Land

    Join us to celebrate the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as we discern how we, together, can build a land of more love and justice. Due to COVID rates, this service will be virtual only. Click the service title or "Read more" for more information.

  • Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

    Join us outdoors at UUS for a candlelight service of carols and readings. We’ll be outdoors for this half hour service so dress warmly, wear a face mask, and be prepared to sing as loudly as you like as we make Christmas music together! There will be no online option for this service.

  • Christmas Eve Family Service

    Join us at UUS or online for our special Christmas Eve family service with lessons, special music, and carols!

  • A Season of Dark & Light

    As our world revolves towards Winter Solstice, we are winding our way towards a centering, a peace, a celebration of long nights. We find ourselves dreaming and wondering as we await the rebirth of the sun. Join us online or in person to celebrate the joy of this special time of darkness and light. The Congregational Meeting will follow this service at 11:15 am. Click the service title or "Read more" for more information.

  • Opening to Joy

    "Joy is hard,” writes one of the authors we’ll hear from today. Join Rev. Diana Smith and Dan Gall online or in-person at UUS as together we celebrate opening to joy. Click the service title or "Read more" for more information.

  • All in for Climate Justice, Food Equity, and Sustainability

    We invite you to join us online or in person for a UN Sunday Service, where Rev. Diana Smith, Ko Ko Lwin, Sally Hartman, and Jim Olson will focus on how working for equitable and sustainable food systems can bring us closer to climate justice. Click the service title or "Read more" for more information.

  • Practicing Gratitude

    We have much to be grateful for! Please join us in-person or online as we celebrate what it means to practice gratitude, welcome new members, and commission this year’s religious education teachers and volunteers! To celebrate all of these things, our all-ages activity during the service we’ll be making friendship bracelets in the Fellowship Hall during and after service. Bracelets can be kept or shared with someone close to you. Click the title or 'Read more' for more information.

  • Loving All of Us

    in us in person or online for a special service where we reflect on what’s “normal,” the joys and challenges of questioning and challenging norms in order to be ourselves, and mark Trans Day of Remembrance and Resilience. The Quire of Eastern Iowa will share special music with us. UUS is sharing this service as part of the Queer Your Faith series through IUUWAN (the Iowa UU Witness and Action Network) and One Iowa. Click the title or 'Read more' for more information.

  • Holding Our Beloveds

    Join us online or at UUS on October 31st to celebrate a Day of Remembrance for all those we love and care about who have died, human and non-human. During the service, Rev. Diana Smith will reflect on the ways we carry our ancestors and other beloveds with us. Click the title or 'Read more' for more information, including how to share your beloved mementos during the service.

  • Celebration of Commitment

    Join us this Sunday as we celebrate the success of our 2022 Stewardship campaign and the many ways we support UUS and each other. Click the service title or “read more” for more information on how to participate.

  • Water is Life!

    Join us in person or online for this special Sunday service where Rev. Diana will be joined by UUS Green Sanctuary members Sally Hartman and Miriam Kashia who will share stories of our alliances and actions with our Indigenous kin and ways we can support the no-more-fossil-fuel-pipelines struggle as we mark Indigenous Peoples Day. The offering this Sunday will support the Catholic Worker House. Click the service title or "read more" for more information on how to participate.

  • (Multiplatform Service) Connecting with Ourselves, Each Other, and the Wider Community

    Join us for this multiplatform Sunday service led by Rev. Diana Smith, where we will kick off our fall stewardship pledge campaign and hold a New Member Ceremony. Congregants and visitors welcome to join us in person or via Zoom. Click the service title or "read more" for more information on how to participate.

  • Ingathering & Water Communion

    Join us for our water communion ingathering. During the service we’ll reflect on the many gifts and lessons of water, resource ourselves in community, and commission the Board of Trustees. Then, from 10:45 to 12:15 we’ll have interactive water communion stations set up on the UUS grounds and you can bring water you collected to pour into our communal bowl. Click the service title or "Read more" for details on how to participate in the service.

  • (Muti-platform Service) This STILL Isn’t What I Had Planned

    Join us for a special worship service as we tell tales of learning about the dark, what happens when a moose joins your campsite, and what happens when a storm blows up in the mountains, and reflect together on the ways we cope, the lessons we learn, and the gifts we can glean when things don’t go the way we hoped and planned. This is a multi-platform service. UUS invites you to join in person or using Zoom. Click the service title or "read more" for more information on how to participate.

  • (Virtual Service) Listening to Ourselves, Listening to Each Other

    What have you and what have we learned about listening? Join us to celebrate the ways we listen to ourselves and each other, and the things we’ve learned about listening over time. This Sunday we’ll also kick off our UUS Listening Campaign and commission our fabulous listeners, who will help us learn more about what’s important to us and who and what we’re called to be in the world. Unfortunately, COVID rates in Johnson County have increased enough this week that we will not be able to invite people to join the service in person. Click the service title or “Read more” for the video streaming link.

  • (Virtual Service) Seeking Grace in the Changing Places

    We’re in a moment of change and also in an uncertain place between changes. Join us as we celebrate and reflect on what it means to be a people who are together navigating transitions in the midst of larger transitions. We will welcome Marsha Thrall, our new Director of Lifespan Religious Education, and Alex Heetland, our new Director of Congregational Music, and as we say goodbye to Dave Rowe, who has been our Online Music Leader for most of the past year. Click the service title or “Read more” for the video streaming link.

  • (Virtual Service) Transitions

    During this worship service, we’ll say goodbye to our beloved Director of Lifespan Religious Education, Jessica Zimmer. Click the service title or “Read more” for the video streaming link.

  • (Virtual Service) PRIDE!

    Join us for our annual LGBTQIA+ Pride worship service! If you’re interested in participating in the service (giving a reflection, doing a reading, being part of a photo montage of what being a queer family looks like, etc.), please contact Rev. Diana at minister@uusic.org. Click the service title or “Read more” for the video streaming link.

  • (Hybrid Service) Blessing of the Animals

    Bring your animal companions and join us online or outside at UUS for a short worship service about interdependence. Those who join us outside at UUS will be able to watch the short virtual service together on a screen, after which Rev. Diana will head outside to bless animal companions of all kinds. Click the service title or “Read more” for the video streaming link.