Announcement submission deadline: Mondays at Noon

Sunday Services

Worship: 9:00am (onsite) | 10:45am (onsite & online)

After-Service Forum: 12:15pm (onsite & online)

Sunday, February 22, 2026:

“Creative Resilience” with Rev. Liz Ullery Swenson

Author Ursula K. Le Guin wrote in her essay collection The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader and the Imagination, “The exercise of imagination is dangerous to those who profit from the way things are because it has the power to show that the way things are is not permanent, not universal, not necessary.”

After-Service Forum:

Faith Formation as an Individual Journey with Rev. Sara

Click here for more information about upcoming services.

Join Us Online!

Worship at 10:45am | After-Service Forum at 12:15pm

Join on Zoom

Interact with the community and access live captions.
Meeting ID: 873 210 124 | Passcode: 2306

Watch on Youtube

View the live stream or watch anytime after.

Join by Phone
Dial +1 (253) 205-0468 to listen to the service audio-only.

Last week's services

Sunday, February 15, 2026:

“Congregational Resilience” with Rev. Mary Gear

After-Service Forum:

We Are Growing- Now What? Part 3 with the Board of Trustees

Click here for more information about recent services.

Important Community Updates

Rooted in Love - Nurture all we love at OUUC

OUUC’s “Rooted in Love - Nurture all we love at OUUC” stewardship drive is off to a great start.

So far, we’ve had 25 pledges and a total of $119,200 pledged!

You should have received a packet in your mailbox with a pledge card, letter and giving chart. If that hasn’t reached you yet, we’ll be in the commons with more copies after each service, and you can find all of the packet materials plus additional info including next year’s budget on the web by clicking here.

You’ll also find "Pledge Here" buttons on the web that will take you right into OUUC’s tracking of pledges on Realm.

Questions? Reach out to Kirsten Hill or Jen Sabel.

Office and Building Closures

Rev. Mary Gear will be away and not checking email from Friday, February 20 through Sunday, February 22.

SWIFT Food Drive for Immigrant Families

For the rest of February, OUUC's immigration justice team Siding With Immigrant Families Together (SWIFT) will collect food for immigrant families who fear being detained if they go the store. This is a repeat of the food drive we did in November. We will deliver our collections to a local church which maintains a food pantry for immigrant families. Please put your donations in the collection boxes in the OUUC Commons.

FOODS NEEDED: Masa (10 lb bag), Oil (1 qt or less), Canned fruit (14 oz.), Canned beans (14 oz), Canned corn (14 oz), Angel Hair pasta, Shelf-stable tortillas, Tostadas, Top Ramen, onions, potatoes.

We also need help transporting the food to a local church. If you're available one or more times in February, please contact Steve Tilley

-OUUC SWIFT (Siding With Immigrant Families Together)

Coffee Hour Volunteers Needed

Our coffee hours are only possible through the help of volunteers who make the coffee, set everything up, and wash the dishes after. Please sign up on the sign up sheet in the commons on Sunday.

Winter Weather Building Closure Procedures

Here's what to expect for building closures in the event of winter weather this season. On weekdays, if Olympia School District closes, we close too. We may also close when overnight freezing is forecasted, even if schools stay open. Please let church staff know if you notice severe weather developing in your area or in the forecast. For Sunday services, we check the forecast on Saturday and decide. If we close due to weather, we'll hold one online-only service at 10:45 AM via Zoom. Check your email, our website, and social media for closure announcements, and stay safe!

Bags to Benches: Plastics Challenge

Turn your plastic waste into a NexTrex bench! OUUC is participating in the NexTrex Challenge to divert plastic film from landfills and transform it into NexTrex composite decking, and win a NexTrex park bench. Drop your clean plastic bags (grocery, bread, dry cleaning, ice, cereal, ziplock and produce), bubble wrap, plastic shipping envelopes, overwraps from paper towels, and newspaper sleeves in the large collection box in the back hallway. Our volunteers will transport collected plastic to become durable Trex decking. Every bag you bring helps keep plastic out of our water ways!

The Parking Lot is Getting Full!

We have had rising attendance at our Sunday worship services and so we're facing a new challenge with having enough parking spots. It's a good challenge to have! If you are able, please help us remain welcoming with available parking. Carpool, ride the #41 bus, bike, or walk to church if you can! Click here to see more about transit to OUUC.

Beware of Scams Via Email And Text

Beware of periodic scammers via email and text. You may be contacted by scammers impersonating Rev. Mary or other church staff. Scammers also try to reach people via text. Often, they will ask for you to contact them right away, and they may ask for financial assistance/information or contact information of others at the church. Always double check and make sure the email or text was sent from a source you recognize. Scammers will create new addresses that appear like a known email address. When in doubt, check in with the person in your life who appears to be trying to contact you, using a known contact method.

Hearing Aid Found at OUUC

This green Phonak hearing aid was found on the walkway in front of the OUUC Commons two weekends ago. Please contact Anita Thompson or the office if this is your lost hearing aid.

Tiny Little News Show

In this week's Tiny Little News, hear about the Stewardship campaign and recent and upcoming events

This Week's Gatherings

Community Dinner: Beautiful Brassicas

Thurs, Feb 19, 5:30pm

Kitchen and Commons

This week's community dinner menu will be a celebration of Beautiful Brassicas. All are welcome for food and fellowship at 5:30pm. If you'd like to help cook, set up, or clean up, please sign up using the button above.

Drop In Soul Matters Group

Thurs, Feb 19, 6:30pm

Classroom 3

All are welcome to the monthly drop in Soul Matters group, a space for sharing and reflection on the spiritual theme of the month. The theme for February is Embodying Resilience. You can pick up a Soul Matters packet in the Commons.

Youth Exploration of Embodying Resilience

Thurs, Feb 19, 6:30pm

Youth Room

All youth in middle and high school are invited to come explore our theme of the month, which is Embodying Resilience, through games, media, discussion, and more.

Growing Anti-Racist Kids: for ages 5-10

Thurs, Feb 19, 6:30pm

Spiritplay Room

Learn More & Register Here

The important goal of the curriculum is for children to respect and value difference in skin shades while recognizing the need to promote love and justice for all. The first lessons proceed from self-awareness, family differences, friendships at school and in neighborhoods, church beliefs around respect and diversity, recognition of one’s community, and of the world. Each lesson connects to UU values, in a language for children’s understanding. Ultimately, we aim to help children to recognize that persons have far more qualities than their appearances, that the possibilities of truly knowing, or knowing about them, far exceeds looking at them or at their pictures.

Olympia Area Grief Ritual

Sat, Feb 21, 12:30pm

OUUC

We have forgotten how to grieve. And in forgetting how to grieve, we have forgotten how to live. At our community grief ritual, we will gather to remember how to grieve. Together we will build a temporary village, share our truths, and support each other in expressing grief. At this event the facilitators will invite the group into a different and older kind of relating, where we listen to each other and offer support by simply being present. This will include opportunities to share our truths with the full group and small groups. We will gradually build a ritual container, leading to a grief ritual modeled on traditional community rituals for death, loss, and healing. The ritual will be an opportunity for participants to express their grief in a group setting where grief is radically welcomed (a first-time experience for many in our culture).

Rev. Mary Gear will be present for this ritual.

Sewing Ministry

Sat, Feb 21, 12:30pm

OUUC

If you enjoy simple sewing and friendly conversation, join us to work on an ongoing project. No quilting experience needed! You're most welcome to just drop in, or contact Claudia McNeill if you'd like more info ahead of time.

Drama Workshop- With Janet Spencer

Sat, Feb 21, 1:00pm

OUUC

Registration is reopened for the Drama Workshop/Theatre Games class. We meet on Saturdays from 1:00 to 2:30 in the youth room at OUUC. Come have fun doing acting exercises and reading plays aloud. No experience necessary. For adults young and old.

Reflection Group

Every Sunday, 10:00am

OUUC Youth Room

We have restarted the post Sunday service conversations of sermon reflection and fellowship. Following first service pick up your beverage and join us in the Youth Room for our small group follow up. We hope you will join us!

Questions? Check with Curt Hill, Lee Doyle, Nancy Curtiss or Chloe Meyer

New UU: How We Connect

Sun, Feb 22, 2:00pm

Online Only

Learn More & Register Here

This winter our New UU class (the requirement for membership at OUUC) will be on Zoom Sundays 2-3:30pm. The class on 2/15 will be about how we connect, with Rev. Sara. Interested by can't make Sundays? Our class will begin again on Thursday evenings starting April 9th

Upcoming Gatherings

Nia Dance

Every Tuesday at 9:00am

OUUC

Love to dance? Interested in feeling better through fitness based in joy? Join us every Tuesday from 9-10 a.m. this winter in classrooms 3 & 4 for Nia dance. Nia is a blend of the healing arts, dance arts, and martial arts. With choreography based in the anatomy and a strong FreeDance component, it’s a unique mix of science and spirit. Most of all, it’s just fun! Wear comfortable workout clothing, bring a water bottle, and optional yoga mat. You can dance in shoes or barefoot. Cost: Donation. Contact instructor for more at kristy.woodford@proton.me or 360.508.2800

4th Annual Chili Cookoff

Thurs, Feb 26, 5:30pm

OUUC

Dust off your recipes! Our 4th Annual competitive Chili Cookoff will be on Thurs 2/26. We will have voting and prizes for two categories: vegetarian and meat. Let Rev Sara know if you plan to bring a pot of chili.

Of Reel Importance: Multigen Documentary and Discussion

Thurs, Feb 26, 6:30pm

Youth Room

All are welcome to join Rev Sara this Thursday for a new offering, a documentary and discussion after the community dinner. This Thursday we will be watching "Uncovering Boarding Schools". Read more info about the documentary here.

Nature Group: Woodard Bay

Sat, Feb 28, 10:00am

Woodard Bay Conservation Area

All ages are welcome to join the OUUC Nature Group for a stroll at the Woodard Bay trail. This is a flat and accessible trail. RSVP to Rev Sara at dcfd@ouuc.org

OUUC visits a Black History Month Exhibit

Sat, Feb 28, 1:00pm

New Life Baptist Church

Join Rev. Mary to tour the pop-up Black History Month Exhibit at New Life Baptist Church on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 1:00pm.

Please email Rev. Mary at minister@ouuc.org if you plan to attend, so the organizers know how many of us to welcome.

Rev. Mary will meet you there. New Life Baptist Church is at 7838 Pacific Ave SE, Lacey, WA 98503.

If you'd like a ride, you can meet Rev. Mary at OUUC at 12:30pm; she has room for 2 others, so let her know you need a ride.

UU Common Read: Social Change Now Workshop

Sat, March 14, 10:00am

OUUC

Join Rev. Sara for a one day workshop (with lunch provided) to explore the ecosystem of social change makers model and how it can inform our work to change the world.

The UU Common Read for Deepa Iyer’s Social Change Now! offers Unitarian Universalists a path to growing more authentic, connected, and effective as individuals and communities pursuing the social justice missions we share.

Whatever the social justice priorities of your particular congregation, at its core, Unitarian Universalism embodies transformation. All of us who covenant to be together are engaged with making the world a better place. As humanists, we take responsibility as agents of transformation to make it so. This Common Read guides us to apply the teachings and practices of Social Change Now to activate, re-invigorate, and support social justice projects throughout our movement and all our common work for change.

Copies of the book are available at OUUC or you can order one from the UUA bookstore.

Monthly Chronic Illness Support Group

Wed, Mar 18, 5:00pm

Online

This group will be a space for sharing and support for anyone coping with chronic illness or disability, facilitated by Rev Sara and members of the pastoral care team. We will meet on zoom on the 3rd Wed of each month, 5pm. Email Rev. Sara at dcfd@ouuc.org with questions. There is an optional book to accompany this group, Tend to Your Spirit: Mindful Living with Chronic Illness, by Julianne Lepp and Florence Caplow, available in the Commons or you can order one from the UUA bookstore.

Tao of Gender

Thurs, March 26, 6:30pm

OUUC

In person on Thursday nights... We’ll use today’s language of gender to explore Taoist ideas, not as fixed truths, but as symbols that spark reflection in our hearts and minds. While the 2002 book The Tao of Gender serves as an anchor, we recognize it as one Western perspective. To honor the tradition and de-center whiteness, we invite this text into conversation with scholars and practitioners from China and Thailand. There is no homework.

Class instructor: Schyler P. Raad, is a nonbinary educator and lifelong learner with experience facilitating dialogue-based classes. Learn more about the Tao of Gender class by clicking here.

Save the date for OUUC’s Annual Auction!

Sat, May 16, 2026

ASHHO Cultural Community Center

Mark your calendar for Saturday, May 16, 2026 for the OUUC annual auction! All are invited to the live auction and dinner. We are thrilled to return to ASHHO Cultural Community Center in Tumwater for the live auction again this year.

Can’t attend the live event? The online auction will begin the week before the live auction and close May 17.

The auction is a terrific way to make meaningful connections, strengthen our community resources, and have fun. Want to help? All sorts of roles are needed in the planning process and event—procurement, tech assistance with the auction system, and more. Email Jason.OUUCauction.@gmail.com if interested.

Faith in Action Opportunities & Resources

Faith in Action:

Week of Feb 15, 2026

Quick ways to make a difference: petitions to sign, calls to make, comments to submit. Do one or do them all, every action counts.

This Week's Actions

February Faith in Action Digest

This month's trainings, resources, and action opportunities; everything you need to show up for our community!

View February Digest

OUUC Side with Love Shirt

Get ready to represent OUUC and Side with Love at gatherings and justice events by ordering your yellow T-Shirt ahead of time!

Order Your Shirt

Community Connections

Olympia Peace Vigil

Every Friday, 4:30pm

Fourth & Water Street, Downtown Olympia

Please join Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) every Friday in a friendly Peace Vigil for whatever length of time you can. Olympia FOR’s Friday Vigils have been occurring for decades and are now joined by other groups including The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice and peaceful individuals who continue to advocate and stand together for peace, a permanent ceasefire, an arms embargo, and justice for Palestine. Peace signs are provided.

Black History Month Events

Throughout February

New Life Baptist Church in Lacey

This year marks the 100th Anniversary of the observance of Black History Month and the New Life Baptist Church is once again providing a month of activities. The highlight of our February month is the Pop-Up Black History Museum which opens Saturday, February 7th at noon until 4:00 PM and will be open to the public every Saturday thereafter from 12:00 PM until 4:00 PM during the month and Sundays 12:00 noon to 2:00 PM following church service. A Genealogy Workshop will take place on Saturday, February 7th from 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM at the LDS Church’s Cultural Center in Olympia, our partner in this activity. All are welcome. Educational Field Trips are available the weeks of February 9th to 20th for middle and high school students and Groups/Organizations are welcome to tour the museum from February 23rd to the 27th from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Youth Activities will be featured at the church for 1st – 12th grade students on Saturday, February 14th and February 21st from 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM.

Accompaniment Volunteer Training

Wed, Feb 18, 6:00pm

Online

Become an Accompaniment Volunteer with WAISN (Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network) to support immigrants as they navigate the immigration system. Join our upcoming virtual training where volunteers will learn to provide support through immigration court appointments while gaining a deeper understanding of the impact immigration systems have on our communities. Bilingual volunteers are especially encouraged to join, though not required. Languages currently needed include Spanish, Mam, Portuguese, and Q’anjob’al.

You can find the registration for this and more events at the button above labeled "Register Here".

Stepping Into Community: Immigrant Rights & Neighborhood Solidarity

Sat, Feb 21, 1:00pm

Olympia

We in the South West Olympia Neighborhood Association (SWONA) are excited to invite you to a community connection opportunity to strengthen our bonds and networks in anticipation of a surge in ICE presence like we’ve seen in other parts of the country.

We wish to take proactive steps to learn from each other and the work we’re doing, as well as receive a Know Your Rights training from Thurston Immigrant Solidarity League (THISL, the local chapter of WAISN) and discuss how to respond as a neighborhood to the targeting of our neighbors.

This 3 hour gathering will be held on Saturday, February 21, from 1-4pm and is registration only, maximum 60 people. Register early to secure your spot! After registering, you will receive location information and housekeeping items closer to the day of the workshop.

All levels of experience are welcome. If you feel called to look out for your neighbor but don’t know where to begin, then this workshop is for you.

Civic Engagement Training

Fri, Feb 25, 4:00pm

Olympia Timberland Library

What social, political, or environmental issues do you care deeply about? Do you know how our state government is addressing these issues in the 2026 Legislative Session, and how you can add your voice to the conversation? Join the Office of the Secretary of State for Civic Engagement Office Hours, a nonpartisan initiative to support civic participation and demystify the legislative process in WA state. Drop in to the Library every 2nd and 4th Friday during the legislative session to visit with staff who can connect your interests to civic engagement opportunities this session. Learn how to use the state’s numerous digital tools to track the bills being introduced and participate in the public debate on these bills. Upcoming session dates are Feb 25 and a special "Sine Die" celebration on March 13.

The Woodlands: Monthly Trans & Nonbinary Gathering

Sun, Mar 1, 1:00pm

Online

We are excited to highlight The Woodlands, a UUA-sponsored monthly online gathering designed as pastoral care and spiritual grounding for trans, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people of all ages, as well as their parents, caregivers, and chosen family. Each session includes a shared grounding message, small-group breakout spaces tailored to different communities within the circle, and time for meaningful connection, celebration, and support

Aiming for Allyship Training

Mar 12 - May 7, 4:00pm

Online

Aiming for Allyship is a 12-hour multiracial intersectional antiracism training occurring on four Thursdays from 4:00 PM to 7:00pm. Important note: We have separate registration forms to be able to easily assess and be intentional about the balance of BIPOC and White participants in the course. Please be sure to complete the appropriate form.