I have been reflecting on what it has meant to begin this ministry with you. I think about Water Communion in September. Seeing your waters poured and your stories shared reminded me how deeply this congregation cares about belonging and welcome. I remember the small moment afterward when someone stopped me to say they felt like “maybe there is a place for me here.” That sentence has stayed with me. It felt like a quiet blessing placed directly into my hands.

I also think about the week we launched Glitter and Grace. I stood outside, greeting folks while Pride flags fluttered behind me. People I had not even met yet approached with such joy. A few whispered that they had been waiting a long time to feel safe in a church again. I felt the weight of that trust. I also felt the spark of hope that comes when people realize they are loved just as they are.

These moments helped me see what a gift this community is. Not perfect. Not without challenges. Very real. Very alive. Very committed to lifting one another. You have already taught me so much about courage in belonging.

This time of year can hold so much at once. Family traditions, cultural celebrations, quiet grief, joyful anticipation, memories that warm us, and stories still healing. In the midst of all that complexity, our congregation becomes a place of grounding. When we gather in worship, music, learning, and service, we remind one another that no one moves through the dark or the light alone.

Over the next two months, we will explore what it means to practice gratitude that grows roots and to embody hope that does not require certainty. We will light candles, share stories, bless our neighbors, and keep creating the kind of world we long for. There will be moments of celebration. There will be space for sorrow. Most of all, there will be a community making room for each person just as they are.

Thank you for being part of this sacred journey. Your presence matters. Your gifts matter, your hope matters. I am grateful to belong with you through every season.

May gratitude nourish you.
May hope strengthen you.
May love carry us forward together.

With warmth and joy,
Rev. Phoenix

 

Hello Members and Friends of UUCV

I invite you to “Breath In, Breath Out” and “Breath in Peace” and “Breath out Love”

As we move into fall and winter, a traditional time of contemplative and inward reflection
when the earth is preparing to heal and rest, I invite you to do the same. In saying this,
I also recognize that the trials and tribulations of our country are sometimes too much to
hold and this is where our community can come together in support of each other, the
local community and the world. UUCV has come together in some amazing ways
recently, showing up for our Boiling Springs community in solidarity with local
community members to offer love and prayer for school shooting victims as well as a
safer space for community members. A loving, powerful message of #UUBelong and
beautiful showing of luminaries decorated our lawn, thank you to all that showed up and
to our Community Minister Rev. Chris Kapp. UUCV also showed/shown up for “No
Kings” in both Harrisburg and Carlisle in great numbers showing our support for
democracy and support for the wider community. Our faith and values call us to take
these actions and continue this work. Showing our values in action is a great way to
show the greater community what being a Unitarian Universalist means as well as
ongoing outreach and presence in the community.

The board had a Fall check-in with our UUA Congregational Life Representative,
Lenore Bajare-Dukes. In this session board members were able to participate with UUA
staff in efforts to create a bond to our larger organization. One of the topics was about
entering into new ministry. In saying that, I would encourage all of you to make time to
have a one- on-one or small group discussion with our Minister, Rev. Phoenix.

This Saturday the 25 th , all committee chairs will meet with Rev. Phoenix, Lynn Sodora
and myself to plan and collaborate on the next quarter. This “Council of Committees”
(not attached to the name) will offer a touch point for all committees to come together in
covenant to communicate about and plan events for the coming quarter.

I want to wish you all Happy Holidays as there many of them in the next months. I
would like to leave you with something I heard from a life-long UU recently, “being in a
covenantal faith seems like so much more work than a dogmatic faith because ideas
(knowledge and science) are constantly evolving and we must keep up.” While the
work may be hard, the goals are well worth it.

 

 

 

As the leaves turn and the light softens, November invites us into the quiet rhythm of gratitude—not the kind that demands cheerfulness or perfection, but the kind that listens deeply to what is already here. Gratitude is not about ignoring what hurts or pretending everything is okay. It’s about pausing long enough to notice the small miracles that persist in the midst of it all: the warmth of a mug between our hands, the laughter of a friend, the beauty of a community that keeps showing up for one another.

This month, our worship invites us to practice gratitude as a form of resistance—against scarcity, against despair, against the myth that we are never enough. Together, we will explore how gratitude can soften us, ground us, and remind us that even in complicated times, there is grace to be found in simply being alive, together.

May this be a season of noticing and belonging

May we give thanks for what has been, for what is, and for what is still unfolding.

In gratitude and love,
Rev. Phoenix Bell-Shelton Biggs

(All services begin at 10:30 AM unless otherwise noted.)

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November 2 - Blessed Be  Cheryl Parsons

What can the movie White Christmas, the Christian holy day All Souls Day, and Jesus’s words found in the Beatitudes teach us about living a life rich in blessings? With a fresh look at these familiar words based on Jesus's original Aramaic, the Beatitudes provide multiple layers of depth worth considering.

November 9 – The Practice of Enough Rev. Phoenix Bell-Shelton Biggs
In a world that constantly urges us to strive for more—more success, more productivity, more perfection—what does it mean to say, enough? This service invites us into the spiritual practice of sufficiency: of noticing what is already here, already whole, already worthy. Together, we’ll explore the grace in setting down scarcity, the courage in embracing limits, and the freedom that comes when we realize we are already enough—and so is this moment.

November 16 – Seeds of Gratitude   Rev. Phoenix Bell-Shelton Biggs
Every act of gratitude is a seed—planted in our hearts, our community, and the world. Sometimes the soil is rich, sometimes it is rocky, but still the seeds take root. This service explores how gratitude grows in unexpected places, teaching us resilience, humility, and hope.

November 20 – Trans Day of Remembrance @ 6:00 pm @ Dickerson College
Community LeadersJoin us for a sacred gathering to honor the lives of transgender and gender-expansive people lost to anti-trans violence. Through ritual, prayer, and community witness, we will remember, grieve, and recommit ourselves to the ongoing work of justice and liberation.

November 23 – "The Gratitude Jar: Holding It All” Rev. Phoenix Bell-Shelton Biggs

 

November 30 – Cultural Gratitude Rick Sollman

 

 

Our December Worship Theme is Choosing Hope

This December, communities around the world celebrate seasons of light and renewal: Advent, Hanukkah, Bodhi Day, Yule and the Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa, and more. Each tradition carries a shared message: hope endures. Even in the longest nights, something within us still turns toward light and connection. Our worship this month invites us to practice that courageous hope. We will look for what still glimmers, honor love that persists without guarantees, and remember that choosing hope is one way we help create the future we long for. Join us for ritual, story, music, and community as we journey together through this sacred season.

 - Rev. Phoenix Bell-Shelton Biggs 

 

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December 7 “Hope Without Guarantees” Rev. Phoenix Bell-Shelton Biggs

Hope does not require certainty. It asks us to keep imagining a future worth living into, even when outcomes are unclear. This service explores hope as a practice of courage and resilience that grows stronger when shared. Together we will remember that hope is not naïve. It is one of the most powerful ways we co-create change

 

December 14  “Let There Be Light” Rev. Phoenix Bell-Shelton Biggs

Light has long symbolized guidance, renewal, and the holy spark within each of us. As the nights stretch long, we gather to celebrate the light that persists even when hidden. Through music, ritual, and reflection, we will lift up the ways love and joy continue to shine. We honor the light each person carries. Together we help that light grow brighter.

 

 

 

 

December 24 – 6:00 PM  Christmas Eve - Rev. Phoenix Bell-Shelton Biggs  “Because I Knew You: The Love That Changes Everything”  On this holy night, we remember that love came into the world not through royalty or power, but through relationship. The birth of Jesus is not just a miracle—it is a story of connection, courage, and chosen love. Drawing on the final, tender moment of Wicked, this Christmas Eve sermon reflects on how knowing one another—truly knowing—changes us forever. Through the lens of Elphaba and Glinda, and Mary and her newborn child, we’ll explore how love, when embodied and shared, becomes the very presence of the holy.

 

 

I was recently and officially commissioned as an Affiliated Community Minister for UUCV, and I'm excited to use this column to explore what that means for us. So, what  is community ministry? The Unitarian Universalist Society for Community Ministry defines it as "a form of ministry that extends beyond the walls of a single congregation. It is ministry that serves the wider community and is accountable to that community."

 

In short, it’s about taking our values and our love out into the world, meeting people where they are, and furthering our mission to transform lives and care for the world.

 

Even before my commissioning service, an immediate opportunity for this kind of ministry presented itself. In early October, I received word that folks affiliated with Turning Point PA were planning a sunset march and rally at Children's Lake in response to the death of Charlie Kirk. They planned to use lanterns and other lights to send a visual message that they and their ideology are the truth and the light in our community.

 

Lights in the dark are a powerful visual. Immediately, my mind and heart turned to all the marginalized people who live in Boiling Springs, in Carlisle, and in the surrounding areas. I knew that seeing those lights, and knowing the values behind them, would make many feel disheartened, afraid, and unwanted in their own community.

 

It became clear to me that we needed to counter that visual, counter that message. Not with signs and shouts at a counter-protest, but with  more light. With another visual. I decided that the best way to share our values, in this instance, was to give people something else, something far more hopeful,  to look at.

 

Instead of an intimidating march carrying lights like torches, I envisioned our church home, shining like a lighthouse of hope. I saw our sanctuary gently lit for vespers, serving as the backdrop for a simple billboard-style sign. This sign, lit with twinkling, warm white light, would state one powerful message: #UUBelong. It would sit front and center on our lawn, which we would dot with lovely, warm luminaries. It would be a quiet, bold statement of belonging and dignity, set up in a way that invoked peace and a firm foundation of conviction. A guiding beacon of inclusion leading to a house of love. 

 

I ran the idea by Rev. Phoenix, and with their blessing, started gathering materials. Through social media and word of mouth, I asked for gallon milk jugs, kitty litter, tea light candles, Christmas lights, plywood, and paint. The response was wonderful—folks both within and outside the congregation came through.

 

Several of us spent the day cleaning and cutting the milk jugs into luminaries and painting the sign. We set up the display just before dusk on October 14th. Tara, and later Ryanne, set up chairs on the lawn to monitor the luminaries and keep an eye on the installation as folks walked past the building and down to the lake.

 

I hope that those who walked past on their way to the lake heard our message loud and clear: there is no place for hateful rhetoric in our community. We received lots of supportive honks and waves from folks driving past, and lots of positive chatter on social media about the installation. Several folks who didn't know who we were reached out to ask about UUCV because the lights spoke to them and they wanted to know more. 

 

This is what #BeyondTheBuilding means.

 

 It means getting our name out into the community, showing up when it matters most, and, above all, lighting the way home for people who are looking for community, longing for belonging, and need UUCV more than they know.

 

The sign and the luminaries have been packed up and put away for now, but I constructed them to be reused by others in the church. I hope you'll see them again for other UUCV activities, as well as on solstices, equinoxes, and other holidays—any time we need a little more beauty, dignity, and light.

 

Rev. Chris Kapp