We are always glad to welcome visitors to our services and encourage you to visit with us during the social hour afterward. Please take any information pamphlets that interest you. We suggest you visit several times since each service is different. Dress at services is always informal, and ample parking is available near the building.
The Flaming Chalice
A flame within a chalice represents the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), and is a symbol of our faith.
Hans Deutsch, an Austrian artist, first brought together the chalice and the flame as a Unitarian symbol during his work with the Unitarian Service Committee during World War II. To Deutsch, the image had connotations of sacrifice and love. Unitarian Universalists today have many different interpretations of the image.
UU congregations are free to use the logo in their congregational work, but they are not required to do so. Because of this, you may see many different styles of flaming chalices and other images used by UU congregations.
Order of Service
Normally, Sunday services involve a lay leader, one of our two ministers, and our pianist, Martha Grossman. Services typically include the following components, interspersed with a hymn or responsive reading from the UU hymnal Singing the Living Tradition:
- Call to worship, with piano prelude
- Welcome and Announcements*
- Joys and Sorrows**
- Opening words
- Chalice lighting with unison reading printed in the order of service
- Song for Gathering
- Reading
- Meditation in words, silence, and music
- Sermon or talk
- Sharing of responsibility (offering)
- Closing words
- Extinguishing chalice with unison reading printed in order of service
- Piano postlude
*In addition to announcements about church-related activities, announcements may be made about non-political community and cultural events/performances in which congregation members are involved. To relay information about a political event or primarily commercial enterprise, please do NOT make an announcement during the service, but instead bring printed materials to leave on the table by the kitchen to be shared and discussed individually during coffee hour.
**One way we acknowledge the interconnected web that joins us as a community is to share both the special joys that touch our hearts and the sorrows that bring us pain. If you have a joy or sorrow, you are invited to come forward at this point in the service, choose a stone and share your thoughts before placing the stone in the basin of water.
Traditional Services
Throughout the year, we hold seasonal events and services that have become traditions for the Unitarian Congregation of Taos.
- July: Independence Day Picnic
- New member recognition – twice a year or as needed
- October: Blessing of the Animals
- November: Day of the Dead Altar Service, Fall Harvest
- December: Christmas Eve, Holiday Music Service, Burning Bowls Ceremony
We meet each Sunday at the Masonic Lodge at 11:00 a.m.