Next Sunday · September 20 · 10 am
“How to Church”
Sunday worship
We gather every Sunday at 10 am, in the sanctuary and live on Zoom. A service runs about an hour: music, a lesson for all ages, readings, and a sermon, with time to share the week’s joys and concerns. Here is what to expect, and what’s coming up.
This Sunday, and recent services
After that · Sunday, September 27 · 10 am
“Practice Makes Possible”
Recent services
- Sep 13, 2026 “Ingathering and Water Communion” With Emily C. Jones Order of service — “Ingathering and Water Communion” Watch — “Ingathering and Water Communion”
- Sep 6, 2026 “Labors of Love” With Rev. Tara Humphries & Friends Order of service — “Labors of Love”
- Aug 30, 2026 Earth – A Planet Worth Protecting With Climate Café leaders Order of service — Earth – A Planet Worth Protecting
- Aug 23, 2026 A Mathematician Walks in the Woods With Delene Perley Order of service — A Mathematician Walks in the Woods
- Aug 16, 2026 Intellectual Bonding in Developing Community With Michael Schack & Norm Stickney
A Sunday service
The service follows a familiar shape. We begin with a welcome and the week’s announcements. We light the chalice, sing, and offer a lesson for all ages. People name their joys and concerns; there are readings, a sermon, and a few minutes of quiet. Near the end we take an offering, a third of which goes each week to a local nonprofit.
A2U2 is a Unitarian Universalist congregation, which shapes how we worship together. As a covenantal tradition, we are united by shared values rather than a shared creed or set of beliefs.
New to a Sunday here? Plan your first visit for the practical details: where to park, what to wear, and what the children get up to.
The church year
From September through June we hold regular services, most of them led by our Minister, the Rev. Tara Humphries. About once a month a service is led by members of the congregation.
Summer is quieter. In July and August services are smaller and informal, led by members, and held in the round rather than from the pulpit.
Music
There is music in every service: anthems from the choir, hymns sung by the whole congregation, solos from our talented members and friends, and the jazz improvisations of Dale Churchill, our Music Director, at the piano. It carries the spirit and energy of the community as much as anything we do.
The choir rehearses Thursdays, 7–8:30 pm, and sings in many of our Sunday services. New voices are welcome!
If you’d like to sing or play, come find us.
Holidays and traditions
A few services mark the turning of the year, and people look forward to them.
Water Communion opens the church year, the first Sunday after Labor Day. Bring a little water symbolic of a place of spiritual significance, or from somewhere summer took you; the waters are combined and blessed for rituals in the year to come.
Flower Communion typically falls on the third Sunday of June: a hundred-year-old tradition of bringing a flower for the common vase, and taking a different one home.
The Winter Solstice service and ritual has been led by the Allen Avenue Pagan Group for over 35 years. On Christmas Eve we hold at least one service, which ends with the singing of Silent Night by candlelight. We mark other holy days too, including Easter, Rosh Hashanah, Passover, Epiphany, Imbolc, and more, working to balance our core value of pluralism with cultural humility and sensitivity to appropriation. Many of these services include rituals and opportunities for our young people to participate.
Weddings, memorials, and dedications
The Rev. Tara Humphries officiates at the milestones of a life, for members and for the wider community.
Child dedications
Because Unitarian Universalists believe that all children are born beloved, whole, and blessed, we hold child dedications not to dedicate our children so much as to dedicate ourselves to their care. In the ceremony we name the child, for it is by name that each of us is known as a unique person, and we bless them with water, since all life arises from and is sustained by water. The congregation pledges to share in the child’s care and growth. Dedications usually happen in a Sunday service so the community can make that promise, and can be held at any age, in infancy and through the teenage years.
Weddings
We bless the marriages of couples of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and family structures; where there is love, we find the presence of the holy among us. In the UU tradition there is freedom to shape a ceremony around your own deepest values and your faith traditions or origin, together with the Minister.
Memorial services
We hold many different beliefs about the mystery of death, but are united in the conviction that love is stronger than death. Funerals, memorial services, and celebrations of life for members of our congregation are planned and led by the Minister together with the family, and we welcome favorite poems, songs, stories, and personal sharing. Our Minister may be available for non-member memorials at our church, depending on their schedule. To talk about a ceremony, reach the office at [email protected] or (207) 747-3299.
Community members can rent our building for memorials and small weddings; see our space and how to book it.
Taking part
We have a tradition of shared ministry at A2U2; each person is part of the ministry of our church. Members read, make music, lead the lesson for all ages, and now and then preach. For many, taking part in worship this way is an important expression of their spiritual life.
The lay-led Worship Committee coordinates about one service a month through the regular church year, and all of the summer services, sometimes leading them and sometimes inviting another group to. Committees also lead services from time to time, inviting the congregation to learn more about what they do and how it advances our shared values. If you’d like to take part, we’d be glad to hear from you.
How to join a service
We gather at 10 am in the sanctuary, with the same service live on Zoom; if the morning doesn’t work, the recording follows later in the week.
- In person
- Sundays at 10 am, 524 Allen Avenue in Portland: plan your first visit. There’s a parking lot, a level entrance, and a greeter at the door to say hello.
- On Zoom
- Sundays at 10 am, live from the sanctuary: join on Zoom. It’s the same link every week, so you can keep it.
- Later
- Midweek, once the recording is up: watch on our YouTube channel. Or browse past services, with orders of service.
Related topics: sermons, services, music, choir, hymns, liturgy, communion, prayer, Rev, reverend, pastor, minister, Sunday service, worship times.