About Us
Next Service
Sunday, July 19, 2026, 10:00 a.m.
Community Sunday – Block Party
“Don’t Hesitate”
Service Leaders:
Rev. Amy Brooks, Guest Minister
June Blotnick, Lay Service Leader
John Herrick, Director of Music
Community Compass
My Seasons
by Megan Van Fleet
As we prepare for our Stewardship campaign, I want to share why this community remains essential to our family. This month perfectly illustrates it: heartbreaking global news alongside a beautiful wedding in this sanctuary. Through these cycles, this community remains a haven for celebration, grieving, and commitment to action.
Jim and I joined in 2008. Since then, we’ve changed jobs, created two amazing humans, and grown older. And yet, here we are still.
What I’ve learned is that a healthy spiritual community doesn’t demand we stay the same in every season. Instead, it meets us where we are—and makes room for who we’re becoming.
My growing season: When we first arrived, I needed space to explore what being Unitarian Universalist meant—not just intellectually, but relationally and spiritually. You gave me that space. No one rushed me to declare certainty. I learned that belonging isn’t about immediate contribution—it’s about relationship and presence.
My giving season: Later, I stepped into leadership—serving on the Board, Vision Steering Team, and Social Justice efforts. This community trusted me with responsibility, allowing me to lead and make mistakes. I learned that even in seasons of strong contribution, our worth isn’t contingent on productivity.
My quiet season: Now I’m in a season where capacity has shifted. I needed permission to rest, to trust my belonging wasn’t fragile. And again, you met me there—no guilt, no tallying of attendance. When I do show up, I’m met with warmth and “How have you been?” rather than “Where have you been?”
I stay because the UUCC understands that faithfulness doesn’t look the same in every season. In a culture equating worth with output, this community insists that inherent worth and dignity are not seasonal.
A Generous Gift
In November of 2024, the UUCC received an amazing gift, a sculpture created by well known artist and UUCC member, Charles Pilkey. The sculpture, titled Amrita Devi, was first introduced to the congregation at the service on Sunday, November 24. We are immensely grateful to Charles for not only donating such a beautiful and valuable piece of art to the UUCC, but also for the thought he put into the donation as it honors the values and mission that we strive to.
Next time you are at the UUCC, take a look. The sculpture is located next to the Memorial Garden on the Hardwick Rd side of the building.
In the meantime, you can learn more about the sculpture and its meaning below. And you can find out more information about Charles and his work here: www.technozoicdreams.com.
click to enlarge
AMRITA DEVI
Years ago, when I chanced upon the story of Amrita Devi, of how she led a revolt of impoverished villagers in 18th century India to stop a king from cutting down their sacred forest, I was stunned … felt obliged to commemorate the story in steel and bronze. Amrita devised a plan to save the forest from the king’s woodcutters by encouraging her friends to wrap their arms around the trees. Alas … over 360 villagers were chopped to death (including Amrita and her daughters) until the king finally relented and stopped the logging. But the trees they saved are still alive today and Amrita’s sacrifice would engender India’s 20th century Chipko (tree hugging) Movement and inspire environmentalists everywhere.
Creativity is a most salient feature of our species, but one that carries a heavy moral burden, for depending on intent it can be employed for benevolent or destructive purposes. Yet history is replete with examples of small communities that when bonded by moral courage and guided by creative thinking did much to advance social justice and the rights of nature. Creativity … never underestimate its power to heal the wounds of a broken world.
Board of Trustees Honors Two Remarkable UUCC Members
During the service on Sunday, November 3, the Board of Trustees of the Unitarian Universalist Community of Charlotte presented the Sybil Bernstein Award and the Charlotte Watkins Beacon Award to two worthy UUCC members.
June Blotnick and Roger Coates
The Sybil Bernstein Award, presented annually by the Board of Trustees to honor a lengthy record of commitment and generosity to our congregation, is named after a beloved member of our congregation, now of blessed memory, whose remarkable generosity and devoted service to our congregation stand still as shining examples for us. In offering this award the Board honors Sybil Bernstein and the prior recipients of this, our highest recognition for meritorious giving and service to our congregation.
Roger Coates, this year’s recipient of the Bernstein Award has demonstrated an undying passion for social justice, particularly in the areas of homelessness, affordable housing, and environmental justice. Roger has been steadfast and consistent in service to the UUCC and the larger community for as long as he has been a member of the UUCC.
He has been an active member of UUCC’s GreenFaith Initiative since its inception, serving in a significant leadership role, both as a member of the steering committee and in organizing workshops, meetings and education programming related to the “Align Your Money with Your Values” campaign. He also co-started a program called Climate Action Together to encourage members to take individual actions to reduce their carbon footprints.
Roger has also been a tireless advocate for our most marginalized neighbors, fighting for justice for the unhoused and advocating for affordable housing. At the UUCC, he spent many hours supporting the Room in the Inn program and was often seen taking individuals aside to talk one-on-one to learn about their struggles and offer support and resources. He also served with teams of UUCC members to cook and serve meals at the Men’s Shelter, build Habitat for Humanity houses, and rehabilitate homes with the Reentry Housing Alliance. In the larger community, he started the Charlotte Housing Investment Partnership non-profit, raising funds to rehab distressed houses as affordable housing opportunities.
The UUCC Charlotte Watkins Beacon Award was established in 2010 in honor of the indomitable, indefatigable, truly amazing Charlotte Watkins who lived a life of service to others, embodying UU values, working tirelessly towards creating a more just society, especially in the areas of racial justice and women’s empowerment. This award is given to recognize other UUCC member-leaders who take their commitment to UU principles and values into the wider community, standing up for that which they believe, without interest in personal aggrandizement or financial reward, but do what they do, day in and day out, years on end, because they must.
Our Charlotte Watkins Award winner this year is June Blotnick who, since the 1970’s, has been involved in community organizing in North Carolina around issues of financial equity and opportunity, access to legal representation, and community organizing in under-resourced neighborhoods. She started a worker-owned business, community gardens and food co-ops in neighborhoods without grocery stores, and the Charlotte branch of the Self-Help Credit Union, making loans possible for those the banks turned away.
Clean Air Charlotte was begun in 2002 as a local volunteer organization promoting awareness of the negative impacts of air pollution in our area. When June winner took the helm in 2005, she went about expanding the mission and reach of the organization, building coalitions of community leaders in the health care and environmental awareness arenas throughout the state, reducing pollution loads in the most vulnerable communities in the Charlotte region and throughout the state, shining an important spotlight on the inequitable burdens that climate change and air pollution impose on low income communities.
She helped to establish affiliated groups such as Clean Air for Kids, Medical Advocates for Healthy Air, NC Clinicians for Climate Action, Citizen Science Airkeepers, Charlotte-Meck Climate Leaders and NC Climate Ambassadors, again focused on the importance of reducing air toxins, particle pollution and carbon emissions, given their demonstrable link to asthma and other lung- related health conditions that show up in disproportionate numbers of lower income children.
And since stepping down from the Executive Director position after her 17- year tenure of growing Clean Air Carolina into a nationally known environmental justice leader, June continued and increased her leadership role at the UUCC with GreenFaith, the international, multi-faith effort committed to organizing climate action to create a livable future for all people.
Please join the Board in congratulating and recognizing this year’s award recipients, Roger Coates and June Blotnick.
Life RE-Examined: On Cultivation
This year, we are exploring Monthly Ministry Themes*. The themes will carry through Worship, Lifespan Religious Education, Community Sundays and other programming at UUCC. We hope this exploration of thematic ministry will offer greater connection and deeper meaning.
September’s Ministry Theme is Cultivation. What are we cultivating? Where in our lives could/do we cultivate something? How does it play out in the wider community? And why does it matter to UUs?
When people think of cultivation, they often go straight to planting and tending gardens. And this is a great place to start, especially since it is a wonderful metaphor for other types of cultivation in our lives. When we physically cultivate – as in gardening – we do more than just plant or grow something. More than just putting the plant or flower or vegetable into the ground, when we cultivate, we tend it and care for it and nurture it. From prepping the soil to considering sunlight and water needs to removing weeds and aerating the soil, cultivation is a deeper level of growing.
And so it is with our lives. We can meet people in all kinds of places, and we may even return and see them again. But when we cultivate relationships, we must tend them and nurture them. Cultivating a relationship offers deeper, richer connection…and the growth that comes from this kind of cultivation is exponential.
Another way we cultivate is with ideas. We can cultivate creativity, cultivate knowledge and learning, cultivate thought. And we can do this alone, or in community. In fact, doing this in community is core to Unitarian Universalism. Living our UU values means we continue to grow, continue to build relationships, continue to work for a better world. We cultivate.
Because cultivation isn’t just about the act of doing something new or exploring something further. It’s also about how it brings improvement or betters a situation. When we tend to our lives and our world in a cultivation mindset, we experience growth ourselves and encourage growth in others. And the hope is that we are all better for it.
During the Theme Discussion** on September 1, I challenged participants to ponder three ways of cultivation over the month of September, and I hope we can all do the same:
- Cultivation beyond yourself – out in the community or in the world and for its betterment
- Cultivation among others – in relationship, to create deeper and richer experiences together
- Cultivation within yourself – the growth and development of you, as you keep learning
I leave you with this…may you enjoy the new spaces, ideas, and relationships you can cultivate…and may it all be guided by LOVE.
In Faith,
Paula Gribble, DLRE
*October’s Ministry Theme will be Thresholds.
**Each month, on the first Sunday, we will hold a Theme Discussion at 11:30 in the Sanctuary.