The comfort zone in which most folks live is so appealing because it works! Well, sort of. Kind of? Join us this Sunday as Rev. Jenny Peek joins us online from Pocatello with her reflection on minimalism, that comfy realm marked by intense emphasis on human similarities so we never have to face our differences.

Cindy Strausbaugh is the Worship Associate

Join CSI Anthropologist, Denyée Matthews, to explore the ethical and moral dimensions of the Standing Rock protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
This conversation will bring together multiple perspectives on environmental justice, the sacredness of water, and the rights of indigenous peoples, encouraging participants to reflect on their values and the impact of collective action.
By examining the complexities of Standing Rock’s resistance, we aim to foster a deeper understanding of how to navigate the challenges of advocating for the Earth and its communities with integrity and compassion.
This service will include the teaching and collective performance of a Grandmothers’ Water Song. 

Perri Gardner is the Worship Associate

The word love can mean many different things and the meaning changes with context.  In reworking our principles into a structure that focuses on values and action, the Article ii Study Commission has put Love at the center of all we profess and do as Unitarian Universalists.  What does love mean in this context? What does it mean to ground the work of this fellowship in love? Our service Sunday will be both in person at our location 160 9th Avenue East in Twin Falls as well as on ZOOM beginning at 10:30 AM Mountain Time. 

Jeannine Robinett will speak.

Don Morishita will be the Worship Associate

To love well is the task in all meaningful relationships, not just romantic bonds. – Bell Hooks.

Join Magic Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship congregant Perri Gardner for a conversation about how love defines who we are and how we live in community. This service will incorporate an emerging Unitarian Universalist ritual—chocolate communion. Chocolates will be provided!

Worship Associate is Melody Lenkner

Like humans, fungi come in all shapes and sizes and cover the whole spectrum of relationships from parasitic to symbiotic. We’ll explore ways that some fungi and their plant, algae, and bacterial friends model for us ways of being together in resilient, caring comunities.

Presented by Jeannine Robinett, Worship Associate is Don Morishita

The Baha’i faith, founded in 1844, is one of the fastest growing religions in the last 100 years and the second-most-geographically widespread after Christianity.

Followers of Baha’u’llah known as Baha’is can be found in many countries and territories worldwide. The message of the Baha’i Faith is Unity, the Oneness of Humanity. This brief presentation will by followed by a brief Question & Answer session. Sandy Malcom and Max Newlin will present.

Pam Blankenheim is the Worship Associate

How much of our day do we find ourselves acting out of habit or reacting in the moment? What would a conscious pause just before those actions mean for us? Let’s explore the story of the elephant (Id, maybe, or just reactivity) and the rider (Ego, or consciousness) with Revjen (Rev. Jenny Peek), our visiting minister from Pocatello, Idaho. 

Jen Okelberry is the Worship Associate

Add the Words is a community-centric, volunteer-based organization and the only state-wide group focused on the lived equality of gay, trans, and queer people in the state of Idaho.

Initially, the organization’s only focus was updating the Idaho Human Rights Act to include “sexual orientation and gender identity.” Since then the organization has worked through a trauma-informed lens, building beloved communities and caretaking in newly imagined ways while still using collective power to advocate to Idaho’s leadership – at all levels — the need for basic protections and recognized humanity of LGBTQ+ people in the Gem State.

Brandon Connolly will be speaking more on the organization’s efforts and answering questions on what to expect this coming legislative session and how we can show up and support the LGBTQ+ community.

On this last day of 2023, we will explore different ways of saying goodbye to the old and hello to the new.
We’ll discuss practices of celebrating the start of a new year with an international focus.
Do we need luck, fortune, happiness and health in 2024 YES we do!

Let’s talk about traditional ways to insure good tidings and explore avenues to let go of those practices, habits, life walks which didn’t serve us well in 2023.
We will also discuss foods traditionally eaten to usher in a new year and nosh a bit on these favorite dishes.

Discussion led by Pam Blankenheim

Christmas Eve Morn is here! Rev. Jenny Peek, our visiting minister from Pocatello UU Fellowship, will join us online and share her reflection on the quiet moments before great change. We remember where we were when momentous events happened even decades later. Let’s imagine the morning before the birth of a baby in a manger all those years ago.

Melody Lenkner is Worship Associate