Holston Valley Unitarian Universalist Church

Reverend Jacqueline Luck

Welcome to Holston Valley Unitarian Universalist Church’s web site!

As the called minister of this congregation I welcome you and hope you will find this site informative and helpful in your search for a progressive religious home in Tennessee’s Tri-cities area.

Perhaps this is your first inquiry into a Unitarian Universalist church.  You will find our churches vary as we are of the free-church tradition although we have a  national organization, an association of congregations called the Unitarian Universalist Association. (UUA). In a free church there is no church hierarchy above the congregation; congregations are self-determining.  Members and congregations covenant how they will be with each other, promising to one another their mutual trust and support as they seek to live our UU Principles which are listed below.

Holston Valley UU is a congregation that gathers in the spirit of 16^th century Unitarian minister, Frances David, who wrote: “We need not think alike to love alike.” We embrace diversity within the congregation’s membership and in theology. We are committed to the spiritual development and well being of our young people, as well as our adults. We provide a religious education program based on experiential learning, ethical living, and drawing from all of the world's religions as sources of wisdom.  We are committed to being a vital and growing progressive congregation within our larger community.

We hope you will visit our church.  Our worship services are at 11:30am; children’s and adult's religious education classes are both before the service at 9:30am. I am in the pulpit three Sunday’s a month, and other Sundays guest speakers or members of the congregation lead the service, yielding diversity in the worship services.

With joy and in love,

Minister@HVUUC.org

The Unitarian Universalist Principles and Sources

We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote:

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
• Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
• The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;

• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

The living tradition we share draws from many sources:

• Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;
• Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love;
• Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;
• Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;
• Humanist teachings that counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit.
• Spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions that celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.

Grateful for the religious pluralism that enriches and ennobles our faith, we are inspired to deepen our understanding and expand our vision. As free congregations we enter into this covenant, promising to one another our mutual trust and support.