Our February Social Justice Plate Offering is designated for Family Promise of Greater Rochester. 

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Family Promise of Greater Rochester (FPGROC, formerly RAIHN) assists families at risk of or experiencing homelessness to achieve sustainable independence by providing person-centered, holistic services in collaboration with the greater community.​

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Please contribute to support this important work. For more info, visit their website, fpgroc.org. 

Join us for a Pancake Dinner and viewing of the award winning movie, K-Pop Demon Hunters (PG).  Gluten-Free and Vegan options will be available. 

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Feel free to bring your own chairs, blankets, and K-Pop gear! Invite your family and friends! Costumes encouraged!

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• 5:30pm: Arrive, settle in, and grab your first pancakes. 

• 6pm: Start the movie!

We will have two 15 minute breaks at points during the movie for reflection and second helpings.

Our newly forming LGBTQIA+ social action circle is dedicated to serving the Rochester Queer community, and we would love for you to join us! Feel free to grab a snack from the coffee hour, and head upstairs to the Gratitude Room immediately after service!

Join us to craft a service or just hone your worship skills!

If you love worship and have even one story that moves your heart, you can preach!

We’ll gather twice after worship, on Sundays 3/22 and 3/29, from noon-1:30, and we will all finish this short series with a ready-to-lead worship service (though you do not have to commit to leading worship to participate!).

The Homeless Outreach Team and First Universalist Church will be hosting a free breakfast for unhoused people (plus clothing and access to representatives from housing agencies, case management, etc.). 

See Bill Schubmehl or Elizabeth Osta if you would like to volunteer or for additional information. 

Note: Guests and volunteers are invited to stay for the Eastman at Washington Square concert at 12:15pm.

Looking to have deeper conversations about our faith? Want to connect with other congregants about spirituality? Or maybe you want to discuss the sermons and seasonal themes in more depth?

Starting Sunday, January 18, we will be launching a new drop-in connection circle. Every third Sunday at noon (following church service), join us in the Chalice Room (2nd floor) for this new open group series on dedicated spiritual topics and themes.

Open to all, attend when you can!

Phil Ebersole will lead a discussion about the nature of patriotism and treason. If you are loyal to your country, what are you being loyal to? Its people? Its laws? Its government? If you are disloyal, what are you being disloyal to? Are there loyalties that take priority over loyalty to one's country?  ​​​​

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​Drop-in Discussions meet via Zoom Tuesday nights from 6:30-7:30pm.

.. to strike out homelessness at Family Promise's Bowl-a-thon. Every $500 we give shelters a family for two weeks!

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To Bowl:

go to fpgroc.org/bowl  and buy a ticket--$60 per bowler. Sign up as an individual bowler. On the "Leave a Message" screen, write "First Universalist" in the message space. On the payment page, Givebutter (the ticketing platform) automatically adds a 15% tip for GiveButter, which also charges a processing fee. To remove the tip, click one of the arrows, select “Other,” and enter 0% in the pop-up. After signing up, please email Chris DeGolyer at fpgroc@uuroc.org that you're planning to bowl. 

To Donate: 

Go to fpgroc.org/bowl and click on “Purchase Tickets Here”. On the next page, click on “Tix/Sponsor/Donate and “No thanks, I'd just like to donate”. Questions? Contact fpgroc@uuroc.org. Let's see how many weeks we can support!

The Book Club is BACK!  We will be discussing the UUA Annual Read, "Social Change Now!". This book is available for rent in our library, or purchase at inSpirit: uuabookstore.org.

Even if you haven't read the book, you are welcome to attend and learn about this practical guide and the lessons within for us all. We hope you can join us: 3/29 at noon (after church service) in the Chalice Room (Rm. 23).

The Eastman Community Music School is proud to present free weekly concerts featuring artists from the Eastman School of Music and ECMS. Faculty and Student Performances from both schools offer an excellent opportunity to hear some of the best musicians that Rochester has to offer and all performances are absolutely free!

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Concerts begin around 12:15pm, and run until 12:45 to 1pm. We hope to see you there!

January 8

Spanish & French Renaissance Guitar Music

In a historically oriented performance played on a replica historical instrument presenting the earliest printed guitar music ever published, Pedro Sperb brings to modern audiences the first original Spanish and French Renaissance guitar music ever written specifically for the instrument.​​

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January 15

She Plucks Her Pen

Harpist Sunshine Quan presents solo harp works by female harpist-composers Pearl Chertok, Sophia Dussek, Caroline Lizotte, and Ekaterina Walter-Kuhne.

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January 22

Janus Trio

The Janus Trio is named after the Roman god depicted with two faces – one looking backwards and one looking forwards. In that vein, Logan Wadley, tuba and serpent, Benjamin Kim, trumpet and baroque trumpet, and Ethan Pound, trombone and sackbut, will bring to life both archaic and new music for brass chamber ensemble.

January 29

Piano Extravaganza

The students from the studio of Professor Alan Chow will dazzle you with piano masterpieces.

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February 5

Korean and Taiwanese Art Song

Join us for a celebration of the Lunar New Year of 2026! We’ll be featuring beautiful Korean and Taiwanese art songs performed by sopranos Joanna Hyunji Kim and Yu Jen Tsai, with Samuel Ka-Ming Leung at the piano.

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February 12

All American

Soprano Tyler Cassidy-Heacock and composer/pianist Daniel Pesca will present a program of vocal music by American composers using texts from American writers.

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February 19

Music for Violin and Piano

David Bowlin, violin, and Tony Cho, piano, perform William Grant Still’s “Pastorela” and “Sonata for Violin and Piano” by Francis Poulenc.

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February 26

“A Woman’s Hand”

Lynn McGrath performs a program that highlights charming works of the 20th century by women guitarist-composers María Luisa Anido, Ida Presti, and Louise Walker.

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March 5

The Sound of Low Brass

Enjoy the magnificent sound of ESM Trombone Choir directed by Larry Zalkind and Mark Kellogg.

Please join us for a benefit concert for ROCmusic on February 15th, 2026 at 4pm.

The concert will feature musicians and musical friends of First Universalist, plus students and faculty of ROCmusic for an eclectic & fun concert. 

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We will be accepting donations both in-person & online, as the concert will also be shared live over Zoom at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88571668224?pwd=EmpSBja1cfP1AtGXl3aDtea22aHkgx.1

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All funds will support the excellent work that ROCmusic does to provide music education to children in the City of Rochester. We hope you’ll join us!!

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First Universalist is wheelchair accessible, but if you need the elevator, please call the office at 585-546-2826 to make sure it is working. 

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- Sponsored by the Music Committee of First Universalist

We invite you to a reception at the Dept. of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation to celebrate the acquisition of our archives! Over the past few years, with funding from the New York State Convention of Universalists, First Universalist hired a professional to catalog our church archives. 

We have now transferred our archives to the the University of Rochester, where they have been processed and are available for use. 

RSVP to MJ Curry by Friday, February 20!

If you need her email, contact office@uuroc.org. For detailed directions, see the church calendar event description!

We hope to see you there!

Our monthly food ingathering for the Community Food Cupboard! Low-sodium non-perishable food, toiletries, paper products, and cash are always needed and deeply appreciated!

Members of the Rochester Theater Organ Society will practice their favorite pieces on our Hope-Jones organ—just for fun! Usually performing on the Wurlitzer at the Rochester Museum & Science Center (currently under renovation), they’ll be playing at First Universalist instead.

Bring your family and friends! Drop in anytime to listen, chat with organists, and enjoy this free event.

First Universalist Men's Group meeting, all who identify as he/him or they/him are invited! We shall meet from 10am to noon in the Clara Barton Lounge at First Universalist. We hope to see you there!