July 20-26, 2025

Spiritual Life (Nurture)

Each year we come together as not just a SUUSI community that plays and learns together, but a SUUSI congregation that celebrates, grieves, makes meaning together, and ritualizes the spiritual connections that bind us.  Our "Nurture" team provides daily worship services, other spiritual offerings, pastoral care, conflict resolution, and more.   

To read more about pastoral care, recovery spaces, and conflict resolution, go to our pastoral care page.

Worship Services

 SUUSI worship services offer another place to explore and deepen our spiritual lives in a safe, loving, non-judgmental community. Our week of SUUSI 2025 worship services will provide daily opportunities to do a deeper spiritual dive into how "Love Is Central" in the midst of...everything going on in the larger culture.

Ingathering

Our SUUSI week officially begins and ends in gathered community. Ingathering on Sunday night is a mix between a music-filled spiritual service and an information session -- orienting everyone to our week together, beginning with joyful drumming and a banner parade (you can bring your home congregation's banner to process). We learn about our coming week together and remind ourselves of what it means to be in intentional, covenanted community -- and also in our sweet SUUSI spot of welcoming faces and awesome music!  

Daily Morning & Evening Worship Services

We worship each morning and evening, and our Nurture staff are planning wonderful ways to touch base during the week Centered in Love.

The Monday Morning Intergenerational Service is 8:30-9:15, T-F Morning Services are 9-9:45am and Evening Services are 7-7:45pm. All worship services (except Sunday Ingathering and possibly the Friday Earth-centered service) will be held in Hurlburt Auditorium in the Bonnie which is very close to the dining hall (no hikes up and down hills!).  More details will be added as plans further manifest!

• Special Monday Morning Multigen Worship: We will begin our week with a special multi-generational worship experience starting at 8:30am and ending by 9:15am in order to especially accommodate our young families so parents/caregivers do not have to choose between their spiritual nourishment and their required youth parent orientation that will follow worship. ALL AGES are welcome to celebrate in this festive service led by Youth and Middler Chaplain Lauren Levwood and Worship Coordinator Elizabeth Schell. 
  
  
• Monday Evening Worship, "Love at the Edges," will be led by Rev. Bill Neely. Love is at the center of our denomination's new Shared Values. This reflects our tradition as well as who we are becoming, as we are a faith rooted in love that is still ever-growing in it. How does this love that remains central to who we are, lead us beyond ourselves to neighbor, stranger, and newcomer? How can our "center" strengthen us for ministry at the edges? 
  
  
• Tuesday Morning Worship will be led by this year's Young Adult Chaplain, Rev. Edie Love. More details to come. 
  
  
• Tuesday Evening Worship, "Centering Love in Times of Loss" is our annual space to gather and grieve our losses since our last time together. We name and honor losses of SUUSI community members and family as well as other kinds of losses and complex changes in our individual and communal lives,  This service will be led by our Nurture Co-Chairs, Rev. Kimi Reigel and Rev. Dr. Cynthia Landrum, and our Worship Coordinator Elizabeth Schell. If you know of a SUUSI community member we have lost since last we met, please send info to Nurture staff at nurture@suusi.org . 
  
  
• Wednesday Morning Worship, "Naming of the Bitter & the Sweet." This morning's worship will give us space to recommit ourselves to love, ourselves, and one another. The service will include a Love Feast of fair trade chocolate: a nice morning pick-me-up! Worship led by SUUSI worship coordinator Elizabeth Schell. 
  
  
• Wednesday Evening Worship: "The Love Boat," Midway through this cruise we call SUUSI, there have probably been some plot twists that you weren't expecting. How do we re-center ourself in the radical love to which Unitarian Universalism calls us so that SUUSI can be the transformative experience of loving community that it is meant to be? We will meet on the Fiesta Deck after Water Aerobics to explore this with joy, faith, and warmth. Worship led by Rev. Dr. Michael Tino  
  
  
• Thursday Morning Worship: ."Italian Balconies: Reflections on Connection," will be led by singer-songwriter Lara Herskovitch. If we were to make a list of what keeps a human healthy, it would include sleep, physical activity, wholesome food, clean water -- and connection to others. We are wired for connection, but we’re also more isolated and lonely than ever. This cultural moment has been named a national epidemic in the U.S., and a global health threat – all of it leading to harmful, dangerous individual and collective results. We gather together today rooted in the antidote – connection & community. As the saying goes, if you want to move fast, go alone – if you want to move far, go together. Expect a music-filled service!
  
  
• Thursday Evening Worship is our annual Rites of Passage service. Our Teen Chaplain, Rev. Phoenix Bell-Shelton Biggs, Young Adult Chaplain Rev. Edie Love, and the SUUSI Nurture Staff invite us to “Center Love Through Transitions” as we take time to dedicate our children, bridge our teens, and bless community members who have transitioned in their gender identities.  If you would like your child dedicated, have a teen not involved in regular Teen programming who is bridging (Teen Staff coordinate otherwise), or a gender transition to celebrate, please email Nurture staff at nurture@suusi.org . 
  
  
• Friday Morning Earth-Centered Ritual provides an embodied experience to prepare us for taking our leave of SUUSI so that we may take our SUUSI Love out into the world! Location of this service yet to be determined. 

Closing Circle

Our week ends with one more tradition: our Saturday Morning Closing Circle where we sing our farewell to our SUUSI friends and bless our homeward travels. Last year we made changes to our Closing Circle that make it much more accessible! If you would like to be seated for the Closing Circle, please arrive a little early if possible.  If you'd like to volunteer to support our Closing Circle, please check in with Nurture staff via email or check Volunteer opportunities in registration (note these will get updated with more opportunities the closer we get to SUUSI). 

Ushering for SUUSI Worship Services 

Our Usher coordinator Dana Taylor leads a team of volunteers who provide support and hospitality during morning and evening worship services, including Ingathering. Whether you are a newcomer or a long-time SUUSI-goer, this is a great way to connect with others and provide a welcoming environment, If you'd like to volunteer to be an usher for one or more services, please check in with Nurture staff via email or check Volunteer opportunities in registration (note these will get updated with more opportunities the closer we get to SUUSI). 

Other Opportunities for Spiritual Centering at SUUSI

Nurture isn’t just worship! We offer a variety of opportunities to connect with your spirit alone or in groups: 

Daily Meditation

The Meditation Room is open throughout SUUSI for quiet contemplation. Morning Meditations are led by Nurture Co-Chair Rev. Kimi Riegel for those who wish for quiet sitting to start their day. The schedule will be posted at the Meditation Room and in the NUUS.  

Connection Circles

Connection Circles are daily small groups designed to build community and relationships in a spiritual format.  There are four groups, one during each meal time and one at community time.  You can register for a Connection Circle through workshop registration.  Each day will feature a guided program with a different topic compiled by Nurture Co-Chair Rev. Dr. Cynthia Landrum.  On Monday a Nurture Staff member, Peter Morrison, will meet with the groups to start the groups, and then the groups are self-led for the remainder of the week. 

Service Project

Service to others can be a meaningful spiritual practice.  Nurture Co-Chair Rev. Kimi Riegel coordinates our Service Project.  You can sign up for our service project through Workshop registration.   

Other Age-Group Worship & Rituals at SUUSI

Our age-level programs have a variety of special ritual moments during their week at SUUSI, that they'll learn about in their programs.  The youth and middlers have their own morning circles, and the teens, young adults, and medians will create worship experiences within their cohorts.  One ritual we've developed for adults is the Parent Bridging Service.  This silly and fun ritual honors parents whose youngest child is bridging up to the teens, so the parents will be moving out of family dorms the next year.  If this is you, please contact Nurture staff at nurture@suusi.org .

Pastoral Care, Healthy Relations, & Recovery Support at SUUSI

We pack a lot in to our SUUSI week which can lead to extra individual stress and inter personal conflict. The Nurture team offers multiple spaces and support practices to meet the needs of SUUSI participants throughout our week together.  

Please visit our pastoral care page for in depth information 

SUUSI 2025 Nurture Events 

SUUSI 2025 Volunteer Opportunities