The Unitarian Universalist Society in Bay Shore; a pluralistic inter-faith faith fellowship of which I am a member, celebrated its 71st year anniversary on April 6, 2025. As a board-member, Treasurer and Worship Committee Chair of the fellowship, I was the key organizer of this celebration called “Folk Tales of the UUSSS”. I was the first and last speaker at the event. Following are my opening & closing words.
Opening Words
Good Morning everyone. Welcome and thank you for coming to this special service “Folk Tales of the UUSSS: our 71st Anniversary Service”. It is lovely to see both new and familiar faces.
Let us gather as we have for 71 years—in a circle of memory, hope, and belonging.
Today, we tell the folk tales of our fellowship—the stories that built these walls, the voices that shaped our journey, the laughter and tears that echo through the years. These are not just stories of the past; they are the roots that anchor us, the branches that reach for the future.
Like the old storytellers around the fire, we share not just history but wisdom. We speak not just of what was, but of what can be. We listen, we remember, and we weave our own thread into the great tapestry of Unitarian Universalism.
So bring your hearts, your voices, and your curiosity. The story of UUSSS is still unfolding, and today, we turn the page together.
Welcome.
Closing Words
A pastor who recently visited us at A Box of Chocolates asked me about the UUSSS. When I told him that we are a small fellowship, he replied, “You are not a small fellowship but a tall fellowship, because God measures not from the ground up but from the root up.” I have been thinking about his words a lot.
So, I am going to take a step back from the UUSSS to the roots of the UU, and indeed to the U.
In 1568 John Sigismund of Transylvania became the first Unitarian king in Europe and the first European monarch to grant religious freedom to Catholics, Lutherans and the Reformed Church. When called to a religious debate, his opponents declared that if victorious, they would see David; the King’s leading advocate, condemned to death as a heretic. David replied in the truest spirit of being a UU, “If I win, I shall defend to the death your right to be wrong.”
The same open-minded spirit was imbued two centuries later in the American constitution with founding fathers Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams adhering to Unitarian principles. A further two centuries later, the Unitarians marched with Martin Luther King Jr. at Selma and two of those Unitarians paid with their lives.
Unitarians ordained women since the 1800s and championed LGBTQ rights long before they were widely recognized, officially supporting same-sex unions since 1984.
The Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones, a Unitarian minister from Chicago, was a key organizer of the first Parliament of the World’s Religions in 1893. The event, held in Chicago marked the first major interfaith gathering in modern history and featured speakers like Swami Vivekananda from India, whose speech on Hinduism brought that faith to the shores of America, and the religious tolerance he espoused resonated with Unitarians at the time.
So why am I saying all this? Because FIRST I think it is important for us to know that as UUs we are sitting on the shoulders of pioneers & giants, and how inter-woven the UU spirit is to the American spirit. SECOND, when I walked into the UUSSS a little over 2 years ago, I felt the roots, the history, the openness, and the pluralism. I heard the music and the sermons, the joys and the sorrows. And I saw the memory and the possibilities, the tradition and the promise. I saw our potential as leaders in this community – who can speak the language of coming together, reconciliation, belonging and fellowship – a voice sorely needed at this fraught time in our country & our world.
And so. We stand today, as members of the Bay Shore Interfaith Council, strengthening bonds across faith traditions. We are partners with the Crossing Party Lines – Braver Angels Long Island Alliance to foster understanding across political divisions and listening into shared humanity. We bring art, joy, and laughter—each month through A Box of Chocolates; our feature artist & open mic program, reminding each other of the sweetness of community. We bring health and discipline through Judo and Yoga, honoring both the body and the spirit. And we are working on extending our circle through a Community Climate Garden in our backyard.
We carry this legacy forward—not as a relic of the past, but as a living, breathing force for good. We carry our work not as a small fellowship but as a tall fellowship because the real measure of height in this world is not from the ground up but from the root up.
And as the youngest member of this 71-year-old fellowship, I want to say—this is just the beginning.
Swati Srivastava is the Treasurer and Worship Committee Chair at the Unitarian Universalist Society of South Suffolk. Swati is an immigrant and a multi award-winning writer, director, and voiceover artist. She is also the Director of Visual Media for a national non-profit and an environmentalist. She can be reached via Linkedin and swati@TiredAndBeatup.com