All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church of Shreveport, Louisiana
A home for Unitarian Universalism and liberal religion in Shreveport, Bossier City, and Northwest Louisiana since 1950
Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services.
This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats.
For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live. One does not have to log into Facebook or have a Facebook account to view this video.
Please join us on Saturday (8 February 2025) at 10:30 AM for our weekly meditation group with Larry Androes.
This group will be meeting via Zoom and not in person.
This is a sitting Buddhist meditation including a brief introduction to mindfulness meditation, 20 minutes of sitting, and followed by a weekly teaching.
Our monthly building and grounds work day usually happens on the second Saturday on the month.
For February 2025, this will happen on Saturday (8 February 2025) from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM (please note the change from the times we used for past building and grounds work days).
There are tasks indoors and out for all ages and abilities along with snacks for the volunteers.
This is a great way to build relationships with your All Souls community — working side by side to maintain the physical structure of our spiritual home.
Please join us this Sunday (2 February 2025) at 11:00 AM for “Companions for the Lifelong Journey” with Lilly Daigle and Bob Jordan.
Longtime members Lilly Daigle and Bob Jordan will share with us how their liberal religions values and what their membership in All Souls has meant to them over the years and why it’s important in their lives today.
We will be meeting in the sanctuary for this worship service. Please join us in person at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA 71106 if you are able to do so.
Our service will also be livestreamed on Facebook Live here if you cannot attend in person.
We will also be having an important congregational meeting after this Sunday’s worship service.
State-level COVID data can be found on the Louisiana Department of Health’s respiratory virus dashboard web page. The most sensitive metric to follow for current COVID trends is the “Laboratory Surveillance Data” link. The link is currently showing COVID rates remaining flat but RSV and flu rates are rebounding on 25 January 2025.
The CDC does not recommend mandatory masking for all indoor events in “low” risk areas.
Starting on 13 November 2022, masks will be optional indoors at All Souls.
Anyone who prefers to keep wearing a mask is welcome to do so and attending worship through livestream video is also an option.
We will still have KN95 masks available in the foyer for anyone who needs one.
We continue to recommend that you stay home if you have any symptoms, and that you keep up with all available vaccinations and boosters.
We no longer require proof of vaccination against COVID for all attendees ages 11 and up for indoor events.
However, we do strongly encourage that anyone attending our worship services or other indoor events at All Souls be vaccinated against COVID.
If you are recovering from COVID and have no symptoms, you should mask in public until you have tested negative twice in a 48 hour period.
We also ask that you go by the previous CDC guidelines of waiting at least 5 days past the onset of symptoms rather than the current 24 hour recommendation.
And of course — if you have symptoms (COVID or other respiratory illness) — please stay home and take care of yourself.
Our February 2025 give-away-the-plate recipient is the Highland Center Ministries.
And you can contribute to All Souls using this online resource.
This Sunday’s religious education activity for children and youth during the 11:00 AM worship service will be exploring the inspirations of our faith which include many of the stories, teachings, and practices of various religions of the world.
In the coming weeks, the classes for children and youth will center around some of these stories — always reinforcing our shared Unitarian Universalist values.
Please join us on Sunday (2 February 2025) for our adult religious education class at 9:00 AM.
Our adult religious education class is now a dual-platform class — meeting in person in the church social hall and also on Zoom.
Our dual-platform adult religious education class will begin reading and discussing Love at the Center.
This is an anthology of Unitarian Universalist theological writings by various leaders of our movement seeking to answer the question posed by Rev. Dr. Sofia Betancourt in the book’s introduction:
“We may agree that love is central, but what does that mean to us and what does it require of us?”
This book is currently available only in ebook format pending final edits of the approved revisions to Article II of the UUA Bylaws at the 2024 General Assembly (Kindle, Nook, and Kobo).
For this Sunday, we continue our discussion with chapters 19 and 20.
If you don’t have this book, you can read the chapters online here.
The New UU Class will not meet this Sunday (2 February 2025) because of our congregational meeting after the worship service.
This class will resume on 9 February 2025 and will meet on most Sundays after the worship service at 12:30 PM. The class is facilitated by Bennett Upton.
This 6 session course is for all new members, people interested in becoming members, and not-so-new members who might need a refresher and reminder of what we’re doing here.
The 6 sessions cover the history of Unitarian Universalism and this congregation also exploring our practices and shared principles and values.
Email Bennett if you are interested in joining this class.
Each month we dedicate all of our non-pledge income to a community organization doing the work that best embodies our Unitarian Universalist values.
For the month of February 2025, we choose the Highland Center Ministries (All Souls is also a member organization of the Highland Center Ministries).
Along with the weekly Highland Blessing Dinner (where All Souls members volunteer on the first Thursday of each month), Highland Center Ministries provides:
And the Highland Center Ministries makes its home in the Highland Center building which houses Basic Necessities (a diaper and period products bank), the Goldman School, Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention, and some small local business start-ups.
Two ways to donate:
Online — Go to our donation site using this link. If you are paying your pledge, select “2025 Pledges” and enter that amount for your pledge contribution. Then select “Collection Plate” to give the amount you would like to give to Highland Center Ministries and then put “GATP FEB 2025” or “Highland Center Ministries” in the comment section. All online collection plate contributions for the month of February 2025 will go to the Highland Center Ministries.
Offline — Please send your give away the plate contribution checks to All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA 71106. Please put “Highland Center Ministries” on the memo line of the check if you want to have 100% of your check go to the Highland Center Ministries. If you want less than 100% of your check to go to the Highland Center Ministries, please put the amount you want going to Highland Center Ministries on the memo line.
Our monthly building and grounds work day usually happens on the second Saturday on the month.
For February 2025, this will happen on Saturday (8 February 2025) from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM (please note the change from the times we used for past building and grounds work days).
There are tasks indoors and out for all ages and abilities along with snacks for the volunteers.
This is a great way to build relationships with your All Souls community — working side by side to maintain the physical structure of our spiritual home.
Please join us next Wednesday (5 February 2025) at 12 noon for our weekly Zoom lunch.
Our weekly Zoom lunch is returning to dual-platform access — join us from home using Zoom or in person in the social hall.
Bring your lunch and meet up with your All Souls friends, have lunch, and just catch up.