Fa’Osunkemi was initiated to Ifa in 2015. In 1994, she was initiated to the Yoruba Divinity Osun. She is also known as Ok Sun Burks. Married and mother of two adult children, Fa’Osunkemi is a business manager and entrepreneur. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, has been employed with a number of fortune 500 firms and has owned and managed many businesses. She is currently a candidate for Doctor of Naturopathy (N.D.) at Trinity School of Natural Health and pursuing an International Coach Certificate as a spiritual life coach. Fa’Osunkemi is a passionate performance artist with the popular African folkloric group, Olorun. She is an inspirational speaker and has performed at many businesses, organizations, schools, and cultural events. A student of world religions and spirituality, Fa’Osunkemi’s mission is to use leadership, curiosity, a spirit of collaboration, and life management skills to enhance the lives of women worldwide.

July 17th 9:00am-3:00pm All Youth and 5th graders bridging to Youth next year, are welcome to join us for Chalice making and Mantra board creation. Get more details and sign up by emailing tyler@uucj.org. SIGN UP REQUIRED

Join us for food & fellowship on Friday, July 21st 6:30-8:30. Bring your kids and a covered dish to the UUCJ Social Hall. Tyler will have a griddle and pancakes… YES PANCAKES! Let’s have brinner (breakfast for dinner)!

The Board will hold its monthly meeting July 10th, 2017 at 6:00pm in the Fletcher room. You can find the agenda on the Governance page.

Sukhbir Singh has been a Jacksonville resident for twenty-one years. He practices Sikhism as a path to humanity and salvation. Sukhbir has been married to Sargum for twenty-six years. They are blessed with two sons. They have raised their sons in our community and they are now in college. Sukhbir’s family is probably the longest living Sikh family in Jacksonville. Sukhbir has a bachelor’s degree in Statistics and master’s in Computer Science. He is a small business entrepreneur. Sargum and Sukhbir are founders of the Sikh Society of North East Florida. Sukhbir has been an architect in creating awareness about Sikhism and Turbans in our community through lectures as well as presentations in schools, colleges, universities, temples, churches, hospitals, mayor’s and the Sheriff’s office. He has also engineered two Turban Days on the UNF campus as part of his continuous efforts to educate the Jacksonville community. Sukhbir has a passion to cultivate universal brotherhood and oneness, which are the tenets of Sikhism. Sukhbir is a strong believer of “Ek Pita Ekas Ke Hum Barik” which translates to “There is One Father and we are all his children.”

For 35 years, Lutheran Social Services of Northeast Florida has helped hundreds of thousands of very different people through a broad range of services. Initially, it may seem that their programs are disconnected lines of support. Yet if you take a broader look, you’ll notice how the outstanding teams supporting all of these programs are simply filling in the gaps for neighbors in need and creating one big beautiful picture of improved lives in the process.

Mary Strickland, a member of UUCJ is the president and CEO of Lutheran Social Services, and has a long and distinguished career in health care and human services. She has been the CEO of a visiting nurse program in New York overseeing more than 400 employees and managing $28 billion in revenue; served in key administrative positions in New Jersey government under two governors; had key policy roles for large pharmaceutical companies; taught at NYU and is a guest lecturer at UNF. And don’t forget, Mary is a Worship Associate and frequent coffee host at UUCJ!

Dr. Reda Bedeir has a Ph.D. degree from Al Azhar University in Applied Linguistics and Islamic Studies. He holds two BA degrees: one in English and the other in Islamic Studies. He has an MA degree in Simultaneous Translation between Arabic and English. He is a Professor at Al-Azhar University in Egypt. He is an ex- instructor with Almaghrib Institute. He has taught Islam all over the world: Egypt (Al-Azhar University), USA (Wake Forest University in NC), Canada (Calgary and Alberta University), UK, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia are examples among other countries. He is an international speaker and he appeared in many TV Channels all over the world: Nile TV in Egypt, Islam Channel in London, England, Al Huda TV and many other TV shows in USA and Canada. He is a very motivational and engaging speaker who will make you cry and hysterically laugh within the same speech. Dr. Bedeir is a certified life coach as well as an interpreter with the UN for the last 20 years.

Faith In Action: Hearing the Voices of Jacksonville’s Diverse Religious Community

Following Phillip’s sermons on Thích Nhất Hạnh’s Living Buddha, Living Christ, Phillip Scanlan (a member from our Fernandina branch) shared a touching story from his time in Vietnam. Check it out!