ALL ARE WELCOME
Rev. Dianne M. Daniels was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up resisting the restrictive, overly harsh tenets of her mother’s former Baptist upbringing. Her father’s resistance to “organized church” encouraged her to find her way, both religiously and spiritually.
Rev. Dianne married her high school sweetheart, Aaron L. Daniels, the same weekend as their 10-year high school reunion. They are each other’s second spouses and have enjoyed a solid 35+ year (and growing) marriage, and have three grown children (laughingly called His, Mine, and Ours): Christoper, Ronald, and Ariana.
Rev. Dianne was introduced to the UU Congregation of Norwich by Ms. Lottie B. Scott (RIP). She and Aaron loved the people and the atmosphere so much that they’ve been members for over thirty years.
Rev. Dianne felt the call to ministry while attending services in Norwich. She recalls, “I fell in love with the people and the messages I heard from the pulpit.” She graduated from the Starr King School for the Ministry in Oakland, California, graduating with her Master of Divinity degree in 2021. She was ordained in October 2023 by UUCN and the Universalist Church of West Hartford, where she served as Sabbatical Minister from August 2023 through January 2024. Rev. Dianne has guest preached in and around eastern CT, western Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Her previous technology experience helped her feel comfortable with preaching via Zoom to congregations as far away as Washington State.
Rev. Dianne preaches at UUCN on the first and third Sundays of each month and also serves as the Consulting Minister at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Storrs, CT, on the second Sunday of each month.
Join us at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Norwich as we usher in Pride Month by exploring the courage it takes to live as your complete, authentic self, and the sacred (serious) responsibility we all have to create and sustain communities where all people are welcomed, valued, and affirmed for the perfectly imperfect, beloved, and worthy souls we all are.
A meaningful spiritual life isn’t formed in moments of inspiration, but in the quiet consistency of daily practice. This message invites us to build habits that reflect our values and help us return to ourselves again and again.
What does it mean to truly live our faith beyond Sunday? This service explores the movement from belief to embodiment, inviting us to align our daily choices with the values we claim as our own. Through reflection and practical insight, we’ll consider how faithfulness, clarity, and consistent practice can help us build a spiritual life … Continue reading Living the Values: Faith Beyond the Moment
There’s a difference between optimism and hope – when our community is an incubator of change and we view justice as long-haul faith, our spiritual imagination expands and we see what becomes possible with pluralism and spiritual backbone work together.
Burnout is not the price of faithful living. A sustainable faith calls us to act with courage, choose with discernment, and rest with intention as we practice justice in everyday life.
Paying attention changes us, and changed people act differently. What happens when pluralism meets injustice and the difference between tolerance and complicity becomes too plain to avoid, too obvious to ignore? Can the moral courage of a community sustain social witness when it becomes faith in action? What’s the difference between urgency and anxiety, and … Continue reading Faith with a Backbone – When Attention Becomes Action
Staying present in tension is moral courage in miniature. Respecting another’s identity, culture, or viewpoint without the need to dominate or replace it allows the differences to coexist side-by-side, the elements to retain their meaning, and shows goodwill without sacrificing one’s own comfort or personal identity.
Difference doesn’t diminish us.
Handled with curiosity, it enlarges us.
Paying attention — truly paying attention — is a spiritual practice that deepens pluralism, reveals our gifts, and strengthens community.
Our service will discuss observing water as a metaphor for life, change, resilience, personal growth, letting go of control, and finding stillness amid disruption.
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s wisdom and words inspire todays service topic:
Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can.
