Sunday Service

ABOUT SUNDAY SERVICE

Sunday Service is a monthly curated service that facilitates healing through artistry, song, meditation, and movement. This service, happening every First Sunday at 11am at 220 W Geer St in Durham NC, is an alternative to traditional religious church services for those who value spirituality and art over organized religion. 

While acknowledging the harm inflicted by the church, especially upon marginalized communities like queer people and people of color, it's essential to recognize that these spaces have also served as historical hubs for community organizing. Declining church attendance diminishes a once-vital platform for fellowship, healing, and collective action. NorthStar’s Sunday Service responds to the need for a communal healing space, fostering collaboration and solidarity through art.

2025 schedule & Descriptions

In 2025, NorthStar will present a year-long series dedicated to sustaining the work of justice and transformation while honoring the need for communal creativity and care. These gatherings recognize that resistance is hard work, and in order to continue the fight for a better world, we must create space to pause, reflect, and restore.

Each service offers a place of respite: a sanctuary to find joy in community, strength in shared struggles, and renewal for the road ahead. Through music, movement, storytelling, and visual art, we’ll explore the power of collective care and creative expression to sustain our spirits and deepen our connections to each other and our wider community.

Focus Areas:

• Joy in the Struggle: Celebrating moments of beauty and triumph amid the challenges.

• Respite as Necessity: Acknowledging that rest and restoration are vital to sustaining the hard work of resistance.

• Community Care: Building strength through collective support and holding one another steady.

• Creative Expression: Harnessing the arts to inspire, heal, and imagine a more just future.

• Connecting with the Past: Drawing wisdom and inspiration from our ancestors and those who came before us to guide and strengthen our work today.

Sunday Services at NorthStar are a space to recharge and reflect—a reminder that we are never alone in the work of justice and that our shared resilience is an act of hope and power.

Sunday service History

Sunday Service began when NorthStar opened its doors with celebrants Sangodare Wallace and Alexis Pauline Gumbs. After a beautiful year of sermons, events, and music, COVID-19 shuttered our doors and our focus went to managing the Durham Artist Relief Fund.

In 2023, Sunday Service was back in full force, in partnership with Radical Healing, an intentional, radically inclusive, LGBTQ+ and BIPOC centered multicultural and multiracial campus for healing and wellness in Durham.

2024 saw six services curated by NorthStar, centering joy, community, and creative expression, while five were powerful collaborations with Dr. Zelda Lockhart and additional Durham artists, highlighting the richness of our local creative community.

As we continue this journey, Sunday Service remains a space for connection, healing, and inspiration, reflecting NorthStar’s commitment to art and social transformation.