Invite those who are 80+ if they would like to share testimonies about their most meaningful moments and the wisdom that they have drawn from these experiences that they feel needs to be passed on to the community.

Mission Peak UU installed Rev. Greg Ward as its settled minister on Sunday April 25th, 2021 at 1 p.m. over Zoom using a covenant Mission Peak UU members adopted on April 18th.

There are a lot of questions facing the world – and Unitarian Universalism. How well do we remember and understand the past sometimes determines how well we will do in facing the future. (And showing some humility by phrasing our responses in the form of a question).

The ‘blues’ is a style of music born from oppression that couldn’t help but sing. It has a quintessential American history – the painful and forgotten side of our rugged individualism. In this service, we will explore some of what gave birth to this music and what it says about who we’ve been and who we long to be.

The old song goes ‘which side are you on? There are no neutrals there.’ The world around us with all its hate and inability to acknowledge humanity is not one that we can wall off. We are a part of the whole and our lives are intertwined. To do nothing is to make a choice. What is given to us to do is to bring the whole of society into right relationship. If by some miracle racism disappeared, the current and ongoing effects of racism would continue. How can we move forward?

2000 years separate their lives, but they both sacrificed much in their own life to dream about what might be possible for others to know a bigger life than what they had ever been able to imagine. What is the secret to breaking through and transcending our limitations such that, in our wake, others will find possibility where only obstacles and barriers had been? This is a sermon about the secrets of Easter. It will help us understand where – and to whom – we look to help make Easter real.

The greatest of epiphanies provide something amazing – something we couldn’t imagine. But they also take from us something we thought we would always have… something we couldn’t live without. The greatest periods of growth always come when we are ready to stop holding so tightly to ‘what is,’ long enough for ‘what can be’ to slip in and take root. It is a adventurous and visionary to let go of the ordinary and be willing to live a life less ordinary.

Give up on all the Gods ‘out there’ who’ve promised to save you. There is only one thing that will save you. That CAN save you. And that one thing requires all your acceptance, all your reverence, all your perseverance and all your commitment. People have been looking for it and yet stepping over it. Chasing it and yet being haunted by it since time immemorial.

A story shared with me reflects on a young boy witnessing his church in the midst of a great struggle. He was watching all the people in his life he’d admired, who taught him about commitment and perseverance, walk out from division. The question was about the response to racism. And whether to answer Dr. King’s call. What he witnessed over a few years time taught him everything he needed to know about getting to the heart of the matter.

The history and future of our congregation’s commitment to anti-racism and anti-oppression. Our original commitment. What we’ve done this year. Where we see this in the future.