Our annual Flower Communion service asks us to remember the courage and vision of Norbert Capek who presided over one of the largest Unitarian Congregations in Prague, Czechoslovakia in the years when the Nazi regime terrorized political dissidents for criticizing the Third Reich. Capek asked people to imagine the beautiful diversity in everything – from skin color to language to cuisine. He asked people to bring flowers to represent all the difference that was possible. In this service we will be radical dissidents for diversity.

A favorite reading from our hymnal begins this way: “We need one another when we mourn and would be comforted.” We all need comforting in these times, as we are barraged daily with news of pandemic deaths, climate catastrophe, systemic oppression, and war. How can we give shelter to each other in these times of fear, loss and grief? Can our Unitarian Universalist faith offer us comfort?

In this service we will share some of the stories of our racial history that we recall with pride and that for which we still hold regret. As UUs, we will acknowledge our important, inspiring, compelling and confusing journey toward racial justice and what has led us to this point of feeling like we need an 8th Principle – something that explicitly announces that racial justice is an intentional core principle of UUism. We will talk about what happens if we pass the 8th Principle and what happens if we don’t.

Baseball is full of heroes. The amazing catch. The game-changing home run. The play no one can never forget. And, of course, baseball is a game spotlighting the specific player who performs these unforgettable feats of grandeur. We all want such players on our team. Indeed, some say the game today is actually the game behind the game, played in the front office. It’s about how teams lure heroes to play for them. But what if championships weren’t really about signing giants of the game? But fielding the team that plays together with heart?

Unitarian Julia Ward Howe was one of the first people who conceived of a Mother’s Day. But she did not envision what we currently have today – a Mother’s Day celebrated as a sentimental and gift-giving day honoring mothers. Ward, was a 19th century social reformer (and author of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,”) who was distressed over ‘sons killing the sons of other mothers’ and called on women’s groups to promote a universal peace. The holiday has strayed from its origins more than 140 years ago. In this service, we will explore the complicated messiness in a mother’s hope for peace for her children.

Eid al-Fitr begins tonight - the religious holiday marking the end of the fast of Ramadan. Ramadan is a month of fasting and of prayer, reflection and community, and is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. It is the commemoration of Muhammad’s first revelation of the Quran. Many of us have little experience with fasting, but member Graham Bell often tries a modified fast during Ramadan. His teacher, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, a Tamil-speaking Sufi mystic from Sri Lanka, considered fasting an opportunity to take on our inner “demons” or “bad qualities” (such as pride, greed, anger, and impatience) and to surrender instead to that which is greater than the self, to reflect on unity, and to find compassion for others. For many Muslims Ramadan is a time of putting others first and making donations to charity. Our service today will be lead by Allysson McDonald and Graham Bell as he reflects on what he has learned from his experiences of fasting for Ramadan,and about the meanings of some Arabic words that provide insight into the true meaning of Islam. Salaam alaikum!

Almost everyone will tell you that they care about the earth. They care about the relationship they have helped to co-create [and re-create everyday] with the other 8.7 million species that co-habitate with us on planet earth. But what does it really mean to responsibly live up to our end of the interdependent bargain? This service celebrates our relationship – and our promise – to the millions of other plants, animals, flora and fauna that make up our creative co-existence.

What is Easter? Beneath all the fancy clothes, the music and pagentry… Beyond the history, theology, and confusing stories of eggs, empty tombs, bunnies and brunches… what would we find that gives us real hope? What’s there that would tell us whether we’re on the right track for transformation in our lives and for the larger world around us? This is a service where we will explore what the Easter exam is asking, It’s not about passing organized religion’s test. It’s about living up to the real hope we are part of providing.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam all have sacred periods of intentional preparation during this time. There are stories and rituals. Prayer and fasting. Each of these faith traditions knows that encountering a sacred, transformative time is not happenstance. It depends as much on practicing ways that tell us how to show up as much as relying on God to show up for us. In this service, we will explore ways that teach us how to be ready for the sacred when it comes.

Father Greg Boyle is a Jesuit priest and the founder of Homeboy Industries, the world’s largest gang intervention, rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world. He’s worked with over 10,000 human beings each year for the last three decades. Most of them, he says, have come to the startling revelation that, when faced with neglect, abuse, judgment and condemnation, the urge to belong to something resembling any kind of love is undeniable. Gangs substitute for the love they need. But when they begin to recognize that toughness is not a replacement for love, they realize they were lured into believing in ‘the wrong god.’ The stories we will explore are from Fr. Boyles book, “The Whole Language – The Power of Extravagant Tenderness”.