This Juneteenth service will be held at Lions1 Picnic Area at Lake Elizabeth. Through stories, music and ritual, we will recognize and celebrate when word of emancipation finally arrived in the remote plains of the nation, enslavers tried to keep the news from those whose lives and dreams they had kept captive. We will imagine … Continue reading Juneteenth
It was 55 years ago that the Stonewall Riots, aka, Stonewall Uprising, began in the early hours of June 28, 1969. New York City police violently raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club located in Greenwich Village arresting patrons. But those arrested made it perfectly clear they’d had enough of this constant abuse. The six … Continue reading Pride Started with a Riot
This year marks the 101st year since Norbert Capek introduced the Flower Celebration in Prague Czechoslovakia as a response to the build up of authoritarianism in percolating in the region. Capek took a very simple observation of his daughter noticing the diversity of flowers in the area and how beautiful they looked together in a … Continue reading Flower Communion Celebration
Theology is like art. Once you imagine a picture inside you, it wants to emerge and become real. But when the art within you is telling a story about beauty and worth, and the world around you is telling a story of domination, control, poverty and hunger, it can be confusing. Using the determined and … Continue reading Enthusiasmos
We all know the importance of Mothers. None of us would ever make it to adulthood without them. But it is easy to overlook how much goes into the maternal care, attention, love, support, wisdom, devotion and sovereignty a good mother provides. In this service, Ariel Smith-Iyer and Rev. Greg Ward will share some of … Continue reading Stories that Remind Us of the Mothers We Need
Thirty years ago, on May 1, 1994, over a hundred people gathered to create a Charter whereby they became a community known as Mission Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation. Five years later, on April 27, 1999, Rev. Greg Ward was ordained into the Unitarian Universalist Ministry. Both anniversaries are significant. At the heart of each is … Continue reading A Promise, Time and Circumstance Walk into a Bar…
Passover is an important story of the Jewish Community which recalls and illustrate the Jewish effort to escape the bondage they experienced in Egypt and find their way to freedom. Holding a Seder and honoring Passover is an very important testament of faith for a Jewish person. It is also an incredibly complicated moment in … Continue reading Why is this Service Different from All Other Services?
Although almost all people who have really considered it are drawn to the idea of Beloved Community, many modern theologians argue it is not a straight line from oppression to liberation. There is an evolution involved. Brian McLaren, Richard Rohr and other theologians think of it as the need to try on and tell ourselves … Continue reading Seven Stories to Liberation
According to the Christian calendar, it was shortly after Jesus appeared to the grieving disciples that they began the diaspera to share the ‘good news.’ Each of the remaining disciples was sent out with the task of gathering people to form communities. But it was Paul who had the real knack for community building. This … Continue reading Babies, Bathwater and the Belonging that’s our Birthright
This year, Easter lands on the precipice of another high holy day: April Fool’s Day. The proximity in date as well as in mission makes it appropriate to talk about the ways Jesus was a master of some long ignored and forgotten tricks of wisdom to get his message of transformative love across to the … Continue reading Holy Fool’s Day
