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 … Continue reading Learning How to Sing the Blues
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 … Continue reading What They Dreamed Be Ours to Do
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’ … Continue reading 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. … Continue reading Finding Happiness
We are in a moment that matters. Our eyes fall upon countless examples of corruption, ideological extremism, environmental degradation, systemic racism and every form of division imaginable. It’s overwhelming to realize we are at the point of no return. Even more to realize, it’s on our generation to turn everything around. But most overwhelming is … Continue reading Loved Into Being
There is a liminal space of time – between listening and healing – where we get a glimpse of our soul. Bill Monroe, one of the father’s of Bluegrass, called this space, ‘the high lonesome.’ He watched soldiers walk home along railway lines while mourning and moaning about all they’d lost. This is a service … Continue reading The High Lonesome
Don Quixote travelled the world fighting windmills. He had a keen eye for the romanticism of what was ‘right’ and ‘just.’ So much so, few others recognized what he was so ardently trying to point out. As he would make a charge against injustice, others would accuse him of fighting windmills. Sancho Panza would, ever-so-carefully, … Continue reading A Tad Too Much Sanity
Kate Braestrup was not intending to be a UU minister. She has happy to leave that for others who dreamed of such things. But when tragedy visited her unexpectedly, she – quite by surprise – heard the call to offer love and solace from the most unlikely source: her own grief. This service will talk … Continue reading Here If You Need Me
Abel Meeropol, like many of us, saw something he could not unsee. And he took it extremely personally. He connected the dots that wove a web of interdependence between himself, black men who were terrorized by racism, the children of spies, and the song no one liked but everyone remembered. This is a sermon about … Continue reading Strange Fruit
Steven Covey wrote the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Habit 2 urges us to begin with the end in mind. That habit, calls us to begin each day, task, or project with a clear vision of our desired direction and destination, and then continue to flex our proactive muscles to make things happen. One … Continue reading Begin with the End in Mind
