Love is a great idea. For most of us, it is what shapes our dreams and aspirations for how we want to live – and what we want most from the people we live with. But we are inundated with stories that describe love swooping in to sweep us off our feet when, in truth, … Continue reading Love Over the Long Haul (or, What Happens After You Realize You’re Married to a Yak)
Sometimes, in our pre-occupation with human customs and conventions, we lose track of all the ways we are blessed by our non-human companions through this journey through life. They, however, very rarely lose track of us. In this service, we will look closely at all the ways our various furry, flapping, flippered, scaly, slimy and … Continue reading Blessing of the Animals
In 2020, one of the initial intentions of the Mission Peak ARO Team (Anti-Racism, Anti-Oppression) was to offer a land acknowledgement at the beginning of our worship services. The purpose of Land Acknowledgments is to humbly recognize the impact that our settler-colonialist history has had on the people and the land. When we began the … Continue reading A Land In Search of Its Ancestors
The story of America’s beginning is surrounded by powerful, colorful trappings. The Boston Tea Party that started it all with the jaunty audacity of a costume party. Paul Revere riding through the night with his sole voice crying out alarm in the darkness. The Liberty Bell rung so loud on July 4, 1776, that it … Continue reading The Embatled Farmers
With carols, candles and stories we will explore Dicken’s exploration of how Love come-to-life within had the power to transform Ebeneezer Scrooge from crumudgeon to Christmas saint. The Zoom link and Order of Service will be provided at mpuuc.org/zoom.
Last January a number of amazing souls from Mission Peak came together on a year long journey to gaze beyond the curtain of our own mortality. Over 12 months, we looked at everything that made the conversation with death so intimidating. A few of those who completed the course will talk about what they learned … Continue reading At the End of the Year We Were Given
So many people in this country see diversity as a strength and understand that a safety net for the most vulnerable is a sign of a caring nation. For such ideals, the election delivered difficult news. Many are in retreat, cursing the darkness, vowing to socially hibernate for the next four years. But this comes … Continue reading The Religion of Lamentation and Loneliness
In 1941, after the horrific simultaneous Japanese attacks the day prior at Pearl Harbor, Guam, The Phillipines Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaya, Franklin Delanor Roosevelt addressed the nation, calling the horrific series of attacks, “A day that will live in infamy.” One might have hoped that such violence would have emboldened a commitment to peace. … Continue reading All We Are Saying, Is Give Peace a Chance
What do Martin Luther King, Jr. Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, Howard Zinn, Maya Angelou, Malala Yousafzai and Greta Thornburg all have in common? They were / are all community organizers. That is to say, they responded to injustice imposed by the powerful upon the powerless. But don’t think that any of these people had all … Continue reading Hearding Cats Toward the Beloved Community
One of the most common tenates within the world’s varied spiritual truths is to do your best and let go of the outcomes. No matter how the election works out, there is work that needs open hearts and loving hands. We will have our very first Action Sunday – a new process for doing worship … Continue reading Action Sunday – Putting Our Values into Action
