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
If you grow up in a democracy, in a place where ‘the common good’ and ‘love thy neighbor’ are even slightly familiar – and then you learn about Naziism and the holocaust, it is almost impossible not to ask, ‘how could such a thing happen?’ This is a service that explores that question drawing from … Continue reading How Facism Gains a Following – Even Where It Isn’t Wanted
There is an old adage that says if you want to know how anything works, ‘follow the money.’ Using this technique we will explore what research and economic studies have revealed. We will explore the influence and aims of corporate interests on society over time and we will ask whether profitability are at odds with … Continue reading The Politics of Money
