There are times in this world where the terrible truth of how cruel humans can be to one another just wears us down. Where the surface-level cheerfulness and benefit-of-the-doubt thinking encounter people who dismiss, demean, ignore or undermine the inherent worth and dignity of others. Sometimes, when we’re all alone and fear and doubt rush … Continue reading Love at the Center
In this special service we will row ourselves back upstream to our past and see what excitement and hope was placed in our 30 year time capsule. We will also consider what hopes and promises we think belong in the time capsule to be opened in another 30 years. The Zoom link and Order of … Continue reading River of Time – Water Communion and 30 Years of Hopes and Promises
How do we do ‘the right thing’ when we feel most ‘wronged.’ How we go about untangling our own array of past hurts and traumas and learn to be open to things – and people – that frighten us? These truths are at the root of all spiritual growth. And, it is what Religious Education … Continue reading Lessons I Learned from RE about Myself, Others and Religion
Sometimes the world isn’t as it presents. Sometimes (especially in election years) it can feel like politicians (and the corporations backing them) are trying their best to deceive us – painting a rosy picture of our lives if we trust them and a dystopian nightmare if we go against them. This is a service about … Continue reading WWJD – The Theology for the Matrix We’re In
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…
