This is part one of a 4 part sermon series on politics and democracy. This one speaks to Capitalism as a special element of democracy and how capitalism has positioned itself to be more important than almost everything else – including health and well being. The Zoom link and Order of Service will be provided … Continue reading Why the Right Get it Wrong and the Left Don’t Get it
Sometimes singing an unfamiliar hymn in church can be really painful. Enough so, we may find ourselves looking ahead at the hymns scheduled to decide if we should attend on Sunday. There is an old Dutch proverb which says that ‘Trust walks in on foot and rides out on a horse.’ It’s true enough in … Continue reading Death by Hymn
Our annual in-gathering service – the Water Communion – is a mainstay of many (if not most) UU Congregations. This year we will look back on where it came from, how it changed, and reflect on what might be some of the most important aspects of the service to honor. The Zoom link and Order … Continue reading Walking Upstream to the Original Water Communion
In 1968, Trappist Monk wrote Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander responding to some of the horrific events on the political landscape trying to examine what sense of accountability the good citizen had in failing to make a nation safe for its people. Today, we can look back 21 years and ask ourselves some of the … Continue reading Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
Because of the rapid proliferation of technology and communication, traumatic events and acute personal reminders have become much more commonplace experiences. We’ve become conscious of what previous generations could only imagine. These difficult new experiences can startle and trigger anxiety and alarm rather than empathy and compassion. This is a sermon about what recent events … Continue reading What Happened to You?
Each of us has probably experienced the feeling of being abandoned and betrayed. In moments that mattered, we have had to imagine facing the world unprotected and alone. It is a scary sequence of thoughts that come when we have to piece together our own survival rather than the creative imagination that comes when we … Continue reading Bird by Bird, Stone by Stone, Hand in Hand
Known to some as the country’s “second Independence Day,” Juneteenth celebrates freedom. Not just the freedom of folks who assumed they were free, but what it might feel like if ALL people were free. The news that enslaved people would be freed after the civil war, took a long time in reaching some communities – … Continue reading Juneteenth
Our annual Flower Communion service asks us to remember the courage and vision of Norbert Capek who presided over one of the largest Unitarian Congregations in Prague, Czechoslovakia in the years when the Nazi regime terrorized political dissidents for criticizing the Third Reich. Capek asked people to imagine the beautiful diversity in everything – from … Continue reading Flower Communion
Over the course of a year, it’s sometimes good to map the trajectory of our hearts and review the journeys we’ve been on. This is sometimes as helpful for communities as it is for individuals. Especially when the world we live in has been taking us for the ride of our lives. What are the … Continue reading To Survey An Atlas of the Heart
In this service we will share some of the stories of our racial history that we recall with pride and that for which we still hold regret. As UUs, we will acknowledge our important, inspiring, compelling and confusing journey toward racial justice and what has led us to this point of feeling like we need … Continue reading 8th Principle
