Watch a recorded video of the service here. In lieu of an in-person flower communion, our traditional service on this day, join us online to celebrate how gardening and the natural world have cared for our souls in the past year. We invite you to bring a flower to your worship space, and stay after … Continue reading Tending Nature, Tending Our Souls
How might things be different if we weren’t always looking for the next new thing, the next place beyond the horizon? Native American elders think we do not live or act like settled people. Some scholars attribute our current social pathologies to our rootless past. Can we learn to settle down enough to care for … Continue reading Becoming Indigenous
View the recording here. The Christian concepts of original sin and flawed humanity have deep roots in our culture, affecting our individual concept of self and so much else. UU minister Yadenee Hailu, in her Earth Day sermon, said “hurt bodies, hurt bodies,” or alternately, injured persons lash out. Today we explore healing ourselves and … Continue reading Accepting Ourselves and Saving the World
How are we called to be accepting when the answers are not clear? A federal appeals court recently upheld a law in Ohio making it illegal for doctors to perform abortions based on a fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome. This ruling poses a dilemma for both women’s choice and disability rights advocates. Worship Associate – … Continue reading Acceptance and Moral Ambiguity
In the early days of the pandemic, after the world shut down, it was hard not to notice cleaner air; we could hear birdsong previously lost in city noise. In the rush to resume normal life, will we forget to be mindful? Will we forget the possibilities of a different way of being in the … Continue reading This Is Our Home
View the recorded service here. Join us to explore how Jesus’ message applies to us and the mission of this church. On the Sunday after Jesus was crucified, the women who were closest to him saw and felt his presence. Later others did, too. Jesus’ felt presence caused a rebirth in his followers. They were … Continue reading Easter Sunday: How Do We Practice Radical Love?
Respect is often seen as deference to status or hierarchy. Alternately, respect can foster symmetry, empathy, and connection. This is what Joseph Jordan may have felt when he became the first Black Universalist minister in 1889. This may be what Luis McGee felt in 1961 when he became the first Black Unitarian Universalist minister to … Continue reading Window on Respect
“We abuse the land because we see it as a commodity,” wrote the great conservationist Aldo Leopold. We abuse each other because we see the “other” as not part of our community. Only when we expand our notion of what is “home,” will we treat our neighbors and our land with respect. We are the … Continue reading Respect and the Home
Parker Palmer speaks of the soul as a wild animal, shy, keeping itself hidden. To see a wild animal, we must wait patiently and quietly, and be prepared to look from the corners of our eyes. We are not talking about the Christian concept of eternal soul, but something deep within us, something that can … Continue reading The Shy Soul
“Love mercy,” said the prophet Micah in the Hebrew Bible. The one who showed mercy was the neighbor, said Jesus to his disciples, after telling the parable of the good Samaritan. To be merciful is often not an easy nor a safe choice. How are we called? Worship Associate – Dave Keller, Zoom Host – … Continue reading Love Mercy
