Is “Critical Race Theory” a way of understanding how American racism affects our daily lives and has shaped public policy, or a divisive discourse that pits people of color against white people? This sermon aims to clarify what Critical Race Theory is and what it is not and why you should care. This week’s service … Continue reading Critical Race Theory
Indigenous People’s Day is a holiday that celebrates and honors Native American people and commemorates their histories and their cultures. Historians say there were over five hundred nations of people here when the Europeans arrived. Though many have perished, we will hold their memories in sacred space. Join us as we celebrate the original people … Continue reading Celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day
Pandemic time is teaching us so many things about relationship. It’s clarifying that there is no real replacement for in-person connection. How can we nourish one another at this time? We live in a society that distracts us from the relationships that matter most, and certainly the relationships that could feed us the most. This … Continue reading Nourishing Relationship
The “Wise Silence,” is what Emerson called it. Lao Tzu called it the “Tao,” Plato called it the “Good and the Beautiful”, Aristotle called it “Being.” In Zulu they call it “Moya.” In Judaism, some call it “Ein Sof”, that which is everything and is nothing. Is the Soul, in fact, separate from us? This … Continue reading You Do Not Have a Soul; You ARE a Soul
What does it look like to belong to a community? What does it feel like to belong to a community? Can you say that you belong to a community? Whose are you? A community may be defined as a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality and often have a … Continue reading Belonging to a Community
We look forward to returning to in-person services on Sunday, September 12 at our previous home at the JCSVV (Jewish Community of Sedona and Verde Valley) located at 100 Meadowlark Lane in Sedona, with Reverend Anthony Johnson presiding as our new minister. Please click on the title for today’s service for more details, including our new safety protocols for Covid-19.
An Omnist, in contemporary terms, has come to describe a person who recognizes and respects all religions or lack thereof. The Oxford dictionary defines an Omnist as one who “believes in all faiths or creeds, a person who believes in a single transcendent purpose or cause uniting all things or people.” This sermon shall ponder … Continue reading Are You an Omnist?
In this month of our country’s “Independence“, this sermon shall reflect upon the words of Frederick Douglas; “the rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth … Continue reading A Day Later
What is play and how can it influence our ongoing free and responsible search for truth and meaning? . . . especially in our current time of cultural and societal tumult? It has been said that to truly laugh, you must take your pain and play with it . . . View this service … Continue reading Shall We Play?
Across time and all cultures, it is the story that has been and continues to be an agent of personal transformation. This sermon will remind us of the power of stories and the power within our own story. Our stories motivate and challenge us to reevaluate our world and our place in it. So, we … Continue reading The Power of Story
