Whether we enjoy it or not, we learn valuable spiritual lessons from the difficult people in our lives – those whom we know and love, those we work with, attend church with, and those whom we encounter more randomly. This morning, we will explore the inherent presence of the “prickly” in our midst, how to … Continue reading Thank You For Being Such A Pain: Spiritual Lessons We Learn from Difficult People
The writer Zora Neale Hurston wrote: “Oh hope, you fall on soft ground” because she had heard seeds saying that to each other as they passed. How many of us wait for “soft” ground or just the right conditions before we plant our faithful seeds? As we close in on the one-year anniversary of COVID … Continue reading Planting Seeds in the Hard Ground: A Sermon Towards Hope
As a socially-distanced Valentine’s Day approaches with its mythic view of romance, we’ll explore why it can be so difficult to give and receive love and how we can soften into the comforting hug just outside of our resistance. What might it mean to be devoted in a Maybe-I-Do world? View this service here. Or … Continue reading Open Your Arms if You Want to Be Held: A Sermon Towards Devotion
With winter in full swing, we’ll explore how we might engage in a deeper practice of intentional contemplation and reflection. Especially for us wordy UUs, how could we benefit and grow from cultivating a resonant silence in our lives? View this service here. Or visit our YouTube channel to view any of our past services.
Letterboxing is a quirky hobby combining orienteering, puzzle solving, journaling, and treasure hunting, dating back to the 1850’s in Dartmoor, England. With our well-intentioned 2021 resolutions in tow, we’ll explore Letterboxing as a spiritual metaphor for getting lost (in healthy ways) — stepping off the well-worn paths of getting from here to there in our … Continue reading Letterboxing: Getting Lost and Found in the New Year
For more than 50 years, a “Charlie Brown Christmas” has graced our TV screens. In it, Charlie Brown falls in love with the most despised little tree on the lot. “This little green tree needs a home,” he says. “I think it will be perfect. I think it needs me.” The animated classic offers us … Continue reading The Perfect Imperfection of Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tree
On the cusp of the Solstice and in the midst of Hanukkah, we’ll explore the power of light to inspire, uplift, and enlighten us, and hear tales of how the warm glow of community and the kindness of strangers can support us in the “bleak mid-winter.” View this service here. Or visit our YouTube channel … Continue reading Wax, Wick, and Kerosene
Have you ever noticed how often criticism or judgment gets in the way of our gratitude? In this sermon for Thanksgiving weekend, we’ll explore how we might soften the critical impulse and free ourselves from the tyranny of judgment and the suffering it creates. We’ll ask: As we go through our daily rounds, under the … Continue reading Praise It!
When asked what he thought the afterlife would be like, the sage of Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau answered, “I’m taking it one world at a time.” As we explore how we relate to our inevitable finitude, we’ll consider how we might live deliberately in a somewhat random world without over-attachment to the past or … Continue reading Taking it one world at a time: A Sermon for All Souls
In Unitarian Universalism, our birthright or adopted tradition, I often wonder (even, fret) about the degree of communal memory or the level of familiarity with the UU “recipe.” Critics both inside and outside of our movement suggest that we are a smorgasbord of side dishes with no main course; a “salad bowl religion,” or worse, … Continue reading UU Soup: Season to Taste
