Our very own.
This line from the Grateful Dead song “Ripple” inspires Tim, Theresa, and Vanessa Mantis, Howard Williams, Steve Lewallen, Erin Reid and Pam Siegler to fill the air this Sunday with music and songs that kindle meaningful memories from their life journeys. Remembering and rekindling is a ministry mission of worship. As their special songs and … Continue reading Let There Be Songs to Fill the Air
Flower Communion Sunday! Our annual Flower Communion Service is a celebration of the renewal of life and hope at the center of this season of Easter, Passover, and Spring. It is also a time to build lasting memories for our children. Our sanctuary comes alive with the splendor of flowers, representing the variety and beauty … Continue reading Season of Hope and Liberation
People are often divided by the categories of believer and non-believer. Are those truly valid categories? Is there a theological framework within Unitarian Universalism that helps us answer the question, “Are you a believer?”
Our theme for this month, “Liberation,” prompts the question, what does it mean to be a people of liberation? As I contemplate my upcoming sabbatical time, I am considering various ways to answer this question. As Unitarian Universalists we frequently think of liberation in terms of fighting oppression and dismantling systems. In addition, might we … Continue reading People of Liberation
Have you heard people around the church talk about OWL and wondered what it was? OWL, or Our Whole Lives, is a comprehensive, lifespan sexuality education curricula developed by the UUA in collaboration with the United Church of Christ, UCC. OWL may well be one of the greatest gifts we offer our young people, and … Continue reading What’s Religious About Sexuality Education?
Our theme for this month is Desire. We are also in the month of Lent, a time when many people try to give up something they desire. Does our Unitarian Universalist tradition have anything to say about embracing desire, or resisting temptation? Might we learn to discern which desires, when met, will bring fulfillment, and … Continue reading Our Heart’s Desire
As I consider this journey we share, I am reminded of the words of Ed Catmull from Pixar: “There is a sweet spot between the known and the unknown where originality happens; the key is to be able to linger there without panicking.” This sweet spot is also known as liminal space. For some, liminal … Continue reading Our Shared Journey
Typically we think of promise as something in our future. Within many faith traditions, especially Protestantism, the promise of fulfillment lies in some distant future, or at least beyond our present experience. Today gets lost in the valley between nostalgia and our hopes for tomorrow. Religious scholars, however, acknowledge an emerging spirituality rising from resistance … Continue reading The Promise of Today
Our worship theme this month asks, what does it mean to be a people of resistance? This usually brings to mind images of civil rights movements and standing up actively against something, as it should. But is that the only way to be a people of resistance? I’ve had many conversations through the years with … Continue reading People of Resistance
A few weeks ago I received a request from a member of a Unitarian Universalist congregation in California for information about one of our previous members. She was planning to tell a story about him as part of her congregation’s worship service honoring Martin Luther King Jr. It was a story I don’t remember us … Continue reading Who is Telling Our Story?
