Sermons Archive
A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
December 24, 2009
All of us come here wondering if we will hear once again the re-telling of an ancient story — the story of an innocent young couple, on a journey, who have a baby in the most unlikely of places.
The story reminds us to keep connected to the extraordinary in the ordinary, to the miracle inherent in each birth, to the possibilities that each life journey provides us. It invites us to explore the metaphor and parable inherent in our own life journey, to imagine what star we might be following, to open ourselves up to radical hospitality, no matter where we might find ourselves.
Waiting for the Light
December 20, 2009
The days are getting shorter and shorter, the nights longer and colder. The winter season is upon us, marked tomorrow, by the shortest day of the year.
How do these dark days suit you? Are they a welcome friend, or a challenge to your daily life? Do you feel cozier or crazier? Do you feel connected to these seasonal changes in light, or do you nominally notice them?
It certainly is easier for us to cruise right through the darkness than it has been for most of the history of humanity. We’ve created technologies, like electricity, that allow us to largely by-pass the darkness should we choose. Add to that a 24/7 lifestyle, and, for some, there is little difference between day and night.
The Lost Gifts of Waiting
December 06, 2009
I imagine that you might be thinking that Advent may have nothing to do with your beliefs and practices. Quite frankly, if Advent is the season of waiting, what possibly could we, as Unitarian Universalists, be waiting for? We hold no hope for an anticipated event that will save the world. We believe it is our job to create the world we dream about. We are the do-ers, not the wait-ers.
But I invite you to think again. The traditions that have arisen in response to Advent came from real people creating symbols and teaching tools that matched the needs of their lives.
Sharing our Bread, Sharing our Lives
November 22, 2009
In an effort to forge a national political identity, generations of people have been asked to leave many of their multiple identities behind. So that now, many white people in this country rarely reflect upon their identities, and ‘ethnic’ is often synonymous for ‘non-white’, while it really means to define the characteristics of any people who share a common culture, religion, language or the like. Sadly, then, when we seek diversity, we go chasing it outside of ourselves.
One of the key ways that ethnic diversity of all kinds survives is through food – the breaking of bread. We define cultures by their spices, and even regions of this country by their cornbread or bagels or their lobster.
The Dance of Relationship
November 08, 2009
When families are apart and join together for a few short days each year, the reconnection is never perfect. The stories that run in our minds before we arrive are often exaggerations of either the impenetrable ogres that comprise our extended family, or an infatuation of a promised new beginning. We all arrive with expectations and projections. And with only a few days to be together, the stakes can feel high.
What happens during the family dance? You have exchanges of verbal and nonverbal behavior. You have physiological changes and linkages between family members. The best dancers are light on their feet, reading verbal and non-verbal cues, and moving in tandem with their partners and the rhythm they feel moving in their bones.
Saying Goodbye
November 01, 2009
What actions have you taken to help you in times of grief? Where have you created solace? What have you done to ‘say good-bye’ to those you love?
Many of us may have lost our cultural traditions that aid in living with loss. After the memorial, there may be little for us to do. So each year, at this time when many of the world’s cultures pause to honor their departed, we take time, here, at the Fellowship, to remember those who have passed on. I know it is not our only time to do so, as stories of our beloved departed are often mentioned in these halls. The Nachmans, Frank Abbot, and Rudy Gilbert, to name a few, are names of people whom I have never met, but feel I know because of you.
In a world that has sanitized death, and in-so doing, marginalized grief, let this be a place where we acknowledge death, pain and loss, and by so doing, celebrate life in all its fullness.
Read More...Remembering to Live Now
October 25, 2009
Trap doors are those defining events when we are forced to come to terms with how fleeting life really is, when we stand face to face with death, or near-death. In the aftermath of these moments, if we are lucky, or perhaps, if we take the time to let the experience affect us, we come to new understandings of what it means to be alive.
Read More...Remembering our Roots: Growing Our Diversity
October 04, 2009
Today, most Unitarian Universalists do not trouble themselves with questions of the trinity or a salvation after death. But these theological stances have been molded and shaped to a present-oriented theology, concerned with enhancing the quality of this life, more than focusing on any transcendent deity or an after-life. The understanding of the Unity of a Godhead, (versus a trinity) has been translated into our understanding of our unity as part of the web of life. More important to today’s conversation is the evolution of Universalism from a theoretical discussion of who will be saved after death to a modern-day “gospel of inclusionâ€.
Read More...