Sermons

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Or read through some other Worship Services below:

(note that all sermons are copyrighted, and we strive to ensure that all readings, photos, and quotes appropriately reference intellectual ownership)

  • September 10, 2023: The Consolation of Water Lilies

    September 10, 2023: The Consolation of Water Lilies

    —I had known it would happen from the first time I held her— from that moment on, all her growing would be away from me. It is the fundamental unfairness of parenthood that if we do our jobs well, the deepest bond we are given will walk out the door with a wave
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  • April 3, 2022: Nature’s Best Hope (It’s You)

    April 3, 2022: Nature’s Best Hope (It’s You)

    —The planet is losing species at an alarming rate, and humans are in jeopardy. But if you have a yard -- or the ability to write a letter -- there are many ways you can help!
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  • March 20, 2022: The Courage of Zelensky

    March 20, 2022: The Courage of Zelensky

    —Trusting in his people, trusting in his dream of democracy, Volodymyr Zelensky has put his own life and even his young family on the line. And for it he has become trustworthy, like no one else in living memory.
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  • January 24, 2021: “He’s Not the Messiah”/ Monty Python’s Life of Brian

    January 24, 2021: “He’s Not the Messiah”/ Monty Python’s Life of Brian

    —Monty Python uses the absurd to free you from the constraints of conformity, to open your mind to possibilities beyond the conventional, to remind you of your freedom, as an individual, to make sense as you please of your time on earth.
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  • March 1, 2020: What Price Wisdom?

    March 1, 2020: What Price Wisdom?

    —Do you find yourself connected to people here? Do you find yourself fed by wisdom and challenged to act in the world? If so, then this place is changing your life. It’s helping you grow and find meaning and purpose outside yourself. Which is amazing. What’s that worth to you?
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  • February 16, 2020: Celebrating Black Resilience

    February 16, 2020: Celebrating Black Resilience

    —How does a community survive, and even thrive, in the face of so many obstacles? How does the Black Community remain resilient?
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  • February 2, 2020: Resilience, Rest, and Resistance

    February 2, 2020: Resilience, Rest, and Resistance

    —If resilience is a set of skills you can build and use, grace is beyond that, outside of that. Grace is what happens when your tank of resilience has run dry, and you’re about to fall apart, and a little miracle comes by, just out of the blue.
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  • January 12, 2020: Martyrs, White Lies, and Us

    January 12, 2020: Martyrs, White Lies, and Us

    —James Reeb didn’t want to be a martyr, put up on a pedestal. He was a regular guy, a UU just like the rest of us. A guy who, at the right moment, summoned the integrity to do the right thing, even though it was scary. Because his faith gave him courage. Because the word…
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  • December 15, 2019: The Dance of Dark and Light

    December 15, 2019: The Dance of Dark and Light

    —Hopes will get dashed. Love always brings with it grief. Families have problems, churches have problems, societies and cultures have problems. There is no light without darkness. In fact, it is the darkness that makes the light so necessary, so bright. The two are intertwined, enmeshed in an eternal dance.
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  • December 8, 2019: Faith of the Free

    December 8, 2019: Faith of the Free

    —We pause to remember Channing today, because his ideas were/are important to our faith. His sermon was turning point in the development of our movement. But in addition we remember him because he stands as an example of how to lead in times of turmoil.
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  • December 1, 2019: “Finding Your Road”

    December 1, 2019: “Finding Your Road”

    —I hope to always have an open and appreciative heart. But it can be hard to be open to the vastness of it all when the journey is difficult. As we jump into the holiday season, we can think of the journey of Mary and Joseph.
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  • November 10, 2019: The Science of Finding Your Divine

    November 10, 2019: The Science of Finding Your Divine

    —MUUC Member Josh Shortlidge shares about his Hindu devotional meditation practice and how it relates to his UU faith journey.
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  • October 27, 2019: “1619”

    October 27, 2019: “1619”

    —It was 400 years ago that the first Africans were brought to America. That's one year BEFORE the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. The white men who drafted the words “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” did not apply those words to Black Americans, fully one-fifth of the country.
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  • October 13, 2019: “The Quest for Belonging”

    October 13, 2019: “The Quest for Belonging”

    —When we are born, we are delivered into the world as a stranger among strangers. As we grow up, we soak up the influences around us from our family, friends, community and culture. Eventually we discover that our inner self does not always feel at home with our circumstances.
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  • October 6, 2019: “The Promise of Belonging”

    October 6, 2019: “The Promise of Belonging”

    —Around 1933, the Williams covenant added "To the end that all souls shall grow into harmony with the Divine". In its time and place, that made a certain amount of sense. But how about now? How about here? Is this 100-year-old covenant we recite every Sunday really a statement of our beliefs or our aspirations?
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  • September 29, 2019: “Atonement / At-one-ment”

    September 29, 2019: “Atonement / At-one-ment”

    —Forgiveness is a process. The person harmed must have the power to decide what happens and when. Forgiveness is separate from justice; it is personal. And forgiveness involves a willingness to let the other, or the self, out of the box called “criminal” or “enemy” or “victim.”; to see the humanity in the other.
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  • September 15, 2019: “Choose Life”

    September 15, 2019: “Choose Life”

    —We have to cut our emissions by 50% by 2030, in order to avoid cataclysmic events, a chain reaction we can’t stop. I was in denial about this, pretty much. [Then], someone gave a sermon that laid it all out for me. And I couldn’t deny it any more. I had to wake up.
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  • June 2, 2019: “The Invisible Embrace”

    June 2, 2019: “The Invisible Embrace”

    —Is there a way you could make a daily practice of looking for beauty in your life? Can you imagine living in a world where, instead of perfection, we worshiped the beauty and authenticity that comes with age? Beholding authentic beauty can give you real courage.
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  • May 26, 2019: “Living The Questions”

    May 26, 2019: “Living The Questions”

    —Unitarian Universalists are the ones who aren’t satisfied with someone else’s theology, with a creed handed down to us through the generations. We undertake our own religious journeys. Finding our own way and accepting and helping others on theirs can't be done without curiosity.
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  • April 21, 2019: “Easter Homily”

    April 21, 2019: “Easter Homily”

    —Today, this morning, my friends, let us pray that we might, as a nation and as a people, stand up and walk forward, toward that Promised land the one of freedom and dignity and laughter we already hold inside.
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  • April 7, 2019: “The Holy Whole”

    April 7, 2019: “The Holy Whole”

    —Wholeness is the consciousness that you are part of something much bigger than yourself. That you don’t have to earn worthiness. You are Something already complete, already perfect in your own way, and inherently worthy, inherently loved and loveable. That was the true message of Jesus.
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  • March 31, 2019: “A Nation Of Immigrants”

    March 31, 2019: “A Nation Of Immigrants”

    —When I was a kid in the 70's in Michigan, my industrial city was literally overrun with an immigrant wave. Was there tension? Sure, some. But most folks just rolled with it. We knew we were all immigrants at one time - hard-working families with well-kept houses, and not a single incident of terrorism.
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  • March 10, 2019: “Bless This Home”

    March 10, 2019: “Bless This Home”

    —There are too many lonely people. What we are doing, right here, right now, matters. We are fighting cultural trends, pushing back at hyper-individualism, protecting ourselves and our kids from debilitating loneliness and social isolation. The more people connect to our life-giving message, the more people are weaved into our life-saving community.
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  • March 3, 2019: “Pilgrims Progress”

    March 3, 2019: “Pilgrims Progress”

    —Pilgrimages developed as a way of pulling people out of normal life, forcing them to put down their worldly ways and set aside time and space for reflection, of un-becomimg what you are not. Is it time for you to set off on a journey of un-becoming?
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  • February 24, 2019: “White Like Me”

    February 24, 2019: “White Like Me”

    —Empathy must be cultivated. The truth is that there is no other, no us and them, no black and white, no gay and straight, no easy lines to draw. The separation is the sin. The estrangement, from loved ones, from human connection, from the divine as it manifests in all people, is a spiritual disease.
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