All Souls Unitarian Church

A UU minister walks into a Trump rally. It sounds like the setup to a joke, but it isn't.

Almost everyone believes every person matters. So why do so few of us act like it? Loving your own people was never the problem. The trouble starts when that love quietly becomes permission to care less about everyone else's kids, safety, and dignity. From the inside, it never feels like cruelty. It feels like loyalty.

This message, "A UU Minister Goes To A Trump Rally," was delivered by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, after he spent three hours outside a Trump rally in Durant, Oklahoma, talking to the people who showed up. He didn't go to protest, and he didn't go to cheer. He went to see for himself who was really there, and came back with a harder question about how to hold people accountable without deciding they've stopped being human.

QUESTIONS TO SIT WITH:

• Who have you written off without ever really listening to them?

• Can you stay furious at someone's actions and still see them as human?

• When you take care of your own people, who ends up outside the circle?

• Do you think of yourself as one of the good ones, and what does that let you ignore?

CHAPTERS:

0:00 Opening Music

0:38 Not There to Cheer or Protest

1:17 The Caricature in My Head

2:03 Owning My Blind Spots

3:13 When It Hits Home

4:14 Harder Than Kumbaya

4:54 Three Hours in Durant

5:44 Hugs, Families, and Just People

7:04 Friendly Doesn't Mean Harmless

8:49 You Don't Have to Hate to Hurt

9:38 The Bikers at the Mosque Vote

11:38 Two Ways to Decide Who Matters

13:46 It Doesn't Start With Hate

18:08 "We Can't Help Everyone"

22:28 Dignity Means Everyone

23:47 Stay Human

MENTIONED IN THIS MESSAGE:

Siderea's blog post on the two moral codes: https://siderea.dreamwidth.org/1249694.html

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What if the thing you're most afraid of is the reason anything is precious?

We spend so much energy outrunning death. But the limits are what give a life its shape. Everything you love is going to end. That isn't a flaw in the design. A child's laugh, a turning leaf, an ordinary Tuesday dinner: none of it matters less because it ends. It matters more.

QUESTIONS TO SIT WITH:

• Who do you love so much that losing them scares you?
• What ordinary moment from this week would you miss terribly if it were gone?
• When someone you love is hurting, do you move toward them or pull away?
• Knowing how much love can hurt, would you still choose it?

CHAPTERS:

• 0:00 Opening Song
• 0:52 Full Circle
• 1:46 "What Happens When We Die?"
• 4:25 A Bath Full of Stars
• 5:32 Worth It, No Matter What
• 6:05 Life and Death Arrive Together
• 7:53 Yes to Life Is Yes to Death
• 8:45 Running From the Limits
• 10:16 The Choice to Stay
• 11:33 Grief and Beauty, Together
• 14:43 Grief Is Part of the Fight
• 16:47 Would You Choose It Again?
• 17:28 Closing Song

This message, "Yes to Life! Yes to Death!," was delivered by Rev. Dr. Molly Housh Gordon at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa.

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A crowd isn't belonging. You can sit in the same room for years and still be a stranger. Belonging is being missed, being needed, and giving the room something nobody asked you for. It takes all of us or it doesn't happen at all.

In a country loud with platitudes and prejudice, All Souls points to the best in people instead of the worst. It tears down walls, stands against fear, and asks nothing that insults your intelligence or your conscience. Just a place to be fully yourself, with people who are fully there with you.

Religion here is for joy, comfort, gratitude, and love. It cares more about human beings than doctrine, and never calls anyone a sinner while knowing how hard everyone is fighting. That's what's waiting for you, and it's yours to help keep.

QUESTIONS TO SIT WITH:

• What are you doing with your time, your money, and your energy that makes the world a little better?
• Knowing your life is limited, how do you want to spend the time in between?
• Is belonging just a feeling for you, or something you actually show up and do?
• Are you just passing through, or are you part of this?

CHAPTERS:

0:00 Opening Song

1:03 From Kyoto to Tulsa

3:00 Picking Fights With Believers

4:07 Proven Wrong

4:46 A New Way to See God

8:07 God as Energy and Matter

12:49 What Makes Anything Holy?

14:27 Small Acts That Matter

16:33 Why People Join a Church

18:54 Who This Place Is For

20:54 How You Can Help

21:17 We Belong Together

23:47 Closing Song

This message, "We Belong Together," was delivered by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa.

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You don't have to be a spiritual person to have a sacred experience. You just have to be the kind of person who feeds the horses even when you don't want to — because the holy stuff doesn't show up for people waiting around for it. It shows up for people doing the unglamorous, thankless work of taking care of something else, on a morning they'd rather have skipped.

QUESTIONS TO SIT WITH:

- What's the unglamorous, thankless thing you keep showing up for anyway?

- Have you ever stumbled into something sacred in the middle of an ordinary chore?

- Can you hold both the tenderness and the cruelty of nature as equally true?

- Who — or what — are you responsible for, whether you feel like it that day or not?

CHAPTERS:

0:00 Opening Song

0:53 Growing Up With Animals

1:51 A Morning Fog

2:57 The Horses Are Missing

3:52 A Third Horse Emerges

4:44 Who Blessed Whom

5:19 Animals in Every Culture

6:04 Breath and Spirit

7:25 The Goldfish in the Bowl

8:58 Nature's Tooth and Claw

10:19 Beauty Despite the Cruelty

11:09 Showing Up Every Day

12:57 What Pets Teach Us

13:41 You Don't Need a Pet

14:55 Why We Bless

16:06 Closing Blessing

16:50 Closing Song

This message, "Who Blesses Whom?," was delivered by Rev. Dr. Nicole Kirk at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa.

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-All Souls Church Website: https://www.allsoulschurch.org

#AllSoulsTulsa #AllSoulsUnitarianChurch #LoveBeyondBelief #BlessingOfTheAnimals #Animals

What if the real test of a belief has nothing to do with whether it's true and everything to do with what it makes of you?

Not whether it's the right religion, the right God, the right set of rules. Whether it makes you more loving or more judgmental. Whether it holds you up on your worst day or only sounds good on your best one. Whether it gives you the courage to be honest, even when honesty costs you something. This message isn't interested in which belief is correct. It's interested in what yours is actually making of you.

QUESTIONS TO SIT WITH:

- Do your beliefs hold you up, or do they only work when things are already going fine?

- Do they make you kinder, or more judgmental?

- Could you stand by what you believe even if it disappointed someone you love?

- Would they get you out of bed on your hardest day?

CHAPTERS:

0:00 Opening Song

1:05 Playground Theology

3:04 Kids Explaining All Souls

4:30 One God, All Are Saved

6:45 What Does "Saved" Mean?

8:17 The Cathedral of the World

10:49 Testing What's True

11:31 Throwing Rocks Through Windows

12:52 Strange, But Not My Business

14:37 Love Over Doctrine

15:55 One Source, All Loved

16:59 Beyond What You Believe

19:17 What Your Beliefs Make of You

20:28 Closing Music

This message, "Simple Answers to Big Questions," was delivered by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa.

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The world is dangerous and beautiful at the same time. Most of us only have the bandwidth to notice one — so we either rush past the hard parts, or shrink our whole lives down to avoid them.Writer Annie Dillard warned against exactly that: living an "itsy bitsy" life to dodge how wild and extravagant the world really is. Rev. Dr. Nicole Kirk pairs that challenge with the story of Kate Bowler, told at 35 that she had two years to live, and a friend's gentle instruction — don't skip to the end. Kirk connects both ideas to her own experience choosing to live, not wait, through her husband's terminal illness.It's a message about staying present to everything at once: the danger, the beauty, and the people who help you carry both.QUESTIONS TO SIT WITH:- Are you rushing past a hard season, or shrinking yourself to survive it — or both?- Have you ever made an intentional choice about how to live in uncertainty, rather than just enduring it?- Can you hold "this is dangerous" and "this is beautiful" as true at the same time?- What's one place you've been living small to avoid something big?CHAPTERS:0:00 Opening Song1:01 A Diagnosis, and a Secret2:48 "Don't Skip to the End"3:00 My Own Threshold4:31 What Is a Threshold?8:02 Coming of Age & New Beginnings9:22 The Fall Equinox11:30 A World on Edge12:33 A Warning Against Shrinking14:55 Turning Cancer Into Art18:02 A Lifeline of Beauty19:53 Present in the Betwixt and Between21:24 You Don't Have to Wait Alone23:22 Measured by Love23:47 Closing SongThis message, "Beauty in a Spot of Danger," was delivered by Rev. Dr. Nicole Kirk at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa.SUBSCRIBE TO WATCH OTHER VIDEOS: @allsoulsunitarianGIVE A DONATION TO HELP US SPREAD THIS LOVE BEYOND BELIEF: https://www.allsoulschurch.org/GIVE or text AllSoulsTulsa to 73256LET'S CONNECT:Facebook: /allsoulstulsaInstagram: /allsoulstulsaAll Souls Church Website: https://www.allsoulschurch.org#AllSoulsTulsa #AllSoulsUnitarianChurch #LoveBeyondBelief #Grief #Presence

There's a difference between fitting in and belonging — and most of us have spent years mastering the wrong one. Fitting in means changing yourself to be accepted. Belonging means being accepted exactly as you are.This message argues that real community isn't built by people performing that they have it all together. It's built by people willing to show up as their actual, unfiltered selves — and makes the case that doing so isn't a risk to resilience. It's the source of it.QUESTIONS TO SIT WITH:

• When did you last let someone see you struggling, instead of managing it alone?
• Is there a difference between the people around you and the people who actually know you?
• What would change in your life if isolation wasn't the default?
• Who do you turn to when you can't carry something by yourself?

CHAPTERS:0:00 Opening Song1:00 A Man Walks Naked Toward Armed Guards3:24 What This Story Means For Us4:04 David and Goliath6:03 Our Modern-Day Giants8:02 Why Less Armor, Not More9:31 A Funny Recognition Moment11:37 Three Things We Actually Have12:02 What "Covenant" Means13:24 A Ritual of Honesty14:47 Belonging Changes Everything16:32 Fitting In vs. Belonging18:44 The Science of Connection20:44 Why Scars Matter22:44 A Question to Carry With You23:45 Closing SongThis message, "Belonging Changes Everything," was delivered by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma.SUBSCRIBE TO WATCH OTHER VIDEOS: @allsoulsunitarianGIVE A DONATION TO HELP US SPREAD THIS LOVE BEYOND BELIEF: https://www.allsoulschurch.org/GIVE or text AllSoulsTulsa to 73256LET'S CONNECT:Facebook: /allsoulstulsaInstagram: /allsoulstulsaAll Souls Church Website: https://www.allsoulschurch.org#AllSoulsTulsa #AllSoulsUnitarianChurch #LoveBeyondBelief #Belonging #Vulnerability

The message was delivered on Sunday, September 6, 2026, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Randy Lewis, Assistant Minister.

Description:

What remains when the beliefs that once held your life together no longer fit? Letting go can feel like losing meaning itself, especially when certainty has been mistaken for faith. But the collapse of an old answer may uncover something more honest and sustaining. Sometimes the way forward begins with what we are willing to release.

Watch this message on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ig1HeIu-KKo

Give a donation to help us spread Love Beyond Belief: https://www.allsoulschurch.org/GIVE or text AllSoulsTulsa to 73256

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"A blend of Mother Goose, Cinderella, and the local hooker." That's how Dolly Parton once described her own look — and her willingness to laugh at herself, before anyone else could, became part of why an entire country trusted her.

Drawing on the life, faith, and radical kindness of Dolly Parton, this message makes the case that the way she loved people — without judgment, without conditions, across every divide this country has — isn't just a nice tribute. It's a blueprint for a kind of community, and a kind of faith, most people have never actually experienced.

QUESTIONS TO SIT WITH:

- What would it look like to love people without judging them first?

- Do you know what you actually have in common with someone you've written off politically?

- Is your faith (or lack of one) built on believing the right things, or feeling truly seen?

- Who in your life makes you feel loved without conditions?

CHAPTERS:

0:00 "Light of a Clear Blue Morning"

0:51 Everything's Going to Be Alright

2:20 A Divided Country

3:22 The World Loses Dolly

5:04 The Unlikely Saint

7:55 Her Quiet Struggles

10:16 Living in Dolly's America

11:20 "I Do Not Judge"

12:21 Not a Grievance Christian

13:48 Money and the Kingdom of Heaven

14:54 The House That Whitney Built

17:09 What Love Beyond Belief Means

21:40 Building Dolly's America

23:29 Closing Blessing

23:47 "I Will Always Love You"

This message, "Living In Dolly's America," was delivered by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

GIVE A DONATION TO HELP US SPREAD THIS LOVE BEYOND BELIEF: https://www.allsoulschurch.org/GIVE or text AllSoulsTulsa to 73256

LET'S CONNECT:

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All Souls Church Website: https://www.allsoulschurch.org

#AllSoulsTulsa #AllSoulsUnitarianChurch #LoveBeyondBelief #DollyParton #DollysAmerica

What if you didn't have to choose between believing everything your religion tells you, and believing nothing at all? Most of us have been told those are the only two options.

All Souls Unitarian Church exists for that wider space in between. It's a community where people build their own relationship to faith, meaning, and mystery, instead of inheriting someone else's certainty.

Almost everyone who finds their way here says the same thing: they wish they'd found it years sooner. And most people don't stumble onto a place like this on their own. They find it because someone else told them it existed.

QUESTIONS TO SIT WITH:

- Have you ever felt forced to pick between "true believer" and "nothing at all"?

- What would it mean to build your beliefs from your own experience, instead of what you were taught?

- Have you ever felt pressured to defend your beliefs to someone determined to convert you?

- Who in your life might need to know a place like All Souls exists?

CHAPTERS:

0:00 Music

0:54 Opening

1:22 A Church For Skeptics

1:33 What Is an Oasis?

3:47 A Letter From Grove

4:45 Spiritual, Not Religious

9:12 Losing Sienna

9:54 An Angry Kind of Grief

11:21 Room to Breathe

13:44 A Zen Parable

14:35 Two Kinds of Travelers

17:14 Spread the Word

19:12 The Real Moral Issues

21:02 An Oasis For All

21:30 Closing

This message, "Oasis on the Arkansas," was delivered by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

GIVE A DONATION TO HELP US SPREAD THIS LOVE BEYOND BELIEF: https://www.allsoulschurch.org/GIVE or text LOVEBB to 73256

LET'S CONNECT:

Facebook: /allsoulstulsa

Instagram: /allsoulstulsa

All Souls Church Website: https://www.allsoulschurch.org

#AllSoulsTulsa #AllSoulsUnitarianChurch #LoveBeyondBelief #UnitarianUniversalist #ProgressiveClergy