All of us human beings have failed in the way that Peter failed. We all have, at some point in our lives, have let down our friends, we have fallen short of our ideals, we have not made good on our commitments and, in doing those things, we have damaged our relationships, haven’t we? So, we are, all of us, in need of resurrection. This is something that is needed in some way by all people in all places but not the least of those places is Memphis, Tennessee.

…We cannot ignore where we were 50 years ago and the ways in which we could have done more to recognize the presence of the coming of God in our city and the presence of God in the actions being taken by the oppressed people in our city… What do we do now?

Our sacred texts tell us correctly that we can look at strangers and travelers,visitors and refugees, people from all kinds of backgrounds. We can look at them and know that, amongst them, we see messengers from the divine.

The Church of the River is not a place; the Church of the River is not a building; Church of the River is not a beautiful view. The Church of the River is a family. The Church of the River is a community that comes together and loves each other… "Home is wherever I am with you." (Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros).

As a Unitarian Universalist minister, I proclaim that when young people are dead because something totally preventable happened again, and a person in a position of leadership does nothing except express their thoughts and prayers, sincere though those thoughts and prayers may be, when violence happens and you think and pray but do not act, you insult and degrade the practice of prayer and you demean the human capacity for thought.

Special guest speaker Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt, President of Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, CA. The Rev. Ms. McNatt is an author; a former editor of the New York Times Book Review; a former commentator on MSNBC; and a cultural critic whose work appears regularly in The Huffington Post, The New York Times Book Review, Essence and other print and online publications.

There may be nothing in the world more inhumanly cruel than a person who believes that they are giving somebody what they deserve.

This is the third sermon in the series about Elijah. Today’s message brought the focus to our congregation as it relates to how easy it is to feel uncomfortable about things and what matters is what you do about how you feel. The fight for social justice is clearly needed and we all need to be involved in some way. Rev. Teitel shares with us strategies that might help you better understand your own feelings and how to manage through those feelings.

Today’s sermoncast is a double hitter. First, we are privileged to have had as guest speaker, Christopher D. Sims a.k.a. UniverSouLove. Mr. Sims is an internationally known poet, spoken word artist, performer, lay minister, and human rights activist. In the sermoncast, you will hear the poem he wrote about Memphis, The Poor People’s Campaign. Next up was Elijah, Part 2 of a sermon series by Rev. Teitel. This story is difficult. And, through Rev. Teitel, we learn that we are each, and as a congregation, made up of good, bad, sad, and happy stories and experiences that make us who we are and, by understanding this, help us move from our past, through our present and into our future. Listen to Rev. Teitel as he takes you through Elijah, Part 2 and helps us all become more self-aware.

This sermon is about Elijah, the prophet. It is the first in a series in which we will learn about Elijah in chronological order. Rev. Teitel shared with us a story about Elijah to introduce the kind of person that he was. Moving to current times, we all realize that we are living in rough times, bitterly divided and unable to hear each other. It is super easy to make sweeping generalizations. If what we want is healing, we cannot heal by telling people how terrible they are… Finding compassion, building relationships across divides, eating and drinking and celebrating together is how healing happens. However, that isn’t always possible. Listen to the sermon and learn, from his prayer, what Rev. Teitel hopes for all of us as we begin this new year.