Amanda and Rev. Gray reflect on this month's themes.

Topics of discussion: We’re back at it; the most UU sermon ever; resilience in community; a Sarah Jessica Parker fever dream; spiritual development and moral injury; the space between the intensity of resistance and the resurrection of hope; triggering vs. secondary trauma; the auction!

Sermons written by: Rev. Laurel Gray

Music by: Kala Farnham

Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

Amanda and Rev. Gray reflect on this month's themes.

Topics of discussion: Mini celebrations; radical hospitality; relationality and power dynamics in giving; the solidarity economy; a gritty, honest hope; “where do you see yourself in five years” but make it revolutionary

Resources:

The effects of COVID-19 vaccine patents: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00863-w, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/21/world/vaccine-patents-us-eu.html

Solidarity economy resources: https://chordatacapital.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/chordata-zine.pdf, https://neweconomy.net/solidarity-economy/

Ujima project: https://www.ujimaboston.com/

https://seedcommons.org/

Art piece Amanda mentions, message from the future: https://theintercept.com/2020/10/01/naomi-klein-message-from-future-covid/

Sermons written by: Rev. Laurel Gray

Music by: Kala Farnham

Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

This Sunday we’ll be revisiting the story of Exodus that is remembered during Passover, albeit a week after Passover has ended. The retelling of the story each year during the Seder meal is a reminder of the importance of telling stories of our resilience. After a year that has contained so much heartbreak, we’ll reflect on the importance of remembering our capacity to make it through hard times.

Written by: Rev. Laurel Gray

Music by: Kala Farnham

Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

This year, Passover, Easter, and Ramadan fall in biblical sequence, one after another, which rarely happens. For so many people of so many traditions, this moment is one of reflection and remembering, a collective recentering. On this Easter Sunday, we’ll remember the Christian story of Easter and reflect on what it means to turn to the past in order to move forward anew.

Written by: Rev. Laurel Gray

Music by: Kala Farnham

Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

In what has been a week filled with violence of so many kinds, we’re going to focus this Sunday on our commitment to hope. As Unitarian Universalists, we are part of the liberal religious tradition, which so often eludes definition. Dean Lewis Fisher of one of the early Universalist theological schools, was once asked where Universalists stand and he famously responded, “The only true answer, is that we do not stand at all; we move.” So let us reflect on the hope that drives our capacity to move, to shift, to work together, and to commit to the task of justice making.

Written by: Rev. Laurel Gray

Music by: Kala Farnham

Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

Amanda and Rev. Gray reflect on this month's themes.

Topics of discussion: Remember the Bernie mitten meme?; how boundaries strengthen relationships; what counts as “political”?; legal vs. community boundaries; Laurel and Amanda dream out loud

Sermons written by: Rev. Laurel Gray

Music by: Kala Farnham

Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

This Sunday marks a year since we’ve gathered in our physical sanctuary for services because of the ongoing pandemic. Just as we have learned that a congregation is a community, not a place, the “free pulpit” that we UUs so value is not something physical. So what is it? Where did it come from? How does freedom operate within a covenantal community? What commitment are we making to ourselves and our community when we step into that free pulpit?

Written by: Rev. Laurel Gray

Music by: Kala Farnham

Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

As we think about beloved community this month, we’ll turn our gaze to the past. Stories about who “we” are and who mattered in history shape our understanding of our country and community. But who’s missing? What would radical hospitality mean for the way we tell history?

Written by: Rev. Laurel Gray

Music by: Kala Farnham

Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

The last year has been quite the storm, in all manner of ways. And we’re still here, still gathering in community, still caring for each other, still doing what we always do. That is something to celebrate!

Written by: Rev. Laurel Gray

Music by: Kala Farnham

Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

On this Martin Luther King Sunday, we’ll consider what it means to dream, to imagine a new world, and how to do the work of justice making. We’ll talk about the action-reflection model of justice work, which encourages us to be imaginative and adaptive, learning as we move through the world.

Written by: Rev. Laurel Gray

Music by: Kala Farnham

Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall