It takes courage to live creatively, however that takes shape for you. Today we’ll reflect on what it means to live a beautiful life, to nurture our own capacity to create, and live with a sense of purpose. We’ll feature original music by Kala Farnham, our Music Director, and stories about creative living.

Works referenced in this sermon:

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert: https://www.elizabethgilbert.com/books/big-magic/

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: Laurel had COVID :( but she’s back!! :) ; congregationalism and hierarchy; are you willing to be powerful?; the passion tax; Ye Olden Times ministerial compensation; psychological scarcity effects; are you willing to believe that more is possible?

Sermons written by: Rev. Laurel Gray

Music by: Kala Farnham

Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

On this Easter Sunday, we’ll tell the age old story of new life entering into impossible places. So often, and understandably, Easter is synonymous with spring and further meaning gets lost in the bunnies and candy grass. This Sunday, we’ll wonder what the story means when we don’t equate it with springtime. New life and new possibilities, after all, are not limited by season.

CORRECTION: The Ukrainian Orthodox Church celebrates Orthodox Easter, which is Sunday, April 24th. This is a week after we celebrate Easter.

Resources:

What Torture's Taught Me by Rev. William F. Schulz: https://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/adults/movesus/workshop9/282806.shtml

Where Resurrection Begins: https://paintedprayerbook.com/2019/04/21/easter-sunday-where-resurrection-begins/

Written by: Rev. Laurel Gray

Music by: Kala Farnham

Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

This Sunday marks the kick off for our annual pledge campaign, a season for gathering our collective resources to fund the vision of this community. As we’ve seen so clearly these last two years, we are better together than we are on our own. We’ll reflect on how ministry is an act of partnership.

Written by: Rev. Laurel Gray

Music by: Kala Farnham

Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

There’s no such thing as conversion in Unitarian Universalism – a theology of wholeness means you don’t need to change to belong and no manner of belonging is held above another. On this Members & Friends Sunday, we’ll recognize our new members and renew our covenant to care for each other. We’ll take time to share stories of moments when this community renewed your faith.

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: Cartesian dualism for days; I think therefore I am vs I am that I am; can you smell in Heaven?; arbitrary organizing principles; penguins can't be gay!!; the source of ministerial authority in UUism

Sermons written by: Rev. Laurel Gray

Music by: Kala Farnham

Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

After nearly two years, this will be our first service back in our sanctuary since the pandemic began in March of 2020. We’ll reflect on this moment and make space for the emotional complexity that comes with returning after so long. This service will be available both in person and on Zoom; masks are required in person.

Written by: Rev. Laurel Gray

Music by: Kala Farnham

Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

So often the conversation about queer sexuality is limited to negation: “we don’t hate gay people.” While it’s true that many UU congregations, including our own, have been deemed “Welcoming Congregations,” meaning we support LGBTQ people, we don’t often talk about the theology of this. And yet we know that extraordinary harm has been done to the queer community in the name of religion, so this Sunday, we’ll explore a biblical argument for celebrating diverse sexualities.

Works referenced in this sermon:

"Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver: http://www.phys.unm.edu/~tw/fas/yits/archive/oliver_wildgeese.html

Making Love Just: Sexual Ethics for Perplexing Times by Marvin M. Ellison: https://www.amazon.com/Making-Love-Just-Sexual-Perplexing/dp/0800698843

Shameless: A Sexual Reformation by Nadia Bolz-Weber: https://nadiabolzweber.com/shameless/

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: 90s hairstyles; fear is metabolized in community; the Empowerment Controversy and the UUA's early racial failures; consent-based labor practices; guaranteed income as a harm reduction bridge; 2 truths and a lie

Resources on the Empowerment Controversy:

http://www.uusic.org/wp-content/uploads/sermons/2016/03/The-Black-Empowerment-Controversy-2.28.2016.pdf

https://www.uuworld.org/articles/empowerment-tragedy

https://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/adults/btwwda/workshop15/handout3

Sermons written by: Rev. Laurel Gray

Music by: Kala Farnham

Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

Living through a global pandemic has created rapid and seemingly constant change in our daily lives. This Sunday we’ll reflect together about the ways that this dramatic unfolding has called us all into a great reimagining of how to build a more loving and just society, how to root more fully in our deepest values and believe in the impossible becoming possible.

Written by: Rev. Laurel Gray

Music by: Kala Farnham

Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall