Church ought to be a place where you can talk about mental health. A place where we should be able to wrestle with the stuff we find in our shadows when they're shown to us by our friends and community. It's a place where we search for the interconnectedness and interdependence of the universe, our neighbors, and our own bodies/brains. Tune in for stories about grief, group therapy, and how to get incarnational with your resilience.

Are you a servant of the Empire or a prophet of the Resistance? Sermon audio from 12/1 about Texas basketball, Star Wars, the Resistance in the time of Trump, and making hard choices. Apologies for the sniffles and audio quality. 

HELLOOO, FRIENDS! WE. ARE. BACK.

After a delay in production, Faith and UU returns with a sticky topic: Religious myth. Christmas! Advent! Hanukkah! Yule! Ok, sure there are a lot of holidays in December....but I don’t believe any of those stories.....so what do I do? Rev. McKinley offers an exploration of ways that humanists and non-theists find and experience Awe during the holidays, even if we don’t subscribe to all the Myth and fable in the air. Buckle in for Incan legends, quantum mechanics and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Have your UU Bingo cards ready! Join us to learn how we all can find Awe and Wonder in the universe, whether we believe in God or Santa Claus or Inti the Sun. 

Many UU Congregations express the desire to be multicultural and welcoming. What happens when that breaks down? What do our theologies speak to that might ground and center our hearts and minds and bodies to be able to wade into the discomfort of talking about race in church? With a little help from the poem that begins the Book of Genesis, McKinley shares his story of water, rock, wind, light, Hebrew prepositions, Harriet Tubman, and why the point of church is to be discomforted together. 

It was a special treat to record a conversation with one of my best friends and one of the best men in the world, the incomparable J.E.!!! Raised in the deep south, J.E. talks about his faith and how growing up in the buckle of the Bible Belt was complicated by the marginalization of being Black and gay in the Missionary Baptist Church. With a few giggles along the way, J.E. introduces McKinley to what it's like to grow up as "the visitor" in church,  how he's learned to reclaim prayer and connection, and how the white and Black experience of America plays out on Sunday mornings. Also, we talk about culture, Uncle Ben's Rice, and what the perfect church looks and feels like. Join us!

What can flowers teach us about doubt? Is it okay to have questions about God, religion, ourselves? Today we delve into the curious case for curiosity as a fundamentally human tool that helps us live more fully human lives, helps us see the Divine in other people, and helps us care for ourselves so we can work for justice in the world. For more information on Dr. Norbert Capek and the Flower Ceremony, check out uua.org or toss his name in your favorite search engine!

Sermon Audio from 3.24.19 at the UU Church of the Restoration, concerning Hobbits, the Lord of the Rings, and the religious significance of connection and relationship. Where does God dwell on Earth (or Middle-Earth, in this case!)? Spoiler alert for the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings books. 

We went to India in January and I was inspired to teach my congregation more about a faith that makes up part of our UU living tradition. I was amazed at the traditions and rituals of Hindu denominations that reflect our modern UU practices and wondered why we never learn about those as part of "our" history.  Here's the first part of this diving in to the depths for a UU minister searching for a better way to live. How does a UU and a Progressive Christian authentically encounter Hinduism without engaging in appropriation? What does it mean to be a "living tradition?" Isn't it a little far-fetched to worship more than 3 million gods and goddesses...or is it just worshipping one? Tune in to find out. 

Sermon audio from Rev. McKinley's words of inspiration to UU Restoration on March 10, 2019. As a kickoff for a talk on stewardship, membership, and moving into the future, it occurred to me that our church could use a little tidying. Tune in to find out how Marie Kondo's excellent process for tidying spaces has deep spiritual tones to it, and could serve us all in moving through change.