First Unitarian Church of Chicago

First Unitarian Church of Chicago

By The First Unitarian Church of ChicagoReligion & Spirituality
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First Unitarian Church of Chicago episodes

  • Hard Won Gentle Hope - Rev. David Schwartz

    We arrive in a season of new growth and new possibility burdened by a year of loss and isolation. If we are to be alive and awake in this world, we can’t make a choice between grief or hope: we can only befriend them both and go on together.

    16 min
  • Deep Listening - Rev. David Schwartz

    "Seek to understand before seeking to be understood,” say teachers and mentors from secular and religious traditions alike. What does it mean to “hear each other into speech” about the hopes, fears, and experiences closest to our hearts?

    17 min
  • All Will Be Well - Ali Bell

    In a time where things feel decidedly not well how do we live into the hope that things will improve? This service will explore how we move toward healing from a place of uncertainty and lamentation. Ali Bell is a seminarian at Meadville Lombard Theological School in the Master of Divinity program. Xe is the Ministerial Intern at Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair in Montclair, NJ and the Senior Learning Fellow at the Church of the Larger Fellowship.

    14 min
  • The Body is Not an Apology - Rev. Teri Schwartz
    The oppressive standards of beauty in our culture aren't arbitrary; they are rooted in white supremacy dating back to the transatlantic slave trade. Drawing upon the work of sociologist Dr. Sabrina Strings, Fearing the Black Body: the Racial Origins of Fat Phobia, we'll explore how the magazine covers at the check-out stand aren't by chance, but have deep racial origins and consequences.
    Is it possible to change that? Sonya Renee Taylor offers a radical activist type of self-love. In her book, The Body Is Not An Apology, she says we can understand how we were indoctrinated with body shame. Once we do, we can start to shed our own body shame. But it doesn't stop there: once we do, we can use our bodies as tools to dismantle the oppressive structures of our society that put that shame there in the first place.
    15 min
  • The Game of Life - Monica Kling-Garcia

    Schug ministerial intern Monica Kling-Garcia preaching for the February 7, 2021 service. Since ancient human history, board games have been a way of entertaining ourselves and bringing people together. From chess to "Monopoly," these games are not only rich with strategy and memories - but also lessons for how to be in community during difficult times.

    16 min
  • From the Red Hills of Alabama and Georgia - Erin Scott and Verdis Robinson

    Join us as Erin V. Scott and Verdis L. Robinson, seminarians from Meadville Lombard Theological School, share meditations on their ancestral journeys and on the dream of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In sharing our ancestral stories, how can owning both the gifts and the wrongs of our ancestors inform our present and inspire our future?

    Verdis L. Robinson (He/Him) is the Lenora Montgomery Scholar of Excellence at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago, where he is an Aspirant for the Unitarian Universalist ministry and a candidate for a Master of Divinity. Currently, Verdis is a ministerial intern at the Unitarian Church of Montpelier in Vermont. Verdis holds a BM in voice performance from Boston University, a BS cum laude and an MA in history from SUNY College at Brockport, and an MA in African American studies from SUNY University at Buffalo.
    Erin V. Scott (she/her) is a seventh-generation Unitarian Universalist (on the Universalist side) and an Aspirant for the UU ministry. She was born and raised in Rochester, NY and has traveled extensively within the United States and beyond. Erin holds a Bachelors of Arts degree in Environmental Studies from Mount Holyoke College. She currently receives the Jenkin Lloyd Jones Scholarship at Meadville Lombard Theological School where she is earning her Masters of Divinity. She will be joining us virtually from her home in Western Massachusetts.

    15 min
  • We, the People of Robust Constitution - Rev. Teri Schwartz

    This week saw the distressing, historic events of a riotous, violent mob breaching the US capitol at the incitement of the sitting President. Amidst a global pandemic, we witnessed the desecration of America's "house." Now, more than ever, it is plain to see: how we speak and treat one another matters--whether that is from the highest office in the land, across the political aisle, or across the pew. Conflict is unavoidable, and can even be healthy.

    Yet, conflict can also be utterly toxic--and deadly--be it in the height of the capitol or in the microcosm of the congregation. The members of our congregation have covenanted with one another in broad terms: "Love is the Spirit of this church..." Now, led by the Good Relations Committee, are embarking on making a Behavioral Covenant: articulating how we will treat one another more specifically. While the challenges of our country and community are great, we are people of robust constitution and heart, who have a Constitution and covenant to guide our way. Our country--and our congregation--depend on it.

    13 min

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