First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston Podcast

First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston Podcast

By First Unitarian Universalist Church of HoustonReligion & Spirituality
Download on the App Store

First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston Podcast episodes

  • "Through Eyes That Have Cried"
    "There are many things that can only be seen through eyes that have cried," wrote the martyred Catholic Bishop Oscar Romero. August 11th to 14th Rev. Dr. Bossen and members of our congregation traveled to Brownsville to offer witness to the ongoing crisis at the border. In this service, Rev. Dr. Bossen and others reflect upon their experiences and why solidarity with migrants and refugees is a religious practice.
    30 min
  • "Ingathering and Water Celebration"
    First Unitarian Universalist, like many other congregations in our tradition, kicks off the new congregational year with an Ingathering service. Members and friends reunite, re-covenant, and prepare for the new church year.
    14 min
  • "Power"
    The dictionary lists twenty definitions of power, and that's just as a noun. Rev. Scott's power, definition number seventeen, "a particular form of mechanical or physical energy," was restored after a week following the environmental power of Beryl. That was the afternoon before he flew out to the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) training, where developing community power was the topic. Alice Walker said, "The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any." How well do we use the power we have?
    26 min
  • "Finding God on the Metro"

    Dr. Bossen regularly uses mass transit. In this sermon he reflects on how taking it can be a form of spiritual practice and what he has learned over the years from engaging in this kind of spirituality.

    35 min
  • "Choose"
    Historically, Universalists, believing humans are good but flawed, railed against the Calvinists, who asserted humans are inherently sinful and depraved. Dr. King told us, "That within the best of us, there is some evil, and within the worst of us, there is some good." Perhaps it might be more useful to focus on the choices we have.
    24 min
  • "To the End of the World.... And Back Again"

    Our guest minister Rob Hardies recently returned from a pilgrimage to a place that some ancient peoples believed was the end of the world. Rob will reflect on what it means for each of us to confront the end of the world as we know it, and offer lessons for how we might journey with grace and faith toward the many endings (and new beginnings!) of our lives.

    The Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies is Lead Minister of the First Parish in Cambridge, MA, and the Unitarian Universalist Chaplain at Harvard University. Rob is an experienced preacher, teacher, counselor and activist. From 2001 to 2020, he was Senior Minister of All Souls Church, Unitarian in Washington, DC, a large, dynamic multiracial congregation. During his ministry at All Souls, Rob helped found and lead award-winning justice organizations that advocated for marriage equality and for voting rights. Before entering the ministry, Rob worked for Habitat for Humanity, and served as a human rights worker with Indigenous communities in Guatemala. A student of Emerson, Thoreau and the New England Transcendentalists, Rob often encounters the sacred in nature, and in his spare time enjoys leading walking pilgrimages along the Camino de Santiago.

    23 min
  • "Redefining Religion, et al"
    Gene Robinson, the first openly gay priest to be consecrated a bishop in a major Christian denomination, once declared, "I think people often come to the synagogue, mosque, the church looking for God, and what we give them is religion." Many Millennials and many LGBTQ folks identify as Spiritual But Not Religious (SBNR). During Pride Month, Rev. Scott asks, "How do we transform the perception of Religion to work for those who have been turned off – and turned away?
    26 min
  • "A Kid from Altoona on the Line"
    Rev. Teague is grateful to be back at UU Houston. This time he is pondering that we are fairly consistently celebrating the PRIDE Month events and participating in parades as radical welcoming religious communities of Unitarian Universalists. We have the appropriate rainbow attire and are led in these events by our own LGBTQQIA+ members and friends. We have hosted same sex marriages for many years prior to the legal recognition and were present to do more of them as the freedom to marry became the law of the land. Rev. Teague believes that given our loving stance, maybe we are ready and able to do more. It is Fathers Day Sunday and he proposes we embrace the communal effort to be the providers and protectors of the children now proudly carrying rainbow flags and living in myriad queer identities. He says, "I know I could have used the parental help. I think there are youth looking for what we can uniquely offer."
    37 min
  • "Love & Death: Forrest Church
    The final installment of "Lives of the Spirit" found us focusing on the late Unitarian Universalist theologian Forrest Church. He taught that the meaning of life comes from knowing that we will die. Almost fifteen years after his death, we will explore what he still has to teach us.
    31 min

About First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston Podcast

From the publisher's feed

The First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston podcast presents sermons, interviews and programs that highlight our attempt in making the world a better place for everyone and everything.