Our Generosity Recipient for December is LIFE Senior Services

LIFE Senior Services specializes in home and community-based services that promote healthy aging and aging-in-place for seniors, as well as services and support for family caregivers who play a critical role in helping their loved ones continue living at home.

Learn more or donate at the link below:

https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx...

 Hope Unitarian Church and the Mystery of The Mysterious Message 
BY REV. JUSTIN MCCREARY DECEMBER 3RD, 2023 - 11:00 AM 
    When I was a child I read Encyclopedia Brown, the Hardy Boys’, and watched Nancy Drew Mysteries I always appreciated the title. The Mystery of the (Fill in the Blank). It was always something that could be solved, figured out, or made sense of. I still love mystery TV shows and movies, I try to figure out the whodunnit before the end. As I grew older, I learned that mysteries weren’t always solvable, as I began to explore spirituality beyond the easy answers, I realized that not only were some of the mysteries unsolvable, but sometimes, it is better that way. Unitarian Universalism does not provide easy answers to the world and the people who act within it, it is about wrestling and often coming to grips with the mysteries we may never understand. 

11/26/23   JoAnn Hause
    The Attitude of Gratitude we can cultivate for the Holiday Season can show us the best way to make new and wonderful memories. It is only when we accept that we cannot control anything but ourselves that we can truly move forward to holiday joy.

 Divine Generosity 
BY REV. STEVEN WILLIAMS 
NOVEMBER 26TH, 2023 - 11:00 AM 
    In a world of seemingly relentless strife, war, and division, generosity can be a challenging attitude to take towards humanity. What might God(de/ss)(s) tell us about such a posture? How can our divine nature help us meet each other with open and generous hearts? 

 By the Grace of God: An Auction Sermon
 REV. JUSTIN MCCREARY
 NOVEMBER 19TH, 2023 - 11:00 AM 
     Welcome to this year’s Auction Sermon. Rebecca Jones, the auction winner, offered me a quote from an old UU World Article. The quote, by Rev. Sarah York, says, “Some people might say of those they serve at a soup kitchen, ‘There but for the grace of God go I.’ I think what they really mean is, ‘There by the grace of God am I,’ “The interplay between these phrases is intriguing, the difference between them rests in how we define generosity and how we relate to the people to whom we are generous. This Sunday I will start with this quote then integrate some theological concepts by UU Minister Rev. Rebecca Parker to talk about kindness and concepts of paradise in a complicated world, that is many things but paradise. 

 Resting in an Interdependent Web: A Sermon About Gratitude BY REV. JUSTIN MCCREARY NOVEMBER 12TH, 2023 - 11:00 AM 
      When I heard the phrase, “Let’s give thanks,” as a child I knew we were about to pray. Giving thanks was a holy practice, it was a sacrament, it was the moment when we communed with the almighty before something else happened. Thankfulness was a precursor to eating, asking for help, going into surgery, begging for intersession, and as the one who was often asked to give thanks, it became a box to be checked before I could do the thing I wanted to do. When I became a Unitarian Universalist, I wondered if I had any room left for prayer, especially since my faith in the almighty was and still is often in flux. I found a lot of excuses not to pray, because I realized I didn’t know how to anymore. It was easier to just simply, not check that box. But I also felt like I was missing something, so I began to listen when the UUs I looked up to would pray, and something bloomed inside me because prayer didn’t center on some deity, it centered on gratitude, it wasn’t a box to be checked, it was a reminder that we are all in this together. Not just the people but the entire interdependent web of creation. It is the acknowledgement of the connections, prayer is gratitude, thanksgiving, and connection. So this Sunday, I will focus on living in a state of gratitude. 

“Generosity on an Interdependent Web” Justin M. McCreary
     We oversimplify the practice of generosity, by focusing most often on the practice of giving, which is important. However, what we then leave out is the importance of receiving gifts. It is easy in a culture that idealizes the myth of the Self-made Man, to forget that giving and receiving are both part of the same practice. We cannot teach our children that giving is a positive value while repudiating the one who receives. Brene Brown puts it this way in her book The Gifts of Imperfection, “When we attach judgement to receiving help, we knowingly or unknowingly attach judgement to giving help.” It is important that we teach our children to be generous, but it is just as important to model the other side and learn to graciously receive help, regardless of how self-made we feel. 

 Samhain is a holiday that many of us know about, but by another name Halloween. Children of many different Faiths love to dress up in costumes and collect candy. Adults also like to dress up. There is more to Halloween than just Costumes and Candy. Come with us on an Adventure to the Shining Isle between the Worlds! 

 October 22nd, 2023, 11:00 AM “Our Prophetic Heritage of Peace” by Rev. Gary McAlpin
While war continues to rage in many parts of the world, our UU faith guides us to be the prophetic voice of reason and peaceful resistance. With Israel declaring war on Hamas and the continued invasion of Ukraine, we must stand firm in our faithful allegiance to peace. Our heritage speaks to this resistance in our lives and in our examples as a faithful people, to stand up in the face of oppression and terror.
SUNDAY SERVICES STREAMED EACH WEEK:
 https://zoom.us/j/95346408780?pwd=UkpSOVEyQUdaYjNmL1o0TTloSGFDQT09 

 As I close out my sermons on Heritage this month, I want to take some time, not just to explore the gifts but what also seems like the curses of heritage. Heritage gives us the opportunity to draw from the power of our ancestors and our identity, but turned inward, it becomes an excuse for the destructive tribalism behind racism, sexism, and anti-LGBTQ sentiments. This Sunday I’d like to reflect on the world around us when heritage hurts…
SUNDAY SERVICES STREAMED EACH WEEK:
 https://zoom.us/j/95346408780?pwd=UkpSOVEyQUdaYjNmL1o0TTloSGFDQT09