Lighting the Chalice: Sermons from the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Berks County

Traditional Western ideals of beauty tend to emphasize symmetry, orderliness, and harmony. Eastern worldviews center beauty on transience and imperfection, known as wabi sabi in Japanese. This morning we explore how wabi sabi beauty might enlarge our appreciation of our world.

Today's service is a celebration of the beauty of the universe.

Khalil Gibran says, “Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.” This morning we will explore how the light of the heart's beauty can help to create a better world. This service will also celebrate the beauty that our religious education teachers, helpers, and mentors bring to light, and we will take our collection for our congregation's social justice programming.

Is there a big (or small) question you are grappling with right now? Do you wonder why the universe exists, whether animals have souls, if there is a divine source, what you are being called to do with your life, or whether to forgive someone? This morning we will reflect on some of the questions we are most curious about.

For Unitarian Universalists, doubt is a holy gift and companion of faith. Join us as we consider how doubt, rather than certainty, fosters wonder, curiosity, and a sense of urgency.

Henry David Thoreau said that if we don't keep pace with our companions perhaps it is because we hear a different drummer. How might we cultivate a sense of curiosity for the ways we each move to our own music?

For those who are raised in Unitarian Universalist communities, Unitarian Universalist values are in their DNA. For those who come to Unitarian Universalism from other religious traditions or none, Unitarian Universalist values are typically an expression of what they already believe. In a sense, UU is in their blood too. Those newer to UU express this as the experience of discovering that they were Unitarian Universalist all along but didn’t know it, or as a feeling of coming home. So whether raised inside or outside Unitarian Universalist communities, for those who become members, UU is part of who they are. It becomes part of their identity.

READING: excerpt from Hope and Other Superpowers by John Pavlovitz

"We all love to see superheroes being born in pages or on-screen. There’s something magical about those beginnings that moves us. . . . It’s thrilling to watch human beings mutating from nondescript, regular schlubs like you and me into the monumental stuff of legend, to see them struggle to comprehend the gravity of the moment, to recognize the responsibility of access to such great power—and ultimately to run, swing, or fly headlong into their destiny. Over and over again we line up to breathe in these mythologies, because we love the idea of being thrust into stratospheric glory instead of being stuck here on the ground with the rest of the mere mortals and gawking bystanders..."

The American Trappist monk Thomas Merton said that “there is in all things . . . a hidden wholeness.” The Gospel of Thomas, one of the gospels that did not make it into the official Bible, teaches that “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”

Celtic spirituality is a source of wisdom for modern-day seekers. Celtic concepts, such as the sacredness of the everyday, love of nature, and the mystical presence of the divine, support the inner journey. In this service, we'll explore how to make Celtic wisdom our own.

Part of our community's mission is to encourage each other on our individual spiritual journeys. And yet we share in this one UU faith. Today we'll explore the religious diversity and multiple sources of Unitarian Universalism.