Walt Whitman mused that it is the trees which “know the amplitude of time.” At the end of this month when our congregations reflect on what it means to hold history, we’ll follow the old growth trees into deeper time than our own short lives, paying homage to what Ursula K. Le Guin has called the “tall fraternal fire of life as strong now as in the seedling two centuries ago.” 

As we continue to hold our history, we move into our personal histories. The stories of the places we have lived, learned, and loved, are foundational to who we are and who we are becoming, still. During this service we’ll dig into the roots of Rev. Amanda’s hometown, which also happens to be the birthplace of the Atomic Bomb and home to the National Security Complex. How do we hold the complex histories of which we are a part? How can we shape the present and affect the future?

As we continue our exploration of Holding History, we dive into how we hold the history of this area and how we live into the legacy. Joined by our friends from Macedonia Baptist Church, we will take a deep dive into the struggle of protecting what is sacred, the trauma of land theft, and how we can show up by leveraging our resources. How can we as people of faith and conscious live into this moment?

In Hinduism, there is the essential concept of ashramas, or stages of life. Each stage carries different kinds of skill, knowledge, and wisdom, and each has the potential to find us stuck, unable to proceed to something new. How can we shake ourselves loose from one self so that we can find the courage to embrace the next stage?

We dream of imaginary monsters because we have real fears. Sometimes we make monsters seem cool and mysterious because we ourselves are enchanted by the edges between life and death. This sermon will use history and legend to tell the story of one such beautiful monster. Inspired by River Roaders Suzyn Smith-Webb and Jana Kirkman, this one will introduce you to the original brooding romantic vampire you just might love to hate.

As we explore what it means to cultivate relationship, we tap into what it means to nurture our relationship to our spirituality. As Unitarian Universalists, we are pluralistic in nature, and it’s often easy to deprioritize our spiritual connection – especially for those of us who do not identify as spiritual. But how can tapping into our spirituality connect us to one another, to our shared faith, and even to ourselves? How can we cultivate that hidden wholeness within each of us? 

Drawing from the insights of botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Kirsten will explore the concept of “radical gratitude” as it relates to RRUUC’s efforts to engage with the history of our land in order to build an ever more expansive definition of Beloved Community going forward. 

There is an idea in the Book of Genesis that all the earth is planted like a garden – tended by the holy so that all things were “very good.” How is that garden of first-beginnings planted not in isolation, but in a network of truly intertwined relationships?

In a society that rushes us through the “bad” to get to the “good,” how do we make space for what is hard? How do we – as author and podcaster Glennon Doyle puts it – “Help each other carry the hard so we can all live a little bit lighter and braver, more free and less alone”?

What parts of us persist over time? What has changed in a way that might never quite come back, and what changes do we welcome with our whole selves? There is the before and after in our lives – and then there is the always – what sustains and persists through it all.