Sunday Reflection with Rev. Aaron Payson @ The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester, MA

Join us this Sunday as we honor the Buddhist celebration of Nirvana Day that celebrates the Buddha’s enlightenment. We gather to ask if enlightenment, however, is in fact the goal in this ancient, revered tradition. We will also explore contributions to the Buddhist tradition from Black practitioners who help frame the essence of samsara (to move beyond the karmic cycle) to involve communal liberation.

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester (UUCW) is located in Worcester, the heart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our services are live-streamed on ... at 10 am every Sunday and stored on our website www.uucworcester.org for future viewing. The music you hear is from "Song Without Words," written and performed by our Music Director, Matt Johnsen.

Join us this Sunday as we honor the traditions of Imbolic and Candlemas, asking what it means at this moment in our history for the return of the light and what part in the process we all must play.

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester (UUCW) is located in Worcester, the heart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our services are live-streamed on ... at 10 am every Sunday and stored on our website www.uucworcester.org for future viewing. The music you hear is from "Song Without Words," written and performed by our Music Director, Matt Johnsen.

This service was conducted and produced online.

Political scientists have suggested that it takes 3.5% of a population to successfully (and nonviolently) create systemic change. This morning, we will hear inspiring examples of creative, effective, and sometimes even playful resistance.

We are pleased to welcome Rev. Alice Anacheka-Nasemann as our Guest Minister this Sunday. Rev. Anacheka-Naseman is in her first year as the minister of the Brookfield Unitarian Universalist Church. She is also the minister emerita for the Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson, where she served for 20 years as DRE, associate minister, and then as the solo minister. She lives in Amherst, MA, with her spouse, one of their two young adult kids, two cats, a dog, and two rats.

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester (UUCW) is located in Worcester, the heart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our services are live-streamed on ... at 10 am every Sunday and stored on our website www.uucworcester.org for future viewing. The music you hear is from "Song Without Words," written and performed by our Music Director, Matt Johnsen.

We pause on this Sunday to reflect on the legacy and unfinished work of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., asking what it is that we might continue to commit ourselves to so that we realize more justice in our country and world, and honor the humanity of all people?

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester (UUCW) is located in Worcester, the heart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our services are live-streamed on ... at 10 am every Sunday and stored on our website www.uucworcester.org for future viewing. The music you hear is from "Song Without Words," written and performed by our Music Director, Matt Johnsen.

This week, we will explore the notion of “sabbath economics” as a critique of the current economic disparities in our country and world. What would it mean to commit our resources so that we paid our social debts and placed the common good at the heart of our combined efforts? Join us for this important reflection.

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester (UUCW) is located in Worcester, the heart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our services are live-streamed on ... at 10 am every Sunday and stored on our website www.uucworcester.org for future viewing. The music you hear is from "Song Without Words," written and performed by our Music Director, Matt Johnsen.

This week, we return to our annual tradition of a “Ask the Minister” Sunday, when the reflection will be made up of answers to questions asked by members and friends of the congregation. Aaron will also have a few questions of his own. Join us for this fun venture, a favorite of many!

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester (UUCW) is located in Worcester, the heart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our services are live-streamed on ... at 10 am every Sunday and stored on our website www.uucworcester.org for future viewing. The music you hear is from "Song Without Words," written and performed by our Music Director, Matt Johnsen.

The biblical flood story by Noah has been inspirational for millennia. More recently, science has uncovered facts about a flood unprecedented in human history, from a time and place that indicate it was the source of the Great Flood experiences and stories. Can this flood story by science be at least as inspirational as Noahʼs story? More inspirational? Perhaps a closer look will provide an answer.

Four years of Catholic seminary high school and two years of seminary college, in the “Times they are aʼchangin” 1960s, led Stephen to complete college and an MA degree in the natural science of behavior (today called behaviorology). After teaching college in Australia (1975–1978) and China (1979)—and because, somewhat unbelievably, Ronald Reagan and James Bond signed his MA degree—he returned to studies and completed his Ph.D. in 1982. He then taught at the State University of New York in Canton, where he met and married his spouse, Dr. Nelly Case (in Cantonʼs UU Church). To preserve each otherʼs jobs—she was a professor of music at the SUNY campus in Potsdam, NY, a few miles away—they stayed in Canton for over 30 years and raised two children there. Then in 2016, they retired to Los Alamos, New Mexico, from where they visit their children, who both currently live in New England. Recently, Stephen and his wife, Nellie Case, have moved to Massachusetts and are becoming active at UUCW. Nellie is a retired Professor of Music and will accompany her husband during this service.

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester (UUCW) is located in Worcester, the heart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our services are live-streamed on ... at 10 am every Sunday and stored on our website www.uucworcester.org for future viewing. The music you hear is from "Song Without Words," written and performed by our Music Director, Matt Johnsen.

We gather for this service of readings and carols to claim the spirit of Christmas through stories old and new, songs, soloists, and candlelight.

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester (UUCW) is located in Worcester, the heart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our services are live-streamed on ... at 10 am every Sunday and stored on our website www.uucworcester.org for future viewing. The music you hear is from "Song Without Words," written and performed by our Music Director, Matt Johnsen.

We honor the Jewish holiday of Hannukah, remembering the ancient story and asking what lessons from this period of national discord and return apply to us today.

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester (UUCW) is located in Worcester, the heart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our services are live-streamed on ... at 10 am every Sunday and stored on our website www.uucworcester.org for future viewing. The music you hear is from "Song Without Words," written and performed by our Music Director, Matt Johnsen.

The Buddhist teacher, Ajahn Jotipālo writes:

Ajahn Sucitto once said that we often think of patience as waiting for change. I will endure this situation, gritting my teeth, until it changes. Certainly, we might want a painful situation to change, but with true patience, according to Ajahn Sucitto, it’s more like thinking, I will be with this situation, period. In other words, there’s no expectation that the situation will change or get better.

By learning to turn toward our suffering and simply be with it, we are staying at the level of feeling. We are not getting into the story, the proliferation, or creating a self around it. If someone says something to us and we become angry or feel uncomfortable, instead of going outward, as we typically do with mettā, we can go inward. (https://www.abhayagiri.org/reflections/692-turning-inward-with-patience)

This Sunday, we pause to honor Bodhi Day, the Annual Day on which many Buddhists reflect on the Buddha’s gaining enlightenment. We will explore one of the essential dynamics of this process, which is our relationship to all that tries and challenges us as we seek to be our best selves in a world that is often bruised and hurting. Join us for this special service.

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester (UUCW) is located in Worcester, the heart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our services are live-streamed on ... at 10 am every Sunday and stored on our website www.uucworcester.org for future viewing. The music you hear is from "Song Without Words," written and performed by our Music Director, Matt Johnsen.