Unitarian Congregation of West Chester Sermon Podcasts

Our congregation has taken many leaps over the years – how do we take the next leap together? This service will feature special music and member testimonials, as well as a message from Rev. Schatz.

How can we cultivate a practice of leaving behind what gets in the way of our growth?

Two dictionary definitions of Sustainability are “The ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.” and the “Avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance.” As a society are our current food choices maintaining an ecological balance and can they be maintained at the current level?  In this service we’ll explore together how our decisions about what food is on our plate and where it comes from are closely tied to the principles of Unitarian Universalism, our health, and our community.

We begin Black History Month with a special service centering around the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and its message for us as we lift our voices and hands for justice.

Unitarian Universalists sometimes have a complicated relationship with words like “grace,” “sin,” “redemption” and even “God.” If we explore the ideas behind them, we may find hidden treasures that help us in our own spiritual growth, whatever our personal beliefs.

With the turning of the decade, we take a moment to look ahead to what is to come. What do we envision for society? What will we make possible one hundred years from now?

One of the foremost social scientists working on the social psychology of values discovered that people who are more traditionally progressive and those who are more traditionally conservative have two major values in common, but conservatives have additional values that compete with the two that progressives value. In our country this progressive value set is held primarily by people who are Western, educated, rich or financially comfortable, and in democracies. He gives these people the acronym WEIRD both because it fits the letters of the traits involved, but also because this group in the US and even more so around the world is a small, unusual, group. He found that a group of UU’s he tested were overwhelmingly WEIRD. What does that mean for UU’s? Is our failure to diversify our values part of the reason we are small and less diverse as a church? Should we change or should we stay WEIRD?

Our congregation sits on holy ground, surrounded by holy ground. We live on holy ground. How do we wake to the sacredness of this and all places?

As Hindus around the world celebrate Diwali, this modestly titled sermon will look into Hinduism and its surprising connections with Unitarian Universalist history.

What is a congregation? And what it is it that makes our congregation so important?