We all learn many helpful lessons and guiding principles in our childhoods. But sometimes, those lessons have unintended harmful consequences.

Through storytelling, this sermon will explore some common childhood lessons and the harm embedded in them, and then reflect on how UU principles can help us unlearn those lessons and embrace our inherent worth.

Beth is originally from Eastern Tennessee and Kentucky but has lived in Milwaukee since middle school. She lives on Milwaukee’s Southside and works full-time at Alverno College. She has been attending First Church for five years.

In January of 2017, Monica Kling got on a plane to India to embark on what was called “A Pilgrimage of Peace,” learning and experiencing Mahatma Gandhi’s message in the places where he walked, talked, and lived. Now, over a year later, she explores how her own powerful experience and Gandhi’s message of a truly non-violent existence can be applied to present-day Milwaukee.

How do we as a congregation “be the change” we wish to see? In what ways are we unknowingly violent to ourselves, to others, and to the environment?

How does this connect to our own Unitarian Universalist principles?

For those of us who worry, hearing the admonition “don’t borrow trouble” can help sometimes. Practicing living in the here and now can also help calm anxieties, including the fear of missing out on the next awesome thing that is going to happen.

Being present to what’s in the moment (not the past and not the future) is one of the most accessible and least expensive spiritual practices. There is always a gift waiting for us in the present moment.

What do we need to do to receive that gift? Because people usually have plenty of troubles, without borrowing more.

2018/07/29 ● The Rev. Dena McPhetres ● Seeking Justice, Needing Beauty by First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee

The poet Mark Nepo writes: “To Journey without being changed is to be a nomad. To change without journeying is to be a chameleon. To journey and to be transformed by the journey is to be a pilgrim.”

We are a pilgrim people and a pilgrim church. As individuals and as a community we journey together, and are transformed by the road we travel – sometimes with ease and grace, sometimes with resistance and loss.

Did Jesus choose the theme of his first miracle to show everyone how much value he placed on having a good party?

Maybe it was deeper than that.

Maybe not. Let’s have some fun talking about it!

Where do you find beauty? What do you feel like when you encounter beauty? How do humans decide if something or someone is beautiful?

Beauty can be inspiring, healing and life-giving, but beauty can also be dangerous, leading people to chase an impossible ideal of appearance, resulting in eating disorders and other illness.

Seeking and noticing beauty can be a healthy spiritual practice that connects us to gratitude. The Rev. Joe Cleveland wrote “The more I practice looking for beauty, the more I am ready for it, and the more beauty I find.”

Door County singer-songwriter Katie Dahl has made a name for herself nationwide as a songwriter whose work delves deep into the life of the heart as well as the life of the country. Here, she considers the question of what music’s role can and should be at a time of political turmoil. Is the role of a song is (in the words of humorist Finley Peter Dunne) “to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable”? Dahl will talk about the role of music in eras like the 1960s as well as at the present moment.

Katie tours regularly and has earned accolades nationwide for the depth and power of her alto voice, the literate candor of her songs, and the easy humor of her live performances. Karen Impola of Iowa Public Radio says, “Katie Dahl’s music combines a love for her rural Midwestern roots, a droll wit, and a clear-eyed appraisal of modern life, all served up in a voice as rich as cream.”

Join us on Pridefest weekend to honor the blessing of diverse gender and sexual identities.

In a world with so much shame, misunderstanding and judgment, the blessing of acceptance feels like a balm.

Rachel Naomi Remen wrote, “By making a place for wholeness within our relationships, we offer others the opportunity to be whole without shame and become a place of refuge from everything in them and around them that is not genuine.”

Join us for the annual First Church Flower Communion service, where we will consider the blessings we give and receive in community.

Remember to bring a flower to share your unique blessing in our ritual of giving and receiving flowers. Flowers will also be available if you forget.

This year we will include a ritual of gratitude for Lu Krug’s enormous financial gift to First Church, and a ritual of gratitude for Beryl Aschenberg’s enormous gift of service to First Church. Our community overflows with blessings!