Culture of Caring

by Posted in Guest Speakers, Sermons

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Rev. Chris Jimmerson,
Susan Thomson, and Toni Wegner
July 9, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

As a faith without creed, Unitarian Universalism is deeply rooted in relationship. We are a people of shared values, mission, and covenant, and through these we make sacred promises to care for one another and our world. Join Rev. Chris and the leaders of our First UU Cares Team as we explore how we can create an ever-increasing culture of caring at First UU Church of Austin.

Chalice Lighting

This is the flame we hold in our hearts as we strive for justice for everyone. This is the light we shine upon systems of oppression until they are no more. This is the warmth that we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.

Call to Worship

WE NEED ONE ANOTHER
by George Odell

We need one another when we mourn and want comfort.

We need one another when we are in trouble and are afraid.

We need one another when we are in despair, in temptation, and need to be recalled to our best selves again.

We need one another when we strive to accomplish some great purpose, and realize we cannot do it alone.

We need one another in the hour of success, when we look for someone to share triumphs.

We need one another in the hour of defeat, when with encouragement we try to endure, and stand again.

We need one another when we come to die and seek gentle hands to prepare us for the journey.

All our lives we are in need, and others are in need of us.

Affirming Our Mission

Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.

Reading

BLESSING WHEN THE WORLD IS ENDING
by Jan Richardson

Look, the world
is always ending
somewhere.

Somewhere
the sun has come
crashing down.

Somewhere
it has gone
completely dark.

Somewhere
it has ended
with the gun
the knife
the fist.

Somewhere
it has ended
with the slammed door
the shattered hope.

Somewhere
it has ended
with the utter quiet
that follows the news
from the phone
the television
the hospital room.

Somewhere
it has ended
with a tenderness
hat will break
your heart.

But, listen,
this blessing means
to be anything
but morose.
It has not come
to cause despair.

It is simply here
because there is nothing
a blessing
is better suited for
than an ending,
nothing that cries out more
for a blessing
than when a world
is falling apart.

This blessing
will not fix you
will not mend
you will not give you
false comfort;
it will not talk to you
about one door opening
when another one closes.

It will simply
sit itself beside you
among the shards
and gently turn your face
toward the direction
from which the light
will come,
gathering itself
about you
as the world begins
again.

Sermon

LIVING OUR MISSION
Susan Thomson

I had the privilege in 2010 to be on the church board that created our first mission. We led a worship service to introduce the mission, and as we walked out of the sanctuary someone said very excitedly, “We should write that mission on the wall above the sanctuary doors!”. This was very gratifying as we had no idea how it would be received. Well, it ended up on the wall inside the sanctuary and we of course recite it together every week. The mission you see was revised a few years ago to add the beloved community, and it will be reviewed periodically by future boards with your input.

At some point it occurred to me that as a member of this church I have a role to play in living our mission. This may be a direct result of my Methodist upbringing. One of my major takeaways from the Methodist church of my youth is this quote from John Wesley, a founder of the Methodist church.

Do all the good you can,
by all the means you can,
in all the ways you can,
in all the places you can,
at all the times you can,
to all the people you can,
as long as ever you can.

That’s a very tall order! I shared this quote with my spiritual companion who I have been meeting with regularly since my first year in Wellspring in 2016. The context was that I struggle with feeling that I’m never doing enough. She shared some wise insights as she usually does. When I later told her I wanted to give her credit in a homily I was preparing, being the very ethical person she is, she asked me not to use her name. So I am referring to her as “she who will not be named.”

She who will not be named pointed out to me that John Wesley did not say you have to do it all. He said, do what you can. Then she shared with me a quote often attributed to Rabbi Tarfon. He was commenting on Micah 6: verse 8. He said:

I keep this on a sticky note on my computer.

Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now,

Love mercy, now.

Walk humbly, now.

You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.

So how do we do what we can to live our mission? Our wonderful social justice leaders give us many ways and means to do what we can to do justice. We are not expected to do it all.

We have opportunities to transform lives as well. If we have gifts of music or art or helping with worship services, we can share those. The second verse from the hymn, “Love Will Guide Us”, is as follows,

If you cannot sing like angels,
If you cannot speak before thousands,
You can give from deep inside you,
You can change the world with your love.

My husband Tom and I always smile at each other when we sing that verse because neither of us sings like angels!

So how can we nourish souls? This part of our mission speaks to me of how we nourish souls by caring for one another. Two of our 5 values also speak directly of caring:

Community-to connect with joy, sorrow and service with those whose lives we touch

Compassion-to treat ourselves and others with love

Our service today is focused on creating a culture of caring within this congregation. First UU Cares is our formal caring ministry. We work alongside our ministers to provide care in a variety of ways. We now have a great group of volunteers who are literally able to nourish souls by bringing meals to congregants who are ill or who are welcoming newborns into their home. They bring food to memorial service receptions. They are also available to visit congregants who are hospitalized or ill at home. More volunteers are always welcomed.

But we can nourish souls as well by simply caring about each other and reaching out when we learn that someone in our community is facing the challenges life sometimes presents us, be that dealing with a serious illness, grieving the loss of a loved one, or even a happy event such as welcoming a newborn.

The announcements under “First UU Cares” in our Friday newsletter and the announcements from the pulpit before we light candles are a new means of informing our church community about these challenges. We can’t reach out to nourish souls if we are unaware of who might appreciate this. We encourage you as you feel comfortable to either let our ministers know of your own situations you wish to share or those of others in our church community. None of these announcements are made without the permission of the persons being referenced. But they give each of us the opportunity to do what we can to nourish souls.

CULTURE OF CARING
Toni Wegner

I want to talk a bit today about what a culture of caring might look like, because I was fortunate to experience this firsthand. My husband, two daughters and I moved in 2000 to Winchester, MA, a suburb of Boston, far away from any family. We both had jobs at Harvard and kept busy with work and child-related activities. We were not church goers. When 9/11 hit, we felt the lack of community in our lives and wandered into the UU church in our town. We loved the services and kept going back, but the only activity we did outside of Sunday service was a Circle Dinner Ð where 8 of us met 4 times for pot luck suppers. A year later, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and had major surgery and chemo. We were totally blown away when two different people from that group dropped by with dinner, and then a couple more that we didn’t even know. My husband did all of our cooking and would have never asked for help, but I can’t express how helpful it was not to have to think about a meal, and how touched we were that these people reached out. This is when I realized what it means to be part of a community. The interim minister also visited me in the hospital, apparently after one of my daughters mentioned something in youth group. Mind you, we weren’t even members of the church, but we were definitely embraced by the community.

We were fully engaged members of the Winchester UU church community seven years later when my husband was diagnosed with ALS, which our most recent minister had just died of. The disease progression was gradual, mostly predictable. Being quite capable and independent people, it would never have occurred to us to ask for or accept help from others – we could manage it. But offers of help poured in, or sometimes people just showed up. People really wanted to do something to help. One fall morning we heard a bit of commotion outside as we were getting dressed to find 8 church members armed with leaf blowers, rakes and bags cleaning up the fall leaves. That was great! My husband was a big man and feared that I wouldn’t be able to get him up off the ground if he fell. His physical therapist offered to teach a class on how to get someone off the ground, no matter how big they are (but it took 2 people). We invited interested church members to attend and had over 20 participants. He fell twice after that, and both times I called people from the class; they came right over to help. It was a challenging time for sure, but the love and support of members of the church really held us up and carried us through. The type of help ranged from meals to rides to dog walks to cards, flowers, visits and check-in emails. It was comforting to know we were not doing this alone.

When my husband died, the memorial services team walked me through everything to help create a perfect celebration of his life. As with most people who do this for the first time, I had no idea where to begin, and it really meant a lot to have someone guide me through that. That’s the reason I signed up for the memorial services reception team after I joined this church.

Based on my experience, here’s what I think are key elements of a culture of caring:

1. Let the ministers and First UU Cares know when you are in need or experiencing a life event – and let them spread the word. Sharing your news helps us to connect as a community, and no matter how minor it may seem to you, it’s helpful to know that others care.

2. Say yes to help, even if you think you don’t need it. People want to help, and there is very likely something they can do to be helpful (even if it’s not a casserole). Having one less thing to do can make a big difference, even if it’s something you can do.

3. Keep in mind that you don’t have to know someone to offer to help. We are all part of this community.

First UU Cares gives us an opportunity to engage in a culture of caring, which we need now more than ever.

Through a culture of caring, we can continue to grow and develop our shared values, mission, and covenant.

Benediction

In the night, I dreamt of a world made better by our togetherness.

Of reaching toward never before imagined horizons, Made knowable and possible only by living in mutuality.

I saw distant lands made out like visions of paradise, Replenished and remade through a courage that embraced interdependence.

We dwelt in fields of green together, Fertile valleys nurtured by trust.

We built visions of love and beauty and justice, Nourished by partnership, cultivated through solidarity.

I dreamt of lush forests thriving with life, Oceans teaming with vitality,

Mountains stretching toward majesty,

Our world made whole again.

These things we had done together.

These things we had brought to pass with each other.

These dream world imaginings seemed possible in the boundless potential we create by caring for one another.

I awoke,

And still, the dream continues.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 23 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.

PODCASTS

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776

Announcement from the Ministerial Search Committee

by Posted in Uncategorized
 

Your Ministerial Search Committee has hit the ground running. Members of the committee are Susan Thomson, Chair and Carolyn Gremminger, Tomas Medina, Peggy Morton, Celeste Padilla, Tom Shindell and Bis Thornton.

This is an enthusiastic, hard-working committee. We are very aware of the trust you have placed in us by electing us to do this search. Our fundamental purpose is to discern the qualities this congregation needs in its next settled minister and to present you with a candidate who is a good match for these qualities. Because we have an inside candidate, Rev. Chris, our conversations will begin with him.

And even though we have an inside candidate who we have known a long time, we are required to go through the same processes or steps as are done for external candidate searches.

First, we discern. It’s kind of like looking for clues and for this we need your help. You will be receiving a congregational survey the last week of July and we urge you to complete it. We will then share the results with you and you will be invited to attend a search party or a focus group where we will hold structured conversations with you to further discern what this congregation needs in its settled minister. We urge you to attend one of those meetings as well.

The success of our discernment—and our search—depends on you—on our hearing from you
through the survey and the small group meetings. You will be receiving more information and details as this process moves along—through pulpit announcements, our Friday email newsletter, email blasts and information on our church website. Please be on the lookout for our logo—a young woman searching for clues!

If you have questions, please look for our table in Howson Hall.

7/9/23

Joy and Justice, Amen

by Posted in Audio available, Guest Speakers, Sermons

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Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Julicia Hermann de la Fuente
July 2, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

There are so many things vying for our attention and energy. How do we manage it all? How do we find joy and satisfaction? How do we fit our commitment to justice among the many other things that need doing? Let’s explore the possibility of sustainable and joyful liberation and transformation, in our lives and our communities.

Chalice Lighting

This is the flame we hold in our hearts as we strive for justice for everyone. This is the light we shine upon systems of oppression until they are no more. This is the warmth that we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.

Call to Worship

By no means are we Unitarian Universalists perfect. We often fail as much as we succeed. Yet even when we have broken our vows a thousand times we return to this essential work of justice and liberation for all. We do the work best when we remember what the church is and what it is not.

Church is not a place to hide. It is not the place to get away from the world. It is not place shere we get to pretend that the lives we live and our particular situations are not terribly complex, often confusing, and sometimes depressing.

Church is the place where we stand with one another, look the world in the eye, attempt to see clearly, and gather strength to face what we see with courage and yes, with joy. Come, let us worship together.

– Rosemary McKnight

Affirming Our Mission

Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.

Reading

V’AHAVTA
by Aurora Levins Morales

Say these words
when you lie down and
when you rise up,
when you go out and
when you return,
in times of mourning and
times of joy.

Inscribe them on your doorposts,
embroider them on your garments,
tattoo them on your shoulder,
teach them to your children,
your neighbors,
your enemies.

Recite them in your streets.
Here, in the cruel shadow of empire.

Another world is possible.

Thus spoke the prophet Roque Dalton:
All together they have more death than we,
but all together, we have more life than they.
There is more bloody death in their hands
than we could ever wield, unless
we lay down our souls to become them,
and then we will lose everything.
So instead,

imagine winning. This is your
sacred task.
This is your power. Imagine
every detail of winning, the exact smell
of the summer streets
in which no one has been shot, the
muscles you have never
unclenched from worry, gone soft as
newborn skin,
the sparkling taste of food when we know
that no one on earth is hungry, that the
beggars are fed,
that the old man under the bridge and
the woman wrapping herself in thin sheets in the
back seat of a car,
and the children who suck on stones,
nest under a flock of roofs that keep
multiplying their shelter.
Lean with all your being towards that day
when the poor of the world shake down a
rain of good fortune out of the heavy clouds, and justice
rolls down like waters.

Defend the world in which we win as if
it were your child.
It is your child.
Defend it as if it were your lover.
It is your lover.

When you inhale and when you exhale
breathe the possibility of another world
into the 37.2 trillion cells of your body
until it shines with hope.
Then imagine more.

Imagine rape is unimaginable. Imagine
war is a scarcely credible rumor
That the crimes of our age, the
grotesque inhumanities of greed,
the sheer and astounding shamelessness
of it, the vast fortunes
made by stealing lives, the horrible
normalcy it came to have,
is unimaginable to our heirs, the
generations of the free.

Don’t waver. Don’t let despair sink its
sharp teeth
Into the throat with which you
sing. Escalate your dreams.
Make them burn
so fiercely that you can
follow them down
any dark alleyway of history and not
lose your way.
Make them burn clear as a starry
drinking gourd
Over the grim fog of exhaustion, and
keep walking.

Hold hands. Share water. Keep imagining.
So that we, and the children of our
children’s children may live

Sermon

Text of this sermon is not yet available.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 23 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.

PODCASTS

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776

Toward our Metamorphosis into Who Knows What

by Posted in Audio available, Guest Speakers, Sermons

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Buice
June 25, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

We bring a very special worship service from our annual Unitarian Universalist General Assembly, where UUs from from far and wide have gathered in Pittsburgh this week. Our Director of Religious Education, Kelly Stokes, leads our service as we join our larger faith in worship. Rev Buice is minister of the Tennessee Valley UU Church in Knoxville, Tenn.

Chalice Lighting

This is the flame we hold in our hearts as we strive for justice for everyone. This is the light we shine upon systems of oppression until they are no more. This is the warmth that we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.

Affirming Our Mission

Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.

Reading

PUSHING FORWARD
By Elandria Williams

If we believe in the promise of our faith, we must continue pushing forward, even if the reality makes us want to give up. There is no one-size-fits-all solution or model, but there are many paths forward based on context, relationships, and place.

Ideology sparks movements, but relationships are what changes organizations and sustain movements. It takes one relationship at a time. In the end changes to the leadership of the institution happen because of relationships, people pushing. We must place value on the relationships and the need to not leave folks behind in our quest for transformation.

I live in a small city, and living in that small city helps me understand what community means. Community doesn’t only include the people who agree with you or those with whom you want to be friends. Our Unitarian Universalist faith is similar in the sense that we are a small religious community of people who are not bound by creed but instead are bound by principles, values, and a covenant with a need for intellectual rigor combined with spiritual depth or humanist love. Everything comes back to our congregations and covenanted communities. That is where the faith starts and ends. We must embody the changes we wish to see and not just say that we believe in the changes. We must actually live the changes with every fabric of our being. If we believe in the promise of our faith, we must continue pushing forward.

Sermon

Text of this sermon is not yet available.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 23 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.

PODCASTS

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776

July Monthly Service Offering – Casa Marianella

by Posted in Uncategorized
Casa Marianella is the only homeless shelter in Austin dedicated solely to immigrants.  Just as we welcome folks to our church, Casa welcomes people from 40 countries! The majority of their residents, including children, are asylum seekers. Many of them are sent directly from immigration detention.
 
“Casa Marianella opened its doors on January 6, 1986. The Austin Interfaith Task Force for Central America initiated the project in response to the arrival of refugees fleeing from Central America to Austin. The house is named for Marianella García Villas, a Salvadoran attorney and human rights organization founder who battled against human rights violations in El Salvador until her assassination by government troops in 1983. Casa Marianella was donated by Ed Wendler to the Diocese of Austin for use as a shelter.”
 
Our dollars help support the Adult House for individuals, Posada Esperaza for women and children, and Abre Lumiere for single dads as well as 2-parent families. Residents have access to basic necessities, legal and medical services, English classes, a benefits clinic, and assistance toward finding more permanent housing.
 
Check out their website, https://www.casamarianella.org/ to find out more and to see specific wish lists for each of the houses.
 
Your generosity on July 9 at church or directly to Casa will be so appreciated. With a UU faith that is centered in love, let’s welcome our newest neighbors!
 
Thanks so much!

Diving into Delight

by Posted in Audio available, Chris Jimmerson, Sermons

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson
June 18, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

The experience of delight is essential to our spirits. Delight allows us to encounter the transcendent even within the mundane of this world. We will explore what brings us delight and how we may cultivate and find it – how we often discover that our path to delight lies in serving others and the greater good, being a part of creating something larger than ourselves.

Chalice Lighting

This is the flame we hold in our hearts as we strive for justice for everyone. This is the light we shine upon systems of oppression until they are no more. This is the warmth that we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.

Call to Worship

LISTEN
by Barbara Crooker

I want to tell you something.

This morning is bright after all the steady rain, and every iris, peony, rose, opens its mouth, rejoicing.

I want to say, wake up, open your eyes, there’s a snow-covered road ahead, a field of blankness, a sheet of paper, an empty screen.

Even the smallest insects are singing, vibrating their entire bodies, tiny violins of longing and desire.

We were made for song.

I can’t tell you what prayer is, but I can take the breath of the meadow into my mouth, and I can release it for the leaves’ green need.

I want to tell you your life is a blue coal, a slice of orange in the mouth, cut hay in the nostrils.

The cardinals’ red song dances in your blood.

Look, every month the moon blossoms into a peony, then shrinks to a sliver of garlic.

And then it blooms again.

Affirming Our Mission

Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.

Meditation Reading

SPELL FOR RECLAIMING THE MOMENT
By Adrienne Maree Brown

even now
we could be happy

even now

breathing in
filling our bodies with right now
from the dirt below us
from our toes to our knees
hips up our spines
shoulders to earlobes
the tip top of our heads to beyond
to the stars

breathing wide
across our wingspan
into that sacred and constant silk web
where we belong

breathing deep
inhale back to great grandmother’s bosom
exhale seven generations of blessings
that will come through our
next choices

even now
we can be present

even now

life is right here, still
an erotic pulse kissing your jaw line
a restlessness of mind: too much, too little
there’s still someone you are longing to see
someone who startles you with simple pleasure
just because they exist
even now

we can anticipate harvest
be shocked by the thunderclap, the storm
laugh at the abundance of our grief
and our earnest attempt to avoid the inevitable

we are a delight
we could be another’s blessing
with our brief and epic lives
where every day
we are given the option
of love

Sermon

How would you define “delight”?

The spiritual topic we’re exploring in the church this month is “The Path of Delight.”

I have to admit, when I first started thinking about this, I had trouble defining exactly what we mean by “delight”. I know what it is. I know when I experience it. And yet, how would I put it into words?

Is delight different than joy or happiness, and if so, how so? What path or paths transport us to delight?

How, is delight related to our spirituality?

So, I was lucky when in the midst of my struggle, church member Carolyn Gremminger told me about an episode of National Public Radio’s program, This American Life, titled “The Show of Delights”. In it Bim Adewunmi (ada woon me), a producer for the show, hosts the episode after sharing her own thoughts on delight.

Adewunmi was born in London to parents who immigrated from Nigeria. She talks about learning to organize her life around actively seeking out delight, despite being raised oh so very British, which caused many tut, tut, tuts to go off in her head, as if to say “enjoying yourself a bit much there, aren’t you dear.”

She tells of how discovering a collection of essay’s, “The Book of Delights” by American poet Ross Gay helped her embrace the path of delight.

She interviews Ross for the show, saying that his book “offers up many thoughts on what delight is or what it could be, but it never defines it explicitly. The take away is that delight, while important, is hard to pin down.”

Whew, I thought, “here’s a poet who did a whole book on delight, and he can’t define it either.”

“Yay, I feel better.”

Adewunmi also interviews 5 year old Cole and his mother, as he expresses sheer delight over riding the bus to school for the very first time.

And that’s when I realized that though both Ross Gay or I may not be able to precisely define delight for you, I can bring you the experience of it.

VIDEO of a father and a very young child playing and laughing with an oversized letter W, the father inverting it to become the letter M.

Every time I experience delight now. I may just sing out “double u”!

Actually, this may be one of the things that is distinct about delight. While joy and happiness are obviously a part of delight, this childlike letting go of all other cares in the world, of being attuned to the delight presenting itself in the present moment seems to be a unique aspect ofthe experience.

Delight comes to us when we give ourselves over to it, as we did as children, before we began to carry the worries of our world.

I love how Adewunmi described organizing her life around seeking out delight. I think this may be one of the ways that following the path of delight is spiritual. Life’s pain and disappointment and loss and sorrow will come. In fact, delight and broken-heartedness may not exist, one without the other.

The practice of actively seeking delight helps carry us through when things get more difficult.

Adewunmi interviews a wonderful woman, Noriko Meek. Niriko spent most of her adult life nurturing her husband and children, including several years during which she took care of her husband, as he slowly wasted and eventually died of cancer.

After a period of intense mourning, Noriko has discovered new life at age 72 – life that is, as she puts it, “just delightful, you know.” She says now she allows herself to do what she wants, when she wants. She hikes. She travels constantly. She’s seeing the world.

Now, she allows herself to experience delight in even the mundane – her heated toilette seat, her ballet class for seniors, eating discounted donuts for breakfast, reading biographies in bed for two hours every night.

And in all of this, Noriko Meek has discovered another spiritual aspect of following the path of delight – it enables us to experience the transcendent in even the seemingly mundane.

Our poet, Ross Gay, discovered this while creating his book by writing an essay about something delightful every day for a year. Here is part of what he described on the very first day, as he visited a favorite coffee shop:

“A cup of coffee from a well shaped cup.

A fly, its wings hauling all the light in the room, landing on the porcelain handle as if to say, “Notice the precise flair of this handle, as though designed for the romance between the thumb and the index finger that holding a cup can be.”

Or the light blue bike the man pushed through the lobby.

Or the topknot of the barista.

Or the sweet glance ofthe man in the stylish short pants (welllotioned ankles gleaming beneath), walking two little dogs.

Or the woman, stepping in and out of her shoe, her foot curling up and stretching out and curling up.”

Transcendence revealing itself from amongst the everyday.

And whether it emerges from the every day or out oflife’s larger experiences such as witnessing the birth of new life, delight comes to us more often, if we engage in the practice of recognizing it.

Again in Ross Gay’s words, “It didn’t take me long to recognize that the discipline or practice of writing these essays occasioned a kind of delight radar. Or maybe it was the development of a delight muscle. Something that implies that the more you study delight, the more delight there is to study.”

Now, here is one more spiritual aspect of delight. It is an essential part of our humanity – our interconnectedness.

Gay says that we are “negligent” if we don’t share our delights with one another.

And we so often find delight in being a part of something larger than ourselves – something that contributes to a greater good.

In our story for all ages earlier, delight emerged as much or more from the creativity James and Danny and their community had engaged in together as it did from the finished product.

The volunteer efforts of so many of you that Celeste celebrated earlier create so much delight in this community, as you make it possible for us to truly live into our values and mission together. As your minister, I experience so much delight witnessing this church and the folks who create it grow – both numerically and in spirit, again, due in such large part to these volunteer ministries. And that delight happens both within these church walls and beyond them.

Not long after I began ministry with the church, I had gone to Boston, to attend the first year Ministers’ retreat that our Unitarian Universalist Association offers at their offices.

I was at the airport for my return trip home, when my cell phone rang. It was our senior minister at the time, Meg Barnhouse, calling to let me know that the church was going to offer immigration sanctuary to Sulma Franco, invite her to live in the church to try to prevent her being deported to her home country of Guatemala where she might be harmed or even killed because she had publicly advocated for LGBTQ rights while still living there.

Meg wanted to know if! would be OK with that, as in had a choice, but that was Meg (and she knew I would be more than OK with it).

I couldn’t contain my glee, as she told me about how a church board member had responded to the possibility of providing sanctuary by stating that this fits exactly with our mission, asking “if we don’t do this what do we do”?

I was filled with delight.

Before becoming a minister, for seven years, I had been the executive director of American Gateways, a non-profit that provides immigration legal services and advocates on behalf of immigrant rights.

I had carried that into ministry when I did my internship at Wildflower Church, helping them set up an immigrant detention center visitation program and several other immigration related ministries. Immigration justice and the struggle against the racism and bigotry so embed within our immigration system had become just, part of who I was and what drove me as a person and a minister.

So, there I was in Boston Logan, teary eyed and gleeful over this church taking such a faithful leap toward justice. I think I may have squealed a little like the small one in our video earlier, because folks at Boston Logan were staring at me like I was suffering some sort of crisis nerveosa, not knowing it was actually a fit of delight.

I felt much the same way more recently, as our folks participated in actions at our Texas State Capital.

Despite some really terrible things that were happening this legislative session, there was a sense of exhilaration sometimes that arose from showing up as UUs, joining together with so many other solidarity partners in a co-conspiracy of radical love crying out for justice. Justice that we WILL eventually bring about.

These are just a couple of examples of how delight so often arises when we join together in loving relationship to reach for something greater than ourselves. That same delight then moves us toward building even more of that something greater – the Beloved Community.

And aren’t we fortunate then, that, here at first Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin, our path of delight is following those words we emblazoned on our wall and that we say together every Sunday.

And to that, may we say, “Double You”!

Benediction

From the Hinu text, the Veen Yana Vuyer Va Tantra

I have been listening to the hymns of creation,
Enchanted by the verses,

Yet still I am curious.

What is this delight-filled universe into which we find ourselves born?

What is this mysterious awareness

Shimmering everywhere within it?

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 23 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.

PODCASTS

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776

I Am What I Am: Reflections on Radical Welcome

by Posted in Audio available, Erin Walter, Sermons

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Erin Walter
June 11, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

Happy Pride Month. This Sunday, Rev. Erin Walter and three members of First UU will co-lead a service inspired by the recent Transgender Inclusion in Congregations course. What did folks learn that can spark more love and joy in our own lives? How can lessons of trans inclusion help First UU foster belonging for all be more welcoming of all ages, cultures, abilities, and more?

Chalice Lighting

This is the flame we hold in our hearts as we strive for justice for everyone. This is the light we shine upon systems of oppression until they are no more. This is the warmth that we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.

Call to Worship

We want a world where boys can feel, girls can lead, and the rest of us can not only exist but thrive. This is not about erasing men and women but rather acknowledging that man and woman are two of many stars in a constellation that do not compete but amplify one another’s shine.

– Alok Vaid-Menon, Beyond the Gender Binary

Affirming Our Mission

Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.

Sermon

THREE REFLECTIONS ON RADICAL WELCOME

First UU members and friends present their reflection on radical welcome, a service inspired by the recent Transgender Inclusion in Congregations Course. Listen to the three reflections by clicking the play button at the top of this page. They are:

1. Becca Brenna-Luna

2. Leo Collas

3. Glenna Williams

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 23 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.

PODCASTS

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776

Earthkeepers’ Tuesday Work Day

by Posted in Uncategorized

Join us on Tuesday, June 27th from 9 a.m – 12 p.m. to improve our grounds and meet fellow gardeners. It’s hot now, so we’ll take try to work in the shade and take frequent breaks.

There is no obligation to stay until 12 p.m. Please be sure to bring water and wear sunscreen. Small tools are welcome, but not required.

Summer Solstice Ritual Celebration & Drum Circle

by Posted in Uncategorized

First UU Pagan Alliance in collaboration with the Monday Meditation Group will host our Summer Solstice Ritual Celebration & Drum Circle.

This event will be held at First UU Church on Monday June 26th at 7 p.m.

We will plan to be in the First UU Courtyard, weather permitting. Please bring a camp chair and drum if you have them, and extras to share if you’re so inclined.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Ministerial Transition Update

by Posted in Uncategorized

We’ve made it through our first year of the interim period. Rev. Jonalu’s last Sunday with us in person was in May and Rev. Erin will be concluding her time as an interim minister when she presides over Sunday service on July 30th . It has been a year of growth and we appreciate all that Jonalu and Erin have done for us.

Our new interim minister, Rev. Michelle LaGrave will begin her work with us in August. Rev. Michelle specializes in interim ministry and will be coming to Austin after she has completed her service with Emerson Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston. We can look forward to learning more about her later this summer, but if you can’t wait please go to her website at uurevmichelle.com.

Finally, the ministerial search committee has begun its work. They, in conjunction with Rev. Chris Jimmerson, will decide in the fall whether to present Rev. Chris to the congregation as the candidate to be our next settled minister. If the decision is to present Rev. Chris as the candidate, a congregational vote will take place. The members of the congregation have the ultimate authority to vote to call a settle minister. Please look for the transition timeline in Howson Hall for more information about the timing of events in the transition. There will be multiple opportunities to engage with the search committee in the next few months. Be on the lookout for these opportunities.

Join us to Discuss Future Vespers Services!

by Posted in Uncategorized

In October 2022, First UU began offering a monthly Vespers service that provided a more intimate, experimental and contemplative style of worship.

As we plan for the future, we would love to hear from you. Would you attend a Vespers service? And if so, what sorts of things would you like to see included?

Please join Reverend Chris and the Vespers team for a discussion either via Zoom (6/29 @6:30 PM) or in person (7/9 @ 12:30 PM). We will provide pizza after the in person session on 7/9.

Please register to attend so that we plan appropriately:

6/29 Online Session: Register on Church Center

7/9 In-Person Session: Register on Church Center

Vespers is a unique opportunity to create worship together.

Vegan Interest Group Envisioning Meeting

by Posted in Uncategorized
 
Are you Vegan interested? 
Join us to talk about the mission of this new group and plan activities that would bring meaning and fun to our lives and to everyone at First UU who want to explore with us. Bring your ideas, dreams and vegan hopes you want to see brought to life.

When: Saturday, June 17th at 10:30 a.m.
Where: First UU Austin, Classroom 13

Light snacks will be provided. Feel free to bring additional vegan snacks to share if you like. 
Those who like and have time may move on to a tasty vegan lunch venue after the meeting!

Everyone is welcome, vegan or not. 

RSVPs are appreciated, but not required. 
If you can’t make this meeting, but have ideas to share, or if you have questions, please feel welcome to email: szriddle@gmail.com or call/text: 214-649-4896

Flower Communion 2023

by Posted in Audio available, Chris Jimmerson, Sermons

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson
June 4, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

In this traditional Unitarian ceremony, everyone is invited to bring flowers to church. Then, during the service, we will hold our annual ritual where we bless the flowers and then share them with one another. What might this annual ritual tell us about human flourishing and delight.

Chalice Lighting

This is the flame we hold in our hearts as we strive for justice for everyone. This is the light we shine upon systems of oppression until they are no more. This is the warmth that we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.

Call to Worship

ALL OF US ARE BEAUTIFUL
By Thomas Rhodes

We come in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes.
Some of us grow in bunches.
Some of us grow alone.
Some of us are cupped inward,
And some of us spread ourselves out wide.

Some of us are old and dried and tougher than we appear.
Some of us are still in bud.
Some of us grow low to the ground,
And some of us stretch toward the sun.

Some of us feel like weeds, sometimes.
Some of us carry seeds, sometimes.
Some of us are prickly, sometimes.
Some of us smell.

And all of us are beautiful.
What a bouquet of people we are!

Affirming Our Mission

Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.

Meditation Reading

FLOWER COMMUNION
By Lynn Ungar

What a gathering-the purple
tongues of iris licking out
at spikes of lupine, the orange
crepe skirts of poppies lifting
over buttercup and daisy.

Who can be grim
in the face of such abundance?
There is nothing to compare,
no need for beauty to compete.

The voluptuous rhododendron
and the plain grass
are equally filled with themselves,
equally declare the miracles
of color and form.

This is what community looks like-
this vibrant jostle, stem by stem
declaring the marvelous joining.
This is the face of communion,
the incarnation once more
gracefully resurrected from winter.

Hold these things together
in your sight-purple, crimson,
magenta, blue. You will
be feasting on this long after
the flowers are gone.

Sermon

Text of this sermon is not yet available.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 23 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.

PODCASTS

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776

Divine Co-Creation

by Posted in Audio available, Chris Jimmerson, Sermons

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson
May 28, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

We need our most creative spirits to manifest the holy in our world. Indeed, becoming, changing, engaging in constant acts of creation and re-creation are the essence of our growth and spirituality, And we are at our most transformative and transformed when we co-create in communion with one another and the web of existence.

Chalice Lighting

This is the flame we hold in our hearts as we strive for justice for everyone. This is the light we shine upon systems of oppression until they are no more. This is the warmth that we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.

Call to Worship

The universe buries strange jewels deep within all of us and then stands back to see if we can find them. The hunt to discover those jewels, that’s creative living.

– Elizabeth Gilbert
Big Magic, Creative living Beyond Fear

Affirming Our Mission

Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.

Meditation Reading

CREATION IS MESSY
Rev. Laurel Mendes

Creation is messy,
Inconvenient,
And often uncooperative.

Take a look at the cosmos.

Go ahead, close your eyes and imagine the stars.

When you do, forget the Franz Josef Haydn “spacious firmament” bit. His images are far too tidy.

See the real mess the universe made of itself 14 BILLION years ago.

All of creation is still trying to clean THAT up.

It’s called the Big Bang,
Not the Grand Coalescence,

For a reason.

Mistakes were made (probably),
And incorporated into the whole anyway.

And wonders never cease, here we still are muddling along 14 billion years after the fact.

Now open your eyes and look around you.
You are surrounded by the most astounding miraculous wonder of all:
Each other,
Community,
Life ongoing caring about life ongoing.
So it is.
So it shall be, because we do care

Sermon

VIDEO

Our reading earlier was about how creation is messy.

So, I thought the Blob Opera exercise from “Google Arts and Culture” made a great metaphor for this.

The video you just saw was from my experimenting with it. You just go to Blob Opera online.

Then, you use your pointing device to to drag the blobs in different directions, which allows you to create different voice types and melodies.

You literally create a musical “opera” out of some blobs. And our creative process is so often like that.

Our creativity emerges out of the “blobiness”.

It seems science and philosophy have both begun to posit that our greatest creativity most often comes out of messiness, when we are blocked, confused, unsure.

Creativity arises from uncertainty; our unknowing.

Mystery holds almost infinite creative potential.

Chaplains, hospice workers and artists will tell you that there is even, or maybe especially, creativity bound up with our grief also.

So, as we examine creativity, our spiritual topic this morning, we do so with some humility, knowing that so often we owe our creative spirit to the uncertainty, sometimes even the great challenges or difficulties in our lives.

Here is an example from our own Unitarian Universalist history. II Each Sunday morning, we begin and end our worship services by lighting and then extinguishing our chalice, which is a symbol of our faith.

SLIDE

In fact, this is the current logo of our Unitarian Universalist Association.

Well, Unitarian Universalist minister and historian Susan Ritchie describes how this symbol of our faith came to be.

During World War II, the Unitarians formed the Unitarian Service Committee, which operated a rescue and relief operation helping folks escape the Nazis in Europe.

Its director, Rev. Charles Joy, began to feel that the operation needed a symbol of hope that both refugees and those trying to assist them could carry on paperwork to denote that they could be trusted, as German informants were widespread across Europe at the time.

Rev. Joy turned to an artist who was himself a refugee from the Nazis, Hans Deutsch, to create a symbol that would represent the spirit of their work.

Deutsch created the flaming chalice design.

Eventually, sympathizers would also begin to draw the symbol in the dirt outside their home, as a signal to those in need of a safe place to stay: a light in the darkness.

Deutsch’s flaming chalice, ensconced in a circle representing unity, would become the symbol of the American Unitarian Association.

When the Unitarians and the Universalist merged in 1961, the Universalists had a similar symbol that “featured a large, open circle with a very small, off-centered cross inside … that … signified how Universalism had grown out of the Christian tradition but was still held open to a world of other possibilities … “

Out of the two, the newly formed Unitarian Universalism adopted the flaming chalice with two overarching circles.

As to how this two dimensional symbol developed into the three dimensional actual chalice we light to mark our services today, Ritchie says we are not entirely sure.

However, she writes, “All evidence, though, suggests that the path leads through our children’s religious education programs.” Beginning in the 70s, our religious educations programs started teaching children about the chalice and encouraging them to make chalices using different media.

They eventually created objects which could be lit.

The first documented uses of lighting a chalice in the main sanctuary occurred when children and youth led worship and demonstrated the practice to the adults.

How wonderful then, that it seems children may have taken a symbol of hope, created out of the worst of situations, and turned it into a symbol of faith for our entire denomination.

There is something very spiritual about that.

And indeed, for all of recorded history, we humans have associated creation, creativity, the creative process with spirituality. I’ll share just a few current examples with you.

The first is a concept called ontological design.

VIDEO

Here is a brief explanation. So, what we create then directs what we become.

We create language and then that language creates us. It defines the parameters of our becoming.

Our technology, these smart phones, social media, scientific experimentation, and on and on, they come out of our seemingly almost endless creativity AND they are creating who we are becoming.

Certainly, our architecture, our urban design, our energy production and use (and our pollution), all products of human creativity, also form the environment in which we live and therefore the manner in which our continuing evolution will turn.

I think this is true of the the cultures and societies we envision and create also.

Will we dream ourselves into ever more powerful ways of creating the Beloved Community?

Will our ontological designing create liberation for all?

Rev. Dr. Martin King, Jr. once said, “Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.”

Given our current status quo, that creative maladjustment is still a necessary component of dismantling that status quo and designing something new that will in turn create us anew.

And it doesn’t get much more spiritual than that.

Author Elizabeth Gilbert, best known for writing, “Eat Pray Love”, has another spiritual concept about our creativity.

In another book, “Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear“, she writes that we might think of our creative impulses coming to us from these sorts of spirits she calls “geniuses”.

These spirits can be tricksters, ornery and demanding.

This is actually an ancient idea. The concept of a Genie was related to this.

These geniuses are the source of our creativity if we remain open to them, find them, pay attention to them.

If we don’t, they may well move on to someone else.

Gilbert tells the story of this happening after she met and became friends with another author, Ann Patchett.

Gilbert had been neglecting a genius that wanted her to create a novel set in the Amazon jungle.

In letters they were exchanging, Gilbert learned that Patchett had also begun working on a novel set in the Amazon jungle, though it was too early at the time to know exactly what it would be about.

Here is how Gilbert describe what happened the next time they met.

Ann told me that she was now deep into the writing of her new book …

I said, “Okay, now you really do have to tell me what your Amazon novel is about. I’ve been dying to know.”

“You go first,” she said, “since your book was first. You tell me what your Amazon jungle novel was about – the one that got away.”

I tried to summarize my ex-novel as concisely as possible. “It was about this middle-aged spinster from Minnesota who’s been quietly in love with her married boss for many years. He gets involved in a harebrained business scheme down in the Amazon jungle. A bunch of money and a person go missing, and my character gets sent down there to solve things, at which point her quiet life is completely turned into chaos.

Also, it’s a love story.”

“You have got to be” … (word that rhymes with trucking) … “kidding me.” (said Ann)

“Why?” I asked. “What’s your novel about?”

She replied, “It’s about a spinster from Minnesota who’s been quietly in love with her married boss for many years. He gets involved in a harebrained business scheme down in the Amazon jungle. A bunch of money and a person go missing, and my character is sent down there to solve things. At which point her quiet life is completely turned into chaos.

Also, it’s a love story.”

Now, whether you completely buy Gilbert’s tale and her theory about “genius spirits”, many, many other people have also described this experience of what they create coming from something outside of themselves.

Something that often feels greater than themselves.

Author, artist, poet and playwright, Julia Cameron in her book, “The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity” writes, “The creative process is a process of surrender … In dance, in composition, in sculpture, the experience is the same: we are more the conduit than the creator of what we express.”

Theologian, Martin Buber said, “Creation happens to us, burns into us, changes us. We tremble and swoon. We submit.”

I have (only too occasionally) experienced this with writing poetry or sermons.

Every once and a while, not nearly always, I will sit down to write and will lose all track of time and my sense of self.

Not always – sometimes writing for me is more like pushing a boulder up a hill with lots of grunting, straining, occasional cursing and many, many stops, starts and rolling backwards.

But just occasionally, I will find myself sitting there, staring at a screen filled with words I don’t remember creating, and wonder, “Who wrote this?”

I shared this experience many years back, with our now Minister Emerita, Meg Barnhouse, and she replied with her best southern accent, “Oh, loooove it when that happens. That’s the holy spirit workin’ right there”

Anyway, Elizabeth Gilbert believes we made a huge mistake during the renaissance when we began to think of creativity coming from the self of the individual human genius, rather than from genius spirits.

Here is how she describes that mistake.

VIDEO

Perhaps, these “spirits” are actually the creative potential that arises within us when we glimpse the vastness of our true interconnectedness.

Research, has begun to find that our creativity is rarely a solo, individual act. Even the great artists produced their work out of creative interplay with others and their environment.

In an article titled “The End of ‘Genius”, the New York Times describes how creativity arises out of innovative networks, often creative pairs.

And many studies have found that we are the most creative when we work together with people whose life experiences are different than our own – whose world views differ from our ours.”

Diverse groups in terms of race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation and the like produce more creative outcomes.

And this idea meshes well with two theologies that support the values and principles of our UU faith.

For collective liberation theology, opportunity for each of us is bound together with liberation for all of us. Only together can we all reach for our greatest creative potential.

Likewise, process relational theology views each of us as processes of becoming, in every moment evolving into something new, all of us always and constantly changing.

Because processes by their very nature are relational, again, each of us can only become our fullest self when we answer the call to enhance the creative possibilities for all.

For this theology, the divine is the ultimate process, which holds all of us within and lures us toward our most creative potentiality.

In this way, we co-design the divine together, even as we are being guided in our own becoming.

Whew, that’s some heady stuff.

Perhaps Julia Cameron expresses the idea that the divine beckons us toward our most creative selves more simply when she says, “I would say that as we become more spiritual we automatically become more creative, and as we become more creative we automatically become more spiritual. I’m not sure why that is. It just seems to me to be a fact … And to be facile I might say it’s God’s will for us to be creative.”

Italian-American psychologist, art therapist, and writer, Lucia Capacchione goes further and says, “The person who says ‘I’m not creative’ is uttering blasphemy.”

And psychologist Dan Gilbert adds, “Human beings are a work in progress that mistakenly think they are finished.”

We are all artists then, even if we’re not painters, sculptors, musicians, poets, authors or any of the things we commonly think of us the creative.

Our lives are our art; our great creative endeavor. So, together, let’s:
Compose life as a great concerto.
Imagine it as a Pulitzer-Prize winning play,
Paint it as a magnificent painting,
Carve it into a breathtaking sculpture
Choreograph it as a dance in which all humanity moves in communion with one another and with all that is.

May we live life as if we are creating God together.

Because perhaps we are.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 23 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.

PODCASTS

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776