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Rev. Carrie Holley-Hurt
April 19, 2026
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave.
Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org
A Volunteer Appreciation Service
Our theology teaches us about the inherent worthiness of all and the beauty of our interdependence. In this church, when we put those beliefs to work, we generate beautiful things both inside the church and outside the church. Together we nourish each other, we journey with each other through transformation, and we do the work of building the beloved community. This Sunday we celebrate all our volunteers who keep our church alive in a million different ways and make it possible for us to live into our mission!
Welcome
Rev. Carrie Holley-Hurt
Prelude
“Running Up That Hill” (Kate Bush) – The First UU Youth Singers; Chantel Mead, Director
It doesn’t hurt me (yeah, yeah, yo)
Do you wanna feel how it feels! (Yeah, yeah, yo)
Do you wanna know, know that it doesn’t hurt me! (Yeah, yeah, yo)
Do you wanna hear about the deal that I’m making! (Yeah, yeah, yo)
You
It’s you and me
And if I only could I’d make a deal with God
And I’d get Him to swap our places
Be runnin’ up that road
Be runnin’ up that hill
Be runnin’ up that building
Say, if I only could, oh
You don’t wanna hurt me (yeah, yeah, yo)
But see how deep the bullet lies (yeah, yeah, yo)
Unaware I’m tearin’ you asunder (yeah, yeah, yo)
Oh, there is thunder in our hearts (yeah, yeah, yo)
Is there so much hate for the ones we love! (Yeah, yeah, yo)
Oh, tell me, we both matter, don’t we! (Yeah, yeah, yo)
You
It’s you and me
It’s you and me
Won’t be unhappy
And if I only could I’d make a deal with God
And I’d get Him to swap our places
Be runnin’ up that road
Be runnin’ up that hill
Be runnin’ up that building (yo)
Say, if I only could, oh
You (yeah, yeah, yo)
It’s you and me
It’s you and me
Won’t be unhappy (yeah, yeah, yo)
Oh, come on, baby (yeah)
Oh, come on, darlin’ (yo)
Let me steal this moment from you now
Oh, come on, angel
Come on, come on, darlin’
Let’s exchange the experience (yo), oh, ooh, ooh
And if I only could
I’d make a deal with God
And I’d get Him to swap our places
I’d be runnin’ up that road
Be runnin’ up that hill
With no problems
Say, if I only could I’d make a deal with God
And I’d get Him to swap our places
I’d be runnin’ up that road
Be runnin’ up that hill
With no problems
Say, if I only could I’d make a deal with God
And I’d get Him to swap our places
I’d be runnin’ up that road
Be runnin’ up that hill
With no problems
Say, if I only could I’d be runnin’ up that hill
With no problems
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 we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.
Call to Worship
RIVER CALL
Rev. Manish Mishra-MarzettiBetween rocking the boat
And sitting down
Between stirring things up,
And peaceably going along,
We find ourselves here, in community
Each called from many different journeys,
Life paths, onto this river road
Some are here because the rocking of the boat has been too much:
too much tumult, too much uncertainty, too much pain
Some are here with questions about where the boat is going, how best to steer it,
where this journey ends.
Others are here
as lovers of the journey, lovers of life itself
Here in front beside behind
each a passenger, each a captain;
doing the best we can.
“Rest here, in your boat, with me,” the river calls;
Listen to how I flow,
the sound of life coursing all around you”
Let the current hold you,
let the current guide you;
the river that gently flows through your soul, whispers:
“Come, let us worship.”
Affirming Our Mission
Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.
Anthem
“Another Day of Sun” (May J.) – The First UU Youth Singers; Chantel Mead, Director
I think about that day
I left him at a Greyhound station, west of Santa Fe
We were 17, but he was sweet and it was true
Still I did what I had to do
‘Cause I just knew
Summer Sunday nights
We’d sink into our seats
Right as they dimmed out all the lights
A Technicolor world made out of music and machine
It called me to be on that screen
And live inside each scene
Without a nickel to my name
Hopped a bus, here I came
Could be brave or just insane
We’ll have to see
‘Cause maybe in that sleepy town
He’ll sit one day, the lights are down
He’ll see my face and think of how he used to know me
Behind these hills I’m reaching for the heights
And chasing all the lights that shine
And when they let you down (it’s another day)
You’ll get up off the ground (it’s another day)
‘Cause morning rolls around and it’s another day of sun
I hear ’em everyday
The rhythms in the canyons that’ll never fade away
The ballads in the barrooms left by those who came before
They say, “You gotta want it more”
So I bang on every door
And even when the answer’s “No”
Or when my money’s running low
The dusty mic and neon glow
Are all I need
And someday as I sing a song
A small-town kid’ll come along
That’ll be the thing to push him on and go go
Behind these hills I’m reaching for the heights
And chasing all the lights that shine
And when they let you down (it’s another day)
You’ll get up off the ground (it’s another day)
‘Cause morning rolls around and it’s another day of sun
And when they let you down
The morning rolls around
It’s another day of sun
It’s another day of sun
It’s another day of sun (sun, sun, sun)
It’s another day of sun
Just another day of sun
It’s another day of sun
The day has just begun
It’s another day of sun
It’s another day of sun
Blessing of Volunteers
Reading
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT
Rev. SotoI wish the knowledge were easier to come by, that individualism is just a scam, that you are always the butterfly wings. You are always the storm. Edward Lorenz, a weather scientist from MIT, Is sometimes misquoted on this, as the premise that the flap of a butterfly wing can cause a hurricane in a different part of the world. Shorthand that isn’t all that close to a representation of the math-turned-weather scientist’s work.
He proposed that, Should we make even a tiny alteration to nature, we will never know what would have happened if we had not disturbed it, since subsequent changes are too complex and entangled to restore a previous state. Which is to say that you have an immeasurable effect on the system, It will change and you will shape its DNA
You must not believe the lying lie that you do not matter, that whatever change you can organize is so insufficient as to not be worth your time, your energy, your life force. You must be willing to dream a dream that carries forward your community. This is how we rise.
This day is polluted with a mistrust of truth, fertile and warm medium for unchecked cruelty and power. You must choose to scream the truth until every leaf and stone bears unrepentant witness to what happens when you try to cage and smash, to pin and frame a butterfly and their thousands and thousands of fabulous, flamboyant friends.
Centering
Music for Meditation: “Rises the Moon” (Liana Flores) – The First UU Youth Singers; Chantel Mead, Director
Days seem sometimes as if they’ll never end
Sun digs its heels to taunt you
But after sunlit days, one thing stays the same
Rises the moon
Days fade into a watercolour blur
Memories swim and haunt you
But look into the lake, shimmering like smoke
Rises the moon
Oh-oh, close your weary eyes
I promise you that soon the autumn comes
To darken fading summer skies
Breathe, breathe, breathe
Days pull you down just like a sinking ship
Floating is getting harder
But tread the water, child, and know that meanwhile
Rises the moon
Days pull you up just like a daffodil
Uprooted from its garden
They’ll tell you what you owe, but know even so
Rises the moon
You’ll be visited by sleep
I promise you that soon the autumn comes
To steal away each dream you keep
Breathe, breathe, breathe
Sermon
How many of you have ever found yourself in a position of explaining Unitarian Universalism to the uninitiated?
Its so hard, isn’t it.
I’m much better now that I have a whole master about it but it can still be hard to fully explain to people why we all come together week after week.
My biggest fear is that people will somehow get the idea that there is no there.. there.
That we are religion were any and everything goes.
Unfortunately, too many people have the idea of us. Which I get.
I mean
We don’t have a creed.
You will not find the Nicene Creed at this church. In fact, the Council of Nicea did not go well for us.
No creed for us.
No common deity or one way in which we come into our own search for truth, meaning, and beauty.
We are proper pluralist
a church made up of theists and atheists
Of pagans and humanists,
We are a hyphenated people – UU and Muslim, and Jewish,
and Buddhist
We come from different places, generations, and different world views.
And somehow we all keep showing up.
No deity
No creed
AND No promise of eternal reward or threat of eternal punishment.
We keep coming back, as have generations before us.
And not only do we keep coming back – so many of you make sure that we have something to come back to.
That is because we do have some really strong common beliefs.
Like that, we all matter, That it is right and good to have a voice in how we function, – (quick plug for the pre-congregational meeting today at 1pm)
We share a common belief that growth, spiritually or personally, is good.
That connection is good.
That we have a responsibility to one another and to this church.
Unitarian Universalism is set up on the premise that all of that is true.
We are a congregationalist polity…. This simply means the way we are organized is that the members of this church are responsible for it. There is no equivalent of the Vatican or an assembly of elders… no one to direct us, put a minister here… no one bail us out.
The members of this church, direct the culture and the focus They work together to create the mission, our values, and prioritize what we focus on. And Rev Chris and I help guide that process and make sure systems are in place for the work to happen.
Now a cynical person might look at what I have laid out and say…so you have nothing that holds you together, no eternal reward, and you are super responsible to hold yourself together. What is the upside?
Well, I’ll tell you… fictional cynical person. Its because of what we get from this church and from one another.
Some of us were lucky enough to have been raised UUs. You all were born straight into a tradition that already saw the spark of the divine inside of you.
Some of us came here because we wanted a church home but not one that hurt or reject us like our old.
Some of you had a perfectly fine time in the religious tradition of our youth but it just didn’t align any more.
And some of you came here knowing little to nothing about church life but just felt a pull to seek shelter with like hearted people.
Or maybe you just wanted your kids to get a solid progressive religious education.
And some of you have stories that I haven’t heard yet, but i would love to.
I think most, if not all of us, came here because we wanted something bigger than ourselves.
Somewhere we could have a free and responsible search for truth, meaning, and beauty.
A community.
And that is what, at least I hope is what, you have found.
If you have found it, its because of the engagement and the work of the people in this church that give not just of their treasure, but their time AND their talent.
Who volunteer in religious education. Who facilitates small groups or monthly large groups.
Who sit on committees and look at excel sheets until they just can’t any more.
Board members and members of the stewardship committee that keep us solid.
Its the people who clean off tables in Howson Hall so our space is inviting.
It is the counting and depositing of the offering.. year after year.
It’s our greeters, ushers, and choir members….
All of those who make beautiful music for us to enjoy.
Its the people who show up and paint our sidewalks. Direct traffic.
Its the caring companions and creators of caring bridges.
Its the person who hangs back after service and straightens the backs of the pews.
It is so many people so many things… too many things for me to try to name them all.
But all of it…all of it is in the effort of keeping us alive so that this congregation can minister to all of us.
So that this church can be a shelter and a launching pad.
Thank you to all of you who have said yes to the work of this church.
we are so deeply grateful.
But, as someone who has been known to volunteer from time to time I know that this is not without reward.
I reached out to a random sampling of our volunteers to get their feedback on what they have gotten out of volunteering.
I heard about connection, living into values, transformation, spiritual growth…
Karen Neeley, Wendy Erisman, and Toni Wegner told me about the deep connections and long-lasting friendships that have come from their volunteer work.
E Cisnek said “I volunteer at First UU because it gives me a greater sense of purpose and connection during times where I have felt alone in this world.”
A few told me about how volunteering helps them to live into their values, like David Nuhn, who sees his work as an extension of his spiritual beliefs. Or Suzie Riddle who volunteers because she feels “its important to make a contribution” to her community.
Volunteering is also a way to explore not just other parts of church life but also other parts of who we are. Tomas Medina told me that volunteering was transformative for him. He changed the way he saw himself and how he engages with the world.
And almost everyone to a tee, said that volunteering has deepened them spiritually. Ernest and Mariko Baumann told me that volunteering gave them the spiritual boost they needed to get through these times.
Ann Edwards said, “volunteering is nourishment for my soul.”
I received so many beautiful messages over the last two days, I wish I could read them all to you.
But the take-away is that volunteering, even though it is giving of your time also has so many transformational gifts for us all.
The work of the church is the work of our spiritual growth.
And there is so much to be done. If you haven’t volunteered here before, please know there is always room for you to enter into this good work. And please know its not intimidating…. Leo Collas told me that not only does it see his volunteering as selfish in a spiritual sense. But also that he has taught him that he doesn’t have to know exactly what to do, just doing the thing is a gift to other. “That’s something I can do even when I’m not 100% sure what i’m doing.”
Volunteering is powerful and its important
Because We keep our church alive.
We are an unusual group of people. We have no creed, no common deity. We come from a variety of backgrounds
We have no eternal promises…
No We have so much more
We have a religion that provides us the space to responsibly explore truth, beauty and meaning.
We have a community where we can learn, grow, and heal and be held We have a faith that motivates us towards justice and holds us even in the ambiguity and uncertainty of life.
We have one another.
We benefit from those who came before us We continue to build a shelter for those who will come next Sunday and years from now And all of it is made possible because so many of you have said yes
If you will would you please stand up or raise your hand if you are a volunteer.
Thank you, thank you!
Now, if you haven’t gotten engaged in this good work yet, that’s totally fine. That just means there is an opportunity to engage and many ways to grow. Many ways to say yes.
Yes to the work of nourishing souls, yes to the work of transforming lives, and yes to the work of doing justice to build the beloved community.
Extinguishing the Chalice
We extinguish this flame, but not the light of truth, the warmth of community, or the fire of commitment. These we hold in our hearts until we are together again.
Benediction
Before we go and spend a different kind of sacred time with one another Be blessed
In all that you do
May you feel a lightness even in heavy times
May you held even when you are alone
And may you know that who you are and what you do mattersGo in peace
Most sermons during the past 26 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.
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