Belonging

September 25, 2023 by tom Posted in Audio available, Michelle LaGrave, Sermons

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Michelle LaGrave
September 24, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong – somewhere, somehow, sometime in your life? Probably, if you’re like most people. What makes the difference in feeling like you do or do not belong? How can we help ourselves, each other, and people we haven’t even met yet cultivate that oh-so-important sense of belonging? And how does all of this relate to our Unitarian Universalist Principles?

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

Lifting Our Voices #36

We are all longing to go home to some place
we have never been – a place, half- remembered, and haIf-envisioned
we can only catch glimpses of from time to time.
Community.
Somewhere, there are people to whom we can speak with passion
without having the words catch in our throats.
Somewhere a circle of hands
will open to receive us, eyes will light up as we enter, voices will celebrate with us whenever we come into our own power.
Community means strength
that joins our strength to do the work that needs to be done.
Arms to hold us when we falter.
A circle of healing.
A circle of friends.
Someplace where we can be free.

– Starhawk

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

YOU BELONG: A CALL FOR CONNECTION
by Sebene Selassie

“When you don’t like the joke, you belong. When you’re the “only one” of your race, disability, or sexuality, you belong. When you’re terrified to speak in public, you belong. When you feel hurt or when you have hurt someone else you belong. When you are down to your last dollars and the rent is due, you belong. When you feel overwhelmed by the horrors of human beings, you belong. When you have a debilitating illness, you belong. When everyone else is getting married, you belong. When you don’t know what you’re doing with your life, you belong. When the world feels like it’s falling apart, you belong. When you feel you don’t belong, you belong.”

Sermon

I remember well the moment I knew that I belonged in a UU congregation. I was in the meetinghouse, standing at the kitchen sink to wash my hands, when I saw this … a bottle of Seventh Generation dish soap. And then I saw that the paper towels were unbleached, brown, recycled paper towels.

This was many years ago, long before you could go to the regular grocery store and buy all sorts of cruelty-free, environmentally friendly, vegan much of anything. Instead, you had to go to a natural foods store or order what you wanted online. That meant that in many areas of my life, like at work, I felt different from most other people. I was a vegetarian, with vegan tendencies, and had been for many years. And most folk, even in the liberal areas, just … weren’t.

So, back to the sink. There I stood, looking at dish soap and paper towels, and a feeling overcame me that here were a people who would understand me, all of me. Here, I could be free. Here, I wouldn’t feel so different, so separate. I felt my body relax, as if I had been holding my breath and could finally breathe. A missing piece of the puzzle, that thing I had been longing for, without even knowing it, had been found. Here, I was at home. Here, I belonged.

If Sebene Selassie, the author of this morning’s reading, were here, I think she would tell me, tell all of us, that this experience of mine wasn’t really about finding a place I belonged, so much as it was about experiencing a feeling of belonging. Because I already belonged. I belong. And so do you. Selassie would say, and has said, that the key to belonging comes from within. We all already belong to everything – to ourselves, to each other, to the cosmos. That the feeling of not belonging comes from a “delusion of separation” – a false belief that we are separate. That if we don’t feel like we belong, we can learn to feel it, because belonging is wired within us. Feelings of belonging come from within.

Let’s sit with that for a moment. Everyone of you, whether you are here in person, or watching online, or watching on television, belongs. You already belong. Whether you feel it or not, and I hope you can, you belong.

Selassie, among other things, is a meditation teacher and a student of Buddhism. She explains it this way: There is a paradox in Buddhism called the Doctrine of Two Truths

“the absolute or ultimate truth of interconnection and the relative or conventional truth of difference. The absolute and the relative seem to contradict each other … but they describe only one reality. Belonging flourishes within this paradox: everything is connected, yet everything is experienced as separate.”

Within our own Unitarian Universalist tradition, we know this as “the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part”. We are interconnected. Interdependent. We cannot separate ourselves from the web of existence, from all of life here on earth, or from the cosmos itself.

Let me say more about this interdependent web of all existence and where it comes from. As a member congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Association of congregations, we have covenanted to affirm and promote several Principles. These are found within Article II of our UUA’s bylaws and, because of their importance, are printed many other places, including in the front of our gray hymnals.

The interdependent web is the 7th Principle. All Unitarian Universalists, all UU congregations, have covenanted to affirm and promote the interdependent web of all existence. This is not a belief statement, but an action statement. Though it may be helpful to understand that many of us have incorporated the Principles into our personal belief systems.

Now, bear with me for a moment, because here comes the part where we need to catch everybody up all together. As we are a non-creedal faith, we rely on covenant and because we are a living tradition, we require of ourselves to review our covenant and, therefore, our Principles, every so many years. We are currently in one of those review periods and so we are living, for a year, with a new format, based on shared values, which will then come up for a final vote in the General Assembly in June of 2024.

These are our (proposed) shared values. Love is at the center, along with a flaming chalice. The remaining six values are pictured in a circle around the chalice. Starting at 12:00, there is:

Interdependence, in a swirl of orange;
Equity, in a swirl of red;
Transformation, in a swirl of purple;
Pluralism, in a swirl of blue;
Generosity, in a swirl of teal.
Justice, in a swirl of yellow;

(The image and discussion of the proposed change can be found HERE.)

If you listen or read carefully, you will find the familiar language of all of our Principles reincorporated into these shared values. The proposed language, which goes with the value of Interdependence, is this:

“Interdependence. We honor the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. With humility and reverence, we covenant to protect Earth and all beings from exploitation, creating and nurturing sustainable relationships of repair, mutuality, and justice.”

We are interconnected, interdependent with all of existence. We cannot remove ourselves from it, therefore, we belong. By the very nature of our existence, we belong. We belong to the interdependent web, we belong to the earth, the rocks, the trees, the oceans, the mountains, the creeks and rivers, the forests, the deserts, the animals, the birds, the volcanos, the lands where we have never been. The parts we like and the parts we don’t. We belong to all of it. And we belong to each other. Whether we want to belong or not, whether we try to belong or not. We belong because we are. Whether we see it, or hear it, or feel it, or sense it, or experience it, or not – we belong because we are.

(Story about cafeteria table in seminary)

My friend belonged, but did not experience feelings of belonging, did not experience feeling welcomed at the table. No matter our intentions of radical welcome, no matter our efforts at radical welcome, no matter whether we were the cool kids or not. My friend perceived us as separate, as disconnected. Sometimes, the best laid plans simply go awry. And that’s okay. We learn something from it and then we try again.

Welcoming is the Soul Matters theme for this month for some of the small groups (chalice circles). So, I’ve been thinking a lot about welcoming and belonging, how they are similar and how they are different and where they overlap. To my mind, belonging is something that just is, whether we want it or not, and whether we can feel it or not. This is new thinking for me, to which I greatly credit Sebene Selassie after reading and reflecting deeply upon her work and how it converges with my own life and experiences.

Welcoming, on the other hand, is about actions we can take. We can practice welcoming. We can even practice Radical Welcoming. And these practices can, potentially, increase feelings of belonging in those we are welcoming. Here, this congregation practices welcoming in a lot of ways: there is a welcome table, there are name tags, cough drops, and Kleenex, there are gender neutral single stall bathrooms, there is a membership coordinator, there are classes about membership, there is a group that helps people connect to the various church ministry teams, there is a BIPOC group, there is an LGBTQ group, there are classes on antiracism and trans inclusion, and so, so much more.

I see welcoming, or radical welcoming, as actions we can choose to take, and which highlight the strands of the interdependent web of all existence. It is easy to fool ourselves into thinking that we are separate, disconnected, or don’t belong. It is easy to get busy with our lives and not notice the connections. the strands of the web, which are there all the time. Welcoming practices help ourselves and each other to see, or hear, or sense, or otherwise experience the strands of connection inherent in our interdependent web. It’s kind of like in one of those action movies where someone is trying to break into a high security area crisscrossed by invisible lasers. The would-be intruder, who is also often the heroic figure, pulls out a can of something, sprays it all around, and the laser beams suddenly become visible. I like to imagine engaging in welcoming practices as something like spraying that can. We can make the strands of the interdependent web, which connects all of us, and to which we all belong, visible by spraying that can. Just like spraying a room to find all the hidden laser beams, we welcome people to highlight the strands of belonging.

While speaking of belonging, and of welcoming, I want to highlight another important aspect of our living tradition. We are not a faith where anything goes, where you can believe anything you want, or do anything you want. Our beliefs and actions are all meant to be oriented toward the good, for the building of a better world, for the creation of beloved community. While people of all identities, or combination of identities, marginalized or privileged, are welcome here, not all behaviors are. This is why covenanting is so critical to our faith.

When we are at our best, we have good, strong, healthy boundaries. In this congregation, that means being a people of goodwill. And, by the way, the Healthy Relations Team is currently working on some proposed changes to the church covenant to make it more inclusive. If you’d like to participate in this process, go see them at their table at social hour.

All people of goodwill – Whoever you are, wherever you come from, wherever you find yourself on your life’s journey, whichever your pronouns, whether you’ve walked in or rolled in or dialed in, whomever you love, you are welcome here. You belong here.

May it be so evermore. Amen and Blessed Be.

Benediction

All know, that you are welcome here.
Know that you belong.
Know this deep down in the center of your soul:
Each and everyone of you belongs,
All the time, everywhere, to everyone, to everything. May the interdependent web shimmer and shine, hum and thrum,
for all your days and for all of your nights.

Amen, Amen, and Blessed Be.

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

The Promises We Make

September 20, 2023 by tom Posted in Audio available, Chris Jimmerson, Sermons

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Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson
September 17, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

As a religion without creed, without a set of beliefs to which we must all adhere, our UU spirituality is rooted in relationship. We create religious community though sacred promises we make with one another about how we will be together in the ways of love. We will examine the ancient tradition of covenant making and how we practice it today 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

UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST PRINCIPLES

We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote:

The inherent worth and dignity of every person;

Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;

Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;

A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;

The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;

The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;

Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

FIRST UU CHURCH OF AUSTIN COVENANT OF HEALTHY RELATIONS

As a religious community, we promise:

To Welcome and Serve

By being intentionally hospitable to all people of good will

By being present with one another through life’s transitions

By encouraging the spiritual growth of people of all ages

To Nurture and Protect

By communicating with one another directly in a spirit of compassion and good will

By speaking when silence would inhibit progress

By disagreeing from a place of curiosity and respect

By interrupting hurtful interactions when we witness them

By expressing our appreciation to each other

To Sustain and Build

By affirming our gratitude with generous gifts of time, talent and money for our beloved community

By honoring our commitments to ourselves and one another for the sake of our own integrity and that of our congregation

By forgiving ourselves and others when we fall short of expectations, showing good humor and the optimism required for moving forward

Thus do we covenant with one another.

Sermon

In May of 2009, same sex marriage was only legal in a hand full of states in the US.

My now spouse Wayne and I had already been together for 18 years. We were already spouses in all but the legal sense.

Still, we really wanted to make that commitment to one another. We wanted to speak our promises to one another about making a life together. We’ve been together 32 years now, so I guess that’s going to happen.

But, we wanted to make it legal, even if that had to be in some place other than this, our home state of Texas.

At that time, gay marriage was only legal in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa. Iowa?

We decided it would be more fun to get married in Vancouver, Canada instead, where it would also be legal.

We boarded a plane, flew to Denver International Airport, where we then board our connecting flight to Vancouver. A short time later, our plane caught on fire. Just a little electrical fire with smoke coming out of the passenger air vents.

After an emergency landing in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where our plane was larger than the terminal, they put us on buses back to Denver, where we would board a new plane to Vancouver very early the next morning, this time minus the onboard smoke and burning smell we hoped.

Now, this was early on a Saturday morning, and our wedding in Vancouver was scheduled for Sunday afternoon.

BUT, to make it legal, we had to fill out a wedding certificate application, which for some reason in Canada at the time you could only do at this drug store chain which closed for the weekend at noon on Saturday. So, we were in a bit of a hurry when our flight finally arrived at the Vancouver airport.

We rushed to customs, only to find ourselves in line behind a large group of heavy set men and women with grey hair, the men with full beards, many of them wearing Harley tee-shirts and one with a shirt that asked, “Have you been naughty or nice?”

They were there to attend a convention for people who play Santa Claus and were in no hurry to move through customs.

We finally made it through, rushed to pick up our luggage and the rental car and screeched our way to the closest drug store we could find. For some reason, the marriage application process was located in the photo department, where we finally arrived at 11 :45 a.m.

The man behind the counter was an elderly immigrant and did not speak English very well, and he was lovely determined to get us legal. He even made another store employee help him get it done. We signed the certificate at 11 :59 a.m.

That would become only the first time we both cried on our trip to Vancouver to get married.

The next day we were married in a beautiful old Victorian home just across from Vancouver Bay by a wonderful woman, who had to have been a Unitarian Universalist, whether she consciously knew it or not.

It was a glorious, sunny cool spring day. Flowers were in bloom everywhere.

Since we had been together 18 years at that point, so we had thought this would be simple – fly into Vancouver, say our vows, spend an afternoon in the mountains outside the city afterwards, and then fly back home all legally wed.

So we were stunned when we got to the part where we would say our vows to one another, and we both got so choked up that neither of us could speak.

Fortunately, our wedding officiant had been dog sitting a full-size Schnauzer named Marley, who she thought she had locked away in another room.

Just at that moment, Marley broke free and came bounding into the wedding, a squeaky toy between his jaws, which he was loudly engagIng.

She apologized profusely, but we urged her to let him stay. OK, we practically begged for Marley to stay. He did.

He sat right between us, our little “best guy”, periodically punctuating our promises to one another with a squeak. That helped us make it through the rest of the ceremony with great humor and joy.

I am still wearing the ring from when we bought each other wedding rings in those mountains outside of Vancouver.

This morning, we are exploring the concept of covenant, sacred promises we make with one another about how we will dwell together in right relationship – in the ways of love.

Covenant making is an ancient tradition within the Abrahamic religions, and, in fact, a concept of sacred promise making is present within most world religions.

So even in a modern, more secular world, this long history of promise making may help explain why covenanting can hold such a powerful place within our psyches.

Like when Wayne and I got so emotional over making our wedding vows to one another. After all, marriage vows are covenants.

Apparently, these sacred vows or so vital to me and Wayne that we have gotten married again twice since that fateful trip to Vancouver.

Once at the Travis County Clerk’s office after the Supreme Court legalized it across the country and again here at this church when we renewed our vows for our 25th anniversary.

Hey, at least if Wayne and I are going to keep getting married over and over again, we’re doing it with each other!

And covenant is a vital part of our Unitarian Universalist tradition also.

We are a religion without a prescribed set of beliefs, so relationship that call us all toward collective liberation through a set of loving promises we make with one another and our world is what binds together our varied theological perspectives.

We can share loving promises even if we do not always share the exact same beliefs.

If you are new to Unitarian Universalism and/or this church, our call to worship earlier was a set of principles that our UU congregations covenant to affirm and promote together.

The covenant that we all read together is the current version of the promises that participants in this religious community make to one another.

So, this ancient tradition of covenant is what instills it so deeply within our collective unconscious and makes the idea of promise making so holy to us.

And yet, I also think that tradition may contain warnings for us about how we construct our covenants and live them out.

For instance, the Hebrew scriptures are filled with covenants made between God and God’s people.

One of them is a covenant God makes with Noah, after deciding the people of the world had been very wicked and therefore the only choice was to flood the entire planet, drowning all life except for those that Noah had brought aboard a huge floating ark.

After the flood though, God sends a giant rainbow as a symbol of God’s promise never to flood the entire planet again, though God does go on to do a lot of other terrible things to humans.

All of which raises the question: is covenant possible when one side is all powerful and a tad bit temperamental?

This may be best illustrated by the story of Job, a pious and goodfearing man. God makes a bet with one of the angels that Job will remain faithful no matter what happens to him. So, they send many plagues upon Job, killing his entire family and destroying everything he has.

Eventually, Job accuses God of a serious breach of covenant, to which God essentially replies, “Yeah, well, I’m God, so too bad.”

Now God does eventually restore Job to his prior status, and I am having a bit of fun with an overly literal interpretation of these biblical stories, but still, there is a warning here for us about approaching covenant making within relationships of unequal power.

So, for instance, when white culture is dominant, we must be exceedingly careful that our covenants do not just enshrine the mores of that white culture.

In the Movie, History of the World Part 1, Mel Brooks retells the biblical story of when Moses went up to the mountain top and heard the voice of God.

God burned onto stone tablets commandments that the Israelites were to obey as their part of their covenant with God. In Mel Brooks telling, Moses comes down from the mountain top with three such stone tablets of five commandments each.

“My people”, Moses declares, “Hear me. The Lord has given unto you these 15 …” At which point he drops one of the tablets and it shatters into pieces. “Ten. Ten commandments for all to obey.”

Now, that is a humorous take on it, yet I think it also contains a kernel of truth about our promises we make with one another. They must be sacred. They cannot be frivolous to us. They cannot be just words on paper – or stone tablets.

And, again, they are more likely to seem that way if dictated by one person or group to another.

Our promises must be mutually held and encompass that which is most vital to us for living out love together.

They must inspire us to hold ourselves to these promises, and when we inevitably fall short of them because we are human, provide us guideposts for how to come back into covenant, get back into right relationship – like in our Pinkalicious story earlier.

I’ll close with one more story.

When my grandmother was in the last days of her life, she went to my mom’s house after she left the hospital for the last time. My grandmother had end stage congestive heart failure and had decided to go on hospice care. They could only come by my mom’s house periodically though, so the vast majority of caring for grandma fell to my mom.

And that became more and more difficult as my grandmother grew closer and closer to death. She became unable to dress herself, bathe herself or go to the restroom alone.

If you have ever been with someone who is in the final stages of life, they can sometimes seem to be existing between this reality and some other.

My grandmother began speaking the language of her childhood Czech – even though she had not spoken it for many years before that.

She became disoriented and confused and begin crying out of what seemed like frustration. She would sometimes show up in my mom’s living room only partially dressed. She at times became non-responsive and would not eat.

Not knowing how difficult things had become, I called my mom one day during this time just to check on them. As soon as she answered, I could tell things were not good. I asked her how she was. She told me all of the things that were going on with trying to care. After a long silence, she told me that she had been lying on her bed cryIng for my grandmother.

She didn’t know how to keep going. She didn’t know how to keep doing it. I hesitated and then asked, “Do you have to be the one to do it?” After another silence she said, “I promised her I would take care of her.”

My beloveds, that’s a powerful promise made out of the deepest sense of love. Taking care of each other is profoundly bound up within the very heart and soul of our covenants. And so we had to find a way for my mom to both fulfill that promise and reimagine it in a way that was humanly possible. She got help. She came to realize that she did not have to take care of my grandmother alone.

We moved my grandmother back into her own home, where she was immediately more comfortable and less confused. We hired people to stay with her overnight so that my mother could go home to her own house sometimes.

I truly believe reimagining and renewing that promise both saved my mom and brought my grandmother much greater peace during her final days.

And we renew our religious covenants like this too. They are living promises.

We learn. We change. We evolve. And so too then must our covenants.

That covenant among our churches is currently undergoing a review, which our faith does periodically to make sure we are still living into love in the best ways we know how.

Our healthy relations team here at the church is reviewing the church covenant, based upon feedback they have received from some of you and at least in part to address some of the potential issues discussed today. We want you to participate.

It is your covenant and has helped this church remain healthy through so many challenging times.

Tomas Medina from the healthy relations team will be at a table in Howson Hall after the service today.

Please feel free to visit with him and discuss how to keep this set of promises we share alive – how together we can continue to bring the ways of love into full and magnificent being.

Our great Unitarian Universalist Theologian, James Luther Adams wrote, “Human beings, individually and collectively, become human by making commitment, by making promise. The human being as such … is the promise-making, promise- keeping, promise-breaking, promise renewing creature.”

And so our religious vocation as Unitarian Universalists becomes continually renewing the promise of unity and universal love.

What a glorious promise we keep. Amen.

Benediction

Now, as we go out into our world;

May the mission that we share inspire your thoughts and light your way,

May the covenant that binds us together dwell in your heart and nourish your days,
May the spirit of this beloved community go with you until next we are gathered again.

SERMON INDEX

PODCASTS

Covenantal Beginnings

September 12, 2023 by tom Posted in Audio available, Chris Jimmerson, Michelle LaGrave, Sermons

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Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson
and Rev. Michelle LaGrave
September 10, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

New ministry, new church year, new programming, new members – with so many new beginnings it is time to call ourselves into covenant with each other and with the community as a whole. Rev. Michelle and Rev. Chris will explore with each other and with all of us their perspectives on the covenantal foundations of shared ministry.

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

LIFTING OUR VOICES #108

Do more than simply keep the promises made in your vow.
Do something more: keep promising.
As time passes, keep promising new things,
deeper things, vaster things, yet unimagined things.
Promises that will be needed to fill the expanses of time and of love.
Keep promising.

– David Blanchard

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

LIFTING OUR VOICES #112

Our church exists to proclaim the gospel
that each human being is infinitely precious,
that the meaning of our lives lies hidden in our interactions with each other.

We wish to be a church
where we encounter each other with wonder, appreciation, and expectation,
where we call out of each other strengths, wisdom, and compassion
that we never knew we had.

– Beverly and David Bumbaugh

Sermon

Text of this sermon is not yet available.

SERMON INDEX

PODCASTS

2023 Water Communion Service

September 12, 2023 by tom Posted in Audio available, Chris Jimmerson, Sermons

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Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson
September 3, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

We come together to begin our new church year with the Annual Water Communion Ritual. We share with one another water that symbolizes something meaningful to us as we blend and mingle the waters that remind us of our shared faith.

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

“You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the ocean in a drop”.

– Rumi

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

THE NEGRO SPEAKS OF RIVERS
by Langston Hughes

I’ve known rivers:

I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I’ve known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

Sermon

Text of this sermon is not yet available.

SERMON INDEX

PODCASTS

Getting to know you

August 30, 2023 by tom Posted in Audio available, Michelle LaGrave, Sermons

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Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Michelle LaGrave
August 27, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

Rev. Michelle LaGrave will share her theology of interim ministry, some of her hopes for this coming year, and a little bit about herself too.

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 GATHER HERE TO WORSHIP
By Gary Kowalski

We gather here to worship:
to seek the truth, to grow in love, to join in service;
to celebrate life’s beauty and find healing for its pain;
to honor our kinship with each other and with the earth;
to create a more compassionate world,
beginning with ourselves;
to wonder at the mystery that gave us birth;
to find courage for the journey’s end;
and to listen for the wisdom that guides us
in the quietness of this moment.

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

READING # 120 FROM “LIFTING OUR VOICES”
By Erika Hewitt

READER 1: I don’t have anything to say.

READER 2: Well, I do – but it might not be interesting to anyone.

READER 1: I have secrets inside of me, and struggles, and I don’t know if I’m ready to share them.

READER 2: I want to hear what you have to say.

READER 1: I want to speak of the deepest things together.

READER 2: I want to hear what you dream about, what you hope for.

READER 1: I want to know how you have come to arrive at this resting point along your journey.

READER 2: What if I speak and you don’t understand me?

READER 1: I will listen, and listen again, until my hearing becomes understanding.

READER 2: What if can’t find the words to share the world inside of me?

READER 1: I believe that wise words will emerge from you.

READER 2: How can I trust you to hold my life’s stories? You, who I may not even know?

Reader 2: How will this work? What will happen? What awaits us?

Reader 1: We can find out anything by beginning.

Sermon

“Let us begin to listen, and trust, and to know one another more deeply.” (from the reading)

Let us begin to listen, to know one another more deeply, and to trust. Let us begin by sharing our stories. Mine begins like this …

I was born under a cross. This might seem like an odd beginning for a Unitarian Universalist minister, but it is true, both literally and figuratively. Not only was there a lighted cross on the hospital itself, there was a giant lighted cross that sat upon the top of a hill and loomed over the city, beneath which, on the side of the hill, in large white letters, were the words “Holy Land”.

I was born a liberal Protestant into a world dominated by Catholicism, a world that, upon later reflection, seemed to be re-living the Protestant Reformation. As a Congregationalist, I was part of a numerical minority and experienced my small world as such. I was taught everything we believed in contrast to what Catholics believed. We kept things simple. Crosses instead of crucifixes. No idols. That was a big one. Not a single painting or drawing or image of Jesus anywhere. Which was fine, when I was in my home church, but quickly became a moral dilemma every time I was in a Catholic Church, and there were many times – for weddings or funerals or Girl Scout events or while sleeping over a friend’s house. The problem was I didn’t know where to rest my eyes there were statues everywhere, so I mostly wound up looking at the floor. It was safe there. I didn’t want to get in trouble with G_d for accidentally committing idolatry.

I was, in some ways, a serious child, at least when it came to my faith. While I didn’t always love Sunday School, I did love being in church. I loved the joyful entrance songs and the long processional of robed choir members and ministers. Sometimes I daydreamed about what it might like to be a minister, though I thought it wouldn’t be a good match for me – too much writing, which I didn’t like, plus people were always telling me I was shy.

Well, as you can see, I eventually did become a minister, a transformational process which began when I was in my 30s. I sat down at the dining room table one day and began to read an inspirational article about Ghandi. In it, they talked about how someone had once asked Ghandi if he had a mission or a motto in life. His answer was: “My life is my message.” In less than an instant, I knew that I needed to become a minister. By then, I was a Unitarian Universalist. I knew that I wanted my life to be my message and in order for that to be true, I needed to become a UU minister. This was a deeply spiritual experience.

One I didn’t completely trust at first. So, I went through a process of logically confirming that becoming a minister would be a good match for me. I found out it was. I had received my call.

Years later, and early in my ministry, I candidated for a position as a settled minister in a church. It turned out to be one of life’s most heartbreaking, and best, experiences. The vote to call did not pass, and when people talked about it with me afterwards, they explained that the discussion was all about my identities, that I was queer, and disabled, and had a service dog, and was married to a person who was transgender, and was … large. My heart broke. These people, my people, had broken faith with me, with all of us. That these discussions had happened, so openly and explicitly, was exactly what we UUs were not supposed to be. I was shocked.

And I, rather quickly, become determined. I had already done one transitional ministry, so I turned right around and applied for another. My mission became clear. I would travel around the country, teaching congregations, through my presence, that it was okay to have a minister like me. My initial call was affirmed. My life would continue to be my message.

And so, here I am, your Interim Co-Lead Minister. Over my time as a minister, I have served congregations in Texas, Nebraska, Illinois, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. I know, that’s a lot of moving around! Some of it has been hard, much of it has been rewarding. I have met many wonderful people along the way and done some good, I think.

On the micro level, my mission is to support congregations in becoming stronger and healthier.

On the macro level, my mission is to build a better world.

We will begin, or continue, as you have already done some interim ministry, with a practice of self-reflection. My role is to, symbolically, hold up a mirror, reflecting what I see, so that you might better see yourselves, who you are as a congregation, how you function, so that, together, we might discern some patterns in who you are now as a congregation and how you have been. This is all done so that you might thoughtfully and intentionally choose which patterns you would like to continue and which patterns you are ready to let go. I will support and guide you through this process, and I won’t let you fall off any cliffs I see coming. But I want to be clear, and I want you to be clear, that this is your congregation. It is not your ministers’ congregation. It is not Rev. Meg’s congregation, though she will remain your honored emerita. It is your congregation. Who you are and how you are in this world, is up to you.

You are a strong, vital, healthy, growing congregation and you have much to be proud of. That will not change. And, this interim time can be a rich and rewarding time in the life of your congregation, a time when you become even stronger, even healthier, even more vital. The way this happens is by engaging in the hard work of cultural change, maybe even, of transformation. I will be here to guide you and support you on the way through, even as it is your congregation and your work.

Why do I do this work, this ministry? Why should you do this work? This is the crux of the issue, isn’t it? Underlying all of this cultural change work, underlying all of this potential transformation, is the work of antiracism and antioppression, or, if you prefer newer language, the work of belonging and inclusion. As our congregations work, as this congregation works, to dismantle oppression, to widen the circle of concern, to become even more inclusive, to build on feelings of belonging, we, you, are building a better world, we, you are creating beloved community. This is our, yours and mine, thea/ological work. This is the way we move our thea/ology from our minds, our intellect, from our hearts, our compassion, into action.

May it be so. Amen and Blessed Be.

Benediction

Go now in Peace, with Love in your hearts, kindness on your lips, and compassion at your fingertips, blessing all others as you yourselves are now blessed. Our worship has ended, now our service begins.

Please join me in saying: Amen and Blessed Be.

SERMON INDEX

PODCASTS

Question Box Service 2023

August 30, 2023 by tom Posted in Audio available, Chris Jimmerson, Michelle LaGrave, Sermons

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Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Michelle LaGrave
and Rev. Chris Jimmerson
August 20, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

Rev. Michelle and Rev. Chris will answer your submitted questions about the church, life, the universe, and everything else (time permitting.)

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

Understand that the task is to shift the demand from the right answer to search for the right question.

– Peter Block

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day.

– Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

Sermon

Text of this sermon is not yet available.

SERMON INDEX

PODCASTS

Post-Pandemic Ponderings

August 30, 2023 by tom Posted in Audio available, Chris Jimmerson, Sermons

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Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson
August 13, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

The pandemic and the necessary isolation that accompanied it changed us and our world in ways we are still trying to understand. As we move through this time, when we hope that Covid may be becoming endemic, it is important that we appreciate all that we have experienced together, as we assess how we approach life, the life of our church, and what we hope to manifest in this new world in which we find 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

The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.

– Alfred North Whitehead

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

THE BODY IS NOT AN APOLOGY
Sonya Renee Taylor

The body is not an apology.
Let it not be forget-me-not fixed to mattress when night threatens
to leave the room empty as the belly of a crow.
The body is not an apology. Do not present it as a disassembled rifle
when he has yet to prove himself more than common intruder.
The body is not an apology. Let it not be common as oil, ash or toilet.
Let it not be small as gravel, stain or teeth.
Let it not be mountain when it is sand.
Let it not be ocean when it is grass.
Let it not be shaken, flattened or razed in contrition.
The body is not an apology. Do not give the body as confession,
communion. Do not ask for it to be pardoned as criminal.
The body is not a crime, is not a gun.
The body is not a spill to be contained. It is not
a lost set of keys or wrong number dialled. It is not
the orange burst of blood to shame white dresses.
The body is not an apology. It is not the unintended granules
of bone beneath will. The body is not kill.
It is not unkempt car.
It is not a forgotten appointment.
Do not speak it vulgar.
The body is not soiled, it is not filth to be forgiven.
The body is not an apology. It is not a father’s backhand,
is not mother’s dinner late again, wrecked jaw, howl.
It is not the drunken sorcery of contorting steel round tree.

The body is not calamity.
The body is not a math test.
The body is not a wrong answer.
The body is not a failed class.
You are not failing.
The body is not a cavity, is not hole to be filled, to be yanked out.
It is not a broken thing to be mended, be tossed.
The body is not prison, is not sentence to be served.
It is not pavement, is not prayer.
The body is not an apology.
Do not give the body as gift. Only receive it as such.
The body is not to be prayed for, is to be prayed to.
So, for the evermore tortile tenth grade nose,
Hallelujah.
For the shower song throat that crackles like a grandfather’s Victrola, Hallelujah.
For the spine that never healed, for the lambent heart that didn’t either, Hallelujah.
For the sloping pulp of back, hip, belly,
Hosanna.
For the errant hairs that rove the face like a pack of Acheronian wolves.

Hosanna,
for the parts we have endeavored to excise.
Blessed be
the cancer, the palsy, the womb that opens like a trap door.
Praise the body in its blackjack magic, even in this.
For the razor wire mouth.
For the sweet god ribbon within it.
Praise.
For the mistake that never was.
Praise.
For the bend, twist, fall, and rise again,
fall and rise again. For the raising like an obstinate Christ.
For the salvation of a body that bends like a baptismal bowl.
For those who will worship at the lip of this sanctuary.
Praise the body, for the body is not an apology.
The body is deity. The body is God. The body is God:
the only righteous love that never need repent.

Sermon

Text of this sermon is not yet available.

SERMON INDEX

PODCASTS

Faithful and Proud

August 10, 2023 by tom 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
E. Ciszek and Christina Raymond
Art Carter and Tom Shindell
Evan Mahony and Bis Thornton
August 6, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

As this year’s LGBTQI+ Pride week begins in Austin, we will continue our annual tradition of inviting members of our church community to share their experiences with the intersectionality of identity and faith.

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

JESUS AT THE GAY BAR
by Jay Hulme

He’s here in the midst of it —
right at the centre of the dance floor,
robes hitched up to His knees
to make it easy to spin.
At some point in the evening
a boy will touch the hem of His robe
and beg to be healed, beg to be
anything other than this;
and He will reach His arms out,
sweat-damp, and weary from dance.
He’ll cup the boy’s face in His hand
and say,
my beautiful child
there is nothing in this heart of yours
that ever needs to be healed.

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

RUMINATIONS ON THE DEATH OF PAT ROBERTSON
by KC

I don’t like to think
About Pat Robertson going to hell.
That lets him off too easy.
I like to think about Pat Robertson finding himself
In a heaven he never believed
Would exist.
Where Divine is reading in drag
To the children murdered at
Sandy Hook and Ulvalde.
While Edie Windsor
And Gertrude Stein drink coffee
In the breakfast nook
talking politics with Harvey Milk.
Where Matthew Shepard relaxes by
A stream, reading poetry to
A nameless young man whose family
Never claimed his body
when he died Of AIDS.
Where the music plays loudly
Welcoming dancers from the Pulse
And Club Q to the floor where they
Twirl and vogue with
All the murdered trans women of color
Whose names we never knew.
Where Jesus puts his arm around
Pat Robertson’s shoulders and
Drapes them with a rainbow feather boa.
And, gesturing around him says
Come, meet my disciples.

Sermon

Text of this sermon is not yet available.

The speakers are:

E. Ciszek and Christina Raymond
Art Carter and Tom Shindell
Evan Mahony and Bis Thornton

SERMON INDEX

PODCASTS

Blessings for the next chapter

August 2, 2023 by tom Posted in Audio available, Erin Walter, Sermons

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Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Erin Walter
July 30, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

In her last service as our interim Minister for Joy and Justice, Rev. Erin Walter will reflect on the congregation’s learning and spiritual growth in the past year, and offer blessings for the church’s future. Rev. Jonalu Johnstone will also join the service by video.

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 ARRIVE TOGETHER HERE
By Andrew Pakula

We arrive together here
Travellers on life’s journey
Seekers of meaning, of love, of healing, of justice, of truth
The journey is long, and joy and woe accompany us at every step
None is born that does not die
None feels pleasure that does not also feel pain.
The tear has not yet dried on the cheek but the lips curve sweetly in a smile
Numerous are our origins, our paths, and our destinations
And yet, happily, our ways have joined together here today
Spirit of life. Source of love.
May our joining be a blessing
May it bring comfort to those who are in pain
May it bring hope to those who despair
May it bring peace to those who tremble in fear
May it bring wisdom and guidance for our journeys
And though this joining may be for just a moment in time
The moment is all we can ever be certain of
May we embrace this and every instant of our lives.

Affirming Our Mission

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

Sermon

Text of this sermon is not yet available.

SERMON INDEX

PODCASTS

Nurturing Spiritual Wholeness

August 2, 2023 by tom Posted in Audio available, Chris Jimmerson, Sermons

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Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson
July 23, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

Did you know that the church offers several small group ministries where people gather in groups of around 10 to share deeply, explore personal and collective spiritual growth, and develop sustaining, nurturing practices? Join us to hear from fellow congregants who have helped lead such groups and, in doing so, discovered new spiritual horizons that already existed within themselves.

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

From HIDDEN WHOLENESS
Parker Palmer

Philosophers haggle about what to call this core of our humanity, but I am no stickler for precision. Thomas Merton called it true self. Buddhists call it original nature or big self. Quakers call it the inner teacher or the inner light. Jews call it a spark of the devine. Humanists call it identity and integrity. In popular parlance, people often call it soul.

What we name it matters little to me, but that we name it matters a great deal….

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

From HIDDEN WHOLENESS
Parker Palmer

No fixing, no saving, no advising, no setting each other straight. The rule is simple…

Sermon

Text of this sermon is not yet available.

SERMON INDEX

PODCASTS

Lessons from Chalice Camp

August 2, 2023 by tom Posted in Audio available, Chris Jimmerson, Sermons

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Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson, Kelly Stokes, and First UU Chalice Campers
July 16, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

This week we hosted Chalice Camp, a full-day summer camp for UU kids from all around the Austin area. During worship this Sunday, they’ll be sharing some of the songs, stories, and UU history that they learned this week. We’ll also hear a Bridging Homily from a graduating senior about how their faith has informed their understanding. Join us for this youthful – and very joyful – worship.

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

GENERATION TO GENERATION
by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

In a house which becomes a home,
one hands down and another takes up
the heritage of mind and heart,
laughter and tears, musings and deeds.
Love, like a carefully loaded ship,
crosses the gulf between the generations.
Therefore, we do not neglect the ceremonies
of our passage: when we wed, when we die,
and when we are blessed with a child;
When we depart and when we return;
When we plant and when we harvest.
Let us bring up our children. It is not
the place of some official to hand to them
their heritage.
If others impart to our children our knowledge
and ideals, they will lose all of us that is
wordless and full of wonder.
Let us build memories in our children,
lest they drag out joyless lives,
lest they allow treasures to be lost because
they have not been given the keys.
We live, not by things, but by the meanings
of things. It is needful to transmit the passwords
from generation to generation.

Affirming Our Mission

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

Sermon

Text of this sermon is not yet available.

SERMON INDEX

PODCASTS

Joy and Justice, Amen

July 5, 2023 by tom 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

PODCASTS

Toward our Metamorphosis into Who Knows What

June 28, 2023 by tom 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

PODCASTS

Diving into Delight

June 20, 2023 by tom 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

PODCASTS

I Am What I Am: Reflections on Radical Welcome

June 16, 2023 by tom 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

PODCASTS