Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Florence Caplow and Rev. Chris Jimmerson
July 14, 2024
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

How do we take care of ourselves in tough times, whether those tough times are personal or societal? How do we continue to show up for what we believe in when it is so easy to lose heart? In this service, our guest speaker Rev. Florence Caplow will share stories and practices from the Buddhist tradition for resilience and renewal in tough times.

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

When the The Vietnamese refugee boats met with storms or pirates if everyone panicked, all would be lost. But if even one person on the boat remained calm and centered, it was enough. It showed the way for everyone to survive. I am inviting you to go deeper, to learn and to practice so that you become someone who has a great capacity for being solid, calm, and without fear. Because our society needs people like you who have these qualities. And your children, our children, need people like you in order to go on, in order to become solid and calm and without fear.

– Thich Nhat Hanh

Sermon

(NOTE: This is an ai generated transcript. Please forgive any errors.)

Almost all of the people I know, It seems, are talking about this particular moment in our history and whether its challenges are unprecedented or not. On hiking trails and cafes, on a phone with each other, we are talking about this. Maybe you are too. Maybe you’re feeling dread or fear or confusion. How could this be happening? I know that you in Texas have weathered literally just this week both extraordinary heat and an unprecedented hurricane that caused massive power outages in your state that are continuing. And then there is the looming hurricane in our country, this upcoming election with all its uncertainties and even terrors. I personally am of the view that both climate change and what is happening politically, not just here, but around the world is indeed unprecedented.

For quite a while now, my own personal spiritual vow is to help in whatever way I can when the storms that seem to be on the way break over our heads.

How, how do we live in this time, engaged, brave, and like the person in the boat that Thich Nhat Hanh wrote about, tall enough somehow to help everyone around us survive. This is not about turning away or turning inward, but about each of us building our own capacity, both for societal challenges and for the challenges in our own lives, in our own communities, our own personal hurricanes.

Today, I’d like to offer some possible ways, simple ways, as both a UU minister and a Buddhist teacher. And although these ways are informed by my Buddhist training, you do not have to be any kind of Buddhist to engage in them.

Many centuries ago, a Zen student in China asked their teacher, “What is the fundamental teaching?”

And the teacher replied, “An appropriate response.”

What is the appropriate response right now in these strange and scary times? Well, I can’t tell you. It’s really for you to find out. But I don’t think it is turning away or tuning out with the latest Netflix series, although that can be a helpful break, nor do I think it is drowning in fear or anger. I think at times like these spiritual practices are essential so that we can engage.

Now, I don’t really believe in giving advice, because honestly, who actually follows advice. But I’m going to break my own rule this morning and offer a little advice. Five spiritual practices for tough times. As you listen, see which one where maybe several of them really speaks to you. Even one of them could make a difference. Or consider what is already a spiritual practice for you, perhaps one you hadn’t even thought of as a spiritual practice.

The five spiritual practices I’d like to share this morning, very simple practices, are: pausing, appreciating, not knowing, staying together, and feeling your feet, with a little bonus practice at the end.

So first, and I think most importantly, find a way, or ways, to pause, to slow down, to rest, to feed your spirit. Many of us, maybe all of us, are moving so fast and so frantically, either in an attempt to survive economically or to address the wrongs around us, that spiritual practices become an afterthought or luxury. And the more we panic, speaking for myself, the more it may seem like we simply don’t have the time for spiritual practices.

Please don’t think of them as an afterthought. Think of them whatever they are or could be for you as a foundation, as essential in these times as drinking enough water. Maybe some of you feel like you’re running a And in a marathon, although honestly, I have never participated in a marathon, but this is what I hear you need to be sure to get enough water and pace yourself. Same with mountaineering, which I have done. Rest breaks are absolutely essential. When you get up into the high elevations for mountaineering, you actually have to rest with every step.

And I’m more than half convinced that there are people out there who are trying to get us to never rest, never stop surfing of the net so that we won’t stop and think what is happening. Sometimes those of us who are Activists feel that we can’t rest, that the problems are so dire, we need to be doing whatever we can 24 /7. For you, us in that category, or anyone who overworks, I want to offer these provocative words by the late Trappist monk and writer, Thomas Merton.

There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist (that’s us) most easily sickens activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence. It kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.”

Or as the Black activist and founder of NAP Ministry, Trisha Hershey writes,

“Consider rest a radical act. Walk in the woods, cuddle with your loved one, or a dog, or a cat. Drink a cup of tea, Go to church on Sunday, go on retreat. Take a moment to breathe with awareness, just right now. Take in an in-breath, in an out-breath. And know that you are not turning away from the troubles of the world. You are strengthening yourself for the journey and the struggle.”

It’s said that Gandhi used to meditate for an hour a day but one day there was a big political action coming up and his followers said today is so busy that we won’t be meditating, right? Gandhi said today is so busy we will be meditating for two hours.

Maybe you’re saying to yourself I can’t meditate. That’s just not my thing and certainly not for two hours. I am here to tell you that there is such a thing as homeopathic meditation. Even a moment of presence goes a very long way. Even a breath can be a moment of Sabbath and pause. It doesn’t take any special equipment. You always have it with you. It’s always available, even one breath.

So my first piece of advice to summarize, find a way, find ways to slow down and be present, whatever you call it. I promise you that your adrenal glands will thank you if no one else does. and probably others will thank you as well.

Advice number two, Appreciating. The harder and uglier things get, the more important this simple practice becomes. Yes, you have a right to some happiness, even when things are falling apart. The intentional practice of gratitude, of gratefulness, of appreciation, has been shown scientifically to increase baseline happiness, reduce pain and depression, lower stress, and improve sleep.

Think about it, if we had a drug that did that with no side effects, it would be a runaway bestseller. And there are a thousand ways to practice this, or as Rumi said, to kneel and kiss the ground. But like most practices, it does not have to be elaborate. Two of the easiest practices are Sabering and Awe.

Sabering is to fully experience small pleasures and comforts like your morning coffee with tea or how it feels to get into bed after a long day to really notice and experience those things. And awe is our response to something vast or amazing, something seen, heard, or experienced. Awe can also arise from witnessing human kindness or greatness or courage.

I am currently visiting a little town in the Roaring Fork Valley of western Colorado where I served as a minister a number of years ago, and all around me are mountain landscapes that easily evoke awe. And last night, I went to a performance at the Aspen Music Festival. And I heard a British cellist, Stephen Isserlis, play a long, long, long lost Haydn concerto for cello. As soon as he started to play, The grace of his playing, his ease brought me into intense presence, and his very obvious bliss and joy in the music as he played was contagious. I experienced bliss too and awe.

But appreciation doesn’t need to be so special. One of my favorite quotes is from the Reverend Howard Thurman, the founder of the first intentionally interracial church in America, the church for the fellowship of all peoples in San Francisco. And this is from his Thanksgiving prayer, which starts with these words.

Today, I make my sacrament of Thanksgiving. I begin with the simple things of my days, fresh air to breathe, cool water to drink, the taste, the food, the protection of houses and clothes, the comforts of home. For all these, I make an act of Thanksgiving this day.

Advice number three, and this may seem strange to a bunch of UUs, but is it the heart of Zen and very helpful in hard times? Practice not knowing. What do I mean by that? Well, most of the time, we are so sure we know, and it certainly seems like a lot of people online or on the news programs know something as well. But our thoughts and their thoughts about the world and where it’s going can literally, literally drive us crazy, but they are just thoughts. And when we realize this, we can act with greater peace.

Thich Nhat Hanh used to tell his students to ask themselves always, “Am I sure, for instance, perhaps like you, I am sometimes filled with dread about our collective future?”

But the reality is, I don’t know the future. And no one does, not even the wisest pundit writing in the most prestigious publication, apologies to any pundits in the sanctuary. I can ask myself, am I sure, and then still act for what I believe in without being certain of the outcome? Give it to try. Practice.

And this really comes from my UU tradition. Remember to stay together. Remember that you are not alone. What brought me to UU ministry was witnessing and being a beneficiary of the tremendous care and love even for strangers that can be expressed in a UU congregation. What actually brought me to UU ministry was stumbling into a congregation in Flagstaff, Arizona, sad and unwell and being embraced almost before they knew my name.

Come to think of it, I experienced awe when that happened too. There is so much power and encouragement that comes from showing up for each other, Acting for the world standing in a picket line or marching for justice not alone, but together This is one of the many reasons that I think Progressive faith communities will matter all the more in the coming years Despite what the pundits say. We need each other. We can’t do this alone.

I want to share a poem that has been important to me since my teen years, written by the great Zen beat poet Gary Snyder in 1959.

FOR THE CHILDREN

the rising hills, the slopes,
the statistics
lie before us,
the steep climb
of everything going up
up, as we all
go down.

In the next century,
or the one beyond that,
they say
our valleys, pastures,
we can meet there in peace
if we make it.

To climb these coming crests,
one word to you,
to you and your children.

Stay together.
Learn the flowers. Go light.

Stay together. Learn the flowers. Go light.

Number five, the simplest of all. Pay attention to your feet. Pay attention to them right now. See how they are beneath you in contact with the floor connected to the earth. We spend so much time up in our heads. Meanwhile, our humble feet are supporting us all the time. To feel your feet is to feel your foundation, to quite literally ground yourself. Whether you’re standing in a grocery line, having an argument with your partner, or facing a line of oncoming police in a direct action, feeling your feet will bring you into your body, and in contact with the earth, which is always there, always supporting you, and which receives us all in the end.

And on a lighter note, a little bonus advice. I promised you a bonus, from the great satirist Kurt Vonnegut. His last words of advice, who knows if anyone listened, to an audience in 2007. “And how should we behave during this apocalypse? We should be unusually kind to one another, certainly. But we should also stop being so serious. Jokes help a lot. And get a dog if you don’t already have one.”

So if one of these spiritual practices spoke to you, I invite you to bring it more fully into your life.

And just to review, here are some simple spiritual practices for these tough times.

• Pause
• Appreciate
• Practice not knowing
• Stay together
• Feel your feet
• And don’t forget to laugh now and again.

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

You are not alone. You have generations of ancestors at your back. You have the blessings of interdependence and community. You have the great trees of the forest and steadfast allies. You have the turning of the seasons and the renewal of life as your music. You have the vast sky of emptiness to hold all things graciously. Now it is time to step forward, bringing your equanimity and courage, wisdom and compassion to the world,

– Janet Cornfield

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 24 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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Kristina Spaude
July 7, 2024
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

Together we will reflect on our interdependence as we grow in community through the lens of time and imagination. Rev. Kristina Spaude currently serves as the contract minister for the UU Church of Tarpon Springs, FL. Her six-word story of faith is, “We’re here to build Love’s house,” and she is passionate about making the way for more justice in this world.

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

GO TO THE LIMITS OF YOUR LONGING
– Ranier Maria Rilke
(translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy)

God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.

These are the words we dimly hear:

You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.

Flare up like a flame
and make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don’t let yourself lose me.

Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.

Give me your hand.

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

“A HOUSE CALLED TOMORROW”
by Alberto Rios

You are not fifteen, or twelve, or seventeen
You are a hundred wild centuries
And fifteen, bringing with you
In every breath and in every step
Everyone who has come before you,
All the yous that you have been,
The mothers of your mother,
The fathers of your father.

If someone in your family tree was trouble,
A hundred were not:
The bad do not win – not finally,
No matter how loud they are.

We simply would not be here
If that were so.
You are made, fundamentally, from the good.
With this knowledge, you never march alone.
You are the breaking news of the century.
You are the good who has come forward
Through it all, even if so many days
Feel otherwise.

But think:
When you as a child learned to speak,
It’s not that you didn’t know words –
It’s that, from the centuries, you knew so many,
And it’s hard to choose the words that will be your own.
From those centuries we human beings bring with us
The simple solutions and songs,
The river bridges and star charts and song harmonies
All in service to a simple idea:
That we can make a house called tomorrow.

What we bring, finally, into the new day, every day,
Is ourselves.
And that’s all we need
To start.
That’s everything we require to keep going.
Look back only for as long as you must,
Then go forward into the history you will make.

Be good, then better.
Write books.
Cure disease.
Make us proud.
Make yourself proud.
And those who came before you?
When you hear thunder,
Hear it as their applause.

Sermon

Last year during the Festival of Homiletics, a week long celebration of preaching and presentations by progressive and libratory Christian preachers and scholars, I was struck by one particular story. So we are getting biblical this morning. One of the preachers mentioned Lot’s wife and shared that she is the most referenced woman from the scriptures in poetry, I think it was.

Lot’s wife has been sitting with me for months patiently waiting for her turn to teach us. Of course, it is Lot’s wife who is unnamed in the scriptures, but who in the Midrash, the wisdom of rabbis that supplements the Torah, is named as Edith. She is the one who breaks God’s instruction not to look back as she is fleeing from her home, which is being spectacularly destroyed, fleeing with her husband and their children who would leave, and for this she instantly becomes a pillar of salt.

Now, that story begins with God expressing that there has been such an outcry from people that they cannot ignore that the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah had fallen into sinfulness, with the greatest sin, perhaps, being breaking the commandment to welcome the stranger, to love our neighbors, to be hospitable.

To assess the situation there, God sends two emissaries to the city, two of the same who had just visited Abraham and Sarah, who despite their ages are promised their own child. Abraham, just informed that he would be the father of nations despite being ancient, is told by God that Sodom is sinful, so they are preparing to make their way to Sodom, where one of Abraham’s nephews, Lot, lives.

Abraham pleads with God, “What if there are 50 good people. What if there are only 45? Maybe there are only 40. What if there are only 30, 30 good people in the city? What if there are only 20? What if there are only 10. What if there are only 10 good people? And God says he will not destroy the city if 10 are good.

They arrive and Lot who has been at the gate welcomes them into his home. Initially the angels decline but Lot urges them to stay with him. They eat well, and as night falls, the home is surrounded by the men of the town, demanding that the two be sent out. Lot begs them to behave and offers his daughters instead, and the crowd gets angrier. They only stop banging at the door when the angels strike them blind, and they can no longer find it.

This story is often misconstrued as one condemning homosexuality, but it is not about that at all. It is about the inhospitality of the residents who have wealth and food in abundance. And somehow this has made them cruel instead of generous. It has become the practice of the men of the city to violently assault their visitors, which is why people cried out to God for help. And so God decides that the city must be destroyed.

Lot and his family are given little time to collect their things and make their way out before God unleashes their destruction, sulfur and fire, which leads to explosions and more. God warns them not to look back or there will be consequences. But Lot’s wife cannot help herself, it seems.

So this raises a few questions. I’ve been spending some time with Krista Tippett and her philosophy of asking good questions. And so we begin with what other reason could there be that she would look back knowing that it would be her end. It is natural for us to look back as we leave. We remember in those moments what was, has been, the promises we once felt held by. We think about the community that we had or dreamed of having, our roots, the places we loved, and for Lot’s wife, that perhaps her children also loved.

It is deeply human to recognize that places become homes, that our relationships with places and people are what shape and make our lives. Maybe she was looking back to see if her daughters who had chosen to stay with their husbands had changed their minds. How do you not look back and remember your hopes, the people who loved you into yourself, the memory of firsts and lasts and everything in between?

As I left Pennsylvania to take my position in Tarpon Springs, I looked back as we drove across the Susquehanna River for the last time, wanting to have my last memory of the place not to be one of pain, but of beauty.

Perhaps Lot’s wife was looking back to help her accept that this city was worthy of such destruction. Given how natural of an instinct turning back would be, It seems cruel to believe that God would want to punish anyone already facing such a terrible situation.

So this is the second question. Why would God make such an instruction? In general, the God of the Hebrew Bible isn’t the warmer and fuzzier God we get to know once Jesus enters the picture. But God is also not unreasonable or punishing for the sake of being punishing. So what would inspire them to make this instruction?

Given the context of the rest of the scriptures, my interpretation is because sometimes we humans have a tendency to hold on too tightly to the past, even at the expense of our present and future. We continue to act in the ways we have acted, even when doing so keeps us locked in cycles of creating harm to ourselves. God’s attempt at going scorched earth in these cities of licentiousness is to try to create a blank slate to give the people a chance to begin again, to build something new and one would expect or at least hope better.

In order to do that, not only does Lot’s family, the ones who are to survive, that they need to be far away, they need to be moving in the direction of forward with their hearts and minds as well as with their bodies. Turning back slows us down and risks us getting stuck, whether physically or emotionally. As if looking back might cause us to freeze. As if turning Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt was just an affirmation of her own unwillingness or unpreparedness to make space for the future or even the present.

The third question is why salt? Why does she turn into a pillar of salt? The Midrash says that Lot’s wife went to other homes in Sodom asking for salt so that she could share that she had guests for the evening. This is not part of the scriptures though, and the text itself does not offer any insight into the question. What we do know is that salt is a component of tears. Being turned into a pillar of salt may be a way to convey tears of loss. Salt is also highly soluble in water that is when wet salt will melt away. And land that is saturated with salt cannot grow anything. Salt is a cleanser, a purifying agent, a sanctifier.

Perhaps being made a pillar of salt which will not last as a monument to the past for long and will become a stain upon the earth as a patch where nothing will grow is what God is trying to warn against, that if there can be no good or healthy growth, there will be no growth at all. Without a future, the past will also be lost because there is no one left to carry it.

Or to quote from Paul Razor in a 2010 UU World article, “Nearly a Century ago, the Reverend Louis B. Fisher, the Dean of the Universalist Seminary at St. Lawrence University, described Universalists are often asked to tell where they stand. The only true answer is that we do not stand at all. We move.” Razor continues, “Yet there are times when the opposite is true. When the realities are so daunting that we freeze up playing out Dean Fisher’s aphorism in reverse, we do not move, we stand. And more, when we decide to go it alone, to look backward more than we are willing to move forward, we lose ourselves. We wander into a wilderness of our own making and without companions, surrounded by what seeks to separate us from one another.

Lot’s wife is a warning to us that where we travel, we must go together if we are to have any hope. To reference another scriptural story, the one about Moses leading the people from Egypt. Too often we focus on the 40 years wandering the desert. And with good reason, we understand that hardship. But in doing so, we overlook the effort that it takes to leave Egypt at all. Some people protest. The journey will be hard. And is being a slave really so bad when you know how the system works?

They clung to their horrendous conditions because they were familiar. The past can feel like a warm comforter on a cold day. Cause sometimes we humans have a tendency to hold on too tightly to the past, even at the expense of our present and future. We continue to act in ways that we have acted, even when doing so keeps us locked in cycles of creating harm to ourselves.

Communities, including congregations that are not moving or resting actively are dying, resting from the lens of doing appropriate care, of catching our breath, of meditating to bring us calm or to help us dream. Of taking the time to ask the hard questions, these are all active resting. Refusing to engage in these practices like refusing to do the work to move forward is an indication of unease of this, we become like Lot’s wife, frozen in time.

The thing is that generosity is not just about money, or your time, talent, and treasures we so often say. It’s about all of that and more, about the ways that we are open to curiosity, hospitality, care. The ways we think about not just this moment, but about this moment in the context of what has been and what will yet be, yet to be possible based on what we do today.

Generosity is temporal this way, it extends from before all the way to beyond. It’s also a conversation that we have, both with the past and the future to give direction to the present. It’s a conversation we have with all that is possible now. Perhaps we are like children who created Roxaboxen, whose imaginations inspire them to create homes and neighborhoods out of boxes, stones, glass, cactus, and other odds and ends. The present offers different possibilities to us just as the future does if we let it.

Generosity is about reaching beyond ourselves into the future, doing just a little bit more than is necessary to make other things possible. We need to be generous in holding space for dreaming, for others dreams that we alone cannot imagine, but that will save us nonetheless. We need to look forward at least as much as we are looking back. Are we reaching forward for the generosity the future is trying to extend to us?

How do we hold space in this moment to honor the past, to name what it has given us, and to allow the future to also be possible? A healthy past wants us to let go and grow forward. When Lot’s wife looked back, she was holding herself back from being able to hold space for other possibilities in that moment.

When I left Pennsylvania, I was already making space in my heart and mind for Florida for a couple of months. My looking back was a last goodbye, an act of closure. Our minds sometimes imagine us living in the future or our hearts and minds may try to convince us that we live in the past. We know how that turned out though.We can only ever live in this moment in the present.

Our own imaginations as we age may become less inspired, less curious, less interesting. Imagination is something that we have to practice. And congregations have to practice this together. And every time someone comes or goes, we have to rework the possibilities we have been imagining to make space for everyone, to practice a generosity of spirit.

And we can if we choose to do so. Choose to make a little more space. Choose to be a little bit more flexible. Choose to dream a little bigger. Choose to lean in a little more. May we choose to do the next right thing, the next caring thing, the next thing worth doing for the tomorrow we hope to build.

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

From THE GIFT OF FAITH
Jeanne Harrison Nieuwejaar

In the lore of ancient China, there is a story of a philosopher who was asked, “Where is the road called Hope?”
He replied, “It does not exist, but as people move upon it, it comes into being.”

I invite you to continue moving forward on this path, this journey called hope, together in Unitarian Universalism with me.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 24 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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Addae Ama Kraba
June 16, 2024
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

Whatever way we choose to become indebted economically, thereby chaining ourselves to a workforce that we hate out of necessity is a personal choice of imprisonment. However, true freedom is a natural right that every human being is born with.

Chalice Lighting

At times our own light goes out and is redindled by a spark of another person. Each of us has couse to think with great gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.

Call to Worship

ETERNAL MYSTERY
Carol Meyer

May we open ourselves ever more fully to that Eternal Mystery which lures us onward toward life and creativity.

May we find the courage to live our faith, to speak our truth, and to strive together for a world where freedom abounds and justice truly does roll down like water.

May we know the fullness of love without fear, and the serenity of peace without turmoil. May we hold one another in the deep and tender places with compassion, and may we grace one another by sharing our own vulnerabilities, being ever mindful of the divinity within that makes soulmates of us all.

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

THESE WORDS

These words are dedicated to those who survived,
Because they refused to give up and defied statistics.
Because they had faith and trusted in the holy,
Because the expected the worst and were always prepared,
Because they were angry,
Because they could act,
Because they endured humiliation,
Because they turned the other cheek,
Because they looked the other way.

These words are dedicated to those who survived,
Because life is a struggle and they struggled.
Because life is an awakening and they were alert.
Because life is a flowering and they blossomed.
Because life is a gift and they were free to accept it.

These words are dedicated to those who survived.

Sermon

Text of this sermon is not yet available.

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

As you go out into the world
in the face of hate,
in the face of exclusion,
in the face of homophobia,
let us answer the call to love.

In the face of racism,
in the face of misogyny,
in the face of bigotry,
we answer the call of open-mindedness.
we answer the call of hope.

As Unitarian Universalists,
now more than ever,
we answer the call to love.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 24 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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

First UU’s High School Youth Group
May 26, 2024
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

This Sunday, our High School Youth Group will take us on a journey of coming of age in the twenty-first century. The youth will share music and readings that have resonated with them this year, along with very real and sometimes challenging stories and reflections on mental health, being a teen, and being a UU.

Chalice Lighting

ELEVEN
Sandra Cisneros

“What they don’t understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you’re eleven, you’re also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one. And when you wake up on your eleventh birthday, you expect to feel eleven, but you don’t. You open your eyes, and everything’s just like yesterday, only it’s today. And you don’t feel eleven at all. You feel like you’re still ten. And you are – underneath the year that makes you eleven.

Like some days, you might say something stupid, and that’s the part of you that’s still ten. Or maybe some days you might need to sit on your mama’s lap because you’re scared, and that’s the part of you that’s five. And maybe one day when you’re all grown up maybe you will need to cry like if you’re three, and that’s okay. That’s what I tell Mama when she’s sad and needs to cry. Maybe she’s feeling three.

Because the way you grow old is kind of like an onion or like the rings inside a tree trunk or like my little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other, each year inside the next one…”

Call to Worship

What connects us all is bagels and coffee and talking in Howson Hall after service.

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

BELONGING
Toko-pa Turner

For the rebels and the misfits, the black sheep and the outsiders. For the refugees, the orphans, the scapegoats, and the weirdos. For the uprooted, the abandoned, the shunned and invisible ones.

May you recognize with increasing vividness that you know what you know.

May you give up your allegiances to self-doubt, meekness, and hesitation.

May you be willing to be unlikeable, and in the process be utterly loved.

May you be impervious to the wrongful projections of others, and may you deliver your disagreements with precision and grace.

May you see, with the consummate clarity of nature moving through you, that your voice is not only necessary, but desperately needed to sing us out of this muddle.

May you feel shored up, supported, entwined, and reassured as you offer yourself and your gifts to the world.

May you know for certain that even as you stand by yourself, you are not alone.

Sermon

Homily 1: Pheonix Holley-Hurt

Homily 2: Adlai Parry

Homily 3: E.B. Parry

Homily 4: Isaac Braman-Ray

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

THE COMPETITION
Kimya Dawson

I got good at feeling bad and that’s why I’m still here.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 24 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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Nancy Mohn Barnard
April 28, 2024
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

Lately, bad news is omnipresent: climate change, polarized politics, and inequity abound. But Unitarian Universalism offers a message of good news; we just need the courage to share it.

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 BELOVED AND YOU ARE WELCOME HERE
Joan Javier-Duval

Voice 1: You are beloved and you are welcome here

Voice 2: Whether tears have fallen from your eyes this past week or gleeful laughter has spilled out of your smiling mouth

Voice 1: You are beloved and you are welcome here

Voice 2: Whether you are feeling brave or broken-hearted; defiant or defeated; fearsome or fearful

Voice 1: You are beloved and you are welcome here

Voice 2: Whether you have untold stories buried deep inside or stories that have been forced beyond the edges of comfort

Voice 1: You are beloved and you are welcome here

Voice 2: Whether you have made promises, broken promises, or are renewing your promises,

Voice 1: You are beloved and you are welcome here

Voice 2: Whatever is on your heart However it is with your soul in this moment

Voice 1: You are beloved and you are welcome here

Voice 2: In this space of welcome and acceptance, commitment and re-commitment, of covenant and connection,

Let us worship together.

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

I WANT TO BE WITH PEOPLE LIKE YOU
Dana Worsnop

Often people say that they love coming to a place with so many like-minded people.

I know just what they are getting at — and I know that they aren’t getting it quite right.

I don’t want to be with a bunch of people who think just like me.

I want to be in a beloved community where I don’t have to think like everyone else to be loved, to be eligible for salvation.

I want to be with people who value compassion, justice, love and truth, though they have different thoughts and opinions about all sorts of things.

I want to be with independent-minded people of good heart.

I want to be with people who have many names and no name at all for God.

I want to be with people who see me in me goodness and dignity, who also see my failings and foibles, and who still love me.

I want to be with people who feel their inter-connection with all existence and let it guide their footfalls upon the earth.

I want to be with people who see life as a paradox and don’t always rush to resolve it.

I want to be with people who are willing to walk the tight rope that is life and who will hold my hand as I walk mine.

I want to be with people who let church call them into a different way of being in the world.

I want to be with people who support, encourage and even challenge each other to higher and more ethical living.

I want to be with people who inspire one another to follow the call of the spirit.

I want to be with people who covenant to be honest, engaged and kind, who strive to keep their promises and hold me to the promises I make.

I want to be with people who give of themselves, who share their hearts and minds and gifts.

I want to be with people who know that human community is often warm and generous, sometimes challenging and almost always a grand adventure.

In short, I want to be with people like you.

Sermon

When you hear the word evangelism, what comes to mind? For many of us the word evangelism can have negative connotations, bringing to mind religious trauma from our pasts, in which we were maybe proselytized to or pressured into being saved. Indeed, nowadays the word evangelism has come to be associated with a particular sect of Christianity and not the actual dictionary definition, which means to spread the “good news” of the gospel. Evangelism no longer represents good news, but rather, has become a negative word with which we want nothing to do.

As Unitarian Universalists, our tradition has become a haven for those who have experienced trauma from evangelism. And yet, today I’m going to make an argument for reclaiming the word evangelism, specifically for the Unitarian Universalist tradition. Though many of you may cringe — I’d like to argue that evangelism is needed in the Unitarian Universalist church. Now, I realize that the thought of an evangelical Unitarian Universalist tradition may be triggering. Indeed, for many years, anything that even hinted at evangelism triggered me. But over time, as I have recovered from my past, the negative connotation of evangelism has slowly lessened.

Evangelism first became a loaded and negative word for me back in 1992, when I first moved to Georgetown, Texas. At the age of sixteen, in the middle of my sophomore year of high school, my parents uprooted my northern California family to relocate there. The culture shock was real. Whereas back home religion was something that people kept to themselves, at school, the “What’s your name?” question was inevitably followed up with “where do you go to church?”

Even the public school had undercurrents of Christianity. For example, one day the administration called a general assembly, and we all filed into the gym, prepared for the usual pep rallies, student recognitions and school announcements. The gym, however, had been transformed into what looked like a prototype of the modern CrossFit gym. Gymnastic mats lined the gym floor; one foot stacks of plywood were dispersed throughout the set; and a variety of weights, ropes and other props filled in the remaining spaces. This assembly was obviously no ordinary school function.

The principal excitedly announced that today we had special visitors. And as he gave introductions, ten, huge, Hulk-Hogan looking men entered the gymnasium and took up positions around the floor mats. They then proceeded to put on an electrifying show that involved karate chopping through stacks of plywood along with other feats of strength. At the end of the show, the students cheered with wild abandon, and the men invited us to another show that evening-a show that promised even more amazing strength stunts.

My friend and I decided that we would absolutely attend that evening’s show. After all, what else was going on that night in our small town? Hours later we pulled up to a church on the outskirts of town, which struck us as an odd venue for a muscle show. However, it could easily be explained by the lack of suitable venues in the area. We entered, took our seats and soon, the same muscle men were entering the auditorium, flexing and showing off their muscles, but this time, Christian rock and not heavy metal blasted through the speakers.

Things only continued getting weird. The muscle men led the audience in an opening prayer. What then followed was almost two hours fined with one testimony after the next. Each of the men got a chance to tell their stories. Stories about losing one’s path, finding Jesus, and God gifting them with supernatural strength; the latter of which allowed them to put on shows, travel around the United States and testify. As audience members, we were there to witness the abilities with which the Lord had endowed these men. The primary message was that the Lord provides-and even rewards-those who are faithful and willing to proselytize in his name.

Now, I’m not fond of bait and switch situations, and although 1 wanted to see them perform more feats of strength, I couldn’t handle the evangelism that was the show}s focus. I was also annoyed by the knowledge that the school knew what this group represented, and yet, never warned the student body that the evening’s show would have a Christian focus. My friend and I decided that we were done and headed to the exits to leave. As we stepped outside the auditorium, a huge guy — who looked like a bouncer — stopped us. He began to grill us on why we were leaving, and we tried to explain that we had seen the show earlier that day. Soon the conversation changed tones, as the man began to question us about our beliefs in Jesus and the power of God. My friend and I eyed the exit door with longing, calculating whether or not we could make it to the parking lot and lose this guy who was doing his best to keep us there. But we were intimidated by this man who towered over us. And finally, we decided to give up and hopelessly slunk back into the auditorium.

When the show was finally over, I was fuming — I resented that we had been pressured to stay; I was annoyed that the man had intimidated us, and moreover, that he had intentionally done so. Instead of making me feel fired up about Jesus and God, I began to suspect that Christianity was a scam full of con artists that used scare tactics to elicit belief. Indeed, this experience had the opposite effect of what it had intended-instead of celebrating the gifts that faith can bring, it made me want to run as far away from Christianity as fast as possible.

Unfortunately, this incident was one of several evangelizing experiences that I had encountered in the first few months I spent in Georgetown. All of the experiences felt like someone was pushing views onto me — rigid views that did not invite discussion. Moreover, in several of these encounters, I was told that I was going to hell, despite the fact that — at that time –I was a Christian. Indeed, these experiences had the after effect of me leaving the Christian church for good. It took me years to recover from some of these experiences.

Fast forward to last year when I had to take a mission and evangelism class at my Presbyterian seminary. I dreaded taking the class, for despite the many years since my traumatic experiences, the word evangelism still elicited a negative reaction. However, the class surprised me. Instead of encouraging us to evangelize and find ourselves some Christian converts, it instead examined evangelism from an academic, colonialist perspective. When we were expected to read a book on evangelism and present our findings to the class, I was excited when my professor allowed me and two of my fellow Unitarian Universalists to form a group and research evangelism in our own faith tradition. The book we chose was entitled Seeking Paradise: A Unitarian Mission for Our Times, and it was written by Stephen Lingwood who is a British Unitarian.

The book focuses on Unitarian evangelism and missionaries in Britain. For example, it talks about Richard Wright, who spread the message of Universalism long before the merging of the Unitarian and Universalist churches in 1961; and Joseph Tuckerman who created a mission in London and worked on behalf of the poor. My favorite example, however, of Unitarian evangelism was Charles Dall, a Unitarian missionary who went to India to seek converts. Dall, however, ended up being the convert when he decided to join a liberal Hindu reformist movement. I find this anecdote to be particularly amusing, as Dall’s conversion is such a Unitarian Universalist move-his openness to the Hindu faith exemplifies our fourth principle, which is the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. In his attempt to spread the values of the faith, he remained open to truth and meaning and found it in Hinduism. This is all to say that the Unitarian Universalist church does have a history of evangelism, though as we have furthered ourselves from our Christian roots, we have also stopped evangelizing efforts. But today, my friends, I’d like to argue that it’s time to restart our evangelizing efforts, for in 2024, the Unitarian Universalist church has a heretofore unseen opportunity for growth.

According to the Pew Research Center, an increasing number of Americans are leaving Christianity and instead identifying as “Nones” (spelled n-o-n-e-s and not n-u-n-s). The term “nones” refers to those with “no particular religious identification,” which includes atheists and agnostics. Indeed, in 2019, the Pew Research Center showed that over the past ten years, Christianity had lost approximately 12% of their population. This Christian attrition can be seen across the northern hemisphere, although Christianity continues to grow south of the equator. Meanwhile, research tells us that 26% of people now identify as “Nones.” And although I have not conducted a formal survey, I can tell you anecdotally from my work in Religious Education both with children and adults that Unitarian Universalist Churches have a significant number of If Nones” in our congregations. Just because people are atheist or unable to identify with a mainline tradition doesn’t mean that spiritual needs do not exist. People long for communities and connections; for a space in which they can unite with others in the name of social justice. The Unitarian Universalist church can fulfill that need.

And yet, few people know about the existence of our unique and welcoming tradition. Even at seminary — where I am surrounded by people who are smart and knowledgeable about faith traditions, many people are unfamiliar with the Unitarian Universalist church. Often people simply refer to us as Unitarians, while being unaware of how important the Universalist name is to our identities. While the word Unitarian reflects our belief in one God, no matter what the name, universalism reflects our belief that everyone is elected; our faith is one of universal love-a message that is much needed in today’s isolating and lonely world. In many ways, my fellow UU students and I have inadvertently found ourselves acting as evangelists on behalf of our faith, as we try to educate others on the meaning and importance of being both a “Unitarian” and a “Universalist.” And I must say that my peers have been nothing but curious and gracious.

But if even seminarians lack a full understanding of Unitarian Universalism, imagine the population at large. Many of my friends know that I’m involved in the Unitarian Universalist church and that I’m in seminary, working towards ordination. But no matter how many times I tell them that I’m not Christian, they inevitably forget; “church” only has one meaning to them, which is Christianity. When I explain what our Unitarian Universalist church is like, they often look at me in disbelief. “What do you mean there are atheists in your church? Why would an atheist go to church?” At this point in the conversation, I often point out that just because people don’t believe in God doesn’t mean that they’re not seeking meaning, truth and knowledge. Moreover, many people are looking for a community in which their questions and beliefs — no matter how unusual — will be welcomed with open arms. The Unitarian Universalist church is the answer that many people are inadvertently seeking, as we welcome all who are welcoming and affirming; all who are willing to enter into covenant as we work towards justice and truth.

Unfortunately, few people know of our existence and what we stand for. But it’s time to correct this problem; it’s time to tell the world of our existence. More and more I’m receiving questions from people who are interested in this faith. I suspect that even with our silence, word is slowly spreading.

Now is the time for the Unitarian Universalist church to come into its own. Our faith tradition is both beautiful and unique. It is a tradition that welcomes a” inquiry; a tradition that acknowledges the validity of all sources and experiences; a tradition that cares about equity for a” humans. Though it pains me to think of myself as an evangelist, I nonetheless can no longer be shy about sharing this faith with others, for the Unitarian Universalist truth is truly the Good News that many people seek.

SO, if you have friends or family who find themselves in need of a spiritual community-particularly one that embraces all those who are welcoming – please tell them about the Unitarian Universalist church. And though I know it may feel distasteful, I encourage you to invite people to our services. Studies show that people are more likely to attend a church service when they are invited by a friend. Or don’t be afraid to wear your Unitarian Universalist shirts whenever you can. Tell people what we are about; tell people that we are affirming and believe that everyone is of the elect; spread the good news that there is a place for everyone within our walls, for we are Unitarian Universalists, and we recognize the inherent worth and dignity of every person as they engage in the free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

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

Go forth in simplicity.
Find and walk the path
that leads to compassion and wisdom,
that leads to happiness, peace and ease.
Welcome the stranger and
open your heart to a world in need of healing.
Be courageous before the forces of hate.
Hold and embody a vision of the common good that
serves the needs of all people.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 24 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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Joanna Fontaine-Crawford
March 24, 2024
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

Across the United States, people are showing up at school board meetings to protest books and knowledge they deem inappropriate, especially concerning education around diversity. Here in Texas, the governor called the legislature back into session in an attempt to divert public school funding to vouchers for private schools. But there is an underlying battle that has been waged since 1848 when Unitarian Horace Mann said, “Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery.” What is the real outcome we are fighting over?

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 MEET TOGETHER
Ann Arthur

We meet together to celebate who we are,
to share the insights which give meaning and hope to our lives,
to learn from the wisdom of others
that their truth may contribute to our understanding.
We meet,
We share,
We learn,
We celebrate our coming together.

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

CAN YOU SAY HERO?
Tom Junod

Mister Rogers had already won his third Daytime Emmy, and now he went onstage to accept Emmy’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and there, in front of all the soap-opera stars and talk-show sinceratrons, in front of all the jutting man-tanned jaws and jutting saltwater bosoms, he made his small bow and said into the microphone, “All of us have special ones who have loved us into being. Would you just take, along with me, ten seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are … Ten seconds of silence.”

And then he lifted his wrist, and looked at the audience, and looked at his watch, and said softly, “I’ll watch the time,” and there was, at first, a small whoop from the crowd, a giddy, strangled hiccup of laughter, as people realized that he wasn’t kidding, that Mister Rogers was not some convenient eunuch but rather a man, an authority figure who actually expected them to do what he asked … and so they did. One second, two seconds, three seconds … and now the jaws clenched, and the bosoms heaved, and the mascara ran, and the tears fell upon the beglittered gathering like rain leaking down a crystal chandelier, and Mister Rogers finally looked up from his watch and said, “May God be with you” to all his vanquished children.

Sermon

Do you believe in publicly funded education that is common to all? My dad was born in 1929 at the start of the Great Depression, and he grew up in East Texas in a small town called Center (because it was the center of the county, not real poetic, but there you go).

He came from a family that did not have money, but he loved school and he worked hard in school. After High School, he went to Texas A&M, which at that time was a military school and it was known as the school where all the poor kids went. And by kids, I mean white males. Texas A&M would not let in female or black students until the 1960s. So my dad was able to graduate with a degree in petroleum engineering. After that, he paid his debt to Uncle Sam, serving in the Army; this was during the Korean War, and eventually, he was able to provide a middle-class lifestyle for his family in a way that his father had never been able to-and this is what we call social mobility, and it was made possible because of that education system.

Now the system that benefited my father was working the way it was designed to. It was designed for smart, hardworking white boys.

But then in 1954, the Supreme Court had the Brown versus the Board of Education decision, and things changed. Now there was at least the possibility that this public education system that led to social mobility was now accessible to those who were not white and male. And ever since that time, there has been a concerted organized movement to damage that public education system because there are people who do not believe that it should be, in fact, common to all. If you feel like in the last few years that this movement has gone into overdrive, it is not your imagination. It absolutely has. But this is not something new – this has been a long time coming from the people who got our society to this point. They understood (and I will say it was an evil plan) … they understood that it was going to be a marathon, not a sprint, and so they set up different things so that we could be where we are now, which in my mind is a fight for our whole public education system. And for us, as Unitarian Universalists, this is not political. This is hitting at our core religious values, our beliefs about what it means to be a person: inherent worth and dignity, and the idea that every person deserves to be able to try and fulfill their potential. And this also hits at our history.

In 1796, Unitarian Horace Mann was born, and he also grew up in an extremely poor family; his father was a poor farmer, there were many kids, and Horace was never even able to go out and get a complete school year. It was usually only six weeks out of every year that he could go to school, but he made the most of it. He loved to learn; he soaked it all up. They did have in his town a library; he read everything that he could get his hands on. So eventually, he was able to go to Brown University, where he became the valedictorian. After that, he went on to law school, he became a lawyer, and then he became a Massachusetts legislator.

And you know, it’s really interesting, there seemed to be two kinds of people, as the saying goes — those people who had to go through a lot of hardship, had to really struggle to make their way in the world, and some of those people say, “I made it, so can you, you can do it the hard way too.”

And then there are the people like Mann who say, “I don’t want anyone else to ever have to go through what I went through,” and so education to him was one of the big passions of his life. In Massachusetts, while he was a legislator, the governor created a new thing, a state board of education, and he became the Secretary of it, and it was in that role that he was able to take all of these visions he had about creating a system so that everyone could reach their potential, or at least had the opportunity to do so. He created what is called the Common School movement. Now, common doesn’t refer to like commoners, common as in “for everyone.” His vision was that we would have a publicly funded system of education that was common to all. It was a radical idea.

In his vision, all American students would go to these schools, they would sit side by side. He firmly, — he was a Unitarian — he did firmly believe in the equality of all people, and his vision was one where whether you were the child of a wealthy landowner or the child of a family that was in poverty, you would all receive the exact same education. Another thing that Horace Mann really believed in — this was, you know, mid-1800s – he really believed in all of this stuff about the United States of America, and all that it could be, a place where, unlike England, it did not matter, it should not matter the circumstances of your birth. He really believed in it, and he knew that the key to that was education, and he even said,

“Education, then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of people, the balance wheel of the social machinery.”

It is a radical idea now, and it was a radical idea at that time, even many of the people who we look back at the start of this country, people who considered themselves to be the great modern Progressive thinkers. They weren’t there yet. In 1779, Thomas Jefferson also supported the idea of a public education system, but he felt that there should be two tiers to it, one for the laboring class and one for the learned class, he did say that he thought that there should be enough, you know, room in it that it could rake, his exact words, “rake a few geniuses from the rubbish.” Thomas Jefferson, boy, and that’s a sermon for another day.

Do you support publicly funded education that is common to all?

This was and is today a very radical idea, there are many people who do not want it, good publicly funded education common to all leads to social mobility and with that comes a real opportunity for a reallocation of power.

Underneath this idea of public education that is common to all is this idea of social mobility. Do you truly believe in social mobility, the vision of a society where a child is not confined to the circumstances in which they were born? We can look at other countries and we can see where there is no possibility for this kind of social mobility.

My spouse and I sponsored a student from his private school education (just wait just wait for a moment) from about Middle School through college, he was in Nepal. Do we have anyone else here who has sponsored a student from Nepal? Amazing program by the way. Education, even college, over there is more like Community College here and it is private education is way more affordable, I think it was like 5 or $600 a year. The person who runs it, Earle Canfield, is a Unitarian Universalist and he is very clear about the ultimate goal of this program. It is not so much about helping individual students, but rather, the bigger goal – one that is always kept in sight – is to overcome the caste system of Nepal, because this is the only way it can happen. You see, they do have public education, but it is so inferior that if you are in a lower caste, you will never be able to move out of that caste. The only way for you to move into a different caste is through private education.

I believe that this is the real vision for some of the people in our country.

I don’t think we often say things like this when we hear about vouchers and stuff like that. We’ll often talk about how it’s just a way for the wealthy, who are already paying for private education, to have a little more money in their pockets. Then sometimes we’ll go all the way the other way and say, “No, no, the whole goal here is to absolutely kill public education and get rid of it.”

I don’t think so. I think their vision is to have something like Nepal. A public education system that will support the existing caste system in the United States. We all know there is a caste system in the United States, right? To take that existing system and cement it in place.

And this has been a long time coming. You really can’t talk about the war on public education without talking about the Koch brothers. They’ve been part of this for a very, very long time. There was pushback to public education right after Brown versus the Board of Education, and we saw it. There were schools that literally would prefer to close their schools rather than integrate. But ultimately, that was not a long-term solution, and so there were brains that were trying to come up with, “Well, how do we make this happen?”

In 1980, David Koch ran for vice president on the libertarian platform, and that platform said, “We advocate the complete separation of education and state. Government schools lead to the indoctrination of children and interfere with the free choice of individuals. Government ownership, operation, regulation, and subsidy of schools and colleges should be ended.” That was 1980.

Charles and David Koch created a political machine that operates on the strategy of astroturfing. Do we have some people here who are familiar with this term, astroturfing? Well, I’m actually going to use the Merriam-Webster definition because it’s really good:

Astroturfing – “organized activity that is intended to create a false impression of a widespread, spontaneously arising grassroots movement in support of or in opposition to something but that is in reality initiated and controlled by a concealed group or organization, such as a corporation.”

There are so many different names, there are so many- it’s just overwhelming how many different little spontaneous grassroots organizations or think tanks are all either started by or funded by the Koch Brothers. This is just a handful: Americans for Prosperity, Koch Institute, Mercatus Center, The Federalist Society, The Institute for Humane Studies, Institute for Justice, FreedomWorks, Freedom Partners, Concerned Women for America, Young Americans for Liberty, Parents Defending Education, and of course, Moms for Liberty.

Here’s the sad thing: astroturfing often works. It worked just this past week, I think it was, in Lake Travis ISD, because of a complaint, banned another book. It’s happening in Houston now. This is where the system has -because, again, there’s not just one way to try and solve this problem of good public education-the state has taken over Houston ISD.

Here in Austin, y’all have also been fighting that. But astroturfing often works. You take anxiety and fear, and you combine it with bigotry, and it especially works in this fight on public education, because evolution has wired our poor little human brains that when we think of our kids, we often go to the amygdala and anxiety rather than the prefrontal cortex and our best thinking.

So when you combine anxiety and fear with bigotry, then that gets everyone stirred up. And then you have people, and this, again, is an organized concerted effort-they provide terms for those who are on the ground, and they tell them to repeatedly use these terms. It’s a way to bring in bigotry without having to admit that you don’t believe in treating everyone equally.

Used to, some of you will remember in the ’70s, it was busing, right? That was the code for, “Oh, I’m not against integration, I just don’t think that children should be bused to somewhere else or neighborhood schools.” Does anyone remember that one? “Oh, we just want our kids to be able to go to their neighborhood school.” It’s the fact that it was in an all-white neighborhood was just incidental.

More recently, in the last few years, it has been CRT (Critical Race Theory), DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), and most recently, the one that I have heard the most is safety, especially safety for girls. Not safety from shooters or anything that might actually help-safety for girls is the code word for anti-trans rhetoric.

You get people revved up and give them the talking points. You can go find the talking points. None of this is hidden. You can go right now and Google it — There is a school board guide produced by the Tea Party Patriots, funded by FreedomWorks, which came out of Americans for Prosperity, aka the Koch Brothers’ political advocacy group. Forty-six pages on a how-to guide for activists combating anti-American CRT. Thirty-four pages on combating critical race theory in your community. An A-to- Z guide on “how to stop critical race theory and reclaim your local school board.”

I want to read you one line from that one: “It is important to note that whether CRT is currently in your school system is mostly irrelevant to the purpose of this document.”

Do you support public funding education that is common to all?

Now look, we never came anywhere close to realizing Horace Mann’s vision, especially in terms of a common education. I don’t believe that we ever will. People are always going to want a leg up, l(ike Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin) for their kids.

But the vision is more relevant than ever: public-funded education common to all, that equips children to fulfill their potential, to break the prison of generational poverty. It is not only better for them, it is better for our entire society.

In Nepal, the only way that you are able to break out of your caste is through being picked for a program that sends you to a private school. I believe that for some in the United States, that is the vision: a world with clear and rigid class boundaries that disproportionately correlate with race.

Right now, you know this thing that you’re hearing in the news-the difficulty to find unskilled laborers, right? Of course, they’re not unskilled, but if you call them that, you can pay them less. Do you really think that none of the people with the top economic privilege, those billionaires out in West Texas who have been trying to manipulate things around vouchers and around public education-do you not think that they are wondering about the question of how do you come up with an unlimited source of laborers whom you can underpay and oppress?

And this isn’t just a matter for those who have kids or grandkids in school; it’s for all of us. I ask you to support your school boards, find out what area you are in. If you don’t already know, you can go on the internet and read the agenda for school board meetings. Practically all of them are live streaming. Turn it on, see what is happening. When you start seeing hordes that are showing up there, trying to attack good teachers, attack the school board members, get books banned, show up. You don’t even have to talk; it’s great when you do during those citizen comments. But if you see that there are big crowds pouring into that room, trying to damage our public education, take one seat away from them just by sitting in it. And of course, vote at every school-related election as though it were a presidential election.

Do you support publicly funded education that is common to all? Real nice public education system you got here. It would be a real shame if something were to happen to it.

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

“Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.”

– Horace Mann

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 24 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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Carrie Holley-Hurt
March 17, 2024
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

Things feel very bleak right now. There is so much violence, so much political corruption, and so much inequality that it can feel overwhelming. But our religion is not one of despair but hope and that hope is tied to our ability to imagine a more just and compassionate world for everyone. Utopian thinking is our superpower! Let’s explore our superpower and how we can tap into it even when we feel overwhelmed by the world’s pain.

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

HISTORY’S ROAD
by Clyde Grubbs and Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley

The road of history is long, full of both hope and disappointment. In times past, there have been wars and rumors of wars, violence and exploitation, hunger and homelessness, and destruction of this earth, your creation.

We have become a global village, with a growing realization of how fragile this earth is, and how interconnected we are to each other and to all creation.

We cannot continue to live in the old way. We must make a change, seek a new way. A way toward peace with justice and a healthy planet.

O Great Creative Spirit: You have given a vision of the good, and we yearn for a new way. But where are we to find the courage to begin this work? We know that a different tomorrow is possible, but how can we build it?

We think of the prophets, women and men, who voiced unpopular opinions, who made personal sacrifices, and sometimes lost their lives, for the sake of justice.

We think of Isaiah, who called out to let those who are held in captivity go free, to give solace to the poor and homeless. Let us be inspired by all who work to overcome misery, poverty, and exploitation.

We think of Harriet Tubman, who called out to people of good will to join her on an underground railroad, to lift a dehumanized people from the bondage of slavery to the promise of freedom, even when it meant challenging unjust laws. Let us be inspired by those who are outlaws for freedom.

We think of Gandhi, whose belief in “Soul Force” – the witness to Love’s Truth – helped to overthrow the oppression of an empire and gave witness to the way of nonviolent action. Let us be inspired to become witnesses for peace.

We think of Chief Seattle, who reminded us that we belong to the earth, not the earth to us. Let us be inspired by all those who work for the healing of creation, of Mother Earth and all her creatures.

Who are the prophets who inspire you? They may be well known, or known only to you, offering personal inspiration. courage, and hope.

May they join a great cloud of witnesses to a new way of life-the way of peace and justice, the way of justice lived according to the way of peace, the beloved community.

So may it be. Amen.

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 in times of joy. Inscribe them on your doorposts, embroider them on your garments, tattoo them on your shoulders,

teach them to your children, your neighbors, your enemies, recite them in your sleep, here in the cruel shadow of empire:

Another world is possible.

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 backseat 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 [violence] 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

I went a long time sleeping-in on Sundays, not calculating annual pledges, or attending a congregational meeting. And then I became a UU

and all that changed.

And it’s good. I get to be a part of this beautiful community of like-hearted people.

I’m connected to amazing people all over the place doing good work And in this crazy mixed-up social-political landscape we have, I am way more hopeful than I was when I was on my own.

I’m so grateful,

But
But what makes us different than a social club?

I could find meaning and connection at a social club and probably sleep in on Sundays.

I want, and I think we should all expect, more from our religion than what a social club can offer

I believe that we have that

I’m a firm believer that we should allow our religion to do two things for us.

First, it should motivate us to do the important work of love. With beloved community at our core, this looks like working to get ourselves free and helping to remove barriers so others can be free too.

Secondly, our religion should hold us. Through tough and scary times, our religion should hold us. It should comfort us and renew us.

That is what our religion can do for us, but so often I think we can get out of balance. I know I often feel very motivated to act but very rarely allow this beautiful religion to comfort me.

And I need that – that comfort and that renewal – because y’all things are not great and often they are pretty overwhelming.

We have many tools in our religion that help us to feel both motivated and held, but the one I’m connecting to most right now is Utopian thinking.

But first let’s establish what that means and what I don’t mean.

I don’t mean … the utopian thinking that led to 19th-century communes. You know, those ones that pop up on the History Channel from time to time, occasionally led by Unitarians.

The ones that inevitably failed because of some scandal to do with sex or money or sex and money.

Yeah, thats not what I mean.

What I mean is the way of thinking that says “the way it is, isn’t the way it has to be.” And in fact, as Aurora Levins Morales wrote in our reading, “Another world is possible.”

A world that is more just, more compassionate, and more loving.

That world is possible. The way things are, isn’t the way things have to be.

This kind of thinking is at the very core of our religion.

And it makes sense, after all, we are a very contrarian people.

And we have been for our entire history.

Just think about it.

Early Unitarians in the 16th century said in a sea of Trinitarians, often at great risk to themselves, I don’t find that in my text.

Universalists said, I know hell is a really effective marketing tool but how could a loving god ever ….

At a time when the entire economy of the US was fueled by trafficking, imprisonment and forced labor of human beings, unitarian and universalist abolitionists said- it doesn’t have to be this way.

The fight for universal suffrage – it doesn’t have to be this way
Those fighting Jim Crow said – it doesn’t have to be this way.
Those fighting for queer rights- it doesn’t have to be this way

When we speak of the Beloved community, we tap into that core, we are practicing Utopian thinking.

The beloved community –

when no one is starving or being murdered in Gaza,
no one is getting cut up by razor wire at the border,
no trans kid is being murdered.
No boys are having to bear the cost of anti-blackness and ableism,
No one unhoused.
No one abused.
No one neglected.
No one abandoned.

That is Utopian thinking

And it is a beautiful thing that is the core of our religion.

And certainly many would tell us we are absurd or naive

but I would just say to those people ….

Try being a Unitarian Universalist in Texans

It is not naive to believe that how things are is not how it has to be.

Rutger Bregman a Dutch historian said:

“I’ve always believed in the power of utopian thinking. Every milestone of civilization – the end of slavery, (the creation of) democracy, (the attainment of) equal rights – these were all utopian fantasies once until they happened. That’s why I think that history is actually the most subversive discipline of all the social sciences because history shows us that things can be different. They don’t have to be this way. We can change them.”

“We can change them” this is heart of our religion and it does so much for us! 

It allows us a different way of looking at time, at our purpose, and our actions by placing them in the larger scheme of things.

For example. When it comes to the Beloved Community, we know that we are mostly planting seeds for a forest we will never see. But when we do that work of building the beloved community, we are bringing some of that utopia into the here and the now.

When we go down to witness what is happening at the border, When we use our sacred spaces as a sanctuary for asylum seekers

When we make our churches open and loving spaces for people who are targeted for oppression and marginalization.

When we show up to places of power and tell them “another world is possible”

We are bringing that Utopian thinking down into the lives of those being harmed in the here and now.

It is powerful stuff!

And it is core to who we are as people in a liberating faith.

But in order to utilize this beautiful, life-giving aspect of our faith, we have to make it a spiritual practice.

First, we do this by spending time in the community envisioning what is possible.

What would it actually look like if we treated everyone as if they had inherent dignity and worthiness? If we lived, worked, spoke, like everyone and everything is interconnected.

Learning from one another opens us up to the diversity of lived experience and needs, allowing us, in community, to envision a much deeper and richer future. We can envision a reality that expands past our individual needs.

Secondly, we nourish our vision so that we counteract the pervasive messages of the status quo that says “that how things are is just the nature of things.”

Bregman says

“There’s nothing inherent about our current political, economic and social realities; people made these systems and can make them anew. To envision something novel, read more history and less news. “There’s nothing as anti-utopian as the product that we call the news,”

He says that when we allow ourselves to get caught up in the “sensationalistic daily news cycle” it “can constrict your ability to see the world as anything but dangerous, violent and mean.” 

So as we nourish our vision, by being intentional about where we are placing our focus. What are we doing to combat those pervasive messages of sameness?

What art are we interacting with? Are we making?

Art opens us up to possibilities and different way of seeing and experiencing the world.

Are we reading poetry?

Are we letting Amanda Gordan, Mary Oliver, Maya Angelo mirror our humanity while inspiring us to hope.

Are we writing our own poetry.

Our we taking our pain, our hope, our vision for the future and turning it into art on the page?

What music are you allowing to flow into and out of you?

Who are we spending our time with or listening to ?

Nothing will help to pull me out of my Hobbesian notion of human nature being only nasty, brutish, and short faster than a 5-year-old asking me what my third favorite dinosaur is. Or the way high schoolers use their voices to speak up for one another and protest injustice.

Are we doom-scrolling or are we intentionally being awakened to the beauty, joy, and love in the people and creatures all around us?

We will not nurture utopian thinking by living on a constant diet of the status quo. Seeing it as a spiritual practice, means we are intentional and disciplined about what we are focusing our energy on.

And finally, we let Utopian thinking nourish us!

So often I think that we UUs feel as if we are suppose to just do it. Just go fight the good fight.

And while, yes, please do that.

We have to let it do more. We have to let it nourish us.

Because if we are only fighting the good fight without replenishing ourselves we are vulnerable to burnout.

To apathy.

We have to let it nourish us!

Let it nourish us in the ways that it anchors our hope.

Let it nourish us in the way it anchors us to the past, present, and the future.

The whole arc of the moral universe.

In this it will help us to stop seeing every election and every bill as the next apocalypse because we can see the full expanse of the work.

We can see the ways our actions are connected to the larger web that holds us all.

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

And now as we go to leave this place, may you feel the warmth of this beautiful community.

May you feel motivated, supported, and held by this beautiful religion. May you hold yourself and others with love and compassion

Just as you are held.

Let it comfort us, strengthen us, and give us energy for this beautiful work we are called to do and this precious life we are given.

May it remind us that we are a people not of despair but of hope.

May it always be so

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 24 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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Bis Thorton
March 3, 2024
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

What is sacred about transformation? Does the divine change alongside us? What is our relationship to the interconnected web of all existence when we transform? Do we still have ancestors if we change? And do we ever stay the same? Join Bis Thornton in a journey through sacred stories of transformation as we imagine answers to these questions 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

THE PROMISE AND THE PRACTICE: BENEDICTION #2
Rev. Kimberlly Quinn Johnson

Hush:
Somebody’s calling your name-
Can you hear it!
Calling you to a past not quite forgotten,
Calling us to a future not fully imagined!
Hush, hush:
Somebody’s calling our name.
What shall we do!

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

CARRY ME INTO THE DARK
Jess Reynolds

Orion rises in the winter dark: shoulders and knees: a bell, a bow held taut before the charging bull. My father calls each star by its name, draws lines from hunter to quarry to the seven sisters huddled together in the night. I am not afraid of the dark. I do not need an arrow nocked on the archer’s bow to call myself safe here, my eyes untouched by the glare of passing headlights. God must watch Her universe like this: standing on a driveway, wrapped in a soft quilt, old hands in Her pockets. feet tingling with cold and wonder at the stars and the stories and all else the darkness holds.

Sermon

Text of this sermon is not yet available.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 24 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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson and a Host of Invited Clergy
February 17, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

We come together as a church family with clergy and guests to joyfully celebrate Rev Chris Jimmerson’s formal intallation as our setted minister.

WELCOME: Gretchen Riehl

GREETINGS: Natalie Briscoe

CHALICE LIGHTING – Rev. Neil Newton

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: Rev. Kathleen Ellis

READING: Rev Jonalu Johnstone

“THAT WHICH HOLDS ALL”
by Nancy Shaffer

Because she wanted everyone to feel included
in her prayer,
she said right at the beginning
several names for the Holy:
Spirit, she said, Holy One, Mystery, God.

But then thinking these weren’t enough ways of addressing
that which cannot fully be addressed, she added
particularities, saying,
Spirit of Life, Spirit of Love,
Ancient Holy One, Mystery We Will Not Ever Fully Know,
Gracious God, and also Spirit of this Earth,
God of Sarah, Gaia, Thou.

And then, tongue loosened, she fell to naming
superlatives as well: Most Creative One,
Greatest Source, Closest Hope –
even though superlatives for the Sacred seemed to her
probably redundant, but then she couldn’t stop:

One who Made the Stars, she said, although she knew
technically a number of those present didn’t believe
the stars had been made by anyone or thing
but just luckily happened.

One Who Is an Entire Ocean of Compassion,
she said, and no one laughed.
That Which Has Been Present Since Before the Beginning,
she said, and the room was silent.

Then, although she hadn’t imagined it this way,
others began to offer names.

Peace, said one.
One My Mother Knew, said another.
Ancestor, said a third.
Wind.
Rain.
Breath, said one near the back.
Refuge.
That Which Holds All.
A child said, Water.
Someone said, Kuan Yin.
Then: Womb.
Witness.
Great Kindness.
Great Eagle.
Eternal Stillness.

And then, there wasn’t any need to say the things
she’d thought would be important to say,
and everyone sat hushed, until someone said

Amen.

PRAYER – MEDITATION – INVOCATION: Rev. Michelle LaGrave

ANTHEM: Brent Baldwin, voice, and guitar

“I STILL BELIEVE”
Dolly Parton

SERMON: “Exercises in Attention” – Rev. Dr. Nicole Kirk

ACT OF INSTALLATION

Gretchen Riehl:
No right is more precious to a free congregation than that of choosing its own minister. By the same token, no right is more precious to a Unitarian Universalist minister than that of choosing the congregation they will serve. This is fundamental to our sacred tradition of shared leadership.

 

It is with profound feeling, therefore, that we formally recognize the covenantal relationship now existing between the people of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin and the Reverend Chris Jimmerson, whom we have freely chosen and who has freely chosen us.

Our choice is based not only on heritage but also on the hopes and aspirations we have for the future. This service symbolizes our dedication to new efforts.

We affirm by this act the goals toward which we strive and the ideals by which we are sustained and strengthened. Will the members of The First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin please rise and join me in the following words.

Members:
We cherish our church for its historic achievements and for its dedication to our living traditions in which revelation is ever unfolding.

We celebrate its devotion to freedom and its commitment to building the Beloved Community.

We, the members of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin, do hereby install you, Reverend Chris Jimmerson, as our settled minister.

For our part, we pledge to walk with you in the ways of truth, justice, and the spirit of love. We offer you a free pulpit, the cooperation of our hearts and hands, and our resolute goodwill as you take up your new path among us.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson:
With joy and a deep sense of responsibility, and with gratitude for your confidence, I take up the ministry to which you have called me.

I pledge to maintain the freedom of the pulpit, to speak truth in love, and to fulfill the many duties of ministry. Above all, I will cherish and cultivate the ways of love, justice, spiritual nourishment, and growth, working with you toward transformation within these church walls and beyond them.

I humbly and joyfully accept your offer of covenantal relationship and shared ministry.

Gretchen Riehl:
Will all who have not yet risen – colleagues, family, and friends please rise in spirit or in body to bear witness to this act of installation?

All:
We do hereby affirm this installation and this ministry. May congregation and minister both be blessed with strength and wisdom in the years of holy work ahead.

 

PRESENTATION OF GIFTS: Gretchen Riehl and Susan Thomson

CHARGE TO THE MINISTER Rev. Joanna Crawford

CHARGE TO THE CONGREGATION Rev. Dr. John A. Buehrens

CLOSING MUSIC Introduced by Rev. Michelle LaGrave

“ALL WILL BE WELL”
Rev. Meg Barnhouse and Kiya Heartwood

EXTINGUISHING THE CHALICE Rev. Lee Legault

BENEDICTION: Rev. Chris Jimmerson

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 24 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