{"id":136664,"date":"2022-09-26T12:48:49","date_gmt":"2022-09-26T18:48:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/?p=136664"},"modified":"2022-09-26T12:48:51","modified_gmt":"2022-09-26T18:48:51","slug":"the-hole-in-the-soul-of-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/the-hole-in-the-soul-of-america\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hole in the Soul of America"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_7331\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-136664-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2022-09-25_Hole_in_the_soul.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2022-09-25_Hole_in_the_soul.mp3\">http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2022-09-25_Hole_in_the_soul.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2022-09-25_Hole_in_the_soul.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/?powerpress_pinw=136664-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2022-09-25_Hole_in_the_soul.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"2022-09-25_Hole_in_the_soul.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Rev. John Buehrens<br \/>September 25, 2022<br \/>First UU Church of Austin<br \/>4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756<br \/>www.austinuu.org<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">G.K. Chesterton once called America &#8220;the nation with the soul of a church.&#8221; Sadly, there is now a gaping in hole in our national soul. Our Consulting Minister for Leadership Transitions returns to our pulpit, to suggest both the depth of the problem and to suggest how a congregation like ours can be part of the remedy.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"4\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><b>Chalice Lighting<\/b><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\">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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\"><b>Call to Worship<\/b><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\">LITANY OF ATONEMENT<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">For remaining silent when a single voice would have made a difference.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><i>We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.<\/i><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">For each time that our fears have made us rigid and inaccessible.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><i>We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.<\/i><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">For each time that we have struck out in anger without just cause.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><i>We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.<\/i><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">For each time that our greed has blinded us to the needs of others.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><i>We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.<\/i><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">For the selfishness which sets us apart and alone.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><i>We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.<\/i><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">For forgetting that we are all part of one family.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><i>We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.<\/i><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">For those and for so many things big and small that make it seem we are separate.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><i>We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\"><b>Affirming Our Mission <\/b><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\">Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><b>Sermon<\/b><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Text of this sermon is not yet available.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"4\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/category\/sermons\/indexes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>SERMON INDEX<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Most sermons during the past 22 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.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/podcast\/first-unitarian-universalist\/id372427776\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>PODCASTS<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">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<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above. Rev. John BuehrensSeptember 25, 2022First UU Church of Austin4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756www.austinuu.org G.K. Chesterton once called America &#8220;the nation with the soul of a church.&#8221; Sadly, there is now a gaping in hole in our national soul. Our Consulting Minister for Leadership Transitions&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19,18,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio-available","category-guest-speakers","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136664"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136665,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136664\/revisions\/136665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}