{"id":139666,"date":"2024-06-20T09:07:15","date_gmt":"2024-06-20T15:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/?p=139666"},"modified":"2024-06-20T09:07:15","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T15:07:15","slug":"a-quest-for-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/a-quest-for-freedom\/","title":{"rendered":"A Quest for Freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_851\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-139666-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2024-06-16_Quest_for_freedom.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2024-06-16_Quest_for_freedom.mp3\">http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2024-06-16_Quest_for_freedom.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2024-06-16_Quest_for_freedom.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/?powerpress_pinw=139666-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2024-06-16_Quest_for_freedom.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"2024-06-16_Quest_for_freedom.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Rev. Addae Ama Kraba<br \/>June 16, 2024<br \/>First UU Church of Austin<br \/>4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756<br \/>www.austinuu.org<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">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.<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"4\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p align=\"left\"><b>Chalice Lighting<\/b><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\">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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\"><b>Call to Worship<\/b><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\">ETERNAL MYSTERY<br \/>Carol Meyer<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">May we open ourselves ever more fully to that Eternal Mystery which lures us onward toward life and creativity.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">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.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">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.<\/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<\/blockquote>\n<p><b>Reading<\/b><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\">THESE WORDS<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">These words are dedicated to those who survived,<br \/>Because they refused to give up and defied statistics.<br \/>Because they had faith and trusted in the holy,<br \/>Because the expected the worst and were always prepared,<br \/>Because they were angry,<br \/>Because they could act,<br \/>Because they endured humiliation,<br \/>Because they turned the other cheek,<br \/>Because they looked the other way.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">These words are dedicated to those who survived,<br \/>Because life is a struggle and they struggled.<br \/>Because life is an awakening and they were alert.<br \/>Because life is a flowering and they blossomed.<br \/>Because life is a gift and they were free to accept it.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">These words are dedicated to those who survived.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\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\"><b>Extinguishing the Chalice<\/b><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\">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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\"><b>Benediction <\/b><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\">As you go out into the world <br \/>in the face of hate, <br \/>in the face of exclusion, <br \/>in the face of homophobia, <br \/>let us answer the call to love.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">In the face of racism, <br \/>in the face of misogyny, <br \/>in the face of bigotry, <br \/>we answer the call of open-mindedness. <br \/>we answer the call of hope.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">As Unitarian Universalists, <br \/>now more than ever, <br \/>we answer the call to love.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<hr align=\"center\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"4\" width=\"300\" \/>\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 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.<\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above. Rev. Addae Ama KrabaJune 16, 2024First UU Church of Austin4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756www.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&#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-139666","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\/139666","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=139666"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139667,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139666\/revisions\/139667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}