- Meeting the Shadow PDF December 9, 2012
- Peace and acceptance can be found through meeting the shadows cast by the clouds that may obscure the enjoyment of this holiday season.
- When God Talks Back PDF December 2, 2012
- Making room for a response to directed meditations, thoughts, wishes and/or prayers is compatible with many paths of Unitarian Universalist belief and practice … including yours?
- Beloved Community PDF October 7, 2012
- The term “Beloved Community” is a 1960’s phrase Unitarian Universalist ministers love to use but many in our congregations don’t recognize or understand. Rev. Trumbore stated last month he thinks the Justice GA 2012 in Phoenix actually had some success in creating it. This service will dig into the origins of this phrase, how it has been used and what value it might have as a purpose and identity for FUUSA.
- Prophetic Encounters PDF September 30, 2012
- Many of us learn, grow and develop through personal relationships. Our friendships from an early age shape and mold our ideas and attitudes. The wider and more diverse those relationships, the wider and more tolerant we are likely to grow up to be. Sometimes those personal encounters are dramatically transforming. Dr. Dan McKanan has studied these kind of encounters that change lives and found patterns we will find useful in our own growth and development as individuals and as a congregation.
- Crossing Borders PDF September 23, 2012
- Unitarian Universalists have a natural, often unrecognized affinity for undocumented workers. We both cross borders some would rather we didn’t cross. When the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called upon ministers to join him in Selma, many Unitarian Universalists answered his call to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge together. In the 70’s and 80’s we crossed borders of sexism and homophobia. Through personal study and interfaith work we cross borders of faith. Core to the practice of Unitarian Universalism is exploring those borders, especially the ones we may not even know stand in our way.
- Faith for a Pluralistic World MP3 March 25, 2012
- In a globalized world bristling with nuclear weapons, religious intolerance is no longer an option. We must learn to live side by side with people whose beliefs are very different from our own. This hasn’t always been a problem. There have been times when humanity has done it very well. Those lessons are being incorporated into the evolution of Unitarian Universalism and promoted in the world.
- Faith for a Crowded World PDF March 18, 2012
- Most world religions began at a time when our ability to affect the biosphere was quite limited. Now we on the cusp of seeing dramatic climate change for which humanity is responsible. Technology amplifies the ability of a few people to do tremendous damage as we saw on September 11, 2001. Population continues to exert tremendous pressure on the resources for our collective survival. How can religion respond in a way that helps rather than harms?
- Christian Humanism (version 2) PDF March 11, 2012
- Contemporary Unitarian Universalist Humanists are least tolerant of Christianity. Yet many of our values spring from the Christian tradition. Can we love and follow Jesus and be a Humanist too?
- Faith Without Abusive Authority PDF March 4, 2012
- The Protestant Reformation had its start in the abuse of Papal authority selling indulgences to fund Vatican building projects. We’ve been deconstructing and questioning the authority of leaders ever since the schism. Our bylaws have elaborate safeguards against the abuse of power here. Have we gone too far? Some in our movement are innovating around empowerment of affirming leadership.
- The Missing Dead Body of Jesus PDF February 5, 2012
- For the first nine centuries of Christianity, the dead or dying body of Jesus wasn’t depicted on church walls or carved into statues or icons. The focus of the early church was his triumph over death not the way he died. Jesus’ coming opened a way for Christians to return to paradise in this world and the next through preparation, initiation and baptism into a Christian community. That isn’t the Christianity most practice today. What happened? NOTE: exploring the early Christian church and the loss of paradise will be the subject of Rev. Trumbore’s Lenten Bible Study this year, beginning February 28.
- What Emerges Out of Silence PDF January 22, 2012
- Rev. Trumbore attended a mindfulness meditation retreat for the first ten days of January. The sermon describes a little of what emerged for him out of silence as he sat motionless watching his respiration process, practicing “the direct path” to enlightenment.
- From Civil Rights to Human Rights, King’s Legacy PDF January 15, 2012
- In his last years, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wanted to see the civil rights movement to transform into a human rights movement. His speech to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference August 16, 1967 titled, “Where Do We Go From Here?” still has wisdom and direction for us today.
- The Beginning of the End? PDF January 1, 2012
- 2012 is supposed to be a pretty significant year. The Mayan Calendar is supposed to end this year. My financial analyst cousin is predicting a financial meltdown this year. Who knows what global climate change has in store for us. How do we live with this kind of uncertainty? Can we thrive in spite of it?