June 2, 2019
The unifying themes of this program are justice, love, learning and hope. The messages come from sermons and readings from Unitarian-Universalist sources. The program title comes from a beloved Unitarian-Universalist hymn, “Spirit of Life,” which includes the words, “Sing in my heart all the stirrings of compassion” and “Move in the hand, giving life the shape of justice.”
The writer Lewis Hyde explored the importance of gift cultures and the flow of gifts through societies past and present in his seminal 1983 work “The Gift.” What would happen if we saw life not as ownership but as gift? The Rev. Vannessa Rush-Southern takes on that question in her sermon.
Commentary
Written by Orlando Montoya
As a tour guide, I’m visitors ask me constantly, where should I eat, what should I do, please recommend a place for this or that. The anxiety in their voices says, “Help me, knowledgeable local, make the right decision.” And when you have a short amount of time in a place with lots to do, it seems right that the hours and minutes must be chosen judiciously. But the uncomfortable truth is in Carl Jung’s view. The Swiss psychologist said, “The great decisions of human life have, as a rule, far more to do with instincts and other mysterious unconscious factors than with conscious will and well-meaning reasonableness.” In other words, you think you’ve done your due diligence. You studied the reviews, you asked a local, you browsed the menus online, you considered the options and still, this pro-con, research-based, semi-dissertation on where to eat dinner didn’t get you to that jalapeno cheeseburger and pomegranate cocktail, it was something ineffably interior. Trust, feeling, color, sound, mother, father, a fragrance, who knows. I’ve been planning some complicated trips recently and making many decisions. And, unusually for me, and in a sign of great progress I think, I’ve let myself plan a little closer to the side of instinct and mystery than probing inquiry. Don’t get me wrong. I still over-plan. But now, I more readily say, “I trust myself to make the right decisions for me.’” I don’t trust reviews. They’re like TV ratings. I don’t trust random locals. Does this person know me? Jung’s quote continues, “The shoe that fits one person pinches another. There is no recipe for living that fits all cases.” Let us live into our shoes. Let us live into our recipe for living. And if we choose poorly, we’ll try again. It’s only a vacation.
Sermon
“Gift Culture: The Gift Experiment” (3/3/19)
Rev. Vanessa Rush-Southern
First Unitarian-Universalist Society of San Francisco
Sermon
“The Struggle for the Leadership of America” (2/3/19)
Rev. Roger Fritts
Unitarian-Universalist Church of Sarasota, Florida
Sermon
TBD
Sermon
TBD
Braver Wiser
Used by permission of Braver Wiser, a publication of the Unitarian-Universalist Association
Quest Monthly
Used by permission of Quest Monthly, a publication of the Church of the Larger Fellowship
UUA Statements
Messages from the Unitarian Universalist Association
Natural Silence
Used by permission of ListeningEarth.com
UUA Principles and Sources
Our liberal faith as defined by the Unitarian Universalist Association
World Religions
Written by Orlando Montoya
Interfaith Calendar
Written by Orlando Montoya
UU FAQ
Written by and used by permission of John Sias from interviews with Rev. Steve Edington
Published by the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Nashua, NH
