January 13, 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.”
Thich Nat Hahn's practices and Zen Buddhist philosophy inform the sermon, linked below, called "Seeing the Meaning of Life in Ordinary Events."
Commentary
Written by Orlando Montoya
This week, the President of the United States used his first-ever Oval Office address, carried live on network television, as an incandescent national film projector of some horror movie that plays in his own mind about immigration. His Exorcist Shining Texas Chainsaw nightmare of rapes, murders, beheadings and drugs doesn’t interest me in the least as a subject of political psychoanalysis. Frankly, politics and psychosis exceed this show’s subject. I’m more interested in how that movie moves people, the screens where that movie plays out. Does it move us toward love and compassion? Does it move us toward healing and unity? Reagan at least spoke of a shining city. This one speaks of the gutter and the grave. It’s the ghost of Jacob Marley. How I wish this orange flicker were a bit of undigested beef or fragment of underdone potato! But this is real. The President used the august prop of the Resolute Desk itself for the opposite of resoluteness (the only thing we have to…). Experience shows that when we grasp fear, we risk following lesser angels. That should concern everyone, regardless of religion and politics. Fear numbs the heart. It returns us to single-celled organisms responding to stimuli. It dehumanizes in most cruel and crude ways. History has shown that hate and violence always follow dehumanization as sure as Ellen’s Game of Games and The Gifted followed this disgusting Tuesday night special. It’s time that we walk out of this movie, throw the popcorn in the owner’s face and make another, truer story, one that rejects the President’s nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror and welcomes the stranger, whom all religions rate G for godly. Let our story be rated R for resolute, as we show up for each other and all those harmed by this continuing horror reality.
Sermon
“Living Hope, Living Justice” (10/21/18)
Rev. Mary Katherine Morn, President
Unitarian-Universalist Service Committee
Sermon
“Seeing the Meaning of Life in Ordinary Events” (9/2/18)
Rev. Roger Fritts
Unitarian-Universalist Church of Sarasota
Sermon
“Our Golden Calves” (3/11/18)
Rev. Rob Eller-Isaacs
Unity Church Unitarian, St. Paul, Minn.
Sermon
“A Radical Welcome” (5/21/17)
Rev. Tim Kutzmark
Unitarian Universalist Church of Fresno
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
A Year of Spiritual Companionship
Written by and used by permission of Anne Kertz Kernion
