Speaker: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

What If God . . . ?

Whether we call ourselves believers or not, most of us have a god we don’t believe in–what others believe (or we think they believe) that shapes our own attitudes. That can be quite restrictive, because in the abundance of gods we have imagined, we have addressed many different human needs. So today, we’ll hear about different kinds of gods. Maybe some other god-ideas are knocking at the door of our hearts, offering a new way of seeing the world. Since it’s Posadas season, maybe someone else will knock at the door as well.

The Table of Plenty

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Our intergenerational Thanksgiving service comes at a tough time. The story The Table Where Rich People Sit, by Byrd Baylor and Peter Parnall, offers a way to think about our lives when we don’t have everything we want. With that story and a special performance from Greg Becker and Kris Geering, plus more adventures of Possum and friends and lots of beautiful music, we’ll literally count up our blessings and see how we’re doing.

The Antidote to Shame

Not only individuals, but families and communities, carry secrets within themselves. The secrets are protected by silence, and shame guards them like a fierce dog. But there are ways to pass safely into the vault and release the secrets, if we want to be free of them.

With Malice Toward None

The audio player above plays the audio podcast of the sermon only. The YouTube player below plays the video of the entire service with copyrighted and private information redacted.

How do we move forward together as such a divided nation? How do we proceed “with … read more.

What Was Left in the Box

We’ve heard the story of Epimetheus and Prometheus, and how Prometheus was punished by the gods for bringing the gift of fire to humanity. Well, in one version, that wasn’t enough for Zeus, who also sent one last punishment: Pandora. And she opened a … read more.

Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?: When Heroes Fall

Do we still have heroes? Do we still need heroes? When the people we venerate turn out to have flaws, we have some choices: we can give up our ideals, beat up our former idols–or grow up into a more complex view of them and … read more.

Harvest the Power

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Numerous leaders around the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) contributed elements to a service on how we will vote love and defeat hate in next month’s election. We’ll be inspired to UU the Vote by a homily from UUA President the Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, music … read more.

Blessing of the Animals

Today is the Feast of Saint Francis, and thus the traditional day for blessing animals in Roman Catholicism. It’s also World Animal Day–a fine occasion for us homo sapiens to reflect on what it means to share a biosphere with about 8.7 million other … read more.

Atonement

Over the centuries, Judaism has honed the meaning and practices of atonement: how we make things right after we have done something wrong. Its teachings can heal our hearts, strengthen our relationships, help us build better communities, and even nudge us closer to world peace. Special Music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

The order of service is here.

What Can We Trust?

How do we decide what to trust? The solidity of what we can reliably know has been chipped away: by propaganda, deceit by once-trusted leaders, postmodernism, and the multiplication of media sources. However, the question is not new, and wise answers have been proposed for thousands of years. We’ll look at some of the guidance we’ve been offered. Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe

The order of service is here.