The audio from our sermons
Dr. King consistently highlighted the critical need to love your enemy. “For the salvation of our nation and the salvation of humankind this is the only way to create beloved community,” he said. Through the reflective lens of our experience we know that anger too easily becomes toxic. From the most mundane endeavors to the exceedingly complex international – loving one’s enemy unshackles the soul and brings true freedom.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Rev. Dr. David Parke served as Minister at USG from 1965-70. Rev. Parke’s scholarship, social and racial justice leadership and pastoral care all positively impacted many lives. It is also true that his Ministry here suffered under many of the exact pressures, which afflicted our nation at that time. Rev. Parke is returning to our pulpit for the first time in 45 years. He will bring lots of love and contagious enthusiasm. Don’t miss this truly outstanding highlight of our 150th anniversary celebration!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Ring in 2016 with the energy of this six-piece Dixieland jazz group. In the New Orleans tradition, we will have a wake for the Old Year, lay down our burdens and lift our possibilities for the New Year. The spirit will be alive with great music including “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” and “When the Saints Go Marchin’ In.” How can you walk into the new year with freedom of body, mind and soul? In order to harvest the power of the congregation we will have only one service this day.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
We will have a joyous time lighting candles, telling stories, and moving to the beats of African drumming. Storytellers will bring us on journeys not to be missed! At 11:00, enjoy a dynamic, inspirational drum and dance troupe. People of all ages can sing and dance in this rich tradition.We will celebrate the principles of Kwanzaa: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
When darkness hurts most, light relieves our souls. Diwali, Chanukah, Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa and Christmas all celebrate light and life. During this holiday season it is wonderful to receive and celebrate the light. However, a powerful faith calls upon all of us to be the light. To paraphrase John F. Kennedy, “Ask not what your holidays can do for you. Ask what you can do for the holidays.”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
The Burmese political leader Aung San Suu Kyi once said that by helping others we help ourselves. If you are feeling helpless it is indeed time to help someone–else. In this service we will explore how we find our true purpose in service to others. We will also celebrate the contradictions of the hero and the victim and explore how there is no contradiction, no separation, no boundary after all. We are all in need of rescue and rescue has been with us the whole time.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Historical paradoxes of Thanksgiving in the United States tend to strain our hearts. We cannot forget the massive injustices which devastated Native American people. This year we celebrate Thanksgiving Sunday in both morning services. In the afternoon we host USG’s second Teach-In– “From Punitive to Restorative Justice: The Job’s the Thing”– to educate and organize ourselves to create opportunities for work for formerly incarcerated citizens who are now returning to their homes. From the personal to the communal, how can we place our worst experiences in context and move forward to a better place? Together we will celebrate giving thanks and giving back to life.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Healing from the trauma of war in our society requires us to embrace new practices of living that can restore our humanity. Our contemporary society is remarkably insulated from the realities of ongoing wars around the world. With very little effort we can pretend that we are safe in our leafy enclaves from the dangers that mere mortals face in faraway places. But we are at war, and all of us (not just the soldiers or veterans or foreign causalities) are impacted by the deep trauma of this ongoing conflict. We must uncover ways of reclaiming peace to overcome the stress of our times.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Samuel Longfellow served as Minister of the Unitarian Society of Germantown from 1878-1882. Joseph Abdo wrote a biography of Rev. Longfellow entitled “The Quiet Radical” in which he lays out the ways in which this Unitarian minister touched people’s lives with compassionate spirituality and radical ideas, including ideas on Women’s Rights and the Peace Movement. How can we apply the lessons of his life to our lives today?
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Thanksgiving, like many holidays, makes space around itself that affords us the opportunity to briefly change our routines. We make use of this extra space in many ways – to be in the places, or with the people or doing the things for which we are most grateful, or which most urgently need an attention we may not always be able to offer. It’s also an opportunity to recommit ourselves to building just a little space into our lives for regular, daily gratitude. With this in mind, we might ask: what does gratitude look like that is small enough to fit in each day?
Davy Knittle grew up attending USG. He lives in West Philadelphia, and is a PhD candidate in English at Penn.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS