The audio from our sermons
Comedian Maria Bamford is a 43 year old who jokes about many things including her own mental illness. Her mission is to empower the public to stop pretending mental health problems don’t exist. Her mission is to proclaim it is ok for people to be their authentic selves. How do you use your distinctive gifts and humor to empower others?
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Myths, fantastical creatures, and tales of special powers have always shaped the human story. Over the last century, the worlds of Narnia, Middle Earth, and Hogwarts have enchanted children and adults alike, and brought religious themes into popular culture. What’s a Unitarian Universalist to do with all this magic?
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King David danced before the Lord with all his might. It would have been good if he also had laughed. Laughter is a balm for the soul, a balm which too many people lack. Laughter can spread contagious blessings for the body, soul and mind. Got laughter?
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Sometimes we forget to look back in our pasts to see what life used to be like. By telling stories of our past, we pass on humor, gain wisdom, and broaden our understanding of the Gifts of the Spirit. Unfortunately, in today’s world, some of our neighbors are treated as outsiders to those stories, with no place at the table of humor and wonder that is our Life. By looking at a story from the Book of Daniel, and recalling the plight of the Israelites, we can hope to gain a better understanding of how people moving to new countries experience this disjointed existence. With this understanding, we can work to welcome them into the folds of our spiritual home.
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I am a man who believes that symbols have enormous power, a power that multiples exponentially the more ingrained in our consciousness they become, for good and ill. In my homily for the Sunday after Christmas, a lapsed Catholic will explore his happy struggle to find faith through Unitarian Universalist non-doctrine.
Tom Ott is a past and current president of the Unitarian/Universalist Society of Germantown. He has also served on a number of committees and councils. He believes there is something concrete that, for want of a better word, can be called the spirit. He used to believe finding it was elusive. However, since joining this congregation, his hope has been renewed.
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As much as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life has often been reviewed it commonly remains misunderstood. He gave everything, no matter the cost for the values he cherished: universal justice, service and liberating love. Tavis Smiley has written a powerful new book “Death of a King”, which looks at King’s last year from his speech against the Vietnam War at Riverside Church to his assassination in Memphis. What are we called to sacrifice for justice and love?
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As we seek to honor the differences among us, we often hear that we’re called to love our neighbor. But this sermon – inspired by an address of the same name by Kurt Vonnegut – explores the possibility that we might do better if we set our sights just a little lower.
The Rev. Libby Smith is a life-long UU who grew up in the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of York, PA. She received her MDiv from Harvard Divinity School in 1992 and was ordained the same year. Since then she has served congregations in Rockport, Mass, Warrrington, PA and Langhorne, PA. She also spent five years as Chaplain at UU House, a small nursing home in Philadelphia. Now retired from congregational service, she does adjunct work for the Joseph Priestley District and enjoys the chance to preach and do rites of passage on request. She is delighted to be back at USG!
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Many of us love to give and receive gifts for Christmas. Of course it is also difficult to resist the pull of an overly materialistic Christmas. There are also situations where we feel torn between obligation and true desire to give gifts. Every year we sing Joy to the World: “Repeat the sounding joy. Repeat the sounding joy. Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.” How do we give that? This is our candle light worship service.
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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! We will celebrate the principles of Kwanzaa: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.
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After publicly declaring that females deserve education as much as males, Malala Yousafzai was shot in the face by an agent of the Taliban. Ms. Yousafzai survived her attack and went on to be an international voice for empowerment. She says that every day she and her movement strengthen around a common cause. In the Biblical story, David beat Goliath against all odds. Community organizer Marshall Ganz, who worked with Cesar Chavez and the grape workers’ strike, teaches we can learn from those times when we win against such overwhelming odds.
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