You are here: Home » Sundays & Services » Sermons

Sermons

This is a full list of sermons presented at UUCCSM since mid-1999. Links to sermon texts are included when made available by their authors. Audio recordings are also available for most sermons presented after September, 2007 by our staff ministers and others directly affiliated with our church (just click the speaker icon next to each sermon where it's available). Audio from guest speakers is posted only when we have their permission to share it.

Rev. Greg’s sermons are now available for purchase in the Front office and on Sundays, in Forbes Hall. The cost to produce this publication is $5. In order to continue publication, we ask for a donation that will cover - or go beyond - production costs. Any revenue raised beyond cost will go to the Ministerial discretionary fund which is used to assist members and friends in their time of need (such as shelter, food, utilities, medical, etc.)

"Leaving Room for Hope: Sermons for Uncertain Times," a book of Minister Emerita Judith Meyer's sermons, is available here.

August 26, 2018 - 10:00am
And Now We Are Six
Monthly Theme: Play
Rev. Greg Ward

What were you born to do? Who have you come here to be? And have you gone through that becoming? Because some people haven't. Some people never wind up as the person they were meant to be... even if they spend a lifetime wanting that becoming to take hold of them. Some people remain too focused on what it's like to be the prey rather than what it's like to be the prayer. This is a service for those who feel called to something great and who go after it, despite the danger.

August 19, 2018 - 10:00am
Listening is an Act of Love
Monthly Theme: Play
Abby Arnold
When we listen with open hearts, avoiding response or judgment, we can learn more than we imagined. At the same time, we are giving the gift of unconditional love. 
August 12, 2018 - 5:00pm
Heart and Soul: A Contemplative Worship Service @ 5 p.m. - "What Does It Mean to be a Community of Belonging?"
Monthly Theme: Belonging
Kathleen Hogue
“True belonging is the spiritual practice of believing in and belonging to yourself so deeply that you can share your most authentic self with the world and find sacredness in both being a part of something and standing alone in the wilderness. True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are.”- Brene Brown  What does it mean to be a community of belonging? When, in your life, have you felt as if you truly belonged? How do you welcome people into your spiritual community?
 
Please note audio is currently unavailable for Heart & Soul services.
August 12, 2018 - 10:00am
Supporting the Hard and Essential Work of Parenting
Monthly Theme: Play
Dorothy Steinicke
Being a parent is probably the most important and one of the most difficult tasks in any society.  How do we nurture and support the parents in our community? 
August 5, 2018 - 10:00am
Poetry of Mindfulness
Monthly Theme: Play
Rima Snyder
"Mindfulness" is a word we hear a lot these days. It means living in the present, being fully aware and awake to the world. Poems can be expressions of mindfulness, giving us a glimpse into a moment that transforms the familiar into something sacred. They can provide refuge and inspiration when we need a reminder of how to live fully and compassionately. Rima Snyder and Dorothy Steinicke share their reflections on poems from the anthology ""Poems of Presence"" (edited by Phyllis Cole-Dai and Ruby R. Wilson)

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.
July 29, 2018 - 10:00am
Freedom Through Commitment
Monthly Theme: Freedom
Ian Dodd
Freedom Through Commitment Freedom of choice is great, but TOO much freedom can be paralyzing.  Psychologists have shown that more choices don't lead to more happiness, but less.  But when we set out to create a life of meaning, rather than just the pursuit of happiness, we can find freedom by eliminating the plethora of choices available and commiting ourselves to things greater than ourselves.  In this sermon, we will explore what author Emily Esfahani Smith calls "the 4 Pillars of Meaning."

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.
July 22, 2018 - 10:00am
What Do I Stand For?
Monthly Theme: Freedom
Leon Henderson-MacLennan
 
Please join us for a take home message TBD from our late winter "BYOT-Ethics Meets the Fifth UU Principle" group.
 
Using ethics as a way of articulating one’s current beliefs and practices – in a word, “theology” – we explore connections to our Fifth Principle which calls us to “affirm and promote the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process.”

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.
July 15, 2018 - 10:00am
Darwin, Natural Faith and the New Story
Monthly Theme: Freedom
James Witker
Darwin, Natural Faith, and the New Story Darwin's legacy transformed modern scientific understanding *and* liberal religion, upending prior certainties that were thousands of years old; and both challenging and expanding concepts of god(s) and the divine. Emerson and Thoreau, Transcendentalists who came out of the Unitarian tradition, had already helped to kindle a new ethic of interconnectedness with nature, and they accepted Darwin's work when it was shocking and brand new. But it’s still shocking today. Evolution is accepted scientific fact, but a significantly large (nearly half, according to surveys) number of people in our country still don’t accept it. Why are science and religon still so often at war? As Unitarian Universalists, are we attuned to the New Story that is emerging?

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.
July 8, 2018 - 5:00pm
Heart and Soul: A Contemplative Worship Service @ 5 p.m. - "What Does It Mean to be a Community of Freedom?"
Monthly Theme: Freedom
Dorothy Steinicke
Heart & Soul is a contemplative worship service series that occurs on the second Sunday of each month. It is a shorter, more intimate service, with singing and instrumental music, statements, and questions, silence, and sharing. Readings, poems, quotes, and music are drawn from a variety of sources, including the UU Soul Matters Sharing Circle, our hymnals, and popular/folk music. 
 
Please note audio is currently unavailable for Heart & Soul services.
July 8, 2018 - 10:00am
A Path Appears
Monthly Theme: Freedom
Catie Grasso
Lu Xun says,  "Hope can be neither affirmed nor denied. Hope is like a path in the countryside: originally there was no path—yet, as people are walking all the time in the same spot, a way appears."
The Unitarian Universalist Church calls us to take action in the world to live out our Seven Priciples.  How do we approach change in a process-oriented way that we can sustain so that a path appears for us and for others?
 

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.