Sorry to have missed you all on Sunday for worship, but I am very glad that we were able to cancel the service before too many of our early arrival volunteers got here. Thanks to Director of Religious Exploration Loren Crawford for taking care of things here before she returned home. And gratitude to other staff members Kristi Drehmel and Barb Creasy for getting the word out about worship being canceled.
Next week’s sermon will not be an exact replication of what I was going to preach this past Sunday but the deleted parts are still good stuff, so I am sharing that part below. It engages the question of “What does it mean to center love as Unitarian Universalists?”
The Invitation
I hope many of you have signed up for this workshop next Saturday, February 22 entitled, “The Spiritual Work of Trans Justice and Safety.“ Also, I invite any of you who would like to join me on Saturday, February 22, to view this online workshop together. Please RSVP if you’d like to join me by NOON on Friday, February 21st.. If we get enough people (minimum five), we can gather in the library to engage this online workshop together. We can bring snacks!
Here’s the original announcement: Opportunity on Saturday, February 22 with an invitation from my friend and colleague Rev. Kelly Crocker of First Unitarian Society in Madison, WI to increase our ability to support trans, non-binary and other queer folks.
Dear MidAmerica Region Congregation,
We are excited to invite you to an upcoming workshop with Zr. Alex Kapitan of the Transforming Hearts Collective. Due to the generosity of an endowed fund, there is no charge to attend, and members of your congregation can attend in person or virtually by zoom. All of the information is on the attached flyer. We appreciate you sharing this with your congregation.
Come expand your understanding of what it means to be trans and nonbinary, learn how to tell fact from fiction, and find out how to help create safety for trans people and their families in this moment. No matter who you are or how much or how little you know about gender diversity, this interactive and informative workshop will expand your mind, open your heart, and give all of us the tools we need to deepen our welcome and care for people of all genders in our community.
Deleted Sermon Part I Still Want to Share
We, Unitarian Universalists do not have a creed telling us what to believe. We have values in common and we gather in worship, in part, to shape what is of worth in our lives, in line with those values. Values that have love at the center.
Last Sunday, church member Rev. Ben, spoke about some of our theological heritage as Unitarians and Universalists. I was inspired to go back and read about some more about these early Unitarian and Universalists.
Our Universalist ancestors embraced the idea that all are saved, that God is a loving God. Our Unitarian ancestors sought to grow closer to a loving God by being more godlike themselves. Thomas Starr King (1824-1864), who served as a Universalist minister and later as a Unitarian minister reportedly quipped, “The Universalists think God is too good to damn them forever; the Unitarians think they are too good to be damned forever.”
And then Universalist John Murray an 18th-century Universalist preacher, is quoted as saying, “Go out into the highway and by-ways. Give the people something of your new vision. You possess a small light, but uncover it, let it shine, and use it in order to bring more light and understanding to the hearts and minds of men and women. Give them not hell but hope and courage; preach the kindness and everlasting love of God.”
Here we are, Unitarian Universalists, centuries later, still centering our values on love. But now we understand what it means to center love as part of our progressive faith in the 21st century. We strive to grow as a people of faith centered in love and its values: justice, equity, transformation, pluralism, inclusion, and generosity.
Granted, with all that is happening in our country right now, one could slip into despair. But if we continue to lift one another up as a congregation within our local community and align ourselves with our values, we will not only survive, we will thrive.
We know freedom is not a given on any day. In this month of February, this famous quote keeps rising in my heart:
“Life is a hard battle, anyway. If we laugh and sing a little as we fight the good fight of freedom, it makes it all go easier. I will not allow my life’s light to be determined by the darkness around me.” Sojourner Truth.
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And now for this week’s dose of cuteness:
Let me introduce you to Figgy!
His full name is Figgy Puddin Newton MacPhelps. He is the newest member to our Phelps Macklin household.
Our dog Hodor is nonplussed. The cats are adjusting. Do cats adjust?
