When the people who attend a church have conflicting fundamental beliefs, what is church for? How does belonging to a community of diversity shape us, and how do we shape the community with our presence? Can we give thanks for feeling weird and uncomfortable? Can that feeling encourage both agency and acceptance? The Choir will sing. … Continue reading Thankful for Complex, Compassionate Communities
What happens when a child of atheists, grown into an agnostic adult who loves ritual and communal exploration of meaning and mystery, begins to feel a call to ministry? Christina will share her ongoing exploration of this question, which led to applying to the Vancouver School of Theology’s Master of Divinity program. Service Leader & … Continue reading Sensing Life’s Mystery
“I have opened my mind to the open air of the universe, to things as they are,” affirmed naturalist John Burroughs. “Our life depends from moment to moment upon the air we breathe, yet its winds and tempests may destroy us; it depends from day to day upon the water we drink, yet its floods … Continue reading An Ode to the Open Air
“Shall I write you on politics or religion, two master-subjects for your sayers of nothing?” asked Robert Burns in a letter to Provost Maxwell of Lochmaben. “Of the first I daresay by this time you are nearly surfeited; and for the last, whenever they may talk of it who make it a kind of company … Continue reading Beyond a Soliloquy
On this day, most churches will celebrate the risen Christ, but even in the days when all Unitarians still identified as Christians, they emphasized the living Jesus and his teachings, over the mythical tales about him. So today, we will reflect on the Beatitudes, focusing on the version that appears in the Sermon on the … Continue reading Blessings and Woes
Next to Judas, the poor innkeeper at Bethlehem has been one of the most vilified people in the Christian narrative over two millennia. But no innkeeper actually appears in the Bible; the innkeeper’s existence is only inferred. It’s not even clear that there was an inn, even though older translations of Luke say, “there was … Continue reading A Good Word for Innkeepers
In a world where religion continues to act as a means of division and hatred, this sermon will speak about the necessity for people of all faiths and backgrounds to come together for common good. There will be an emphasis on the universal law of loving all – seeing the presence of one higher entity … Continue reading Seeing One Spirit in All: Interfaith Unity
It goes without saying that we are each the sum of our experiences. We carry stories, scars, wounds, lessons – and sometimes, tattoos – from the life we’ve had. But what happens when, who we were is no longer congruent with who we are? How do we negotiate that change? In this sermon, Andre will … Continue reading A Cross-Shaped Tattoo
“Pluralism that reflects no commitments whatever to the common good is pluralism gone berserk,” according to John W. Gardner. Robust pluralism, the diversity that resolves itself in unity, requires sufficient shared values and mutual trust to work. As it turns out, pluralism is more work than universalism, but more achievable for religious communities, and between … Continue reading Finding Unity in Diversity
Novelist D.H. Lawrence believed that humans are born first to themselves and only later to a sense of humanity, when “most are born again on entering maturity,” shedding the innocence of childhood and achieving an adult understanding of the world – “a consciousness of all the laughing, and the never-ceasing murmur of pain and sorrow … Continue reading Born Anew
