Our Greetings to You
Welcome to the web site of the Universalist National Memorial Church, "a liberal Christian church in the heart of the city." We hope to answer your questions, spark your curiosity, and encourage you to visit with us in person.
Our church building is at 16th and "S" Streets, NW,
where the
Washington, DC neigborhoods of Dupont Circle and Logan Circle meet.
Sunday worship starts at 11 a.m.
The Rev. Lillie Mae Henley is our eighth settled minister. You can read a selection of her sermons here.
Overcoming Trauma in Revelation
A Sermon by our Deacon Perry King
Reading: Revelation 3:10-12; 15-22
I invite you to come with me on a psychological journey through the book of Revelation perhaps the most puzzling book in the bible. I also want to use this document to talk about a theme that is very familiar to me in my professional life which is overcoming psychological trauma. I’m sure a lot of religious liberals avoid Revelation as it has been used in so many negative ways by fundamentalist Christians who at various times have tended to use it as a document to predict the end times in history like the “Left Behind Series” which talks about the rapture or for those of you who grew up in the 70's “The Late Great Planet Earth” by Hal Lindsey. Certainly as Universalists, we just cannot accept doctrines where anyone is left behind or intentionally left out of the experience of grace as we just affirmed the final harmony of all souls with God in our declaration of faith. But we also affirmed the trustworthiness of the bible as a source of divine revelation. So where does that leave us with the book of Revelation.
From the heart...
Most of our Sunday guests find us on the web. They may have seen our new colorful banners and gone to the internet or they may have started with an internet search and found us that way. Some guests are invited by members or friends, and others have simply walked by and dropped in; but the majority of our guests find us on the web.
We have a significant number of guests every week, and it is a joy to welcome them to our church each Sunday.
From 2006 to 2008 we have had a 34% increase in Sunday worship attendance. That is a significant increase.
However, our membership numbers are not significantly higher. And, it is membership growth that will keep our Universalist presence in this region alive and well. If we don’t increase our numbers, there is a risk that Universalist Christianity will die in this region.
We need to ask ourselves, “Why is it important that this church survive?” And, “What are the challenges we face in keeping it alive in an age where fewer and fewer people are going to church?”
A good portion of my non-spiritual reading is on “church growth,” and I can tell you with reasoned discovery that church growth is a complex issue. When you include the challenges of an urban church, as well as the Universalist factor—universal salvation—it becomes even more complex.
May 2008 Anchor newsletter
From the heart...
Sunday Services
From the Moderator
Children/Youth Religious Education
Sharing Our Plate
Second of a Series of "Must-Reads" on Religious Experience
Chancel Flowers
Adult Religious Education in May
Upcoming Events
Greater Washington Area Partner Church Committee Meeting
Leland Place
Pray for Peace
Broken Promises, Broken Dreams
Building and Grounds
Do you want to know how to...
THe Good Shepherd, Building Communities of Love
The image of the good shepherd has long been a powerful image for people of the Jewish and Christian faiths. It is a metaphor that is used throughout the Bible to portray the relationship between, first God and the Hebrews, and later Jesus and his followers.
Look at all the shepherd does beyond feeding the sheep and gathering them safely for the night. A sheep falls in hole or gets lodged in rocks, the shepherd has to get her out. It gets a thorn in its foot or brambles in his coat, the shepherd has to pull them off. If it gets lost, the shepherd has to find it. The good shepherd knows that the sheep’s well-being is closely woven to her or his own. The good shepherd knows even the well-being of the tribe village depends on how well the she or he takes care of the sheep. It takes time, commitment, courage, and caring to be a good shepherd.
On the Road to Emmaus
The author of the Gospel of Luke gives us another Easter Sunday story. It is one of the most detailed and complete stories about Easter Sunday. Luke told the story this way, because he wanted a believable, solid story for the early church. In the first century many could believe in supernatural events. With this story, Luke provided all the elements for a core belief system. A foundation which could sustain Jesus’ followers and give them what they needed to carry on Jesus’ ministry. Everything is what someone in the first century needed to have a religion.
Doubting Thomas, Horton, and WHO
According to the Gospel of John, on the first day of the week after the crucifixion, the disciples were gathered and Jesus came to them. Everyone was there except Thomas. When they told Thomas about their encounter with the Easter Jesus, Thomas was doubtful of the news. He said he had to see it for himself, touch the nailed hands and feel the wound in his rabbi’s side before he could believe.
He was, we might say today, skeptical.
Not unlike the kangaroo in DR. SEUSS’ HORTON HEARS A WHO. You probably know the story and if you don’t, I highly recommend you see the most recent “Horton” movie that has just been released. You don’t need children or grandchildren to see the movie; although I did take my nine-year old neighbor with me.
April 2008 Anchor Newsletter
Words by Rev. Lillie
Sunday Services
Children/Youth Religious Education
Successful "From G St to Gaza"
Chancel Flowers
Broken Promises, Broken Dreams
Welcome & Membership Committee
Parish Notes
Leland Place
Upcoming Events
Sharing Our Plate
Universalist Convocation at Clara Barton Camp
One of a Series of "Must Reads" on Religious Experience
Easter Sunday Hospitality in van Schaick Parlor
Words by Rev. Lillie
In Toni Morrison’s book Sula, two young girls grow up together, closely sharing the drama and joy of childhood. Their lives change and they do not see each other for many years. Morrison describes what the loss of that friendship looked like to one of the women.
"There was something just to the right of her, in the air, just out of view. She could not see it, but she knew exactly what it looked like. A gray ball hovering just there. Just there. To the right."
Change can be joyous or tragic, wanted or resisted. But, no matter what, it carries with it that “gray ball” that hovers just outside our consciousness reminding us that we are rooted in something that goes with us forward into the change.
It is that way with individuals and with churches. Our response to change depends upon our willingness to embrace the mystery of what might happen as a consequence of the change.
The Women Hurried Away to Share the Good News
Jesus and his followers went to Jerusalem for Passover. There he cleared the Temple of the moneychangers and those who sold the animals for sacrifice. He said the Temple would be torn down, and he could rebuild the Temple in three days. Jesus scared the leaders of Jerusalem with his prophecies. His followers scared the leaders of Jerusalem with their talk of Jesus as king. The leaders began to plot his death.
Jesus celebrates Passover with his disciples. Washes their feet, shares bread, and wine with them, and then predicts the betrayal. He also tells them they will desert him at the end. Then he goes to Gethsemane and prays.
One does betray him. It is in the garden Jesus is arrested. Eleven desert him. He is crucified on Friday. Peter denies him. The women stay with him until the end. Joseph of Arimathea pleads with Pilate for his body, and he is buried in Joseph’s tomb. Everything happened just as Jesus had predicted in those last few weeks.
On Sunday morning, after the crucifixion, on the first day of the week, three grief-stricken women rise early.
Am I a Pharisee, a Sadducee, or a Follower
Jesus and his followers turn their ministry toward Jerusalem. They are going to celebrate Passover at the Temple. Jesus is probably the only one who knows what is going to happen in Jerusalem at this Passover. If he does not know the outcome, perhaps he is the only person who knows that something significant, something life changing is going to happen.
We can picture in our mind’s eye what Jerusalem looked like then. If we have not been to Jerusalem, then we have seen enough images on television to know that it probably does not look too much different now than it did two thousand years ago. For Passover, we know there are thousands of people crowding the streets and passageways throughout the old city. They throng into the huge Temple to fulfill the holy, religious, obligations of Passover.
As Jesus and his followers get close to the city, he asks two of them to go get a colt and bring it to him. He knows what he is going to do. When they return, they throw their robes over the back of the colt and Jesus gets on it. They begin to make their way into the city, toward the Temple. It becomes a processional with the crowd throwing clothes are greenery down in front of Jesus. It becomes a processional not unlike a processional for royalty. Not unlike the processionals which once celebrated the great kings of Israel and Judah.
UNMC bookstore benefits PDF
Through Amazon.com's affiliate program, a small portion of the sales price of any item that you purchase after clicking the link below will benefit the church's Pastoral Discretionary Fund, which the minister can use to address unmet needs of church members and the wider community.
Visit the UNMC bookstore at Amazon.com
Here's how the Amazon.com affiliate program works:
When you click any Amazon.com link on the church web site, you'll be taken to the appropriate page on the Amazon.com site, and Amazon.com will note that you arrived there from the church web site. Any purchase that you make -- books, music, household items, clothes, etc. -- will result in a small percentage going to the church, designated for the Pastoral Discretionary Fund.
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