Universalist National Memorial Church

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.

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.

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.

Ritual 101: Dry Bones

Sermon preached by Deacon Sue Mosher 9 Mar 2008

Of all the objects that function as symbols in our lives, none may be more potent than the home. When you take a bottle of wine or a bunch of flowers to a house-warming or a dinner party, you may be responding to an ancient urge to make an offering to the household gods or to pour a libation to the spirits that hallow a space. Thus, when my parents announced that they were moving in January to a senior community, leaving behind the house of my childhood, I wondered if we could honor their transition with a ceremony that would help the whole family celebrate what their house has meant to all of us, make sure that nothing important was left behind, and release the house to be a home for its next owner. But more than a ceremony, I wanted a ritual that could expose—as playwright Patricia Montley suggests, in her book In Nature's Honor: Myths And Rituals Celebrating The Earth—the “truth that transcends logic and surpasses reason.” And so we gathered after our Christmas dinner, three generations, to sing, to share stories, and to harvest for my parents to carry to their new home all those memories and feelings that the movers could not pack into boxes. Seeing how much that meant to my parents, to my brother, and even to our college-age daughters has inspired me to speak to you today about ritual and what it can mean to us, as individuals and as churchgoers.

The Least Expected

Our story this morning from First Samuel is about the Old Testament prophet Samuel, the patriarch Jesse and his eight sons, and of course Yahweh. It reflects a significant time in the history of Israel’s tribes. Scholars cannot agree on whether it represents true history or if it represents the symbolic gathering of Israel’s tribes into a political and social force.

It takes place about eight hundred years before the Common Era, and shares with us that chaotic time of social and cultural development when the tribes moved from leadership by prophets and priests to leadership by a king. As with all paradigm shifts of social consciousness, there is to be sure confusion and doubt on whether this is all working, and whether the social structures should continue forward with this changing environment or whether everything should revert to the former structures.

Jesus and the Woman at the Well

To tell the story of the woman at the well, we must tell, not only what John writes of her and Jesus, but we must tell of things he doesn’t write in the Gospel. We must tell of the culture, the context, and the religion of that day.

In our story from John today, it was the sixth hour, which would be six hours after sunrise, in the middle of the day. Most people who have to go to a village well or even the river for their daily supply of water go in the morning, before it gets too hot. Why would a woman go to the well during the middle of the day? We must presume, that it was to avoid the crowded morning-well.

Scholars tell us, it could have something to do with the woman’s marital status. Although, there could be any number of reasons why, a woman would want to avoid the morning crowd. In that time and culture, women had no value as people. They were someone’s daughter and then someone’s wife. Generally, women were of no more value than the sheep and goats, a servant, or any other property. And, if they did not “fit” into an “acceptable” category, they were regarded with pity sometimes, but mostly were treated with disrespect or contempt, by their neighbors. That would be a good reason for a woman who did not “fit” to avoid the morning-well.

From Transformation to Transfiguration

Last summer, I met a truly selfless person. Her name was Abaynesh Manulo. She was from Ethiopia and was here to be with her daughter for the birth of her daughter’s second child. Abi, that is what she wanted me to call her, was one of those human beings that you meet and feel as though you have known her all your life. From April to August we walked five days a week in Rock Creek Park or on the Capital Crescent Trail.

Often, she commented on the beauty of Washington and Maryland. It is quite different from Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, the city in which she grew up, raised her family, taught high school, and lived all her life. All her life, that is, except for the time she spent in India earning her Bachelor of Science in Home Economics or the time she spent in the Philippines earning her masters in Community Development.

Temptations in the Wilderness

The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert. There Satan tempted him.

In order to understand more completely what happened in Matthew’s story of Jesus’ temptations, we need to know what happened before the Spirit led him into the desert. Matthew 3:13-17, tells us that Jesus came to John at the Jordan River and asked John to baptize him, and John did. Matthew tells us when Jesus came up from the water, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and a voice from heaven saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” (Adapted from NRSV)

One might think that this is a ritual of the early church retro-inserted, but that is not what scholars believe. Baptism, washings, and ritual baths were a part of the rites of many religions in antiquity. During the first century there were several Jewish sects who practiced Baptism. John the Baptist really was John the Baptizer.

This Little Light of Mine

In Matthew chapter nine, we see Jesus walking along. He has just healed a paralyzed man and he sees a man sitting in a booth, a tax collector, and he said, “Follow me.”

This man called Matthew did just that. He didn’t say, “Oh, I have to bring my money to the Roman magistrate,” or “Let me lock up the tax collection,” or “Just a minute, I have to finish.” No, the Gospel tells us he got up and followed Jesus.

It calls to mind the several different stories where Jesus called someone to follow him and they had an excuse. One man said, “Someone in my family had died, I have to go bury them.” Another said, “I have to go tell everyone goodbye.” And the rich man walked away because he was rich, and he couldn’t let go of his money. Jesus called, but they did not answer.

That Is Why God Sent Christ

Our reading from Ephesians tells us: God planned for us to do good things and to live as he has always wanted us to live. That is why he sent Christ to make us what we are.

From the biography of Bob Childress, The Man Who Moved a Mountain by Richard C. Davids

"Shrouded in the mists of the Virginia Blue Ridge is a place called Buffalo Mountain. On a clear day you can see its rounded summit some five miles west of the Parkway…

Walled in by surrounding hills, the people of the Buffalo lived in a land of Brigadoon, captive to the unchanging ways of generations past. Theirs was a heritage of proud independence—but also of poverty and ignorance, fear and superstition, violence and sudden death.

God's Wisdom

The apostle Paul first visited the city of Corinth in the year 50. He had been preaching and teaching the story of Jesus for about fourteen years. Most of that time in Palestine, but shortly before he came to Corinth he established two other churches in Greece, one at Philippi and the other at Thessalonica, two significant Roman cities.

The Greek city Corinth had been destroyed by the Romans in 146 before the Common Era, and Julius Caesar revived and repopulated Corinth around 44. He settled Roman freedmen and emigrants from other parts of the Empire to relieve the strains of over population in Rome. Corinth, between two major Mediterranean seas, developed rapidly into a busy, trade city. By the time Paul arrived, it was a thriving, wealthy, Roman colony.

Because of its location it attracted people from all over the Empire and they brought with them their various religions. And while there were many religions in Corinth, scholars tell us, the city was not very “religious.” One scholar writes:

When Was Jesus Born?

Our story from Matthew this morning tells us of the visit by the Magi to Bethlehem to worship the baby Jesus. Their visit and their gifts—rare and costly —signified Jesus’ heritage as a “king.” We do not know who the magi were; the only clue is that the frankincense and myrrh have origins in Asia. We do not know when they made their visit to Bethlehem only that is must have been sometime in the first two years of Jesus’ birth.

What we do know is that there was a historical Yeshu born during Herod’s reign. We also know that the Gospel stories are rooted in the words of the Hebrew prophets. It was the prophets who told of this baby, this son of the line of David, this miracle of Mary, as the “shepherd of the people of Israel,” the savior, and the king who would save Judah. And we know it was Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, who told the stories of his birth and life.

At any given time, the Messiah could have been born. He had been prophesized for more than six hundred years; yet, this is the time, during the reign of the particularly brutal and vicious ruler Herod, that the Messiah was born.

Let There Be Peace and Let It Begin With Me

A long time ago, about 2600 years, there was a tribe of people who we called themselves the Hebrew people. And in their story we know of their trials and tribulations. We have heard about their coming together as a people and their move to Egypt because of famine. They were a captive people in Egypt, but finally a man named Moses and his sister and his brother led them out of bondage and across the deserts to just this side of their land of milk and honey. They had to fight for the right to call this land theirs, but finally, it was, and the tribe settled in the land they called Israel.

They were led by priests, governed by judges, and in the face of conquering emperors created a government ruled by kings. They built a temple to Jehovah, fought the surrounding tribes, fought foreign invaders, they quarreled among themselves and finally divided into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah, lost ten of their tribes, were dispersed by the Babylonians, who destroyed their Temple. Half a century later they were returned to Israel, built a second temple to Jehovah and were then conquered by a series of foreigners and then great Roman Empire. All the while, before and after their exile to Babylon, Jehovah brought forth to the Hebrew people the Prophets. The great Prophets and the Minor Prophets, too, were always telling them to follow the Commandments more closely or repent from their wicked ways. According to the prophets, they were a conquered people because they were not devoted enough to Yahweh, their one, true God.

The Light of Hope in the Darkness of Our Lives

One of the most recognized and most quoted verses from the Bible is from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (13 verse 13) “And now abideth faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” Look at our three chancel windows we see the symbols for faith, hope, and love. Love’s window is higher than the other two windows, but all three essential components of a life well-lived in the teachings of Jesus.

The anchor, symbol for hope was an early Christian symbol commonly found in the Roman catacombs. Scholars believe it was a symbol of the early Christians’ hope in their risen Christ and was inspired by the New Testament letter to the Hebrews Chapter 6, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”

When I first came to Universalist National I thought the anchor in the window and the name of our newsletter The Anchor had something to do with John Murray, the “Father of Universalism” in America who sailed to the United States in July 1770. It was at the darkest, most challenging time of his life. His only son, his mother, a brother, and three of his sisters had recently died. Added to sorrow over these deaths, Murray had serious disagreements with friends and two brother-in-laws. The financial burdens of his wife’s illness, other debts, and his own declining health, including serious problems with his eyesight, brought Murray to the tragic condition of considering suicide.

We cannot live well without hope.

After Thanksgiving What Do You Do With The Leftovers?

Thanksgiving—a time of thanks giving and truth telling.
The truth about our nation…it is a country rooted in every other country in the world. And the reason we have Thanksgiving is to be thankful that human beings, under challenging circumstances, in little wooden boats with sails and little ability to keep food edible over long ocean journeys, could move themselves across great ocean distances, encounter the hardships of strange lands, strange weather, different flora and fauna, could survive, and eventually thrive. It is a time to be thankful for the survival of all who came to this land and made it what it is – for us – the positive and the negative.

We all know the story and we are not going to emphasis the horrid treatment of our indigenous peoples; but we cannot have Thanksgiving without lifting up their lives and the lessons they tried to teach us.

My friends who grew up in other nations or whose roots are in other nations around the world celebrate Thanksgiving. It is not a European American tradition so much as it is an United States tradition. It does not matter where a person grew up; if they are living in the United States today, then one is comfortable celebrating this unique Thanksgiving holiday. In fact, my friends tell me, that it is the one holiday everybody they know celebrates—regardless of their religion. Manish, you know our friend from Nepal who recently moved to Albany. He called me Thursday to wish me--and you, too--Happy Thanksgiving!

Answering God's Call

My growing up years were in a small town that had an airport. I remember playing outside in the yard and every time I’d see a plane take off into the wild, blue yonder, I’d want to be on it. Something called.

I grew up, and went to college. When my fiancé graduated from Texas A&M, I became a bride and he became a first lieutenant in the United States Army. Less than a year later, I was the warrior’s wife waiting for my husband to come back from Viet Nam.

Wounded in Viet Nam, he recovered at Brook Army medical center in San Antonio, and then we moved to Houston. It just so happened that our new home was on a flight path into Houston Hobby. Now, I was a happily married woman, but when I saw those big jets fly off, I wanted to be on them. Something called.

After we had our son, we moved to the northwest part of Houston, and our home was on a flight path into Intercontinental Airport. Still happily married and young mother, every time I saw one of those huge jets flying off for only God knew where, I wanted to be on it. Something called.

All Souls Day A Communion Service

All Saints Day November 1 and All Souls Day November 2 are the two days of the year when the Roman Catholic Church calls its people to remember those who have died. They are two days set aside to celebrate the lives and the memories of the dearly departed.

Anthropologists tell us, that throughout humankind’s story and throughout many cultures, there have been special days designated to remember those who have “gone before.” Two months of the Aztec calendar were devoted to the dead. The ninth month was dedicated to deceased infants and the tenth month included a great feast for deceased adults. In the northern peoples of Europe, celebrations honoring the dead were part of the fall equinox rituals.

Dying for God

This is the exploration I promised in the sermon Judas the Betrayer. It looks at Paul’s role in the culture of martyrdom in the first three centuries of Christianity, it considers the development of Christianity and Rabbinical Judaism in relationship to each other, and it gives us a look at the martyr’s justification for martyrdom. I will end the sermon with the question: From 325 until the Reformation in the sixteenth century where were the believers in the forgotten, heretical stories?

It is been said, “You have to be willing to die for a cause if it is worth anything.”

Historians tell us, dying for a cause validates and enhances the value of the cause.

The Priesthood of All Believers

Where is Howard? Do you know who I am talking about? The man who sat right over there, close to the column. He came nearly every Sunday the first three or four months I was here. He came to hospitality after church. I made it a point to talk to Howard each time he came to church, as I try to with each and everyone. He was a quiet, soft-speaking person.

One day I saw him walking in front of the church, headed toward downtown. I stopped him, he said he was on his way to a mission—I don’t remember the name—where they served lunch to the homeless. He said he volunteered there as much as he could.

That was the last time I saw Howard.

The Hardship of Accepting Grace

Grace is an abstract word. We cannot point to an object and say, “That’s grace.”

We can point to people, or at least those named Grace, and say, “There’s Grace.” When you think of women named Grace, you may remember the most famous—Princess Grace Kelly—or you may think of someone provocative—Nancy Grace—or, you may know of the computer genius, Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, who paved the way for women in computers.

There is also, grace before a meal.

However, the grace I am talking about today is an act, or event that is fueled by love—unconditional love. It is the grace that is undeserved and unearned.

The Cost of Relationship with God

I grew up in a small town that had an airport. It was a hub for the larger Houston airport. I remember playing outside in the yard and every time I’d see a plane take off into the wild, blue yonder, I’d want to be on it. Kind of strange for a young child, don’t you think? I grew up, and went to college. In those days, especially in the south, most young women went to university to get their M. R. S. degree. When my boyfriend graduated from Texas A&M, I became a bride and he became a first lieutenant in the United States Army. Less than a year later, I was the warrior’s wife waiting for my husband to come back from Viet Nam.

Singing to God

From the fourth century on, Catholic worship services have been called the “liturgy of the hours” or “canonical hours” and there were eight services throughout the twenty-four hour day.

Vatican II, the twenty-first ecumenical council of the Catholic Church changed the number services from eight to seven.

Catholic churches in the world do not usually offer all seven services, but you will find the seven services celebrated in the convents and monasteries around the world.

In fact, Vatican II significantly changed the liturgy for churches around the world.

Now, in Europe, there was one particular monastery whose religious calling was to sing every service. Their entire liturgy was in song; there was no talking only singing.

Pick Me, Pick Me, Pick Me First

We learn very early that our efforts are often rewarded.

We recognize a smile when we are about four months old. We learn to smile back at the person who smiles at us and we are rewarded with laughter and a hug. We crawl and there are oohs and ahs. Walking means hugs and clapping and possibly rewarding ourselves with an object from the newly-discovered coffee table.

Yes, we learn early that our efforts are often rewarded.

When we are playing outside on the playground at recess or in the neighborhood, there always came a time when someone suggested a game that required teams. Instinctively we want to be picked, some of us holler, “Pick me, pick me, I want to be first.” Others of us suffer a flash of childhood anxiety, wanting to “be worthy of being picked,” to be one that both leaders wanted. Others of us might have suffered anxiety because we knew we wouldn’t be picked first, but hopeful that something in us was worthy of being “team players.”

Gotta Serve Somebody

Sermon preached by by Dave Skidmore, 26 Aug 2007

Bob Dylan sings:

You may be an ambassador
To England or France
You might like to gamble
You might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You might be a socialite
With a long string of pearls
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody
Yes indeed, you’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well it might be the Devil
Or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

Some months back I heard that song -- I think it was background music on a Sopranos re-run -- and I had an immediate, indignant reaction. I thought, “What do you mean? I gotta serve somebody? I don’t have to serve nobody. I serve myself -- buddy.” Then I asked myself, “Why the pique?”

God and Democracy

Sermon preached by Rev. Henley 8 July 2007

In Matthew 22, Luke 14, and the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus told a parable of a great wedding feast. He was at the time, a guest at a great banquet, and he turned to another guest and said, the Kingdom of God is like a great banquet. He goes on to say a rich man was preparing a banquet and he sent his servants to the invited guests to tell them everything is ready, you can come now. His guests, though, declined; All of them, it seemed had excuses. One had to go look at a newly purchased field, another had to tend to some recently bought oxen, and another had recently been married and could not attend.

The host, angry at his invited guests, told his servants to

'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.' "'Sir,' the servant said, 'what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.' "Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.'

There are several ways to understand the meaning of this parable; however, since the contemporary search for the historical Jesus has become a dominant theological approach many scholars call this Jesus’ “radical call for inclusion.”

Count Me In

Sermon preached by Rev. Henley 24 June 2007

A long time ago, at an old Baptist church in a little country town, there was a man named James, but they called him Jimbo. Now Jimbo couldn’t do much, because he had had polio when he was a little boy, and one of his legs was partially paralyzed. And, oh, yes, he wasn’t very smart, because he was born at home and he needed oxygen when he was born, but there wasn’t any, of course, but he lived anyway, so he was just a “little different” than his brothers and sisters.

Jimbo, despite his challenges, and perhaps because of his challenges, was one of the most beloved people in his church. Everybody befriended him. He said that it was his job to make people laugh. He also said his favorite story in the Bible was about Jesus feeding the thousands. He said it was his favorite, because his favorite thing about church was the potluck suppers. And while Jesus had the biggest potluck ever, Jimbo didn’t know if it was the best, because Aunt Ethylene’s apple pie made their potluck suppers the best, and he didn’t think Jesus served Aunt Ethylene’s apple pie.

Whenever they needed volunteers to do things around the church there was Jimbo, right there in the middle of whatever was going on. Whenever anyone brought up any idea for service or serving others, the first voice you’d hear was Jimbo, and he’d say, “Count me in.”

“Unjustly Accused, Fortunate Escape” Or “A Letter from Barabbas”

Sermon preached by Rev. Lillie M. Henley 1 Apr 2007

Our exploration today will focus on Jesus’ triumphant entry to Jerusalem at Passover and the events which led to the moment he was handed over to the Roman soldiers for execution. I will read to you a midrash story “The Epistle of Barabbas.”

Many of us have read enough books and seen enough on the History Channel to have a clear vision in our minds about the Palestine in the first century. However, there are a few ideas which of which we need to keep in mind.

For thousands of years, the Hebrew people were primarily subject to foreign rule, with only brief periods of independence. Romans ruled Palestine through the Hebrew Sadduceean priests. These priests tolerated and cooperated with the Roman governor and enjoyed a privileged life style. In general, however, the Hebrews distrusted and hated the Roman Empire. History tells us, that at the time of Jesus’ birth, the local Roman ruler, King Herod had initiated a massacre of all male, Hebrew infants. Herod was also responsible for placing forbidden idols within the Hebrew temple. There was a collective hatred for anything Roman.

Too Busy To Die

Sermon preached by Rev. Lillie M. Henley 4 Mar 2007

This sermon is about dying, however, before I begin, I wanted to tell you something humorous about death. Now some of you who are in the medical field already know this, but I did not, and I thought it quite informative.

Dr. Sherwin Nuland, in his book How We Die, wrote, “Everybody is required to die of a named entity, [not only] by order of the [U. S.] Department of Health and Human Services but also … [by] the global [policy] of the World Health Organization. In the thirty-five years as a licensed physician, I have never had the temerity to write ‘Old Age’ on the death certificate, knowing that the form would be returned to me with a terse note from some official record-keeper informing me that I had broken the law. Everywhere in the world, it is illegal to die of old age.”

Makes me feel good, how about you? We won’t have to die of “old age!”

Jeremiah and Jesus

Sermon preached by Rev. Lillie M. Henley 11 Feb 2007

The Gospels tell us Jesus’ lineage is rooted in Abraham and Isaac and their descendents. They tell us Jesus’ ancestors are the great Hebrew kings.

Yet, there’s a dissonance for me, because I see Jesus’ lineage, not in the line of the Kings, but in the line of the great prophets.

After we explore this prophetic connection, I will address the blessings and the warnings of Jeremiah and Jesus.

For the last two decades, we have come to see Jesus as the radical, Mediterranean peasant. John Meier calls Jesus in his extensive three-volume work a “Marginal Jew.”

Jesus was the rabbi from Nazareth called to serve God and his people in a time when the Hebrew people felt the fever of revolution. It was in Jesus’ life-time we find the roots of the zealots who caused the destruction of the temple and the Diaspora of the Hebrews in the year 70 of our common era.

Jesus was a man called to a demanding, life-giving struggle. So were the ancient Hebrew prophets. We do not know the life of Jesus between the days of his twelve-year-old temper tantrum in the Temple, and the beginning of his ministry. Nor do we know if he struggled with his call. Did he anguish over his fate, just as the prophets of the Hebrew people? Did he want to run away like Jonah? Did he have doubts like Isaiah and Jeremiah?

Our Third Principle and the Call to be Fishers of Men

Sermon preached by Rev. Lillie M. Henley 4 Feb 2007

Today we continue our series of sermon on the Unitarian Universalist Seven Principles. For our guests this morning, we find those listed on the page right before hymn no 1 in the gray hymnal. The principles begin with the words that “We the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote: and then there’s a list of seven principles. The third is “…we affirm and promote Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.”

The story of these principles is rooted in the tradition of religious freedom that reaches back to the late 1700s and the fight for independence of our country. The pioneers who settled these great United States, the Puritans, the revolutionaries who fought for the freedom to govern themselves, are the same people who fostered among themselves, people who came to believe in religious freedom.

Freedom to interpret the Bible as “reasonable” people

Freedom to worship as they felt called to worship

Freedom to demand tolerance from the established churches

Two Great Men

January 30th is the anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. For me, Gandhi represents a spiritual presence of which I am in awe. His life-long commitment to non-violent protest of oppression and tyranny has something to say to us today. And so does the life-long work of Rabindranath Tagore, winner of a Nobel Prize in literature.

Tagore was Gandhi’s contemporary, less than a decade older than Gandhi was, and they were friends from the time they met in 1913.

This is not a biographical sermon. It is a sermon about their contributions, what they shared in common and in what ways they were so different. I will also talk about a man named Hammargren—unknown to history, but very meaningful to each of us.

Tagore is the brilliant, dazzling intellect,
Gandhi the devout spiritual leader, and
Hammargren is the dedicated servant – all models and inspiration for us. I will bring Hammargren in at the end of the sermon.

Let Your Love Overflow

Sermon preached by Rev. Lillie Mae Henley, 10 Dec 2006

There was an elderly couple who had been going to church together for nigh on forty years. The wife died, and the man quit going to church. Months went by, and when people called him or stopped by to visit, they encouraged him to come back to church. He said, simply, “I can’t go anymore without Ethylene.

Well, a new minister joined the church, and everyone told her about Samuel. They talked about how faithful the couple used to be, and how much they missed their friends. They wanted Samuel to come back, but he wouldn’t.

The new minister went to visit Samuel. He invited her in, and they sat down in front of a nice, warm fire. He didn’t say anything else; he just sat there quietly rocking. The minister took a fire iron and slowly pulled out onto the hearth a small piece of burning wood. The minister didn’t say a word, she just sat there and both of them stared at the small piece of burning wood. Soon, it burned out and grew cold. The minister still didn’t say a word.

After a while, she pushed the small piece of wood back into the fire and it immediately lit up and began burning. Some time passed. The minister then spoke, “Samuel, our church is a fireplace, and our people are the wood. When we are together, we burn bright, nourishing each other, creating warmth for others, and sustaining each other in love.

Jesus Has Already Come and My Sister Died Yesterday

Sermon preached by Rev. Lillie Mae Henley, 3 Dec 2006

When I was twelve, I couldn’t wait to die. At that time, I was very much a literal Christian—Southern Baptist—so, I knew, by God’s grace, I was going to Heaven. Actually, I couldn’t wait to die because I was going to tell God, just exactly what he did wrong down here on earth.

What did a twelve-year old child, really, have to say to God that was so important?

Hunger—children starving—I saw those commercials on television that asked for money. I believe the commercials were for the “Save the Children Foundation.” My mother, only reinforced my notion that children everywhere were starving because she used to say, eat everything on your plate, because there are children going hungry in China, or Africa, or India, wherever she thought they were starving that day.

What else did I want to say to God?

Well, I’d heard about integration on the radio and on the television. I saw the news reports coming out of Alabama, the state were my father grew up, and Mississippi. I had also seen, with my own eyes, the big yellow school bus that went right past my school to take the Black children in our town to schools in Beaumont, 15 miles away. I asked my mother one time why the bus drove those children to Beaumont when they could go to my school, and she said, “Because some people are permanently stupid, Lillie, just permanently stupid.”

What else?

My friend in the fourth grade died of leukemia and one of the twins two streets over drowned when we were in the sixth grade.

It was just too much to have children die, and I thought God ought to have done something about it.

Sojourner Truth, a Story for Thanksgiving

Sermon preached by Rev. Lillie Mae Henley 26 Nov 2005

Thanksgiving is for gratitude and we are grateful for Sojourner Truth, born Isabella Baumfree.

She was born in 1979 on a New York farm in Ulster County into a Dutch-speaking home. Her parents, Elizabeth and James Baumfree, were slaves, and all thirteen of their children were born into slavery.

Biographers tell us that Isabella’s mother taught her three important lessons:

Always tell the truth
Believe in God
Ask God for help when you are in trouble

In an environment where slaves lied as a matter of course, usually to keep from being punished in a senseless and accusatory environment, Elizabeth taught Sojourner that no matter the consequences, truth is always better than a lie.

Spiritual Practice and a Spiritual Director

Dialogue between the Reverend Alida DeCoster and
the Reverend Lillie M. Henley 19 Nov 2006

DeCoster: Rebecca Ann Parker shared a story about a spiritual experience she had with her brothers when she was young. The story is in Proverbs of Ashes : Violence, Redemptive Suffering, and the Search for What Saves Us which she co-wrote with Rita Nakashima Brock. When Rebecca was a teen, she went hiking with her brothers. The day was foggy and the only reason they could hike, was that they had been on this mountain many times in their young lives. Actually, they could not even see where they were going, but the knew the way to the top. Just as they reached the summit, the clouds cleared, the sun shone brightly, and they could see the pinnacle of the next mountain. It was such a beautiful, once-in-a-lifetime experience, it took their breaths away, and they stood for many moments not speaking, only taking in the beautiful revealed sight, until the clouds closed around them and they could no longer see anything but their immediate place.

Parker wrote that spiritual experiences are like that. We struggle to experience spiritual awakening, and it happens when we least expect it, allows us to “see and know” for just a moment, and then it is gone!

Stewardship

Sermon preached by Rev. Lillie Mae Henley 12 Nov 2006

Through my research, I have read many sermons on “stewardship” and “giving.” Many of them began with an “explanation.” Here are a couple of examples:

• I almost didn’t put the title in last week’s order of service, I was afraid if you saw it, you wouldn’t come back this week.


• I want to be honest this morning about “tithing.” This is a challenging topic—one that is personally uncomfortable. In the past year I have preached on difficult passages of scripture that are a source of controversy. I have even preached on sex. I think talking about sex is easier than talking about money.

Talking about money is difficult, but sometimes, a preacher has to do what a preacher has to do!

Not I, But God In Me

Sermon on the Unitarian Universalist First Principle, To Affirm and Promote the
Inherent Worth and Dignity of Every Person, preached by the Rev. Lillie Mae Henley, 5 Nov 2006

The Seven Principles of the Unitarian Universalist Association are in the gray hymnal, one page before the first hymn. Because we are a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association, we are exploring these seven principles to discover what they might mean for us at Universalist National Memorial Church.

In the introductory sermon on these principles, I shared with you some of the history of these principles and how they reflect our Unitarian and Universalist heritage.

We are a free church with no church doctrine or religious creeds. Our Unitarian Universalist story in the United States has been one of opposition to the established, religious orthodoxy of the Puritans.

Many have misconceptions about Unitarians and Universalists. Because we are a free church, they believe we can believe “anything we want” to be UUs. That is far from the truth, but I heard a story…

Women in the Bible

Sermon preached by the Rev. Lillie Mae Henley, Sunday 22 Oct 2006

Have you heard about Adam, the first man?
And his sons Cain and Abel?
Have you heard about Noah and how he built the ark?
Have you heard about Abraham, the father of many nations?
Have you heard about Isaac and his covenant with Yahweh?
Have you heard of Jacob who wrestled with the angel?
Have you heard about Joseph and his coat of many colors?
Have you heard about Moses who parted the Red Sea?
And you’ve heard of Job, and Jonah, and Saul and Solomon?
So many men.
How many more men do you know from the Bible?
But, what of the women?

Ramadan and Rosh Hashanah

Sermon preached by the Reverend Lillie Mae Henley, 23 Sep 2006

There is a Yiddish folk tale about forgiveness:

There are two elderly gentlemen Joe and Harry who grew up in the same neighborhood in New York City. They have been antagonizing each other since they were little boys.

Joe meets Aaron in the foyer of the synagogue at Rosh Hashanah. “I bear you no grudge, Harry. For this coming New Year, I wish you what you wish me.”

“So, Joe, you’re starting up again?”

Rosh Hashanah and the Jewish High Holy Days began at sundown this past Friday. Ramadan began yesterday.

Both Ramadan and Rosh Hashanah are about right relationship, forgiveness, and paying attention to God, regardless of what name is called.

The Paradox Principle

Sermon preached by the Reverend Lillie M. Henley 17 Sep 2006

In our reading from Mark, we see Jesus, deeply involved in his ministry. A ministry that taught a radically different Hebrew religion. He knew what he taught was revolutionary—not only for his people, but in the eyes of the Romans. His followers thought, when he was talking about the “end of days,” and “the kingdom to come,” that he was talking about an end to Roman authority.

We know differently.

Creating a Church of Unconditional Love

Sermon preached by the Reverend Lillie Henley 10 Sep 2006

A police car pulls up in front of Grandma Bessie's house, and Grandpa Morris gets out, along with a polite policeman who explained to Bessie, "This elderly gentleman said that he was lost in the park...and couldn't find his way home."

"Oh, Morris," said Grandma, "You've been going to that park for over 30 years! So how could you get lost?"

Leaning close to Grandma, so that the policeman couldn't hear, Morris whispered, "I wasn't lost.....I was just too tired to walk home, and I needed to get here!"

Home, the place you need to go when you're tired or lonely.
Home, the place you look for when you've lost your way.
Home, the place you return when you've explored the world and need comfort.
Home is truly where your heart is.
Where you are safe,
Where you're loved.
And that home is best when the love you find there is unconditional.

Mother, I Wash My Rice Now

Sermon preached by the Rev. Lillie Mae Henley 3 Sep 2006

A friend once told me a story about her and her mother. She said that when her mother could no longer care for herself, she moved her mother into her home. Now, Lynn had a family ritual of making a nice big breakfast for her family every Saturday morning. She continued to do that after her mother moved in. Her mother would sit in the kitchen and watch her make the breakfast, and every time Lynn would make scrambled eggs, her mother would say, “You ought to put water in them, not milk, they’ll be fluffier.”

Lynn would reply, “Mother, it’s my kitchen, my breakfast, and my eggs, I’ve been putting milk in my scrambled eggs since I got married. I’m doing it my way, it’s milk!” Of course, Lynn said, “I tried to be as nice as I could, but you know how it is with mothers.”

“You know how it is with mothers.”

Yes, I do, but tell me one thing Lynn, now that she’s gone, how do you scramble your eggs?

“I add water now, it really does make them fluffier!”

There is something about mother daughter relationships—or better yet—mother daughter conflict, that for most mothers and daughters, it is a challenge.

Our Enemies Are Not ONLY “Out There” - They Are Also Within Ourselves

Sermon preached by the Rev. Lillie Mae Henley 27 Aug 2006

In our reading today, Paul is writing to a group of new Christians. We do not know what these Christians were like before, but what we do know, is that they have “changed” from what they were before to a people of faith. For these new Christians, Paul was “the encourager.” He said, yes, there are outside forces trying to destroy you, to “stamp out” this new Christian faith, but the real enemies, the real challenges to you new Christians are the spiritual forces of evil.

What he meant in the context of that time, was, a reminder that Christians are to focus their lives toward God who is outside of time and outside of this world. This new faith offered a life free of all the bondages of human existence—physical, emotional, and spiritual pain. What you do is pray “in the Spirit at all times” and depend upon God to help you to this new Christian who walks with God now and forever.

There is no potion, no magic here, no ecstatic conversion. There is the very real effort required of these new Christians to put on the “armor” of God, to participate in their own transformation to a higher level of existence.

Wisdom, We Seek, We Find

Sermon preached by the Rev. Lillie Mae Henley 20 Aug 2006

There was a rabbi having a late afternoon picnic with her young teenagers, a chance for some family time before the new school year started. They were quietly admiring the beautiful sunset as they finished their meal. A voice from the Heavens spoke, and said, “Rabbi Rachel, you have been such a remarkable servant throughout your life. I believe I would like to offer you a gift. You may pick one of these three: infinite power, infinite riches, or infinite wisdom.”

Without hesitation, she said, “I’ll pick infinite wisdom.” A mighty rush of wind blew by and then stillness. She sat there, looking stunned, but very wise. Her son said, “Well mom, what do you have to say, oh wise one?”

“I think I should’ve picked infinite riches!”

Wisdom, something we all want. When our teenagers are challenging our intelligence, as well as our sanity. When our little ones have problems that overwhelm us. When our parents need the kind of help that we never dreamed they would need.

Wisdom is something we all want.

Imitate God and Love One Another

Sermon preached by the Rev. Lillie Mae Henley 13 Aug 2006

“If you can’t say anything good about someone else, don’t say anything at all.” How many times did you hear this when you were growing up? Margueritte, my mother, said it countless times to me. And what is so strange, now, looking back, is that I rarely heard her say anything negative about others.

It is strange because it is difficult to live your life this way. Earlier in my life, for instance, I’ve found it much easier to say negative things about people than positive things. I’ll sit in front of the television and say things like, “He needs his teeth straightened,” or “Where did s/he get that outfit, it’s horrible,” or “If I had his money, I’d get a face lift!” Then I’d catch myself, ask who are you to be saying these things?

To be honest, I try not to do this anymore. I’ve done a lot of spiritual growth work, but there are still times when I forget Margueritte’s wise words.

The Light and the Dark of It

Candidating sermon preached by the Reverend Lillie Mae Henley 26 Mar 2006

John 3:16 -- For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever should believe on him should not perish, but have ever-lasting life.

You don’t grow up in a fundamental Christian church and not learn these words by heart. They are the very foundation for the modern Christian church. They bring comfort, peace, and a sense of rightness about the world for many Christians. While John 3:16 is a formula for salvation for some, other Christians, like us Universalists, see the words as an invitation to enter into a relationship with God.

We are not literal Christians; we are somewhat like Jews, who look at their religious writings at many different levels: as symbol, metaphor, myth, allegory, or history to name a few. The first century Jewish philosopher Philo found as many as 11 different ways of interpreting the Hebrew writings of his day.

We hear John 3:16 and say to our self, what does this mean to me?

Looking for God

Pre-candidating sermon preached 26 Feb 2006 by the Reverend Lille Mae Henley

Once, a young woman asked me where she could find God when she wasn’t in church? She said I’ve looked for God in books, I study all the time—the Bible, too. I’ve looked for God in my backyard, and, sometimes, sometimes, I think, I feel a Presence. But, not often, she said, not often enough.

She is searching for God, and she knows when she’s found what she’s looking for, although it is “not often enough.”

Is she any different than Jesus?
We find Jesus going up to a high mountain.
He went to the desert looking.
Later in his story, he goes to Gethsemane.
He often sought solitary refuge.
He, too, was looking for God.

Why do we have to look for God?
We look for God, because, life is hard.

The Virtues of Being Two-Faced

A Sermon Preached 1 January 2006 by Deacon Dave Skidmore

Good morning and Happy New Year! I trust you didn’t over-indulge last night. I, myself, did not over-indulge. But -- don’t press me on the definition of over. I suspect that if you had over-indulged, you might not be here. You’d be home, sleeping, or maybe sipping coffee. Today, of course, is New Year’s Day, so I’d like to offer some musings I hope are appropriate for the occasion.

The first is that there seems to be two ways to approach this holiday: We can look backward over the past year or forward to the coming year. Actually, many of us do both, in succession, looking backward on New Year’s Eve and forward on New Year’s Day. I don’t know about you, but, depending on how I am feeling on a given New Year, I gravitate toward one perspective or the other: backward toward the past or forward toward the future. What I can’t seem to do is look forward and backward simultaneously. Of course, we could, like Buddhists, strive to always live in the present moment. There’s a lot to be said for that. But, the problem is we do have memories of the past and we do have expectations and hopes for the future. Hence, the title of this sermon: “The Virtues of Being Two-Faced.”

An Inner Garden

Sermon preached by Deacon Sue Mosher 16 Oct 2005

Now that autumn is truly here, we can turn our attention to one of the key questions of the season just passed: Do you carefully spit out every watermelon seed? Or do you worry, as a child might, that a stray seed left unspat might germinate and grow into a vine, entangling the intestines, and rupturing into fruit. Maybe we should check one of the urban legends Web sites to make sure that hasn’t already happened.

Fortunately, the inner garden I want to talk about this morning is not one that entwines your entrails. But it’s not just mental image either. It involves the senses and the spirit.

Jonah Reconsidered

Sermon preached 28 July 2005 by Deacon Dave Skidmore

Good morning. I’m going to start with a joke. You may have heard it. Like the story of Jonah, it involves both water and God:

A man lived in an area struck by a terrible flood. The waters rose about his house and he climbed onto the roof and prayed for deliverance. A rescue crew in a rowboat appeared, but the man on the roof turned down the offer of help. “God will save me,” he said. Well, the water kept rising and along came another rescue crew, this time in a speedboat. The man on the roof gave the same answer: “God will save me.” Finally, there wasn’t much space left on the roof and a rescue helicopter hovered overhead and lowered a rope ladder. The man on the roof refused it, saying, “God will save me.” Well, the water kept rising and he was swept away and drowned. Upon arriving in heaven, he marched straight to God and complained, “I prayed to You to save me, I had faith, and yet You did nothing.” God gave him a puzzled look, and replied, “I sent two boats and a helicopter, what more did you expect?”

Liberal Christianity and Humanism: Paul Meets Maslow

Sermon preached 3 July 2005 by Deacon Perry King

What a privilege to stand here in our beautiful cathedral given to us by our Universalist ancestors. We connect with the faith they held when reciting our 1899 declaration of faith that defines our understanding of Christianity as leading to the final harmony of all souls with God. In the 19th century, this was a radical, unorthodox faith that set them apart from those who would separate the human family into the eternally damned and the saved who inherit eternal life. We may have some different ideas today about what this statement means to us but we still can’t make such a statement without seeing all humans as going somewhere, as headed towards something good, towards wholeness or what we have traditionally called God. I’d like to preach on the subject of this moving toward God or wholeness from the point of view of two great thinkers, Abraham Maslow and Paul of Tarsus. Maslow known as one of the founders of humanistic psychology stated that all people yearn toward self-actualization or tend toward it. Paul who spent much of his time as a behavioral consultant to the early church shows us some fruits of what we might become if we follow the path of faith.

The Top 10 Reasons Why Children Should Be Seen and Heard

Sermon preached 12 June 2005 by Stephen, age 12, on UNMC Youth Sunday

Good Morning! I’d like to start with a quote from the Bible:

People were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they sternly ordered them not to do it. But Jesus called for them and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to these that the kingdom of God belongs.

– that’s from the book of Luke, Chapter 18, verses 15 – 16.

Today, on Youth Sunday, I’d like to explain to you why there are at least 10 good reasons why ADULTS, not just parents, but all ADULTS, should listen to kids and treat them with respect. This seems like a good and proper topic for us to think about on this annual Youth Sunday. First I’ll list my 10 reasons--which are not necessarily in their rank order—and then I will explain them.

Recoloration

Sermon preached by Deacon Sue Mosher, 8 May 2005

The four of us driving up to Gettysburg last September did not know what to expect. The college art gallery we were going to visit had braced for the worst, hiring extra security guards and preparing for protests. The artist, John Sims, had played it safe and stayed away from the opening [1], which had taken place the evening before our visit. He had also withdrawn plans for a performance piece that would have taken place outside the gallery at Gettysburg College – the symbolic lynching of a Confederate battle flag.

Glad and Generous Hearts

Sermon preached 17 Apr 2005 by Rev. Mary Katherine Morn at a joint worship service of All Souls Church, Unitarian, and Universalist National Memorial Church

I remember when my older brother Chuck was ten years old he got the job of vacuuming the stairs in our house. Needless to say there were a number of things that Chuck was more interested in than vacuuming. After he had done only a few stairs, he decided that he could surely make the vacuum cleaner more efficient. He carried it down to the landing and turned it upside down. Then with all of his ten-year-old curiosity and dexterity he managed to take it completely apart.

Belts and bolts. Cords and canisters. A couple of wheels, a bag, some switches and several totally unidentifiable parts. All lying on the landing. Chuck must have been sitting there staring at them for several minutes before my mother found him. Just staring at the parts wondering how in the world he would recreate the vacuum cleaner that he was supposed to be using.

More Intimate for the Distance

Sermon preached 10 Apr 2005 by Ben Van Dyne

I have always depended on the possibility of meaning in all experience. Nothing is so trivial that I don’t want to discern its significance and put it in a universal context. Every bite of an apple, every bus ride, every conversation, offers transcendent grace, if only we will choose to perceive it. The deeply-lived life is painted stroke by stroke.

In October I began my travels through Mexico and Central America. I was excited that my route through southern Mexico took me through the city of Oaxaca on last year’s Day of the Dead, November second. El Día de los Muertos is a very big deal in that part of Mexico — Memorial Day, Halloween, and a bit of Mardi Gras all in one — and is a vital event in the spiritual lives of many of Mexico’s indigenous peoples. For a person determined to draw meaning from the world, it offered an marvelous opportunity.

There Shall Be a Day

Easter sermon preached 27 Mar 2005 by Rev. Mary Katherine Morn

How glorious it is to gather together with those who seek hope and believe in hope and find hope. What joy is found here. The prophets foretold that “there shall be a day.” And this is the day for us. We have a message of hope to share, a message of love. May this be our day of hope—and may the redeeming message of love we have received save us.

All of a sudden it seems there are messages all around about sacrifice and suffering. Perhaps it is the influence of last year’s release of Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ.” Maybe it’s been around all along. Maybe I missed it because of my liberal Christian upbringing. Episcopalians tend to find it unseemly to focus on the cross. All of a sudden, though, the cross, and the blood of the cross are everywhere. It seems all of a sudden anyway: that people are very focused on suffering and sacrifice.

Holy Hospitality

Sermon preached by Deacon Sue Mosher, 9 Jan 2005

Experienced travelers know that you need to take refreshment and inspiration where you can find them. But even with as many frequent flyer miles as I’ve logged, I did not expect to find a catchphrase for today’s sermon on the wall of Boston’s Logan Airport a couple of months ago as I was on my way to the Revival conference held by the Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship. Yet, there on a poster advertising an expensive watch were the beautiful face of Audrey Hepburn and the slogan, “Elegance is an Attitude.”

Suddenly, the carefully prepared notecards and props that I was carrying for my Revival workshop on “Jesus and Hospitality” focused into a single, simple sentence: “Hospitality is an attitude.” And I began a search for a face or another image to go on the matching poster in my mind.

Resolution and Repentance

Sermon preached by Rev. Mary Katherine Morn, 2 Jan 2005

Annie Dillard’s book For the Time Being is a good read at this time of year. I had started thinking about it even before last Sunday’s devastating earthquake and Tsunami struck the Indian Ocean region of the world. Dillard recalls in her 1999 book the 1991 tidal wave in Bangladesh that killed 138,000 people in that country. She asks how we can possibly understand such numbers. Her book is, in part, a meditation on the conundrum of humanity’s relationship with the rest of the universe. She paints a vivid picture of the vast effect our little lives create, and of the seeming insignificance of one life in relation to the vastness of life. The mystery of numbers is a running theme throughout the book. By numbers (and in other themes throughout the book) Dillard “puts us in our place.”

Humbled in Exalted Places: Bringing Our Faith to Democracy

Sermon preached by Rev. Mary Katherine Morn, 24 Oct 2004

In my extensive research for this sermon I have uncovered what must be the central issue for us to consider this year as we go to the voting booth. Of course there are many complex issues in this race. Subtleties of difference that make me wonder if there really is a choice in this election year. But in one careful analysis by a respected commentator, I discovered the crux of the question for this year’s election—whatever race we might be thinking about.

It’s a question no one has had the courage to ask the candidates. “Why did the chicken cross the road?”

The Yeast Factor

Sermon preached by Sue Mosher 5 Sept 2004

The kingdom of heaven is like this… the kingdom of heaven is like that. The kingdom of heaven is compared to many things: a pearl of great price, a buried treasure now discovered, a great catch of fish -- all things of tremendous value. Here is the core of the gospel, the “good news” – that the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God is near at hand, calling us to that change of heart and mind that can bring us into true community with the divine.

I have just one problem with these wonderful metaphors: I really don’t understand what a kingdom is or what a powerful image the “kingdom of heaven” or “the kingdom of God” might have held for the contemporaries of Jesus.

The God Who Outgrew Itself

Sermon preached by Ben Van Dyne, August 15, 2004

“You Universalists,” said J. M. Pullman around 1900, “have squatted on the biggest word in the English language. Now the world is beginning to want that big word, and you Universalists must improve the property, or move off the premises.”

At the time, the great tension within the Universalist movement was whether, and to what extent, Universalism would be a Christian faith. Brainard Gibbons asked this very question in 1949:

“Is Universalism a Christian denomination, or is it something more, a truly universal religion? This issue [he continued] is the most vital Universalism has ever faced, for Christianity and this larger Universalism are irreconcilable. A momentous decision must be made, and soon! Unless Universalism stands for something distinctive and affirmative, it falls in[to] indistinguishable, negative nothingness—neither loved nor hated, just ignored!”

Christian Universalism, or the “larger Universalism.” You could not have both.

Death on a Hot July Afternoon (Part I)

Sermon preached by Jennifer Sandberg, July 18, 2004

Three years ago today, about 1:00 in the afternoon, on a hot, windless, July day, my father died. The rock, the sometimes unyielding granite, that had underlain our family for so long, was gone. My mother, sat keening as the enormity of what had just happened, sank in. A family friend sat with her. Her daughters could not. When my father died, I had just walked back into his room at the nursing home. It was near where they had lived the past few years and was just up the road and over a hill from my older sister, Karen. I had in my hand a cold can of soda(its called pop in Minnesota). Sitting with me on this death watch were my mother, my niece, and a family friend. I was about to sit down, when I noticed that my father’s skin color had changed from chalky white to grey. “Yes,” answered my niece, “it did just change.” I checked his pulse. There was none. I then went to get the nurse. When she came in, she got out her stethoscope and confirmed that he was gone. My children were eating lunch at their Aunt Karen’s house, who had been watching this scenario play out for months. I found a phone and called my sister. “Daddy’s gone.”, I simply said. “I’ll be right there.”, she answered. In a few minutes she and my children were. Our family friend headed out to find my other older sister, Gretta, and her husband, buying groceries for our mom. That was not a hard task, since this tiny town on the prairie had only one grocery store. There they were, loading the groceries with help from a store employee. Soon the entire town knew of my father’s death.

Death on a Hot July Afternoon (Part II)

Why have I described my parents deaths in detail? Why have I sketched out the travails with my sisters? Well, I suppose it’s a catharsis for me to talk about the events of my parent’s deaths. Perhaps its a cleansing of sorts, pack them up carefully, put them away and store them in a safe place. Maybe, since I’m an inveterate teacher, it's to educate those who haven’t yet experienced this in their life. Or perhaps, to seek to connect with those who have, in an effort not only to offer them comfort, but also to find it.

In my grief, I have been able to rely on my Universalist faith. My parents didn’t believe in any kind of life after death and they certainly didn’t believe in God. But I do, and it is very reassuring to know that they are with God and peaceful in God’s love. When I die, I know I will be reunited with them and God. I can sometimes still feel them around me, particularly my father.

Praise

Sermon preached July 11, 2004 by Dave Skidmore

Good morning. Today I will speak in praise of “praise.” But first, I must tell you that I haven’t always appreciated its importance. Before I regularly attended church, I just did not get it. In fact, I think it is fair to say that if I heard someone declare their devotion by enthusiastically exclaiming, “Praise God!”, I would have been somewhat put off. Such enthusiasm just would not have, and sometimes still doesn’t, resonate with me. I was not raised in a household of unbridled enthusiasm. I was raised in a household of the sly aside, the sardonic remark delivered with great self-satisfaction. My aunt once confided to me that my late father’s nickname in the Army, during the Second World War, was “Sergeant Sunshine.” I gather it was sarcastic. I am my father’s son.

I recall having a somewhat blasphemous, if juvenilely humorous, dialog with myself a decade or so ago. It went something like a Saturday Night Live routine: “What’s all this I hear about praising God? Does God have low self-esteem? Is God like a small child, whose crayon drawings must be praised to shore up a fragile young ego? That’s a wonderful picture God! Oh, a purple horse—very creative! What’s that you say? It’s a dog? Well, it’s the finest looking purple dog I’ve ever seen.”

The Fourth of July: When You Don't Feel Like Celebrating

A Meditation by Dave Skidmore delivered Sunday July 4, 2004

The Fourth of July, in childhood memory, is for me one of the best of all holidays, second only to Christmas. The Independence Days that I recall, growing up in Philadelphia, seem as if they were all hot days, with brilliant sunshine. Morning was time for the neighborhood parade, observed from a perch on my father’s shoulders. Afternoon might be given over to a picnic – hotdogs and hamburgers, potato salad, watermelon; and the steamy evening, to fireworks and popsicles at the neighborhood recreation center. And, as a young history buff in the city where the events giving rise to the holiday occurred, I like to think I even had an appreciation for the ideals that we were celebrating. (As an adult, I’ve also come to appreciate the Fourth of July as a rare holiday that requires no greeting cards or gifts.)

God Above All, Through All and In All

Sermon preached 6 June 2004 by Richard E. Hurst

"On earth as it is in heaven," we repeat each week in the Lord's Prayer. That is, may the divine "will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." We might ask to what degree things heavenly, things celestial, in fact "correspond," or are even supposed to correspond, with things terrestrial, with things earthly. Our first "hint" of such a correspondence comes from Genesis itself; if indeed we are bearers of the image of the God, if we are made in the imago dei, our visions of who and what God is are thus reflected back on ourselves. That is, our own descriptions of the divine reality say something about how we conceive of the human reality; they say something about how we conceive of human nature, and say something about how we view the relationship between humanity and God. Thus how we describe affairs "in heaven" to a large extent betrays how we see things right here on earth. Do we view God as a lonely despot, or do we view God as working in community; is this a community of co-equal partners or of ranked members of differing importance? Do we see God as singular or multiple, divided or one?

The Path to Joy

Remarks given by Sue Mosher 9 May 2004 at the bridging ceremony for recent graduates

Twice during my sojourn as a member of this church, I have had the opportunity to spend some time together with Dave Skidmore and Dennis Desmond -- and earlier, with Jim Blair and others -- in study and discussion of one of the most influential books on spirituality of our time – Richard Foster’s “A Celebration of Discipline,” which aims to help the reader rediscover the classic Christian spiritual disciplines, many of whose practices are lost or, at best, foreign to our modern era. Despite the appearance of that dour word “discipline” in the title, this is a “happily robust” book that can “help us to seek the kingdom of God in a more joyous and less moralistic way,” in the words of the author Madeleine L’Engle.

The final chapter turns the title on its head to speak of the discipline of celebration itself. Foster finds in celebration a central, “joyful spirit of festivity” without which prayer and fasting and service and all the other disciplines become “dull, death-breathing tools in the hands of modern Pharisees.” Yet celebration, for all its joy, doesn’t seem to come naturally to us.

Necessary and Unnecessary Suffering (Sermon preached by Dave Skidmore 25 Apr 04)

Anyone attending our church over the past few weeks will have noticed a particular theme recurring in the remarks from this pulpit, the Lenten theme of suffering. We’ve spent quite some time contemplating Jesus’ suffering and pondering the truth that you cannot arrive at Easter except by way of Good Friday--that the joy of Palm Sunday (before Good Friday) is passing but that of Easter (after Good Friday), eternal. If you will indulge me on this spring morning, this day for enjoying the newness of the world, I’d like to continue in that vein even though we are in the Easter, not the Lenten, season.

Not unreasonably, we often think of suffering as something to be avoided as much as possible and, when unavoidably encountered, to be confronted with whatever dignity and endurance we can muster. But what I’d like explore today is that Jesus’ suffering was discretionary. He had a choice.

Seeing is Believing? (sermon preached by Richard Hurst 18 Apr 04)

“Peace be with you.” These are the words in the gospel of John that Jesus utters when he returns for the first time to show the assembled apostles his wounds. Simple words, four short words, none too terribly complex, yet their order and use in the sentence is hardly something we might actually say in everyday, ordinary English. When is the last time you uttered the phrase “Peace be with you?” The phrase is not a common one, even if the words that the phrase contains are common enough. The combination of words is at best a liturgical set piece, used as a greeting in Catholic and Episcopal and in some other churches, even in a few Unitarian and Universalist congregations, where the “peace” is passed during the celebration of the Eucharist, as if “peace” were a hot potato that you could hold in your hand for a few short seconds, and then toss off to someone else. It is a formalized greeting in a formal setting, although the “be” in the sentence might seem a bit out of place; this is the “be” in the command form, though it is unclear what we are commanding of peace, and whence we are commanding peace to come so that it will be with you, as opposed to with someone else or in some other place. The phrase is not descriptive; we do not tell co-parishioners “peace is with you,” as if to describe the operative fact that peace is all around. Instead, it expresses a desire of what we might wish to have happen, as if the words that we speak were to cause some talismanic effect and have “peace” appear in our midst, from a backdrop of the actual world of war and turmoil and injustice. Upon reflection, we might recognize the phrase as being both a greeting and some form of prayer.

Discerning through Darkness

Sermon preached on Palm Sunday, April 4, 2004 by Benjamin Wooten Van Dyne

Easter provides a lasting victory, because the sorrow of death has carved in us a greater space for joy. But Palm Sunday is shallower. It is the same exultation without so deep a spring. It is a wry and superficial victory—witness the King who rides in on an ass.

The Passion is the vehicle through which the giddiness of Palm Sunday is transformed into the authentic victory of Easter. So it is with each of us: our joy must be tempered in sadness. We each go through this cycle of Palms, Passion, and Resurrection—of premature gratification, despondency, and redemption.

If I were to reduce my whole sermon to one sentence, it would be this: Don’t neglect the suffering, the Passion of your salvation drama. When darkness comes we must be careful to confront its whole depth, or the redemptive delight that follows will be equally shallow.

A Joyful Faith in the Postmodern World (sermon by Perry King)

I feel very privileged to be standing before you in this beautiful sanctuary. Just look around and think about the hope and forward expectation with which it was built by our Universalist spiritual ancestors. On behalf of all of us here, I would like to say thank you to those who planned, financed, and built this building, this labor of love and gave it as a gift to us, an unknown future generation. My topic this morning is “a joyful faith in the postmodern world.” I use the term postmodern to describe the world we live in today and show how it’s different from the world of thirty years ago. I’d like to talk about the joyful faith of our Universalist ancestors and pose the question of whether and how we can find this faith in our world today. (read more)

Re-membering (sermon by Dave Skidmore)

A sermon preached by Deacon Dave Skidmore.

I have little doubt that a thousand years from now this church will no longer stand. We will not be here, and those who remember us will not be here. (Although, if a wanderer in some far-future desert that was once Washington encounters chunks of stone, I kind of hope it’s those stones over the altar that, nearly indecipherably, spell out, “God is love and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God and God in him.”) But, in the meantime, I do not doubt at all that there are memories yet to be made here. I hope and trust that ten or twenty or thirty years from now, some of us will be here to re-member them. And I know that no matter what the future brings, that not one precious moment we have spent or will spend here is lost to the God who forgets not even one sparrow, and for whom a thousand years is like a watch in the night. For “In Him we live and move and have our being.”

Why God is Necessary to Our Humanity (sermon by David Burton)

When we think about what it means to be human, about the things that differentiate us from inanimate objects or lower life-forms, we think about our capacity to reason, to exercise our freedom to make choices, to recognize right from wrong, to love and to create and to appreciate beauty. It is these things that make us human. It is these things that constitute our humanity.

It is my contention that God is necessary to our humanity. In other words, God is a necessary predicate of our freedom, of morality, of love, of creativity and of aesthetic appreciation of beauty. Conversely, atheist philosophies — including Marxism, the Objectivism of Ayn Rand, scientific materialism or Unitarian Universalist humanism necessarily require the rejection of our humanity. These philosophies necessarily and logically require the rejection of the proposition that there is such a thing as right and wrong, the denial of our ability to make choices, and necessitate the view that love and beauty are not real.

It is only by embracing the reality of God that we may retain our humanity, our capacity for moral choices, for love and for the aesthetic appreciation of beauty. (read more)

Holy Land (Sermon by Dave Skidmore)

My topic today is “Holy Land” – Where is it? What is it? And how do you and I get there? The last question – “How do we get there?” – is, I think, the most difficult. I believe our reading today, about Jacob’s encounter in the night with the enigmatic figure at the stream called “the Jabbok,” suggests an answer. But let me first turn to the question of, “Where is the Holy Land?” (read more)

The Religion of the Heart (by the Rev. James A. Blair, 26 May 1991)

"Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7b)

I believe that it has to be the function of religion in this modern age to herald forth that old union of beauty, goodness and truth.... Religion must stand as an ally of the poet and must encourage all that is beautiful and worthy in the heart of humankind. It must ever ask the question, "When the Lord looks into the heart of man, what will he find?" Will he find a whole heart, or will he find a broken one? Will he find beauty ... and reverence, or will he find only a left ventricle and a right ventricle, a naming of parts? Will he find a deep yearning for unity, or will he find only alienation? In short, when the Lord looks into our hearts, will he find a home there, or will he find a prison?

If I Gathered a Church (1971 sermon by Rev. Seth R. Brooks)

Whenever we decide not to go to church we should remember those who are there waiting for us. Their worship cannot be complete without us. So it is, if I gathered a church, it would be to call those who would want to sit down and talk with the saints and faithful followers of all time who would be awaiting our companionship, our strength, and our love.
(read more)