Universalist National Memorial Church

“Watch with Me”: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Religionless Christianity

A sermon preached by Deacon Perry King on April 15, 2012

I'm very happy to be preaching this morning in this particular place on one of my favorite modern heroes, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I believe that he belongs very much in our liberal Universalist tradition even though he was a Lutheran for his entire life. For those of you not familiar with Bonhoeffer, I hope this will spark your interest to dig deeper into this story, as it has intrigued me since the first time I heard it. My interest in preaching on this topic developed out of my reading of a recently published book, Religionless Christianity: Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Troubled Times, by Jeffrey Pugh. (For those new to the Bonhoeffer story, you may want to read the brief biographies by James Kiefer and the Encyclopedia of World Biography.)

What exactly did he mean by "religionless Christianity"? That sounds like a contradiction, doesn't it? What could it mean to a person locked up in a Nazi prison around people for whom religious language and ritual had little meaning? In fact most of the religious people in Germany were supporting the Nazis. What could a deeply religious man do in this situation? How could he speak the good news or share his faith with the others in a most unpleasant situation?

He found a partial answer in the story of Jesus in Gethsemane, especially in his call to "watch with me". Bonhoeffer had made his choice and was now paying the price and probably was also trying to justify his choice. He had leaned towards pacifism during a lot of his ministry but had decided that, as he was as a German partially responsible for the rise of Nazism, he needed to be part of the solution, and that meant to get rid of Hitler in the only way possible. So, he made the painful choice to participate in the plot to assassinate Hitler. He saw very clearly that there was nothing in the message of Jesus that could support the mass murder of Jews and made his decision to do what must be done to protect the lives of the innocent. Now we can see a little more of what he meant by "living fully in the world".

Melting the Snowman

A sermon preached by Rev. Elizabeth R. Curtiss on March 25, 2012

An Introductory Message to Universalist National Memorial Church from the Reverend Elz Curtiss

Over the last year, since the stunning news of your minister's departure, I have watched your news and prayed for you, as people and as a congregation. Some of my dearest memories are here, both of worship leadership and of faithful community received. While staying with Deacon Sue Mosher last weekend, I made every endeavor to avoid discussing congregational politics and relations, asking simply how you are doing with your labors. When I entered the building again to preach this sermon, I experienced in a quality of worship and reflection materials that far exceeds the usual output of busy folks working on their own. Truly I was fed in our weekend together.

As we drove home later, Sue told me that you have a congregational meeting on April 15, presumably to talk about next steps forward. I have done my best to recapture this sermon, both as preached and as written, in order to help each of you prepare. Without expressing any opinions on the matter, which is yours alone, I send these words with gratitude to God and to you, for allowing me to play some small role along your journey of service to our great faith.

May God bless your reflections and strengthen your efforts, in this and in all things.

~ Rev. Elz Curtiss, Palm Sunday, 2012

He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. John 12:25

"If anyone loves his life in this world he shall lose it - she, he, they - but the ones who hate this life shall keep life eternal." That's how Jesus said it, according to the Gospel of John.

"Today the melting snowman becomes a real man." Those are the words of Fusen, the Japanese poet, maybe monk, on his deathbed, in 18^th century Japan. Permit me to paraphrase Fusen:

"Today the person of snow becomes a true soul."

Necessary and Unnecessary Suffering

A sermon preached by Deacon Dave Skidmore on March 18, 2012

We are more than halfway through Lent. In the Christian tradition, it's a time of reflection, sacrifice -- and suffering, the topic of today's sermon. A quick footnote -- if you have a good memory and you've been here for awhile -- you may recognize that this sermon bears a striking resemblance to one I delivered here eight years ago.

I'd like to start this morning by taking a quick poll. Who here this morning is following the tradition of giving something up for Lent? Raise your hand. Does anyone feel comfortable sharing what they have given up? (Pause) I'm surprised I didn't hear chocolate and wine. They seem to be on many people's list of not-so-secret vices. Some years back, I gave up potato chips -- which was kind of tough since I was then in the habit of eating potato chips with lunch every day. Then, one year I got the brilliant idea of giving up something more spiritually meaningful -- like irritability. I don't think I made it through one day, let alone 40. So, now I am back to making a more achievable symbolic sacrifice. This year, since Ash Wednesday, whenever I pass by the snack shop in the basement of the building where I work -- I do not buy fresh-popped popcorn for an afternoon snack. In fact, I do not have any salty or sweet or fatty snack. As a substitute for popcorn, I almost went back onto potato chips but I figured that would be cheating. I'm reminded of a good friend of mine who gave up dessert for Lent. I was visiting him in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and when his wife served dessert, he got up from the table and poured himself a big bowl of his kids Cocoa Puffs. As the rest of us ate pie, he ate the Cocoa Puffs -- righteous in his asceticism.

Why do we give something up for Lent? Why do we consider it necessary to suffer, at least a little bit, before we celebrate Easter? Suffering is not an uncommon theme in the Bible. We heard it last summer when Richard Hurst preached about Jacob at the stream called the Jabbok -- wrestling with an angel in the middle of the night, and limping away wounded before he goes on to found the nation of Israel. We heard it in this morning's lectionary reading from the book of Numbers. The Israelites, as they wandered in the desert with Moses, complained about the miserable food and lack of water. God -- in this passage the ultimate tough-love father -- says, in effect, "You dare complain to me about the food and water? Let's see how you like these poisonous serpents!" Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days before beginning his ministry. He died on the cross before being resurrected into eternal life. Suffering, in these stories, is a transformative process -- allowing the protagonists to move into what comes next. Is it possible to reach the Promised Land without first wandering in the wilderness? Can we be born into new life without suffering the crucifixion of the old life?

Past Actual and Past Imagined–A Lenten Discourse

A sermon preached by Marti Martinson on February 26, 2012

Good morning, and welcome to the First Sunday of Lent. In the traditional Christian liturgical calendar, Lent is the period between Ash Wednesday to Easter; it is a commemoration of the forty days that Jesus spent fasting in the desert after being baptized by John the Baptist and before the start of his public ministry. All the synoptic gospels -Mark, Matthew, and Luke- record the event: Jesus retreated into the wilderness; he fasted for forty days; and then underwent temptations but overcame them. Mark begins his Gospel with the baptism story, today's second reading, but Matthew and Luke, of course, begin with the Nativity - the birth and lineage of Jesus.

Transfiguration Sunday: Peak Experience

A sermon by Deacon Richard Hurst on February 19, 2012

The sun bores through the glass windows of the tower, solar heating at its essence. The world becomes the evolution of light. The almost imperceptible shift of color in the sky before dawn, the turn from midnight blue to sapphire. The way the mountains move through shades of green and blue and on through purple and black in the evening. The dark blue reefs of cloud in a blacklit sky at twilight. A crimson lip at the edge of the world where the sun has gone, like a smear of blood, reappearing at dawn in the east.

So writes Philip Conors in Fire Season: Field Notes From a Wilderness Lookout, from our first reading this morning.

Today in the Christian calendar is Transfiguration Sunday. We might ask ourselves what it means to be transfigured, to be transformed, as Jesus was on a "high mountain, apart," in the words of Mark, to a new understanding of what we are and how we might get there. How does that work? Where might we look for such understanding an insight into ourselves and others and the world that we so often pass through without so much as looking up or down or around to see the beauty around us, the constant shifting of shape and color and feel? It is possibly simpler than we think it is; perhaps God speaks to us in ways we are to experience more fully than we do, but hear only weakly because of the rush of our overburdened and too-full lives.

Intervention: Risk, Folly, and Inner Healing

A sermon preached by Deacon Sue Mosher on January 22, 2012

My topic today is intervention, usually considered the stuff of sitcoms and war, but a surprisingly common visitor to our everyday lives. If we subscribe to the ethical imperative to "Love thy neighbor as thyself", we can hardly avoid intervening when we see our neighbor has a problem. Yet we find ourselves faced with many difficult questions: When is it right to caution or criticize someone or inject our opinions into their lives? By what authority? By what measure of effectiveness?

UU and Bible Fundamentalist (Sort of)

A sermon preached by Mike Miller on November 13, 2011

I recall decades ago watching a Billy Graham Christmas special on TV. Rev. Graham made a compelling urgent case that we all needed to accept Jesus and be saved. He made it sound so very simple and easy that I felt I would be a fool not to. So I called the number, said a prayer, and they even sent me a bible full of guidance about what Christians believe.

I read that Bible and when I came to the passion narrative, Jesus is on the cross and says, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?" From what I had read in the Christian guidance part of my new bible, that statement could be re-stated, "Myself, myself, why have I forsaken myself?"

I asked a pastor about this and he said: "Jesus was fully human and fully God, so he felt all the pain and anguish like any man." But then I asked, didn't he even remember he was God as well?

"Not while he was bearing all mankind's sins", was the pastor's answer. This is when the seeds of Unitarianism were planted in my heart.

Later I asked: What about some kid who grew up in a Muslim country and died as a young man, having never really been told about Jesus? Would he go to Hell? "It is not my place to judge", said the pastor, "but as I read the scripture, I think he unfortunately would". And that Hell is a place of never ending fire and torment for all eternity? "Yes, you don't want to go there." And the God of love, who is love, would send this young man there? "Yes", was the pastor's answer. The seed of Universalism was planted on that day.

The Five Ws and the One H of Giving Thanks

A sermon by Deacon Dave Skidmore, preached on November 27, 2011

Good morning. My topic, not surprisingly on this Sunday after Thanksgiving, has to do with giving thanks. "Wait a minute," you might say. "We just gave thanks on Thursday. Aren't we done with that?" My response is, "No. We are never done. At least I hope we are never done."

"Giving thanks," is a big topic. I wasn't quite sure how to tackle it. So, I fell back on my early training as a journalist. I was taught in my introductory newswriting class at Penn State that every news story should answer six questions -- the five Ws and the one H -- who, what, when, where, why, and how. News stories organized using the traditional inverted pyramid structure attempt to answer as many of those questions as possible in the first paragraph -- and then elaborate as necessary. So, here are the answers -- up front -- and then I'll elaborate.

• Who? We give thanks to God.
• What? We give thanks for anything that moves us to gratitude.
• When? We should give thanks as often as we can.
• Where? Here -- wherever here may be at any given moment.
• Why? Because it's good for us.
• How? We can make it a discipline, starting by saying grace at meals. And we can give thanks by giving back.

The Issa Imperative–Jesus in Islam

A sermon by Marti Martinson on November 20, 2011.

As a Near Eastern religion, Judaism, in its deepest antiquity, must have been influenced by its neighbors, for it is a well accepted fact that Greek Neo-Platonic thought influenced early Christianity. If you recall world history from high school, you might remember the Code of Hammurabi. It is a very ancient Babylonian law code that dates from 1700 BCE, approximately 450 years before the generally accepted time period of the Exodus. However, there is a lost law code that is known about only by incomplete references to its originator, Urukagina, a Mesopotamian king who reigned from 2360 to 2350 BCE -- more than one thousand years before the Exodus.

Fight Club

A sermon by Deacon Richard Hurst on July 31, 2011

There are really two stories in the reading from Genesis 32:3-31 this morning: Jacob wishes to make amends with his estranged brother Esau, of whom he is afraid; Jacob also spends a strange night wrestling at the ford of a river and gets a new name, Israel, which means one who has "striven with God."  Think on that for a moment as the name for a whole people, a whole nation, and what it means that an entire country bears the name not of folks who, for example "love God," or are "loved by God," but have in essence "fought with God."

It is an odd juxtaposition of stories to say the least:  Jacob moves toward reconciliation with a brother whom he has treated shabbily, in an attempt to avoid conflict, and at the same time by means of fighting with . well, some force that is both within and beyond him, is to be transformed into something and someone new.

What are we to make about the place for struggle and the place for reconciliation in our lives?

You may know, if you are of a certain age, the rules of Fight Club, a 1999 movie starring Edward Norton and Brad Pitt, based on a novel by Chuck Palahniuk of the same name.  The first rule is "you do not talk about Fight Club."  The second rule is "you DO NOT talk about Fight Club." 

Some Call Them Saints

A sermon by Deacon Jennifer Sandberg on July 24, 2011

One time, as I was enthusiastically speaking to someone here at church about a woman who was a Jesus-follower from long ago, the person abruptly cut off the conversation by saying: "We don't do saints here." Now, I happen to know that there are individuals who attend this church, that DO honor ancient and modern people who followed Jesus. Does that mean that those folks aren't welcome here?

Protestants have always been hesitant to talk about people who followed Jesus using the word, "saint". The Catholic church has many, many people who were followers of Jesus, either in ancient or in more modern times, whom they call saints. They sometimes were people who led extraordinary lives and did fantastic things in their love for God and/or Jesus. The dictionary defines saint as someone who is very holy, virtuous or benevolent. The Orthodox church has even more people whom they have named saints, most of them from ancient times, but they are beginning to add a few who lived closer to this century.

Last Friday was the Feast of Mary Magdalene. In the verse from Micah: "And you, Magdel-eder, Tower of the Flock....", which is where the word, "Magdalene", comes from, we hear that this Mary (or Miriam) is the leader or tower of the flock. In the Orthodox tradition she is called The Apostle to the Apostles. Catholicism, until 1968, labeled her a repentant prostitute. That is due to Pope Gregory, who lived from 540 to 604, conflated nearly all of the Mary's in the New Testament, and decided to make her a woman of ill repute. That was probably in counteraction to the role women had played in the early years of the church, including Mary Magdalene. In other words, they played an important role and that had to be suppressed. Permanently.

So we have arrived at the heart of this sermon -- the fact that women had a large -- yes, large -- and important role in the formation of the Jesus movement. This information is backed up by scholarly research, much of it initially done by women, and also archaeological digs.

Reading and Writing Our Stories

A sermon by Dr. Terri Lynn Simpson, July 17, 2011

Being in church on a warm summer day always takes me back to memories of the vacation Bible school I attended at the Methodist church of my childhood. There I learned two important lessons that I still carry with me to this day.

The first is that there aren't enough t's, h's and s's in a single bag of alphabet macaroni to enable a handful of eight-year-olds to spell out the ten commandments by gluing pasta onto tongue depressors.

The second, and admittedly more useful lesson, is that if you open your Bible in half, you'll find yourself in the book of Psalms. This was a revelation to me because even as a child, of all the stories in the Bible, I loved the poetry of the psalms the best. Indeed, poetry of all kinds punctuates the memories of my life. Before I could read for myself, it was the ellipses as I drifted off to sleep while my parents read to me from A Child's Garden of Verses or the Golden Book of 365 Stories and Poems-one page for each bedtime.

In the Beginning: Thoughts on Father’s Day

A sermon by Deacon Jennifer Sandberg, June 19, 2011

Fathers are a crucial part of creation. Without them, none of us would be here today. Some of you were blessed with a loving, warm father who made sure he was always there for you. Others of us did not. My father was a different father to my older sisters than he was to me. He was warm and very supportive in response to them. To me, well, I just was not what he wanted. I don't think that I was what either of my parents wanted, frankly. I had a personality that clashed with theirs. I was headstrong, which was good as I got older, but was very hard for them to handle when I was young. My father made it clear that I had to behave in a certain way or else. That else part was sometimes met with violence. He was in charge. Many of my strongly held beliefs were to be argued with or made fun of, among them my religious beliefs. He, in particular, made fun of the Lord's Prayer -- what we here refer to as the Prayer of Jesus -- which my mother had taught all us. That is one reason why I do not say, "Our Father..." to begin it. Another reason is because I cannot address my prayers to someone who ultimately could not love me for who I was or treat me with respect. Yes, I realize God loves all of us, but when the word Father is used to describe God, in my mind, I see my father. Now, I do have some good memories of my father, but many of them are colored by the anger that he directed toward me. He was mad at the world and I happened to be in the way.

My children's father, my husband, Clint, is a very different father than either mine or his. When the kids were babies, he did his share of changing diapers, walking them when they were fussy (even sometimes on nights when he had to go to work the next day), and coaching their sports teams as they got older. He went to concerts they were in and accompanied me to parent-teacher conferences. The ultimate bonding experience was when he joined our daughter and youngest son in dancing in The Nutcracker for a local ballet company. They, now in turn, invite him to attend their college sports games with them, discuss the latest economic news, and banter good-naturedly, in no way seemingly constrained to be anyone other than themselves. Thank God!

The story of creation that we have heard this morning is one in which we could compare the narratives of the two fathers - my father and my husband.

The Love Test

A sermon by Colleen Fay, June 12, 2011

What was I thinking deciding to preach a sermon about love? Scripture is full of references to it and think of all that love poetry, the songs, plays, novels, movies -not to mention sermons about it. What more could I say that hadn't been said before?

Well, the answer to those questions is really the subject of this sermon. It's what I call THE LOVE TEST. But before I talk about that I want to tell you about something that happened to me many years ago when I was a parish music director.

I walked into my first church committee meeting and naïve as I was then - and probably still am now - I thought that there would be a difference. You see, in those days I supervised a division in the Library of Congress and I was used to meetings: too many of them in fact. I expected that when I set foot in those church-related meetings that there would be a different cast of mind, that somehow people would be more "church-y," if you know what I mean. Not just polite as people are on Sundays, I thought that the fact that these church committees would mean that attendees would really be trying to be gentler, kinder, in a word more Christian toward each other. How wrong I was! If anything the committees were just as tedious, the egos were just as much on display, the turf battles just as fierce.

What We Have Believed

A sermon by Marti Martinson, June 5, 2011

The Ashem Vohu is one of the two most important prayers in Persian Zoroastrianism, and it is one of the first prayers taught to children.

Prayer: Ashem vohu vahishtem asti ushta asti ushta ahmai hyat ashai vahishtai ashem.

Translation: Holiness is the best of all good: it is also happiness. Happy the one who is holy with perfect holiness!

In that same vein, the Shema Yisrael, from today's reading in Deuteronomy, is just as important to observant Jews, for they consider the full Shema to be the most important part of the prayer service. It is traditional for Jews to say the Shema as their last words, and for parents to teach their children to say it before they go to sleep at night. The first words of this tri-partite prayer are:

Prayer: Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Ehad.

Translation: Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.

The Shema must have been a tenet of belief of our Jewish Rabbi, our Palestinian Prophet, and as Bishop Shelby Spong has called him, our Hebrew Lord, Jesus. The Torah and the wisdom literature contain it; and Jesus is recorded to have emphasized it.

With this short commentary on the readings, we can now proceed to What We Have Believed, changed from the original: We Believed WHAT?

Fed by Wilderness

A sermon by Deacon Sue Mosher, May 29, 2011

Last year, I visited the sacred island of Iona, off the western coast of Scotland. Late on my first full day there, the group I was with had dispersed, and I was walking slowly back from the beach to my bed and breakfast. It was just me and the sounds of the waves and the sheep. Suddenly, I realized that a mist or fog was drifting in, quickly reducing the visibility all around. I felt a tug of panic. I had to walk across a wide, rugged field to reach the one gate that led to the road, and that field was full of rocks and sheep poo. What if I couldn't find the gate? What if I stepped in a hole and twisted my ankle? The serenity of the shore fled, and I quickened my pace until I stepped back onto the island's single road.

What had I been so afraid of? What was the worst that could have happened? There are no wolves on Iona, and the sheep weren't likely to nibble me. Yet, I really did not want to be enfolded in that fog and left unsure of my directions.

Of course, that moment of fear pales by comparison with what so many families have endured and continue to dread in the wake of the horribly destructive tornadoes and floods in the center of our country. Our hearts and thoughts and prayers reach out to them. Yet, at the same time, we can be swept up in the amazing beauty of a storm in its fury, especially when captured on video or in a photograph. On the walls of our own homes, we may hang images of wild landscapes, "fierce landscapes" in the language of Belden Lane, the professor of theology at St. Louis University who provided our second reading. He points out that our romantic fascination with wild terrain is a relatively new development, occurring just in the past few centuries.

Re-membering Again

A sermon by Deacon Dave Skidmore, May 15, 2011

Good morning. My sermon today is an updated version of a sermon I delivered a little more than seven years ago, shortly after the Rev. Scott Wells left our church. That sermon, in turn, was based in part on my memory of a sermon the Rev. Bill Fox had preached from this pulpit one Memorial Day in the late 1990s. (I just wanted to be up-front about my sources just in case you were hoping for some original thought this morning.)

These "Re-membering" sermons of the past -- and this morning's sermon -- essentially are extended puns. They explore the topic of "Re-membering" in two senses: the sense of bringing to mind a time or place or person from the past and the sense of healing, or putting the pieces back together. It is easy to see the relationship. What do we do when we remember something, in the more common sense of the word? We recall bits and pieces of the past -- an image, a smell, an emotion -- and put the pieces together in a way that creates a memory. And, surely, remembering in the sense of recalling the past and re-membering in the sense of healing are linked, because if psychology teaches us anything it is that retrieving the memories of the past, fitting them together, and reflecting on them is a healing act. And I think this can apply both to individuals and to groups.

The Power in Low Sunday

A sermon by Marti Martinson, May 1, 2011

Good morning, and welcome to the First Sunday After Easter, It is also known as "Low Sunday." The origin of the name is uncertain, but it was apparently intended to indicate the contrast between it and the great Easter festival of seven days ago, and also, possibly, to signify that, being the Octave Day of Easter, it was considered part of that feast, although to a lower degree.

The designations continue still in that it is also known as St. Thomas Sunday, because the Gospel reading always relates the story of "Doubting Thomas," in which Thomas the Apostle comes to believe in the resurrection of Jesus only after placing his finger in the nail marks and his hand in the side of Jesus. In the Gospel account, this event takes place on the eighth day after the resurrection, hence the significance for this Sunday.

The general Prayer for Purity that was read as today;s invocation was written by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury for Henry VIII, Edward VI, and briefly -- until he was burned at the stake -- for Mary I. He succeeded in publishing the first officially authorized English service, the Exhortation and Litany of 1544. His specific prayer for today, Low Sunday, was written for the 1549 English Prayer Book and is replete with the entire picture of Easter:

Almighty Father, which hast given us thy only son to die for our sins, and to rise again for our justification, grant us to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may always serve thee in pureness of living and truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We, as Universalist and Protestant Christians, are free to interpret the meanings of the birth, life, teachings, murder, and resurrection of Jesus. We are, however, probably not free from the historicity of previous interpretations. It is both our privilege and our duty to take what has been handed us, and sift and search and seek, that which brings us closer to God in our individual mind, body, and spirit.

Remember James Martineau, the British Unitarian minister who, as a child, was castigated by his mother for reading the Bible during church service instead of paying attention to the minister. She asked, "Well, just how far did you read?"

He replied, "Genesis through Isaiah."

She was incredulous and demanded, "How did you do that?"

Eleven-year-old James confidently replied, Skipping the nonsense."

Eve and the Serpent

Eve and the Serpent, Sunday, March 13, 2011, A Sermon by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley

Have you ever wondered why it is the serpent, a snake, the Hebrew storytellers chose to tempt Eve and Jesus?

We have learned from our culture, both religious—Bible—and secular—television commercials—the snake in the story represents satan. Or, the satan, as the Hebrew storytellers named him. And the satan represents obstacles in our path, “bad” choices, and even temptations which separate human creatures from YHWH. The Hebrew storytellers saw the satan as the presence of sin—again, that which separates us from God.

"Why We Go To Church"

Why We Go to Church, a sermon by Rev. Lilie Henley, February 13, 2011

Have you heard the story of the couple who went to church for fifty years. All of their married life, growing up years of their children, and into retirement. The woman dies, After a few weeks, the pastor realizes she hasn’t seen the husband since the funeral. She goes to see the widow. He is sitting in front of the fireplace when she rings. He gets up, lets the pastor in, says he doesn’t want to talk, and sits back down. The pastor says, “That’s okay, I’ll sit in this chair beside you in front of the fire.”

After a while, she picks up the poker and moves a small piece of the burning wood away from the fire, on to the grate. It does not burn as intense, eventually going out.

She says to the widow, “See that small piece of burning wood. When it is removed from the fire, it goes out. We are all like that piece of wood. When we are at church, we are part of the fire, we are part of the congregation, and we burn with a great intensity when we are together. When we are away from the church, away from that circle of love, we do not burn as intense, and eventually we burn out.”

"Troubled Times"

Troubled Times by Rev Lillie M. Henley, February 6, 2011

Our reading from Numbers 21:4-9 tells us part of the story of Israelites exodus from Egypt. And if we read more about their journey in Numbers and in the book of Exodus, we find the escape from Egypt is not so easy—from the beginning.

First, Pharaoh allows them to leave, then Yahweh has them wander around the desert for awhile. God said, If the people are faced with a battle, right away, they might change their minds and return to Egypt. So God led them, in a roundabout way, through the desert toward the Red Sea. Now God, wants to show the Israelites that he’s involved in their lives and there for them in good times and in bad times. So God has them wandering; the Pharaoh hears they are still pretty close. God hardens Pharaoh’s heart--Pharaoh has cognitive dissonance --about letting all those people or slaves leave. Pharaoh decides to send his army after them.

"Jesus' Sermon on the Mount"

January 23, 2011, Sermon by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley

Nowhere in the New Testament do we find Jesus in the weeks, or days, right before he began his ministry in Galilee. We see the stories of his birth, and the time he went to Jerusalem with his parents at twelve. It was then and there, at the Temple, we are told … he sat listening to and asking questions of the teachers, and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

We do not know the catalyst for his decision to follow the call he must have felt. It may have been an epiphany, or weeks of agonizing thought, somewhat like he had a Gethsemane, or it could have been the simple realization, that it was time –

because one day he goes to see his cousin John in the desert. There, he asks John to baptize him.

"Celebrating M. L. King, Jr."

January 16, 2011, sermon by Rev. Henley

This exploration is to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Born on January 15, 1929, and assassinated April 4, 1968, in Memphis, TN. He was the Civil Rights Leader for Black Americans in the twentieth century and while there have been many distinguished Black women and men who followed in his footsteps, no one has ever been able to take his place.

In our time together this morning, I want to explore with you the threads that connected two of the greatest Black preachers of the twentieth century: Howard Thurman and Martin Luther King, Jr. I hope to show their commitment to what they believed was God’s call for them and what it means for us today.

Of course, all this could be a doctoral dissertation, but we’ll have to march through it as best we can.

"Little Rubber Ducky and Other Such Things"

A Sermon by Rev. Henley on January 9th, Epiphany Sunday

You see up here in the Chancel, a bouquet of balloons, and these little, yellow rubber duckies, and bubble bath. These ballons represent their much larger cousin the hot air balloon. And of course, the bubble bath and rubber duckies, well, they represent our growing up times and our giving to our children times, and the yellow duckie who nevers ages or goes "out of style."

When Jesus was probably about two years old, the Magi from the East came to honor him as a holy person. The story tells us they brought gifts which were usually given to royalty. The author of Matthew wanted Jesus to be recognized as a divine being. And he wanted those who recognized him to be from outside the Hebrew tribes.

The early institutional Christian church recognized the significance of Matthew’s story and instituted a feast day, Epiphany Sunday probably sometime in the third century.

Epiphany, in this sense, recognizes the incarnation of God in the human being Jesus the Christ. Epiphany could not have been an official feast day until the Nicene Council (325) declared Jesus divine in the early fourth century.

"The Greatest of These Is Love"

A Sermon by Rev. Lillie Mae Henley, Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 19, 2010

I Corinthians 13

1 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. ... 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ... 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. ... 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

These words from First Corinthians, are some of the most poetic and stirring words in the New Testament. And they are from the authentic Paul, the down-to-earth, pragmatic missionary. He is the church-builder, the peacemaker, the disciplinarian, the visionary, and here, in the middle of his letter to the church in Corinth, he waxes eloquent on “love.”

"How Christmas Came to Be--Part 4"

An Exploration on Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 19, 2010, by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley

In 336, the church at Rome proclaimed December 25 as the … ‘natal day [the birth day] of Christ… this meant that day would be a “feast day” and there would be a Christ mass.

However…

Yes, a however…

Many Christians around the Empire still did not know what to believe about Jesus’ being divine and human. The monophysitism [mono phy sit ism] continued to be a popular belief among Christ followers. This was the belief, you’ll remember, that said, yes, Jesus is human, but the divine nature had overcome, or overpowered, his human nature. Therefore, he had one nature = divine.

This belief kept many believers from celebrating the Christ mass and the feast day. Even one of the great bishops of Constantinople was a Monophysite and quarreled with Rome.

Politics – again.

"Joy to the World"

A homily by our minister Rev. Lillie Mae Henley on the Third Sunday of Advent, December 12, 2010

We heard from Isaiah 55 this morning (: 8, 11-12, 13b-c adapted):

It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. You will live in joy and peace. …[ all this] will be an everlasting sign of [my] power and love.

What do we see when we look at images of the Nativity? How do we respond viscerally? That is, how do we respond to the image from instinct rather than from reasoned thinking.

Is there a place in you, a place like here your heart or your stomach that responds to that image?

Almost a hundred years before the Roman Church determined that Christ mass would be on December 25, African Christian Sextus Julius Africanus reasoned that December 25 would be a logical day to attribute to Jesus’ birth.

In “whole years” his conception would be on the anniversary of the day when God said, “Let there be light.”

Therefore, the historical Jesus, the Christ Jesus, would have to be born nine months later on December 25.

Religion can stand side by side with reason, just as our intuitive, instinctual half brain lies side by side with our rational, reasoning half brain. Could we live without either side—not very well.

"How Christmas Came to Be" Part 3

An exploration by our minister Rev. Lillie Mae Henley on the Third Sunday of Advent, December 12, 2010

We are looking for the Christmas of the Jesus followers, not the modern-day commercial extravaganza which we witness each year.

We now know that the early Jesus followers, those of the first century, did not have a Christmas. They were too close to his crucifixion and too close to, what they believed would be his imminent return. A return, they believed, which would put an end to human time and begin a time governed by God and Christ. The Messiah returned, would institute a time of peace, hope, joy, and love for human kind. Today we call this time, “the realm of God.”

We now know that it wasn’t until the second century, and even into the third century that we begin to find Christ followers concerned about the birth of Jesus. However, several developments in Christ theology had to occur before the Church could celebrate a Christ mass.

Jesus had to become Christ, the Messiah, and he had to become “one with God.” Last week we saw some of the movements in this development, but the movement which became Church doctrine and eventually orthodoxy, was the belief that Jesus was God incarnate and therefore the same substance as God. Each present before creation.

"Hope Is Real"

An exploration of "hope" by our minister Rev. Lillie Mae Henley, Second Sunday of Advent, December 5, 2010

The liturgy of the Christian church—Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant—gives us the celebration of Advent. According to Christian tradition, as well as, Jesus’ religion, the Messiah was to bring into the world something Jesus’ people needed: peace, hope, joy, and love.

When we see baby Jesus in the manger, we are to see symbolically, the values most needed, least experienced, and highly desired by of the population—the publius—the common people of ancient days. Especially desired by those who were subjugated, enslaved, and governed by a ruling class which held no regard or “little” regard for its subjects.

When we see baby Jesus in the manger, we are to see symbolically, the values most needed by each of us—peace, hope, joy, and love.

We look first at what the father of ancient Christianism Paul the Apostle said only a few short years after Jesus died. Writing to early Jesus followers in Rome:

Romans 8:22-25
20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that[e] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

“How Christmas Came to Be” Part 2

From our minister Rev. Lillie Mae Henley, December 5, 2010, Second Week of Advent

Jesus was born. In a manager, or in a cave, and or …. as we saw last week, on a hillside with Mary standing, looking at the glory of the angels, and delivering a miraculous little one, which just appeared at her feet, and she knelt and worshipped. That last story is according to the Syrian Protoevangelium of James. It is the Syrian followers who insisted that Mary be virginal.

I know you want me to just tell you, that we have Christmas, and that Jesus was born in a manger sometime in the spring, and “they” made it at the winter solstice so the pagans could more easily celebrate his birth. Well, I’m not going to tell you that; it isn’t that simple, and after today, we still have two more Sundays to explore the phenomenon.

What we look at today is the reality that for the first hundred years after Jesus’ death, there was no Christmas, in fact, it wasn’t until the late fourth century that we have a Christ mass.

His followers did not know who or what Jesus was. Surely he had to be divine, but was he real? A person, in the flesh? And how could he be both?

And Mary, what about her?

"How Did Christmas Come to Be"

During Advent, our explorations will be in two parts. The first part will be a series on “How Christmas Came to Be.” The second part will be a homily on the Advent theme of that Sunday. We will celebrate peace, hope, joy, and love this year and today, our first Sunday will be “peace.”

"Wisdom in Proverbs and the Tao Te Ching"

Sunday, November 14, 2010, An Antiphonal Sermon by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley

“I have always tried my best to let wisdom guide my thoughts and actions. I said to myself, ‘I am determined to be wise.’ But it didn’t work. Wisdom is always distant and difficult to find. I searched everywhere, determined to find wisdom and to understand the reason for things.”
Ecclesiastes 7:21-25a

Anyone of us could have written this. Oh, we don’t live our lives thinking, “I wish I were wise.” Nevertheless, consciously or subconsciously there is something in us desirous for wisdom.

If wisdom was not so elusive, philosophers and sages and poets would find themselves without words.

"A New Look at Paul the Apostle"

Sunday, November 7, 2010, Sermon by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley

I would like to see the front page headlines on all the newspapers read “A New Look at the Apostle Paul.” After all, the media easily showed us the story of the man from Florida who was going to burn a Quran. That story was filled with fear and hate. Would it be so difficult to tell everyone the latest news about the Apostle Paul of whom scholars have found a “new story.”

Over the last two decades the “Jesus Seminar” has led the way in the search for the historical Jesus.
I am sure many of you have read John Dominic Crossan’s The Historical Jesus: … or Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography.
And if not Crossan’s books, then Marcus Borg’s book Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: ... The world and Christianity is much better for this research.

"Love and Faith" and "You Can't Lose Me"

Two Homilies by Rev. Henley--One on Faith and Love--the Second for Our "All Souls" Remembrance and Communion Service, October 31, 2010

[The Gospel and the Epistle readings are at the end of this entry.]

It is “All Souls Day.” The congregation traditionally celebrates “All Souls.” So, after I planned today’s sermon about the Thessalonica church and the love they had for each other, the Deacons reminded me of the “All Souls” celebration and communion. We also asked you to write down on a card the names of those you loved who have passed. We will read those names after the homilies, right before our communion.

"Love and Faith"

The anonymous author of 2 Thessalonians wrote, “your faith grows more and more, and your love for each other increases.” I thought about you, this congregation, and I wondered what I would say to you about faith and love. Of course, they are not necessarily two words that are connected in our everyday lives.

We “love” so many things, but it is not that kind of love which the author means when she or he connects faith and love. The love she is talking about is the kind of love Jesus was talking about when he preached his “Love Commandment.” First, love God, with all your heart and soul, AND your neighbor as yourself. She was talking about the kind of love that begins as a possibility and becomes a strong, growing, relational dynamic that between and among ourselves and God.

I’ll say that again.

"Through Rain, Snow, Sleet, Even Sunshine"

A Sermon by Rev. Henley on October 24, 2010

There were two kinds of prophets in the Old Testament. There were those like Isaiah, Jeremiah and Amos, and the Minor Prophets like them, who boldly preached their message of things to come. It was in the time of the kings, early in the story of the tribes. Another kind of prophet was the apocalyptic prophets, who spoke after their people came back from exile in Babylonia.

Today, we will explore these prophets and then we’ll look at Joel, one of those apocalyptic prophets we heard today in our reading. I will, before the end, talk about “neither rain, nor snow,” not even sunshine.”

"A Friend Knocks at Midnight"

A Sermon by our minister Rev. Lillie Mae Henley

In Luke’s Gospel, 11:1-4, Jesus is praying. And when he finished praying, his disciples asked him “Would you teach us to pray?” Jesus said, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name/your kingdom come. / Give us each day our daily bread. / Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us./ And lead us not into temptation.”

THESE are the first four verses of Luke chapter 11. In Matthew’s book, Jesus teaches his disciples a similar prayer, but following that prayer is a discourse on forgiveness. Luke follows his prayer with the parable of the friend knocking at midnight.

"Lazarus and the Rich Man"

A sermon by our minister Rev. Lillie Mae Henley

In a conversation about Christianity, a long time ago, with my older sister Blanche, who was an evangelical Christian, she asked, “How can you not believe in hell?”

I said, “God is too good to send anyone to hell.”

But, “There has to be a hell, what about all the sinners?”

I said, “If, and I say IF, there is a hell, then it is a separation from God’s love. It would be like this, all your ‘sinners’ who went to hell would be over here. And God would be over here with all your Christians. The sinners over there would be able to feel God’s love and know how wonderful it is, but not be able to be in a loving relationship with God.

That,” I said, “would be hell.”

"Fishers and Angels" Parable

A Sermon by Rev. Lillie Henley, Sunday, September 19, 2010

Her mother called her Precious yet she was worthless. At least that is what Clareece Jones learned very early. By twelve she had birthed her father’s child; by eighteen she was the mother of two of his children. Precious is the girl who becomes a woman too soon in the novel PUSH by Sapphire. The sorrow of her life, Precious is the product of a severely dysfunctional family. She is saved by an unconventional teacher Ms. Rain. Once Precious begins to write in her journal, her life is changed.
From the novel we read:

“The Smallest of Seeds”

A Sermon by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley on Homecoming Rally Sunday, September 12, 2010

When I was talking with someone this past summer about the parables in the New Testament, she said something like this, “I suppose it would be nice to hear them explained, I really don’t know what my life has to do with demons cast into pigs that run into the water and drown.”

That was all I needed to make the decision to do a series of sermons on Jesus’ parables.

"Life Lessons I Learned this Summer"

A sermon by Rev. Henley

You have probably read All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum. It is small book, has sold millions and millions of copies, and speaks words of truth for all of us. [In continuous printing since 1986.]

• Share everything
• Play fair
• Don’t hit people
• Put things back where you found them
• Clean up your own mess
• Say you are sorry when you hurt somebody
And my favorite
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you

That is how the book begins and it is delightful to read. But we all know that our learning doesn’t stop at kindergarten. Between kindergarten and maturity there is a lot of learning in our brains and bodies.

Does it seem like to you, as it does to me, that “we never stop learning” learning all kinds of lessons in all the many ways we can learn?

Does it seem like to you, as it does to me, that the more we learn, there is always more to learn?

Time Passing

A sermon by Deacon Dave Skidmore, August 29, 2010

Reading: Psalm 90

A recent visit to my daughter at college in Richmond started me musing about the passage of time. Marsha and I very much enjoyed spending an afternoon with Emily, and with her roommate Tina. Both are vibrant, intelligent young women--pretty and witty. But, as parents are wont to do, I sat across a restaurant table from this young woman--familiar and in some ways not so familiar--and thought of all the past Emilys I have known: Emily the baby--sleeping in her crib, Emily the toddler her hands in fingerpaint, Emily the elementary school student in her Brownie uniform, Emily the junior-high-schooler running on a soccer field, Emily the teenager singing in the school play.

"And to Stand Every Morning to Thank and Praise the Lord, and Likewise at Evening"

A Homily by Lay Minister Charisma Wooten, A Guest Preacher in Our Pulpit

Reading: I Chronicles 23:30; I Chronicles 16:34; Psalms 109:30

Let us pray. Lord I thank you for your presence today in this House of Prayer, this House of Sanctification, this House of Praise, this House of Forgiveness of Sin, this House of Love.

Lord I pray that you constantly remind me and my Brothers and Sisters to love one another; and that if We just hold our peace and let you fight our battles, that the victory will surely, be ours.

Lord I ask that we remember to pray each and every day the prayer you taught your Disciples to pray...

Our Father, Who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever! Amen.

Religion and Identity: Spiritual Growth Outside the Box

Sermon by Eric Stetson, Universalist National Memorial Church, July 25, 2010

Recently there's been a ubiquitous and unforgettable commercial on TV for the Kia Soul, in which hamsters dressed as gangsters compare that particular automobile to other alternatives. Lip-synching the catchy rap song "This Or That," the anthropomorphic rodents depict non-Kia cars as flimsy, uncool cardboard boxes on wheels, and point back and forth from those horrible options to the far superior Soul. "This or that. This or that. This or that. This. You can get with this, or you can get with that; you can get with this, or you can get with that. You can get with this. 'cause this is where it's at!"

This is how many people think of religion: "This or that." And one and only one option, their own preferred vehicle for the transportation of the soul to higher planes of spirituality, is presented as the obvious choice in comparison to all other, pathetically flawed religious traditions that are suitable only for driving on the highway to hell.

But what if this is altogether the wrong metaphor for religion?

"Our Fathers"

Father’s Day Sermon – Joseph’s Father -- Sunday, June 20, 2010
A Sermon by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley
Universalist National Memorial Church

Judah, the son of the Hebrew patriarch Israel, is pleading with the governor of Egypt—Joseph—who is his brother—but he does not know—yet

Our Reading is from Genesis 44:30-34 “So now, if the boy is not with us when we return to our father, and if our father, whose life is bound up with the boy’s life, does not see the boy, he will die. We will have brought the gray head of our father to his death. I guaranteed the safety of the boy to our father. I said, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, father, for my whole life!’ Please, then, let me remain here in your service in place of the boy, and let him return with our brothers. How could I return to our father if the boy does not return? No! Don’t let me see the misery my father would suffer.”

"Jezebel Is Still Jezebel"

A Homily by Rev. Henley, on Sunday, June 13

Reading 1 King 21:1-21

Jezebel has come to be used as a symbolic name for an evil women. For almost 3,000 years now.
The Jezebel story has some historic truth and takes place in the ninth century before the common era when the kings ruled the Hebrew tribes in the their divided political entities Israel and Judea. Jezebel is first a princess, the daughter of the king of a Phoenician city-state, second a queen of a Hebrew king Ahab. She is the mother of a the son who succeeds king Ahab—Ahaziah, and possibly the mother of the son who succeeded Ahaziah—Jehoram.

"How Can We Help Each Other?"

How Can We Help Each Other, A Sermon on Sunday, June 6, 2010, by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley

Reading is 1 Kings 17-8-24

We need never to forget, that the Hebrew Scriptures is the story and law of a tribe. The tribe who called themselves the Hebrew people. They were and are now, a Middle Eastern culture who believes in their right to carve out a land upon which their people can survive as a tribal identity.

Carve out a land is literally what the people of the Book did in their stories in the. Today, I believe all the tribes of the Middle East are still tribes and too reticent about, too resistant to, our interdependent, interconnected existence. But that is not the sermon I will preach today.

"When Will We Ever Learn?"

Sunday, April 25, 2010, A Sermon by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley

A few weeks ago I received an email invitation:
People of Faith Unite To Heal The Hate

Please join us to “Heal the Hate” on Thursday, April 15, at 9:00 a.m. on the steps of National City Christian Church at 5 Thomas Circle, N.W. where we will gather as a witness to urge civility in our political public discourse. People of Faith Unite to Heal the Hate, a network faith leaders from diverse faith traditions, will convene a press conference and community gathering to say “No” to the code language and buzz words that foster intolerance and hatred in public discourse. During the process and in the aftermath of the Healthcare debate we witnessed many alarming things such as lawmakers having the “N” word hurled at them, being spat upon, the smashing of windows at congressional offices in home districts, and various kinds of threats and threatening language being used by political leaders that seem to suggest violence.

"Letters From Galilee"

"Before Jesus, They Laid Down Their Palms" March 28, 2010, Palm Sunday, A Sermon by Rev. Lillie Henley

“Greetings to you Lucretia, my dear cousin. Greetings to your family. My parents send their love to my mother’s sister and her husband and all my beautiful cousins.

We are settled in our villa close to Pontius Pilate’s palace here in Caesarea. When father was assigned to Pilate, I did not know we would be so close to the governor. Father is at the palace in his occupation as accountant for many hours a day.

As in Rome, privilege and rank surround us. Mother has many servants and a large villa to administer. Both she and father are determined that my education will not suffer because we are assigned to the middle of the Roman Empire. Father says Palestine is a politically sensitive location, as most of the trade routes between the East and the West run through this barren country and peace must be kept at all costs.

"Mary and Martha Serve"

"Martha and Mary Serve" Sunday, March 21, 2010, A Sermon by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley

In our reading we hear from the author of John, part… part of the story of Martha and Mary. I say part, because the story of Martha and Mary is told in different ways by all the scribes of the New Testament Gospels. And we do not get the full impact of these two women without looking at all the books of the Gospel.

Matthew [26:6-13] tells us about “a woman” who came up to Jesus with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head while he sitting at the dinner table in Simon the leper’s house.

Mark [14:3-] tells us about “a woman” who came up to Jesus with an alabaster flask of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over Jesus head while he was sitting at the dinner table in Simon the leper’s house.

It both stories, it was the disciples who were indignant that “this woman” wasted this expensive ointment which could have been sold and the money given to the poor.

"Slip Sliding Away"

“Slip Sliding Away” Sunday, March 7, 2010, A Sermon by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley

The scribe, who told Jesus’ story in Luke, begins chapter 13 with a theological question and follows that discussion with a parable. A pattern which is not uncommon in the Gospels. It reflects the method by which Jesus taught his disciples and the larger circle of his followers. This model: an observation, question, and reflection on a deeper level, and then a more accessible parable could have paved the way for the many interpretations of Jesus’ words. Not only in the last half of the first century, but also with the many different voices of the church patriarchy in the second and third centuries.

Those many voices are worth exploring, in future sermons, and perhaps, some serious study of the early church in an adult religious education forum.

And, of course, when we read the Gospels, we need to remember the context; it is grounded in the religion and culture of first century Palestine.

"I Must Be On My Way"

“I Must Be on My Way” Sunday, February 28, 2010, A Sermon by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley

The Gospel readings during Lent tell us of the end of Jesus’ ministry. The scribe Luke in chapter thirteen, in four verses gives us a foreshadowing of what is to come:

At that very hour Pharisees – Luke inserts some Pharisees here in the story – is that good or bad – it is seemingly good – but is it a warning of some kind – but why the connection to Herod? Herod has killed John the Baptizer – the one who proclaimed the coming of the Messiah – to connect Jesus to John and Herod is to associate with danger.

It could be a good sign the Pharisees and Herod are here--

"The Devil Made Me Do It"

“The Devil Made Me Do It” Sunday, February 21, 2010, A Sermon by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley

Robert J. McNamara, columnist, wrote this about the Flip Wilson Show:

For four years in the early 1970s, comedian Flip Wilson presided over one of the most popular variety shows on television. The show featured weekly guest stars as well as Wilson's own characters, the most noteworthy of whom w[as] "Reverend Leroy," the … [sometimes “bad” always hilarious] pastor of the "Church of What's Happening Now," ...

Is there anyone here, besides me, who remembers “The Flip Wilson Show?” If you do, you probably remember hearing, week after week, “The devil made me do it!”

"Standing on the Side of Love"

Standing on the Side of Love, A Collaborative Sermon by Rev. L. A. McCrae nd Rev. Lillie Mae Henley, February 14, 2010

Lillie

Many of you may already know this, when my son Kyle was in his teens, he decided that the best birthday present he could give me was to sit and listen to me talk about anything I wanted to talk about for however long I wanted to talk. Out of gratitude, I rarely spent more than 20 or 30 minutes waxing eloquent on one or more of my favorite subjects.

"Never Enough Time"

Never Enough Time, Sunday, January 3, 2010, A Sermon by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley

When I lived in Hyde Park in Chicago during seminary, I rented a room from a very nice widow Nancy about four blocks from the campus. I would say then she was about seventy; although, I do not know for sure. Once, when I went down to the kitchen for something from the refrigerator, I noticed a note on the refrigerator that I had not seen before.

It was one of her note cards, the kind we might send as a “thank you,” note. On it she wrote, “There is never enough time.”

There is never enough time.

The God in Whom We Live and Move and Have Our Being

Opening Words
Life is this simple. We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent, and God is shining through it all the time. This is not just a fable or a nice story. It is true. If we abandon ourselves to God and forget ourselves, we see it sometimes, and we see it maybe frequently. God shows Himself everywhere, in everything -- in people and in things and in nature and in events. It becomes very obvious that God is everywhere and in everything and we cannot be without Him. It’s impossible. The only thing is that we don’t see it.
-- Thomas Merton

The God in Whom We Live and Move and Have Our Being
A Sermon By Dave Skidmore
Universalist National Memorial Church
Washington, D.C.
January 31, 2010

Opening Exercise
I’d like to begin this sermon somewhat unconventionally. I hope you will humor me by participating in a brief exercise. Please -- as Pastor Lillie sometimes says -- center yourselves, and be still for a moment. (Pause)
Breathe in, slowly and deeply. (Pause)
Now exhale. Notice the feeling of refreshment that spread through your body when you drew air into your lungs. (Pause)
Now, as you sit, move a bit: shrug your shoulders, or lean forward or back a bit, or move your legs slightly. (Pause)
Now, in stillness, become aware of the beating of your heart -- the heart on which your life depends. (Pause)
Thanks. I’ll come back to that exercise later.

Introduction: What Is Panentheism?
The idea for this morning’s sermon came from a phrase that has long stirred my imagination, the God “in whom we live and move and have our being.” I first encountered those words in our second reading this morning, from Paul’s address to the Athenians, as recounted in Chapter 17 of the Acts of the Apostles. But the words are more ancient than Paul. My New Oxford Annotated Bible notes that Paul was quoting -- without attribution -- Epimenides, a semi-mythical Greek seer and philosopher-poet said to have lived in Crete some six centuries before Paul. (Epimenides wrote those words about Zeus, by the way.)

Long after I first encountered that phrase, it was brought to my attention that it expressed a concept of God called “panentheism” -- or “God in all.” That sounds a lot like “pantheism” -- but they are not quite the same. Pantheism -- “God is all” -- is the idea that the whole of the world, the universe, its totality is God. But panentheism holds that God is more than the totality of all things. As theologian Marcus J. Borg writes in his book, The God We Never Knew, “God is both more than the universe, yet everywhere present in the universe. … God is ‘right here,’ even as God is also more than ‘right here.’”
Before I go on I should note that, although the germ of this sermon owes to my encounter some years back with the in-whom-we-live-and-move-and-have-our-being phrase, much of its content is drawn from Borg’s book. Thanks to Pastor Lillie for recommending it to me.

Panentheism as a term has been around since only the early nineteenth century. German philosopher Karl Christian Friedrich Krause may have been the first to use the term. And it’s an important concept in the thinking of such twentieth century theologians as Paul Tillich -- who gave us the phrase “ground of being” to describe God. But, as demonstrated by Epimenides, thinking of God as an all-encompassing spirit rather than a supernatural being who is “out there” has ancient roots -- and can be found in many religions -- eastern and western, including, by the way, the transcendental strain of Unitarianism. Ralph Waldo Emerson, who -- as Unitarians never tire of pointing out -- began his career as a Unitarian minister, asserts in the essay Nature that “the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or parcel of God.”

"Chanting a Curse"

Sermon by Deacon Sue Mosher on January 24, 2010

It must be the best known verse in the Bible, "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want," the first verse of the 23rd Psalm. It's comforting. It's reassuring. It's easy. Most of you probably can recite it from memory. Flip over a few pages to Psalm 51, and you'll hear phrases that echo through the versicles that we sing here before the pastoral prayer: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your holy Spirit from me." Familiar. Inspiring. You can speak these words with ease - and with perhaps even with yearning for God's company. However, if you keep flipping pages and you're still reading aloud by the time you get to Psalm 58, these words may stick in your throat: "Break their teeth in their mouth, O God! . . . . Let them be like a snail which melts away as it goes, like a stillborn child . . . that they may not see the sun." And then there's Psalm 109, which agitated the blogosphere last year when T-shirts appropriated a reference to verse 8 as a barely veiled political slogan aimed against President Obama. Verse 8 says: "Let his days be few, may another man take his post." But the psalm continues: "May his children become orphans and his wife a widow."

The Hebrew name for the book of Psalms is Tehillim, which translates literally into English as "Praises." Did the compilers of the Psalms make a cosmic mistake? How can these curses, these calls for dreadful divine vengeance be cast as praises? Countless churches, synagogues, monasteries, and individuals include these psalm in their regular weekly or monthly rotation. How can they stomach to recite them? The contrast is just too great between the "green pastures" of the 23rd Psalm and the outrageous conclusion of Psalm 137: "Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!" I wouldn't be surprised if you closed the Bible right then and there and never opened it again.

"Life Transitions"

A Sermon by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley, Sunday, December 27, 2009

Jesus’ story takes him to the Temple in Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. The author of the Gospel of Luke tells us specifically, he was twelve years old. Why, when there is very little mention of Jesus as a little boy.

It was true in the first century, just as it is now, Jewish historians tell us, Hebrew boys become morally and religiously accountable at the age of thirteen. Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah actually means that the boy or girl has reached an age where she or he is responsible for his or her moral and religious decisions. Until then, their parents are responsible. With or without a Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah celebration, the young person is considered responsible for following the laws of their tradition. [“Ask Rabbi Simmons” Rabbi Shraga Simmons, about.com]

"Celebrating--After the Birth of Jesus"

Sermon by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley, written for services on December 20, 2009. Church services were cancelled due to heavy snow.

This weekend when the snowstorm blew through the Washington D.C. and the Eastern seaboard, it was just the right size. It stopped trains, planes, and most automobiles. The only cars that were “supposed” to be out were emergency vehicles, but you know, there are always those who want to see if their four-wheel drive can really stop on snow and climb that overpass packed with 12-inches of snow!

The storm was just the right size, because it gives us all a chance to stay in, find a warm place to cuddle, and drink hot tea or cocoa. It gives us a chance to spend some time contemplating, reading, appreciating what we have, but it is not so awful that we won’t be able to go to work sometime this week.

"Baby Jesus Is Born"

Rev. Henley's December 13, 2009, Sermon on the Third Sunday of Advent

This Advent season, we have looked at the prophecy and the promise of the Messiah. We asked ourselves if we were “radical” enough to be followers of those two marginal Jews in the first century John the Baptizer and Jesus.

Last week we traveled with the “expecting” Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem, and considered how much trust we need in God to live our story.

Today we find Mary and Joseph in the stable with their first born Jesus. I thought we would let the labor and delivery be Mary’s private story.

Let us go there in our mind’s eye. Perhaps you already have an image from your young days in Sunday school. Maybe you were in the Christmas play at church as Mary or Joseph, a shepherd or an angel. Or maybe you have seen many paintings of that wondrous night. Perhaps you have seen a live nativity scene played out in the cold with spotlights set up to highlight the characters of the story, as well as the animals gathered around the stable.

"Expecting"

A Sermon by Rev. Henley on the Second Sunday of Advent, December 6, 2009.

The story is told of a young wife, expecting her first child, riding on a donkey, for sixty miles through the rugged, hilly terrain of the desert, from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Her husband, along with all the other Hebrew men, was called to the city of his birth to be counted in the census of the great Roman emperor Caesar Augustus.

At a time when a couple would be most excited about the birth of their first child, they find themselves looking for a place in a strange city and hearing there is no room in the inn.

It must have been surprising, even fearful, when the first pains of birth came upon Mary. Joseph must have been frantic until he found the stable where he could settle down with her and look after her needs. They were expecting, but not so soon, not this way, not here, not now.

The Hebrew people, as we heard in Jeremiah’s prophecy, were expecting a Messiah. Ever since they had returned from their exile in Babylonia, the prophets had told the tribes to expect someone to come and lead them. For over five hundred years, the tribes had waited for that One. He would bring “justice and integrity to the land.”

"Brought Forth Her First Born"

A Sermon by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley on the First Sunday of Advent, November 29, 2009, at Universalist National Memorial Church

This time of year, some of us watch the leaves fall from the trees and estimate how many plastic bags we will fill when we rake. Others of us, who do not have yards, or trees in our yards, only marvel at the number of bags which fill the curbs of those who DO have to rake—year after year.

It is the time of year when we begin to feel the changes of the season, from summer to fall to winter. It is a time of year when poets write words about the “beautiful,” colorful leaves; and our bodies begin to embrace the winds announcing the coming cold days of winter.

It is the time of year when we begin to see the early darkening of each day. It has always been this way for us in the northern climes—a definite changing of the seasons—a sure cooling down of the earth—winter.

"Gratitude in the Midst of 'Now'"

A sermon preached by Rev. Henley, November 22, 2009.

A recent country and western song by Brad Paisley is “Welcome to the Future.” Do you know of him? That is rhetorical; you don’t have to raise your hand. I can say, maybe some of the men haven’t heard of him, but I know all the women have; he’s a handsome, young man!!

"Knowing"

Rev. Henley's sermon on November 15, 2009

Wisdom, throughout our human story has been seen as a feminine characteristic, an intuitive knowing. However,

when the enlightened philosophers separated the mind from the body and organic matter,
when they elevated the thought processes to the realms of true beauty and knowledge,
when they began to equate wisdom with "rational" thinking,

then, it became a masculine characteristic.

However, there have always been those who recognized wisdom as intuitive.

Today, we will explore this feminine wisdom and our psyche, then, we will look at the divine feminine, and finally, the wisdom of Proverbs Sophia.

"Ruth and Naomi"

A Sermon by Rev. Henley on Sunday, November 8, 2009

Several years ago, in 1997 to be exact, a learned book critic Jonathan Kirsch wrote The Harlot by the Side of the Road – Forbidden Tales of the Bible. A reviewer of the book wrote

“The Bible was written for adults, not for children, and some of its stories may well be said to have been written for adults only.”

While the story of Ruth and Naomi is not included in Kirsch’s Harlot it is one of those books of the Bible that is quite provocative.

First, we’ll look at the story itself, I’ll try to refrain from making too many comments, then my message will explore the possible meanings of the Book about Ruth and Naomi.

Around two thousand years ago—give or take a decade—a Hebrew scribe wrote down a story of a strong, young woman of the Moabite tribes. Her name was Ruth. Ruth’s mother-in-law was Naomi from Bethlehem. It was an oral story, an oral tradition, long before it was written down. There is no doubt in my mind that it began with a woman.

"A New Jerusalem"

A Sermon by Rev. Lillie Henley on November 1, 2009

Sometime between the year 60 and the year 90 the message called “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” was written. It is attributed to “John,” a faithful subject. It has the tone of prophecy and solicits feelings from the reader as if it were poetry. It is one of the most beautifully written works of the Christian New Testament. It is odd that a book titled “Revelation” is, as Kathleen Norris wrote, so veiled and obscure.

"Is Gay Marriage Plan B?"

A Sermon by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley on Sunday, October 11, 2009

A couple of weeks ago I read an article in the Washington Post [September 29, Metro section] by Petula Dvorak. She wrote:

One of the best vanity plates ever was in front of me a while back, rolling west on Interstate 66. It was on a minivan, with a dad hunched over the wheel, ducking as toys and food flew back and forth between his battling spawn.

The plate said it all: “Plan B.”

So, what was Plan A?

“God of Grace and God of Glory”

Sunday, October 4, 2009, A Sermon by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley

God of grace and God of glory,
On Thy people pour Thy power.
Crown Thine ancient church’s story,
Bring her bud to glorious flower.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
For the facing of this hour,
For the facing of this hour.

We sang in our first hymn, “God of grace and God of glory, on thy people pour Thy power… Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the facing of this hour, for the facing of this hour…

A few years ago, in a hospital, a dying patient asked me, what does God look like? I smiled at him and asked, “What do you think God looks like?”

He said, I don’t know, but I sure wish I did.

“If You Believe and I Believe”

Sunday, September 27, 2009, A Sermon by Rev. Lillie Mae Henley

If you believe and I believe and together we pray, the Holy Spirit will come down and free God’s people …

If you believe and I believe and together we pray, the Holy Spirit will come down and free God’s people …

Prayer is a powerful phenomenon.

“The Wisdom of God”

Sunday, September 20, 2009, A Sermon by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley

If you have seen any news coverage this week, glanced at the editorial pages of The Washington Post, listened to any talk radio, surfed videos on the internet, then you are certainly aware of the public discussion around Kenya West, Serena Williams, and Rep. Joe Wilson, in alphabetical order. While these three “public figures,” were the catalysts for the most recent rounds of comments, it is a discussion that has been taking place in editorial pages and magazines, for a decade or more.

It IS a discussion on “civility.”

Civility, or lack of civility, has been on our minds for awhile. There has been talk about how we arrived at this cultural place.

“The Beloved Community”

Sunday, September 13, 2009, A Sermon by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley

Cultural anthropologists tell us we are living in a postmodern culture. As you know, that means we have moved from a “modern” to a “postmodern” existence. There was a time in the Twentieth Century when a paradigm shift occurred. There was an event or series of events that caused a consequential change in our worldview.

An Upside Down Sunday

This Sunday, August 2, 2009, was a different kind of Sunday for us. We had hospitality and small group gatherings before worship. During worship we sang praise songs and Rev. Henley preached a short homily.

"Creating a Complaint Free World"

A Sermon by Rev. Henley on July 26, 2009

Complaint Free World Foundation has now shipped 5,986,564 bracelets around the world to sixty countries. Their goal is to ship 60 million bracelets. That will be one percent of the worlds population. If one percent can change, become a happier person, it will, definitely change the world.

Surrender Naturally

Sermon preached by Deacon Sue Mosher 5 July 2009

It might seem odd to hear a sermon on surrender on this weekend that celebrates our national vitality and accomplishments. After all, if the founders had succumbed to British authority and military might, our lives and the world's history would be far different. But I want to reclaim the word "surrender" from the context of shameful battlefield defeat and explore its spiritual implications, particularly the practical role that surrender may play-some would say must play-in our spiritual lives. What I have found at the core of spiritual surrender are some of the same values that contribute to our national character: hope, trust, a willingness to take on risk for the sake of an uncertain future, and-above all-courage. To illustrate that, I want to tell two brief stories, one contemporary and one personal.

"Giving Love, Living Love"

A Sermon by Rev. Henley on June 14, 2009

Eichelberger’s words from our first reading:

The task of the church is to look for the signs of the kingdom which may be no larger than a mustard seed; to live and love with a new perspective; and to offer that perspective in the name of God to men and women caught in the bondage of disappointment about life and in prisons of negative thinking.

Without looking at another person, I want you to look around. What do you see? Do you see this sanctuary with the eyes of our friends from Silver Spring, our offspring? One of their children said, “It makes you feel like you are in a real church.”

Without looking at another person, take in the windows, the stone and plaster. The mosaic with the gold flecks and the stone cross made by Tiffany of New York. Read the carved words at the back of the chancel. God is love and he that dwelleth in love God dwelleth in him.

"Mother Teresa," her superiors chided gently, "you cannot build an orphanage with three pennies...with three pennies you can't do anything."

"Two Roads Diverged"

A Sermon by Rev. Henley in a joint service with Unitarian Universalist Church of Silver Spring, MD, at the UUCSS on June 7.

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden back.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
 

"Our Roots"

A Sermon by Rev. Henley in a joint service with Unitarian Universalist Church of Silver Spring, Maryland, founded by members of Universalist National Memorial Church in 1952.

From the New Testament, the book of Ephesians chapter 3 verses 14-19, an unknown author writes in the name of Paul the Apostle. I have adapted the reading to be inclusive.

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth, I pray that from these glorious, unlimited resources [you] will be empowered with inner strength through the Spirit. Then the Christ will make his home in your hearts through faith… Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. … and may you have the power to comprehend … how wide, how long, how high, and how deep God’s love. May you experience the love of the Christ … Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Universalists have always focused on God’s “wide, long, high, and deep” love. We say often, “God is love.” Our roots, just as Unitarian roots, are planted in the first century stories about Yeshua. For over two thousand years, humankind has watered and fertilized and tended to these plants of faith and our roots are deep.

"The Love Commandment"

A Sermon by Rev. Henley

There was a synagogue which was continually vandalized by a group who called themselves the Aryan Brotherhood. This “brotherhood” wrote horrible graffiti on the walls and sent the congregation hate mail. It was difficult to apprehend the vandals because the incidents were intermittent.

It so happened, that one of the men in the brotherhood, had a life-threatening illness. Neither his family nor his friends would or could help him. The rabbi found out about the man, and offered his help. He took the man into his home, cared for him, and took him to his many treatments and doctors’ visits.

"Roses and a Whitman's Sampler"

A Letter to Her Mother by Rev. Lillie Mae Henley

Mother, it has been fifteen years since you died. I read a poem by Lucille Clifton the other day. She was twenty-three when her mother died. I guess it doesn’t matter when our mother dies, we forever feel this way.

February 13, 1980

twenty-one years of my life you have been
the lost color in my eye. My secret blindness,
all my seeing turned grey with your going.
mother, I have worn your name like a shield.
it has torn but protected me all these years,
now even your absence comes of age.
i put on a dress called woman for this day
but I am not grown away from you
whatever I say.

"Lie Down In Green Pastures"

A Sermon by Rev. Lillie Mae Henley

When you were young, did your parents teach you the little prayer “Now I lay me down to sleep?”

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
if I shall die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take,
if I shall live another day,
I pray the Lord to guide my way.

It scared me; I didn’t want to go to bed thinking I would die at six, or seven, or eight. It wasn’t until I was in the fourth grade and my Sunday school teacher asked us to memorize Psalm 23 that I felt the love and comfort of God and not the fear of dying when I would go to sleep. After we said our prayers, after my mother or my father would turn out the lights, I would recite the Psalm to myself, and be comforted by King James’ version of

"Are You Post-Christian?" Sermon April 26, 2009, by Rev Michael Relland

On my facebook page, in the little spot where you identify your religion, like “Christian,” “Hindu,” the ever popular “Spiritual but not Religious,” I wrote “Religion is a construct.” You see, as I am about to complete my Divinity degree, in another week in fact, I find it a good time to take stock of who I am. And this is my clever way of saying, I don’t know. Facebook doesn’t have time to talk about your deep conception of God in a blurb. It just asks what your religious identity is… and asking about your God is not the same as asking about your religion. I feel a deep connection to God, but not necessarily to my religion, which is sort of Christian.

“In the Beginning Was the Word"

A Sermon by Rev. Lillie Mae Henley

The scribe of the Gospel of John was the most lyrical and creative of the Gospel writers. In fact, the scribe was, shall we say, so “inventive,” that theologians call Matthew, Mark, and Luke the Synoptic Gospels and place John somewhat aside. It is because they find in the Synoptic Gospels a certain agreement, similarities, and cohesiveness to the overall, over-arching, story of Jesus of Nazareth. John on the other hand, written last, is strikingly different, intended more to “explain” Jesus’ purpose rather than to tell Jesus’ story. It is intended more to bring God into human history than to have humankind see God at a distance.

Today we will explore the impact of the first few verses, we will look at Michael Servetus, a Spanish theologian who lost his life for his anti-Trinitarian beliefs, and we will consider what all of this means to us today.

John’s beginning is profoundly provocative. And with these words, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…” he attempted, quite successfully, to connect the Jesus of the Passion Story to an eternal existence, to make Jesus a part of God outside of human history. The only other scripture where we find “In the beginning” is in Genesis. The writer of John wanted the reader of this Gospel to find herself or himself involved with a Jesus who was the Christ of Creation, a part of something bigger than an itinerant preacher from Galilee.

"Mystery of the Open Tomb"

The Easter Sermon by Rev. Lillie Mae Henley

The story of Jesus from Mark.
Women were there. The brave women.
Joseph of Arimethea took the body to the tomb.

Mystery.
We all love a good mystery.
In a book
In our family
In our neighborhood
There is something about a mystery that takes us to a place where we don’t usually go

You see, in our culture, we worship facts, we worship reason
Age of enlightenment
Age of reason
Post-modern de-construction
Post-modernity
It is all about facts, reason, rational thought
Facts define
Facts hem us in
Facts limit us to – there is no room for anything else when we have “the facts, m'am, just the facts.”

Yet, we all love a good mystery.

"Hosanna, Hosanna"

The Palm Sunday Sermon by Rev. Lillie Mae Henley

Jesus, spent his inistry marginalized.
•on the edge of many the small towns of Galilee and Judea at the desert’s edge.
•on the edge of his religion
•on the edge of an invasive patronage system and the oppressive, Roman patriarchy

He knew what being marginalized was both literally and empathetically.

His stories and lessons about God and love affected people so strongly they left whatever they were doing to follow him. They left home and family. It was no “temporary assignment.” There was no promise of a promotion or a diploma at the end. In truth, there was no promise of an end. To follow Jesus was a “for the rest of their lives” undertaking.

"You Really Want to Date!" Sermon March 29, 2009, by Rev Michael Relland

My date has wavy brown hair and works at a butterfly farm. My date has dreadlocks and dark, punk eyes that excite and soothe in the same blink. My date is a warm ocean eddy that surrounds me as I dream away my day; a 3 yr-old princess smiling in a blue taffeta dress; a white clapboard church building in the Deep South with fried chicken in the sanctuary and two women getting married in the front yard. My date is finding mail that rewards me with a job offer or a postcard from my friend Darcy in Japan. My date is a really huge metaphor for a life full of surprises and hopes that I have. My next best date is simply my next big adventure. Some would say fantasy, but I have a friend who would say yes to all of it—these life experiences, these dreams of mine. He would say put them all on a beach blanket, bring a cooler and just relax into your deepest desires. I have another friend who, upon hearing all the possible dates I could come up with, remarks: ‘yea, but none of those things would happen to me.’ And when I’m with her, I begin to worry about my fantasy life.

"What IS Evil"

In The Bee Man of Orn a young sorcerer uses magic to transform a beekeeper. He was certain the beekeeper was an underachiever, so he turned him into a baby. When the sorcerer was old, he returned to the village where he first encountered the beekeeper. There he found the baby grown old, and, as you might guess, a bee keeper—exactly as the sorcerer had found him many years before.

Some things never change.

Humankind, no matter the evolution or transformation of millennia,
no matter the scientific or modern advances,
no matter the spiritual or philosophical influences,
humankind remains the same.

Oh, you might say, we are so very different than pre-historic humans, or ancient civilizations, or even people of a century ago.

Are we?

"Giving Time Talent & Treasure"

For entertainment or escape, some people watch football, some people like ice skating, some people follow “Dancing with the Stars” or “American Idol.” I watch Bollywood films. I don’t know why I waited so long to see Slumdog Millionaire. Bollywood movies are extremely popular around the world. Why Newsweek magazine listed Sharukh Kahn, star of Bollywood and the most famous actor in the world, as one of the most influential people in the world.

I have found that familiarity with Indian movies introduces a commonality with friends and acquaintances from other many countries; for instance, my Ethiopian neighbors, and my Philippine and Pakistani friends.

Several characteristics of Indian movies appeal to their fans. They usually have a happy ending; the plot is intertwined, like a novel; there is a love story, even if it is a suspense or action film; they are usually long movies, over two hours; and they always have dancing. Many would agree that they have the best dancers in movies.

"Giving Up"

How long can you go without complaining? Or gossiping, or criticizing?

In 2007, the pastor of a Unity church, in Kansas City, Missouri, told the people in his congregation he thought the world would be better off if everyone would stop complaining. He followed that with, “Everyone seems to agree on two things: 1. There’s too much complaining in the world, and 2. The world is not the way we’d like it to be. I think there is a direct correlation between the two.”

He wanted the congregation to give up complaining, criticizing, or gossiping for 21 days. People who joined in the challenge were given purple bracelets as a reminder of their pledge. If they caught themselves complaining, they were supposed to take off the bracelet, switch it to the opposite wrist and start the count over. Rev. Will Bowen said it took him three and a half months to put together 21 complaint free days. Today, almost six million bracelets have been shipped around the world to 106 countries.

"Let There Be Light"

A man goes to a friend's house [for a dinner party] … [has too many drinks], and falls asleep. Meanwhile his friend, having to go forth on official duty, ties a priceless jewel within the man's garment as a present, and then departs. The man, being asleep, knows nothing of this. On arising he travels onwards till he reaches some other country where, striving for food and clothing, he labors diligently, undergoes exceeding great hardship, and is content even if he can obtain but a little. Later, his friend happens to meet him and says, "… Sir! How is it you have come down to this, merely for the sake of food and clothing? Wishing you to be in comfort and able to satisfy your five senses, I… tied a priceless jewel within your garment. … [I believe it is still there], yet you in ignorance are … [working] and worrying to keep yourself alive. How very stupid! Go you now and exchange that jewel for what you need, and forever hereafter as you will, [be] free from poverty ...” Adapted from the Buddhist Lotus Sutra 8

"Good News?"

What kind of life did Jesus’ live? I mean, really live, day-to-day.

He came from a simple, rural village in Galilee. He had a trade, carpentry; he gave it up to be an itinerant prophet. He depended on others for food and shelter. There were, I am sure, considerable hardships of his itinerant life. And what about the personal cost? Jesus left his family, friends, and familiar surroundings behind. He was a prophet who believed there needed to be an apocalyptic, cultural and religious transformation. Jesus ministered to the marginalized, but he, too, was marginalized.

"And the Evil Spirit Screamed"

“They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. “

When the author of the Gospel of Mark began to write, there had been, for over a quarter of a century stories told of this Jesus of Nazareth. We know because Josephus, a first century historian, living in Rome, and Philo, a first century philosopher, living in Alexandria, knew of this Jesus? We also know that Jesus’ “sayings” were written down in what modern scholars call the Gospel of “Q,” But “Q” did not survive.

"Renewing Your Life"

A Sermon by Michael Relland, Intern Minister at UNMC, Candidate for Master of Divinity, Wesley Theological Seminary, preached on January 25, 2009

My two year-old daughter moves regularly between my home in DC and her mom’s home in Maryland. People ask me how she copes. They wonder if she gets confused in this fractured family life. She, however, has no problem with it. She is always recreating herself. She plays a new role—she finds a new role for herself to play—as she moves among two worlds. These worlds represent how her mom and I are different. One is urban, the other suburban. One large and well-appointed, the other not so much. These homes carry the left-over furniture, photos, and the baggage of a relationship gone south. But to this very young person, there is no sense of a lost family, just the opportunity each week to visit a new place—a new sense of family.

"On the Wings of a Dove"

A Sermon by Rev. Lillie Henley

Baptism has been a religious act for thousands of years. Many religions have required ritual cleansing and washing. The priests, as well as the worshipers, had to be cleansed of the impurities of daily life before they could enter the temple.

The difference between the baptism of John the Baptist and the historical baptism of ancient religions is that his baptism was an act of repentance and remission. John preached the coming of the Messiah. He believed it meant the end of time and God’s judgment of humankind. He preached repentance of one’s sins. If a person was truly regretful of his failure to live as Yahweh would have him live, and if he would demonstrate his repentance through the act of baptism, his sins would be remitted.

Remission is not complete forgiveness, it is a “lessening,” which meant to John and his followers, they would be in a better position to face God’s judgment than those who had not repented and been baptized.

Annual Service of Our Living Tradition

Each year, on the first Sunday of January, we have a service titled "Service of Our Living Tradition." It is a special service where we recognize the births and the deaths in our congregation and in our individual lives. We recognize our new members with a "New Member Welcoming Ceremony" and we affirm our deacons. That is, we affirm their special relationship with the congregation and the work they do for this beloved community. The minister also recognizes an "exemplary" volunteer by giving to someone the "Minister's Volunteer of the Year Award."

It is different than our usual service, but one I wanted to post on our website, so that you would see one our our "newer" traditions. Rev. Lillie Henley

“The Christ Within Us All”

A Sermon by Rev. Eric Stetson, a member of UNMC and co-founder of the Christian Universalist Association

As we reflect on the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, let us consider what significance does this Jewish Messiah of 2,000 years ago have for us today?

Is Jesus Christ simply a figure to be worshipped as something of a divine superhero, or is the meaning of this historical yet timeless human being something simultaneously more immanent and more transcendent than the popular, perhaps somewhat mythological view? Can a specific man who lived in one particular time, place, and culture – a man who, despite the understandable tendency of some of his devoted followers to deify him, was indeed human in every way – can such a man have a truly universal relevance that is capable of touching the hearts and lives of people in all generations and nations?

“Into the World Came Jesus”

A sermon by Rev. Henley

I said, “Yes.” I said, “Yes!” all those years ago, when the dream became real and Gabriel said to me I was to be the mother of the son of God. Little did I know then, what joy there would be in the knowing of Yeshua. Little did I know then, what pain there would be in the knowing of it all.

There will be many stories of him after we are all gone. I do not know what they will say, all I can tell you now, is my story and the love he brought into our lives.

"Rejoice Always, Proclaim Freedom"

A sermon by Richard Hurst, UNMC Deacon, on December 14, 2008

Today I wish to speak about joy and about liberty, which I am going to call by the more Anglo-Saxon term freedom. The Hebrew prophet Isaiah proclaims freedom, and release to the captives, and healing and recompense along the way for those in need of it; Jesus repeats the most important of Isaiah's proclamations in the gospels, in his very first public sermon. It is worth remembering that Jesus is attacked, physically attacked, for proclaiming Isaiah’s words of freedom and healing and reconciliation.

Freedom must then mean something to us as people of faith; but does it mean the same to us as it did to the ancient Israelites, or to Jesus and his followers? Even if it does, should it, or should it mean something different, in light of the passage of time and the evolution of what we mean by the term freedom during the intervening years? Ideally freedom means something broader now than it did then. Are we to proclaim freedom for others, for ourselves and those under our control, do we proclaim freedom from what haunts our own hearts, do we proclaim freedom to live our own lives in "pursuit of happiness," understood to mean "maximum happiness," perhaps even "maximum joy?" Do you personally understand freedom as something more Jeffersonian or more Ayn Rand-ian, or something altogether different?

"Into the World Came Jesus"

At the beginning of chapter twenty of second Chronicles enemies are preparing to invade the kingdom of Judah. King Jehoshaphat is afraid. He calls all the tribes to the temple at Jerusalem and says we have to fast and pray. God promised us this land and we need to show our faithfulness in that promise.

While they were gathered, one of the musicians is inspired, and preaches in a prophetic voice. He says the enemy is gathering at one end of the valley, and Yahweh will help Jehoshaphat’s army defeat these gathering tribes.

The story is symbolic of the Hebrew tribes’ relationship with Yahweh. The people are faithful and unfaithful to the laws of Moses. Sometimes they believe, sometimes they doubt Yahweh. Throughout the hundreds of years of their existence they have claimed one God who was vengeful and merciful. On this day, their God helped them defeat their enemies; but that was not always true.

"Hope for Christmas"

I am sure everyone here has climbed a mountain, hiked through the woods, or walked on a sandy beach. Recall for a moment, if you would, the feelings and sensations of being in nature. Remember the sound of the wind rushing in your ears on the beach or the stillness as you moved through quiet woods. What about the elation of standing on the top of a mountain?

Perhaps we all seek Nature because we want to get away from the challenges of our lives. Perhaps we find communion with God in Nature. Human beings know that life is hard, no matter in which culture or geological age we find ourselves.

We have been told that the people of the northern climates of Old Europe were fearful of the shorter days of winter. Eventually, they learned that the seasons always change. As their knowledge expanded, the seasons became predictable. They were grateful for the cycle of growth and harvest, and they celebrated the return of longer, lighter days on the winter solstice. They needed the Light, just as we do.

"The Great American Preacher"

The sermon is informed by Henry Steele Commanger’s Theodore Parker: A Yankee Crusaider unless otherwise noted.

In February 1860, Reverend Theodore Parker was bundled up and carried onto a sailing ship headed for the West Indies, in a bid to save his life. Days later, as the ship crossed the Atlantic, he finally gathered enough strength to begin writing My Experiences as a Minister. Weak as he was, he wrote 40,000 words—hardly legible, but his wife, Lydia, and his friend, Hannah, recopied his work and mailed it back to his beloved congregation in Boston. He was dying, he knew. The doctors gave him a one-in-ten chance to live, and that was only if he took this sea journey, for rest and a change in climate. Although there was so much more he wanted to accomplish, he was tired, “incredibly tired.”

"Conversations in a Cab"

A story sermon by Rev. Dennis Daniel from the Unitarian Universalist Church in Reston, Virginia, given at UNMC on November 2, 2008

Since 1995 HBO has run a weekly program called “Taxicab Confessions,” in which unsuspecting people tell the cabbie about their most moving experiences. The show has won several Emmys and is still popular thirteen years later. I thought the premise would be good sermon material, so I wrote my own version. I hope you find it worth the fare.

We’ll start with a couple getting into a cab at JFK in New York. Their destination is a midtown hotel, near Lincoln Center. The driver asks what they are in town for. It turns out they are celebrating their tenth anniversary. They are great opera buffs and have purchased tickets for a week’s worth of performances at the Met, the City Opera, and the Amato. They have also arranged to attend a rehearsal at the Met and to observe a master class at the Julliard School next door. They are full of excitement at the prospects.

The cabbie is interested in the human story. She doesn’t ask them about their favorite opera or their favorite opera singer. Instead, she asks how they came up with idea to spend their anniversary sitting in darkened theaters listening to other people sing. Most people celebrating an anniversary prefer to go dancing, she says. And thus she gets their story.

"No Future Without Forgiveness"

My sermon title is from Bishop Desmond Tutu’s book No Future Without Forgiveness. Which needs to be required reading, not only for every diplomat in the world, but all school children. We will explore the book later in the sermon.

There are, in our lives, many awful things that happen to us as individuals. No human being is exempt from pain. Poor or rich or anywhere in between, pain is like rain, it comes and goes in our lives. We never know when it will come or how long it will stay.

Suffering, philosophers say, is part of the human condition. All religions have something to say about it. There are many causes of human suffering. Mental illness, physical illness, and traumatic accidents are all sources of emotional pain and suffering. Suffering is also caused by scarcity of natural resources or catastrophes of nature.

Today, though, I want us to consider, not the suffering caused by circumstances or conditions, but the suffering caused by human behavior.

Facing the Future

A Sermon by Rev. Henley

Fayrene Stafford Farmer tells this story about her grandson:

“When six-year-old John-Mark arrived last weekend with his parents and his little brother, John-Mark’s cow, a large Santa Gertrudis, had just given birth. Our grandson was ecstatic...

His enthusiasm rivaled that of his grandfather’s two weeks earlier when a rather non-descript little black baldy cow not only had twin calves but immediately bonded with each to them and seem to have plenty of milk to raise them.

The birth of John-Mark’s calf was difficult. The calf was large and beautiful but even with an assisted birth he had breathing problems, and difficulty standing.

‘I really like my calf,’ John-Mark confided the next day, after yet another trip to the barn. ‘He lets me pet him.’ The cow, who was, as my husband said, ‘a little waspy,’ had to be put in the headgate when the calf was held up to her to allow it to nurse. She was fiercely devoted to her baby but not to the humans who were assisting him.

Living Our Faith

A sermon by Rev. Henley

After my brother died, when we were cleaning out his home and packing up his clothes to give to the Purple Heart Veterans, we found a stack of cards from the Red Cross that showed how many quarts—gallons really—of blood he had given. I never knew my brother was so diligent about giving blood. He never said anything to me about it.

When I think of Paul’s words in Philippians, how we are to live humbly, do nothing out of selfish ambition, or vain conceit, be humble, and most of all, be a servant to others, I think of my brother serving others by donating all that blood to the Red Cross.

I believe we all try to live our lives with loving kindness and in some way serve others.

Forgive Us

A Sermon by Rev. Henley

We heard in our reading of Matthew 18:21-35 this morning, how Peter went to Jesus and asked …how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times? “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven.”

That is a lot of forgiveness!

Many of us have people in our lives we need to forgive. A loved one may have betrayed us, an adult hurt us when we were young, or perhaps, a friend was cruel to us.

Forgiveness is about seeing the person and their pain, then forgiving them. After we have forgiven them, we can let go of OUR pain. “Forgiving” is about our own peace not the other person’s peace. Coming to terms with what happened is actually about us.

Planting Seeds

A Sermon by Rev. Henley

Zachariah, in the tradition of the Hebrew prophets, called his people to compassion and justice, “…[r]ender true judgments, show kindness and mercy each to his brother, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor; and let none of you devise evil against … [your] brother in your heart."

And so did Jesus. Two of the most penetrating stories of the New Testament are about compassion. One is the Good Samaritan, where Jesus taught his followers that we are all called to help each other. The other is the story where Jesus tells us to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, visit those in prison, and clothe the naked.

As for justice, it was very clear that his followers were called to seek justice. He did this, not by saying in so many words to seek justice, but by telling the scribes and the Pharisees that they [Matthew chapter 23] have neglected the “weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.” In Luke he tells the Pharisees they have “passed by justice.”

Womens Equality--No--Womens Reality

A sermon by Rev. Lillie Henley
August 24, 2008

A few thousand years ago, three prophets led their people from bondage to freedom. These prophets were Moses, his brother Aaron, and his sister Miriam. Who was this woman Miriam, the first woman to be called a prophet in the Scriptures?

We first see her in the second chapter of Exodus. The Pharaoh had declared that newborn sons of the Hebrew slaves are to be killed. Miriam’s mother has a newborn son Moses. (From the New Living Translation)

Love Is the Relish on the Hot Dog of Life

A Special Service in Remembrance of the victims of the deadly shooting on July 27, 2008, at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, Knoxville. Tennessee Valley and the Westside Unitarian Universalist Church, Farrugut, were holding a joint service.

The Sermon by Rev. Henley

There was a little girl who lived on the West Side of downtown Chicago, many years ago when the West Side was a place where poor people lived. Helene was her name, and she was the youngest of five daughters. She walked to school in shoes that had been repaired with cardboard. Her mother slipped the cardboard inside her shoes because there were holes in the bottom of her soles. The cardboard was supposed to keep her socks from getting wet when it was raining, and keep her feet from freezing when it was snowing. Of course, we know that the cardboard really didn’t protect her feet.

Her shoes had to be repaired with cardboard until her mother could scrape together enough money to buy a pair of shoes for the oldest daughter who could then pass on her shoes to her younger sister, who could then pass on her shoes and so on, until all five girls had another pair of shoes.
Helene’s family was so poor because it was the Depression, and their father had lost his job and had hitched a ride on a train West to see if he could find work. Although he wrote occasionally, he never found any work and he never sent any money back to Helene’s family.

You Can Put Your Real Friends in a Telephone Booth

A Sermon by Rev. Henley, July 20, 2008

All of us live and love our own story. Yet, our lives are not solitary; we live and love our lives in relationship, with family and friends and God. If we vision God as the ocean and we as creatures in that ocean, then we can see how our lives are interconnected and interdependent one with another. Some of us live our lives like a school of Raccoon Butterfly Fish, with a lot of family and friends around us, some of us are like the Lined Butterfly Fish who live in pairs, and some of us are lead solitary lives like Rainbow Parrotfish. Probably, we all live our life’s story like all of these at one time or other.

Something that is evident, not only to scholarly sociologists, but also to us, is that life is better for us human beings when we have family and friends who love us. And, when I say love us, I mean they behave as though they love us.

Today, we explore friendship. Many of us are here today because we need the relationships of friendship that are possible in a group whose mission is to create a loving community in the spirit of Jesus. We may or may not have friends outside this community; hopefully we do. What we want and need as human beings are friends, not just acquaintances, but friends who can be our “best friends.”

I had a friend who used to say, “You can put your real friends in a telephone booth, and the rest of the people you know, well you may love some of them, but they’re not the kind of people you tell your secrets.”

Sex, A Sacred Gift

A Sermon by Rev. Henley, July 13, 2008

Once, a long, long, time ago, on earth there were only bacteria and amoebae. They were single-cell organisms, solitary and asexual. To reproduce, they only had to divide in two. Then by chance, over 500 million years ago, multi-cellular organisms evolved. To reproduce, these multi-cellular organism had to find a mate. This is when sex began.

Ever since then, all multi-cellular creatures are compelled by the biological processes of their bodies to have sex in order to reproduce. It is really quite simple. There is an overwhelming drive to find a mate and have sex. In some species, the drive may be to mate one time, ensure the deposit of new life, and then die. An example would be the seventeen year locust we have here in the Washington, D.C. area. In other species, life-time mates may be chosen, the female may have one or more offspring, and both adults live to see successive generations. The life cycle and the dependency of the offspring vary; but not the genetically encoded drive to reproduce.

Love God, Love Each Other

Rev. Henley preached this sermon July 6, 2008.

The title of the sermon Love God, Love Each Other, implies that if we love God, we will love each other. It does not imply, if we love God, we might love each other a little, or we might love some and not others. Loving God leads us to love for everyone, all our sisters and brothers who share this fragile globe orbiting our Sun.

Do we love God? And, does God love us? Love implies relationship.

How do we know God loves us? Do we know because the Bible tells us so? Jesus loves me this I know / for the Bible tells me so / Little ones to him belong / they are weak but he is strong / Yes, Jesus loves me, yes, Jesus loves me, yes, Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so.

Love God, Love the Earth

A sermon preached by Rev. Henley, June 29.

Let us sit quietly, close our eyes for a moment, and allow ourselves to reach into the recesses of our memories, looking for a time to remember when we when we were out-of-doors. There will probably be an image that comes to your mind that often comes into your thoughts. Perhaps, it is a place where you allow your mind to wander to—often. The image is probably very real to you.

Is there water,
Or mountains, woods,
Or forest.
A pond, or creek, or wide delta river.
Is there sand,
Or dry, hard-packed desert earth,
Or rocks of many colors.
Is there the sound of a sea gull,
Or a gaggle of geese honking above,
Or the quiet stealth of a deer in the woods?

Is it as if it were yesterday? Do you smell the water or the woods, or feel the humid air or a dry breeze? Is there the sound of silence, or rushing water, or crashing waves? How often do you go there, to that place, why do you “go there?” When?

Unintended Consequences

A sermon preached by Deacon Richard Hurst, June 22, 2008

Abraham, Sarah and Hagar lived in a tent a long time ago in the middle of the desert, but their lives have resonances still. This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise—Abraham is the father of three faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It is through Sarah’s son Isaac the twelve tribes of Israel are traced. It is through Hagar’s son Ishmael, another twelve tribes are traced, whom Muslims count as their ancestors. I’ll divide the resonances from Abraham’s Tent this morning into three; namely family, freedom and faith.

I’ll start with family. You’ll remember in the story that Abraham, Sarah and Hagar have what might be generously called unique domestic problems; but as they say, unhappy families are each unique, while happy families are all the same. That said, I’m sure at least some of the dysfunctions of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar might be familiar to many of us. So, let me start with a modern story, which is completely made up, except that it has to do with my own life, so I’ve changed the names.

When I Die Sing The Old Rugged Cross

A collaborative service by Rev. Henley and Deacon Lisa Harris who wrote the following poem “When I Die” especially for this service.

“When I Die”© by L. Michelle Harris, June 1, 2008

Dying is the hard part
To exhale every desire and dream
Every love and hate
Every memory and grudge.
Better it would be if
Death just comes
Like love
Surprising and complete
Then dying isn’t necessary.
Better it would be if
Death comes late
Death of one too young
Is a burden to the living.
Death itself is a mystery
But I have hope
Hope that I’ll be free of all struggle
Hope that I’ll be greeted by
my ancestors
Hope that Tupac still has voice
And an eternal rhyme
Background for a bid whist game
That never ends.
And to those left to commit
What remains of me to earth
And memory
I don’t ask much of you.
Just that you keep it short
Keep it sweet.
Let one saxophone play
Precious lord take my hand.
Let one person speak
And say only this:
She Loved.

Don't Worry, Be Happy

Sermon preached by Rev. Henley May 25, 2008

Bobby McFerrin wrote “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” in 1988. It was a number one hit for two weeks. I bet every one of us has said that phrase more than a time or two—even if we weren’t born when the song was popular! If McFerrin had a dollar for every time someone said, “Don’t worry, be happy,” I am sure he would be as Forrest Gump might say, a “gozillionaire” by now. When I read our scripture for today from Matthew, I thought about McFerrin’s song.

…
in your life expect some trouble
when you worry you make it double
don’t worry be happy

McFerrin doesn’t say there will not be any trouble, he says there will be trouble, but when you worry, you make it double! And Jesus knew that we have trouble in our lives, “… Each day has enough trouble of its own,” but he said, “…Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” In other words, be present with God, be God-centered, and God will take care of our worries.

Let the Children Come

A sermon by Rev. Henley May 18, 2008

"Let the children come to me, do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God… And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands upon them.

Let the children come, Jesus said. It is reported in three of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It is another example of Jesus’ inclusiveness. For we know that in the first century in Palestine, children were nothing more to their fathers than property with possibilities. They had no value as themselves; their only value was what they would contribute if, and it was a big IF, if they grew up.

The disciples saw the mothers bringing their children to be blessed the rabbi, and they followed the conventional approach, don’t let anything interfere with the rabbi’s teaching—little children are just in the way. Jesus, being the unconventional, radical rabbi that he was welcomed the children. With our modern sensibilities, we think, but children are so special; however, it wasn’t that long ago in our culture that “children were to be seen and not heard.”

We say we cherish our children, but
there are still too many parents who abuse their children,
there are still too many school districts that tolerate deplorable conditions in their schools, and
there are still too many young people who are forced to drop out of school for many, sad, sad, reasons.

Our systemic and cultural relationships with our children are still in need of just and equitable treatment for our nation’s children. However, most families cherish their children and most parents do all they can to ensure their children have the education and care they need. We all want our children to grow up to be healthy, productive, and caring adults.

Life Is Like a Box of Chocolates

A Mother's Day Sermon by Rev. Henley, May 8, 2008

Today is Mother’s Day--Happy Mother's Day to all today who are mothers!

Julia Ward Howe, a Unitarian, in 1870 called for a Mother’s Day so mothers everywhere in the world would call for world peace. Our reading this morning was her “Mothers Day Proclamation.”

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
…
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!

Justice in Our Time

A Sermon by Our Deacon Jennifer Sandberg

My dictionary defines the word “justice” as moral rightness; equity. If you want to put it in even simpler terms it means the “right thing to do”. Jesus told us what is the right thing to do in our New Testament reading this morning. Just because someone is a stranger doesn’t mean we should walk on by when they are in need of help. The Old Testament has many references to justice, particularly God’s justice. Deuteronomy 10 verses 18 & 19: who executes justice for the orphan and the widow and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall ... love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

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

Sermon by Rev. Henley, May 13, 2008

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

A sermon preached by Rev. Henley, April 6, 2008

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

Sermon preached by Rev. Henley on March 30, 2008

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

Sermon by Rev. Henley March 23, 2008

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

Rev. Henley preached this sermon on March 2, 2008

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

Preached by Rev. Henley on February 24, 2008

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

Rev. Henley preached this sermon on February 17, 2008, two days after her dear friend died in Addis Abba, Ethiopia

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

A sermon preached by Rev. Henley on February 10, 2008

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

Rev. Henley preached on February 3, 2008

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

A sermon by Rev. Henley on January 27, 2008

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

Preached by Rev. Henley on January 20, 2008

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:

"Out of Egypt I Called My Son"

A Sermon preached by Rev. Henley on January 13, 2008

After Christmas had come and gone, after the angels left, after the shepherds left, after the magi left, Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus were becoming a family, as most families do after a child is born. We are not told how old Jesus was when, one night, an angel of Jehovah found its way in to Joseph’s dream. The angel said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."

So Joseph got up, took baby Jesus and Mary during the night and left for Egypt, where they stayed until the death of Herod. When Herod died, again an angel came to Joseph And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."

"Our Living Tradition at Universalist Church"

The Service of Our Living Tradition, Sunday, January 6, 2008

Kirk Denton, our organist, for whom we are celebrating twenty-five years of service today, loaned me the book The Recollections and Reflections of Seth R. Brooks and Corrine H. Brooks. It is a series of interviews conducted by our minister emeritus Dr. William Fox with Dr. Brooks and his wife.

It is an excellent map to what sociologists call “our church culture.” Some of us have studied organizational behavior. If not in a class, then through reading perhaps through our own observations of human nature. It has proven time after time in studies, that even when the current organization does not consciously remember or even know their past culture, it is always there, influencing and affecting the present culture.

Today’s service is a long one, we expect one that honors our own living tradition to be full, and so, my goal is to share with you some of the Brooks’ comments. When we hear them, we can “see” our church from a historical perspective. Like in Isaiah’s words from today’s reading, the story of human relationships with God and each other is an eternal, on-going story, and we are but a part of that story for only a part of the time.

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.

Cost of Relationship

September 9, 2007, sermon by Rev. Henley

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"

Preached by Rev. Henley on September 2, 2007

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.
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