This podcast from August 18, 2019 includes messages from Intern Minister Zsolt Elekes upon finishing his internship and Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor upon returning from the second half of his sabbatical. This Sunday's service celebrated UTUUC's Homecoming Sunday and the annual Water Communion ritual. As we say farewell to Zsolt Elekes as he returns home to Transylvania, he shares what he has gained from being among the congregation this past year. Then, Rev. Taylor shares a poignant charge to Zsolt as he goes forth a minister in our eyes.
The theme for August is how do we lead a life of presence? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Intern Minister Zsolt Elekes on August 11, 2019. Zsolt's sermon focuses on the global mission of Unitarianism and Unitarian Universalism. As he is delivering his last sermon as Intern Minister at our congregation, he underlines the importance of global partnership in faith. It is important in ages when walls are built that we build bridges that connect our faith across the oceans.
Zsolt will finish his year-long internship with UTUUC on August 18 and will return to his homeland of Transylvania to pursue his career in Unitarian Universalist ministry.
The theme for August is how do we lead a life of presence? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Scott Stabile on August 4, 2019. Scott Stabile is a writer and speaker. He presents daylong empowerment workshops nationally and internationally as an advocate for Love! He has a huge and devoted social media following. He is the author of Big Love: The Power of Living with a Wide-Open Heart and Just Love. Learn more at www.scottstabile.com.
The theme for July is how do we lead a life of presence? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
This podcast from the July 28, 2019 worship service consists of personal reflections by five UTUUC members on their experiences participating in the Beloved Conversations program. In order of presentation, the members are Emma Farrell, Magane Koshimura, Sarah Harmon, Chuck Ruth and Stephanie Kiesling. Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage offers introductory thoughts.
Beloved Conversations is an experiential curriculum that provides a space to re-form/fuse the brokenness of racism into new patterns of thought and behavior ushering in social and spiritual healing. New ways of being are learned through the actions of conversation and probing dialogue. For more information about Beloved Conversations and to inquire about participating in the next session, please contact Rev. Gage at egage@unitytemple.org.
The theme for July is how do we lead a life of presence? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on July 21, 2019. Lots was happening in 1969, including an uprising at a gay bar called the Stonewall in Greenwich Village, which may mark the beginning of the gay civil rights movement. What exactly happened that night? What does it mean for us today?
The theme for July is how do we lead a life of presence? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
This sermon delivered by Intern Minister Zsolt Elekes on July 14 is a compilation of questions asked by those attending worship that day. Questions were written during the service, categorized by a congregation member and selected as representative of that category. As a way of being fully present with the congregation, Zsolt answered the questions extemporaneously as he read them.
The theme for July is how do we lead a life of presence? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Pastor Danny Givens on July 7, 2019. Danny Givens is a heartfelt activist and orator who received a life changing gift of forgiveness from an off-duty police officer he shot during a botched robbery in 1996. Propelled by forgiveness, Danny began his journey toward reconciliation and resiliency prior to his release from incarceration in 2008. He later went on to receive his B.A. in Christian Ministry from Bethel University in 2011, accompanied by a three-year residency as an Interfaith Minister at Unity Church-Unitarian in St. Paul, Minnesota in 2016. Learn more about Danny at www.dannygivens.com.
The theme for June is how do we lead a life of presence? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Andrew Harvey on June 30, 2019. Andrew Harvey has spent 40 years devoting himself to the Rumi Renaissance and to Rumi as the prophet of love of the new universal mysticism. And now, he focuses his passion on the other great universal mystical poet, Kabir the powerful poet of India, loved by Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs but whose vision of the One transcends all religions.
In this sermon, Mr. Harvey acts as translator and unifier for Ruminator and Kabir, inviting us to experience the extreme, stunning, mystical dialogue of the heart between these two universal masters. Rumi made us vulnerable to love and now Kabir kills us into the eternal life of truth in embodied Divine humanity. Andrew further presents these two perspectives as an urgent calling to us to take action in response to our immediate climate emergency.
The theme for June is how do we lead a life of beauty? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Intern Minister Zsolt Elekes on June 23, 2019. In the month of beauty, we are trying to find the beauty in the world, which we can often find in nature. Here, Zsolt raises awareness that the beauty of nature - like the coral reefs, forests and islands - will no longer be observed by the next generations if we are not listening to the climate scientists and we are not hearing the words of awareness. Through his sermon, Zsolt presents two cases of environmental injustice from Transylvania, and he gives voice to his visions and dreams.
The theme for June is how do we lead a life of beauty? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith
This sermon from June 16, 2019 consists of addresses from three UTUUC members who are also fathers. Andrew Thompson, Michael Weekes and Terry Grace share their different perspectives as fathers of preschool, elementary school and adult age children, respectively.
The theme for June is how do we lead a life of beauty? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith