First Church Unitarian

All Sermons

All Sermons

The Road or the Simple Highway

January 29, 2017

… for those of us who seek to stand on the side of love, for those of us who seek to be agent of that moral arc of the universe bending towards justice, the road ahead is anything but a simple highway. It will be a terribly difficult road at times, as has been well demonstrated in just this past week. The way in which we travel in the days ahead will determine whether were as a society are headed for yet another dawn in the life of our nation, or for the dark of night. I came away from last weekend hopeful that we will choose to work towards yet another dawn rather than surrender to the forces of the dark of night.

We Need You Martin

January 15, 2017

The content of your faith, or my faith, need not be the same as was Dr. King’s. But bear in mind that as we meet the challenges, and respond to the calls to action, that surely will lie before us, that whatever our skills, abilities, and energies may be, there will be times when we will experience our human vulnerabilities and human limitations and perhaps our own times of self-doubt and wondering.

A Place for Myth and Fantasy

December 11, 2016

… we bring our whole selves, our whole lives, [to church]: Our feeling selves, our wondering selves, our selves that are in need of good tidings of comfort and joy and of hope and of healing. I happen to believe there is a place, an important and valued place in our liberal religious community, for legend and stories and mythology when it comes to offering such good tidings.

What’s Good Today?

November 20, 2016

    For me, what’s good today is that I’m here; here with you in a setting with people whose values and principles I share. What’s good today is that I am called to keep faith with you, even as we—each and every one of us here—are called to keep faith with one another.

    A Pre-Election Reflection

    November 6, 2016

    …our political processes—at any number of levels—offer an opportunity for citizens to bring their highest principles and values to the public, civic arena. … it’s important, even crucial, that this ideal be held up … as a reminder of what responsible and dedicated and caring citizenry means and requires.

    Just What is Atheism

    October 23, 2016

    THAT—I would submit—is the real God question. It’s not about whether or not there is a Supreme Being who knows who we are and can catch us in our misdeeds—like, say, swiping fudge. It’s about whether or not there is any Greater Meaning to our lives that both encompasses and lies beyond the earthly meanings we cultivate and nurture for ourselves.

    Shall We Pray

    October 16, 2016

    Prayer, as I have come to see it, is an attempt to touch what Ralph Waldo Emerson called the “spark of the Divine” that is in all of us, and to sense the presence of the Sacred that lies beyond us as well. It is part of our human condition to reach both within and beyond ourselves when it comes to finding true meaning in our lives, when it comes to finding what is Really Real for us, when it comes to discovering what it is that ultimately sustains us and makes us whole persons.

    Atonement and Forgiveness

    October 2, 2016

    Religious communities, whatever their orientation and however liberal or conservative they may be, are also human communities. As such they contain within them the best that is in men, women, and children; as well as our human foibles, shortcomings, and failings. These are the lives we bring to the religious communities to which we belong, as we seek greater wholeness, seek greater levels of relationship, and sometimes seek the forgiveness and the reconciliation we need to get to those levels.

    Belief as the Enemy of Religion

    September 25, 2016

    I think we need ways of saying to the larger communities in which our congregations are located that we offer a way of being religious in the best and most basic sense of the word. We offer a place where you can grow a soul, where you can in the company of other seekers, search and find what it is that finally and most meaningfully binds your life together and gives you a sense of wholeness.

    The Many Meanings of Ministry

    September 18, 2016

    “When I see the faces of the people at my church I can always find my way home.” Granted, a church or a house of worship however named is not a place to hide out from the world. But it is a place to bring your spirit for renewal and recommitment, so that you can then re-engage with the world. And wherever one’s heart finds renewal, wherever one finds a newness of life—that indeed is a holy place.