Sermons (Page 2)
Believing in the Inherent Worth and Dignity of Every Person: How Hard Is That?
Part two of our 2021 series on Living our UU Principles. This week we hear from Blanche Williams on our first principle: The inherent worth and dignity of every person. With a background in literature, music, and information sciences, Blanche Williams earned a doctorate in psychology from the liberally-minded George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. She has worked as a clinical psychologist in various settings across several states and now serves patients, families, and treatment providers at Baptist MD Anderson…
Come, Yet Again, Come
Teri Mitchell, Nancy Murrey-Settle, and Munsell McPhillips explore the values, virtues, and covenants of Unitarian Universalism.
Father’s Day
Listen to Blanche Williams, Penny Reid, and Jeff Funkderburk as they talk about fatherhood.
Facing Racism
Cee Cee Severin explores racism through the lens of her personal journey.
Baby, We Need a Barn-Raising
Pandemic isolation has had a deep impact on mental health and community dynamics. How can we show up with authenticity—virtually and in person—as we continue to exercise caution due to COVID-19? Rev. Erin Walter reflects on spiritual resources for mental health and our calling to community care, drawing inspiration from music, Mr. Rogers, and more.
Your Really True Story
Linda Hart Green muses on how our stories help us make sense of the world and of ourselves.
Special Collection: Read USA
Our speaker is Terrence Freeman, newly appointed CEO of READ USA. UUCJ has done a special collection to sponsor a READ USA book fair for the students of Arlington Heights Elementary School for the past 5 years. The book fairs allow each student to choose three new books for summer reading. The book fairs will be conducted in person or virtually this year depending on how the students are attending school. UUCJ is the only faith-based organization that has sponsored…
It’s Not Fair Jesus, Or Is It?
May 1 is International Worker’s Day throughout much of the world. It was first celebrated in Paris in 1889 to demand justice for the world’s laborers and to commemorate the killing of workers by police at the Haymarket labor strike demonstration in Chicago in 1886. As a starting point to honor the world’s laborers I’m going to present Jesus’ parable “Laborers in the Vineyard” which has fascinated me since I first heard it in Sunday School. – Rev. Paul
Easter: A Celebration of Joy
Each year as I prepare an Easter sermon I have in mind the words of Rev Dr. Frederick May Eliot, president of the American Unitarian Association from 1937 until his death in 1958. “When I go to church on Easter I expect to be reminded of the elemental truth that in this universe of ours with all its hesitancies and timidities and tragedy, the tides of life are flowing fresh, manifold, and free. I expect to find myself swept into…
The Thrill of Victory & The Agony of Defeat
For several years these words were the lead-in for ABC’s Wide World of Sports, but they have application to our entire national life. On this Super Bowl Sunday Rev. Paul Johnson looks at the positive and negative features of our national mania for competition.