How does a movement’s vision of “liberation” evolve from generation to generation? Today we are seeing the reemergence of issues of great import for both the racial justice and women’s movements, the opening of old wounds, and the clash between “old” and “new” ways of thinking. We’ll explore how we can come together across generational … Continue reading Podcast: Mar 6 – “Ripping Off the Band-Aid, Again”

Hinduism and Buddhism both argue that suffering is the result of selfish attachment to things we desire and aversion to things we don’t. We’ll explore whether this ancient thinking still applies today, and what practices and tools might be helpful in letting go of such attachments and aversions. Worship Leader: Rev. Matt Alspaugh

This is Valentine’s Day. It is also Evolution Weekend. We pair these up to explore the role of sex and death in the evolution of life in our world, and what it means to us as products of evolution.

What we desire is what we become…or not. How do science and religion conspire to control and cultivate our desires? We bring together apples, string theory and mandalas to explore the answer. Worship Leader: Sarah Lown

As UUs, we resist racism by recognizing the inherent value in every person regardless of the hundreds of factors used to divide us from one another. Today, we explore how we will actively resist institutional racism and interpersonal prejudice in our neighborhood now and in the near future.

The Syrian refugee crisis, the rise of terrorist attacks by Islamist extremists, and the often stilted coverage of both by the media produces the perfect storm: heated rhetoric is leading to attacks on Mosques and death threats and violence against Muslims. As UUs, we are called to treat those the rest of the world would … Continue reading Podcast: Jan 10 – Trumping Islamophobia, Learning to Love the Stranger

What are your deepest, darkest secrets, those you shared with no one? A “regret, fear, betrayal, desire, confession, or childhood humiliation” — these are the kinds of secrets sought by the amazing mail art project called postsecret. We’ll explore such secrets, and what might happen if we do share them.

Sometimes the things we receive are just as we expected, and sometimes they are a complete surprise. We explore how expected and unexpected gifts (of grace) play into our lives. We will follow this service with a variation on our tradition of a Boxing Day white elephant gift exchange. Please bring one or two wrapped … Continue reading Dec 27 – “Expected and Unexpected Gifts”

David Brooks, in his recent book, The Road to Character, claims that we spend much of our adult lives building “résumé virtues” at the expense of “eulogy virtues”. We concentrate on career skills at the expense of the “eulogy virtues” people talk about at our funeral—“whether [we] were kind, brave, honest or faithful. . . … Continue reading Dec 13 – “Making Our ‘Moral Bucket List’” – Karen O’Malia

In Dickensian England, the phrase “having expectations” meant you expected to inherit wealth upon the death of a relative. Which seems both crass and morbid to us. But what do we mean by expectation? What happens when we expect too much? Or too little? In this dark time of the year, we explore authentic expectation. … Continue reading Dec 6 – “Great Expectations and Not-So-Great Expectations”