Sermons from 2022

This I Believe

Our Unitarian Universalist fourth principle calls for a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. While our UU heritage recognizes sources of “truth”, in the end, it is the responsibility of each of us to craft a worldview for ourselves that makes sense to us as an individual…that gives our actions some direction for making meaning in our life. This Sunday, three of our members will be sharing their personal spiritual beliefs and the journeys that lead them there.

This Time When We Might Be Flying

Our community is starting to come back together after so much time apart. So what’s next for us and for Unitarian Universalism in the world around us? Join us this morning for a sermon by the UUA’s Central East Region’s Rev. Dr. Megan Foley. We’ll follow the sermon with some individual and small-group reflection exploring the opportunities this new era can present to UUCE. (The Sunday service included time for personal and group reflection on a series of three questions.…

In Pursuit of Happiness

This Sunday we’ll take a look at how our constant pursuit of happiness may actually be the thing standing in our way of achieving it.

Remembrance

Remembrance has to do with our sense of self, our identity as we accumulate and unconsciously revise our autobiographical memories, which are explicit memories. This revision happens in small ways every time we remember something, as the present interacts with the past.

Bread Communion

Like our Flower and Water Communions, Bread Communion is an important celebration in our church that centers around our community. As members and friends share in freshly-baked bread, they are asked to consider what it means to be a part of a community – both the support and experiences they contribute and the help and care they receive in return.

The Gift of Presence

Written and led by Michele Ramsey Former Buddhist monk Andy Puddicombe said, “The biggest gift we can each give ourselves is the gift of being present — engaged with life, connected with each other.” As the holiday season approaches, for many of us we get busy or even busier. We have more places to go, things to do, and people to see. Perhaps some calming mindfulness is in order to help us be present for all the upcoming season brings…

The Philosophy of Science Fiction

When we look beyond the surface of the science fiction genre, we begin to see elements of philosophy. A great deal of sci-fi deals with human nature, where it has taken us, and where it could take us. Let’s go beyond spaceships and time travel and see what science fiction can teach us.

What Wonderous Bodies We Are

Have you ever considered how incredible the human body is and all the work our bodies have done carrying us through this tremendously difficult time? Even with all the wonders built into them, it is important to take good care of them and recognize them as the miraculous things they are.

An Inescapable Network of Mutuality

Like family, we may not have chosen to join the network of all life on earth, but we are inextricably bound to it. Whoever believes they will win any one of the many battles being fought with perceived enemies is misguided. Protecting the welfare of all life on earth by living our values and making consequent choices is our chosen path.

Affirm the Right of Conscience

Local, communal decision-making and conventional agreements developed side-by-side in our tradition. What does it mean to be democratic and covenantal. How do we make choices together and care for each other and our community?

Celebrating the Darkness

It is that time of year when the dark seems to be pushing in on us from both sides. Do you notice it lingering in the morning, and descending earlier in the eve? On the Thursday it will be the time of year for the crossing over. On the autumn equinox the hours of light equals the hours of night. We will be in the season which has more darkness than light, And we are once more reminded of our…