How we treat each other, how we engage politically, how we treat our planet, it’s all interconnected. Our Climate Justice Revival in September and our priorities from our new year service in December identify a number of challenging realities and opportunities for community care. This service will focus on climate justice and how this issue interweaves with so many others in our community.
It is well known that 2500 years ago, that after sitting under the Bodhi Tree, the Buddha attained enlightenment, came to realization of deep reality. This experience led to his extensive teachings on nonviolence and wellbeing. While western translations describe the Buddha “awakening” under the Tree, eastern traditions speak of his “waking to the Tree.” The Buddha’s insights occurred when he spiritually met and came into alignment with Nature. She will talk about how coming into alignment with Nature returns our species to harmony and peace with all beings and the Earth.
Two African American Activist Women both Unitarians, both born before the Civil War and living into the Twentieth Century and practically unknown today, made huge strides toward social justice and left us with big shoes to fill. We will review the contributions of Francis Ellen Watkins Harper and Fannie Barrier Williams and consider the lessons we can learn from them.
Project 2025 is nothing compared with Reality 2025… and it’s only April. We’ll reflect on how to set aside our flee/fight/freeze reactions, strive for genuine understanding of our situation and those who voted for it, and work towards healthy short-term and long-term responses.
Join us this Easter as we gather in the spirit of renewal, transformation, and hope. In the Unitarian Universalist tradition, we honor Easter not only as a Christian story of resurrection but also as a universal story of life’s enduring capacity for renewal.
This service will invite us to reflect on the ways resurrection shows up in our lives and community—not as a distant miracle, but as an ever present source of healing, justice, and love. We will explore how communities rise after hardship, how hope can emerge even in the face of despair, how healing can arrive amidst grief, and how each of us is continually invited into new beginnings.
We will also honor new members and celebrate Intern Minister Eli Poore’s last Sunday this church year at UUGP.
Diana Coogle returns as a guest to our pulpit to talk about her strong faith in nature as healer, companion, and spiritual center, and share readings from her published books, including earlier JPR commentaries, recent poems, and poems from her book about her late husband.
The UUGP Land Acknowledgment, started four years ago, has sparked a variety of responses in our members and friends. Is it a courageous act of truth telling, or an act of self-flagellation? A significant thread in the larger fabric of social change, or a misguided and ultimately empty gesture? Please join us to participate in conversation about our Land Acknowledgment, guided by our seven principles and with the goal of greater understanding and compassion for friends whose views differ from our own. As part of the service, you will be invited to share your thoughts about the strongest reasons for keeping the Land Acknowledgment the way it is and the strongest reasons for changing it. Can you articulate both perspectives with curiosity and compassion?
This sermon will expand and build upon what Rev. Fristad presented to us in June of 2023, with his sermon “Universalism: Past, Present and Powerful”. This time the focus will be on universalism as it relates to John Murray and how he came to believe in universalism in England; the early history of universalism in the American Colonies; Thomas Potter and his chapel in New Jersey (where Murray preached in 1770); and the subsequent spread of universalism up until the present time.
To Know Another: ‘Love is the doctrine of this church’, ‘To seek the truth in Love’, ‘Beloved Community’, ‘Beloveds’. These are some of the mantras, if you will, and covenantal language we embrace to express our UU commitment to moving from a foundation of alove, working for equality, and seeing environmental justice as a core issue of human rights. Do I know my neighbors?
Unitarian Universalism calls us not only to affirm our values but to live them boldly in the world. In times of injustice, when systemic oppression and inequality persist, how do we move beyond words into direct action? What does it mean to engage in faithful resistance, to put our principles into practice with courage and integrity?
This sermon will explore the rich history of direct action within faith communities, including Unitarian Universalist movements for justice, and reflect on how we, as individuals and congregations, can answer the call to embodied love and liberation. From protest to mutual aid, from sanctuary to solidarity, we will consider the sacred work of showing up—especially when it is uncomfortable, especially when it demands risk, especially when love and justice require more than thoughts and prayers.
Together, we will reflect on how we can make our faith tangible, stepping into the prophetic tradition of those who have come before us, as we discern what it means to be a people of action in this moment.
