The dispute seems stupid though if you ask yourself why black lives matter. Black lives matter because all lives matter, and yes there is no doubt that our history way beyond slavery has failed to recognize that.
Category: Religion
A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Church Issues — June 6, 2010, Sermon
What every single one of these issues has in common is that the opinions about them are fiercely held.
The Challenge of Compassion — February 26, 2012, Sermon
Now that I think of it, I guess I showed compassion by stepping in for an ailing minister with just a few days’ notice in February 2012, to write and deliver this sermon on compassion. ***** Rick Ruzzamenti, of Riverside, California, is an electrical contractor with a surly streak and an impulsive side. But he…
A Noiseless Patient Spider
We all yearn for connection, and no one has captured that feeling as well as Walt Whitman in this 1868 poem A noiseless patient spider, I mark’d where on a little promontory it stood isolated, Mark’d how to explore the vacant vast surrounding, It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself, Ever unreeling them,…
Memories Are Made of This — October 20, 2013, Sermon
This isn’t really the word’s etymology, but when we re-member it’s as though we are bringing together various members of the thought into one coherent memory, and the members – the various bits from various parts of our brain – change over time.
The 5th Precept and the 12 Steps — December 1, 2013, Sermon
Even though she had been clean for some time and in fact was working in a recovery center, she broke down when she talked about her failures to care for her daughter, as she told us: “There’s no love greater than the disease of addiction.”
Investing in Your Beliefs — May 10, 2015, Sermon
…there’s considerable evidence that having more education doesn’t make us more broad-minded. Instead, it makes us better at defending our biases.
That Arc Bends Toward Truth, Too — March 2, 2014, Sermon
To find today’s, I didn’t have to dig very deep into my vault of sermons not yet posted here. This one tells two remarkable stories. I’ll start with the prelude: Many of you know that it was 19th Century Unitarian minister Theodore Parker who originated the phrase about the moral arc of the universe bending…
What Lives Matter? – A sermon by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar – YouTube
We Unitarian Universalists drive people away from our congregations by adopting a cause or phrase du jour and demonizing anyone who is not ready to adopt it. Currently, it’s “Black Lives Matter.” This sermon by the Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar does a stellar job of explaining why the phrase, and the movement, are important, without…
Community: Warm & Fuzzy or Cold & Hairy — September 14, 2014
Whenever I meet newcomers to Unitarian Universalism, one of the things I talk about is the community – that it plays a bigger role for us than it does for many other religions. We don’t come to church on Sunday mornings to pay homage to a deity and improve our chances of making it into…
My Loose-leaf Bible — August 30, 2015
I don’t know why I often begin my sermons with stories from my time at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Reston, so forgive me for doing it once more. In Reston, we had a process for prospective members similar to what we do here in Loudoun, with one exception. A couple of times a year…
How to Explain Our Faith ~ the Rev. Aaron White
I’d call the the best 20-minute explanation I’ve ever seen of Unitarian Universalism. — MHP
Melting-Pot Dharma 