This will be a special service exploring Creation Spirituality through the life and songs of Mother Nature’s son, John Denver. It will, of course, feature several live performances from church and local musicians and singers.

The cryptic title of this message says it all. We die. It’s as much a part of life as the air we breathe and the water we drink. Yet our culture leads us to largely ignore this inevitability which often leads to financial ruin in our final days, but also to a lifetime of anxiety and clinging to ways, ideas, and things we can’t keep. What would life be like if we all embraced our mortality to better appreciate this brief opportunity to enjoy, to love, to care, and to let go?

More than 200 years ago, Universalism’s founder, John Murray challenged us to go everywhere, into the highways and byways, to let our light shine by offering, “not hell, but hope.” Isn’t it about time we did?

Oppressing people is expensive and dangerous. It takes huge police and military forces, which costs a lot! Such force, in turn, also means the risk of being overthrown. Better for oppressors to come up with a system in which the oppressed police themselves and their … read more.

If truth is subjective or existential, then we get to make it up as we go along, and each person’s ethics are as “good” as another’s. Believing truth is objective, on the other hand, often leads to the kind of rigidity and self-righteousness that creates … read more.

Have you ever wanted to get away from it all, especially yourself? Have you read a ton of self-improvement and self-help books in the process? Perhaps this drive isn’t about self-transformation, or about leaving our old lives behind, but about transcending the trappings and lies … read more.

Until very recently we have largely used IQ to measure the potential for a person’s success. But many experts now realize this has been a mistake, that IQ doesn’t automatically guarantee one’s success in life, and, more importantly, that there are other frames of mind and emotional proficiencies that are just as important, if not more so.

Many in our society have succumbed to the fears that drive us to ignore inconvenient truths and to act in unjust, authoritarian, and punitive ways. How do we manage our own anxieties? How do we offer comfort to others? How do we help our society move through its fears to become more honest, just, and compassionate toward all people and all beings?

Astronomer Carl Sagan sometimes referred to our Earth as “a pale blue dot” to remind us how tiny our cosmic home really is, and how close we are to all people and all beings we share it with. As we celebrate our partnership with our Unitarian sisters and brothers in Felsőrákos, Romania by welcoming one of its visiting families, let us remember that we are not so far apart begin with.

Many of us are aware of Carl Jung’s personality types given the widespread use of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator test, as well as those outlined in the equally as popular Enneagram system; but my favorite psychologist of them all, Erich Fromm outlined a lesser known list of types. These range from the extremely pathological Necrophilous (death loving) orientation, to the more healthy minded Productive character type. In this sermon, we’ll explore these as well as the other character type’s Fromm discovered.