It’s been more than five years since I became minister at UUCS and all I’ve done is talk about what I don’t believe. Maybe it’s about time I mentioned what I do believe in.

No, that’s not a misspelling. It is intended to make the point that Unitarian Universalism, though considered a New Religious Movement these days, is actually rooted in the ancient teachings of Jesus. This sermon will look at how the ideas of Unitarianism and Universalism are among the oldest in the Book.

I don’t talk about it much because it’s kind of weird and hard to explain, but one of my greatest teachers, if not friend, in life has been an old book called the I Ching, an ancient Chinese oracle that precedes Taoism. In this sermon I’ll talk about some of the insights and changes it has brought in my own life, as well as a little about the philosophy behind it. I’ll even include a special message from the I Ching just for you.

It often seems that in the United States it’s considered wrong to criticize our country. But how can we ever heal from our wounds and deal with our shame if we cannot admit our own failings, say we’re sorry, and commit to truly creating a new and better way?

There’s an ancient Hebrew story about a Pharaoh who gets so stuck in his ways that he’s unable to change no matter how bad things get for him and his people. As a society and as individuals it seems too many of us suffer the same kind of inflexibility, doing the same things over and over again, from all the terrible news stories we repeatedly see, to clinging to our ideas about being right even when the evidence says otherwise. Perhaps, like Pharaoh, if we can’t break free of our own worst habits they will end up destroying us.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, perhaps a few images of the Cosmos are worth trillions of light years. In this message we will explore our minuscule place in the Universe by reflecting upon a few of its awe inspiring depictions.

Since the term was first coined in the early 20th century, fundamentalism has been associated with a particular religious mindset. Exploring this mindset, however, makes it more akin to a mental disturbance than to a legitimate religious perspective. In this sermon I will call upon the American Psychiatric Association to list fundamentalism as a disorder in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual.

Given all the violence happening in the world by Muslim extremists, some have come to conflate Islam itself with terrorism. Some have even suggested law enforcement should pay special attention to Muslim neighborhoods. And some seem to think all Muslims are foreigners. In reality, Islam is the religion of many peaceful American citizens who ought to have their rights protected and be treated with the same respect anyone else.

Working on my doctorate was profoundly transformative for me. My dissertation on the Psychology of Religion led to certain insights and conclusions that have altered my perspective on life and made me a more content, positive, hopeful, and, perhaps, healthy individual. I’d like to share some of these insights with you.

Creationists regularly dismiss evolution by pointing out it’s only a theory, suggesting it hasn’t been proven. The “theory,” however, has to do with questions about how evolution happens, not if it happens. We can watch it happen in a Petri dish in just a few hours, or look to physiological adaptations in some species that are occurring right now. Saying evolution doesn’t happen because it’s only a theory is like saying music doesn’t happen because we teach music theory.