Voices of UU

Sermons from various Unitarian Universalist churches shared daily.

[voicesofuu]

Mod post - Update and reorganizing

First off, I'd really like to thank everyone who has started following us over the past couple of weeks. As much as I love listening to these wonderful sermons from across the country, I love sharing them even more. So thank you everyone for that. Secondly, I wanted to give everyone a heads up that it might be a day or two before we return to our daily sermon postings. I'm in the process of doing some restructuring to both the blog website and the posting schedule. You see, my ultimate goal is to feature UU sermons from around the world, or at the very least around North America. My first goal for this is to showcase at least one UU community from every state in the United States and have them on a regular rotation. But first I need to find them. So, at least for today there will not be a sermon shared. However, I do plan on sharing sermons again starting tomorrow. Then hopefully with the start of October, I will begin my featuring of 50 UU communities of the United States.

[voicesofuu]

Visit Original Link

Just as i am; why universalists don’t do altar calls The young woman speaking in this sermon speaks at first of her first religion, evangelical pentecostalism, and leads insightfully into speaking of the concept of evangelical Unitarian Universalism.

[voicesofuu]

Visit Original Link

Words and Deeds Leslie Wright at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Loudoun gives a sermon both about words and deeds, both past and present.

[voicesofuu]

Visit Original Link

Swinging On The Chains Rev. John Buehrens of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco spends this past Labor Day Sunday speaking about his memories of his past as a union man. He also appeals about the state of the economy today.

[voicesofuu]

Visit Original Link

The Good Life All Souls Unitarian Church of New York City shares a wonderful and amusing sermon this past Labor Day weekend about the pursuit of "the good life" and how that could mean vastly different things for different people.

[voicesofuu]

Visit Original Link

"What Is Unitarian Universalism?" The Unitarian Universalist Church of Rockford, IL spends this sermon speaking about what Unitarian Universalism is, and what it means for members of this unique faith to be on their own spiritual path.

[voicesofuu]

Visit Original Link

"The Divine Chocolate Chip Cookie" The Unitarian Universalist Society of Cleveland shares with us today a wonderfully heartwarming sermon about the people who love us, the people we love ourselves, and how a all are connected, past and present. All with the help of a simple chocolate chip cookie recipe.

[voicesofuu]

Visit Original Link

"You are Awesome" If you're feeling a little down on yourself today, Justin Czekaj and Rev. Christie Anders of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Kent, Ohio has a message for you.

[voicesofuu]

Visit Original Link

"Control is Good; Trust is Better" Blanca Rodriguez from All Souls Unitarian Church of New York City speaks in today's sermon about control and trust issues. In order to mitigate our own vulnerabilities in regards to interacting with other people, we either try to control them, or we learn to trust them. This sermon is about why, in the long run and for the greater good, trusting in others is better than controlling them.

[voicesofuu]

Visit Original Link

"Saints and Sinners" On August 16th last month, Rev. Matthew Johnson of the Unitarian I Universalist Church of Rockford, IL gave a sermon covering two things that normally don't get brought up in a UU congregation. Saints, sinners, and salvation. This is a sermon worth listening to, especially from a UU perspective.

[voicesofuu]

Visit Original Link

"The Great Journey" The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta is one of the oldest UU churches in the United States. In particular, this congregation was very active during the Civil Rights movement in Georgia. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was even a pulpit guest back then. So this past Sunday's sermon about racism in America is especially poignant coming from Rev. David Makar. He talks about "Black Lives Matter," white privilege, and why there is still much more work to be done to end racism in America.

[mistixs]

voicesofuu bloggingthelivingtradition neighborhooduu uuworld uucorvallis yruup sevenand5 uuinspireme How do I officially become a Unitarian Universalist? Is it initiatory? :D

[voicesofuu]

http://www.uua.org/beliefs/get-involved

"Initiation"?

To my knowledge, there really isn't an official "initiation" to becoming a UU. They are a completely welcoming community, and even my own congregation doesn't require you give up membership of your own faith to join them for services or participate in their organization.

Being an official UU is more your choice than theirs, and it really hinges on what you want out of the community.

Are you on a search for your own for truth spiritually?

Are you looking for a community where you can be more active in important social justice causes, like fighting racism, supporting LGBTQ rights, and doing what you can to end poverty and homelessness to mention a few?

If you are interested in becoming more involved in Unitarian Universalism, I would first suggest going to the link above and searching for your nearest congregation.

Community is a wonderful thing, and being surrounded by people who are active in the social justice community is inspiring, at least to me.

However, if like me you don't have the time to go to Sunday services because of work, or if you don't have a congregation near you to visit, I'd suggest checking out this link below for alternatives:

http://www.uua.org/directory/where

I especially recommend looking at The Church of the Larger Fellowship (http://www.questformeaning.org) as it is a congregation without walls. They even have Sunday evening and Monday afternoon services that you can web conference into live.

I hope these suggestions help give you some options for becoming more involved in your chosen UU community.

[voicesofuu]

Visit Original Link

"Choose to Enjoy Life" Today's sermon is from this past Sunday's service at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin, located in Austin, Texas. In this piece Rev. Meg Barnhouse speaks about the choices we have available in our lives that can make our lives either happier or harder.

[voicesofuu]

Visit Original Link

"The Unitarian Vision" In our second offering from the First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco, Rev. John Buehrens gives us a short glimpse into the history of the Unitarian side of this organization.

[voicesofuu]

Visit Original Link

"The Universalist Vision"

- source: First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco

Rev. John Buehrens speaks on this particular Sunday about a brief history of the Universalist side of the faith.

You might be surprised by the notable people he mentions who were Universalists in the past.

[voicesofuu]

Mod Post - Welcome

Welcome to UU Voices! My name is Tina, and I am the owner/mod of this blog. My goal for this blog is to share daily sermons from the various Unitarian Universalist churches around the United States. What is Unitarian Universalism? It is a liberal non-denominational religion primarily characterized by a "free and responsible search for the truth." Everyone is welcome by this faith, no matter your primary faith. Even agnostics and atheists are frequent members of the UU community. There are two things that stick out in my mind as common traits within people who identify with this organization. One, that they all recognize and respect that people, as individuals, have different paths to follow for spiritual growth. Two, is that there is a very strong foundation of social justice even in this organization's history. With this in mind, the first two sermons I'll be posting today and tomorrow will be from the First Universalist Church of San Francisco. Recently, they shared two sermons that briefly go over both the Unitarian and Universalist sides of this faith. If you like what you hear, then please take some time and share it with your followers. I would greatly appreciate it. Also, if you would like to share a sermon from your own UU church, then send me a message and I'll include it in a future daily posting. Thank you all for listening!