As Unitarians we are blessed with the rich reflections of our elder, Ralph Waldo Emerson. He invites us to experience our call to transcendental unity with nature: “We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every […]
by Rev. Dr. John T. Morehouse - Senior Minister
A Minister’s Message – A Life Unfolding – April 13, 2021
Quick clarification: I will be preaching on “We Become More” not this weekend, but Sunday April 25. This Sunday April 18 we are all looking forward to hearing Rev. Jim’s full service entitled “Wake to the Story of the Earth….” “The Earth does not belong to man; Man belongs to the earth!” (Chief Seattle). There […]
by Rev. Ed Thompson - Minister of Music
A Minister’s Message – Storm or Rain? – March 9, 2021
On Sunday, March 21, we are scheduled to have our annual Spring Concert/Service. This year’s theme is called, “The Will to Go On” or, in a word, endurance. One of the songs which the Children’s Choir will offer is called “Storm or Rain?” What a peculiar title. What’s this about? The song is based on […]
by Rev. Ed Thompson - Minister of Music
A Minister’s Message – Two Hymns, Same Melody – January 19, 2021
In our much-loved hymnal, Singing the Living Tradition, I couldn’t help but notice that the tune for #211, “We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder,” is the same for #212, “We Are Dancing Sarah’s Circle.” Mistake? Not at all. Here we have the concept of the masculine and feminine having equal representation. So, what are those differences? […]
by Rev. Ed Thompson - Minister of Music
A Minister’s Message – Why Give Thanks? – November 24, 2020
The more that we humans increase our awareness, the more that we need to make adjustments in the way we live and interact. At this time, I am thinking about Thanksgiving. The picture of the so-called first Thanksgiving, I am now aware, was a small pixel taken out of a very large picture. I don’t […]
by Rev. Jim Francek - Community Minister – Pastoral Care
A Minister’s Message – Experience a Pathway to Truth – October 27, 2020
“The point of experience is not to escape life but to live it. Each of us carries some wisdom waiting to be discovered at the center of our experience, and everything we meet, if faced and held, reveals a part of that wisdom. We have a language of truth growing in our heart that only […]
by Rev. Ed Thompson - Minister of Music
A Minister’s Message – From Innocence to Knowledge – October 6, 2020
The well-known theologian, educator, author, minister and civil rights leader Howard Thurman had a lot to say on many subjects. He authored over a dozen books. Among other things, as an African-American minister, he was the founder of the first interracial interfaith congregation in the United States. He knew well that progress does not happen […]
by Rev. Dr. John T. Morehouse - Senior Minister
A Minister’s Message – What Can We Control? – September 8, 2020
Thanks to Stephen Polmar, who has been studying the Stoics, I cracked open my Epictetus, one of the great Greek philosophers, and I found this quote: “Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not […]
by Rev. Ed Thompson - Minister of Music
A Minister’s Message – Nightly Liberation – April 21, 2020
According to my calculations, we are finishing week 5 of the isolation/lock-down. At some point last week things began to feel different for me. What I had thought of as a temporary deviation was now a lifestyle change or a new normal. It almost feels like my former life has been hijacked by the virus. […]
by Rev. Ed Thompson - Minister of Music
A Minister’s Message – Dancing Stars – April 7, 2020
One of the “benefits” of this Corona time is that I am able to catch up on some reading. One of the passages that I recently came across is from Friedrich Nietzsche: “One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.” That caused me to start thinking […]
