Sermons
To read recent sermons, please click on the sermon titles below.
Note: A sermon is an interactive oral presentation, a conversation in a sense, between presenter and congregation. To read it is to experience it in quite a different way. It is not the same as being there! This is an approximation of what was said in person.
Please Don’t Make Me Change - January 15, 2012
I will explore some ideas arising from the fact of Change being perhaps the only constant in life. It is not possible to step into the same river twice … but somehow, we have a rather conflicted relationship with Change itself.Surprising Spirit - December 4, 2011
I want to look at the practice of opening ourselves to wonder and surprise. It is something we can do every day of the year. But not everyone likes surprises. Some of us are more comfortable if we know what‘s coming up. A look at “surprise” as an invitation to a different spiritual practice. Perhaps in December, there are some specific gifts that offer themselves to our eyes, if we look.Occupying Our Hearts - November 6, 2011
The “Occupy” (Wall Street, Portland, Vancouver, Kelowna, Montreal) events are a road map to the intersection of economics, politics, and religion. They also create signposts to Hope and Possibility. My sermon will look at the vision presented by Occupy, and how closely it meets UU values and principles.This is the second part (following from Sept. 18th) of a two-part series about what it is that claims our highest allegiance. With whose lives are our lives bound up; to whom do we answer; whom do we love?
Loving, Hopeful and Optimistic - September 18, 2011
The instruction from Jack Layton for us to be loving, hopeful and optimistic, that we might change the world, is a directive to take charge of one’s attitude to life. In order to adopt such an attitude, it helps to be able to name for ourselves who or what motivates us, by laying claim to our hearts and lives.
Community & the Flower Communion - June 12, 2011
Our Flower Communion has become a tradition in this congregation as a closing for the church year. Here we celebrate community and diversity, with flowers as symbols of our beauty.
Raising Up The Good - Easter - April 23, 2011
The potentiates that authorize the crucifixion of the revolutionary Jesus have their modern counterparts. The Easter resurrection story can be for us a reminder to give our energies and attention to that which is Good, and life-affirming. It is helpful for us to embrace that which protects and saves Life, and to say no to those ideas and practices which serve to diminish the overall well-being of our communities.
Women in Our Lives - March 27, 2011