Sermon Archive
Returning from the Brink
Returning from the Brink © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church April 12, 2026 First Reflection: At the Brink It has been, perhaps, the most frightening week of recent memory. To find the equivalent, I found myself going back to September...
Dying is the Opposite of Leaving
Dying is the Opposite of Leaving © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church Easter Sunday April 5, 2026 Today is a day of stories. We enter into this day, that we call Easter Sunday, thinking we know the story. But there are many stories, many layers, many...
To Speak Out Against Kings
To Speak Out Against Kings © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church March 29, 2026 By 1980, El Salvador was overrun with paramilitary groups: death squads, who roamed the country assassinating people in the name of “traditional values”, and “law and...
Making the World Come Alive
Making the World Come Alive © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church March 15, 2026 Most years I dread the month of March. It’s not really winter, and not quite spring. The clean brightness of the snow recedes and leaves mud and dead leaves and gray...
The Beginning of Devotion
The Beginning of Devotion © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church March 8, 2026 In one of his most famous passages explaining his decision to live alone in the Concord woods for two years, Henry David Thoreau wrote, “I went to the woods because I...
To Live Like a River Flows
To Live Like a River Flows © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church February 22, 2026 People often wonder how a minister creates a sermon. Frankly, the minister often wonders this herself. But people tend to be curious about the process: how we find...
Jame Baldwin: On Love and Salvation
James Baldwin: On Love and Salvation Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church February 15, 2026 He could have grown to adulthood consumed with hatred. In fact, he harbored great anger at the way his country treated him and other marginalized people....
To Take Back Our Land Again
To Take Back Our Land Again © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church January 18, 2026 As I was writing this sermon yesterday, I heard that there was a large-scale protest taking place in Minneapolis, the city most recently targeted for authoritarian control of...
We Fight for Roses, Too!
We Fight for Roses, Too! © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church January 11, 2026 The story began 114 years ago, on January 1, 1912. That day, a new law took effect in Massachusetts that reduced the number of hours in the work week for women, from 56 hours per...
Prepare Him Room
Prepare Him Room © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church Christmas Eve 2025 One of the most beloved of Christmas church traditions is the staging of Christmas pageants, when a community dresses up in costumes and retells the ancient story, complete with...
A Light for Dark Days
A Light for Dark Days © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church December 21, 2025 The Gospel of John tells us: “..the light was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.” (John 1:4b-5.) The year was 1993, over...
New Life Begins in the Dark
New Life Begins in the Dark © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church December 14, 2025 There are many wonderful aspects of living on Cape Ann: the beauty and wonder of the ocean, the variety of places to explore on foot, with plenty of woods and fascinating rock...
Upcoming Services
Building a House Called Tomorrow, led by Reverend Janet Parsons with music by Steve Lacey. As we do each year, we'll reflect on why we create a church community, and how we support it. In a world that shifts daily, a church is meant to hold the center for us. How well can we hold it?
Worship is in-person, or at the livestream link below.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIeJfO72kLh-gAtZZT-QOng/live
Recent News
Building A House Called Tomorrow
Building a House Called Tomorrow © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church April 19, 2026 When you think about it, a church really is a remarkable thing. To open the service I chose words of a colleague, the Reverend Leslie Takahashi, that set forth...
Sunday Apr 19
Building a House Called Tomorrow, led by Reverend Janet Parsons with music by Steve Lacey. As we do each year, we'll reflect on why we create a church community, and how we support it. In a world that shifts daily, a church is meant to hold the center for us. How...
Fishtown Artspace: 13 Years of Fun – Sunday, May 10th at 11:00
In the early 90’s church member Shep Abbott moved into a third story loft intending to use it as his film, video and living space. When the economy crashed, so did his clients. He was scanning the want ads hysterically when a dear friend gave him advice she had been...