Sermon Archive
No Going Back
No Going Back © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church April 10, 2022 This past Thursday evening, there was a march here in downtown Gloucester, something that hasn’t happened much in the past two years. Each April, for many years, the Gloucester Coalition for...
What Urgency Calls You?
What Urgency Calls You? © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church April 3, 2022 It struck me, re-reading David Whyte’s poem that Mern read for us a few minutes ago (What to Remember When Waking) is how often the poets urge us to make sure that we are trying to...
She is The Way
She is The Way © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church March 27, 2022 “She shines without dimming… She rushes to reveal Herself to those who yearn for Her.” (Wisdom of Solomon 6:12-14) Who is ‘she’? We know this presence by many names....
For There is Always Light
For There is Always Light © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church March 20, 2022 The fog yesterday sent me into a very pensive state of mind. I stared for long periods at the patterns created by the bare tree branches, which was about all I could see. I find...
The Saving Power of We
The Saving Power of We © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church February 20, 2022 This past week an unusual news story caught my eye. It told of a priest in the Roman Catholic diocese of Phoenix who was discovered to be conducting the sacrament of baptism...
Circles of Love
Circles of Love © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church February 13, 2022 Last week an article in the Boston Globe magazine caught my eye; it was about the legacy of Maria Mitchell, known as the first female astronomer in the United States. (“The Heirs of...
The Road to Hell
The Road to Hell © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church January 30, 2022 “If you come as softly as wind within the trees You may hear what I hear See what sorrow sees. If you come as lightly as threading dew I will take you gladly, nor ask more of...
Sacred Moments and Holy Places
Sacred Moments and Holy Places © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church January 23, 2022 The other day Thich Nhat Hanh, the venerable Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, transitioned from this life to the next one at the age of 95. His life was...
Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year
Dictionary.com’s 2021 Word of the Year © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church January 16, 2022 In case there are any of you who haven’t looked up the 2021 Word of the Year yet, we’ll get to that in just a minute. Maybe your curiosity got the better of you and...
To Live with Zeal
To Live with Zeal © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church January 9, 2022 On a summer day in 1845, Henry David Thoreau wrote these few words in his journal: “July 5. Saturday, Walden. Yesterday I came here to live.” And live there he did, for two years, two...
Cultural Humility
Kelly Knox Dec 12, 2021 Good Morning. It is so wonderful to be here, to see everyone. I have missed this community so very much. The idea for what has now morphed into nothing more than a conversation starter, was born of me telling Reverend Janet that I was chairing...
Giving Thanks for the Pizzazz
Giving Thanks for the Pizzazz © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church November 21, 2021 Yesterday afternoon the Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation hosted a symposium on refugees and immigration right here in our sanctuary. There was so much information shared,...
Upcoming Services
Summer offers us a chance to attend Brunch Church!
Please join us in the Social Hall Sunday morning for an informal service that is centered around a shared meal and guided conversation. Steve Lacey will provide the music. Please note: there will be no livestream Sunday morning since we will be downstairs. Following the service, Lisa Smith from the Cape Ann Climate Coalition will be joining us: see below for more information.
Free Home Energy Coaching
On Sunday, July 12 Lisa Smith from Cape Ann Climate Coalition will be in the Social Hall following the service to answer questions about CACC's new energy coaching service. Please check out the green flyer here and come to talk to Lisa about your home's energy needs.
Recent News
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...
Sunday March 15
Making the World Come Alive, led by Reverend Janet Parsons, with guest musician Andrew Glennon. This is a time of waiting: for spring, for peace, for coming to life again. How can we make room for holiness to emerge? Worship is in-person, or at the livestream link...
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...