Sermon Archive
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,...
Allowing Our Hearts to Break
Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church November 7, 2021 Suddenly, it’s November. Like the trees, who spend autumn drawing nourishment back into their roots, we, too, find that our instincts begin to turn us inward, toward memory and...
What Graveyards Are
What Graveyards Are 1418 Words Karl Frank Oct 31, 2021 When asked if I would deliver a homily today, in a service where we would commemorate the dead, I knew I had some ideas about those things, more particularly about graveyards. I had recently read Robert...
Make Our Broken Pieces Whole
Make Our Broken Pieces Whole © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church October 24, 2021 I had a really positive experience the other day, that I enjoyed thoroughly – I got to sit with a couple of church members to air some conflict. I’ve said often that...
Upcoming Services
Let the Mystery Be, led by Reverend Janet Parsons, with Andrew Soll, organist. This month we are exploring Curiosity and how important it is in our human lives. But when do we decide to not discover all the answers? Join us at 10:00 a.m.
Worship is in-person, or at the livestream link below.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIeJfO72kLh-gAtZZT-QOng/live
Recent News
Sunday Feb 8
Growing Community Resilience, with Reverend Janet Parsons and Maureen Aylward-Bover, Executive Director of TownGreen. Our theme for February is Resilience. On Sunday we welcome Maureen Aylward-Bover from TownGreen, Cape Ann's non-profit organization dedicated to...
Sunday Feb 1 – via Zoom
On Listening, led by guest minister Rev. Susan Moran. Music by Steve Lacey. In-person worship is canceled this Sunday due to the weather forecast. Please join us on Zoom. The link is below. Topic: GUUC Worship Service - Sunday Feb 1 - 10AM Time: Feb 1, 2026 10:00 AM...
Book Group – March 10
"The Boston Way” received the most votes and is the next book that we will read. The meeting will be March 10 at 3:00 in the Williams Room. I have one copy that members can borrow - please let me know if you are interested. It is also available to check out at the...