Sermon Archive
An Orientation of the Heart – Feb 14
An Orientation of the Heart Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church February 14, 2021 “We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover. And every known nook of our nation and every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful, will emerge battered and...
Where We See Everyone’s Face – Feb 7
Where We See Everyone’s Face Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church February 7, 2021 It’s hard to talk about Beloved Community these days. It’s hard to imagine it, to summon its ideals, its grace, and its promise of unconditional love. It’s hard to consider...
Imaginings – Jan 31
Imaginings – Rev Janet Parsons and Karl Frank Jan 31, 2021 We have such an unusual and interesting service for you this morning! Thank goodness we have five Sundays this month. There has been a theme all month, but we’ve barely been able to scratch the surface of it...
What’s Stopping Us? – Jan 17
What’s Stopping Us? Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church January 17, 2021 (Martin Luther King Sunday) It’s still a scene that I love to watch, and that still can bring tears to my eyes: the scene in Grant Park in Chicago, on November 5, 2008, when Barack...
Reimagining a Country – Jan 10
Reimagining a Country © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church January 10, 2021 “They left for their own country by another road.” So ends the tale of the Magi, the Wise Men, the astronomers from the East who saw a new star and followed it to find...
Hope Arising – Jan 3
Hope Arising Reverend Janet Parsons January 3, 2021 This has likely been the most anticipated, the most consequential New Year since the turn of the century 20 years ago now. This New Year, I found myself feeling as though it wasn’t enough to just watch the ball...
Reflection, The Old Year Has Now Passed Away – Dec 27
Reflection: The Old Year Has Now Passed Away In past years, the Sunday after Christmas was often a quiet one with fewer people in church than usual after the buildup of Advent, the concerts, pageants, parties and finally the arrival of Christmas Day with large,...
Opening to Joy – Dec 13
Opening to Joy © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church December 13, 2020 I sat quietly, allowing this homily to emerge from my head and heart, through my fingers and onto the page, and as I sat, I was accompanied by the sound of rain pounding on the roof...
Second Sunday of Advent – Peace
This Sunday our congregation will be joining our friends at the UU Society of Rockport for their service. Their service begins at 10:30 a.m. Join Zoom Meetinghttps://zoom.us/j/91158913840? pwd=MGlCNUJyM2xDWVVtMUZ1R3U3K3dsQT09
What Grounds Us? – Nov 29
What Grounds Us? November 29, 2020 Rev. Janet Parsons, Charles Nazarian, Lucille LePage Rev. Janet It’s hard, during this year like none other in our lifetimes, to hold on to what centers us. I am reminded frequently of the well-known line in William Butler...
Gratitude Anyway – Thanksgiving sermon from 2015
Dear friends, Since I did not preach this past Sunday for our joint service of seven UU congregations, I wanted to share an old Thanksgiving sermon from 2015. I’ve been thinking about it a long lately, as it feels especially relevant during these times. I hope you...
Light from the Broken Pieces – Nov 15
Light from the Broken Pieces Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church November 15, 2020 In the aftermath of this most difficult presidential election, I have thought a great deal about what is happening here in the United States. We are so divided, and like so...
Upcoming Services
Gloucester UU joins Rockport and Essex for worship this Sunday at First Univ of Essex, or on Zoom.Sunday August 23rd 10 am Stronger Together with Rev. Tess BaumbergerJoin us for a service about how we can be stronger by working together, using the symbols of spinning threads and weaving tapestries. The service will include a simple ritual, poetry, and meditations on the power of collaboration.To join us via Zoom please visit uuessex.org and click on the Zoom link. If you’re coming in person, there is some street parking or you can use the municipal lot. Coming from Gloucester you would go past the church and take your first left onto Martin Street, then go left again on Shepherd Street. Please know the central spots in the lot are reserved for boat and trailer parking during the summer. If you go up the stairs at the end of the lot, you can cross the parking lot and make your way to the church.
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...