Resurrection of the Creation © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019   The ancient story tells us that on the day Jesus was crucified, there were two other men crucified beside him. One of them asked Jesus to remember him as he...

What Might You Sacrifice? © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church April 14, 2019   …And last spring along the Back Shore swam right whales. Early in May last year, a pod of right whales, a rather large percentage of the tiny number of right whales still...

Sunday, March 24, 2019   Call to Worship by Kathleen McTigue (excerpt) Here in the refuge of this Sabbath home We turn our busy minds toward silence, And our full hearts toward one another. We move together through the mysteries: The bright surprise of birth and...

From Heart to Head and Back to Heart Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church March 31, 2019   “We were born with silence, and as we grew up, we lost the silence and were filled with words. We lived in our hearts, and as time passed, we moved into our heads…”...

Greening Power Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church March 17, 2019   Today is all about green. Each year Americans celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, taking to the streets to party, with parades, and green clothes, hair, face paint, and...

Encountering the Sacred Everywhere Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church March 10, 2019 On my very first morning in India, I found myself in a tour bus bouncing down the highway from the Varanasi airport to the hotel. Suddenly the tour guide called our attention...

Risking Trust © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church February 3, 2019   Recently a young woman wrote to a newspaper advice column looking for help in coping with the end of a romantic relationship. Her partner, who had been mentioning...

Answering the Knock Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church January 20, 2019 Year after year, Martin Luther King Day is observed in various ways all across the country. Right here in Cape Ann a week ago, despite the ice, we had the march and service at the...

Sermon at the Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church on January 6th, 2019 Still Christmas? Charles Nazarian   This treasured Meetinghouse, now entering its third century, has witnessed much…the civil war, the 1918 flu pandemic, the great depression, the...

Out of the Darkness Emerges Love © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church December 9, 2018 “Darkness, soothe my weary eyes, that I may see more clearly. When my heart with sorrow cries, comfort and caress me. And then my soul may hear a voice, a still, small...

Awake to Wonder© Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church December 2, 2018 One August night, I found myself stretched out on my back on a splintery wooden dock on the shore of a New Hampshire pond, gazing up at the sky. It was during the...

Now Our Minds Are One© Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church November 18, 2018   As some of you know, in recent months I have been dabbling in pottery. It has been a challenging and quite humbling hobby so far. I like to tell people that I aspire to...