Love Can Build a House that Stands Forever © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church October 20, 2019 I received an unexpected gift on Wednesday afternoon. A very special gift, in the form of 29 youth, and their adult leaders, who visited us from the First...

Writing in the Book of Life © Reverend Janet Parsons September 29, 2019 It’s hard to deny these past few days: the leaves on the trees are beginning to turn. This past week we’ve been savoring the lingering warmth of late summer, well, early fall, really, and being...

In Praise of the Dappled Things © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church September 15, 2019 Our poet knew no fame during his lifetime. Nor did he seek any. A Jesuit priest, Gerard Manley Hopkins lived a conflicted life; never sure of how to reconcile his...

Confluence © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church September 8, 2019 Deep in the Amazon, vast rivers meet and mingle their waters. The tributaries that ultimately combine to form the Amazon River begin in the highlands of South America, and...

Libraries, Church, and the Unexpected A sermon delivered on Aug 25, 2019 at Gloucester’s UU Church By Mern Sibley and Roger Garberg Welcome and Announcements Our remarks today compare two different kinds of sanctuary—the church and the public library. Part of the...

Thoreau and the Examined Life by Karl Frank  Aug 18, 2019   In most books, the I, or first person, is omitted; in this it will be retained; that, in respect to egotism, is the main difference. We commonly do not remember, that it is, after all, always the first...

The Ties that Bind Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church August 11, 2019   The story goes that an anthropologist was once studying a tribe of people in Africa. He proposed a game to the children, putting a basket of sweet, ripe fruit near a tree, and...

Readings and Unison Prayer from August 4th, 2019 Hymn Sing Service By Lovina Sylvia Chidi Music is freedom that relentlessly exists Freedom of speech Freedom of thought Freedom of creativity Freedom of imagination Music is ever soothingly healing A bombardment of...

“With Our Minds We Make The World” Sunday, July 28, 2018 By Reverend Mark Nelson On a glorious Sunday morning in July, you would never know it. It is so hard to see on a day like today. But weather patterns and the climate are changing in ways that pose a monumental...

Hidden in Plain Sight Reverend Parsons July 21, 2019 It’s tourist season, and when we’re driving around town we see those nice little banners that proclaim Gloucester to be “America’s Oldest Seaport”, and that it was settled in 1623. And certainly this is something to...

The Power (and the Work) of We Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church June 30, 2019   “We the people…” “We the people, in order to form a more perfect Union…” “We hold these truths to be self-evident…” Our nation’s birthday approaches. If we count our age...

Peace, Energy and Forgiveness Marylou Bassani, July 14, 2019 In November of 2003 Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, was found guilty of multiple counts of murder. One by one family members rose to give impact statements. Angry sentiments were directed toward...