Sermon Feb. 19, 2017

Healing Our Wholeness, Healing the World Reverend Janet Parsons October 2, 2016 Once upon a time, back at the very beginning of time, the Ein Sof, or the Ground of Being, or God, filled the entire universe with its presence. And when the Ein Sof decided to create the...

A Sermon Given at the Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church   April 24, 2016  By  Rev. Janet Parsons I once had the good fortune to be present when someone was struck by a creative spirit, and had the chance to watch what happened. The someone was my husband. We...

The ancient story has been handed down across time and distance, across languages and cultures. It climaxes unexpectedly: when three grieving women, returning to a tomb to dress the body of their murdered teacher, encounter a mysterious stranger. The body is nowhere...

A couple of weeks ago, the President of Iran visited Rome. Since he was planning to visit the Capitoline Museum, it was decided, by someone – the news reports were a little vague — to cover up statues of classical nudes so as to not offend him. Wooden boxes were...

 Question. My great friend Dr. Mike Sperber always asks huge questions. “So where did we come from?” he calmly asks as we speed down Rt. 128 – he’s taking me to a doctor’s appointment. Do you have a friend like that?   It stirred thoughts that had been forming in my...

One Monday morning some years ago, I was with a group of people from my home church, preparing to leave our sleeping quarters in New Orleans to head out to work on a flooded home.  “Don’t make lunch,” we were told.  “Some friends of the owners are planning to bring...

We are a nation in a time of great division – of starkly different visions.  When I see news reports of all the conflict we are experiencing these days, I am struck by a sense that America is living in a place of deep fear.  [download id="264"]  

When I was first setting out along my path into the ministry, I came upon an essay written by a UU minister, whose name I cannot recall, who was reflecting on the art and craft of preaching.  She said something that has stayed with me for years now:  that ultimately...

The title of my presentation today is “A Variety of Poems – Some in the Key of U.U.”           [Unitarian Universalist] Cape Ann   Surrounded by sea on every side Ere at the mercy of storm and tide Touched and kissed by resplendent foam This beautiful island we call...

A talk given by Roger Garberg on August 9, 2015: I want to greet you today with the typical Chinese greeting, which a public speaker uses to greet his or her audience.  Dàjiā hǎo.  The usual translation of this is just “Hello everyone”.  But it’s more literal rending...

A Poetry Service Given at the Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church Sunday – July 26, 2016     by Ruthanne (Rufus) Collinson Water Over Stones  This morning, the ravenous sea reaches way out over the shore and pulls back again, powerfully driven to contain itself....