Sermon Archive
Countless Small Actions
Countless Small Actions © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church March 10, 2024 We had a good time talking about butterflies in our service last week. For those who weren’t here or watching online, I was talking about how personal transformation in our lives...
Imaginal Cells
Imaginal Cells © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church March 3, 2024 He was an enemy of the earliest Christians, a Pharisee named Saul of Tarsus, who was charged with hunting down the apostles and their followers, and ordering them dragged off to prison. He...
Reparations Service
Reparations Service. 2/18/24 Remarks Dick Prouty As you look around this sanctuary today and take in the wonderfully designed woodwork and stained-glass windows, how many of you are aware that this building was built in large part by the fortunes of families on Cape...
Confronting the Past, Creating the Future
Confronting the Past, Creating the Future © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church February 18, 2024 In April of 1862, at the height of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed a law giving freedom to enslaved people in the District of Columbia. This...
Toward a Truly Liberating Theology for UU’s
Toward a Truly Liberating Theology for UU’s © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church February 11, 2024 It was Dr. Paul Farmer, the late founder of Partners in Health, who introduced me to the concept of Liberation Theology. I was devouring Tracy Kidder’s...
The Stories Behind the Music
The Stories Behind the Music © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church February 4, 2024 Today is the time and the place to call upon the memories of the ancestors. Today we are hearing of heroes, and of giants. In the words of our author Qiyamah Rahman, “It is...
Love The Hell Out of This World
Love the Hell Out of This World © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church January 21, 2024 I read a story recently by the Reverend Susan Frederick-Gray, who just last June finished her term as the president of the Unitarian Universalist Association. She was...
Power Without Love…Love Without Power
Power Without Love…Love Without Power © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church January 14, 2024 It wasn’t until the election of 2016 that I fully came to understand the depth of the derision and dislike that conservative sectors of our country, actually,...
To Lead with Love
To Lead with Love © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church January 7, 2024 We speak often about love. Love is, perhaps, the greatest force we know, perhaps the greatest mystery, ‘the only magic’ it was called in our reading earlier. So we think about it,...
The Risk of Birth
The Risk of Birth Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church Christmas Eve, 2023 In 1973, the poet Madeleine L’Engle wrote these words: “This is no time for a child to be born, With the earth betrayed by war & hate And a comet slashing the sky to warn That...
Saying “Yes” to Mystery
Saying “Yes” to Mystery © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church December 3, 2023 The other day the Washington Post reported that a lobsterman in Maine had pulled up a two-colored lobster. The lobsterman, named Jacob Knowles, was fascinated by his discovery and...
Completing the Gift
Completing the Gift © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church November 19, 2023 The poet Mary Oliver gave us this poem, called The Gift: Be still, my soul, and steadfast.Earth and heaven both are still watchingthough time is draining from the clockand your...
Upcoming Services
A New Song for America, led by Reverend Janet Parsons with music by Steve Lacey. Our theme for September is Beginnings. What might a new beginning look like for the United States?
Worship is in-person or at the livestream link below. Please join us at 10am. Everyone is welcome!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIeJfO72kLh-gAtZZT-QOng/live
WEATHER CONCERNS
We are watching the predicted storm closely but it's too soon to decide whether Sunday's service will need to be cancelled or moved onto Zoom. We will send out a Constant Contact update either Saturday evening or first thing Sunday morning: watch your inboxes! If the service moves onto Zoom, the link will be included in that email.
Above all, please decide always to do what is safest for yourself!
Recent News
Sunday July 12
Please join us in the Social Hall Sunday morning for an informal service that is centered around a shared meal and guided conversation. Steve Lacey will provide the music. Please note: there will be no livestream Sunday morning since we will be downstairs. Following...
Sunday July 5
At the July 5 service, we will observe the Flower Communion, a traditional UU celebration of the gifts of nature and of the individual personal gifts that each of us brings to create our church community. Please plan to bring, on July 5, one or two flowers, if you...
Next Book Discussion – Aug 18
We will be discussing Arbornaut by Margaret Lowman on Aug 18, 3pm in the Williams Room. Everyone is welcome. Any questions contact Peter Hornbeck. ARBORNAUT: A LIFE DISCOVERING THE EIGHTH CONTINENT IN THE TREES ABOVE US by Margaret D. Lowman (2021). It is an...