Sermon Archive
The Thinning of the Veil
The Thinning of the Veil © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church October 29, 2023 In the fifth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry and his friends find themselves dueling with wizards from the dark side, called the Death Eaters....
Midnight Rumblings on Mahogany
Midnight Rumblings on Mahogany © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church October 15, 2023 Unitarian and Universalist historians have always been a little bit squeamish about discussing the phenomenon of Spiritualism that swept the country in the 19th century....
A Little Beyond: Transcendentalism
A Little Beyond: Transcendentalism © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church October 1, 2023 The movement called Transcendentalism, began to emerge in the 1830’s, during a time of intellectual ferment, in a new nation full of new ideas, founded in revolution. It...
At-one-ment
At-one-ment © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church September 24, 2023 You have to really admire the Ziz; the giant mythical bird in the story I told a few minutes ago. He had a good heart and a good soul; he meant well and didn’t want to hurt anyone. And yet,...
Offering Belonging
Offering Belonging © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church September 17, 2023 A bit of a kerfuffle erupted at the Unitarian Universalist Association this past week. In its effort to welcome everyone into a new church year, the Communications staff at the UUA...
Where Waters Meet and Merge
Where Waters Meet and Merge © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church September 10, 2023 This past June, visiting Pittsburgh for the first time, I found myself drawn to the spot where the Allegheny and the Monongahela Rivers meet to form the...
What’s in A Poem?
Order of Service – August 27, 2023 What's in a Poem? Gloucester UU's Write Poetry Worship leaders Pat Johnson, Mern Sibley, Andrew Soll Introduction to the Poetry Service – What’s in a Poem? (Pat Johnson) Poems I: To everything there is a season For a...
Disrupt Church
Disrupt Church © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church August 13, 2023 At our UU General Assembly back in June, there was a lot of conversation about the future of church. We all know and acknowledge that church attendance is down everywhere. The pandemic...
The Multiverse
SERMON on The Multiverse August 6, 2023 by Karen N. Bell Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church Today we live with exploding knowledge about space, the nature of the atom, degradation of the planet, and...
Sermon 7/30/2023
Sermon: 7/30/23 Holly Tanguay Last week from this pulpit our own Dick Prouty explored tears, his and our own. Dick told us he grows increasingly comfortable with tears as he ages and encourages us to do the same. This week I will explore a different, but occasionally...
When Home Won’t Let You Stay
When Home Won’t Let You Stay © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church July 16, 2023 In 2015, the author Amitav Ghosh began to pay close attention to the “migration crisis” in Europe. For several years now we have all seen the images of overcrowded unseaworthy...
Pleasure Activism
Pleasure Activism © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church June 18, 2023 There was controversy, back in the winter of 2006, about whether New Orleans should celebrate Mardi Gras. Hurricane Katrina had roared through the city in August of 2005, and months...
Upcoming Services
Building a House Called Tomorrow, led by Reverend Janet Parsons with music by Steve Lacey. As we do each year, we'll reflect on why we create a church community, and how we support it. In a world that shifts daily, a church is meant to hold the center for us. How well can we hold it?
Worship is in-person, or at the livestream link below.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIeJfO72kLh-gAtZZT-QOng/live
Recent News
Jame Baldwin: On Love and Salvation
James Baldwin: On Love and Salvation Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church February 15, 2026 He could have grown to adulthood consumed with hatred. In fact, he harbored great anger at the way his country treated him and other marginalized people....
Sunday Feb 15
James Baldwin: On Love and Salvation, led by Reverend Janet Parsons. Join us as we honor Black History Month by returning to the wisdom of author James Baldwin, and his thoughts on religion, and how love saves us. Music by Robert Noble. Worship is in-person, or at the...
“Siding With Love” Our Church Podcast
"Siding With Love" is Gloucester Unitarian Universalist’s monthly podcast, co-hosted by the Rev. Janet Parsons and Carol Bousquet. We explore a range of ideas based on the theme of the month while centering the principles of the Unitarian Universalist faith. Here are...