Sermon Archive
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...
Pride: Celebration, Protest, and Fear
Pride: Celebration, Protest, and Fear© Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church June 11, 2023 Little Kristin was five years old. One day she was playing with her sister in the family’s living room when her grandmother summoned her to dinner. “Girls, dinner’s...
To Live in Communion
To Live in Communion© Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church June 4, 2023 “How would it beto live like the aspen,to know the selfas one expressionof a glorious, radiant whole,to live in communioninstead of competition…” Each spring, we...
Upcoming Services
Gloucester UU joins Rockport and Essex for worship this Sunday at First Univ of Essex, or on Zoom.Sunday August 23rd 10 am Stronger Together with Rev. Tess BaumbergerJoin us for a service about how we can be stronger by working together, using the symbols of spinning threads and weaving tapestries. The service will include a simple ritual, poetry, and meditations on the power of collaboration.To join us via Zoom please visit uuessex.org and click on the Zoom link. If you’re coming in person, there is some street parking or you can use the municipal lot. Coming from Gloucester you would go past the church and take your first left onto Martin Street, then go left again on Shepherd Street. Please know the central spots in the lot are reserved for boat and trailer parking during the summer. If you go up the stairs at the end of the lot, you can cross the parking lot and make your way to the church.
Recent News
Sunday May 31
Let the Mystery Be, led by Reverend Janet Parsons, with Andrew Soll, organist. This month we are exploring Curiosity and how important it is in our human lives. But when do we decide to not discover all the answers? Join us at 10:00 a.m. Worship is in-person,...
Sunday May 24
To Seek the Truth in Love: Different Journeys, Same Home Sermon and Service by guest Rev. Tess Baumberger, First Universalist Church of Essex. Music by Andrew Glennon. Worship is in-person, or at the livestream link below....
This Curious Religion
This Curious Religion © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church May 17, 2026 People tend to think that it’s easy to be a Unitarian Universalist. After all, they like to tell us, we can believe anything that we want! What could be simpler? And the...