At church on Sunday - "Jesus was a feminist...and so is Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar."

Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar preaches at All Souls Church in Tulsa Oklahoma on Sunday, 03/10/19. This is an outstanding sermon well worth listening to and sharing with others.

 

Editor's note:

Here at UU A Way Of Life ministries we support a number of UU congregations and the "Living tradition" as awhole. The UU covenantal model and its seven principles will change the world by helping people become aware of their holiness and this awareness will sanctify the world.

We welcome submissions of material for our feature "At Church on Sunday." What's going on in your church that is worth sharing to enrich the world? Send your submission to davidgmarkham@gmail.com. UU A Way Of Life ministries aims to be a curator of good things UU.

At Church on Sunday, 03/10/19, Reclaming Lent, Rev. Lane Campbell

As a Roamin Catholic Unitarian Universalist I was delighted this past Sunday, 03/10/19, to listen to the sermon by Rev. Lane Campbell at First Universalist Of Rochester, NY talk about "Reclaiming Lent."

As a student of A Course In Miracles as well as a Roamin Catholic Unitarian Univeralist, I understand Lent as a time of the year when we focus even more intently on shifting our perception from the path of the ego to the path of the Spirit. I think of this shift from the world of the ego to the world of the spirit as a shift from conditional love of the world  to unconditional love of the Divine.

Rev. Lane talks about reclaiming our spiritual roots of Universalism and this reclamation is a remembrance and celebration of the Universal love of the covenant which fascilitates an awareness of the holiness of human kind. Universal salvation is not something that requires waiting to achieve at death, but is something that is available to us here, right now, if we embrace the Divine spark in each of us which acknowledges the inherent worth and dignity of every person.

This embracing of the Divine Spark in every person requires the giving up of our attachments to what A Course In Miracles calls "special relationships" which are based on the principles of "give to get" and "one or the other" and manifest Unconditional love for the World of the Divine.

Lent is not so much a time of deprivation and giving up as a shift from the world of the ego to the world of the Divine and in this shift we find our salvation and heavenly peace.

To watch Rev. Lane Campbell's whole sermon click here.

At church on Sunday, 03/10/19, My Kind Of Church Music

We sang this at church yesterday, 03/10/19. One of my favorite hymns.

At Church On Sunday 02/24/19 - The Future of Universalism and Social Justice

On 02/24/19 Rev. Lane Campbell and Rev. Michelle Yates made a presentation on the question of where Universalism will be in 20 years by 2039. They addressed three questions and the third question is:

The last question we wanted to talk about this morning was sort of what's the future of universalism as it informs of our social justice efforts.  Where do you think that will be in 20 years?

Rev. Yates : I think it's very interesting the ways in just the past 10 years we've been showing up.

I feel like there was the the civil rights era and then there was a bit of a slow down. Then we've had a big round trip up with the yellow shirts. UUs are known as yellow shirts when we show up to rallies and events and social justice action things because we have it as standing on the side of love. How do we live that -  we show up in that way?

  

I think in some ways it's being more brave than we were before because I think sometimes there's still that concern of if I show up to this rally am I safe? If I show at this rally is my family safe? Are people going to judge me?

But finding courage and resolve for our self -  this is where I need to be. I felt a conviction when we did the social justice GA in Phoenix, like this is history, this is the moment.  I want to say to my children that I was there. And that moment, this is the moment, and it might be hard, but I want to say that I was there.  I showed up. Doing this work here so that we can show up out there.

Rev. Michelle Yates speaks from 08:15 - 09:36

At church on Sunday, 02/24/19, The Future of Universalism in the local congregation.

At church on Sunday, 02/24/19, in a service dedicated to exploring the future of Universalism, Rev. Michelle Yates, answers the question:

What do you think as far as the future of this church, of our church, and of the Unitarian Universalism as a denomination?

Rev. Michelle Yates: I would also be concerned about how do we continue to include everyone as we go forward because people don't need to come here for socialization in the community. They can get that in many other places, but what makes Church unique from all those other places?

In my community of young adults they are willing to get out of bed early for a job, for a reason. They can make a difference in people's lives and in the world. They're not just going to be a pedestrian looking at things, but to be active to find ways of what does it mean to be a member? What does it mean to be part of a church community beyond Sunday mornings?

I feel like sometimes when families walk in the door we also like to stand up and give a round of applause because I really appreciate what it takes to get many members together and out the door and into this building somewhere near 10:30.

Rev. Lane Cambell: With all their shoes on right?

With all the shoes. Yes. And so how do we come to do church, faith and action, where everyone is a part of it, looking outside of the box for ways to make those moments happen; we make community and church and faith in action a part of our lives.

We've already evolved away from the Sunday school of the past. You know, I think we've achieved the vision of Sophia Lyons Fahs of an interactive experiential learning experience for our kids. How do we do that going forward? 

Rev. Lane Campbell - More to come.

This segment runs from 06:20 - 08:02

At Church on Sunday, 02/24/19 - The future of Universalism as a denomination and our local congregation

The question #2 on 02/24/19 regarding the future of Univeralism in the next 20 years is:

What do you think, Lane, as far as the future of this church, of our church, and of the
Unitarian Universalism as a denomination?

Here is Rev. Lane Campbell's response:

I think certainly the future is, we're making it right now, right here, and I think that in the future, I mean the church has to look different than it has. We have to think about what is our faith going to look like in the future.  The church that I grew up in was informed a lot by sort of this 1950s structure of everybody had Sunday free. Everybody's life was focused around having Sunday's with the day off. Sundays were the day you go to church.

Now, from the last five years of working with families, Sundays aren't always free for church. Many of the families that I worked with we were battling against hockey practice for a few years, you know, or even just like time to be with your family.

So I think, you know, when it comes to the future of church, we have to think about how we're going to be relevant, and why why people come to church, like what is our unique contribution, and what do we need to do outside of Sunday mornings? I will say Sunday mornings are, of course, very important to me and I'm sure you all because you’re  here, right? (Laughter)

But I wonder what it was going to look like to be sort of a faith community of focusing on Sundays, and focusing sort of, throughout the week? How do we make opportunities for people to plug in? 

I certainly have a fear, or a concern, that for the future of Universalism I don't want our Universalist history, in our roots, to get lost. I don't want us to get too far away from the traditions and the roots that we are built upon because they are so beautiful and so important to us.

Rev. Lane's response runs from 04:30 - 06:19

My kind of church music - At church last Sunday - Come sing a song with me

We sang this song, too, at church on 03/03/19.

 

Editor's note:

I love this song. We sang it at church on Sunday 03/03/19 a little faster. This version seems to drag a bit. It is a fun song if it is sung in a bouncy, breezy way.

My Kind Of Church Music - At church on Sunday - As Long As I Have Breath

We sang this song at church on 03/03/19. 

 

Just as long as I have breath, I must answer, 'Yes' to life;
though with pain I made my way, still with hope I meet each day.
If they ask what I did well, tell them I said, 'Yes', to life

Just as long as vision lasts, I must answer, 'Yes' to truth;
in my dream and in my dark, always: that elusive spark.
If they ask what I did well, tell them I said, 'Yes' to truth.

Just as long as my heart beats, I must answer, 'Yes' to love;
disappointment pierced me through, still I kept on loving you.
If they ask what I did best, tell them I said, 'Yes' to love.

At Church on Sunday - The future of Univeralist theology.

At church on Sunday, 02/24/19, Rev. Lane Campbell and Rev. Michelle Yates had a conversation about the future of Universalism in the next twenty years.

Here is what Rev. Lane Campbell had to say about the future of Univeralist theology.

"I think some of what we've been talking about here recently, as we've been looking at Universalist theology in the present day, is seeing that this belief in universal salvation, that all people are going to go to a good place when they die and that no one is going to be judged and going to hell, is becoming a part of our mainstream Christianity.

So I wonder what our unique contributions will be to Universalism moving forward. I think that what we have to offer certainly, as a faith community, is having folks from a diversity of theological backgrounds that bring multiple perspectives to Universalism.

We certainly have folks in this room right now who are theist. We have folks who are atheists, folks who would identify with Judaism. Folks who would identify with Christianity, with Islam , with Buddhism, with Hinduism like we heard about this morning. We have folks here that have multiple different belief systems and sort of theologies.

 I wonder and I'm excited to see what that will look like in the future and I think that's really the

future of of our branch of Universalism having so much more and a deeper dialogue  - getting together and really talking about what we believe together."

This section of Rev. Lane Campbell runs approximately from 02:55 - 04:19

At church on Sunday - The future of Universalism

At church on 02/24/19, Rev. Lane Campbell and Rev. Michelle Yates presented some thoughts on the future of Universalism over the next 20 years.

What will Universalism be like in 20 years by 2039?

Rev. Lane and Rev. Yates discussed three questions. The first of which is What will Univeralist theology be like in 20 years?

Here is what Rev. Yates offered:

I think we spent most of our history as Universalist thinking about what happens after we die,  our universal salvation, but I think in the next 20 to 50 years we're going to be really focusing more on now.

If we are all loved, if we are all important, then what does that really mean in having a lived faith?

I certainly have seen this in the past 10 -  20 years. I feel like when I was young, as a universalist, you know, it's kind of like we did our own thing in our church but the the level of activism, and of looking inside, and seeing that we missed it on that one. You know, we need to do better on this.

We need to show up for that. We need to live this belief that everyone is important, and should be included, in better and better ways. It is really going to come to the forefront of our lives and of our faith communities and what we do.

This section runs from 01:40 - 02:58

My kind of church music - I am willing by Holly Near

At church on Sunday on 02/24/19. Wonderful experience.

 

At Church on Sunday - Rochesterians Engaging In Action For The Chronically Homeless

This is an article in the UU A Way of Life feature "At Church On Sunday."

At church this past Sunday, 03/03/19, at the drop in discussion group before the service, Andy Carey, a Social Worker from REACH, Rochesterians Engaging In Action for the Chronically Homeless, gave a brief presentation and answered questions from the approximately 20 people who assembled to learn more about homelessness in Rochester, NY and what is being done to address the problem.

It was an excellent discussion. For more information about REACH, click here.

Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.

My Kind Of Church Music - There Is More Love Somewhere

This is the first article in a new feature on the UU A Way Of Life ministries blog tagged "At church on Sunday."

We sang this song at church yesterday, 03/03/19. It is an old African American Spiritual. It is #95 in the UU hymnal.

This version is done by what appears to be a high school a capella choir.