How do you put your UU values into practice? How can you use what you believe to make decisions about what you should and should not do? Voting. Problem Solving. Parenting. Relationships. Today we will talk about personal ethics — aligning values with behavior.

Our American culture remains death-defying and our UU movement failed, a decade ago, to embrace mortality during our re-envisioning process of our purposes and principles. We have work to do. If we earthlings wish to live more robustly and caringly, we must consent to die. As naturalist Wallace Stegner put it, “I owe God a death.”

 

The Rev. Dr. Tom Owen-Towle is entering his 56th year of ordained ministry and is the author of two dozen books on personal relationships, social justice challenges, and spiritual growth. Tom and his life-partner, the Rev. Dr. Carolyn Sheets Owen-Towle, are the active parents of four children, seven grand-children, and one great-grandchild.

 

Tom is a guitarist and parlor magician who, in “refirement,” sings with seniors, mentors youth, and volunteers with San Diego’s homeless. He also lectures and conducts workshops on the core themes of conscious aging and mindful dying. He is honored to be returning to the pulpit of our Santa Monica congregation and preaching on “I Owe God a Death!”

Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels, preaching
Cassie Winters, worship associate

 

“In our social justice work, UUs say we “Side with Love.” Isn’t it interesting that “love” never appears in our Seven Principles? The title comes from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, which is also included as a reading in our hymnal, #713, 1 Corinthians, 16: 13-14. Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.

 

The Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels, a Unitarian Universalist minister working in the Los Angeles area, grew up in Santa Monica. He received a Masters of Divinity from the Claremont School of Theology in 1998 and was ordained and fellowshipped with the Unitarian Universalist Association later that year. During his 24 years in the ministry, he has served UU congregations in La Crescenta, Santa Clarita, Los Angeles, and Long Beach. Currently, he serves the UU Fellowship of Kern County in Bakersfield, CA. He lives with his husband in downtown Los Angeles.