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Sermons

This is a full list of sermons presented at UUCCSM since mid-1999. Links to sermon texts are included when made available by their authors. Audio recordings are also available for most sermons presented after September, 2007 by our staff ministers and others directly affiliated with our church (just click the speaker icon next to each sermon where it's available*). Audio from guest speakers is posted only when we have their permission to share it.

Hard copies of sermons by Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae are available in the church office. Contact office assistant Sibylla Nash at office@uusm.org if you have a request.

"Leaving Room for Hope: Sermons for Uncertain Times," a book of Minister Emerita Judith Meyer's sermons, is available here.

**Please Note: Video recordings are available for sermons with a small TV icon showing at the bottom of the sermon listing. Just click the icon to watch the service.**

Heart and Soul: A Contemplative Worship Service @ 5 p.m. - "What Does it Mean to Be a Community of Trust?"
Monthly Theme: Trust
James Witker
Heart and Soul is a contemplative worship service series that usually occurs on the second Sunday of each month. It is a shorter, more intimate service, with singing, statements, and questions, silence, and sharing. Readings, poems, quotes, and music are drawn from a variety of sources, including the UU Soul Matters Sharing Circle, our hymnals, and popular/folk music.
 
Please note audio is currently unavailable for Heart & Soul services.
Myths and Realities of True Love
Monthly Theme: Trust
Rev. Greg Ward
Falling in love is the euphoric moment when we discover someone with the unique combination of what you've always wanted and needed: attention, acceptance, appeciation, affection, allowance - what David Richo calls 'the 5 A's of Love'.  And, somehow, you muster the courage to go all in.  You find - or borrow - enough to lower the powerful shield of our ego, and rejoice and make promises that bind you in that reunion with connection.  But there are downsides as well.  As he has just announced his engagement, this is Rev. Greg's chance to talk about the promises and pitfalls of True Love.

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Picking the Worst Hymn (and Other Firing Squad Offenses)
Monthly Theme: Trust
Rev. Greg Ward
Trust - and Faith - are commodities that religion is known to supply.  But when your denomination tends reject faith healing, miracles and messianic references, it might not seem so surprising if, when you find yourself at a moment where a little extra trust and faith are needed, the shelves in your church where you'd expect them to be kept simply show a small sign saying, 'out of stock - check back with the store manager next week.'  But, we all know, no one can supply trust.  It's something we have to manufacture ourselves.

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Are YoUU a Superhero? (Multigenerational Justice Service)
Monthly Theme: Possibility
Kathleen Hogue
“I'm here to fight for truth, justice and the American way.” - Superman
 
Is Superman a Unitarian Universalist? Who are our superheros and just what is it that makes one a superhero? Is it possible that as we work together to create a world that turns aside from racism, violence, dehumanization, and disregard for suffering that we too can be superheros?
 
[Note: no audio recording is available for this service.]
Strange Fruit
Monthly Theme: Possibility
Rev. Greg Ward

Last year, anti-racism activist Bryan Stevenson - with allies at the Southern Poverty Law Center - raised money and opened a new museum in Montgomery AL that chronicles the personal, histoirical and violent narrative of our relationship with race in the US.  This service is based on a slam poetry style sermon telling the story of how the black experience moved from slavery through Jim Crow reconstruction, through Civil Rights and right into a new era of systemic White Supremacy.  This service will trace our progess through a photograph, stories and music.

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Heart and Soul: A Contemplative Worship Service @ 5 p.m. - "What Does it Mean to Be a Community of Possibility?"
Monthly Theme: Possibility
Rima Snyder
Heart and Soul is a contemplative worship service series that usually occurs on the second Sunday of each month. It is a shorter, more intimate service, with singing, statements, and questions, silence, and sharing. Readings, poems, quotes, and music are drawn from a variety of sources, including the UU Soul Matters Sharing Circle, our hymnals, and popular/folk music.
 
Please note audio is currently unavailable for Heart & Soul services.
Can I Get a Connection?
Monthly Theme: Possibility
Robin Stillwater

Loneliness is a huge mental health problem.  Many adults state a want to feel more connected to those around them.  In a world that offers so many ways to connect, our church community can offer the kind of connection that helps us be in deep relationship with each other.

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UU 101, 201, 301 and 401
Monthly Theme: Possibility
Rev. Meg Barnhouse
The Rev. Meg Barnhouse, storyteller, singer, song writer, former South Carolina NPR host of 'Bubba-Free Radio' brings her own unique perspective on the journey of living Unitarian Universalism out loud.  This is a service told in original stories, songs, and preaching sure to amuse, inspire and open your heart.

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A Sense of Purpose (one service only @ 11:00 a.m.)
Monthly Theme: Mystery
Rev. Kikanza Nuri-Robins
Making meaning of the old year and the new year to come.

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Christmas Eve Candlelight Service (6 p.m. and 8 p.m.)
Monthly Theme: Mystery
Rev. Greg Ward
We’re all familiar with the traditional story the describes a particularly dark moment in humanity’s existence, and the birth of a child that grows up to be a great light. We are certainly in dark times today. This traditional Candlelight Christmas Eve service of lessons and carols will be a contemporary adaptation of a sacred story based on Unitarian educator Sophia Lyon Fahs’ prophecy that “every night a child is born is a holy night.” We will imagine what it would look like if the prophet called to bring light to the world were born today. Come to sing, hear stories, light candles, and rejoice in the shared calling for us all to create Peace on Earth. The choir will perform at both services.