Church of the River Sermons

The Arctic has long been a source of fascination for human beings. What is it about this place that draws us to it? What happens when we go to one of the most inhospitable places on earth and find ourselves?

Peacemaking does not mean accepting the status quo. Peacemaking usually means breaking down the status quo in order to create a more just and compassionate world. What does it mean to seek peace? What do we do when the only way to find peace is through chaos?

Religious institutions should never demonize or degrade human sexuality. Rather, we should honor and celebrate it. How can we move past destructive and ignorant ideas about sex in ways that are in line with our Unitarian Universalist values? And what is the religious function of joy?

According to Christian faith tradition, this coming Sunday is the first Sunday in Advent—the season of preparation for Christmas—the coming of the One known as the Christ Child. Advent takes place over four Sundays, assigning one of four gifts of the season to each: hope, peace, joy, and love. This year, not only is Advent a little longer because Christmas is on a Sunday…but this first Sunday's theme is hope. I think we're going to need the extra time. It's going to be a hard task for some of us to focus on hope. We've had a hard week…month…season. From the fatal shooting in Colorado Springs at an LGBTQA bar to our own losses right here at home. In the midst of it all, where will we find hope?

We live in a world that tells us that we need more - more money, more stuff, more accomplishments. This toxic culture leaves us feeling like we don't have enough time, capacity, or joy. Using the latest brain science, mixed with ancient wisdom (and of course the story of Stone Soup) we will be wondering together how to acknowledge the realities of a scarcity mentality while opening up the possibility of choosing abundance.

Always bare in mind that living in a fantasy is a lot easier than accepting a reality check from a condescending jerk. What do you do when somebody has proved that your whole worldview is wrong? And what if they're being a jerk about it?

There is nothing more powerful than a parent's devotion to their child. This makes us powerful, but it also makes us vulnerable. We all want to love and protect our children. How do we seperate that healthy instinct from our own personal fears and hangups?

In Gujarati, Kali means dark (eternal) and Chaudas means the fourteenth. Kali Chaudas marks the 2nd day of Diwali - The Hindu Festival of Lights. On this day Goddess Kali, also known as Shakti, defeated the demon Narakasura. Join Rev. Sam Teitel and Pratik Mamtora to explore how good triumphs over evil and how light shines upon life as per Hindu traditions and scriptures.

Our broken parts are what make us compassionate and powerful. Do not be afraid of your brokenness, give thanks for it.

Horror Bible 2022 continues! As humans, we love to judge people based on their appearance, even though we know that appearances can be deceiving. This week we are going to be talking about The Prince of Darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne, the singer from the band Black Sabbath. We all may have more in common with Ozzy than we think, and that's probably a good thing.

This week we are beginning Horror Bible 2022! All of us carry the best and worst of ourselves around everywhere we go. What does it mean to accept that the difference between us and the people who we perceive as bad people is really very small? And what does it mean to love ourselves and others even so?

Rev. Gail Tapscott will take you on a journey through the extraordinary amount of Unitarian Universalist contributions to the fields of UFOlogy and science fiction writing. Particular emphasis will be focused on how the work of fabled UU syfy writer Frederick Pohl's writing reflects our values and principles in his often biting and humorous satire. One novel, “The Cool War” even has a UU minister as the hapless hero.

The End Of The World is a sad and scary idea, but it gets a little less sad and scary when you think about how many times it has already happened.

"It is normal to despair. It is normal to have hope. It is even normal to feel despair and hope at the same time." In a moment of heartbreak and confusion in our city, we will come together in worship in a spirit of love and compassion. Bring your despair, bring your lamentation, bring your hope, bring it all. This service is for every piece of who you are.

Sometimes we need to hear a story about a robot to understand our own humanity. Sometimes we need to be reminded of how necessary and beautiful our shortcomings are.

Since the beginning of human history women have been religious leaders. No matter how many insecure men try to cover it up, that fact will always be true.

Splash back to Church with our River Sunday worship service 'On Baptism' with FUN activities soon after.

There is no such thing as an incorrect way to pray. There is also no such thing as a method of prayer that works for everybody.

Join us as we consider in community the responsibility of covenant in our work towards collective liberation. Another world is possible; another world is inevitable; another world is ours to build.

Join us as we consider in community the responsibility of covenant in our work towards collective liberation. Another world is possible; another world is inevitable; another world is ours to build.

The sacred work of abolition is, too, environmentalist work. How can we move towards collective liberation during climate crisis?

Our living tradition asks that we take, always, one more step. As we embark on the journey towards becoming a liberatory, anti-racist, anti-oppressive religious community, what steps are before us? Join us Sunday for One More Step.

We're told that another world is possible, but what does that mean? How do we build it? How, first, do we begin to imagine a whole new world? What kind of world do we deserve?

Hell, as far as I can figure out, is just a fantasy that people have about a place where other people are punished for not being exactly like them.

The UU Coming of Age process remains relevant into adulthood. Throughout our lives, each of us embark on our own individual journey towards spiritual discovery and self discovery.

When we talk about 'thinking of the children', we need to make sure that we are thinking about actual human beings, and not the idea of children that we have invented.

The ancients labored to make sense of their violent world. Our violent world doesn't make much sense, either. Without explanation, God answers violence with life and calls us to do the same.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine brings the urgency for moral clarity in the ongoing struggle between democracy and authoritarianism. "Let us ponder the purpose of all purposes, the virtue of all virtues, and what the war in Ukraine requires of us."

Just loving the Earth is not enough if you won't fight for it. Just fighting for the Earth is pointless if you don't love it. You really have to do both.

This Easter we are all eager for a moment of rebirth, resurrection, and celebration. But how can we get to this place through all of our fear and heartache? We need to do it together.

What's the purpose and function of protests? How does the tradition of protests vary across time and traditions? This sermon seeks to sanctify protests and encourage us to leverage our liberating faith tradition to become more actively involved in the universal fight for freedom.

Waking up, both physically and spiritually, is a crucial part of the human experience. But it is also sometimes a very unpleasent experience. What does it mean to wake up as faithful people and to support each other through that sometimes challenging process?

Join us this Sunday at 11am as we ordain our former ministerial intern, Meredith Barber. Meredith supported us through the COVID pandemic, so now it's time to show our support for her! And don't forget to wear red, the traditional color for ordinations.

Most of us spend a lot of time and energy based on the belief that we do not have enough, are not doing enough and are not enough ourselves. This morning, we will focus in on the simple yet radical theological notion that to be a person of faith necessitates starting from a place where we understand and believe that we are enough.

The human condition requires us to embrace conflicting realities. The Hebrew Bible offers wisdom on how to hold opposing truths in one hand as we navigate the complexities of life.

Exploring the theme of justice found in the 2nd Principle, we will look to abolition as a vision of embodying our value of justice. What does justice look like today? What could justice look like tomorrow?

The Hebrew Bible is filled with characters practicing audacious hospitality: the act of going above and beyond what is required or expected in order to make people feel welcome. Are these stories merely illustrative of a time and place that no longer exists, or can we still practice what the Bible preaches?

Life has its ups and downs. And in the moment the individual events in our lives can seem huge and overwhelming. What does it mean, then, that on a long enough timeline, even our biggest triumphs and tragedies are only small parts of a much larger whole? Does it make them mean more or less? We will also be discussing Rev. Sam's second favorite band, The Ramones.

Earlier this month, we talked about the impact that the binding of Isaac had on Isaac. This week we'll be asking what impact the event had on Abraham. Did he regret it? Did he feel at peace with it? And what does Abraham's possible regret teach us about our own failures?

This week we have a dual sermon from Lindsay Donnelly-Bullington and Rev. Sam Teitel. Lindsay and Rev. Sam will be talking about acknowledging difficult truths in our personal and religious histories and finding ways to face those truths with honest and compassion.

What do Unitarian Universalists have to say about the concept of Grace? And, is there really yet another gruesome Hebrew Bible story that Rev. Sam hasn't preached about yet? (Yes, apparently there is).

What are the possibilities of a happy new year during the unpredictable evolution of a pandemic?

Welcome to our Christmas Eve Service at Church of the River.

Benjamin Rieux, the doctor and narrator of The Plague, the 1947 novel by Albert Camus, reflects at the end about the contingency and fragility of human existence by observing that "joy is always imperiled." What does Advent teach us about waiting for that imperiled joy?.

This Covenant Sunday we will all be renewing and reinvigorating our commitments to The Church of the River. We will also be talking about how we can relate to a herd of pigs.

We often think of peace as being something that we work towards, as a goal to set our sights on. But what would happen if we viewed peace as a state of being in the present? Also, what do you do when a legendary religious scholar randomly calls you ugly?

What if we are the ones we've been waiting for? The Advent season is often seen as a time of waiting and stillness, but what would happen if we made plans and put them into action? Like Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz in the Hebrew Scriptures, we can make our way in the world with active hope and loving kindness. There is an opportunity here to find healing, remember our wholeness, and create a beautiful beloved community.

This week we will be finishing up our discussion of Southern food by talking about our relationship to the land on which we live, and how the land on which we live provides us food and sustenance and also fraught and complicated history.

The Salem Witch Trials were a horrific event in our country's history. However there is a lesson to be learned from those events, and a message that is still relevant today.

For the third part of Horror Bible 2021 we will be looking at the Salem Witch Trials, and at the various Biblical passages that were used to justify them. We will also be talking about the ways in which the impact of these events is still being felt today.