First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston Podcast

We close the year's programs with reflections on the future of religion. What does it hold? How will it impact our community?

"Our church community is full of opportunities to work together to make things happen. It is a place with wonderful role models, who forge paths and inspire us. And it is a place to grow roots, that we may thrive, as best we can, in this broken world. In her last service as Director of Religious Education, join Carol Burrus as she leads worship, weaving a story of 40 years at First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston."

We mark the start of the summer with the annual flower communion service. We also recognize that this is the 200th anniversary of the founding of the American Unitarian Association. 

Perhaps there is no greater grief than for those who left us far too soon. Rev. Scott reflects on the importance of remembering the dead. As in past years, he expands the annual Memorial Day Candle Ritual beyond remembering military personnel. We remember others who passed away too soon, including those who died from gun violence and Covid.

Artificial intelligence has the potential to change human society. How will it change religious communities? Will it impact how we understand the nature of humanity? Of God? Of being itself?

This will be the first Mother's Day sermon Rev. Scott will preach since the passing of his parents. Less than a year into grieving their deaths, much of the country began collectively mourning what has been described as the ‘death of our country.' Rev. Scott will look at the emotions tied to Mother's Day as well as the ways we all may work through our grief.

We concluded our series of three occasional services on the spirituality of music with a special service devoted to the spirituality of Beyonce.

Mayday, or m'aidez, is an international distress signal. May Day is also International Worker's Day. Massive government layoffs and economic mayhem are prompting a distress signal. More happily, May Day is also a traditional festival to welcome summer, celebrated down through history by diverse peoples and religions.

The image of the crucified god is found in many religions. What does it's ubiquitous nature suggest about humanity? How does it's widespread presence change our understanding of the life and death of Jesus?

For Earth month we will explore the questions: What do we owe future generations? How will our actions impact the future of the planet? What if future generations had the same rights as those now living?

Across the state and across the country the politics of cruelty are on the rise. We can build a community of compassion as a counter and a refuge. Let's celebrate that possibility as we launch our 2025-2026 stewardship campaign.

Peddling fear to maintain power, the current administration has cynically presented the Trans community as Exhibit A. Author Tinnekke Bebout said, “Fear of the unknown and the other is the root of almost all hate. It is born of ignorance and fed by those who would keep us divided.” Join us as we observe the International Transgender Day of Visibility. 

Peddling fear to maintain power, the current administration has cynically presented the Trans community as Exhibit A. Author Tinnekke Bebout said, “Fear of the unknown and the other is the root of almost all hate. It is born of ignorance and fed by those who would keep us divided.” Join us as we observe the International Transgender Day of Visibility.

The guest preacher is Rosemary Bray McNatt, President of Starr King School for the Ministry.   Now that the worst has begun, what is our task as free religious people? Before we can decide, we must understand how trauma shapes our decision making – and the real difference faith can make. 

Does humanity's future lie amongst the stars? Or shall we remain forever terrestrial bound? What will happen to how we conceive of our selves and our species if we ever become interplanetary? 

The spirit of the Confederacy appears to animate much of the politics of cruelty. What would it mean to exorcise it from national life? How might we rekindle the spiritual practices of abolitionism during these times as its counter?

This sermon seeks to assist people of faith in understanding the historical complexity of the "Black experience" which pre-dates the American encounter with enslavement and racism. Wherever and whenever Black people have encountered different cultures, they have likely experienced dehumanization, marginality and "racial-ethnic" bias. Thus, one way to understand Black History is as a spiritual and socio-political struggle to  respond to these encounters both in Africa and in diaspora locations around the world.   

What comes after death? Does some part of us continue after we have shed our mortal coils? Religious communities have helped people to wrestle with questions like these since as long as they have existed.

Marian Anderson was an internationally-acclaimed contralto and goodwill ambassador for the United States government. A woman of faith, she was devoted to her mother and family for her entire life. Anderson masterfully navigated deconstructing and reconstructing her performative identity, which enabled her to attain the status of iconic internationally-renowned contralto and U.S. government asset who broke multiple barriers of race and gender.

Our Future Visions, Future Selves program has promised to explore various topics via three aspects – societal, personal, and planetary. Rev. Scott challenges himself to look at this month's theme, death, through all three lenses, from the Big Bang, to the beliefs of varying traditions (and his theory) regarding an afterlife, to his personal metaphors for a Divine Being.  

J. Edgar Hoover called the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “the most notorious liar in American.” This Sunday we'll celebrate Dr. King's legacy with a consideration of the roll of lying and truth in religion and politics.

“Religion is the human response to being alive and having to die,” wrote Unitarian Universalist theologian Forrest Church. And so, we will started the year with a focus on that most religious of topics: death.

Dame Maggie Smith said, “If you're lucky, I think you know what you want to do with your life.” Kris Kristofferson agreed,” To me, if you love it enough to devote your life to it, then you're doing the right thing.” These were just two of the many talented people we lost in 2024 who devoted their life to something they became respected and renowned for. Continuing his annual tradition, Rev. Scott reflects on some individuals who left a legacy.

Unitarian Universalists have historically focused on the immediate future rather than attending to that which lies beyond the grave. We strive to love and to work to achieve justice now. The next four years will no doubt be eventful. How do we plan for an uneasy time spiritually, emotionally, and politically? How do we not lose focus on the Beloved Community that is to be? 

During the winter holiday season we will focus on an issue that impacts many people in our community: religious trauma. For those that wrestle with it, working to heal from it, in a congregation like ours, can be a way to prepare for a more wholistic spiritual future.

We kicked off a series of three occasional services on the spirituality of music with a special service devoted to the spirituality of Nina Simone.  We include clips from the following: “Black Journal”, 1969 hosted by Lou House and William Greaves "BBC Hard Talk", 1999 hosted by Tim Sebastian "Nina: A Historical Perspective", produced by Peter Rodis in 1970

Rebecca "Artie" Throop reflects on what art has taught them about mistakes--how to make better mistakes, enjoying the process, and showing others imperfections.   They are a member of our congregation and a senior at Rice University, double majoring in Religion and Studio art. They plan to attend seminary after graduation and become a Unitarian Universalist Minister.

Families convene around the dining table, partygoers are drawn like magnets to the kitchen table, colleagues work around the board room table, and a Christian religious ritual famously focuses on a table. Nourishment and community both happen around the table. Our Bread Communion expresses the gratitude we hold for both the nourishment and community that happen around the table.

The winner of the 2024 auction sermon has chosen “generative artificial intelligence and religion.” We'll honor their wishes with sermon exploring how Large Language Models and other kinds of artificial intelligence are shaping religious experience and religious communities.  Rev. Colin also delivers a "Pulpit Editorial" to address current events.

As a result of the 2024 presidential election, the country and the world remains at a crucial turning point. New technology, rising inequality, the climate crisis will continue to shape what it means to practice democracy. We focused the month on imagining a more participatory democracy.

The Sunday before an election is often a time of hope and anticipation. Is hope warranted? What would it mean for us to live in a world beyond or without hope. 

Sermon from October 20, 2024 The congregation voted to call the Rev. Dr. Colin Bossen as its eighth settled minister. Before the vote, he shared something of his vision for the future. He asks the question, what kind of community do we want to be in 2050?

As part of our All Soul's service, Rev. Scott offered a beautiful homily honoring the lives of our beloved departed. We honored their legacies and the light they brought into our lives, leaving us with the peace they carried.

Is society on the cusp of a “Great Turning,” as Joanna Macy has claimed? How do we prepare ourselves for a great moral awakening and spiritual revolution? What is the nature of revolution? Since it is a political season, we'll focus on this question from a political perspective and take adrienne maree brown as our guide.

Vidas Robadas is a state-wide installation campaign, where congregations, universities, and any other interested locations display t-shirts that name or represent victims from their community whose lives where stolen by gun violence.This project seeks to connect the various silos of advocacy and violence prevention, and to unite communities of faith with other advocates to create positive change. The project starts with municipal initiatives, connecting city leaders with advocates to enact gun violence reduction measures.   First Unitarian Universalist participated in this project and honored our participation through a service calling for gun reform.

The Unitarian Universalist Association organized a nationwide Climate Revival. This special service is devoted to helping us picture the world we want to bring into being by the year 2050.

We begin our series “Future Visions, Future Selves” with a look to the past. We ask a simple question: How do our understandings of the past shape our dreams for the future?

Religion has long helped people envision the future. The 2024-2025 program year will be one in which the congregation is oriented both its future and the futures of its members. Over the course of the year there will be a pivotal national election, the adoption of a congregational strategic plan, and a vote to elect a settled minister. Throughout the series questions about how the climate crisis, the global rise of right-wing populism and white supremacy, and escalating inequality will shape the coming years will form a backdrop. As we grapple with them, we will aspire to deepen the spiritual life of our community, and the spiritual lives of our members and friends, by offering a program devoted to exploring three aspects of the future—societal, personal, and planetary--from a variety of religious perspectives.

Summer often sees an influx of visitors and people seeking a new faith community. Rev. Scott again takes this opportunity near the beginning of the new church year to give a quick review of what Unitarian Universalism is - for their benefit and as a refresher to others. Come and hear why he thinks this faith is more important than ever. 

We observed Labor Day with a service devoted to celebrating the accomplishments of the labor movement. We explore why and how solidarity can be a spiritual practice. Also included are two testimonials from local labor organizers.

“There are many things that can only be seen through eyes that have cried,” wrote the martyred Catholic Bishop Oscar Romero. August 11th to 14th Rev. Dr. Bossen and members of our congregation traveled to Brownsville to offer witness to the ongoing crisis at the border. In this service, Rev. Dr. Bossen and others reflect upon their experiences and why solidarity with migrants and refugees is a religious practice.

First Unitarian Universalist, like many other congregations in our tradition, kicks off the new congregational year with an Ingathering service. Members and friends reunite, re-covenant, and prepare for the new church year.

The dictionary lists twenty definitions of power, and that's just as a noun. Rev. Scott's power, definition number seventeen, “a particular form of mechanical or physical energy,” was restored after a week following the environmental power of Beryl. That was the afternoon before he flew out to the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) training, where developing community power was the topic. Alice Walker said, “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.” How well do we use the power we have?

Dr. Bossen regularly uses mass transit. In this sermon he reflects on how taking it can be a form of spiritual practice and what he has learned over the years from engaging in this kind of spirituality.

Rev. Dan shares the need for people of different backgrounds to be able to find unity and common goals.

Historically, Universalists, believing humans are good but flawed, railed against the Calvinists, who asserted humans are inherently sinful and depraved. Dr. King told us, “That within the best of us, there is some evil, and within the worst of us, there is some good.” Perhaps it might be more useful to focus on the choices we have. 

Our guest minister Rob Hardies recently returned from a pilgrimage to a place that some ancient peoples believed was the end of the world. Rob will reflect on what it means for each of us to confront the end of the world as we know it, and offer lessons for how we might journey with grace and faith toward the many endings (and new beginnings!) of our lives.   The Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies is Lead Minister of the First Parish in Cambridge, MA, and the Unitarian Universalist Chaplain at Harvard University. Rob is an experienced preacher, teacher, counselor and activist. From 2001 to 2020, he was Senior Minister of All Souls Church, Unitarian in Washington, DC, a large, dynamic multiracial congregation. During his ministry at All Souls, Rob helped found and lead award-winning justice organizations that advocated for marriage equality and for voting rights. Before entering the ministry, Rob worked for Habitat for Humanity, and served as a human rights worker with Indigenous communities in Guatemala. A student of Emerson, Thoreau and the New England Transcendentalists, Rob often encounters the sacred in nature, and in his spare time enjoys leading walking pilgrimages along the Camino de Santiago.  

Gene Robinson, the first openly gay priest to be consecrated a bishop in a major Christian denomination, once declared, “I think people often come to the synagogue, mosque, the church looking for God, and what we give them is religion.” Many Millennials and many LGBTQ folks identify as Spiritual But Not Religious (SBNR). During Pride Month, Rev. Scott asks, “How do we transform the perception of Religion to work for those who have been turned off – and turned away?

Rev. Teague is grateful to be back at UU Houston. This time he is pondering that we are fairly consistently celebrating the PRIDE Month events and participating in parades as radical welcoming religious communities of Unitarian Universalists. We have the appropriate rainbow attire and are led in these events by our own LGBTQQIA+ members and friends. We have hosted same sex marriages for many years prior to the legal recognition and were present to do more of them as the freedom to marry became the law of the land.   Rev. Teague believes that given our loving stance, maybe we are ready and able to do more. It is Fathers Day Sunday and he proposes we embrace the communal effort to be the providers and protectors of the children now proudly carrying rainbow flags and living in myriad queer identities. He says, "I know I could have used the parental help. I think there are youth looking for what we can uniquely offer."

The final installment of “Lives of the Spirit” found us focusing on the late Unitarian Universalist theologian Forrest Church. He taught that the meaning of life comes from knowing that we will die. Almost fifteen years after his death, we will explore what he still has to teach us.

Flower Communion Join us for a celebration of Earth's beauty and the power of community! We will fill our sanctuary full of brilliant colors for our annual flower communion.