What moves the heart? What occupies the mind? Where does the spirit live? We explore these questions through the work and voices of people with diverse lived experiences. Our search is for meaning, how it's made, and where it's found.
Pastor Joshua reads and comments on the second Parashat in the book of Genesis chapters 6:9 - 11:32. It includes the stories of Noah's Arc and the Tower of Babel.
Pastor Joshua starts the Torah from the beginning with Bereshit - "In the beginning." It is the book of Genesis, Chapters 1:1-6:8.
Pastor Joshua talks about the moment we are in with it's authoritarian creep as well as the new programming the Unitarian Universalist Association has introduced to "Meet the Moment."
The final Parahot before the reading of the Torah starts again are Ha'azinu (Deuteronomy 32:1-52) and V'Zot HaBerachah (Deuteronomy 33:1-34:12). They end the Pentatuch with God calling the people of Israel foolish ingrates and threatening them with punishment if they don't follow his commandments and revere him alone. God also tells Moses that he will not be entering into the chosen land with the Israelites.
Pastor Joshua talked about the Universalist Heritage of Unitarian Universalism and how it connects through social justice work into the 21st Century.
Joshua reads Vayelech (Deuteronomy 31) the penultimate speech of Moses to the Israeli's before he reads the Second Poem of Moses (Ha'azinu) which will lay out all the curses God will inflict upon the Israelites if they don't obey him.
Pastor Joshua reads Nitzavim (Deuteronomy 29:9-30:20), one of the final speeches Moses gives to the Israelites preparing them to hear the curses that will befall them if they don't follow God's commandments.
Pastor Joshua reads Deuteronomy 26:1 - 29:8 about curses if the Israelites should not submit to God's authority and obey God's commandments and the blessings if they do.
Pastor Joshua reads Deuteronomy (Devarim) 21:10 - 25:19 in which much is laid out about rules/commandments including a number of reasons for stoning people to death to rid the Israelites of evil.
Pastor Joshua talked about belonging at a church in Michigan a few years ago.
Pastor Joshua reads Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9.
Pastor Joshua reads Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17, Parashat re-eh (meaning "see").
The Torah, also known as the Hebrew Scriptures, or the five books of Moses, is read annually in Jewish synagogues from cover to cover (or the equivalent of covers for a scroll). Pastor Joshua has decided to take this on, reading the Torah literally and interpreting it through his context as a culturally Jewish atheist Unitarian Universalist. A new parashat, or chapter, is read Ever Sabbath (Shabbat). The Torah portion for this week, August 16, 2025 is Parashat Eikav, which tells of Moses addressing the Israelites and emphasizing the importance of keeping God's commandments in preparation to enter the land of Israel.
Pastor Joshua preached this sermon at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Santa Monica in 2024. He combines the UU principle of "Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part" and the UU value of love at the center.
This was one of my first professional sermons preached at Unitarian Universalist Church of East Liberty in Michigan in 2019.
This was a talk I gave in 2022 at the Chautauqua Institution as the guest of the UU Fellowship of Chautauqua. It includes a poetic reading that was part of the service before the talk.
This was an interview I did back in 2020 with Abby Stein, the transgender activist, author, speaker, and scholar.
Pastor Joshua leads worship as the minister-in-residence at the UU Fellowship of Chautauqua. The entire service is 29min 50 sec. The homily called "From Fear to Freedom" starts 9 min 54 sec. The original title was "Freedom and Other 'F' Words."What moves the heart? What occupies the mind? Where does the spirit live? We explore these questions through the work and voices of people with diverse lived experiences. Our search is for meaning, how it's made, and where it's found. This is Joshua Lewis Berg. Thank you for joining me on Heart, Mind, Spirit | Exploration.
In a series of three sermons, I reimagined Reinhold Niebuhr's Serenity Prayer.The prayer is usually recited as "God, give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."Listen to a Jewish Humanist Unitarian Universalist consider these thoughts as I come up with my own interpretation I call the Fortitude Prayer.What moves the heart? What occupies the mind? Where does the spirit live? We explore these questions through the work and voices of people with diverse lived experiences. Our search is for meaning, how it's made, and where it's found. This is Joshua Lewis Berg. Thank you for joining me on Heart, Mind, Spirit | Exploration.
My colleague and fellow student Ebony C. Peace and I are both students at Meadville Lombard Unitarian Universalist Theological School. This podcast strays a bit from the usual HMS | Exploration format because it was recorded as the final project for our class, Spirituality and Social Justice Activism in African American Traditions taught by Dr. Pamela Lightsey. Our assignment was to create a podcast that discusses a current human rights crisis for Black people in America. We chose The right to democracy.
A discussion about how people of privilege can do ally work and bear witness to injustice.
In my capacity as intern minister at Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Southfield, Michigan, I spoke on Dr. Ibram X. Kendi's book, How to Be an Antiracist.
Interview with Abby Chava Stein, author of Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman
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