A podcast of Sunday sermons delivered by the Rev. Dr. Beth Johnson, Fellowship members and guests at the Palomar Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Vista, California. Founded in 1959 by primarily religious humanists who sought to create a place where each individual could explore and grow in freed…
Rev. Dr. Beth Johnson and Guests
Join us as we host very special visitors: 25 Jewish, Muslim and Christian youth from Israel, Palestine and America, along with their host families from San Diego county, will be visiting our Fellowship as part of the Hands of Peace summer program. During the Service, some of the visiting youth will share their personal experiences, and we will introduce them to our UU mission of interfaith dialogue and cooperation.
Drawing on the work of psychotherapist David Richo, we will explore how we can bring mindfulness to our relationships, deepening, or “growing down”, in love.
Four Limitless Ones - Cultivating Love, Compassion, Joy, and Peace
Do people turn to religion to get in touch with their spirituality? Surveys say no. Has religion failed, or do we need to think about how it can serve us better as human beings?
This Service will explore what it would mean to extend justice to earth and all beings... no exceptions.
In our work to build the beloved community, we will look at how forgiveness and gratitude can move us forward.
We look at the practice of forgiveness. Why should we forgive? How do we forgive? Who do we forgive?
We explore the Hindu festival of Diwali, or the festival of lights. This beautiful and colorful festival carries the message that there is a light within each of us that connects to all that is.
We will engage this month’s theme, Death. Let’s explore death from the perspective of the world’s religions and the perspectives of secular views, and consider ways to engage with death to help us live fully.
What does faith mean and look like in different traditions? This Service explores the theme of faith from the perspective of the world’s religions.
Songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen wrote a song titles Love Itself, based on the teaching of his Zen teacher, Sasaki Roshi. This Service will explore the lyrics and the teaching. Wade Maurer will be joined by other musicians in performing this profound and challenging song.
This Service continues the summer theme of growing beyond our comfort zone into who we are becoming by exploring our fixed identities, words that trigger us and our ability to attribute new meaning to these words, leading to peace and empowerment.
Our UU Statements of Conscience and the Study Action Issue process help us focus on the issues we stand for, even if it means being uncomfortable and unpopular in this pluralistic society of ours. We, the members, propose the issues, study them, and take action as we live our values.
Humans experience a broad range of emotions. We often think of things in the simplest terms so we label those emotions as good or bad, positive or negative. We think we should allow ourselves to only feel “good” emotions and work to suppress the “bad” ones. But emotions evolved in humans to confer adaptive advantages... so in a sense, all emotions are useful to our continued survival. Join Lisa Shapiro, Seamus O’Connor, and Eileen Maurer over two Sundays as they take a second look at emotions through a Taoist, evolutionary perspective.
Humans experience a broad range of emotions. We often think of things in the simplest terms so we label those emotions as good or bad, positive or negative. We think we should allow ourselves to only feel “good” emotions and work to suppress the “bad” ones. But emotions evolved in humans to confer adaptive advantages... so in a sense, all emotions are useful to our continued survival. Join Lisa Shapiro, Seamus O’Connor, and Eileen Maurer over two Sundays as they take a second look at emotions through a Taoist, evolutionary perspective.
Does it matter when we lie? What about little white lies What does it mean to tell the truth? Come explore this rich theme with guest worship leader Emily Webb. Emily is the Intern Minister at First UU San Diego and a student at Starr King School for the Ministry.
May 13, 2013 was the 80th anniversary of the signing of the Humanist Manifesto. We will celebrate humanism and explore the influence of this important aspect of Unitarian Universalism.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said, “If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? Join Eileen Maurer as she explores what bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells can teach us about good and evil within ourselves and our societies.
Our sermon for Stewardship Sunday! We are very excited to be able to support our congregation in living its mission and vision for the coming year.
In celebration of Women’s Month, this Service looks at the multiple expressions of feminism today, and explore the importance of these expressions of hope.
We’ll explore what author Michelle Alexander has called “the New Jim Crow,” referring to the mass incarceration of people of color.
What it self-love? We'll look at it from different spiritual, psychological, and cultural perspectives and then relate it to the UU tenants of inter-connectedness and social justice.
Rev. Thandeka, UU minister and professor, created a workshop called We Love Beyond Belief, and All Soul’s Tulsa has Love Beyond Belief as its tag line. This Service explores why love beyond belief is such a powerful way to understand Unitarian Universalism and invite us to imagine the implications of living that out.
This Service, based on a quote by Bruce Thompson, will explore the importance of presence in community. Bruce Thompson will do a theological reflection as well.
Some thoughts about how we value and overvalue perfection; how that ruins lives, and how we might escape the terrible trap of being perfect.
Most of us know the story of Adam and Eve... God cast them out of the Garden of Eden after they ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But have we given much thought to the deeper meanings within this allegory? Join Seamus O'Connor and Eileen Maurer as they explore Genesis 3, the bible story of the Fall of Man. A local musician, Sara Petite, performs along with some of our own during this Service.
In October 2012, we celebrated Day of the Dead to honor our friends and relatives who have died, but still walk with us in our lives. Join Eileen Maurer as she explores gratitude for the chain of ancestors, all the way back to chromosomal Adam and mitochondrial Eve, the world’s common ancestors, that brought her to the place she inhabits today.
On Labor Day 2012 we look at the meaning of work in our lives and in our society.
Have you ever felt a nudge, a subtle or not so subtle call to move out of your comfort zone? Using text from Isaiah, we will explore what it means to say "yes" to what can sometimes be difficult callings. Megan Kajitani shares a theological reflection on answering her call.