River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation

Walt Whitman mused that it is the trees which “know the amplitude of time.” At the end of this month when our congregations reflect on what it means to hold history, we'll follow the old growth trees into deeper time than our own short lives, paying homage to what Ursula K. Le Guin has called the “tall fraternal fire of life as strong now as in the seedling two centuries ago.” 

As we continue to hold our history, we move into our personal histories. The stories of the places we have lived, learned, and loved, are foundational to who we are and who we are becoming, still. During this service we'll dig into the roots of Rev. Amanda's hometown, which also happens to be the birthplace of the Atomic Bomb and home to the National Security Complex. How do we hold the complex histories of which we are a part? How can we shape the present and affect the future?

As we continue our exploration of Holding History, we dive into how we hold the history of this area and how we live into the legacy. Joined by our friends from Macedonia Baptist Church, we will take a deep dive into the struggle of protecting what is sacred, the trauma of land theft, and how we can show up by leveraging our resources. How can we as people of faith and conscious live into this moment?

In Hinduism, there is the essential concept of ashramas, or stages of life. Each stage carries different kinds of skill, knowledge, and wisdom, and each has the potential to find us stuck, unable to proceed to something new. How can we shake ourselves loose from one self so that we can find the courage to embrace the next stage?

We dream of imaginary monsters because we have real fears. Sometimes we make monsters seem cool and mysterious because we ourselves are enchanted by the edges between life and death. This sermon will use history and legend to tell the story of one such beautiful monster. Inspired by River Roaders Suzyn Smith-Webb and Jana Kirkman, this one will introduce you to the original brooding romantic vampire you just might love to hate.

As we explore what it means to cultivate relationship, we tap into what it means to nurture our relationship to our spirituality. As Unitarian Universalists, we are pluralistic in nature, and it's often easy to deprioritize our spiritual connection – especially for those of us who do not identify as spiritual. But how can tapping into our spirituality connect us to one another, to our shared faith, and even to ourselves? How can we cultivate that hidden wholeness within each of us? 

Drawing from the insights of botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Kirsten will explore the concept of “radical gratitude” as it relates to RRUUC's efforts to engage with the history of our land in order to build an ever more expansive definition of Beloved Community going forward. 

There is an idea in the Book of Genesis that all the earth is planted like a garden – tended by the holy so that all things were “very good.” How is that garden of first-beginnings planted not in isolation, but in a network of truly intertwined relationships?

In a society that rushes us through the “bad” to get to the “good,” how do we make space for what is hard? How do we – as author and podcaster Glennon Doyle puts it – “Help each other carry the hard so we can all live a little bit lighter and braver, more free and less alone”?

What parts of us persist over time? What has changed in a way that might never quite come back, and what changes do we welcome with our whole selves? There is the before and after in our lives – and then there is the always – what sustains and persists through it all.

What is the answer we want to the biggest questions?  When do we find power in “yes,” in “no,” and perhaps even in “maybe?” - especially in these ever-changing times.

Here we are at the end of a full-out marathon. In a spiritual and emotional sense, so many of us have been running full-out since the pandemic began – but just when we thought we were at the finish line – a whole second marathon begins. Can we walk the second marathon, lovingly, carefully – together?

How do ritual and habit serve to build resilience in our spiritual lives? How can we cultivate habits that expand our hearts and keep us going even in hard times?

Each summer, Rev. Nancy promises a “big science sermon,” and this one has gone to a whole new dimension. A little bit science, a little bit history, we'll look at whether first encounters across the barriers of difference could be anything other than the unmitigated disaster stories history often shows them to be.

What does it mean to be good? To do good? What does it mean to choose something “for good” or on behalf of “the greater good?” This service will playfully and philosophically explore goodness itself - as an aspect of our individual and communal identities.

As we put in the work to bring about the Beloved Community, we take pause to explore what Freedom, Justice, and Liberty really mean in our daily lives and the lives of those around us. How do we create the world we long for and cultivate the love that's living in our hearts? What does it mean to really be free?

In sacred Hindu scriptures, did you know that all things are created through the playtime of the gods? Not the intention or the planning or the due diligence – but the sheer ebullient playtime of the holy. What lessons can we take from this story? From the ways in which play creates something new, just as much as planning ever could – and maybe more. We'll also recognize our annual Senior Bridging ceremony today!

We’ll be joined by our awesome Affiliated Community minister this week for a shared reflection on the theology and wisdom of that saint of our time - Dolly Parton herself. With that can-do Dolly spirit and some beautiful music, we’ll consider what the troubadour has to teach us.

How do the stories we tell shape the future? Is it possible that our stories can be portals or gateways into some new reality we haven’t yet created? Is a story a doorway between one version of the world and the next, and how are we going to choose the stories we tell about this time in our lives and in history?

Human beings are storytelling creatures, but sometimes our stories have a way of getting too simple. Sometimes we let the conventional telling of a story limit our perceptions of what’s possible. Can we tell stories about ourselves and our world that are complex, honest and compelling at the same time?

With poetry and reflection, this service will point you toward actions you can take this Earth Day. How can we be patient when the work asks for it while also embracing the urgency of this epoch-changing climate crisis?

This service will serve as a time honor and remember all that we have lost in the last year.  It will be a time to grieve,  to give praise, and to begin becoming something new as we emerge into the Spring and beyond.  

This Easter Sunday, we’ll tell the story of a man who died long ago, only to become a whole new thing on the other side of the story. What are the conditions necessary for anything to become a whole new thing? For the re-making that comes when we are un-done and put back together again? And how do we express that in art and creativity?

As our world is breaking open with new possibilities of defining ourselves and understanding one another, we often find barriers to becoming who we truly are. Sometimes it seems as though society has decided for us who we are supposed to be, often giving us very little options for authentic growth. How can we transcend the binaries that so rigidly define who we are in this world? How can we lean into one another, our faith, and our community as we journey these unknown paths of self discovery and transformation?

You know those days – those days that it all just doesn’t add up. Did you know you’re not alone? How do we come back to our highest commitments even in the middle of all that?

In this service, Rev. Nancy will be one among a diverse group of clergy colleagues across the country reflecting on the ways we have found hope in our communities during this year of online community. From the desert of the US southern border, to Louisiana New England and right here in our nation’s capital, we’ll reflect on the meaning we’ve found and the meaning we’ve made in one year (kind of) apart.

This Sunday we begin our new monthly spiritual theme of commitment using a story about temptation and renewal from the Christian scriptures. What is it that tempts you away from your commitments? Maybe not a little devil on your shoulder, but perhaps a deep exhaustion in your heart? How can we re-commit to what matters even when we are tempted to move right on by?

This Sunday we’ll lift up all the ways in which each of us as individuals and as a congregation are meeting the moment each and every day. As we kick off our stewardship campaign, we’ll ponder what it is that community means to us, especially in times like this.

We are a congregation of action and service – we show up for our community and the wider world in a myriad of ways, but how do we show up for one another? As we work to bring the Beloved Community to the wider world, we pause to explore what Beloved Community looks like right here, among us. What is at the heart of Unitarian Universalism and at River Road? How do we steward a “Community of Communities”?

Together with Unitarian Universalists around the country, we’ll join in a shared national UU worship that celebrates our faith’s commitment to love and justice. Join us to hear many voices preaching and singing our shared values!

In this service, we’ll look at the history of the term “beloved community,” tracing it through Unitarian history, Martin Luther King and beyond. We’ll also ask what it feels like to truly be beloved and what we can do to create that feeling for others.

Imagination exists on many different planes in our lives – from the abstract to the practical. How can the shift from imagination to action be transformative in our lives and the world? How has this transformation shaped our community over the last 11 months? How can we tap into the creative spirit of imagination to continue to transform and shape one another for the journey to come?

Has anyone ever said, “I can’t imagine,” in response to the hardest stories you have to tell? Ever wonder if they really mean that – that they can’t? Or maybe they don’t want to? This week we’ll explore the ways in which imagination serves as a gateway to empathy.

Martin Luther King said that he carried a copy of Howard Thurman’s 1949 book, “Jesus and the Disinherited” with him throughout his entire ministry for justice and equity. What does it mean for a disinherited people to be the primary concern of faith? Who is disinherited in every age – what does it take to upend the pattern?

Rev. Nancy will reflect on the events of this week, including the fact that some continue to claim this violence and oppression “is not who we are.” Who are we, then? And how willing are we to allow our imaginations to grasp the real answers to that question?

During this candlelight Christmas Eve service, we invite you to bring a candle to a cozy spot at home and pull up a chair for the warmth of the season, expressed in both traditional and surprising ways.

This year’s solstice finds us each in a different place than we would’ve imagined last year. But while some things change, some things still stay the same. The solstice is a time for deep reflection and presence – a time to pay attention to what is and what could be as we move into this darkest time. Join us and our special guest musician, Lea Morris, for this Live Zoom service to reflect, set intentions, and celebrate the darkness.

This year’s program will feature two new virtual choir pieces, one with the choirs of the Potomac Partnership (River Road, Cedar Lane, and Fairfax UU congregations), and one with the River Road Choir and strings, performing an arrangement of Dona Nobis Pacem. We will also have lots of live music coming straight from 6301 River Road, featuring duets of all kinds: vocal, guitar and two-piano. Join us and let your heart be filled with music and poetry of the season.

For centuries, mystics and teachers have withdrawn into quiet places of the heart to make room for something deeper to present itself. Does your inner monologue seem a little shouty these days? Maybe a little busy? Could the holiday season bring a time of stillness and silence where all that chatter often is?

In the strange disconnection of the holidays of 2020, many are seeking and grasping for more faith, more hope, and more love. Where has it gone? Is it still in our reach? Is it still inside us? Join Rev. Christin Green and Dr. Clif Hardin to explore who we can be in these times.

This year has been a series of things falling apart – our routines, our social lives, our sense of security, but in the midst of the breakdown, we’re finding hope and beauty. Could we be finding ourselves in the thick of it all? When things fall apart, what complicated gifts are left for us to receive?

Sikh activist and author Valerie Kaur has written, “On the other side of rage awaits the ability to wonder again at the spinning world.”  What healing lies on the other side of rage in your life? What healing can only come after feeling that rage? What comes next – beyond the burning of what one feels in the most frightening moment?

The preamble to the US Constitution states that our form of governance exists in part for the formation of “a more perfect union.” More perfect, of course, doesn’t mean perfect. It means something closer to perfect, something that is still not fully realized. The American experiment remains unrealized, but this moment in history invites us to push forward together.

In this service, we’ll feature several movements from Clif Hardin’s Requiem, professionally recorded live in the sanctuary before the pandemic and debuted for this online format. Rev. Nancy will preach about the concrete and amorphous grief of this time in our lives. We’ll also prepare for the liturgy of grief and letting go that we’ll share safely in person on the grounds during the beginning of November. Our extend our offering will be for River Road’s Partner Church communities.

Unitarian Universalism’s 3rd Principle affirms and promotes a mature and engaged spirituality. What does it mean to grow spiritually? What does a mature spirituality look like? 

Rev Nancy McDonald Ladd with Beth Irikura and Chris McCann. Join our religious education team and Rev. Nancy for an exploration of the rituals and practices that can ground our lives even in tumultuous times.  What practices of peace do you make space for in your life?  In the life of your family?

This month’s worship theme is renewal. Rev. Nancy looks at what drains us of our power and capacity in this anxious age and what spiritual and emotional tools we can use to open ourselves up to renewal.

Rev. Nancy McDonald Ladd & Rev. Amanda Weatherspoon. Join us as we share our water communion and reflect on the power of a living tradition and the gifts of an ever-changing collective call.  These days, we’re often hearing the phrase “New Normal” in regards to the many ways our lives are shifting and changing. While some of us embrace the new normal, others of us may struggle with the rapid changes life has to offer. For many of us, it’s a “both/and”. As we move into this new and strange congregational year, what can we learn from our faith and from one another as we swim in this Living Water? What can we learn from our Living Tradition?   We’ll also debut a beautiful new video from our children’s choirs, so this is a Sunday not to miss. Welcome to the new congregational year! 

This lay-led service calls upon us to consider, as Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, that climate change and its consequences are a moral challenge.  Evelyn Jacob, Kathryn Gargurevich, and Nikia Popow, lead the service.  Martin Dieu, Robin Galbraith, Prem Grover, and Sophie Hutter provide personal reflections. This moral challenge invokes our 2nd principle (justice, equity, and compassion in human relations) and 7th principle (respect for the interdependent web of existence of which we are a part).  Go here for a list of things you can do to help stop climate change.