UCDSM Sermons

Rev. Mark Stringer October 23, 2016Listen to the Audio (MP3) Watch the Video (YouTube link) Download the Text (PDF)Celebrant Reflection: "To be a Family Man" by Garrett McGuireListen to the Audio (MP3) Watch the Video (YouTube link) Download the Text (PDF)

Rev. Erin Gingrich October 16, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3)One in three women and one in four men are sexually violated at some point in their lives, with the majority of transgressions occurring before the age of 12. This means we have either experienced this ourselves or know someone who has.

Rev. Mary Katherine MornOctober 9, 2016Watch the Video (YouTube link)Listen to the Audio (MP3)Mark Morrison-Reed reminds us that the “central task of religion is to unveil the bonds that bind each to all.” The unveiling is, in and of itself, a healing—of disconnection, loneliness, alienation. We will explore the practice of unveiling these bonds in our shared life and our individual spiritual practice.

Rev. Mark Stringer October 2, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) Download the Text (PDF) Celebrant Reflection by Lyra Halsten Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3)To download the text, click the PDF link above

Rev. Rob Eller-Isaacs, Co-Minister of Unity Church-Unitarian in Saint Paul, MinnesotaSeptember 25, 2016Watch the Video (YouTube link)Listen to the Audio (MP3)Rather than asking that you be bound to a set of specific beliefs, Unitarian Universalism invites you “to dare to love God without mediator or veil.”  Our community invites you into a way of being religious that centers on the covenantal question; what shall we promise each other and in what interest? 

Rev. Mark StringerSeptember 18, 2016Watch the Video (YouTube link)Listen to the Audio (MP3)While we don’t necessarily share a common creed as Unitarian Universalists, we do share a common faith--a faith in covenant.  We’ll consider together the challenges and benefits of such a faith and why it matters.

Rev. Mark Stringer September 11, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) It has been suggested that the question “Who am I?” will inevitably lead to a deeper question: “Whose am I?”  To whom do you belong?  To whom are you accountable?

Rev. Mark StringerSeptember 4, 2016Watch the Video (YouTube link)Listen to the Audio (MP3)

Rev. Brian Eslinger, Community MinisterAugust 28, 2016Watch the Video (YouTube link)Listen to the Audio (MP3)

Rev. Elaine Aron Tenbrink, Minister of Membership and Adult Ministries at First Universalist Church of MinneapolisAugust 21, 2016Watch the Video (YouTube link)Listen to the Audio (MP3)The poet Wendell Berry reminds us that the spiritual journey is not a journey of miles, but the journey of one inch "by which we arrive at the ground at our feet, and learn to be at home." What would it look like to resist the cultural scripts and guidelines that are fed to us and learn to be at home in o...

Rev. Mark StringerAugust 14, 2016Watch the Video (YouTube link)Listen to the Audio (MP3)Download the Text (PDF)Mark returns to the pulpit following his sabbatical with a meditation on what it means to be human as the world seems to be going awry.

Rev. Jay Wolin, UU Congregation of the Quad Cities in Davenport, IAJuly 31, 2016Watch the Video (YouTube link)Listen to the Audio (MP3)In Douglas Adams book the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe and Everything" is 42. In multiple interviews, Adams has said it was a joke, and he just made up the number.

Rev. Kent McKusick, UU Fellowship of AmesJuly 24, 2016Watch the Video (YouTube link)Listen to the Audio (MP3)Whenever I return to my home state of Maine, I remember tall tales and folk stories my grandfather told, some of them even true! His stories made me laugh, and many were passed from generation to generation.

Rev. Steven Protzman, UU Society of Iowa City July 17, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) It is said that we often listen to reply rather than understand.  What does it mean to truly listen and how can we cultivate the spiritual practice of listening?

Rev. Erin GingrichJuly 10, 2016Watch the Video (YouTube link)Listen to the Audio (MP3)Rev. Erin reflects on some of the ideas and books she is engaging during her study leave.

Maria Filippone, D.O., memberJune 26, 2016Watch the Video (YouTube link)Listen to the Audio (MP3)Member Maria Filippone shares her experiences from a medical delegation trip to Gaza this past January. Hear the stories she was lucky to bear witness to and get a glimpse into the lives of the beautiful forgotten people of Gaza. Your heart will burst wide open.

Jon Royal, member June 19, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) Download the Text (PDF) As we celebrate Father's Day, Jon explores and reflects on the role and challenges of modern fatherhood. In today's world fatherhood can be reduced to the role of sperm donor or elevated to the level of primary care giver; regardless it is critical in all of our development.

Rev. Linda Barnes & Rev. Erin GingrichJune 5, 2016Watch the Video (YouTube link)2016-6-5 Question Box Service.mp3

Rev. Linda Barnes May 29, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) Download the Text (PDF) We all struggle to know ourselves honestly and fully. Join Rev.

Rev. Erin Gingrich May 15, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) UU minister Jaco ten Hove writes, "I may lift up and articulate well the principle of interdependence, but then live out of an exaggerated independence. To the extent that any of us are able to ask for help, we invite that life-giving spirit to join us on our path when the going gets rough.” How might we lean into our beliefs through our actions?

Rev. Erin Gingrich May 8, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) In preparation of becoming parents, Rev. Erin and her husband have been listening to a series of TED talks called "Advice to Help You Be a Great Parent”.

Rev. Karen Hering, consulting literary minister, Unity Church-Unitarian (St Paul, MN) May 1, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) Improv performances are based on a simple formula of saying “yes” to whatever is given — a word, a scenario, an action — and adding to it to create a rich story of shared authorship. Far from the panacea of positive thinking, this challenging practice can be useful when living through significant change, especially in community.

Rev. Erin Gingrich April 24, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) People often say it is their desire for community rather than God that brings them to First Unitarian. What do we find in community that is of ultimate concern and meaning?

Rev. Linda Barnes April 17, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) A great forgetting has occurred. We have forgotten that to which we belong, of what we are made, and how we are connected to all of creation.

Rev. Erin Gingrich April 10, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) Just Mercy, the UUA’s suggested all read book by Bryan Stevenson, details a lawyer’s extraordinary efforts to serve those unjustly condemned to life without parole or death. He strives for just mercy, as opposed to mercy, defining it as the kind of mercy that "has the power to heal the psychic harm and injuries that lead to aggression and violence, abuse of power and mass incarceration.” How might we culti...

Harvey Harrison, member April 3, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) When Harvey Harrison retired from his law practice in 2011, he did not anticipate becoming an activist on issues of racial justice. Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow and the NAACP booklet, Born Suspect changed all of that. Becoming involved in the movement to end, once and for all, the continuing racial injustice in our country has been a privilege, an honor and a transformative experience

Rev. Erin Gingrich March 27, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) Download the Text (PDF) Easter offers us the spiritual themes of letting go into death so that we can be reborn through resurrection. What liberation might we experience in letting go and making space for something new in us to take form?

Rev. Dr. Brian Eslinger March 20, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) Easter offers us the spiritual themes of letting go into death so that we can be reborn through resurrection.

Jordinn Nelson Long March 13, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube) Listen to the Audio (MP3) In reading this, you are likely contemplating a deeply subversive action: coming to church. How do the small spaces we create in our weeks make room for something larger in our lives? What might we kindle together on Sunday morning, and how will those sparks bring light to the larger world?

Rev. Dr. Larry Peers February 28, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) “Only connect!

Celebrant Reflection - Chris February 21, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) Rev. Erin Gingrich February 21, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) We learn from life's difficulties and also life's joys. As we explore being a people of desire, let us recall the times when it was what we desired, or the light, as the poet Rumi writes, that split us open and expanded our hearts for the better.

Rev. Mark Stringer February 14, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen the to the Audio (MP3) In all relationships, romantic and otherwise, there tend to be differences in desire between the partners. Depending on the topic at hand, one partner may be considered “high desire” and the other partner, comparatively speaking, “low desire”.

Rev. Erin Gingrich January 31, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) We often face resistance when changing the status quo at work, school or in our relationships. What fortitude and spiritual centering is needed to persist in the face of resistance?

Rev. Kent McKusick, UU Fellowship of Ames January 24, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) The Rev. Dr.

Rev. Mark Stringer January 17, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) In the midst of challenging times when we can too often respond with emotional reactivity rather than with clear thinking, what are some ways that we can keep our heads on straight and our hearts engaged?

January 10, 2016 Reflection by Karen Lauer: Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) Banner Dedication, Rev. Stringer's Meditation & Rev. Gingrich's Reflection: Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) Download the Text of Rev.

Rev. Mark Stringer January 3, 2016 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) Welcome the new year with your church family at this annual “Crossing the Threshold” service. Meaningful fun and ritual for all ages.

Rev. Mark Stringer December 24, 2015 Christmas Eve Homily Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3)

Rev. Erin Gingrich December 20, 2015 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) Nature's dark season reminds us of the nourishment of being fallow. This Solstice, let us slow down to embrace the gifts and nourishment of the dark, even as we celebrate the returning of the light.

the almost Rev. Linda Barnes December 13, 2015 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3)

Rev. Mark Stringer December 6, 2015 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) Mark shares with us his personal journey with the mystery and mythology of Santa Claus. He hasn’t always believed.

Rev. Mark Stringer November 29, 2015 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) At our October 25 services, the congregation voted for a sermon they would like to hear Mark deliver again. “Arriving Empty Handed”—originally presented in 2014—was the winner.

Laura Berardi November 15, 2015 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3)

Rev. Mark Stringer November 15, 2015 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) For this annual service that grapples with a concept from Murray Bowen’s Family Systems theory, Mark considers how we are bequeathed at least some of the emotional process and levels of differentiation of our ancestors and how we might begin to claim our own differentiation (or capacity to be a separate self) in the current families of our lives.

Rev. Dr. Mark Morrison-Reed November 8, 2015 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) In March 1965, when the call came to join the African-American citizens of Selma, UUs responded.

Rev. Mark Stringer November 1, 2015 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) By considering his own indoctrination into his “white” racial identity, Mark will invite us to reflect upon how we have been racialized—cast into stories of racial identity that we did not choose but that impact our lives nonetheless.

Rev. Mark Stringer October 25, 2015 Listen to the Audio (MP3) A Festival of Remembrance Service: For this, our traditional end-of-October service of remembrance to honor those who have died and to celebrate the continuity of life, we will together create an altar adorned with items that we think would be beautiful to our departed loved ones. All who attend are encouraged to bring photos, mementos, special items, etc.

Rev. Erin Gingrich October 18, 2015 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) Celebrant Reflection Video (YouTube link) Celebrant Reflection Audio (MP3) Let's gather at the intersection and consider how the two relate in our lives and in social justice work, especially with regards to our church posting a Black Lives Matters banner.

Rev. Dr. Jennifer Harvey October 11, 2015 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) When we become aware of injustices in our community and world, we can become fiercely and tenaciously committed to making significant social change – but making a difference also requires a long-term commitment toward that change.

Rev. Mark Stringer October 4, 2015 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen to the Audio (MP3) Download the Text (PDF) The September Soul Matters packet included a poem with the lines: “I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul.” These lines have continued to stir in Mark’s mind and heart, especially as we enter a month of considering what it means to be a people of letting go. What might you need to ...

Rev. Michael Dowd September 27, 2015 Watch the Video (YouTube link) Listen the the Audio (MP3) Human cultures have always looked to collective intelligence for discerning facts and values. Is religion up to the task of integrating the best sources of evidence available today?