Wildflower Church, Austin, TX

ASL Interpreter Provided Sharing the ritual of filling a communal bowl with water invites us to renew our commitment to community, this spiritual community, and its part in the interconnected web of life. This ritual reminds us of the unique gifts each of us brings, the importance of pausing to nurture and support each other, and our collective responsibility to one another and the world. All are welcome to this intergenerational service of renewal celebrated by many other Unitarian Universalist congregations at this time of year.

From many religious perspectives, Charity is considered the ultimate perfection of the human spirit. Charity is grounded in values of generosity, compassion, and love. In our contemporary culture, Charity can be viewed more skeptically - at best considered an inadequate response to human suffering or at worst a source of disempowerment and cause of social problems. This worship service will explore the idea of Charity, how it can be both problematic and a positive inspiration for living a more generous, loving life.

Life can throw many challenges and hardships our way yet the very act of living our very human life is a statement of hope. Hope seems to be an eternal human quality which can help us transcend our circumstances to find a path through difficult times. This worship service explores what sources of hope we can find as individuals and as a community to inspire us in difficult times.

A wise person once said Faith is seeing light in your heart when all your eyes see is darkness. The religious idea of Faith can be both inspirational and challenging for many of us. Faith in what is a common question – God, Love, Community, Justice, Oneself, Kindness? This Intergenerational Service will explore different religious ideas about Faith and how it can be helpful in challenging times.

Our guest speaker is Rev. Donald Brewington from Huston-Tillotson University. The sermon presentation takes a look at the story of the “Woman at the well” and how Jesus deals with her as the ‘other’, allowing her to be made whole becoming a part of the larger community. It is a lesson on how we treat the other and how we when feeling like the ‘other’ can find completeness or wholeness.

Humanity has so many immediate, terrestrial, problems that it can be difficult to remember that we are just one planet in a vast universe. This Sunday, we ask if we might have a moral obligation to explore space and we examine how science fiction helps us to ask questions to which we have not yet needed answers.

The spirit and intent of ritualized worship may at times become compromised when mechanical execution takes precedence. How do we balance the corporeal realm with the celestial so as to establish organic connectivity? The worship we engage in spills over into the world in which we live. Moments in time and space are approaches to touching the transcendent. Wildflower welcomes guest speaker Imam Islam Mossaad from the North Austin Muslim Community Center to our pulpit. He is a dynamic speaker who engages audiences and genuinely enjoys open and respectful discussion. Following the Fellowship time, about 1:00pm, Imam Mossaad has offered to host a discussion for questions about Islam.

This Sunday is International Joke day! Join us as Wildflower members Jason Crow and Michael Johnson host a humor-themed worship service, where we hope to have a few laughs and to explore some of life's most burning questions: Is anything funny anymore? What's so funny about peace love and understanding? And, how many Unitarian Universalists does it take to change a light bulb?

This multi-generational Earth Day service will tell the story of 21 youth who are currently suing the US government in the historic Juliana v. US constitutional climate lawsuit, exploring the themes of intergenerational equity and climate justice as they relate to Unitarian Universalist values and our place in the web of life.

Spiritual Growth is a primary focus here at Wildflower. One of our five congregation values refers to Spiritual Growth as transforming our authentic selves through worship and learning, work, and play, taking risks, and talking about things that matter. Our church mission is Growing Spiritually together, spreading love, justice, and joy. All of this sounds good, yet the meaning of Spiritual can be confusing and abstract to many of us. This worship service will explore the idea of Spirituality and its importance to us a Religious Community.