A search committee received this letter: ‘Dear Folks, The person most responsible for the Social Gospel movement was a progressive Baptist minister, Walter Rauschenbusch. He thought a focus on personal salvation by taking Christ as our savior was as Rebecca Parker puts it, ”selfish to be so narrowly concerned with one’s own fate when life is social…’ He interpreted the kingdom of…
Full Devotion to God Nicene Creed, still recited in some churches today, or the very similar Apostle’s Creed. Bible -1 %Creeds and Traditions-2The Holy Spirit-3World Religions-10Personal Experience-42Human Reason-45UU Principles- 48 In a National Survey outside UUism- where religious authority comes from -Sacred Scripture 82% Holy Spirit-60% In my song, ‘You, Me and the Universe,’ there is a verse that came to me…
June marks the end of school, beginning of summer, and of course, time for Commencement speakers. Garry Trudeau, one of my favorite wisdom cartoonists with his Doonesbury comic strip, and whom I suspect of being a Unitarian Universalist, spoke at one and said: ‘Commencement speeches were invented largely in the belief that outgoing college students should never be released into the world…
A pastor was talking with a hard working woman who was a devoted member, present at all services. He expressed his thanks for seeing her so attentive every Sunday. ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘It is such a rest after a long, hard week’s work to come to church, to sit down on the soft cushions, and not have to think about anything.’ 52%…
I don’t know if you realize just how patriotic we are becoming. People are actually buying American flags faster than the Chinese can make them. ‘I have a dream,’ by Travis Meyer, 3rd Grade February 12, 2003. This piece was written after classroom studies of MLK, Jr. and his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. I have a dream, that one day,…
There are some people who never let anything get them down. They are like the little boy who bragged to his father about what a great hitter he was. Finally the father said, ‘all right, show me!’ So the little boy got his softball and his bat and went out into the back yard. The father stood over to the side while…
Writer Lincoln Steffans tells the fable of a man who climbed to the top of a mountain and, standing on tiptoe, seized hold of the Truth. Satan, suspecting mischief from this upstart, had directed one of his underlings to tail him; but when the demon reported with alarm the man’s success ‘ that he had seized hold of the Truth ‘ Satan…
Unitarian Universalist minister and satirist, Christopher Raible, has written a parody of some of our hymns in a little book called, appropriately enough, “Hymns for the Cerebration of Strife”, because the old hymnal was called ?Hymns for the Celebration of Life.? This is his version of the Easter hymn, “Lo, the Earth Awakes Again”: Sing an Easter hymn in season, Alleluia!/Even…
The pastor was standing at the church door welcoming people at the Easter morning service. He shook the hand of one man and said, “Let me introduce myself. I’m the pastor of this church. We are pleased to have you visiting with us today.” The stranger said, “Now, wait a minute, pastor. I’m a member of this church, not a visitor.” The…
Yes, this is also Super Bowl Sunday, isn’t it? So Joe gets a ticket to the Superbowl from his company but when he gets there, it’s in the last row in the corner of the stadium. Halfway through the first quarter, he sees through his binoculars an empty seat ten rows off the field, right on the fifty-yard line. He decides to…