Five years ago I, along with our QUUF choir and other musicians, shared in one of my all-time favorite Halloween services, a service that explored the presence of “the other side” through Andrew Lloyd Webber’s entrancing musical, The Phantom of the Opera. Ever since that service, I’ve wanted to revisit that opera … and this is the year to do it!
We come to QUUF to experience the freedom of belief. In this way, we set ourselves apart from fundamentalists. Yet, as different as we might think we are from fundamentalists, we share one basic assumption with them. It is an idea that we also share, ironically, with hard-core atheists opposed to all religion. What is … Continue reading The Highest Dwells Within Us
For most of my ministerial career I served an independent religiously liberal congregation. In more recent years I have served three Unitarian Universalist congregations. In this sermon I will try to pull together my thoughts on the liberal approach in religion in general and, in particular, the Unitarian Universalist approach to religion.
Click here to listen to the reading and sermon.
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Taken seriously, no theology is more challenging–morally, spiritually, or intellectually–than Universalism. Loving your enemy as yourself and respecting “otherness” seems impossible these days, perhaps even morally irresponsible. How can we ever address the problems we face with our hearts wide open? Click here to listen to the reading and sermon. Click here to read the … Continue reading The Infinite Expansion of the Heart
What on earth is going on in our country? It appears that we’re bearing witness to the heartless and hapless slow-motion deconstruction of the sacred bonds in our societal web. Fear, hatred, and suspicion seem to be the currency of some “new normal”. This sermon tamps down our inner “oh we can’t talk candidly at … Continue reading Are We Trapped in a World Going Backwards?
Forty years as a minister, ten more in preparation: what I have learned (and unlearned), where has it brought me?
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On this Sunday as we begin a new program year at QUUF and return to two services, you will have a chance to ask yourself from eight different angles, “Do I like my life?” This is also “Signup Sunday,” your first opportunity to sign-up for upcoming Adult Learning Programs (ALPs), Covenant Groups, and Affinity Groups.
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Our annual Water Service happens September 3 and honors water in all its forms. It also honors our coming-together as a QUUF community. For this tradition, you are invited to collect a small amount of water from a place that is sacred to you, near or far – a mountain creek, the bay or lagoon, a bathtub, a birdbath or garden hose – and bring a little of it to mingle with waters QUUFers have offered for many years. You are also invited to add your water with a word of what you bring to our congregation this year – hope, care, grief, help, strength, song, joy, etc.
Click here to listen to the reading and homily.
Click here to read the reading and homily.
The majority of fairy tales we know today have to do with the issues and psychology of childhood and youth and the threshold crossing into adulthood. But there are also a minority of fairy tales, some of which are being reclaimed, that deal with the developmental changes and psychological shifts related to both the middle years and the elder years. This sermon, the final one in this series of three late summer sermons on the distilled wisdom of fairy tales, will indicate what values these fairy tales bring forward for the elder years.
Presented by Rev. Bode, Nancy Mann, and the Quimper Unitarian Universalist Animal Ministry (QUUAM) – After a break of a couple of years, we are holding a “Blessing of Animals” service. This will be an interspecies/ intergenerational service held in the sanctuary, with the probability of an outdoor parade as well. Children and adults are encouraged to bring their companion animals with them to the service. Please bring only pets that are “people friendly” and “other pet” compatible. For safety, dogs should be on leashes, cats in carriers, etc. Come one, come all to this special service!
