sermon summaries

Stay cool, Everyone!

It was Ralph Waldo Emerson who said “… it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping, we are becoming.” This brings up the question of our “liturgical year”: What are the holidays / holy days we observe, or celebrate, and why? If we could choose, what would be the most important days or events or observances to include in our congregational life, as a way of helping to orient us to what is most important? Maybe we can choose! This is worth some discussion.

“In the places and times of my growing up, definitions of and attitudes toward gender and sexuality were highly circumscribed, biased, narrow-minded, and I realized later, oppressive. My introduction to broader views and my evolving understandings of gender, sexuality and myself have been deeply intertwined with my life in the Fellowship and within Unitarian Universalism. This is one of the reasons that I appreciate Pride Month, which at the very least reminds me to keep learning.”

With Rev. Jill McAllister

The longest day of the year is almost here. We think of it as the advent of summer — the season of sun and heat and growth. As summers here lengthen and intensify, as we feel so many changes on the earth, how shall we consider the sun – both the spark of life and the fire of destruction?

We may live with different ideas of what is real, what is true, and what is important, yet as human beings, with each other and all other living things, the fact is we live in a shared world.  As our country and other parts of our lives feel increasingly fragmented, how do our values call us back to the facts of connectedness?

As the regular church year draws to a close, let’s reflect on what it means to be in a truly multigenerational community. We will hear credos from some of the youth who recently completed Coming of Age, honor our bridging seniors as they become young adults, and make commitments to support one another at every bend in the river of life. 

On this Memorial Day Weekend Sunday, we’ll remember and honor Fellowship members who have died in the past year. We’ll remember the origins of Memorial Day.  We’ll consider life before death, and life after death, and what “two deaths” means. With Revs. Jill McAllister and Leslie Chartier.

If you would like to have someone you’ve lost named and remembered in this service, please let Rev. Jill McAllister know (minister@uucorvallis.org) by Thursday May 23. 

In many ancient descriptions of the seasons, when calling the four directions, East is associated with Spring, and Spring is the direction of morning, of beginnings, and of Air. To be alive is to know Air, is to be breathing: to be human is to be aware of being breathed. This fundamental truth is a grounding source of gratitude. Breathing is also the source of singing, which is one of the ways we let Air move through us, and one of the ways we give voice to our gratitude.

Our service this morning gives thanks for Air, for breath, and for the music which lives in us and through us. We’ll also give thanks for our choir as they share several new and old pieces of music. Come join us as we open ourselves to the movements of Air, breath and music!

New members will be welcomed during the service, and following the service all members are encouraged, needed and invited to stay to participate in our Annual Meeting, beginning at 11:45 AM.

Jill will welcome guest speaker Jen Shattuck. Jen is a UU religious educator and author who serves on the staff at both the Unitarian Church of Barnstable MA and Sanctuary Boston. She is the author of The Tending Years, a book for those caring for preschool-age children, and is also the creator of Ellery Churchmouse, a video series for UU kids and their families.

In her sermon she’ll consider “who” we bring when we come together – our many identities, experiences, hopes, needs and more. The service will include a dedication of children, and special music from Johanna Beekman. Afterward Jen will host a post-sermon discussion, which might include questions about the sermon, about her book “The Tending Years” (copies available), about neurodivergence and more.