sermon summaries

To Build This Network of Trust, 1/7/2024

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Our ideals and commitments as religious people call us to live in right relations with ourselves, others and Life.  We know this at some level, yet we still have much to learn about what right relations requires of us, including skills and practices which foster right relations.  If you come for “community” these are the skills and practices that create and sustain it. Let’s begin the new year with renewed intentions. 

with Rev. Jill McAllister

Winter Earth and A New Year Coming, 12/31/2023

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Seasons  make a difference in how we live, even if only a little. Winter has its gifts and challenges, and its particular Pacific Northwest offerings. It’s good to appreciate each season in its turn. And since our calendar changes at this time of year, we’ll consider what may be in store for us in the coming year. All ages are welcome at this service which will conclude with multi-generational activities.

with Rev. Jill McAllister

“The Old Story in a New Way” 12/24/2023

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Join with Fellowship folks of all ages as we tell the story of Christmas again,  with with many of us acting it out as it’s told. We’ll sing familiar carols, light the Christmas candles, and encourage each other to be peacemakers in all the ways we can. 

5:30 PM Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

A quieter service of anthems and hymns, readings and silence, and lighting our candles into the beautiful darkness, as we deepen and renew our commitments to peacemaking. 

The special offering for Christmas Eve will support One Story At A Time, and their work with displaced persons and refugees at the American border in Mexico. 

Mid-Winter Dreams: A Yule Celebration

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All ages join together for this winter celebration of the longest night in story and song, followed by a sing-a-long of beloved songs from “Frozen”, because what better way to celebrate Winter? 

with Rev. Jill McAllister

“A Season of Generosity” 12/10/2023

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There are plenty of ads, jingles, mailings, and conversations encouraging us to give at this time of year. But how is the giving of gifts related to generosity of spirit, a generous open heart and open mind, a generous respect for the basic needs of all? Perhaps instead of focusing on giving we should be contemplating deep and broad generosity, beginning with this season.

with Rev. Jill McAllister

“In Need of Awe” 12/3/2023

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Without being aware of it, most of the time, we are deeply in need of experiences of awe to maintain our humanity. Experiences of awe are moments in which we understand how we are part of Life which is so much more than our ideas or our unique experiences. 

Rev. Jill McAllister

“Disguised as our Life” 11/26/2023

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As Unitarian Universalists, one of our primary “texts” for theological understanding is lived experience. In other words, we agree with Paula D’arcy’s insight that “God (or Meaning) comes to us disguised as our life.” From deeper questions about the history of Thanksgiving Day, and of indigenous ways of noticing how we are related, we’ll consider practices of observation that can help us search for meaning and sustain us. 

Revs. Monica Jacobson-Tennessen and Jill McAllister