Below you'll find a selection of sermons by our Senior Minister, Rev. Jan Nielsen, and our Acting Associate Minister, Rev. Sarah Person.
"Where is Home?: A Sermon for Advent 2011" by Jan K. Nielsen - December 11, 2011
"Resilience as a Way of Life" by Jan K. Nielsen - October 23, 2011
I have come to understand that resilience is not a quality or a trait we either have or we don’t; resilience, I believe, is a process, a way of navigating the twists and turns in life’s road. Just as it can help to think of faith, not as a noun, as Buckminster Fuller once said, but instead as a verb, we can think also of resilience, like faith, not as something we have but as something we do.
"God's Energy" by Rev. Jan K. Nielsen - October 16, 2011
Both as a people and as individuals, we struggle and worry and over money, in large part, because we don’t have a healthy understanding of what money is and is not. Money is not dirty, nor is it God. Money is sacred, a means of sustaining life.
"Awe and Gratitude" by Megan Lloyd Jointer - October 9, 2011
What do you hold on to that helps you to make sense of the reality that death and life are both our destiny? That joy and hope still do exist in the face of suffering? In that space where the shimmering reality of our aliveness and the inevitability of our impermanence—become intertwined, what gives you comfort?
"To Mill What Mercy We Can Muster from the Muddle of Our Hearts: A Sermon for the High Holy Days" by Rev. Jan K. Nielsen - October 2, 2011
None of us can deny, though, that all of us humans will make mistakes and that at some point in our lives, if not every day, all of us will stand in need of forgiveness. Whatever the tradition or its religious language, it is part of the human journey to come to terms with our deep need to make amends and begin again.
"Have You Ever Found God In Church?" by Rev. Jan K. Nielsen - September 18, 2011
Here in this Universalist Church, no one will tell you what to think or how to believe -- for we believe in spiritual freedom. Your doubts are welcome here right along with the rest of you. Here in this Universalist Church, you don’t have to pretend to be anybody other than yourself.
"Love Is Why We Are Here: A Reflection for Homecoming Sunday 2011" by Rev. Jan K. Nielsen - September 11, 2011
Love is why we are here. It’s been said that every preacher has only about seven sermons inside and most of you know this is one of mine. I’ve said this at weddings and bedsides and at gravesides: love is why we are here. I believe this with all my being: that we are here together in this time and in this place to learn to love and to learn to be loved.
"Lie Back: Some Thoughts on Resilience" by Rev. Jan K. Nielsen - June 12, 2011
With all that’s going on in our lives and in our world, we need to know how we can best survive and, despite our challenges, thrive. What does it mean to live with resilience? From where do we get resilience? How can we become more resilient?
"When Heaven's Windows Are Opened Wide: A Sermon for Easter Sunday 2011" by Rev. Jan K. Nielsen - April 24, 2011
The truth of the Easter story is that even during the darkest times, even during those “Good Fridays” of our lives, when all hope seems lost and it seems things can get any harder, new hope, new life can be born. Neither oppression nor destruction, neither darkness nor death has the final word.
"This Tenderly Unfolding Moment: A Sermon For Palm Sunday 2011" by Rev. Jan K. Nielsen - April 17, 2011
We know there is something more, something beyond the stress and strain our days can sometimes bring. You are more than your grades, your job reviews, your street address, your bank account or your SAT scores. You are more than flesh and bone and blood, though God knows, your body is sacred, a temple of the Spirit. You are a child of God, a soul on a journey and whatever the season of your soul on this Palm Sunday, you are not alone.
"Babel Fell" by Rev. Sarah K. Person - March 13, 2011
Today is a day to stop the universe and ask why. In our little corner of the universe, why do we steadily maintain differences in class, race, gender, education and culture when we gather together, even though doing so goes against our espoused values?
"One Heart Out of Many" by Rev. Sarah K. Person - February 13, 2011
I know because you are here, in a place that captures your good intentions, your anguish, your intellect, your doubt and your joy. When we are here together, when we speak and listen and sing and break bread and act justly together, we are something more.
"Winter Meditation" by Rev. Sarah K. Person - February 6, 2011
Just as reason alone does not help us come to terms with life, it does not help us make the fact of winter bearable. We need something else. We need to see what winter has to teach us; and we need to express ourselves in response.
"Lessons from Pearlington" by Rev. Sarah K. Person - January 16, 2011
Faith can never get to us and work its miracle upon us unless we open ourselves to what we really commit knowingly or unknowingly upon the world by virtue of who we are. Faith can never work its miracle upon us unless we encompass a greater scope of action to repair the world.
"The Everlasting Arms" by Rev. Jan K. Nielsen - January 9, 2011
Prayers don’t always include words. Some of us may be like the grandmother in Jonathan Rosen’s story, not all that comfortable with public prayer, whether that means us saying words out loud ourselves or having someone else say a prayer for us. The words we pray, either silently our out loud, can be both profound and powerful.
"Lifelines: A Reflection for Christmas Sunday 2010" by Rev. Jan K. Nielsen - December 19, 2010
So much of what we sometimes do and a lot of worry about at this time of year amounts to shouting a zip code when we need to be finding our rip cords, our lifelines. Maybe, like me, you sometimes worry about the gifts you give. Will my gift be right? Will it be enough? How can this humble gift I found at Target or Big Lots, as much as I like it, show another my love?
"Joy: A Sermon for the Third Sunday of Advent 2010" by Rev. Jan K. Nielsen - December 12, 2010
Joy awaits us in this life and joy was meant to be shared. In these days of Advent, we await the coming of Christmas when we will celebrate the birth of Jesus. Jesus taught that joy should be shared. Jesus taught that no one should go without, or be left out, or go hungry. Jesus taught that all should know the sweetness of life.
"What We Need Is Here" by Rev. Jan K. Nielsen - November 21, 2010
Each year, in good times and in harder times, Thanksgiving offers us the chance to take a good look around us – to look at ourselves and our lives and the people at our side. Some years, worries and wants may come easier to our lips than words of love and words of thanks.
"A Reflection for the Season of All Souls 2010" by Rev. Jan K. Nielsen - November 7, 2010
Whether we’ve lost a loved one yesterday or years ago, our souls need to remember. It’s right to grieve and to mourn; remembering our dead is a part of what it means to be human. Even so, neither our culture nor the pace of modern life allows us the time or the space to grieve. Loss can’t be mourned fully and completely in the two weeks that follow the funeral or even in the first year after someone dies. No matter how long it’s been since your loved one died, let your memories come.
"Change" by Rev. Jan K. Nielsen - October 24, 2010
Our human journey gives us the chance to learn key lessons of the spiritual life: how to love and how to be loved, how to be kind even when life is not, how to take care of another. We have a choice: we can focus only on ourselves or we can learn love and kindness and care. We learn best by doing.
"Hold Onto This Faith" by Rev. Jan K. Nielsen - October 17, 2010
I share our story today as invitation. I invite you to remember your own stories. How has our way of faith shaped your life? When have you most valued your freedom to question, your freedom to explore? When have you most valued your freedom to allow your conscience and your soul guide your beliefs?
"God Depends on Us: A Reflection for World Communion Sunday" by Rev. Jan K. Nielsen - October 3, 2010
Sometimes we can try to compartmentalize, to look past our griefs, both individual and collective. We can try to keep going, to show the world a brave and stoic face, but our bodies know the griefs we carry. And sometimes, the poet would say to us, we need to let our bodies grieve, to shake with grief.
"Hold Onto This Beauty: A Reflection for Homecoming Sunday 2010" by Rev. Jan K. Nielsen - September 12, 2010
We sometimes expect way too much of ourselves and one another. I wonder how many marriages, friendships, and families might be strengthened with a little more patience and humor, forgiveness and good will. The truth is undeniable: we are all human, we are all in this together, and we need one another.
"Life Depends, Every Day, on What Outlasts You" -- A GPS for Our Time by Rev. Jan K. Nielsen - June 13, 2010
We humans yearn for that “heartprick of longitude and latitude to home in on” but we sometimes lose our way in all that is fleeting and ephemeral in this world –position, status, numbers, possessions. We can delude ourselves into believing that these things will bring us happiness or help us make meaning of our lives, but they can’t, and don’t.
"A Faith for Our Time" by Rev. Jan K. Nielsen - May 7, 2010
Our world over these past weeks has been hit hard with news of the devastating earthquakes that have rocked both Haiti and Chile. We’ve watched with heavy hearts the stories of destruction, death and suffering. The quakes are an uncomfortable, yet undeniable reminder of our human fragility and vulnerability. Disasters of this magnitude cause us to ask, either out loud or in silence, “Why?” Why do bad things happen? And when they do, what does this say about the nature of God? Is there a God? And if there is a God, and if this God has any power at all, how could God allow such suffering?
What is Your Easter Story? A Sermon for Easter Sunday by Rev. Jan K. Nielsen - April 4, 2010
We all carry inside our souls the beginnings of new life, Jesus taught. All of us, he said, can turn toward the good, transform from the old into the new, and find ourselves re-born into new life. These beginnings of new life are what the poet calls “remnants of resurrection.” A “remnant of resurrection” may not seem like much. It might be only a scrap, or a fragment of hope; it might be only a hint, a whisper of possibility -- maybe a single encouraging word, or only a line of music – but that can be enough, says the poet, to allow us to bloom, to blossom into new life.
When Have You Wept? A Sermon for Palm Sunday 2010 by Rev. Jan Nielsen - March 28, 2010
Life is too precious to let it go by unlived. Live life with hope and courage. Live life with passion and integrity, sometimes with tears, and always with love.
Good News Is Not No News by Rev. Sarah Person - January 17, 2010
We have said we want to grow in diversity. We have said we want to reach out to others. We have said we want to embrace the new. To do this, we have to learn what we take for granted, what we need to give away and what we need to hold on to, what we need to compensate for, and what will make it all worthwhile.
We Begin with Kindness by Rev. Jan Nielsen - January 10, 2010
There are different ways to come back to our best selves, different words we can use to signal our souls that it’s time to redirect both our words and our actions toward kindness. The practice of kindness is at the heart of the Golden Rule, an ideal common to all of the major religions of our world: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” As a mother, I’ve said it another way to our children: “Treat other people the way you would want to be treated.” This is what Jesus meant when he taught, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” Here we say together each week those final words of our prayer for one another: “Honor All Beings.”
Standing Up to the Odds by Rev. Sarah K. Person - December 13, 2009
Hanukkah presents us with two wonderful but distinct messages: first that we must be aware of and wonder at the God-given miracles of the world; and second that we must respond to the wonder in the form of our mindfulness and obligations to others. One message is passive, the other is active. We light the candle and we are bearers of the light, not just observers. We are bearers of the light for those who live in darkness and we have an obligation to them.
"You Give, and You are Given": A Reflection for Thanksgiving Sunday by Rev. Jan Nielsen - November 22, 2009
Thanksgiving is a time to remember that all of us are here, together, on life’s journey, not just to receive life’s blessings, but also to give something away.
Where Are They Now? A Sermon for All Souls Day by Rev. Jan Nielsen - November 1, 2009
All of us, in this life, will lose someone we love. None of us can live free of grief and loss. So taught the Buddha to the grieving mother who went door to door unable to find any home untouched by loss. Both to love and then, when a beloved dies, to grieve, are part of what it means to be human. We are in the season of All Souls, that time when we, like generations of humankind gone before us, remember and honor our dead.
The Greatest Gift by Rev. Jan Nielsen - October 3, 2009
Life does offer us abiding, eternal truths to guide the life of the soul. We won’t find either those truths or our God, though, by staying in our heads and trying to think our way to spiritual truth. We have to look to our hearts. This is not to say that we don’t need to use our minds, as we make our way along the soul’s journey. We do need to think and study, to question and learn. The life of the mind, though, is not the opposite of the life of the heart. To live deeply and fully the gift of this life, we need to use both mind and heart.
"A Blessing of Regret" by Rev. Sarah Person - September 27, 2009
Today at sundown begins the Jewish Holy Day of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. I ask you to consider two big questions this morning: does Unitarian Universalism help us (a) figure out what to do with ourselves when we do wrong, and (b) understand the place of sin in the world? It could do better, a lot better. If you are a packrat and still have the May/June 1998 issue of World, check out the front cover. It shows a small UU church with a big sign in front that says, “We don’t do guilt.”
A Journey of Return: A Sermon for Rosh Hashanah 2009 by Rev. Jan Nielsen - September 18, 2009
If you’re visiting us for the first time today, let me say this right up front: no one here will ask that you accept any set of answers. Some of us may have formed some ideas for ourselves about some of these questions, but no one here will tell you what to believe. That’s not our way.
A Time to Begin Again by Rev. Jan Nielsen - April 12, 2009
Easter has come again. It’s a day for lilies and alleluias, colored eggs and candy, good food and celebration. We celebrate spring’s return and the rebirth of the earth. After winter’s cold, our bodies and our souls are ready for warmth and for color and, perhaps especially this year, a chance to begin again.
"Be Alive": A Sermon for Palm Sunday 2009 by Rev. Jan Nielsen - April 5, 2009
When life seems uncertain, when times are hard, when the day to day seems like a struggle, voices of wisdom, both ancient and new, turn us toward what the poet names “the earth world,.”the “green pastures,” the “still waters” that await the soul. For thousands of years, the words of the 23rd Psalm have helped people to find within their souls the strength, the courage and the peace to live through the trials of life, to walk their hard “Palm Sunday” roads. Maybe Jesus knew the 23rd Psalm; it was a part of his Jewish faith tradition. His heart, like the poet’s, must have known “hesitations, questions, choices of directions.”
"Above All, Let Us Be Kind to One Another" by Rev. Jan K. Nielsen - March 22, 2009
It’s this last part – the part about treating difficult people with lovingkindness – that can be so hard. Maybe you’ve been there. Maybe there’s someone at work or in your extended family and, in their eyes, you just can’t seem to do anything right, no matter what. There just seems to be near constant conflict between the two of you – spoken or unspoken. Still, you try. You give. You show kindness, but all that comes back at you is dirt, in your face. What comes back to you is anything but kind, and certainly not loving. What do you do? Most of us, sooner or later, get angry.
To Eat the Stars by Rev. Jan Nielsen - March 8, 2009
As long as we are alive, we will know fear. Fear is part of life, but we don’t have to let it take over and drive our lives. We may not have control over all that happens, and as they say, “Stuff happens,” or as some would say, “Compost happens,” but we can choose how we respond when life brings fear. Faith, says Sharon Salzberg, is a life affirming response to fear. Faith can allow us to face our worst fears without letting our fears drive our lives and suck the life out of our souls.
Rainbow and the Soccer Mom by Rev. Sarah Person - February 8, 2009
Not long ago I found myself driving a van full of teenagers returning from a concert at Gillette Stadium. Anyone of you who has done so knows that one doesn’t go far or fast; and you have time to consider your life at length while the kids squeezed in back are singing at the top of their lungs. After about an hour or so, we had finally left the parking lot and were inching along Route 1 North while streams of cars tried to merge ahead of everyone else. I paused, trying to let a smaller car get in front of me. I flashed my lights, honked gently, asked one of the kids to roll down the window and waive the person ahead. The hapless driver was frozen, eyes glued ahead. I gave up. Turning to my front seat companion, I said “Why doesn’t she trust me?” She’s afraid,” was the response. “You might be a SOCCER MOM.”
What We Need Is Here by Rev. Jan Nielsen - February 1, 2009
Sometimes though our days bring the unexpected and everything changes. Nothing seems certain anymore. Maybe there’s trouble at work, or trouble at home, or both. Maybe there’s news from the doctor and it’s not good. What do we do then? When we feel that anxiety churning inside, what helps us cross over to a more peaceful shore?
What Do You Believe? by Rev. Jan Nielsen - January 25, 2009
What do you believe? What is it that keeps you going? What gets you out of bed every morning and leads you to do what you do? When so much around you seems to be changing, what is it that remains constant? When too much in the world, or in your life, seems to be falling apart, to what, or to where, do you turn for answers? What guides the big decisions of your life?
An Open Letter to President-Elect Barack Obama by Rev. Jan Nielsen - January 18, 2009
We face great challenges; there is much work to do. To keep going, we will need to feed one another’s souls. Throughout the ages, the human voice, and the gift of words, have been the manna that has sustained the human spirit. No matter what the critics and pundits may say, let yourself be the poet you are. Now more than ever, we need the nourishment and inspiration of poetry. Poetry points us toward larger truths; poetry speaks to the soul. I join Anna Quindlen in pointing you toward that Chinese proverb: “speech is the voice of the heart.” Speak to us often; let us hear your voice. Speak to our souls.
New Year's Reflections by Rev. Jan Nielsen - January 4, 2009
When the path ahead of us seems unclear, it’s all the more important to pay attention to the steps we take, and to the choices we make. It’s an old saying, but it’s true: We can’t always control what happens to us in this life, but we can choose how we will respond. Our choices tell the stories of our lives. Or as my wise Aunt Alma used to say, “It’s not the hand you are dealt in life; its how you play it that counts.” It is true: how we live matters. At the start of a new year,
especially this new year, it makes spiritual sense to take an honest look at how we live.
Keeping with the Heart by Rev. Jan Nielsen - December 21, 2008
This holiday season, whatever gifts you give, whatever gifts you receive, look at those gifts not just with your eyes. See the gifts of the season, and one another, with your heart. Your life will be the richer for it. Remember that wisdom from the Little Prince: What is essential is invisible to the eye. We see rightly only with the heart.
No Time to Waste: A Sermon for Advent 2008 by Rev. Jan Nielsen - December 14, 2008
We humans can waste a lot of time in this life. We can be so foolish. We can look really busy, running here and there, but all the while, we can be asleep, numb, blind to what matters most.
"Build Thy Home in Thy Heart and Be Forever Sheltered" - A Sermon for Thanksgiving Sunday 2008 by Rev. Jan Nielsen - November 23, 2008
Thanksgiving is only days away. It’s our national feast day, a day when, we gather together, for better or for worse, whatever our religious or spiritual inclinations, to offer our thanks. Since I was a small child, Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday, though I haven’t always understood why. With the passing years, I have come to understand that I feed more than my body on Thanksgiving Day; the simple ritual of giving thanks over a special meal feeds my heart.
Spiritual Gifts: Listening and Giving by Rev. Jan Nielsen - November 16, 2008
Maybe you think you would have nothing much to share if we were to bring a StoryCorps booth here to our church. I think you do. Each of us carries a story; we all have something to teach.
Our American Story by Rev. Jan Nielsen - November 9, 2008
Our American story is one of hope. It’s a story about people (including some of our parents and grandparents) who braved journeys across the seas to make new lives in a new land. Let us not forget, as Veteran’s Day approaches, that ours is also a story about people who found the courage to stand up, fight, and sometimes die, for our personal freedoms, and for the rights of every person to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Our story has inspired in people here and around the globe bravery and courage, independence and free thought, sacrifice and hope.
Making It Through Hard Times by Rev. Jan Nielsen - October 19, 2008
In every life, there will be times when it seems hard to hold it all together; as surely as the sun rises, trials will come. We will never reach a time in our lives when all our lessons are learned and our trials are over. “Life is a school,” the saying goes, and deep down we all know this. Even so, when trials do come and times are hard, it’s only human to feel that you’re in over your head.
"What Will Be Your Mark?" A Sermon for the High Holy Days 2008 by Rev. Jan Nielsen - October 5, 2008
Last Sunday, a group of us were talking when one of you looked into my eyes with a smile and said, in a most serious voice, “Father, I have a confession. . .”We all laughed. That was a first. I’d never been called “Father” before, but a delightful conversation unfolded. Today, I have a confession to make: this time of year, I wish I were a Jew.
"Lie Back" by Rev. Jan Nielsen - September 21, 2008
All of us, though, need reminders, refresher courses for the soul. Life can be hard; you know that. And so we come here, to find our center, to right our souls that we might walk our paths with courage and open hearts. You might say we come here “to get back to basics.” And when our days, and the news, leave us feeling frantic, anxious, it’s time to remind ourselves just what the basics are.
Send Up a Prayer: A Sermon for Homecoming Sunday 2008 by Rev. Jan Nielsen - September 7, 2008
Because all of us are human and none of us gets it right all the time, we come here, to return together to our spiritual foundations, to bring one another back to our best selves. This is the way of love. The choice to live a loving life may be the most demanding of commitments, but it is the one way we learn what it means to be human. The way I see it, learning to love and to be loved is why we are here.
"For the Moment, We Hold a Winning Ticket": A Sermon for Father' Day 2008 by Rev. Jan Nielsen - June 15, 2008
Whether we call ourselves young, or old, or somewhere in between, each passing year carries an invitation, an invitation to the soul. Time’s passing invites the soul to the life giving waters of memory. Maybe this Father’s Day you remember a father or a grandfather, or someone who was like a father to you, someone who helped you, pushed you, believed in you. This is a day to remember.
"Never Give Up On What You Love": A Sermon For Mother's Day 2008 by Rev. Jan Nielsen - May 11, 2008
Maybe you’ve been there. I know I have. There you stand, just barely, feeling for all the world like one of those eighteen inch saplings, planted in the dead of winter. Nobody believed her tiny trees would survive, Sue Monk Kidd tells us, but she didn’t give up on the trees she loved. She tended them with care, made sure they had water and sunlight, pulled away the weeds, and even spoke words of kindness to her struggling trees, and her trees survived. “Never give up,” she reminds us, never give up on what you love.”
What If We Knew? by Rev. Jan Nielsen - Apr 6, 2008
“What if,” the poet Ellen Bass asks, “you knew you’d be the last to touch someone?” What if you knew you’d be the last to speak to someone? What if you knew you’d be the last to offer your hand to someone? What if you knew you’d be the last to place something in someone’s hand? If we all knew, how might everything change?
How Can It Be Easter? by Rev. Jan Nielsen - Mar 23, 2008
Today we tell again the Easter story, the story of Jesus the revolutionary, put to death on a Friday, nailed to a cross for his beliefs and radical ways, the same Jesus who, three days later, the Gospels tell us, rose to new life. It is, let’s face it, an almost unbelievable story. The hard part of the story, the unbelievable part, for some of us, is the part about Jesus rising from the dead to new life. It’s a story so out of this world that we might prefer to gloss over it, or even to avoid it entirely. The Easter story, though, is a story worth telling and retelling, a story worth the work it takes to go deeper that we might hear what the resurrection story has to say, this Easter 2008, to our lives, yours and mine.
"Are You Happy?" by Rev. Jan Nielsen - Mar 9, 2008
So, what makes for a happy life? And where do we find whatever it is that will make us happy? What about money? Will more money make us happier? We’ve all heard the saying, “Money can’t buy happiness.” Here’s where we need to pause for a moment though and remember that most of us are lucky. We have enough money for the basics-enough to eat, a safe place to sleep, clothes on our backs. Let us never forget that way too many aren’t so lucky and haven’t even the basics. Call it inequity, call it injustice that so many go without in a land of wealth; I call it just plain wrong.
What About Pride? by Rev. Jan Nielsen - Feb 10, 2008
Pride is said to be one of the seven deadly sins, the deadliest, some say, of all. “A proud man,” C.S. Lewis once wrote, “is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you can’t see something that’s above you.” Looking down on things and people for too long can leave us spiritually blind. Pride is deadly when it blinds us to that of God in our brothers and our sisters.
Let Not the Sun Go Down on Your Anger by Rev. Jan Nielsen - Feb 3, 2008
Rather than letting anger blow us apart, or letting it lead us to blow other people apart, we need to take action. We need to do something to get at least some of the anger outside ourselves. Sit around and perseverate long enough and anger will win. If I do that, I may not appear angry on the outside, but inside anger and resentment will smolder and eat away my spirit. That’s no way to live.
Heed Not Unreal Gods: A Sermon on the Deadly Sin of Greed by Rev. Jan Nielsen - Jan 27, 2008
We don’t have to look far to find evidence of greed in our times. Read the papers. Watch the news. The names and faces change but the story is mostly the same. Someone had it pretty good, but couldn’t seem to get enough and wanted more, way more, and then went after it, at all costs, all notions of ethics and morality, all sense of right and wrong, be damned.
A Reflection on "The Peaceable Kingdom" by Rev. Jan Nielsen - Jan 13, 2008
The way out of despair for our world begins at home, in real life, with us, you and me, and the real life choices we make every day about how we will live. We don’t find hope by wishing for it. We don’t think our way into hope. We find our hope by what we do, with our hands and our feet, by how well we care – for one another, for ourselves and for our world.
"Oops . . . What Now?" by Rev. Jan Nielsen - Jan 6, 2008
You might think of our sins, yours and mine, as the cracks in our shells. The humble heart is not afraid of its cracks.
Is it True? by Rev. Jan Nielsen - Dec 9, 2007
Not all that long ago, as talk of Christmas began to creep into conversation, I heard a young teenager ask, in good Unitarian Universalist fashion, “Do you really believe the Christmas story? Were there really three wise men? I mean, what is true?”
Can We Pray for Miracles? by Rev. Jan Nielsen - Dec 2, 2007
Celebrations are good for the soul. Most of us, these days, could stand to celebrate more often, to find excuses, even, for rejoicing, for celebrating the blessings, large and small, of life. The way I see it, we should pass up no chances to celebrate, to say to ourselves, and to one another, it is good to be alive, together, here on this earth.
Gratitude: Name It, Live It, Share It by Rev. Jan Nielsen - Nov 18, 2007
All of the world’s great spiritual traditions teach that life is a gift, a gift for which we owe our thanks, and that we can grow wise in heart through the practice of thanksgiving.
Honoring the Earth by Rev. Jan Nielsen - Oct 28, 2007
This is not a “what’s wrong and how to fix it” sermon, nor is this a sermon about politics. This is not about liberal versus conservative or red states and blue states (and yes, it is really is getting to be that time again). The way I see it, how we care for this Earth is a moral issue, a spiritual issue. Nothing less than our very souls are at stake.
Honoring the Body by Rev. Jan Nielsen - Oct 14, 2007
We are all born as bodies, as beings with bodies, but it can take a lifetime to learn to honor our bodies. Part of the path toward spiritual maturity is learning to be at home in our bodies. “Becoming wiser about spiritual things,” writes Krista Tippett, “ . . . has meant learning to live in my body, not just my head.”
The Journey Home by Rev. Jan Nielsen - Jun 10, 2007
After we saw the sun set and then rise again, our plane landed in Copenhagen, bright and early on a Sunday morning. Our first stop was the passport window. I handed mine to the uniformed man. He studied it very carefully, in silence, and then here is what happened.
A Reading and a Reflection for Flower Communion Sunday - May 27, 2007
Your eyes may have shifted their gaze out these windows, out toward our birch trees, and you’ve probably drifted back in time, your heart trying to answer the unspoken question of the morning: “Who saved you?” Like the poet, most of us will “end up owing (our) soul(s) to so many.” I know I have been saved, again and again.
We Are All Family by Rev. Jan Nielsen - May 20, 2007
Some of us come from “A Twice Named Family,” whether our family’s “soul food” is chitlins or vegetarian chili, pasta or pickled herring. We might detest the names we are called at home, but I promise you, someday, as you make your way through the world, you will long to hear the sound of a familiar voice calling you by your “name for home.”