Heart Mind Spirit | Exploration: Recent Episodes
Joshua Berg
What moves the heart? What occupies the mind? Where does the spirit live? We explore these questions through the work and voices of people with diverse lived experiences. Our search is for meaning, how it's made, and where it's found.
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You've probably seen the equity meme of three people of different heights standing behind a fence watching a baseball game. Their varying ability to see over the fence, regardless of height, illustrates equity. But what if the fence were removed altogether? This Sunday, Pastor Joshua continues his series on UU values as we explore the meaning of Equity.
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On this Mother's Day, Pastor Joshua takes inspiration from mothers and from the ABBA-inspired musical, Mamma Mia, to talk about strength, positivity, and passion for life.
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There is an oft-repeated statistic that more people today are spiritual but not religious. This group, also known as the "Nones" is actually a target audience for UU congregations. Pastor Joshua explores what spirituality means – to him at least.
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On this Easter Sunday which falls during Passover, Pastor Joshua talks about Liberation theology though the story of Jesus’ righteous anger as a model for challenging oppressive systems.
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Pastor Joshua talks about saving the moments in time that are meaningful to extend periods of hope that comes from witnessing awe.
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The number forty has oodles of significance in the bible. Both Jesus and Moses fasted for 40 days. The Jews traveled in the desert for 40 years from Egypt to the promised land. In fact, 40 is a significant number, even beyond its Biblical importance. As Lent, Ramadan, and the Lunar New Year coincide, Pastor Joshua discuss estheir collective connection to Forty-tude -- strength in numbers.
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Pastor Joshua shares the Japanese art of Kaizen - literally "change for the better."
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Humans, especially in the "first world" take self-centeredness to an extreme by ignoring anything we do not experience directly. In order to successfully embody resilience, we must practice perspective, beginning with acknowledgement that the world does not revolve around us.
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January 14th was "Global Belly Laugh Day" when the health benefits of laughter are recognized. It was created by Laughter Yoga teacher Elaine Helle to highlight laughter's power to connect and its benefits for mental, physical, and social well-being. Let's have some fun together in what Pastor Joshua hopes will be an annual humor service.
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Pastor Joshua reads Parashat Vayetze, Genesis 28:10-32:3, a convoluted incestuous story of Jacob, including the ladder to God, Jacob's wives, his children, and the trouble he has with his father-in-law, Laban.
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Pastor Joshua reads Chayei Sarah, Genesis 23:1-25:18, about the death of Sarah and Abraham's purchase of the Cave of Machpelah as a burial plot. It then tells the story of Abraham sending his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac, which results in Isaac marrying Rebekah. The Parashat concludes with Abraham marrying again, to Keturah, before his death and burial next to Sarah.
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Pastor Joshua reads Parashat Toldot, Genesis 25:19-28:9, which begins the story of Isaac's family, including sons Jacob and Esau.
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November 9th is the anniversary of Kristallnacht, a German state-coordinated series of violent attacks against Jews. The lessons of that history, including the normalization of hatred and the danger of inaction, resonate profoundly today. Pastor Joshua will look to his secular and religious Jewish roots seeking inspiration to fight fascism today.
Pastor Joshua reads and comments on the second Parashat in the book of Genesis chapters 6:9 - 11:32. It includes the stories of Noah's Arc and the Tower of Babel.
Pastor Joshua starts the Torah from the beginning with Bereshit - "In the beginning." It is the book of Genesis, Chapters 1:1-6:8.
Pastor Joshua talks about the moment we are in with it's authoritarian creep as well as the new programming the Unitarian Universalist Association has introduced to "Meet the Moment."
The final Parahot before the reading of the Torah starts again are Ha'azinu (Deuteronomy 32:1-52) and V'Zot HaBerachah (Deuteronomy 33:1-34:12). They end the Pentatuch with God calling the people of Israel foolish ingrates and threatening them with punishment if they don't follow his commandments and revere him alone. God also tells Moses that he will not be entering into the chosen land with the Israelites.
Pastor Joshua talked about the Universalist Heritage of Unitarian Universalism and how it connects through social justice work into the 21st Century.
Pastor Joshua reads Nitzavim (Deuteronomy 29:9-30:20), one of the final speeches Moses gives to the Israelites preparing them to hear the curses that will befall them if they don't follow God's commandments.
Joshua reads Vayelech (Deuteronomy 31) the penultimate speech of Moses to the Israeli's before he reads the Second Poem of Moses (Ha'azinu) which will lay out all the curses God will inflict upon the Israelites if they don't obey him.
Pastor Joshua reads Deuteronomy 26:1 - 29:8 about curses if the Israelites should not submit to God's authority and obey God's commandments and the blessings if they do.
Pastor Joshua reads Deuteronomy (Devarim) 21:10 - 25:19 in which much is laid out about rules/commandments including a number of reasons for stoning people to death to rid the Israelites of evil.
The Torah, also known as the Hebrew Scriptures, or the five books of Moses, is read annually in Jewish synagogues from cover to cover (or the equivalent of covers for a scroll). Pastor Joshua has decided to take this on, reading the Torah literally and interpreting it through his context as a culturally Jewish atheist Unitarian Universalist. A new parashat, or chapter, is read Ever Sabbath (Shabbat). The Torah portion for this week, August 16, 2025 is Parashat Eikav, which tells of Moses addressing the Israelites and emphasizing the importance of keeping God's commandments in preparation to enter the land of Israel.
Pastor Joshua preached this sermon at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Santa Monica in 2024. He combines the UU principle of "Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part" and the UU value of love at the center.
This was one of my first professional sermons preached at Unitarian Universalist Church of East Liberty in Michigan in 2019.
This was an interview I did back in 2020 for an earlier podcast I had. It is with Abby Stein, the transgender activist, author, speaker, and scholar.
This was a talk I gave in 2022 at the Chautauqua Institution in their Hall of Philosophy as a guest of the UU Fellowship of Chautauqua. It was originally called "Freedom and Other 'Ineffable' F Words”, but the Fellowship preferred I change that title.
Pastor Joshua leads worship as the minister-in-residence at the UU Fellowship of Chautauqua. The entire service is 29min 50 sec. The homily called "From Fear to Freedom" starts 9 min 54 sec. The original title was "Freedom and Other 'F' Words."
What moves the heart? What occupies the mind? Where does the spirit live? We explore these questions through the work and voices of people with diverse lived experiences. Our search is for meaning, how it's made, and where it's found.
This is Joshua Lewis Berg. Thank you for joining me on Heart, Mind, Spirit | Exploration.
In a series of three sermons, I reimagined Reinhold Niebuhr's Serenity Prayer.
The prayer is usually recited as "God, give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."
Listen to a Jewish Humanist Unitarian Universalist consider these thoughts as I come up with my own interpretation I call the Fortitude Prayer.
What moves the heart? What occupies the mind? Where does the spirit live? We explore these questions through the work and voices of people with diverse lived experiences. Our search is for meaning, how it's made, and where it's found.
This is Joshua Lewis Berg. Thank you for joining me on Heart, Mind, Spirit | Exploration.
My colleague and fellow student Ebony C. Peace and I are both students at Meadville Lombard Unitarian Universalist Theological School. This podcast strays a bit from the usual HMS | Exploration format because it was recorded as the final project for our class, Spirituality and Social Justice Activism in African American Traditions taught by Dr. Pamela Lightsey.
Our assignment was to create a podcast that discusses a current human rights crisis for Black people in America. We chose The right to democracy.
A discussion about how people of privilege can do ally work and bear witness to injustice.
In my capacity as intern minister at Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Southfield, Michigan, I spoke on Dr. Ibram X. Kendi's book, How to Be an Antiracist.
Interview with Abby Chava Stein, author of Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman