Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation's Podcast: Recent Episodes
Unity Temple, Oak Park
Sermons by resident and guest ministers on themes like Curiosity, Trust, Mystery, Sanctuary and so much more.
Feel free to download and share our podcasts!
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on August 9, 2026, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for August is Love. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on August 2, 2026, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for August is Love. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on July 26, 2026, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen, Jeremy Brightbill and Carol DiMatteo.
The theme for July is Love. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on July 19, 2026, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for July is Love. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on July 12, 2026, led by Emily Mace.
The theme for July is Love. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on July 5, 2026, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for July is Love. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on June 28, 2026, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for June is Flourishing Together. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on June 14, 2026, led by Matt Meyer.
The theme for June is Flourishing Together. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on June 7, 2026, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for June is Flourishing Together. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on May 31, 2026, led by Intern Minister Emily Mace.
The theme for May is Embracing Possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on May 24, 2026, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for May is Embracing Possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on May 17, 2026, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for May is Embracing Possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on May 10, 2026, led by Justine Garcia and various youth from our Congregation.
The theme for May is Embracing Possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on May 3, 2026, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for May is Embracing Possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on April 26, 2026, led by Rev. Brian Sauder.
The theme for April is Embracing Possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on April 19, 2026, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for April is Embracing Possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on April 12, 2026, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for April is Embracing Possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on March 15, 2026, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for April is Embracing Possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on March 15, 2026, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for March is Paying Attention. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on March 22, 2026, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for March is Paying Attention. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on March 15, 2026, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for March is Paying Attention. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on March 8, 2026, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for March is Paying Attention. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on March 1, 2026, led by Emily Mace.
The theme for March is Paying Attention. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on February 22, 2026, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for February is EMBODYING RESILIENCE. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on February 15, 2026, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for February is EMBODYING RESILIENCE. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on February 8, 2026, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen and Sybil Madison.
The theme for February is EMBODYING RESILIENCE. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on February 1, 2026, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for February is EMBODYING RESILIENCE. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on January 25, 2026, led by Emily Mace, Intern Minister.
The theme for January is PRACTICING RESISTANCE–Immigration Justice. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on January 18, 2026, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for January is PRACTICING RESISTANCE–Immigration Justice. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on January 11, 2026, led by Unity Temple member Tristan Hanson, and written by contributors Gabriela Zapata-Alma, Lizzy Morse, Charlie Hoch, and Alex Brightbill.
The theme for January is PRACTICING RESISTANCE–Immigration Justice. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on January 4, 2026, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for January is PRACTICING RESISTANCE–Immigration Justice. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on December 28, 2025, led by Intern Minister Emily Mace.
The theme for December is CHOOSING HOPE//Economic Justice (Hunger and Homelessness). To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on December 21 at 7pm, 2025, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for December is CHOOSING HOPE//Economic Justice (Hunger and Homelessness). To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on December 21 at 3pm, 2025, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for December is CHOOSING HOPE//Economic Justice (Hunger and Homelessness). To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on December 21, 2025, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for December is CHOOSING HOPE//Economic Justice (Hunger and Homelessness). To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on December 14, 2025, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for December is CHOOSING HOPE//Economic Justice (Hunger and Homelessness). To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on December 7, 2025, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for December is CHOOSING HOPE//Economic Justice (Hunger and Homelessness). To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on November 30, 2025, led by Emily Mace.
The theme for November is Nurturing Gratitude/Prison Ministry. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on November 23, 2025, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for November is Nurturing Gratitude/Prison Ministry. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on November 16, 2025, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for November is Nurturing Gratitude/Prison Ministry. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on November 9, 2025, led by Keith Talley and Rev. Allison Farnum.
The theme for November is Nurturing Gratitude/Prison Ministry. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on November 2, 2025, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for November is Nurturing Gratitude/Prison Ministry. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on October 26, 2025, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for October is Cultivating Compassion/Reproductive Justice. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on October 19, 2025, led by Rev. Scott Aaseng.
The theme for October is Cultivating Compassion/Reproductive Justice. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on October 12, 2025, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for October is Cultivating Compassion/Reproductive Justice. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on September 28, 2025, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for September is Building Belonging. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on September 28, 2025, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for September is Building Belonging. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on September 21, 2025, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for September is Building Belonging. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on September 14, 2025, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for September is Building Belonging. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on September 7, 2025, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for September is Building Belonging. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on August 31, 2025, led by Unity Temple Member Emma Farrell.
The theme for August is Courage. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on August 24, 2025, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for August is Courage. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on August 17, 2025, led by Unity Temple Member Chuck Ruth.
The theme for August is Courage. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on August 10, 2025, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for August is Courage. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on August 3, 2025, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for August is Courage. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on July 27, 2025, led by Terry Kinsey and Jay Cohen.
The theme for July is Courage/Gun Violence Prevention. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on July 20, 2025, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for July is Courage/Gun Violence Prevention. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on July 13, 2025, led by Nina Brewer-Davis.
The theme for July is Courage/Gun Violence Prevention. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on July 6, 2025, led by Georgina Swanson and Mark Maynard.
The theme for July is Courage/Gun Violence Prevention. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on June 29, 2025, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for June is Freedom/LGBTQ+. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on June 15, 2025, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for June is Freedom/LGBTQ+. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on June 8, 2025, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for June is Freedom/LGBTQ+. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on June 1, 2025, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for June is Freedom/LGBTQ+. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on May 25, 2025, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for May is Imagination. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on May 18, 2025, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen and Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for May is Imagination. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on May 11, 2025, led by Justine Garcia.
The theme for May is Imagination. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on May 4, 2025, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for May is Imagination. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on April 27, 2025, led by Rev. Brian Sauder.
The theme for April is Joy. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on April 20, 2025, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for April is Joy. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on April 13, 2025, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for April is Joy. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on April 6, 2025, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen and Rev. Dr. Terasa Cooley.
The theme for April is Joy. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on March 30, 2025, led by Celine and Don Woznica.
The theme for March is Trust. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on March 23, 2025, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for March is Trust. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on March 16, 2025, led by Choir Director Martha Swisher.
The theme for March is Trust. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on March 9, 2025, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for March is Trust. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on March 2, 2025, led by Gabriela Zapata-Alma.
The theme for March is Trust. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on February 23, 2025, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for February is Inclusion. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on February 16, 2025, led by Rev. Emily Gage and Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for February is Inclusion. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on February 9, 2025, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for February is Inclusion. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on February 2, 2025, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for February is Inclusion. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on January 26, 2025, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for January is Story. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on January 19, 2025, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for January is Story. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on January 12, 2025, led by Tristan Hanson.
The theme for January is Story. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on January 5, 2025, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for January is Story. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of segments from a service that was streamed on December 29th, 2024 at 9am, led by Terry Kinsey.
The theme for December is Presence. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see the video of these complete services, click HERE .
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on December 24th at 3pm and 7pm, 2024, led by Revs. Emily Gage and Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for December is Presence. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see the video of these complete services, click HERE and HERE, respectively.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on December 22, 2024, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for December is Presence. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on December 15, 2024, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for December is Presence. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on December 8, 2024, led by Music Director Marty Swisher.
The theme for December is Presence. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on December 1, 2024, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for December is Presence. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is the homily from a service that was streamed on November 24, 2024, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for November is Repair. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on November 17, 2024, led by Keith Talley and Rev. Allison Farnum of the Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministry of Illinois .
The theme for November is Repair. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on November 10, 2024, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for November is Repair. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on November 3, 2024, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for November is Repair. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on October 27, 2024, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for October is Deep Listening. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on October 20, 2024, led by Unitarian Universalist Nick Page.
The theme for October is Deep Listening. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on October 13, 2024, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for October is Deep Listening. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 9:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on October 6, 2024, led by Unitarian Universalist Peter Mayer.
The theme for October is Deep Listening. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on September 29, 2024, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for September is Invitation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on September 22, 2024, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for September is Invitation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on September 15, 2024, led by UT member Jennifer Evans and Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for September is Invitation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on September 9, 2024, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for September is Invitation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on September 1, 2024, led by Unity Temple Member MaDonna Thelen.
The theme for September is Invitation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This podcast is comprised of various segments from a service that was streamed on August 25, 2024, led by Revs. Emily Gage and Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for August is Possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on August 18, 2024, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for August is Possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on August 11, 2024, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for August is Possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on August 4, 2024, led by Emma Farrell.
The theme for August is Possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on July 28, 2024, led by LJ Wililams.
The theme for July is Possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on July 21, 2024, led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for July is Possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on July 14, 2024, led by Shunda Collins and Tavares Harrington from the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago.
The theme for July is Possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on July 7, 2024, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for July is Possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on June 30, 2024, led by Rev. Scott Aaseng.
The theme for June is Renewal. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on June 16, 2024, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for June is Renewal. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on June 9, 2024 led by Cecille Harris and Emma Farrell.
The theme for June is Renewal. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on June 2, 2024 led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for June is Renewal. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on May 26, 2024, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen and Ed White.
The theme for May is Pluralism. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on May 12, 2024, led by Unity Temple's youth, along with Justine Urbikas and Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for May is Pluralism. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on May 5, 2024, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for May is Pluralism. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on April 28, 2024, led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for April is Interdependence. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on April 21, 2024 led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for April is Interdependence. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on April 7, 2024 led by Rev. Brian Sauder.
The theme for April is Interdependence. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on March 31, 2024 led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for March is Transformation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on March 24, 2024 led by Rev. Elekes Zsolt and Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for March is Transformation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on March 17, 2024 led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for March is Transformation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on March 10, 2024 led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for March is Transformation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on March 3, 2024 led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for March is Transformation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on February 25, 2024 led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for February is Justice and Equity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on February 18, 2024 led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for February is Justice and Equity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on February 11, 2024 led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for February is Justice and Equity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on February 4, 2024 led by Rev. Emily Gage and George Grimm-Howell.
The theme for February is Justice and Equity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on January 28, 2024 led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for January is Liberating Love. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on January 21, 2024 led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for January is Liberating Love. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on January 14, 2024 led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for January is Liberating Love. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on January 7, 2024 led by Tristan Hanson.
The theme for January is Liberating Love. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from two services that was streamed on December 31st, 2023 led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for December is Mystery. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from two services that was streamed on December 24th at 3 and 7pm, 2023 led by Revs. Emily Gage and Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for December is Mystery. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on December 17, 2023 and led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for December is Mystery. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on December 3, 2023 and led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for December is Mystery. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on November 26, 2023 and led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for November is Generosity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on November 19, 2023 and led by Rev. Justine Magara, Rev. Roger Bertschausen and Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for November is Generosity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on November 12, 2023 and led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for October is Heritage. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on November 5, 2023 and led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for October is Heritage. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on October 29, 2023 and led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for October is Heritage. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on October 22, 2023 and led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for October is Heritage. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on October 15, 2023 and led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for October is Heritage. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on October 8, 2023 and led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for October is Heritage. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on October 1, 2023 and led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for October is Heritage. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on September 24, 2023 and led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for September is Welcome. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on September 17, 2023 and led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for September is Welcome. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on September 10, 2023 and led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for September is Welcome. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service put together by DRUUMM that was streamed by UTUUC, a supporting organization, on September 3, 2023 and led by Rev. Katie Romano Griffin.
The theme for September is Welcome. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on August 27, 2023 and led by Rev. Roger Bertschausen.
The theme for August is Hope. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on August 20, 2023 and led by Rev. Brian Sauder.
The theme for August is Hope. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on August 13, 2023 and led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for August is Hope. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on August 6, 2023 and led by Unity Temple member Jay Cohen.
The theme for August is Hope. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on July 30, 2023 and led by Unity Temple member Alice Ocrey.
The theme for July is Hope. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on February 26, 2023 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for February is Love. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on February 19, 2023 and led by Rev. Suzelle Lynch.
The theme for February is Love. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on February 12, 2023 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for February is Love. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on February 5, 2023 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for February is Widening the Circle. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on January 29, 2023 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for January is Finding Our Center. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on January 22, 2023 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for January is Finding Our Center. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on January 15, 2023 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for January is Finding Our Center. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on January 8, 2023 at 10am and led by Tristan Hanson.
The theme for January is Finding Our Center. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on January 1, 2023 at 10am and led by Diana Coates.
The theme for January is Finding Our Center. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on December 25, 2022 (Christmas Day) and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for December is Wonder. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This audio is from a service that was streamed on November 27, 2022 and led by Chuck Ruth.
The theme for November is Change. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This segment is from a service that was streamed on November 20, 2022 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for November is Change. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This homily is from a service that was streamed on November 13, 2022 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for November is Change. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on October 30, 2022 and led by Rev. Colleen Vahey.
The theme for October is Courage. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on October 23, 2022 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for October is Courage. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on October 16, 2022 and led by Rev. Scott Aaseng.
The theme for October is Courage. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on October 9, 2022 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for October is Courage. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on October 2, 2022 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for October is Courage. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on September 25, 2022 and led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for September is Belonging. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on September 4, 2022 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for September is Belonging. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on September 4, 2022 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for September is Belonging. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on August 21, 2022 and led by Jay Cohen.
The theme for August is Balancing. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on August 14, 2022 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for August is Balancing. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on July 24, 2022 and led by Michele Zurakowski.
The theme for August is Balance. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on July 24, 2022 and led by Rev. Brian Sauder.
The theme for July is Balancing. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on July 24, 2022 and led by Nina Brewer-Davis.
The theme for July is Balancing. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on July 17, 2022 and led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for July is Balancing. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on July 10, 2022 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for July is Balancing. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on June 19, 2022 and led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for June is Celebrating Blessings. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on June 19, 2022 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for June is Celebrating Blessings. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on June 5, 2022 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for June is Celebrating Blessings. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on June 5, 2022 and led by Rev. Emily Gage. Rev. Emily Gage reflects on two and a half decades of ordained ministry.
The theme for June is Celebrating Blessings. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on May 29, 2022 and led by Unity Temple members Gerry Messler and Ed White.
The theme for May is Nurturing Beauty. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on May 22, 2022 and led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for May is Nurturing Beauty. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on May 15, 2022 and led by Ministerial Intern mandi huizenga.
The theme for May is Nurturing Beauty. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on May 8, 2022 and led by Justine Urbikas.
The theme for May is Nurturing Beauty. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on May 1, 2022 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for May is Nurturing Beauty. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on April 24, 2022 and led by Transition Team Members Shirley Lundin, Ralph Lee, Alison Price, and Ben O'Connor.
The theme for April is Awakening. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on April 17, 2022 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for April is Awakening. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on April 10, 2022 and led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for April is Awakening. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This homily is from a service that was streamed on April 3, 2022 and led by Rev. Colleen Vahey.
The theme for April is Awakening. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This homily is from a service that was streamed on March 27, 2022 and led by Rev. Scott Aaseng.
The theme for March is Renewing Faith. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This homily is from a service that was streamed on March 20, 2022 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for March is Renewing Faith. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This homily is from a service that was streamed on March 6, 2022 and led by Revs. Emily Gage and Dawn Cooley.
The theme for March is Renewing Faith. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This homily is from a service that was streamed on March 6, 2022 and led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for March is Renewing Faith. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This homily is from a service that was streamed on February 27, 2022 and led by Dr. Elias Ortega.
What binds us together is not the content of our beliefs but our shared agreements of how we wish to live together as a religious and spiritual community, our covenants. Our covenants also hold us accountable to the aspirations of our faith and one another.
The theme for February is Widening the Circle. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This homily is from a service that was streamed on February 20, 2022 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for February is Widening the Circle. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This homily is from a service that was streamed on February 13, 2022 and led by ministerial intern mandi huizenga. Let’s explore together what it would mean to “build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in our ourselves and our institutions.” You will be inspired and challenged by the music, stories and reflections.
The theme for February is Widening the Circle. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This homily is from a service that was streamed on February 6, 2022 and led in cooperation by ministerial intern mandi huizenga and Rev. Dawn Cooley. Unity Temple is a popular spot and has hosted many ministerial interns. But what does it really mean to be a teaching congregation, for the intern, the supervising minister, and the congregation itself?
The theme for February is Widening the Circle. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This homily is from a service that was streamed on January 30, 2022 and led by Matt Meyer, guest worship leader. Our favorite songs, whoever the artist or whatever the style, were created in a strange alchemy of study and inspiration, of strict practice and of letting go.
Spiritual Practice is a similar combination of dedication, muscle memory, and perhaps a little divine inspiration. Join us for a musical exploration of learning to risk, building the muscle memory of courage, and the spiritual practice of relationship when things around us are changing fast.
The theme for January is Living With Intention. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This homily is from a service that was streamed on January 23, 2022 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley. The theme for January is Living With Intention. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This homily is from a service that was streamed on January 16, 2022 and led by Rev. Emily Gage.
The theme for January is Living With Intention. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This homily is from a service that was streamed on January 9, 2022 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley.
The theme for January is Living With Intention. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This homily is from a service that was streamed on January 2, 2022 and led by Rev. Allison Farnum. As we welcome the new year 2022, let's live with intention by uncovering everyday threshold moments and how these small rituals can invite us to intentionally enter threshold moments in our communities. Rev. Allison Farnum is the Director and MInister of the Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministry of Illinois and an affiliated community minister at Second Unitarian Church of Chicago.
The theme for January is Living With Intention. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This homily is from a service that was streamed on December 26, 2021 and led by mandi huizenga. Looking at the stories of those that inspire us, let's explore the motivation of the call to act with courage and possibility come from.
The theme for December is Opening to Joy. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This homily is from a service that was streamed on December 19, 2021 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley. These are unsettling times. Various cultures and faith traditions acknowledge this difficult time of the year, and choose to celebrate. Where will we find joy and hope and faith this year?
The theme for December is Opening to Joy. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This homily is from a service that was streamed on December 5, 2021 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley. Why is it that when we encounter difficulty in life, the healthiest way to move forward is by going through the pain, acknowledging it, naming it, and processing it? What happens if we we just ignore it, or try to rush through the process?
The theme for December is Opening to Joy. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This homily is from a service that was streamed on December 5, 2021 and led by Director of Engagement and Membership, Tina Lewis. This reflection shares experiences about why people join our faith community and celebrates new members.
The theme for December is Opening to Joy. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on November 28, 2021 and led by ministerial intern mandi huizenga. "Love is too much for one poem" writes the Rev. Sean Parker Dennison. Reflections on love and all the "too much" as we approach Thanksgiving and life these days.
The theme for November is holding history. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on November 21, 2021 and led by Rev. Emily Gage. "Love is too much for one poem" writes the Rev. Sean Parker Dennison. Reflections on love and all the "too much" as we approach Thanksgiving and life these days.
The theme for November is holding history. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on November 14, 2021 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley. In this 30 days of compassion, we will take a look at practical was ways we might practice might compassion with one another.
The theme for November is holding history. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on November 7, 2021 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley. Conflict can be creative, but we often avoid it. What happens when we avoid it too much, and how do we recover?
The theme for November is holding history. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual community hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on October 31, 2021 and led by Rev. Emily Gage. Halloween is a great time for playing with fears, making friends with them, and learning about them.
The theme for October is cultivating relationship. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on October 17, 2021 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley. Why is it so difficult and uncomfortable to talk about money? If we lean into the discomfort, what can it teach us about ourselves, our values, and our priorities?
The theme for October is cultivating relationship. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on October 17, 2021 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley. Why is it so difficult and uncomfortable to talk about money? If we lean into the discomfort, what can it teach us about ourselves, our values, and our priorities?
The theme for October is cultivating relationship. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on October 10, 2021 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley. What does Homecoming mean? What sort of home does UTUUC offer?
The theme for October is cultivating relationship. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on October 3, 2021 and led by Ministerial Intern Mandi Huizenga. The launch of our year-long focus on the second part of Unity Temple's mission statement, Inspiring Compassion.
The theme for October is cultivating relationship. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on September 26, 2021 and led by Rev. Emily Gage. Now, more than ever, we must take the tenderest possible care of one another, and keep asking ourselves, "What is possible?"
The theme for September is embracing possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on September 19, 2021 and led by Interim Ministerial Rev. Dawn Cooley. Ministers will come and go, but in Unitarian Universalism, the church belongs to the congregation, to the laity. And ministry is what we do together.
The theme for September is embracing possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on September 12, 2021, and led by Interim Ministerial Rev. Dawn Cooley. Deferring maintenance can happen not just in our buildings but also in our spiritual lives, in our relationships, in our society and in our institutions, with similarly detrimental impact.
The theme for September is embracing possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on September 5, 2021 and led by Ministerial Intern mandi huizenga. This Labor Day weekend let us engage in the revolutionary practice of care.
The theme for September is embracing possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on August 29, 2021 and led by Rev. Dawn Cooley. Rev. Cooley is the new Interim Minister at UTUUC. She introduces herself to the membership and describes what she hopes to accomplish together with the congregation during her "pre-fired" tenure.
The theme for August is what it means to be a people of journey. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on August 22, 2021 and led by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage. Rev. Gage reflects on how the pandemic has presented a series of experiences that have tested the limits, of us as individuals and as a faith community.
The theme for August is what it means to be a people of journey. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on August 15, 2021 and led by Rev. Dr. Lisa Presley. Life is all about getting from here to there, that “hyphen” between the dates on our headstone. Right now, you at Unity Temple, are on the path from here to there is so many ways. So how do we do it, going from here to there?
A life-long UU, Rev. Dr. Lisa Presley is a Congregational Life Consultant for the MidAmerica Region, working with congregations across the region. Prior to this, she was a called minister in Southfield, Michigan, and also has served as interim minister in Calgary, Alberta; Rochester, Michigan; Naperville, Illinois and San Rafael, California. Educated at the University of Toronto, with her M.Div. from Harvard Divinity School, and her D.Min. from Meadville Lombard in Chicago, Lisa really learned about how to be a minister from the members of the congregations she served, and from her gifted colleagues. Now entering her fifteenth year of service to our wider movement, Lisa specializes in helping with safe congregations issues, transitions and conflict situations. She makes her home in Kalamazoo, Michigan with her partner Amy, their cat Squash, and their puppy Teddy.
The theme for August is what it means to be a people of journey. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on August 8, 2021 and led by Unitarian Universalist Church of Princeton Seminarian Pauline E. Nijander. The Hindu faith tradition believes that the holy resides within each of us and in every living being. How can we use this knowledge in how we interact with those around us? Or with those we don’t agree with? Or with the living world around us? Join us on this Sunday as we explore the Holy Within and what that means in our lives.
Pauline Nijander is a fourth year student at the Drew Theological School in Madison, NJ, where she is studying for the Unitarian Universalist ministry. Pauline has been a member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton since 2013, where she has served in various leadership roles, including the ministerial intern in the 2019-2020 academic year, and now, as the Seminarian. As a proud transwoman and lesbian, Pauline speaks often to different community and student groups about her perspective and life in hopes of educating people through honest and engaging conversation about trans* life and issues. For this work, she was awarded the 2017 Triad House LGBTQ+ Champion Award from LifeTies. Along with her wife, Michelle, and their sweet pitbull, Ingrid, Pauline resides in Ewing, NJ.
The theme for August is what it means to be a people of journey. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on August 1, 2021 and led by Ministerial Intern mandi huizenga. Unitarian Universalists long ago rejected the concept of sin and embrace the power of love. Can sin still be a relevant concept for us? How does love intersect with sin? And how can we fully live into the word love as a transformative practice?
The theme for August is what it means to be a people of journey. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This sermon is from a service that was streamed on July 25, 2021 and led by Ministerial Intern mandi huizenga. Unitarian Universalism has the power to transform our lives, not just provide us a home for unorthodox beliefs. How have we been and how can we be transformed by the power of Unitarian Universalism?
The theme for July is what it means to be a people of journey. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This service was streamed on July 18, 2021 and led by Ministerial Intern mandi huizenga. Picking weeds, planting seeds, and harvesting produce might not seem like a glamorous or fulfilling job. Yet, tending a garden is full of lessons for our lives. Let’s explore some of those lessons together.
The theme for July is what it means to be a people of journey. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This service was streamed on July 11, 2021. Rev. Emily Gage reflects on how these uncertain and challenging times call for traveling lightly, asking us to open our hearts and minds and hold each other's hands tightly.
The theme for July is what it means to be a people of journey. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This service is from a live stream on July 4, 2021, led by UTUUC members Terry Kinsey and Jay Cohen. Terry is the founder of UTUUC's Mindful Reflection Community (MRC) and Jay is a co-facilitator with the MRC. They reflect on engaging mindfulness practices, including awareness, spaciousness and compassion, as we navigate our transition to a new minister and navigate our lives in general.
The theme for July is what it means to be a people of journey. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This service is from a live stream on June 13, 2021, led by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor. For his farewell sermon, Rev. Taylor reflects on the call to forge new paths in a time of change. He imagines a fabulous future for UTUUC because of the willingness to listen deeply and to be uncomfortable. For that is what it means to be a people of faith.
The theme for June is what it means to be a people of play. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this complete service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This service is from a live stream on June 6, 2021, led by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor. Sharing how ministry is something we do together, Rev. Taylor reflects on the deep graciousness he has encountered at UTUUC over his 18 years here, and how the congregation has long had a spirit of play and the willingness to take leaps of faith.
The theme for June is what it means to be a people of play. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This service is from a live stream on May 23, 2021, led by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor. Reflecting on the disturbing Unitarian connection to the Tulsa Race Massacre a century ago, Rev. Taylor articulates a theology of grace for navigating a ruptured world.
The theme for May is what it means to be a people of story. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This service is from a live stream on May 23, 2021, led by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage. Rev. Gage reflects on both/and thinking, flower communion and all the true stories.
The theme for May is what it means to be a people of story. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This service is from a live stream on May 16, 2021 led by Ministerial Intern mandi huizenga. On this Sunday, Welcome Sunday, we celebrate the expansion of Unity Temple's interconnected web as we welcome the new members who are joining our community. We are also reminded that we must care and tend to our web, strengthening our bonds and caring for our community.
The theme for May is what it means to be a people of story. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This service from May 9, 2021 was created and presented by the Unity Temple Youth Group as part of the high school seniors' Bridging Ceremony. Youth Coordinator Justine Urbikas gives the background for the service. The graduating seniors then give their bridging talks followed by remarks from Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage and Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor. In order, the seniors speaking are Nina Allread, Jack Layden, Grace Willard and Megan Willard.
The theme for May is what it means to be a people of story. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This podcast is from the worship service live streamed on May 2, 2021 and presented by Dr. Elías Ortega. As a faith community, when we gather, we affirm our commitment to work towards a world shaped by justice and humanized by acts of compassion. To live our lives guided by our shared principles, we need to dare to live into a sacred community where we are shaped and transformed by our highest aspirations.
Dr. Elías Ortega is President of Meadville Lombard Theological School and Professor of Religion, Ethics, and Leadership. He served the larger Unitarian Universalist movement as a member of the UUA’s Commission on Institutional Change. Dr. Ortega can be reached at eortega@meadville.edu.
The theme for May is what it means to be a people of story. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This worship service from April 18, 2021 was created and presented by participants in our Coming of Age program. These ninth graders spent the year exploring their Unitarian Universalist identity, history, spirituality, their feelings and their beliefs. Their work culminates in this worship service where each delivers a personal credo statement that they have developed. Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage gives a brief introduction and shares her own reflections following the credos. Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor also gives a brief reflection.
In this podcast you will hear the credos of the Coming of Age participants. In order, they are Shawn Crimmins, Lindsey Libert, Zachary Polan, Cole Sidman, Ainsley McConnell, Aaron Willard and Persephone Hartrich. Introductory music performed by Ainsley Hartrich.
The theme for April is what it means to be a people of becoming. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This podcast is from the worship service live streamed on April 11, 2021. Reflecting on the process of rebirth and renewal, Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor shares some of the congregation’s extraordinary journey over the last 18 years as he approaches the end of the season of his ministry.
The theme for April is what it means to be a people of becoming. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To watch a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This podcast is from the worship service live streamed on April 4, 2021. Viewing resurrection as rebirth after painful loss or period, Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor explores how love uncaged by death leads to an experience of the Kingdom of God, both within and among us.
The theme for April is what it means to be a people of becoming. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To watch a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This podcast is from the worship service live streamed on March 28, 2021 and led by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor. Reflecting on the history of this congregation, it’s faith heritage and the current pandemic, Rev. Taylor explores what it means for this congregation to build a new way here and now.
The theme for March is what it means to be a people of commitment. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To watch a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This podcast is from the worship service live streamed on March 21, 2021. Rev. Brian Sauder outlines the commitments of Eco-Justice that are practiced by Faith in Place in their daily work to advance environmental justice.
Rev. Brian Sauder serves Faith in Place as the President & Executive Director (www.faithinplace.org). He was the Policy Director and organizer of the Springfield office until Rev. Clare Butterfield resigned in 2015. The entrepreneurial vision and confident leadership of Rev. Sauder is growing the impact of Faith in Place’s mission to empower people of all faiths across Illinois to be leaders for cleaner environments and healthier communities. Rev. Sauder’s passion is empowering faith communities across Illinois to take measurable steps to connect the dots between faith, environmental justice, poverty, mass incarceration, race, violence, class, and health.
The theme for March is what it means to be a people of commitment. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To watch a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This podcast is from the worship service live streamed on March 14, 2021. The two-part homily is presented first by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor and then Ministerial Intern mandi huizenga. They honor the one-year anniversary of Covid-imposed social distancing by reflecting on how challenging the spiritual work of grief has been during the pandemic, especially through our many losses.
The theme for March is what it means to be a people of commitment. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To watch a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This podcast is from the worship service live streamed on March 7, 2021. The service includes reflections from our fourth graders, and Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage considers what commitments are (as per Mary Oliver) like the "loyalty of water to the force of gravity."
The theme for March is what it means to be a people of commitment. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To watch a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This podcast is from the worship service live streamed on February 28, 2021. The sermon is presented Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor. Reflecting on the work of Bryan Stevenson, Rev. Taylor explores what it means to get close to people who are suffering, neglected or abused. For neither justice nor the Beloved Community are possible without people willing to do the uncomfortable work of becoming proximate with those who know deep struggle.
The theme for February is what it means to be a beloved community. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To watch a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This podcast is from the worship service live streamed on February 21, 2021. The sermon is presented by Rev. Mary Katherine Morn and Heather Vickery and is preceded by the audio from a video with adrienne maree brown. Leaders of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee share how we Unitarian Universalists can ground ourselves in the vision of the Beloved Community and support their important work advancing human rights through grassroots collaborations.
Rev. Mary Katherine Morn has been the president and chief executive officer for the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee since June 2018. Heather Vickery is the Coordinator for Congregational Activism for the UU Service Committee and the UU College of Social Justice. adrienne maree brown is an American author, doula, women's rights activist and black feminist based in Detroit, Michigan.
The theme for February is what it means to be a beloved community. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This podcast is from the worship service live streamed on February 14, 2021 and led by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage. Walt Whitman famously wrote: "Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes." This sermon considers the multitudes within each of us, in our history and in the stories that we tell and believe.
The theme for February is what it means to be a beloved community. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This podcast is from the worship service live streamed on February 7, 2021 and led by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor. As our congregation explores “Welcoming All,” what are we welcoming all to? If we are about transforming lives, what are we transforming lives for? Rev. Taylor shares his vision of a Unitarian Universalist congregation.
The theme for February is what it means to be a beloved community. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This podcast is from the worship service live streamed on January 31, 2021. Rev. Nancy McDonald Ladd from Bethesda, Maryland speaks powerfully from her Washington, DC neighborhood and asks, "Whose imaginations created our current national culture and our spiritual community? Whose voices and stories do we need to lift up?"
The theme for January is what it means to be a people of imagination. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This podcast is from the worship service live streamed on January 24, 2021 and led by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said at the March on Washington, “Again and again we must rise to the majesty heights of meeting physical force with soul force.” It’s still true and Rev. Taylor explores how soul force has made a difference in American history and suggests what we need to do as individuals and a community.
The theme for January is what it means to be a people of imagination. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This podcast is from the worship service live streamed on January 17, 2021 and led by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage. Muhammad Ali put it this way: “The [person] who has no imagination has no wings.” This cuts right to the essential importance of imagination—the ability to see beyond the here and the now. Rev. Gage reflects on re-imagining our past and future, with the help of Isabel Wilkerson's book Caste.
The theme for January is what it means to be a people of imagination. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This podcast is from the worship service live streamed on January 10, 2021 and led by Rev. Allison Farnum, Director of the Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministry of Illinois. Join with us as we kick off our quarter-long study of Transformative Justice with Rev. Allison, who invites us to re-imagine the world through the lens of our Unitarian Universalist faith and the work of the Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministry of Illinois. Her sermon refers to a video entitled "What Is Transformative Justice?" Created by Project Nia and the Barnard Center for Research on Women, the video can be viewed here.
The theme for January is what it means to be a people of imagination. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This podcast is from the January 3, 2021 worship service live streamed on Christmas Eve and led by Ministerial Intern mandi huizenga. As the New Year dawns, let's use our imaginations to examine the collective desires of our community through the Unity Temple mission statement. Using our shared community imagination with new imagination partners, let us bring the reality of Beloved Community to fruition in the New Year and into our future.
The theme for January is what it means to be a people of imagination. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This podcast is from the December 27, 2020 worship service live streamed on Christmas Eve and led by Ministerial Intern mandi huizenga. Let's send out 2020 with a bang! Join us as we bid adieu to the old year, jazz style. A brief musical introduction is followed by Luna Ortega-Huizenga reading A Letter to Management. Then, mandi presents her reflection on the year end supplemented by Jack Ridenour reading an excerpt from Where the Sidewalk Ends.
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of stillness. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This podcast is from the 8 pm worship service live streamed on December 24, 2020. At our later candlelight Christmas Eve service, Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor explores what following the Christmas star can mean today after a heart-wrenching year.
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of stillness. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This podcast is from the 4 pm family worship service live streamed on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2020. Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage shares how the three rules of elves can inform our approach to Christmas.
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of stillness. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
Today's podcast is from a worship service live streamed on December 20, 2020. This December hasn't gone how any of us has planned; it's lot less busier and noisier than usual. Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage reflects on finding meaning in the quiet moments at a difficult time.
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of stillness. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
Today's podcast is from a worship service live streamed on December 13, 2020. Reflecting on the mission and vision of this congregation, Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor explores the current challenges in our Welcoming All initiative, upended by the pandemic and the arc of our continuing journey, until we begin the deep dive into Inspiring Compassion.
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of stillness. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
Today's podcast is from a worship service live streamed on December 6, 2020. Reflecting on how inner stillness is a space within where we can listen to the genuine, Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor explores how inner stillness moves us from chronological time to “kairos” time which mystics call “real time” or “God’s time,” and where the goal is in Rabbi Abraham Heschel’s words "not to have but to be.”
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of stillness. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
Today's podcast is from a worship service live streamed on November 29, 2020. The sermon is delivered by Ministerial Intern mandi huizenga. To be human is to live and love in brokenness, for to be human means loss and pain. How can we be resilient in that brokenness? How can we be holy and whole? Can we leverage that brokenness to create a world more just, to create the Beloved Community?
The theme for November is what it means to be a people of healing. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning live stream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
Today's podcast is from a worship service live streamed on November 22, 2020. Rev. Gage shares, "I know this sounds a little ridiculous, but I am inspired by those leaves that are still hanging on the trees this late in the season. There they are, still surviving, against all odds. You know, kind of like us. Here we are over 8 months into our pandemic existence, and we are still persisting and resisting, despite all the challenges that have been given to us."
The theme for November is what it means to be a people of healing. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
Today's podcast is from a worship service live streamed on November 15, 2020. Members of our community, Ken Hooker, Carol DiMatteo, Dr. Elías Ortega, and Tom McCann join our ministers and share unique challenges and losses that have come with the pandemic and how to cope. The theme for November is what it means to be a people of healing. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website. For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
Today's podcast is from a worship service live streamed on November 8, 2020. Many of us are struggling with how nearly half the voting public sought to give our current president four more years. Rev. Alan Taylor reflects on the need for religious liberals to take time to rest, rejuvenate and ready ourselves for the future. The theme for November is what it means to be a people of healing. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website. For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
Today's podcast is from a worship service live streamed on November 1, 2020. During this deeply anxious period in history, Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor reflects on the importance of invoking the love of those who have gone before us and how we can navigate this uncertain time. The theme for November is what it means to be a people of healing. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website. For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
Today's podcast is from a worship service live streamed on October 25, 2020. The sermon is delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor. Howard Thurman served as a mystic for the civil rights movements of the 50s and 60s. His teachings are as important today as then as he teaches that only by going inward can we effectively go outward. Pastor Otis Moss III says, “America wants to think of itself as the Jedis, but America too often is the Empire. If you want to be Jedis, you need your Yoda. For us, Thurman is our Yoda.” The theme for October is what it means to be a people of deep listening. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
Today's podcast is from a worship service live streamed on October 11, 2020. The sermon is delivered by Intern Minister mandi huizenga. We UUs love rationality and reason which encourages us to "think through life." The mind, however, is only one part of what it means to be human. We lose so much when we ignore the other parts of ourselves. mandi reflects on what listening to the heart and body, being in touch with our emotions and the Spirit, might offer us. The theme for October is what it means to be a people of deep listening. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
Today's podcast is from a worship service live streamed on October 11, 2020. The sermon is delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor. Rev. Taylor applies Buddhist teachings and the Hebrew story of Elijah’s search for God to the contemporary need to center ourselves and to respond compassionately to suffering.
The theme for October is what it means to be a people of deep listening. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
Today's podcast is from a worship service live streamed on October 4, 2020. The sermon is delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage. Join in this exploration of the challenges and gifts of deep listening (not just listening, but deep listening), through the help of Mister Rogers, StoryCorps and James Baldwin.
The theme for October is what it means to be a people of deep listening. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
Today's podcast is from a worship service live streamed on September 27, 2020. The sermon is delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor. Reflecting on the wisdom of Yom Kippur and the unique gifts of Judaism, Rev. Taylor explores current challenges and America’s need for repentance and repair—and the central role of the religious community.
The theme for September is what it means to be a people of renewal. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
Today's podcast is from a worship service live streamed on September 20, 2020. The sermon is delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage. Reflections on a new year, dogs' greetings, letting go and life six months into a pandemic.
The theme for September is what it means to be a people of renewal. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
Today's podcast is from a worship service live streamed on September 13, 2020. The sermon is delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor. Reflecting on how spiritual and social renewal has occurred throughout history with the birth and re-birth of compassion, Rev. Taylor explores how our current historical moment is calling for radical empathy and revolutionary love.
The theme for September is what it means to be a people of renewal. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
Today's podcast is from a worship service live streamed on September 6, 2020. On this Labor Day weekend, Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor reflects on what Valarie Kaur calls “the sweet labor of love” that calls us to address classism and racism through opening up to the stories of those we encounter.
The theme for September is what it means to be a people of renewal. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
Today's podcast is from a worship service live streamed on August 30, 2020. The sermon is delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage. Rev. gage observes that last year at this time, we never in a million years would have pictured remote or hybrid learning or masks or social distancing protocols, or virtual water communion services, or the incredible chaos of the systems around us. And yet, here we are. Here we are.
The theme for August is what it means to be a people of possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
Today's podcast is from a worship service live streamed on August 23, 2020. The Unity Temple Mental Health Awareness Team (MyHAT) brings three journeys navigating mental health along with diverse resources. Leisa Aiken, Rev. Ericka Bailey and Cory Anderson share vulnerably and powerfully.
The theme for August is what it means to be a people of possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This sermon was delivered by UTUUC Music Director Marty Swisher on August 16, 2020. Marty shares insights into how music is a force for transformation.
The theme for August is what it means to be a people of possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This sermon was delivered by Rev. Joseph Santos-Lyons on August 9, 2020. Our Unitarian Universalist ministries have a long history in culturally specific communities around the world and here in North America. Who are some of these communities? Why and how were they accepted or rejected? What does their legacy mean for the future of our faith? How can we live into a broader, more faithful interdependence?
Rev. Santos-Lyons is a biracial Asian-American (Chinese and Czech) organizer and minister based in Antipolo City, The Philippines. With a background serving youth and young adult ministry in the UUA, and leading APANO, an Asian and Pacific Islander community-based organization, Joseph’s current calling is in cultivating a new cohousing, chapel and retreat space in Southeast Asia through the Center for Organizing, Renewal and Leadership.
A second generation UU, Joseph’s theology is grounded in mutuality, liberation and the unknown. Joseph is the past president of DRUUMM, and working on a doctor of ministry with the Pacific School of Religion. He and his partner Aimee co-parent their three children, and stay engaged with the UU Church of the Philippines and the Church of the Larger Fellowship.
The theme for August is what it means to be a people of possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This sermon was delivered by Pastor Ira J. Acree on August 2, 2020. Rev. Acree has served Greater St. John Bible Church, a thriving Missionary Baptist church in the Austin neighborhood, for the past 30 years. He reflects on the story of Esther of the Hebrew Scriptures and how people of faith are called "for such a time as this."
The theme for August is what it means to be a people of possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This sermon was delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on July 26, 2020. Four plus months into our pandemic existence, Rev. Gage has been thinking hard about what sustains us, what keeps us going, what gives us hope. What makes us feel free, or at least keeps us in touch with something beyond our current circumstances. Two readings presented by youth member Clare Roarty precede the sermon.
The theme for July is what it means to be a people of hope. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This sermon was delivered by Rev. Dr. John Buehrens on July 19, 2020. Rev. Buehrens explores how the American Transcendentalists ignited movements for racial, gender and social justice in the 19th century and reflects on their wisdom for our current moment. The podcast includes a reading from "The Limits of Tyrants" by Frederick Douglass.
The Rev. John Buehrens was president of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations from 1993 to 2001. He served congregations in Tennessee, Texas, New York, Massachusetts, and California before retiring in 2017. He is the co-author with Forrest Church of A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism. His other books include Understanding the Bible: An Introduction for Skeptics, Seekers, and Religious Liberals (2004); A House for Hope: The Promise of Progressive Religion for the Twenty-first Century, with Rebecca Ann Parker (2011); Universalists and Unitarians in America: A People’s History (2011); and Conflagration: How the Transcendentalists Sparked the American Struggle for Racial, Gender, and Social Justice (2020).
The theme for July is what it means to be a people of hope. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
This sermon was delivered by Rev. Julie Taylor on July 12, 2020. Rev. Taylor explores the sometimes complicated relationship between the military and Unitarian Universalism. Rev. Julie Taylor is a Unitarian Universalist community minister specializing in critical incident response, community crisis and pastoral care. Julie is the Senior Director of Contextual Ministry and an affiliate professor at Meadville Lombard Theological School. In addition, Julie serves as a Chaplain (Capt.) with the New York Air National Guard and on the board of the UU Trauma Response Ministry. An ordained minister since 2001, Julie has served UU congregations in New York City and St. Louis and volunteered with multiple crisis and disaster response organizations. A sought-after speaker and teacher, Julie has contributed chapters to several books on the subject of spiritual care and crisis. Agitating, preaching, and working towards dismantling systems of white supremacy are key in Julie’s theology and work. Julie lives in Chicago with wife Laurel and their two children.
The theme for July is what it means to be a people of hope. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
The sermon was delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on July 5, 2020. How does a faith community participate in social change and especially the democratic process? On this Fourth of July weekend, Rev. explores the three levels of participating in democracy, both as individuals and as a faith community.
The theme for July is what it means to be a people of hope. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org.
The sermon was delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on June 21, 2020. There are moments when our hearts open up as wide as can be and let us be fully present to all that is. We can sense all the love and joy and sorrow and pain and vulnerability at once. And we need those moments. And... we simply can’t live like that all the time. It might be too much.
The theme for June is what it means to be a people of compassion. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m. NOTE: On Sunday June 28th, over 10,000 Unitarian Universalists are expected to gather together for worship. Rather than holding our regular service on that day, you are encouraged to join the national worship service that will take place at 9am and 12pm CST. This unique opportunity to worship with people who share our faith all over the continent and world will be streamed here.
This podcast is excerpted from Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation's live streamed worship service on June 14, 2020. "The central task of the church is to unveil the bonds that bind us." Using the work of Resmaa Menakem, Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor reflects on the challenge of processing the trauma of racism and how this trauma often gets lodged into our bodies.
The theme for June is what it means to be a people of compassion. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This podcast is excerpted from Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation's live streamed worship service on June 7, 2020. At this time of deep anguish and greater awareness of racism, our community needs to listen to Black voices in our midst. UTUUC members Marsha Borders, Aisha Ellis and Michael Weekes share poignantly from their experiences.
The theme for June is what it means to be a people of compassion. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This podcast is excerpted from Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation's live stream of a worship service on May 31, 2020. Sometimes we take courage and strength from our very own stories, our very own histories that tell us something about who we are and what we are capable of. Sometimes we take those same things from stories of those who have come before. Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage reflects on the gifts of what have come before that help us today.
The theme for May is what it means to be a people of thresholds. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This podcast is excerpted from Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation's live stream of a worship service on May 24, 2020. Reflecting on the thresholds of trauma and healing, Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor explores a sensations-based approach to dealing with wounds that we cannot see. Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage reflects on scars that we have on the outside and inside of us.
The theme for May is what it means to be a people of thresholds. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This podcast is excerpted from Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation's live stream of a worship service on May 17, 2020. For Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage, we're kind of in that "I don't think this is ever going to end" phase of sheltering in place... Every day feels the same and it still seems strange and new at the same time. For me, finding old favorite things that have helped me before are helping me again. Like re-reading Frog and Toad.
The theme for May is what it means to be a people of thresholds. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This service from May 10, 2020 was created and presented by the Unity Temple Youth Group as part of the high school seniors' Bridging Ceremony. Youth Coordinator Justine Urbikas introduces the service. The graduating seniors then give their bridging talks followed by remarks from Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage and Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor. In order, the seniors speaking are Bjorn-Joseph Alvestad, Brooke Bellmar, Kevin Cawley, Connor Fox Ditelberg, Eleanor Freeland, Nicolas Ubogy and Collin Waco.
The theme for May is what it means to be a people of thresholds. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This podcast is excerpted from Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation's live stream of a worship service on May 3, 2020. We are currently navigating through a significant threshold and it’s not clear what’s on the other side. Rev. Emily Gage reflects on how thresholds are like doorways into important places and Rev. Alan Taylor explores how this is a time to identify what is essential to our lives, what is worthy of our efforts and what kind of community and world we want to help usher forth.
The theme for May is what it means to be a people of thresholds. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This worship service from April 26, 2020 was created and presented by participants in our Coming of Age program. These ninth graders spent the year exploring their Unitarian Universalist identity, history, spirituality, their feelings and their beliefs. Their work culminates in this worship service where each delivers a personal credo statement that they have developed. Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage gives a brief introduction and shares her own reflections following the credos. Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor also gives a brief reflection.
In this podcast, following a brief introduction by CoA Facilitator Pete Malecki, you will hear the credos of the Coming of Age participants. In order, they are Jake Di Maso, Jolie Kennedy, Benny Bellmar, Julien Doyle, Joey Di Maso, Helen Lallos-Harrell and Daizy Lustrup.
The theme for April is what it means to be a people of liberation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This podcast is excerpted from Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation's live stream of a worship service on April 19, 2020. Reflecting on the growing ecological awareness and our capacity to know ourselves as pieces of the earth conscious of itself, Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor reflects on the extraordinary story of the original Earth Day and how we Unitarian Universalists can mobilize as a relational network. Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage offers a way for people of all ages to use their senses to help deal with feelings that arise around sheltering in place. The theme for April is what it means to be a people of liberation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
To see a video of this service, click HERE.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour on Zoom after the live stream, please visit our website at http://www.unitytemple.org. Please note that the service is currently held at 10:00 a.m.
This podcast is excerpted from Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation's live stream of a worship service on April 12, 2020. On this Easter morning and fourth day of Passover, Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage explores the stories of this sacred time, and Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor reflects on how Easter happens every day.
The theme for April is what it means to be a people of liberation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour after on Zoom after the live stream please click HERE. Please note that the service is held at 10:00 a.m.
To link to a video recording of the April 12 service go here.
This podcast is excerpted from Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation's live stream of a worship service on April 5, 2020. Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor and Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage reflect on how we create new opportunities for our spirit during this challenging time. Rev. Gage reminds us to be kind to ourselves and each other.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour after on Zoom after the live stream please click HERE. Please note that the service is held at 10:00 a.m.
To link to a video recording of the April 5 service go here.
The theme for April is what it means to be a people of liberation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
This podcast is excerpted from Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation's live stream of a worship service on March 29, 2020. Rev. Alan Taylor and Rev. Emily Gage reflect on how we ground ourselves in love during this challenging time, and Rev. Alan reflects on conversations he has had with medical professionals and their families.
The theme for March is what it means to be a people of wisdom. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We have also cancelled or postponed any congregational events that would have taken place.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour after on Zoom after the live stream please click HERE.
To link to a video recording of the March 29 service go here.
This podcast is excerpted from Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation's live stream of a worship service on March 22, 2020. How is it with your soul? How goes the rhythm of your days? Rev. Alan Taylor and Rev. Emily Gage provide reflections on how to navigate this challenging time, particularly remembering that in these tender moments, love is our guide, always, shepherding us towards ways of openness and compassion.
The theme for March is what it means to be a people of wisdom. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We will also be cancelling or postponing any congregational events that would have taken place. Please click HERE to read the letter sent to members of our congregation.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour after on Zoom after the live stream please click HERE.
To link to a video recording of the March 22 service go here.
This podcast is excerpted from Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation's live stream of a worship service on March 15, 2020. As we practice social distancing, how do we respond as a community? Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor and Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage share responses to this anxious time as the spread of COVID-19 prevents us from worshipping in person.
The theme for March is what it means to be a people of wisdom. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
For the safety of all in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UTUUC will NOT be holding in–person worship until further notice. We will also be cancelling or postponing any congregational events that would have taken place. Please click HERE to read the letter sent to members of our congregation.
For information about how to join our Sunday morning livestream worship service on YouTube and our virtual fellowship hour after on Zoom after the live stream please click HERE.
To link to a video recording of the March 15 service go here.
Reflections delivered in this Chalice Ceremony for 4th graders delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on March 8, 2020. Following an address to the participants by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor, Rev. Gage offers further thoughts on mountains, roller coasters, and how to navigate life.
The theme for March is what it means to be a people of wisdom. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Brian Sauder on March 1, 2020. Rev. Sauder explores how we, as "salt of the earth," can seek to solve our climate crisis from a perspective of justice.
Rev. Brian Sauder serves Faith in Place as the President & Executive Director (www.faithinplace.org). He was the Policy Director and organizer of the Springfield office until Rev. Clare Butterfield resigned in 2015. The entrepreneurial vision and confident leadership of Rev. Sauder is growing the impact of Faith in Place’s mission to empower people of all faiths across Illinois to be leaders for cleaner environments and healthier communities. Rev. Sauder’s passion is empowering faith communities across Illinois to take measurable steps to connect the dots between faith, environmental justice, poverty, mass incarceration, race, violence, class, and health.
The theme for March is what it means to be a people of wisdom. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Pamela Lightsey on February 23, 2020. Rev. Dr. Lightsey dynamically reflects on what the story of Esther has to teach us about "such a time as this."
The Rev. Dr. Pamela Lightsey serves at Meadville Lombard Theological School, that prepares Unitarian Universalist ministers, as the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs and Associate Professor of Constructive Theology. She arrived at MLTS in January 2018 from the Boston University School of Theology where she served as Associate Dean of Community Life and Lifelong Learning, Clinical Assistant Professor of Contextual Theology and Practice. Before serving as a theological school educator, scholar and administrator she served in the military, as a public servant, and as a United Methodist congregational pastor. Throughout her vocational life, she has been a leading social justice activist, working with local, national and international organizations focusing primarily on the causes of peacemaking, racial justice and LGBTQ rights. Dr. Lightsey is the author of Our Lives Matter: A Womanist Queer Theology.
The theme for February is what it means to be a people of resilience. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on February 16, 2020 Rev. Taylor reflects on his second visit to refugees in Matamoros, taking heart amidst disappointment.
The theme for February is what it means to be a people of resilience. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on February 9, 2020. A sermon on small and big worries, resilience, and our propensity to take "flying leaps at nonsensical unreasonable ideas like marriage and marathons and democracy and divinity." (Thanks, Brian Doyle.)
The theme for February is what it means to be a people of resilience. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on February 2, 2020. Many of life’s challenges push us beyond what we had previously thought ourselves capable. This podcast includes readings by Howard Thurman and Maya Angelou that precede Rev. Taylor's sermon that explores the resilience of individuals and communities.
The theme for February is what it means to be a people of resilience. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on January 26, 2020. Faith Testimonial by Alex Kapitan, co-founder of the Transforming Hearts Collective which supports spaces for LGBTQ people to access resilience, healing and spirituality, and supports congregations in the work of radical inclusion and culture shift. Alex shares per story of growing up Unitarian Universalist and what ze is looking for in a spiritual community.
Reflecting on the rhythms to which we move through the world, Rev. Taylor reflects on how our wider culture has dominant rhythms that are often not our own. Isn't being faithful learning how to dance to our own inner drumbeats and recognize and respond to the authentic rhythms of others?
The theme for January is what it means to be a people of integrity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on January 19, 2020. Reflecting on Dr. King's vision of the Beloved Community, Rev. Taylor explores the the work of Bryan Stevenson (Just Mercy), the ramifications of facing up to our nation's history of racism and terrorism towards people of color, and Stevenson's prescription to bring forth a society that provides justice, equity, and compassion for all.
The theme for January is what it means to be a people of integrity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Karen Mooney on January 12, 2020. Hear how building brave spaces differs from creating safe spaces and why that is the work we need to do to be truly welcoming to all.
Rev. Mooney works with the Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministries of Illinois as they seek to bring UU faith and worship to incarcerated people. She is honored to offer circles of care for those living in prisons and jails and support all those affected by incarceration. Karen is a life-long Unitarian Universalist who learned the art of church from her very involved parents. She has been educated far and wide, working and playing, listening and walking with people. She loves that UU communities are places where you find people who are alive and seeking throughout their lives.
The theme for January is what it means to be a people of integrity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Allison Farnum on January 5, 2020. Rev. Farnum examines personal integrity through the lens of discernment as a way to start the new year.
Rev. Allison Farnum is a Unitarian Universalist minister, returned to the Chicago area from eleven years serving her first call at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort Myers, Florida. She is currently serving as Adjunct Consultant for our UUA’s MidAmerica Region as she discerns how best she may next fulfill her call to serve the Spirit of Love. Rev. Allison loves all things culinary and is a proud mother of 2, and wife to her beloved Andy.
The theme for January is what it means to be a people of integrity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Allison Farnum on December 29, 2019. Rev. Farnum is a Unitarian Universalist minister, returned to the Chicago area from eleven years serving her first call at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort Myers, Florida. She is currently serving as Adjunct Consultant for our UUA’s MidAmerica Region as she discerns how best she may next fulfill her call to serve the Spirit of Love. Rev. Allison loves all things culinary and is a proud mother of 2, and wife to her beloved Andy.
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of awe. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor at the 7:00 p.m. Christmas Eve worship service on December 24, 2019. Rev. Taylor reflects on the promises of the Season.
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of awe. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
This podcast from December 22, 2019 begins with a story for all ages read by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage. The book is My Penguin Osbert by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel.She follows the story with her sermon about how sometimes things don’t turn out the way we plan.
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of awe. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on December 15, 2019. Reflecting on the teachings and life of Rabbi Abraham Heschel, Rev. Taylor considers our culture's need to engage in more awe-robics.
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of awe. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
On Sunday, December 8, 2019 the Unity Temple Choir, soloists and the Bach Baroque Chamber Orchestra presented the Bach Magnificat in D major. This, one of J.S Bach's most performed works, features five soloists and a five part chorus, beginning and ending with exciting and challenging choral movements.
Bach, a master in setting Biblical texts, has crafted a work that shows wonderful attention to the meaning of Mary's Song of Praise (Luke I: 46-55), amplified by the various moods, textures and orchestral colors that engage the listener as Mary exults in being blessed to be the Mother of the Messiah.
In order to maintain the format of the worship service, three musical movements are not included in this performance.
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of awe. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on December 1, 2019. Reflecting on the Advent story, Rev. Taylor explores Mary's courage and what sustains her. Are there two angels in the story? Will we step forth like Mary and will we provide the blessing of sanctuary to others?
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of awe. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Fev. Emily Gage on November 24, 2019. In her reflection on paying attention, Emily includes the Museum of Science and Industry, William Carlos Williams, stories about mice and Thanksgiving.
The theme for November is what it means to be a people of attention. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered on November 17, 2019 by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor. Often evil is hard to pin down but the impacts of evil are very clear. As evil is human-created hell for other people through either personal action or the structures of society, it matters that we pay attention or else our lack of attention and silence shall allow evil to flourish.
The theme for November is what it means to be a people of attention. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on November 10, 2019. During low tide, so much becomes revealed that is typically hidden. Rev. Taylor reflects on the low tide of the soul—challenging times in our lives that especially call for our attention. What does this mean for us as individuals and a wider community?
The theme for November is what it means to be a people of attention. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on November 3, 2019. What is calling for your attention? Rev. Taylor reflects on how easy it is for our technology to focus our attention to the point that we are no longer attending to what is truly important.
The theme for November is what it means to be a people of attention. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on October 27, 2019. Who are your cloud of witnesses? Have you ever thought about how you are among the cloud of witnesses for others? Rev. Taylor reflects on the wisdom of remembering—remembering those who have gone before us and those who are in need of support.
The theme for October is what it means to be a people of belonging. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Scott Aaseng on October 20, 2019. Crises like the ones we’re facing call for radical action. Not necessarily more extreme action, but radical in the sense of addressing the roots of these crises. One of the most radical actions we can take is to talk – and listen – to our neighbors.
Rev. Scott Aaseng is the Executive Director of the UU Advocacy Network of IL (UUANI). UUANI builds community and power among UU congregations in Illinois to put our UU values into effective action for justice, beloved community and a healthy planet. For more information, contact Rev. Scott Aaseng at uuani@uuani.org.
The theme for October is what it means to be a people of belonging. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on October 13, 2019. I hope that each of you can tell a story that helps to answer the question, "Whose are we?" That, at a time when you were in trouble, or grieving, or hurt, you looked around you, and you knew that you were not alone. That you were held by people who loved you for all of who you are.
The theme for October is what it means to be a people of belonging. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on October 6, 2019. Reflecting on the life work of Jean Vanier, the founder of L'Arche communities, and Brene Brown's distinction between "fitting in" and "belonging," Rev. Taylor finds the Jewish High Holy Days an apt time to explore the relationship between community and forgiveness.
The theme for October is what it means to be a people of belonging. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on September 29, 2019. Certain expectations make it possible for us to live in community. What expectations do we have of one another as a religious community as we look toward our future?
The theme for September is what it means to lead a life of expectation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on September 22, 2019. “Expect nothing," Alice Walker writes. “Live frugally on surprise.” By this, Rev. Gage takes Walker to mean that we should be open to whatever happens, that we should let ourselves be surprised by what comes our way. Don’t get weighed down by expectations—don’t spend your time thinking about what might happen or what might not happen—just let it be what it is. Easier said than done, of course.
The theme for September is what it means to lead a life of expectation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Mony Ruiz-Velasco on September 15, 2019. Mony Ruiz-Velasco is an immigration lawyer, an organizer, and the executive director of Proyecto Accion de Suburba Oestas (PASO) or the Western Suburbs Action Project, an immigration rights organization that is centered in Melrose Park. Mony works to combine legal and organizing efforts to advocate on behalf of immigrant rights and social justice. She has provided legal services, representation and counsel to thousands of immigrants and their families. She focuses her work on women, LGBTQ immigrants, survivors of crimes and other vulnerable populations. Mony can be reached at mony@pasoaction.org.
The theme for September is what it means to lead a life of expectation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on September 8, 2019. Rev. Taylor launches our year-long exploration of "Welcoming All," sharing some of the responses from a recent congregational survey about Welcoming All. He shares how we are aiming to create spaces of grace where we can listen and share deeply.
The theme for September is what it means to lead a life of expectation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on September 1, 2019. When visiting the Cesar Chavez National Monument, Rev. Alan Taylor discovered a profound connection to the grape strike of 1965-1971 and connects lessons from the collaboration between Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez with the current work of Arise Chicago.
The theme for September is how do we lead a life of expectation? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on August 25, 2019. In a short reflection for Homecoming Sunday, Rev. Taylor reflects on how being present to our discomfort and the discomfort of others can lead us to deeper peace and joy.
The theme for August is how do we lead a life of presence? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
This podcast from August 18, 2019 includes messages from Intern Minister Zsolt Elekes upon finishing his internship and Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor upon returning from the second half of his sabbatical. This Sunday's service celebrated UTUUC's Homecoming Sunday and the annual Water Communion ritual. As we say farewell to Zsolt Elekes as he returns home to Transylvania, he shares what he has gained from being among the congregation this past year. Then, Rev. Taylor shares a poignant charge to Zsolt as he goes forth a minister in our eyes.
The theme for August is how do we lead a life of presence? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Intern Minister Zsolt Elekes on August 11, 2019. Zsolt's sermon focuses on the global mission of Unitarianism and Unitarian Universalism. As he is delivering his last sermon as Intern Minister at our congregation, he underlines the importance of global partnership in faith. It is important in ages when walls are built that we build bridges that connect our faith across the oceans.
Zsolt will finish his year-long internship with UTUUC on August 18 and will return to his homeland of Transylvania to pursue his career in Unitarian Universalist ministry.
The theme for August is how do we lead a life of presence? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Scott Stabile on August 4, 2019. Scott Stabile is a writer and speaker. He presents daylong empowerment workshops nationally and internationally as an advocate for Love! He has a huge and devoted social media following. He is the author of Big Love: The Power of Living with a Wide-Open Heart and Just Love. Learn more at www.scottstabile.com.
The theme for July is how do we lead a life of presence? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
This podcast from the July 28, 2019 worship service consists of personal reflections by five UTUUC members on their experiences participating in the Beloved Conversations program. In order of presentation, the members are Emma Farrell, Magane Koshimura, Sarah Harmon, Chuck Ruth and Stephanie Kiesling. Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage offers introductory thoughts.
Beloved Conversations is an experiential curriculum that provides a space to re-form/fuse the brokenness of racism into new patterns of thought and behavior ushering in social and spiritual healing. New ways of being are learned through the actions of conversation and probing dialogue. For more information about Beloved Conversations and to inquire about participating in the next session, please contact Rev. Gage at egage@unitytemple.org.
The theme for July is how do we lead a life of presence? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on July 21, 2019. Lots was happening in 1969, including an uprising at a gay bar called the Stonewall in Greenwich Village, which may mark the beginning of the gay civil rights movement. What exactly happened that night? What does it mean for us today?
The theme for July is how do we lead a life of presence? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
This sermon delivered by Intern Minister Zsolt Elekes on July 14 is a compilation of questions asked by those attending worship that day. Questions were written during the service, categorized by a congregation member and selected as representative of that category. As a way of being fully present with the congregation, Zsolt answered the questions extemporaneously as he read them.
The theme for July is how do we lead a life of presence? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Pastor Danny Givens on July 7, 2019. Danny Givens is a heartfelt activist and orator who received a life changing gift of forgiveness from an off-duty police officer he shot during a botched robbery in 1996. Propelled by forgiveness, Danny began his journey toward reconciliation and resiliency prior to his release from incarceration in 2008. He later went on to receive his B.A. in Christian Ministry from Bethel University in 2011, accompanied by a three-year residency as an Interfaith Minister at Unity Church-Unitarian in St. Paul, Minnesota in 2016. Learn more about Danny at www.dannygivens.com.
The theme for June is how do we lead a life of presence? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Andrew Harvey on June 30, 2019. Andrew Harvey has spent 40 years devoting himself to the Rumi Renaissance and to Rumi as the prophet of love of the new universal mysticism. And now, he focuses his passion on the other great universal mystical poet, Kabir the powerful poet of India, loved by Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs but whose vision of the One transcends all religions.
In this sermon, Mr. Harvey acts as translator and unifier for Ruminator and Kabir, inviting us to experience the extreme, stunning, mystical dialogue of the heart between these two universal masters. Rumi made us vulnerable to love and now Kabir kills us into the eternal life of truth in embodied Divine humanity. Andrew further presents these two perspectives as an urgent calling to us to take action in response to our immediate climate emergency.
The theme for June is how do we lead a life of beauty? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith.
Sermon delivered by Intern Minister Zsolt Elekes on June 23, 2019. In the month of beauty, we are trying to find the beauty in the world, which we can often find in nature. Here, Zsolt raises awareness that the beauty of nature - like the coral reefs, forests and islands - will no longer be observed by the next generations if we are not listening to the climate scientists and we are not hearing the words of awareness. Through his sermon, Zsolt presents two cases of environmental injustice from Transylvania, and he gives voice to his visions and dreams.
The theme for June is how do we lead a life of beauty? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith
This sermon from June 16, 2019 consists of addresses from three UTUUC members who are also fathers. Andrew Thompson, Michael Weekes and Terry Grace share their different perspectives as fathers of preschool, elementary school and adult age children, respectively.
The theme for June is how do we lead a life of beauty? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith
Sermon delivered by Intern Minister Zsolt Elekes on June 9, 2019. There is beauty everywhere, we just need to observe it. Zsolt reflects on cultural differences in social media use, on how we can observe beauties in the outside world, and our inner world, even in times of sorrow. He also provides his understanding of Pentecost.
The theme for June is how do we lead life of beauty? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on June 2, 2019. Blaise Pascal wrote: "In difficult times, carry something beautiful in your heart." This sermon considers the beautiful things we carry in our hearts and encounters Emerson, Career Day and youth group trips along the way.
The theme for June is how do we lead life of beauty? To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith
Sermon delivered by Rev. Brian Sauder on May 26, 2019. In this message, UT member Scott Metzger talks about his work with the Eco Justice Faith in Action Team. Then, Rev. Sauder explores the theme of curiosity and courage by sharing more about his journey in growing the impact of Faith in Place alongside diverse faith communities such as Unity Temple.
Rev. Sauder is the President & Executive Director of Faith in Place (www.faithinplace.org). His passion is empowering faith communities across Illinois to take measurable steps to connect the dots between faith, environmental justice, poverty, mass incarceration, race, violence, class, and health. Rev. Sauder is ordained by the Mennonite Church U.S.A. and worships with Chicago Community Mennonite Church in East Garfield Park. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Garrett Theological Seminary, co-teaching an environmental certification course for future clergy.
The theme for May is what it means to be a people of curiosity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on May 19, 2019 as part of this worship for all ages. An ode to dandelions, being who you are, and blooming where you're planted. A homily for Flower Communion.
The theme for May is what it means to be a people of curiosity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
This service from May 12, 2019 was created and presented by the Unity Temple Youth Group as part of the high school seniors' Bridging Ceremony. Youth Coordinator Heather Godbout introduces the service. The three graduating seniors then give their bridging talks followed by remarks from Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage. In order, the seniors speaking are Matthew Layden, Elise Miedlar and Martin Stock-Ward.
The theme for May is what it means to be a people of curiosity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on May 5, 2019. When we are called to be a people of curiosity, we don’t just share in each others' interests, we are called to be open to who we are and who we are becoming, in the fullest sense of the word. When we show curiosity about one another, we are often building and strengthening relationships. And when we seek out others’ ideas and feelings by our questions and listening, then curiosity is a form of love.
The theme for May is what it means to be a people of curiosity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
This worship service from April 28, 2019 was created and presented by participants in our Coming of Age program. These ninth graders spent the year exploring their Unitarian Universalist identity, history, spirituality, their feelings and their beliefs. Their work culminates in this worship service where each delivers a personal credo statement that they have developed. Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage gives a brief introduction and shares her own reflections following the credos.
In this podcast, you will hear the credos of half the Coming of Age participants. In order, they are Amelia Morrison, Maggie Blonski, Amanda Smithivas, Nina Cleofe, Ben O'Conner, Alain Cawley, Nicole Alcalde-Hester, Sydney Sherman, Phoebe Hopper and Aiden Davies.
To hear the other 10 participants' credos, please visit http://unitytemple.libsyn.com/coming-of-age-pt-1
The theme for April is what it means to be a people of wholeness. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
This worship service from April 28, 2019 was created and presented by participants in our Coming of Age program. These ninth graders spent the year exploring their Unitarian Universalist identity, history, spirituality, their feelings and their beliefs. Their work culminates in this worship service where each delivers a personal credo statement that they have developed. Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage gives a brief introduction and shares her own reflections following the credos.
In this podcast, you will hear the credos of half the Coming of Age participants. In order, they are LiZhong DuBreuil, Josephine Welin, James McConnell, Sydney Libert, Marlena Entner, Vivien Wildfield, Mitch Brumirski, Milo Purrenhage, Nina Istas and Elliot Andries.
To hear the other 10 participants' credos, please visit http://unitytemple.libsyn.com/coming-of-age-pt-2
The theme for April is what it means to be a people of wholeness. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
This Easter sermon was delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on April 21, 2019. Rev. Gage shares, "We are exploring the theme of Wholeness this April at Unity Temple. As I consider the Easter story with this lens—the whole of the Easter story--not just the Sunday morning rising up part, but that which precedes it—it reminds me to honor and celebrate all of who we are. All of it. The challenges, the achievements, the mistakes, the forgiveness, the imperfections, and the joy and the love.We screw up all the time. But there is always another chance to change and grow and learn."
The theme for April is what it means to be a people of wholeness. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
On this special Choir Sunday on April 14, 2019, the Unity Temple Choir under the direction of Marty Swisher, Unity Temple Music Director, performs John Kramer's "The Immigrant Experience," a choral cantata in seven movements. Scored for full chorus, soprano, baritone and tenor soloists and chamber ensemble, the work describes the journey and struggles of immigrants coming to America to realize the promise of freedom. The work features texts by our U.S. founding fathers establishing our country as a place of welcome for immigrants. The musical offering is preceded by a reading from We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria by Wendy Pearlman.
John Kramer serves as Music Director at the Winchester Unitarian Society in Winchester, Massachusetts. The performance includes guest vocalists tenor John Concepcion, baritone Keanon Kyles and soprano Rosalind Lee. They are accompanied by Peter Engel-Storms on piano, Jean Hatmaker on violoncello, Meg Lanfear on violin and Daniel Williams on clarinet.
Those wishing to follow along with the text of "The Immigrant Experience" while listening can find it at http://www.unitytemple.org/sites/default/files/The%20Immigrant%20Experience%20Text.pdf. Additionally, the composer's program notes can be found at http://www.unitytemple.org/sites/default/files/Program%20Notes%20by%20the%20Composer.pdf.
The theme for April is what it means to be a people of wholeness. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on April 7,2019. How could a worship service in 1987 where the minister distributed condoms be nearly forgotten? Rev. Taylor shares reflections of Rev. Mark DeWolfe, the first openly gay minister in Canada, whose brilliant career was cut short by AIDS and the prophetic witness of his colleague Carl Titchener whose prophetic witness should be celebrated.
The theme for April is what it means to be a people of wholeness. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on March 31, 2019. When we discover that we've lost our way, a new journey potentially begins. Rev. Taylor reflects on how one's journey is often unclear, tentative, and in need of "pendulating" between engaging the world and seeking refuge in a safe place.
The theme for March is what it means to be a people of journey. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Sermon delivered by Rev. Scott Aaseng on March 24, 2019. In a world where everything seems like it's coming apart, we are called to make connections - between humans and the earth, between faith and action, between ourselves and others - and live out the interdependence we claim.
Introductory music sung by Isabella Carrasquillo, sophomore at Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. She was one of three winners of the Unity Temple Vocal Music Scholarship funded by the annual UT Spring Music festival.
The theme for March is what it means to be a people of journey. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on March 17, 2019. The Spiral Journey - reflecting on how our spiritual journeys often take the form of a spiral where we re-learn certain things again and again, Rev. Taylor shares his learnings around white male oppression and how the goal in this work is not perfection but progress.
The theme for March is what it means to be a people of journey. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Reflections delivered in this Chalice Ceremony for 4th graders delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage. Following an address to the participants by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor, Rev. Gage offers further thoughts. She says, "When I was in fourth grade, I was lucky enough to be part of a Unitarian Universalist congregation, and there were people there who were devoted to helping me figure out who I was and how they could help me on my way. Just like here and now. I mean, that’s really what we’re all about here in this Unitarian Universalist community. We’re trying to help each other along our way."
The theme for March is what it means to be a people of journey. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Our Unitarian faith heritage draws significantly from both Transylvania and the United States. In this podcast from March 3, 2019, Intern Minister Zsolt Elekes shares from his Transylvanian heritage and Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor reflects on the early New England Unitarianism and the Transcendentalists. Significant similarities are found when reflecting on the questions "What saves us?" and "What sustains us?"
The theme for March is what it means to be a people of journey. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Sermon delivered by Intern Minister Zsolt Elekes on February 24, 2019. Our everyday lives are constructed around stories that we trust and share among each other. These stories, philosophies shape our worldview and give meaning to our activities. Zsolt, our Intern Minister from Transylvania, shares how some of the stories under the communist dictatorship were tragically harmful to an entire society. He also explains why we need to always check the stories we tell and listen to so we will be communities of inclusion rather than exclusion.
The theme for February is what it means to be a people of trust. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on February 17, 2019. The media has long represented Albert Einstein as an absent-minded brilliant scientist, but he was a highly engaged, compassionate activist for human rights, for the ethical guidance of technological innovation and, unbeknownst to many because so rarely publicized, for racial equality. Rev. Taylor reflects on how his religious convictions informed his moral leadership.
The theme for February is what it means to be a people of trust. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on February 10, 2019. We tend to think of trust as a big word, and it is--it’s big in its meaning and impact. But trust in relationships is also about everyday moments.
The theme for February is what it means to be a people of trust. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on February 3, 2019. In what do you place your trust? What sustains you when you are in crisis? Where do you turn? Rev. Taylor reflects on Universalist and Unitarian responses and shares of his own faith position.
The theme for February is what it means to be a people of trust. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on January 27, 2019. Many of us are reticent about prayer. If you have wondered whether prayer might have a place in your UU existence, Rev. Taylor shares how prayer ushers forth a trust in what we cannot see, and opens us up to change - both change within ourselves and to change in which we can participate amidst our wider world.
The theme for January is what it means to be a people of possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on January 20, 2019. Rev. Gage writes, "The story has been told as though there is an ending. And that’s not entirely wrong. Some of those stories do have an ending. A happy ending, even. A story that we saw a wrong, we worked to change it, and it got changed. Happy ending.
I believe this is kind of how we think of the civil rights movement of the late 50s and 60s in the United States. (I use this word “we” broadly and loosely, and maybe this only really applies to the white population of the United States.) This is certainly what I was brought up to believe."
(The podcast to which Emily refers in the sermon is Scene on Radio. The Seeing White series can be found at https://www.sceneonradio.org/seeing-white/ along with other Scene on Radio series.)
The theme for January is what it means to be a people of possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on January 13, 2019. What if hope is a state of the mind rather than a state of the world? Then hope is not the same thing as optimism nor the conviction that something will turn out well but that something makes sense. Rev. Taylor explores how this kind of hope makes way for possibility.
The theme for January is what it means to be a people of possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Sermon delivered by Intern Minister Zsolt Elekes on January 5, 2019. Zsolt shares stories on what it means for him to be a liberal Christian and possibilities for us all to do the work of justice, love and compassion in 2019.
The theme for January is what it means to be a people of possibility. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Sermon delivered by Intern Minister Zsolt Elekes on December 30, 2019. Zsolt shares his thoughts about the importance of the Christmas story and the importance of continuing to do the work usually done just around Christmas.
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of mystery. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Homily delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2018.
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of mystery. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on December 23, 2018. Things happen like that, sometimes. We’re just going about our daily business, and then boom--our hearts crack open and our worlds become bigger, and suddenly there’s more good all around us.
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of mystery. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
This service from December 16, 2018 features the Unity Temple Choir under the direction of Music Director Marty Swisher performing "Luminous Night of the Soul" by Ola Gjeilo, accompanied by pianist Peter Storms and assisted by a string quartet . Reflections by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor and Marty Swisher precede the musical offering.
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of mystery. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on December 9, 2018. What meaning does Hanukkah have for us today, especially in the wake of emerging hateful incidents? Rev. Taylor explores this question through story, poetry, and reflection.
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of mystery. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on December 2, 2018. Howard Thurman calls us to listen for the sound of the genuine as our one true guide. During this Advent sermon, Rev. Taylor reflects on the importance of taking pause to wait and listen, to enter that place of mystery where the divine is waiting to be born and reborn in our lives.
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of mystery. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Sermon delivered by Ministerial Intern Zsolt Elekes on November 25, 2018. Zsolt briefly relays the history of the 450-year old Transylvanian Unitarian Church and their struggle with being a theologically liberal religious institution in a more conservative society. He shares what he learned from its history that can help us find the hope and faith necessary for our future mission and being in this world.
The theme for November is what it means to be a people of memory. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Reflection delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on November 18, 2018. Linda Hogan reminds us: "Suddenly, all my ancestors are behind me. 'Be Still,' they say. 'Watch and listen. You are the result of the love of thousands.' Thoughts on memory, Thanksgivings pasts, and the practice of gratitude in hard times.
The theme for November is what it means to be a people of memory. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Sermon delivered by SeniorMinister Rev. Alan Taylor on November 11, 2018. On Veterans Day and the centennial of the end of World War I, Rev. Taylor reflects on trauma, recovery and how we all might cope and respond.
The theme for November is what it means to be a people of memory. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on November 4, 2018. Which of the two wolves will we feed—the one of fear and hatred or the one of love and connection? Rev. Taylor reflects on how hate is a not an answer to hate.
The theme for November is what it means to be a people of memory. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on October 28, 2018. Rev. Gage shares that "if your social media feed is anything like mine, there’s a series of truly frightening happenings in our world, things that seem big and insurmountable, one after another and another.... And also in my social media feed, there are glimmers of good news--seemingly tiny things that shine like little pebbles in that vast ocean of difficulty. People helping one another, people out on the streets, people voting, writing postcards, protesting, and doing the best they can to hold on to hope, to the possibility of change, to love."
The theme for October is what it means to be a people of sanctuary. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections.
Sermon delivered by our Intern Minister Zsolt Elekes on October 21, 2018. Zsolt shares his experiences of showing up the first time in the United States from Transylvania and how we all are responsible for sharing our own stories and being a welcoming community.
The theme for October is what it means to be a people of sanctuary. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on October 14, 2018. We are capable of creating sanctuary for one another through kindness.
The theme for October is what it means to be a people of sanctuary. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on October 7, 2018. How can tolerance and intolerance co-exist? Rev. Taylor suggests that tolerance is the virtue that makes peace possible and reflects on the challenges of embodying tolerance in this time of intense polarization and intolerance.
The theme for October is what it means to be a people of sanctuary. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on September 30, 2018. If we consider vision as “looking forward together,” there is much to reflect on from where this congregation has come and now where it is going, especially in light of toxic masculinity promoted in the halls of power.
The theme for September is what it means to be a people of vision. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on September 23, 2018. "Often the most challenged books are the stories that need to be heard the most," they muse on bannedbooksweek.org. Reflections on banned books week, the silencing of stories and why what we share and how we listen matters.
The theme for September is what it means to be a people of vision. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on September 16, 2018. Reflecting on the wisdom of the Jewish High Holy Days, Rev. Taylor explores the nature of forgiveness and provides a contemporary and compelling understanding of atonement.
The theme for September is what it means to be a people of vision. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on September 9, 2018. What goes into becoming a people of vision, especially when we as human beings are prone to significant blind spots? Reflecting on the documentary America to Me, Rev. Taylor reflects on how we strengthen our muscle of hope as we seek to cultivate our vision of the Beloved Community.
The theme for September is what it means to be a people of vision. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on September 2, 2018. “Before you tell your life what you are going to do with it, listen for what it intends to do with you.” Rev. Taylor reflects on the modesty of his grandfather’s life in light of Parker Palmer’s reflections on vocation.
The theme for September is what it means to be a people of vision. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections.
This podcast from August 26, 2018 begins with an introduction to the UTUUC Water Communion ceremony included during each Homecoming Sunday which kicks off the new church year. The introduction is shared by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor, who is returning from a four-month sabbatical, and Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage. Rev. Taylor follows that with a brief reflection for this worship for all ages.
The theme for August is what it means to be a people of story. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections.
Reflections in this podcast from worship on August 19, 2018 were given by congregation members and Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor who participated in the Beloved Conversations program. In order, they are Marsha Borders, Ann Cooke, Jennifer Evans, Elizabeth Freeland, John Freeland and Rev. Alan Taylor.
Beloved Conversations is an experiential curriculum that provides a space to re-form/fuse the brokenness of racism into new patterns of thought and behavior ushering in social and spiritual healing. New ways of being are learned through the actions of conversation and probing dialogue. Participation in this course requires an extensive time commitment, a degree of openness, willingness to engage in deeply personal conversations, and a level of comfort with potentially difficult interactions. For more information, contact Rev. Emily Gage at egage@unitytemple.org.
The theme for August is what it means to be a people of story. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections.
Reflections delivered on August 12, 2018 by Rev. Scott Aaseng and Rev. Karen Mooney, Elise Miedlar and Frankie Tilbrook. The world is in need of our many hands doing the work of justice. But what is it that we are building as we work? Leaders of three UU justice organizations in Illinois will share their perspectives: Rev. Karen Mooney, Director of the UU Prison Ministry of IL (UUPMI), Rev. Scott Aaseng, Executive Director of the UU Advocacy Network of IL (UUANI), and Elise Miedlar, Coordinator and Frankie Tilbrook, Leader of Youth and Young Adult (YaYA) Justice.
UUPMI equips UUs in Illinois to transform institutions and support people harmed by the prison industrial complex. For more information, contact Rev. Karen Mooney at uupmi.info@gmail.com or uupmi.org.
UUANI builds community and power among UU congregations in Illinois to put our UU values into effective action for justice, beloved community and a healthy planet. For more information, contact Rev. Scott Aaseng at uuani@uuani.org.
YaYA Justice is an up and coming UU social justice group focused on connecting young people ranging in age from their teens well into their twenties. We work to give young people opportunities to get involved in all kinds of activism out of the necessity for youth and young adult focused action when change is plentiful and generational divides are at their largest. For more information, contact Elise Miedlar and Frankie Tilbrook at yayajustice@uuani.org.
The theme for August is what it means to be a people of story. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Clare Butterfield on August 5, 2018. We look for voyages - great journeys that give meaning to our lives. But meaning is made in relationship. Sometimes with snakes.
Rev. Dr. Clare Butterfield is the Program Director for the Illinois Science and Energy Innovation Foundation (ISEIF), helping to originate and manage the grants function since 2013. She brings to ISEIF her background in grassroots environmental education around Illinois and wide network of relationships in the field, which were established in her prior position for 14 years as founder and Executive Director of Faith in Place. Prior to that she worked as a transactional attorney, specializing in corporate and tax law. She also manages a small consulting practice, 2 Point 0 Studio, on the side, on the website for which she occasionally blogs. Her graduate education includes a J.D. from the University of Illinois, a Doctor of Ministry from Chicago Theological Seminary and a Masters of Divinity from Meadville Lombard Theological School. She is also ordained as a Unitarian Universalist minister. Clare can be contacted at c.butterfield@iseif.org or 312-239-6752.
The theme for August is what it means to be a people of story. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Darrick Jackson on July 29, 2018. How do we survive in this changing world? What gives us the strength to keep going, to fight for justice, to be better human beings?
Rev. Darrick Jackson is the Director of Education of the UU Ministers Association. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Meadville Lombard Theological School and one of the authors in the book “Centering: Navigating Race, Authenticity and Power in Ministry.”
Darrick is active in DRUUMM (the UU ministry for people of color). He is also the treasurer and Workshop Leader for Healing Moments (a ministry for caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s). In his free time, Darrick likes to knit and to be involved in theatre. He is married to James Olson, a United Church of Christ minister and lives with their two cats, Merlin and Morgana. The theme for July is what it means to be a people of story. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on July 22, 2018. Rev. Gage shares that if you’re paying attention at all to the news these days, it’s hard not to feel disoriented. To me, anyway, it feels like so much is in question. So much is up in the air. Sometimes I get overwhelmed. And sometimes I try and remind myself of that Sun Tzu saying about how in the midst of chaos, there is opportunity.
The theme for July is what it means to be a people of story. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Reflections offered by congregants Emma Farrell and Alice Ocrey and Rev. Kellie Kelly on July 15, 2018. As part of this Unity Temple Mental Health Awareness Team (MyHAT) service, Emma, Alice and Kellie share how mental illness has touched their lives in the hopes that sharing their stories will help reduce the stigma, increase our understanding and encourage support.
The theme for July is what it means to be a people of story. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Meg Riley on July 8, 2018. Some stories comfort us with familiarity; others surprise us as they evolve before our eyes. Improvisation, which may appear to go "anywhere" is governed by consistent guidelines which allow evolving stories to be strong, focussed and interesting. How could those practices serve us in everyday life?
Meg Riley currently serves as Senior Minister of the Church of the Larger Fellowship, a Unitarian Universalist congregation that began as an outreach to UU soldiers in World War II and continues to reach out to farflung UUs, including almost 900 people who are currently incarcerated. Riley has served the movement in a variety of other capacities. She lives in Minneapolis, where she has been studying improv for about 5 years. The theme for July is what it means to be a people of story. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Unity Temple congregant and lay leader Chuck Ruth on July 1, 2018. Becoming more conscious is the spiritual imperative of our time. Chuck shares what this means for us and the wider world.
The theme for July is what it means to be a people of story. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Amy Shaw on June 24, 2018. Unitarian Universalism has a message of good news for the world, and it is too big not to share. Come and join Rev. Shaw as we explore hope and agency in troubled times, and our role in spreading the Word.
Rev. Amy Shaw is the settled minister at Lake Country Unitarian Universalist Church in Hartland, WI. She was born and raised in Kentucky, and she preaches in a vibrant, dynamic style shaped by a Southern Gospel and Pentecostal tradition. This tradition uses a musical accompanist during the sermon, to help provide rhythm and pacing to the words, and welcomes responses from the congregation during preaching. You are welcome (but not required!) at any time during the sermon to raise your hand(s), to clap or snap, or to call out “yes!” or amen or alleluia or any other form of affirmation you like.
The theme for June is what it means to be a people of blessing. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Kellie Kelly on June 17, 2018. Rev. Kellie Kelly serves as our Sabbatical Pastoral Care Minister. Many of us live in the future, thinking that we can make time to be joyful once this big stressor, crisis, or change is over. Rev. Kellie reminds us to come back to the present and make time now - make time to savor the mess, to celebrate the mess, to enjoy the mess - to bless the mess.
The theme for June is what it means to be a people of blessing. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Dorothy Emerson on June 10, 2018. The 1960s introduced many cultural changes that still influence us today as we continue to struggle with issues of freedom, equality, peace and love. What can we learn from this era about the challenges of creating a culture based on Unitarian Universalist values and principles?
The Rev. Dr. Dorothy May Emerson is a semi-retired Unitarian Universalist minister, who has served both in the parish and community. Her recent ministry includes the co-founding of UU Class Conversations, to inspire UU congregations to become more class-inclusive and diverse. Her recently published memoir, Sea Change: the unfinished agenda of the 1960s, will be available for purchase after the service. Her previous books include Called to Community: New Directions in UU Ministry; Standing Before Us: Unitarian Universalist Women and Social Reform 1776-1936; and the curriculum Becoming Women of Wisdom: Marking the Passage into the Crone Years.
The theme for June is what it means to be a people of blessing. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on June 3, 2018. Rev. Gage says, "Once I start thinking about what some of my favorite things are, the easier it is to think about other ones. That’s one of the great things about noticing your blessings: Once you start practicing, you get to be better and better at it. Kind of like most things. There are always, always blessings all around us. We only need to look and pay attention with our hearts."
The theme for June is what it means to be a people of blessing. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Dr. Michelle Lattanzio on May 27, 2018. Dr. Lattanzio is currently serving as a Hospice Chaplain and Spiritual Care Coordinator in Skokie, IL. Michelle is in Preliminary Fellowship with the UUA and is a graduate of Meadville Lombard Theological School. She holds a PhD in English from the University of South Florida and taught undergraduate classes at USF. She frequently presented conference papers, with her absolute favorite entitled, "From Cowpunchers to Console Cowboys: The Transformation of the Cowboy Figure from the Wild West Frontier to the Cyberworld Frontier.” Michelle also loves spending time with her dog Axel, creating art, reading, writing, dancing, and rooting for her favorite roller derby teams.
The theme for May is what it means to be a people of creativity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on May 20, 2018. The tricky part about parenting (or just working with young people) is that it involves other people. People who have their own ideas about who they are and how they want to be in this world. Which is all fine and good and all that. That’s the way it should be. Except that sometimes those ideas aren’t the ideas that we have about who and how our kids should be.
The theme for May is what it means to be a people of creativity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
This service from May 13, 2018 was created and presented by the high school youth group and celebrates the seniors who are "bridging" to adulthood. The podcast begins with an introduction and reflections from Heather Godbout, UTUUC's Youth Coordinator. Following that, the seniors present their bridging talks written for the service. In order, they are Declan Cawley, Kelsey Libert, Joey Pintozzi, Clare Roarty, Ayanna Sloan and Anika Waco.
The theme for May is what it means to be a people of creativity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on May 6, 2018. And this is why we are here, isn’t it? Because we are better together than apart. Because we need one another to deepen the meaning and experiences of our lives, even though being together is as challenging as it is rewarding. Because, let’s face it: we’re a little quirky. We’re a little human. We’re a little different from each other.
The theme for May is what it means to be a people of creativity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
This worship service from April 29, 2018 was created by participants in our Coming of Age program. These ninth graders spent the year exploring their Unitarian Universalist identity, history, spirituality, their feelings and their beliefs. Their work culminates in this worship service where each delivers a personal credo statement that they have developed. Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage gives a brief introduction and shares her own reflections following the credos.
The theme for April is what it means to be a people of emergence. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Brian Sauder on April 22, 2018. In this Earth Day sermon, Rev. Sauder lifts up a Tillichian theme of mutual priesthood by sharing his journey as the President of Faith in Place. Our faith traditions provide the tools of emergence for personal spiritual transformation. It is this spiritual transformation that further allows people of faith to lead the environmental movement to new heights of impact.
Rev. Sauder is the President & Executive Director of Faith in Place. His passion is empowering faith communities across Illinois to take measurable steps to connect the dots between faith, environmental justice, poverty, mass incarceration, race, violence, class, and health. Rev. Sauder is ordained by the Mennonite Church U.S.A. and worships with Chicago Community Mennonite Church in East Garfield Park. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor at McCormick Theological Seminary, co-teaching an environmental certification course for future clergy.
The theme for April is what it means to be a people of emergence. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
This Choir Sunday from April 15, 2018 features a performance of the Requiem by Gabriel Fauré. UTUUC Music Director Marty Swisher offers an introductory reflection and conducts the Unity Temple Choir with soprano soloist Henriët Fourie Thompson, a UTUUC member, and baritone soloist Jeffrey Ray. They are accompanied by UTUUC organist/pianist Peter Engel Storms on organ and Chicago area orchestral musicians on harp, violin, violas, cellos, double bass, trumpets and timpani.
The theme for April is what it means to be a people of emergence. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on April 8, 2018. In his last sermon before a sabbatical, Rev. Taylor highlights some of the defining moments in the congregation's past few decades. He encourages members to continue their spring "emergence," blossoming as a community, to unleash courageous love.
The theme for April is what it means to be a people of emergence. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on April 1, 2018. On Easter morning, Rev. Taylor reflected on the faith of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the teachings of Jesus interpreted by Dr. King’s mentor, Howard Thurman, affirming love as the most durable power in the world and the function of religious community to make paradise tangible.
The theme for April is what it means to be a people of emergence. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Scott Aaseng on March 25, 2018. Working for justice can sometimes seem like a matter of giving up what we want and acting entirely for the sake of others. But is there a way of looking at action for justice as something in which we have a stake in what happens – with our own skin in the game?
Rev. Aaseng was a musician, a community activist, and a Lutheran pastor (among other things) prior to discovering his call to Unitarian Universalist ministry. Today, he is Executive Director of the Unitarian Universalist Advocacy Network of Illinois (UUANI) and UTUUC's Community Minister.
Scott graduated from the St. Olaf Paracollege with a degree in Peace Studies, and spent a year studying and traveling in South Africa during the apartheid years. He volunteered as a teacher in rural Tanzania, before returning to the U.S. and earning his M.Div. at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. He interned at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, and served a small Lutheran congregation on the southwest side of Chicago for five years in the early 1990’s.
He left ordained ministry to become primary caregiver for his two daughters, while becoming project director and then grant-writer for the Southwest Youth Collaborative, a community-based youth organization he helped found. He also served as musician for a number of church gospel choirs, and went on to serve as Village Musician at Holden Village, a Lutheran retreat center in the mountains of Washington state. Upon returning to Chicago in 2005, he became a project assistant with American Friends Service Committee, coordinating a nationally touring display of combat boots and civilian shoes showing the human cost of war. He also began attending Third Unitarian Church in Chicago with his family.
Becoming a musician at Third Unitarian in 2009 re-awakened his call to ministry, now more clearly grounded in Unitarian Universalism. He took classes at both Starr King and Meadville Lombard seminaries, completed his internship at Unity Temple, and went on to serve as Unity Temple’s first Assistant Minister for Social Justice. He has since served as part-time Consulting Minister at the Unitarian Church of Quincy, Illinois and at First Unitarian Church of Hobart, Indiana. He now serves as Executive Director of the Unitarian Universalist Advocacy Network of Illinois.
Scott has lived on the west side of Chicago for 20 years with his spouse, Gale Holmlund, and their two teenage daughters, Sunniva and Brita. He enjoys bicycling, playing piano, being outdoors, and traveling with his family.
The theme for March is how to be a people of balance. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on March 18, 2018. Taking his family on a hike, Rev. Taylor stumbled on the metaphor of “the narrow ridge” for the faith journey. Drawing wisdom from Howard Thurman and Rabbi Martin Buber, this sermon provides a provocative perspective on the theme of balance.
The theme for March is what it means to be a people of balance. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on March 11, 2018. Do you struggle with staying centered? Reflecting on the Buddhist teaching of the Bamboo Acrobat, Rev. Taylor shares challenges and fruits of cultivating a sustained spiritual practice.
The theme for March is what it means to be a people of balance. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on March 4, 2018. All our lives we focus on balance whether we think about it or not. In the very beginning we master sitting up, standing up, walking -- they are, in part, all a matter of balancing. Later in life, it’s often this kind of balance we focus on again, as we lose some of those abilities and need help. When the balance of our bodies is out of whack, that’s what we tend to focus on all the time. But there is also the question of balance on the inside.
The theme for March is what it means to be a people of balance. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on February 25, 2018. Reflecting on the #MeToo movement as a call for justice, Rev. Taylor explores how it is also a men’s issue: how women and men willing to honestly address the painful reality of toxic masculinity can together change our culture by actively promoting the inherent worth and dignity of all.
The theme for February is what it means to be a people of perseverance. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Intern Minister Kellie C. Kelly on February 18, 2018. In our own personal lives and in our communal work for social justice, the ability to persist and persevere is an important skill to build and strengthen. Sometimes, it is the only type of courage we need.
The theme for February is what it means to be a people of perseverance. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on February 11, 2018. What are the gifts and sacrifices that come with being who you really are and embodying your values? Rev. Taylor reflects on the journey of the Guatemalan man in our care, the story of the founder of the first LGBTQ human rights organization in Guatemala, and the role that severe depression played in the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.
The theme for February is what it means to be a people of perseverance. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on February 4, 2018. It’s not often you hear about the day someone heard "no" for the seventh time and they just flipped out. Or the many days like that. It’s not often that you read about the time they just sat down and sobbed and sobbed. Or the multiple times like that. It’s not often you hear about the Herculean effort it took to get out of bed that morning. Or efforts it took to do whatever. But these things are always part of the story. Always. Always.
The theme for February is what it means to be a people of perseverance. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Colleen Vahey on January 28, 2018. The sermon was preceded by "Imagine" by John Lennon, performed by the Unity Temple Singers. Rev. Vahey explores the importance of bold visions, moral courage and abundant love to see us through devastating times. She outlines the guiding principles of our growing Faith in Action Network, and shares upcoming calls to action to keep bending the moral arc of the universe toward justice!
In September 2015, Colleen joined the Unity Temple staff as our part-time Faith in Action Coordinator. She is an ordained UU minister who, over the past twenty-five years, has served as a hospital chaplain, a religious educator, a college lecturer and assistant minister. Since August 2017, Colleen also serves as the part-time minister of Third Unitarian Church of Chicago.
The theme for January is what it means to be a people of intention. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on January 21, 2018. What do the history of covenant and Rev. Taylor’s favorite Star Wars movie have to do with one another? How does covenant, shared intention, transcend our present moment and connect us to the generations past and future?
The theme for January is what it means to be a people of intention. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on January 14, 2018. As Unitarian Universalists we are engaged in a resistance movement for freedom that began exactly 450 years ago in the mountainous country of Transylvania. Freedom requires resistance to tyranny as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. so effectively demonstrated. Rev. Taylor reflects on the function of religious communities given these legacies.
The theme for January is what it means to be a people of intention. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on January 7, 2018. Ellen Bass writes: "The thing is to love life, to love it even when you have no stomach for it, and everything you've held dear crumbles like burnt paper in your hands, your throat filled with the silt of it…. Then you hold life like a face between your palms, a plain face, no charming smile, no violet eyes, and you say, yes, I will take you I will love you again." Sometimes it is easy to know how to love life again. Sometimes it is not.
The theme for January is what it means to be a people of intention. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by UTUUC member Terry Kinsey on December 31, 2017. Terry suggests it's time to upgrade our "operating system" so that we will act from a more skillful responsive space and not a reactive "habit pattern." Our habit pattern space has evolved over time and if we want to upgrade it, we'll need to put into practice an intentional plan including "designing" the desired operating system and then "installing" the upgrade through practice. He presents a specific UU Buddhist plan of action.
Terry Kinsey joined Unity Temple in 1982. As a member of this congregation he has taught many AYS/OWL classes for junior high students. He participates in the original Men's Group which started in 1984 and has led several Men's Retreats. Terry founded Mother Earth Adventures which existed from 1991-2010 and offered vision quests and sweat lodges. In 1985, he became a counselor at Marwood Camp, a weeklong UU rites of passage summer camp for adolescents. Professionally, Terry is a retired pediatric physical therapist. His interest in secular/liberal Buddhism began in 1998. He has attended many 9- to 11-day silent Buddhist wilderness backpacks and canoe retreats as well as many 6- to 11-day silent center-based Buddhist retreats. His Buddhist "coaches" are Stephen Schettini and Erik Kolvig. Terry can be reached at mindful@unitytemple.org or terrykinsey@gmail.com.
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of hope. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
This reading and homily from the Christmas Eve Pageant service were delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on December 24, 2017. This is precisely why the Christmas story is so completely awesome: It is about following the star... and actually finding where it is leading you. It is about the impossible being possible. It is about miracles.
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of hope. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor at the 11:00 p.m. service on December 24, 2017. In this Christmas Eve homily, Rev. Taylor reflects on the saving tradition of Unitarian Universalism that thrives in the congregational life at Unity Temple, acknowledging the beauty of being back in our space while lifting up the call to embody kindness, curiosity, and joy.
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of hope. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on December 17, 2017. The sermon is preceded by the story for all ages, "The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming" by Lemony Snicket. Rev. Gage says, "This December, we are exploring the theme of hope. That sounds about right. I'm up for some more hope. Even that wasn't the theme, I'd be up here working on hope, preaching on hope, finding hope wherever I can find it."
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of hope. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on December 10, 2018. In this typically frenetic time, Rev. Taylor urges us to take time to find stillness. He explores the relationship between stillness and revelation, as there is often so much hidden from us, both exquisitely beautiful as well as horrific.
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of hope. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on December 3, 2017. Rev. Taylor provides a sermon on seeking hope in a time of despair. Sometimes history and even our lives seem like Pandora’s Box has been opened. How do we keep hope even when cultural forms of hope seem vacuous and irrelevant to the times?
The theme for December is what it means to be a people of hope. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Intern Minister Kellie C. Kelly on November 26, 2017. Despite what society teaches us, we can create abundance when we give ourselves the gift of gratitude.
The theme for November is what it means to be a people of abundance. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Reflection delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on November 19, 2017. 20th century Unitarian Universalist theologian James Luther Adams used to say that “Church is a place where you get to practice being human.” We all – all of us – have to practice being human, because none of us – not even the grown ups – have it all figured out.
The theme for November is what it means to be a people of abundance. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on November 12, 2017. Reflecting on the inspiring story Jose Antonio Vargas, Rev. Alan Taylor shares explores the implications of living with the kind of hope and courage exhibited by this Pulitzer prize winning journalist who is undocumented—and highly public about it.
The theme for November is what it means to be a people of abundance. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Nathan Hollister on November 5, 2017. Rev. Hollister, board member of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), speaks to why he, as a lifelong proponent of culture change, believes the UUSC embodies our Unitarian Universalist values and is especially effective in meeting the needs of some of the most marginalized people all over the world.
Rev. Hollister leads the ministry of Scared Fire Unitarian Universalist, which plants and grows deliberate communities supporting life and social justice all across the country. He received degrees in Political Science and Sociology from Northeastern University, and his Masters of Divinity and Masters of Leadership from Meadville Lombard Theological School, where he now serves as Affiliate Faculty. "Nato," in addition to his UUSC board position, chairs the UUA's Commission on Appraisal as well as the board of his local Immigrant and Refugee Community Partnership.
The theme for November is what it means to be a people of abundance. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on October 29, 2017. Rev. Taylor shares poignant stories of delayed grief, immediate grief, the significance of grief, and the maturity that comes over time in coming to accept the losses that we have incurred.
The theme for October is how to be a people of courage. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Colin Bossen on October 22, 2017. W. E. B. DuBois posited that the United States faced a choice between abolition democracy and white supremacy. As part of the UUA-wide teach-in on white supremacy, we’ll explore how the quest for abolition democracy is connected to our religious journeys as Unitarian Universalists. A text version of this sermon can be found on Colin's blog at http://colinbossen.com/the-latest-form-of-infidelity/14264965/abolition-democracy-unity-temple.
An award winning preacher, scholar and social justice organizer, Rev. Bossen is currently working on his doctorate at Harvard University where he is studying the relationship between theology and populism. Twice a month he preaches at the First Parish Church Unitarian Universalist, Ashby, Massachusetts, where he serves as the parish minister. His research has been supported by the American Studies program of Harvard University, a Harvard Merit Term-Time Fellowship, a Frederick Kettner Scholarship from the Biosophical Institute, the Fund for Nurturing Unitarian Universalist Scholarship, multiple Joseph Sumner Smith Scholarships, the Joseph Gittler Fund for Religion and Ethics, the Institute for Anarchist Studies, the Unitarian Universalist Association, and the Center for American Political Studies. Prior to returning to academia Rev. Bossen served as a parish minister for six years. He serves on the Board for the Unitarian Universalist History and Heritage Society and is the author of two religious education curriculums and close to two dozen published essays, articles, book chapters and poems. Colin's brother is the painter Jorin Bossen. His oil and crayon painting is the image for this podcast listing.
The theme for October is how to be a people of courage. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Scott Aaseng on October 15, 2017. The times we live in are difficult, distracting, troubling. Yet our faith is grounded in deep roots which enable us to not only withstand the storms, but to become stronger by living into the solidarity of interdependence. As Clarissa Estes puts it, we are indeed made for these times.
Rev. Aaseng was a musician, a community activist, and a Lutheran pastor (among other things) prior to discovering his call to Unitarian Universalist ministry. Today, he is Executive Director of the Unitarian Universalist Advocacy Network of Illinois (UUANI) and UTUUC's Community Minister.
Scott graduated from the St. Olaf Paracollege with a degree in Peace Studies, and spent a year studying and traveling in South Africa during the apartheid years. He volunteered as a teacher in rural Tanzania, before returning to the U.S. and earning his M.Div. at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. He interned at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, and served a small Lutheran congregation on the southwest side of Chicago for five years in the early 1990’s.
He left ordained ministry to become primary caregiver for his two daughters, while becoming project director and then grant-writer for the Southwest Youth Collaborative, a community-based youth organization he helped found. He also served as musician for a number of church gospel choirs, and went on to serve as Village Musician at Holden Village, a Lutheran retreat center in the mountains of Washington state. Upon returning to Chicago in 2005, he became a project assistant with American Friends Service Committee, coordinating a nationally touring display of combat boots and civilian shoes showing the human cost of war. He also began attending Third Unitarian Church in Chicago with his family.
Becoming a musician at Third Unitarian in 2009 re-awakened his call to ministry, now more clearly grounded in Unitarian Universalism. He took classes at both Starr King and Meadville Lombard seminaries, completed his internship at Unity Temple, and went on to serve as Unity Temple’s first Assistant Minister for Social Justice. He has since served as part-time Consulting Minister at the Unitarian Church of Quincy, Illinois and at First Unitarian Church of Hobart, Indiana. He now serves as Executive Director of the Unitarian Universalist Advocacy Network of Illinois.
Scott has lived on the west side of Chicago for 20 years with his spouse, Gale Holmlund, and their two teenage daughters, Sunniva and Brita. He enjoys bicycling, playing piano, being outdoors, and traveling with his family.
The theme for October is how to be a people of courage. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on October 8, 2017. Rev. Taylor explores what it means to be a people of courage and connects it to how we are called to give of ourselves generously, sometimes even when it feels like a sacrifice.
The theme for October is how to be a people of courage. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray on October 1, 2017. Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, the newly elected first woman president of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), shares her vision for the UUA, of which Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation is a vibrant part.
Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray was elected as the President of the UUA on June 24, 2017. Previously, she was the Minister of the UU Congregation of Phoenix, where she had served since August 2008. She also served as Minister at the First UU Church of Youngstown from 2003-2008. Community organizing and justice leadership have been key components of Rev. Frederick-Gray’s ministry. In October 2014, when marriage equality came to Arizona, Rev. Susan married 13 same-sex couples on that day outside the downtown Phoenix Clerk’s office. Susan and her congregation have worked closely with the Puente Human Rights Movement to bring national attention to the human rights abuses in Maricopa County and the need for national humane immigration reform. She organized Unitarian Universalists nationally in the campaign against Arizona’s SB 1070, including being arrested in an act of civil disobedience on the Day of Non-compliance against SB 1070. Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray can be reached at sfrederickgray@uua.org.
The theme for October is how to be a community of courage. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on September 24, 2017. Exploring the wisdom of the Jewish High Holy Days, Rev. Taylor acknowledges how easy it is to forget who we really are and invites us to reflect on where we need to seek forgiveness and restoration in our relationships.
The theme for September is how to be a community of welcome. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development ev. Emily Gage on September 17, 2017. "It makes me think of each of us, walking through the door here, sometimes bearing gifts or our lesson plans or supplies or cookies, but mostly just offering our presence to one another. We don’t always do it as well or as kindly or as smoothly as we would like to (I certainly know this is true of myself), but still we offer up who we are, and hope that that is enough. It is enough."
The sermon references the book Come with Me by Holly McGhee as well as poems from Brian Doyle's book The Kind of Brave You Wanted to Be.
The theme for September is how to be a community of welcome. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on September 10, 2017. In this time of hurricane relief and the loss of security for DACA residents, Rev. Taylor reflects on the sacred call of sheltering one another. Would you harbor me? Would I harbor you? How can we protect one another?
The theme for September is how to be a community of welcome. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Intern Minister Kellie C. Kelly on September 3, 2017. On this Labor Day holiday, Kellie shares the stories of 3 Unitarians whose hard work made our religious movement more welcoming and justice-seeking: Rev. Joseph Tuckerman, Dorothea Dix, and Francis Ellen Watkins Harper.
The theme for September is how to be a community of welcome. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
These reflections were given by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on August 27, 2017, the official first Sunday of the 2017-18 church year. In a worship for all ages celebrating Homecoming Sunday, Rev. Taylor shares his love of the water communion and his growing awareness of how to live into the question: "Who are you to think that you can change the world?”
The theme for August is how to be a community of connection. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
During the '16-'17 program year, our congregation was part of a program entitled Beloved Conversations: Meditations on Race and Ethnicity. In this podcast from the August 20, 2017 service, some of those participants share their reflections on participating and what they learned. Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage first gives a brief overview of the program. This is followed by reflections from Clara Lewis, Betsy Davis, Shirley Lundin, Elizabeth Freeland and Sybil Madison-Boyd with additional remarks from Rev. Gage.
The theme for August is how to be a community of connection. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Reflections offered by congregant David Llull and Intern Minister Kellie Kelly on August 13, 2017. As part of the Unity Temple Mental Health Awareness Team service (MyHAT), David and Kellie both share how mental illness has touched their lives in the hopes that sharing their stories will help reduce the stigma and increase our understanding.
The theme for August is how to be a community of connection. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Brian Chenowith on August 6, 2017. Brian is a lifelong Chicagoan with roots in the South Side. His spiritual upbringing was Catholic and Anglican though he came to Unitarian Universalism in middle school. It was there, in that UU church where he spent his formative years, that he heard the call to ministry most clearly. He earned his degree in Theology & Religion from Elmhurst College in 2008. From there he entered seminary in 2011 after a period of discernment and preparation for theological education and graduated from Meadville Lombard in Chicago in 2014. Brian served two congregations as a ministerial intern for three years. Two of those years were spent at Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois and the remaining year was at First Parish in Concord, MA. Through these two congregations, the real learning in ministry happened. He is currently the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Lexington, Kentucky.
The theme for August is how to be a community of connection. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Karen Mooney on July 30, 2017. Forgiveness, redemption, and atonement are concepts we wrestle with in our everyday lives. When someone is imprisoned, this cycle is truncated by systems built to thwart any real reintegration. Separated from community, there is little opportunity for reparation. Our ministry in prisons and jails is based on the radical notion that every person is worthy of respect and has the capability of completing this cycle of forgiveness. Learn how all of us are affected and how together we can offer hope and help. You can find out more about the UUPMI at UUPM.org.
Rev. Mooney works with the Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministries of Illinois as they seek to bring UU faith and worship to incarcerated people. She is honored to offer circles of care for those living in prisons and jails and support all those affected by incarceration. Karen is a life-long Unitarian Universalist who learned the art of church from her very involved parents. She has been educated far and wide, working and playing, listening and walking with people. She loves that UU communities are places where you find people who are alive and seeking throughout their lives. Karen has worked as a chaplain, a congregational minister and a web platform manager. Each one was a joy and difficult for different reasons.
The theme for July and August is what it means to be a community of connection. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Clare Butterfield on July 23, 2017, in which an octopus goes for a walk with Daniel Kahneman and Shylock.
Clare Butterfield is the Program Director for the Illinois Science and Energy Innovation Foundation (ISEIF), helping to originate and manage the grants function since 2013. She brings to ISEIF her background in grassroots environmental education around Illinois and wide network of relationships in the field, which were established in her prior position for 14 years as founder and Executive Director of Faith in Place. Prior to that she worked as a transactional attorney, specializing in corporate and tax law. She also manages a small consulting practice, 2 Point 0 Studio, on the side, on the website for which she occasionally blogs. Her graduate education includes a J.D. from the University of Illinois, a Doctor of Ministry from Chicago Theological Seminary and a Masters of Divinity from Meadville Lombard Theological School. She is also ordained as a Unitarian Universalist minister. Clare can be contacted at c.butterfield@iseif.org or 312-239-6752.
The theme for July and August is what it means to be a community of connection. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Intern Minister Kellie C. Kelly on July 16, 2017. One of the greatest myths in American culture is that vulnerability is a weakness. Kellie shares three teachers who have helped her model a wholehearted and courageous life.
The theme for July and August is what it means to be a community of connection. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on July 9, 2017. Because of a technical problem, we are sorry that the audio of the sermon is not available for streaming or download. The text of Rev. Taylor's sermon is reflected in a blog he wrote and can be downloaded at the following link: http://blog.lovewithcourage.org/2017/07/200th-birthday-of-henry-david-thoreau.html
The theme for July and August is what it means to be a community of connection. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Intern Minister Kellie C. Kelly on July 2, 2017. For most Americans, socioeconomic class is one of the last taboos. Unitarian Universalists aren't all that different. Kellie shares her class story and invites us to consider what a class-inclusive religious movement might look like.
The theme for July and August is what it means to be a community of connection. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on June 25, 2017. "It was a stormy week in New Orleans both literally and metaphorically, as the Unitarian Universalist Ministers' Association gathered for their annual meeting...."
The theme for June is what it means to be a community of joy. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on June 18, 2017.
The theme for June is what it means to be a community of joy. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Homily delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on June 11, 2017. On our first Sunday back in our newly restored beloved worship home, Rev. Taylor reflects on what it means to continue the work of building a cathedral for the human spirit.
The theme for June is what it means to be a community of joy. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on June 4, 2017. In our last service at our temporary home at United Lutheran Church, Rev. Gage reflects: "Especially in these days and times, it feels important – it feels essential to open ourselves up to being surprised by joy. Or by beauty. Or by some form of goodness."
The theme for June is what it means to be a community of joy. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Read more at http://unitytemple.libsyn.com/longing-for-a-new-spirit#xS7gvc2c2HEQlUyJ.99
Sermon delivered by Intern Minister Kellie Kelly on May 28, 2017. While our bodies take much abuse from living and aging in the world, we often inflict the most damage to our bodies ourselves. Kellie reflects on how we can learn to accept and love our bodies in their perfect imperfection.
The theme for June is what it means to be a community of embodiment. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on May 21, 2017. How shall we embody hospitality as a congregation? Rev. Taylor shares his experience of first visiting what would become his spiritual home and encourages us all to do the same, especially as we return to Unity Temple so soon.
The theme for the month of May is how to be a community of embodiment. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
This service from May 14, 2017 was presented by the senior class of the UTUUC Youth Group. Youth Group Coordinator Heather Godbout presents a brief introduction. She is followed by each senior delivering his or her bridging statement. In order, they are Isabella Andries, Leo Boler, Alec Ubogy, Samantha Michaud, Dan Jones, Blair Ripley, Grace Van Note, JT Sandoval, Jovan Williams, Gabe Lewis and Julia Borelli. Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage then addresses the seniors and is followed by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor's message.
The theme for the month of May is how to be a community of embodiment. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
In this service from May 7, 2017, the first homily is delivered by Intern Minister Kellie C. Kelly. Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor follows with his homily. As our wider Unitarian Universalist community grapples with how our faith tradition perpetuates institutional racism, Intern Minister Kellie Kelly and Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor reflect on the discomforting reality that many Unitarian Universalists of color struggle with subtle nuances of white supremacy culture among our institutions. How shall we embody our aspirations and help build the Beloved Community?
The theme for the month of May is how to be a community of embodiment. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
This service from April 30, 2017 was presented by the 9th graders of the Coming of Age (COA) program. Dan Crimmins, one of the COA facilitators, gives an introduction. Then, each of the 9th graders presents his or her personal credo. In order, they are Brooke Bellmar, Kevin Cawley, Alex Cleofe, Nic Ubogy, Joey Alvestad, Jeremiah Boyd, Ryan Michaud, Elly Freehand, Isabelle Meyer and Collin Waco.
The theme for the month of April is how to be a community of transformation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
This service presents the Unity Temple Choir under the direction of Music Director Marty Swisher performing Ralph Vaughn Williams's "Dona Nobis Pacem." The choir is joined by soloists Rosalind Lee, soprano; Eric Miranda, baritone; Peter Storms on piano and a 12-piece orchestra.
The theme for the month of April is how to be a community of transformation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on April 16, 2017. Both “life before death” and “love after death” are causes for celebration. In this Easter sermon, Rev. Taylor shares his understanding of Jesus and how the metaphor of resurrection is relevant to our lives.
The theme for April is what it means to be a community of transformation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on April 9, 2017. Rev. Gage shares that our theme for exploration this April is not safety or love or acceptance. It is transformation. Transformation. You know, those opportunities for growth and change that sometimes we welcome, and sometimes make us uncomfortable, and sometimes force us to shift our perspective and do new things, sometimes even as we are kicking and screaming. Transformation. It’s not always pretty.
The theme for April is what it means to be a community of transformation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Read more at http://unitytemple.libsyn.com/longing-for-a-new-spirit#xS7gvc2c2HEQlUyJ.99
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on April 2, 2017. Reflecting on a “spirituality of imperfection,” Rev. Taylor looks to the wisdom of the recovery movement which has a lot to teach us about the process of transformation.
The theme for April is what it means to be a community of transformation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Intern Minister Kellie Kelly on March 26, 2017. Unitarian Universalism calls us to our best selves and to our highest aspirations, our seven Principles. Kellie explores the "riskiness" of our first Principle: the inherent worth and dignity of every person.
The theme for March is what it means to be a community of risk. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on March 19, 2017. What do you do when your wider community, your nation, and your mental health are all in a precarious position? Rev. Taylor reflects on the prevalence of mental disorders and the need to cultivate a community of understanding and compassion.
The theme for March is what it means to be a community of risk. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on March 12, 2017. What is the difference between a tourist and a traveler when it comes to a spiritual community? What journeys do conscience and spirit call us to? Rev. Alan Taylor reflects on that crucial role of the church: providing spiritual grounding for engaging the world.
The theme for March is what it means to be a community of risk. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on March 5, 2017. And here is the thing: sometimes the ideas you have and the things you do seem dangerous to other people. And so sometimes they try and stop you from sharing those ideas or living those actions. Sometimes--depending on the time and the place--you become a risk taker because of who you are and what you believe and how you act on that.
The theme for March is what it means to be a community of risk. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Community Minister Rev. Scott Aaseng on February 26, 2017. Rev. Aaseng says that we can keep on having half-conversations about who’s right and who’s wrong and further feed the brokenness that threatens to tear us apart. Or we can see each other as part of a larger We – a We that is broken, but a We that is in this brokenness together.
Rev. Aaseng was a musician, a community activist, and a Lutheran pastor (among other things) prior to discovering his call to Unitarian Universalist ministry.
Scott graduated from the St. Olaf Paracollege with a degree in Peace Studies, and spent a year studying and traveling in South Africa during the apartheid years. He volunteered as a teacher in rural Tanzania, before returning to the U.S. and earning his M.Div. at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. He interned at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, and served a small Lutheran congregation on the southwest side of Chicago for five years in the early 1990’s.
He left ordained ministry to become primary caregiver for his two daughters, while becoming project director and then grant-writer for the Southwest Youth Collaborative, a community-based youth organization he helped found. He also served as musician for a number of church gospel choirs, and went on to serve as Village Musician at Holden Village, a Lutheran retreat center in the mountains of Washington state. Upon returning to Chicago in 2005, he became a project assistant with American Friends Service Committee, coordinating a nationally touring display of combat boots and civilian shoes showing the human cost of war. He also began attending Third Unitarian Church in Chicago with his family.
Becoming a musician at Third Unitarian in 2009 re-awakened his call to ministry, now more clearly grounded in Unitarian Universalism. He took classes at both Starr King and Meadville Lombard seminaries, completed his internship at Unity Temple, and went on to serve as Unity Temple’s first Assistant Minister for Social Justice. He has since served as part-time Consulting Minister at the Unitarian Church of Quincy, Illinois and at First Unitarian Church of Hobart, Indiana. He now serves as Director of the Unitarian Universalist Advocacy Network of Illinois.
Scott has lived on the west side of Chicago for 20 years with his spouse, Gale Holmlund, and their two teenage daughters, Sunniva and Brita. He enjoys bicycling, playing piano, being outdoors, and traveling with his family.
The theme for February is what it means to be a community of identity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on February 19, 2017. Albert Einstein said, “Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.” What kind of religion is Einstein talking about? One similar to that of his contemporary, Unitarian minister A. Powell Davies who said, “The world is now too dangerous for anything but the truth and too small for anything but [love].”
The theme for February is what it means to be a community of identity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on February 12, 2017. Audre Lorde wrote, “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate our differences.” As Unitarian Universalists, we are prone to minimizing differences among us. But our faith, at its best, calls us to cultivate integrity and claim who we really are as individuals and live not only an undivided life but cultivate an undivided community.
The theme for February is what it means to be a community of identity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on February 5, 2017. “Exactly” says Dumbledore, “ It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. It is our choices, I would venture to say, that make us strengthen and shape our own abilities. What are the new choices we are making right now as the world cries out for us even more loudly? Do they reflect what we believe and who we are or who we want to be?
The theme for February is what it means to be a community of identity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on January 29, 2017. Rev. Taylor prophetically addresses our nation’s current crisis, calling us all to use our voices, drawing from the wisdom of Audre Lorde and living into the call of James Luther Adams: "The prophetic liberal church is the church in which all members share the responsibility to attempt to foresee the consequences of human behavior (both individual and institutional) with the intention of making history, in place of merely being pushed around by it. Only through the prophethood of all believers can we together foresee doom and mend our common ways.”
The theme for January is what it means to be a community of prophecy. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed on January 22, 2017. Rev. Morrison-Reed shares a reflection on riding the Green Line as a youth from Chicago's south side in the 60s, as a seminarian, and now as a retired minister—and his awareness of the function of the church and our larger need for community.
Mark Morrison-Reed served for 26 years as co-minister with his wife, Donna, in Rochester N.Y. and Toronto, Ontario. He also served as vice-chair of the UUA Commission on Appraisal and the Ministerial Fellowship Committee. A historian of the African American experience in UUism, he is the author of Black Pioneers in a White Denomination, Darkening the Doorways: Black Trailblazers and Missed Opportunities in Unitarian Universalism and The Selma Awakening: How the Civil Rights Movement Tested and Changed Unitarian Universalism. Mark also wrote the curriculum "How Open the Door? The African-American Experience in Unitarian Universalism" and the book In Between: Memoir of an Integration Baby. A former president of the Canadian Unitarian Council, he's currently an affiliated faculty member at the Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago.
Rev. Morrison-Reed can be contacted at markmr4@excite.com.
The theme for January is what it means to be a community of prophecy. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on January 15, 2017. In the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rev. Taylor reflects on what it means to be a Community of Prophecy, especially in light of the current transition of the United States government.
The theme for January is what it means to be a community of prophecy. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Booker Steven Vance on January 8, 2017. Rev. Vance joined Faith in Place in February 2015 as the Policy Director working to promote renewable energy sources and energy efficiency in Illinois’ implementation of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan.
He seeks to communicate a vision for environmental justice for all communities by affecting change at the policy level. Originally from Houston, Texas, he attend Bethany Lutheran College in Lindsborg, Kansas and graduated in 1980 with a BA in Business Economics. He received his Masters of Divinity from the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago in 1986 and served as Pastor of St. Stephen’s Evangelical Lutheran Church on the Southside of Chicago for over 27 years.
Rev. Vance has extensive experience in faithful advocacy and ecumenical community organizing, including work with Healthy Communities, Urban Gardening, Walmart Good Jobs Campaign, Fight for 15, SOUL (South Side Organized for Unity and Liberation) and HIV/AIDS Awareness Initiatives. He is the proud father of two young men and the grandfather of three. Rev. Vance can be contacted at revvance@faithinplace.org or 312-733-4640, Ext. 119.
The theme for January is what it means to be a community of prophecy. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon by Intern Minister Kellie Kelly on January 1, 2017. Kellie shares sources of inspiration that will help us become our own prophets in this new year of resistance and courage.
The theme for January is what it means to be a community of prophecy. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Reflections for this service from December 25, 2016 are given by Matt Meyer and Intern Minister Kellie Kelly. Matt reflects on a time when he found "Improbable Hope" and Kellie shares her journey to "Improbable Faith."
Matt Meyer works professionally as an itinerant UU musician and preacher, having lead hundreds of services for UU congregations around the country. He is a founding member and Director of Community Life at the Sanctuary Boston and was also a founding member of the Lucy Stone Cooperative and UUCC.
The theme for December is what it means to be a community of presence. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2016, by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor who reflects on the meaning of Christmas in this time and place.
The theme for December is what it means to be a community of presence. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on December 18, 2016. Emily says, "I believe, at our core, we are people of resistance. We are people of faith and hope. We are people who rise up and do what needs to be done even when there’s always some reason not to. We show up and we are there."
The theme for December is what it means to be a community of presence. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on December 11, 2016. Rev. Alan Taylor explores what it means to be emotionally present to others especially when anxiety is in our midst.
The theme for December is what it means to be a community of presence. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
This podcast showcases the Unity Temple Choir under the direction of Music Director Marty Swisher. The choir performed Dietrich Buxtehude's "Magnificat anima mea" and other pieces on December 4, 2016. They were accompanied by Peter Storms on piano; Becky Coffman, Karen Nelson, and Meg Lancer on violin; Naomi Hinder on viola; Franscisco Moleskin on cello; and Dominic Azkoul on double bass. The Magnificat is preceded by "Spiegel im Spiegel" by Arvo Part and "Nunc Dimittis - Song of Simeon" by Pawel Lukaszewski." Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor follows with a brief homily. Then the choir returns with the "Suite No 1 for Unaccompanied Cello Minuettos I and II" by J.S. Bach and "Violin Sonata No 6 in E Major II - Allegro" by George F Handel.
The theme for December is what it means to be a community of presence. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Intern Minister Kellie Kelly on November 27, 2016. Kellie asks us to reflect on the parts we play in our own stories and to consider rewriting our stories with courage and hope.
The theme for November is what it means to be a community of story. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on November 20, 2016. It is preceded by a reflection on the Unitarian Universalist principles by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor. "How lucky we are to be alive right now," says Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the smash musical, "Hamilton." Lucky because life is a gift, and we keep on seeing these wonderful things around us even when we are sad or scared or angry. We only need look around.
The theme for November is what it means to be a community of story. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on November 13, 2016. With the presidential election just behind us, Rev. Taylor provides a reflection on hope, love, and resilience. For this is a time to grieve and connect with others to ward off bitterness and cynicism.
The theme for November is what it means to be a community of story. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Scott Aaseng and Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on November 6, 2016. Our 3rd UU Principle calls us to both accept each other and encourage each other to grow spiritually. How do we call each other -- including those who oppose our values -- to be our best selves after this election?
Rev. Aaseng was a musician, a community activist, and a Lutheran pastor (among other things) prior to discovering his call to Unitarian Universalist ministry.
Scott graduated from the St. Olaf Paracollege with a degree in Peace Studies, and spent a year studying and traveling in South Africa during the apartheid years. He volunteered as a teacher in rural Tanzania, before returning to the U.S. and earning his M.Div. at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. He interned at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, and served a small Lutheran congregation on the southwest side of Chicago for five years in the early 1990’s.
He left ordained ministry to become primary caregiver for his two daughters, while becoming project director and then grant-writer for the Southwest Youth Collaborative, a community-based youth organization he helped found. He also served as musician for a number of church gospel choirs, and went on to serve as Village Musician at Holden Village, a Lutheran retreat center in the mountains of Washington state. Upon returning to Chicago in 2005, he became a project assistant with American Friends Service Committee, coordinating a nationally touring display of combat boots and civilian shoes showing the human cost of war. He also began attending Third Unitarian Church in Chicago with his family.
Becoming a musician at Third Unitarian in 2009 re-awakened his call to ministry, now more clearly grounded in Unitarian Universalism. He took classes at both Starr King and Meadville Lombard seminaries, completed his internship at Unity Temple, and went on to serve as Unity Temple’s first Assistant Minister for Social Justice. He has since served as part-time Consulting Minister at the Unitarian Church of Quincy, Illinois and at First Unitarian Church of Hobart, Indiana. He now serves as Director of the Unitarian Universalist Advocacy Network of Illinois.
Scott has lived on the west side of Chicago for 20 years with his spouse, Gale Holmlund, and their two teenage daughters, Sunniva and Brita. He enjoys bicycling, playing piano, being outdoors, and traveling with his family.
The theme for November is what it means to be a community of story. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on October 30, 2016. Given there is nothing intelligent to say in the face of death, what is an appropriate response? Rev. Taylor shares how his family grieved for a recent loss and explores how to respond sensitively to those in grief.
The theme for October is what it means to be a healing community. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Intern Minister Kellie Kelly on October 23, 2016. Anger cannot be buried -- it must be healed. Yet, this simple truth is hard to achieve. In order to heal our anger, we must practice forgiveness. Forgiveness is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves and the world.
The theme for October is what it means to be a healing community. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on October 16, 2016. Rev. Taylor reflects on what it means to be a healing community, both as a congregation and joining with others who share our commitments.
The theme for October is what it means to be a healing community. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on October 9, 2016. Rev. Taylor explores the healing wisdom of the Jewish High Holy Days and the role of forgiveness in the spiritual life.
The theme for October is what it means to be a healing community. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on October 2, 2016. Emily doesn't think it’s an overstatement to say that in some ways, we have fallen into divisions so deep that we don’t even know how to engage in conversation. We’re so busy thinking of people in particular categories as “other” that we can’t hear their stories or truths or experiences. All that does is create more potential for fear and hatred and less and less possibility for kindness. Less for a world and people that desperately need healing.
The theme for October is what it means to be a healing community. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on September 25, 2016. The sermon is preceded by a reading given by Membership Director Tina Lewis. Creating healthy beloved community takes a lot of work. There is much to learn from the ministry and leadership of Thomas Starr King, a 19th century preacher who held together not only congregations struggling with abolition but also the nation.
The theme for September is what it means to be a community of covenant. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on September 18, 2016. What binds us together as a community? There’s a lot to criticize about the early Puritans. But their notion of covenant has been at the heart of who we are as a faith community and, for many, as Americans.
The theme for September is what it means to be a community of covenant. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on September 11, 2016. This was homecoming Sunday and the beginning of the 2016-2017 church year. What does it mean to live in covenant with others? This is a fun and poignant response by Rev. Alan Taylor as he addresses a worship for all ages.
The theme for September is what it means to be a community of covenant. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Heather Godbout on September 4, 2016. Heather has been an educator in public schools for 23 years. She spent the first two decades of her career teaching special education and currently serves as the literacy coach at an elementary school in one of Chicago's south suburbs. Ms. Godbout has also been involved in Unitarian Universalist youth ministry since 1997, currently serving as the youth coordinator for this congregation. She and her wife Amanda and daughter Briana have been members at Unity Temple since 2007.
The theme for September is what it means to be a community of covenant. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Tony Mitchell on August 28, 2016. An Oak Park resident and Chicago area native, Tony joined Unity Temple in the spring of 2015. He currently is enrolled in the Masters of Divinity program at Meadville Lombard Theological School, where Tony is in formation to become a Unitarian Universalist Minister. A Soul Connections leader in the congregation, he plans to become a Unity Temple intern in the fall of 2017. Tony graduated from Yale University and has been a communications and public relations leader for much of his career. He currently serves as Vice President of Communications for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs – an independent, nonpartisan organization that provides insight and influences the public discourse on critical global issues.
Tony has long been active in community advocacy and action – particularly as it affects the African American community. He serves on the boards of Housing Forward, an organization comprehensively addressing homelessness on Chicago’s West Side and in western Cook County, and Rush Oak Park Hospital. He will begin the Clinical Pastoral Education phase of his seminary work this fall by providing chaplain services in support of The Night Ministry – a Chicago-based organization that works to provide housing, health care and human connection to members of our community struggling with poverty or homelessness.
The theme for August is how to take a path of growth. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Kellie C. Kelly on August 21, 2016. Kellie is a student at Meadville Lombard Theological School, steering committee chairperson of UU Class Conversations, and Unity Temple's incoming ministerial intern. Before seminary, she built a career in the staffing industry as a sales manager and technical recruiter. Kellie’s call to ministry began when she worked as a U.S. Navy family ombudsman and deepened during her time as a director of faith development.
Kellie is from a white working-poor family of restaurant workers. As a third-generation single mother, she became the first person in her family to attend college, completing her undergraduate degree at the age of 41. Kellie also is an “out” mental health advocate, trying to reduce the stigma of mental illness. Kellie feels a strong commitment to work with and for the people society pushes to the margins, whether based on the color of their skin, their class, or their perceived disabilities. Kellie can be reached at kkelly@uuma.org.
The theme for August is how to take a path of growth. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Scott Aaseng on August 14, 2016. In this sermon, Scott wants us to ask ourselves if we are as good at receiving as we are at giving. Rev. Aaseng was a musician, a community activist, and a Lutheran pastor (among other things) prior to discovering his call to Unitarian Universalist ministry.
Scott graduated from the St. Olaf Paracollege with a degree in Peace Studies, and spent a year studying and traveling in South Africa during the apartheid years. He volunteered as a teacher in rural Tanzania, before returning to the U.S. and earning his M.Div. at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. He interned at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, and served a small Lutheran congregation on the southwest side of Chicago for five years in the early 1990’s.
He left ordained ministry to become primary caregiver for his two daughters, while becoming project director and then grant-writer for the Southwest Youth Collaborative, a community-based youth organization he helped found. He also served as musician for a number of church gospel choirs, and went on to serve as Village Musician at Holden Village, a Lutheran retreat center in the mountains of Washington state. Upon returning to Chicago in 2005, he became a project assistant with American Friends Service Committee, coordinating a nationally touring display of combat boots and civilian shoes showing the human cost of war. He also began attending Third Unitarian Church in Chicago with his family.
Becoming a musician at Third Unitarian in 2009 re-awakened his call to ministry, now more clearly grounded in Unitarian Universalism. He took classes at both Starr King and Meadville Lombard seminaries, completed his internship at Unity Temple, and went on to serve as Unity Temple’s first Assistant Minister for Social Justice. He has since served as part-time Consulting Minister at the Unitarian Church of Quincy, Illinois and at First Unitarian Church of Hobart, Indiana. He now serves as Director of the Unitarian Universalist Advocacy Network of Illinois.
Scott has lived on the west side of Chicago for 20 years with his spouse, Gale Holmlund, and their two teenage daughters, Sunniva and Brita. He enjoys bicycling, playing piano, being outdoors, and traveling with his family.
The theme for August is how to take a path of growth. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Brian Chenowith on August 7, 2016. Brian is a lifelong Chicagoan with roots in the South Side. His spiritual upbringing was Catholic and Anglican though he came to Unitarian Universalism in middle school. It was there, in that UU church where he spent his formative years, that he heard the call to ministry most clearly. He earned his degree in Theology & Religion from Elmhurst College in 2008. From there he entered seminary in 2011 after a period of discernment and preparation for theological education and graduated from Meadville Lombard in Chicago in 2014. Brian served two congregations as a ministerial intern for three years. Two of those years were spent at Unity Temple in Oak Park, IL and the remaining year was at First Parish in Concord, MA. Through these two congregations, the real learning in ministry happened. He is currently the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Lexington, Kentucky.
The theme for August is how to take a path of growth. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
This service from July 31, 2016 was presented by members of the UTUUC Reproductive Justice Committee along with Dr. Cassing Hammond. Dr. Hammond, who delivers the sermon, practices General Obstetrics and Gynecology and also directs the Section and Fellowship in Family Planning & Contraception at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine where he is an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
In 2002, Dr. Hammond launched Northwestern’s Fellowship in Family Planning & Contraception - one of more than 30 fellowship programs throughout the United States and Canada that train physician scientists in complex abortion and contraception care and research. An ardent proponent of reproductive justice, Dr. Hammond chaired the board of directors of the National Abortion Federation (NAF), the nation’s largest professional association of abortion providers. He is one of fifteen founding members of the Society of Family Planning and currently a member of the board of directors of Physicians for Reproductive Health (PRH), the nation’s largest physician-led reproductive rights organization. In 2005 he received NAF’s C. Lalor Burdick Award, given to “Unsung Heroes” of abortion rights. He has also received special recognition for community service from both PRH, Personal PAC Illinois and the Illinois House of Representatives. Dr. Hammond's current research focuses on how contraceptives modify transmission of HIV virus. Cassing and his husband, Scott Fehlan, became members of the Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation in 2011.
Following Dr. Hammond's remarks, the letters of real women expressing their thoughts and feelings around reproduction and abortion are read anonymously by members of the Reproductive Justice Committee. They are Beth Dowell, Jan Johnston, Shirley Lundin, Merritt Kanan and Jen Packhauser. Duane Dowell gives the UU perspective and history on reproductive rights.
The theme for July is how to take a path of growth. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered on July 24, 2016 by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage. "As I hear news that feels to me so overwhelming that it makes it hard to know how to keep going, I wonder about how we keep holding onto hope. And then, I think of Pat Summit, in sheer determination and finding some sort of faith out of despair: 'Right foot, left foot, breathe, repeat.' That’s how we keep going."
Guest musician for this service was Isabella Andries, a senior at Trinity High School who is currently an active member of the UTUUC Youth Group.
The theme for July is how to take a path of growth. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Colleen Vahey on July 17, 2016. In September 2015, Colleen joined the Unity Temple staff as our part-time Faith in Action Coordinator. She is an ordained UU minister who, over the past twenty-five years, has served as a hospital chaplain, a religious educator, a college lecturer and assistant minister. Born and raised in Wisconsin, Colleen has also lived in Australia, Switzerland, France, and Czech Republic. Colleen and her partner enjoy time with their three children and three animal companions. Her spiritual practices include prayer, walking and spending time in nature.
In this sermon, Rev. Vahey explores renewing our spiritual grounding as we engage in the struggle for justice and compassion.
The theme for July is how to take a path of growth. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
This service was presented on July 10, 2014 by the Unity Temple Mental Health Awareness Team (MyHAT). Members of the team who offered their reflections here are, in order, LeeLee Ward, Aaron Grace, and John Tandarich. The Co-Chairs of MyHAT are Bonnie Jordan and Janet Holden. Other members of the MyHAT Planning Team are Joan Greene, Joan Vanderbeck, Alice Ocrey, Beth Fisher, Lurana Brown and Kimberly Knake. MyHAT's mission is to welcome people living with mental illness and those who care about them, creating a community of acknowledgement, acceptance and understanding. We do this through education, co-sponsoring activities with the local affiliate of the National Alliance for Mental Health (NAMI), and being present at coffee hour once a month. One of our major initiatives is our Anti Stigma Campaign/ By signing our Interest List at coffee hour or by contacting us, you will periodically receive information about mental illness that has appeared in the media. It is educational and timely as well as being a barometer of how mental health is being presented to the public. We ask, if you can, to respond to the creators of the stories/broadcasts, either in a positive or negative way as appropriate, to support or correct the information that is being put out by the media. The team can be contacted at myhat@unitytemple.org.
The theme for July is how to take a path of growth. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by UTUUC member Christine Steyer on July 3, 2016. Soprano Christine Steyer was a recent winner of six national awards, including The American Prize in Art Song and The Johnny Mercer Award. Christine received critical acclaim for her operatic portrayals of the Marschallin from Der Rosenkavalier, the title role in Madama Butterfly and Violetta in La Traviata. She has performed roles with Lyric Opera of Chicago in Street Scene, Sweeney Todd, Cunning Little Vixen and Manon Lescaut. Her recent concert engagements include the Poulenc Gloria, the Brahms Requiem and Carmina Burana, Beethoven’s 9th, Rossini’s Petite Mass and Mendelssohn’s Cantata 42. A frequent recitalist, Christine sang concerts of Russian and American music with pianist Philip Morehead. Christine Steyer is the artistic director of Bellissima Opera and is currently heading The Transcendence Triptych project – an operatic celebration of individuals who transcended the racial divide.
Christine's sermon is preceded by a reading given by Sybil Madison-Boyd and a reflection by Rich Pokorny. Maureen Kwiat Meshenberg tells about the final of the 3 operas in the Transcendence Triptych which is one created by students. Paul Geiger presents additional information about The Transcendence Triptych project.
The theme for July is how to take a path of growth. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rob Breymaier on June 26, 2016. Rob has been working on fair housing policy for over 20 years. As Executive Director of the Oak Park Regional Housing Center, he leads the nation's most successful effort to promote integration and fair housing in the private housing market. Through the efforts of the Housing Center, Oak Park has established and sustained a racially integrated community that has produced multiple benefits for residents. Rob also served as the past President of the Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance. In 2006, Rob led a successful effort to ensure that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac wouldn't implement policies akin to redlining that would have added down payment barriers for mortgages based on zip codes. Rob has been interviewed for a variety of media outlets including Marketplace, The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR and the Chicago Tribune. He also writes the Fair Housing Futurist blog, discussing topics on how to promote more integrated and inclusive communities.
The theme for June is how to take a path of simplicity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Marcenia J. Richards on June 19, 2016. Rev. Dr. Marcenia J. Richards has served as Pastor of The Life CenterMinistries and as Executive Director of The Peace Coalition against Violence, and is the founder and president of Fierce Women of Faith. A motivational speaker, teacher, author, and host, Marcenia has dedicated herself to the cause of mentoring youth, and to teaching reconciliation through means other than violence. Her public comments on violence in Chicago have appeared in reporting by CBS, the Economist, the Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune and various other news outlets. She has spoken frequently in this country, Canada, Europe, Africa, the West Indies, and elsewhere on these and other issues of faith.
The theme for June is how to take a path of simplicity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on June 11, 2016. A homily for Flower Communion Sunday: What happens here every week is just this: we come together, bringing whatever gifts we have to share with one another. (Sometimes even when we feel like we don’t have any to share.) And we leave, having been changed by being here. The flowers are only a concrete reminder of that. The theme for June is how to take a path of simplicity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Reading and sermon delivered by Senior Minster Rev. Alan Taylor on May 8, 2016. Rev. Taylor explores how simplicity often means cultivating a sense of unity in oneself, and he shares a personal reflection from his young adult days.
The theme for June is how to take a path of simplicity. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by guest preacher Rabbi Robin Damsky on May 29, 2016. Rabbi Robin is the founder and director of In the Gardens, a nonprofit combining mindfulness practice with edible, organic garden design, changing the paradigm of the way we relate to ourselves and others as we change the paradigm of the way we grow food. In the Gardens empowers those in food deserts and food insecure neighborhoods as well as businesses, congregations and individuals to have greater ownership of healthy, fresh produce.
Rabbi Robin served as rabbi at West Suburban Temple Har Zion in River Forest, Illinois, from 2010 to 2015. Prior to that, from 2006 to 2010, she was the rabbi and educational director at Congregation Or Tzion in Scottsdale, Arizona. She now lives on her edible, organic permaculture in Melrose Park, Illinois. Rabbi Robin describes herself as an innovative, caring and inclusive spiritual leader and Jewish educator, committed to family and tikkun olam with a passion for well-being, sustainability and local food sourcing initiatives. Committed to vibrant and authentic spiritual expression and practice building interfaith bridges, she is grateful to fill our pulpit. Rabbi Robin can be contacted at rabbidamsky@gmail.com.
The theme for May is how to take a path of blessing. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
This service from May 22, 2016 was entirely designed and presented by the High School Youth Group. Heather Godbout is the UT Youth Coordinator. Each graduating senior shared thoughts about their life and faith in a reflection. In order, the seniors presenting are Julia Bankes, John Pintozzi and Kimberly Huizinga. Preceding and following the reflections, Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage address the seniors. Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor follows with his message to them. The theme for May is how to take a path of blessing. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minster Rev. Alan Taylor on May 15, 2016. A reflection on the frequency of mental disorders among us and how we can respond as individuals and a community. The theme for May is how to take a path of blessing. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minster Rev. Alan Taylor on May 8, 2016. Introductory music is sung by Hannah Sudworth, one of three winners of a $1,000 UT Music Program scholarship for private voice lessons. The scholarships are funded by money raised from the Unity Temple Spring Music Festival. The theme for May is how to take a path of blessing. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
This service from May 1, 2016 was presented by the 9th graders of the Coming of Age (COA) program. The introduction is by Amanda Sonneborn, one of the COA facilitators. Then, each of the 9th graders presents his or her personal credo. In order, they are Connor Callahan, Anthony Bellmar, Matthew Layden, Mary Jones, Elise Miedlar, Abby Bankes, Ben Kadlec, Jenna Borelli, Martin Stock-Ward, Nathan Devaud, Joseph Romine and Juan Espinoza. They are followed by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage and Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor addressing the participants. The theme for the month of May is how to take a path of blessing. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
This service on April 24, 2016 was presented by the Unity Temple choir under the direction of Music Director Marty Swisher. The choir, accompanied by UT pianist Peter Storms and the Mollicone Chamber Orchestra, and featuring soprano Ann Marie White and baritone Keanon Kyles, performed The Beatitude Mass: Mass for the Homeless by Henry Mollicone. The theme for April is how to take a path of creation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minster Rev. Alan Taylor on April 17, 2016. The theme for April is how to take a path of creation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minster Rev. Alan Taylor on April 10, 2016. The theme for April is how to take a path of creation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minster Rev. Alan Taylor on April 3, 2016. The theme for April is how to take a path of creation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on March 27, 2016. The theme for March is liberation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minster Rev. Alan Taylor on March 20, 2016. The theme for March is liberation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Homily delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage at this Fourth Grade Chalice Ceremony service on March 13, 2016. The theme for March is liberation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minster Rev. Alan Taylor on March 6, 2016. The theme for March is liberation. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on February 28, 2016. The theme on this final Sunday on February is desire.
Reflections delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage at the Worship for All Ages service on February 21, 2016. The theme for February is desire. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minster Rev. Alan Taylor on February 14, 2016. The theme for February is desire. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on February 7, 2016. This Sunday launches a new theme for February: desire. To read about our theme-based ministry, please visit http://www.unitytemple.org/faith-development/soul-connections on our website.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on January 31, 2016. The theme for the month of January has been taking a path of resistance.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on January 24, 2016. The theme for January has been taking a path of resistance.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Taylor on January 17, 2016. January's theme is resistance.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed on January 10, 2016. Mark Morrison-Reed served for 26 years as co-minister with his wife, Donna, in Rochester N.Y. and Toronto, Ontario. He also served as vice-chair of the UUA Commission on Appraisal and the Ministerial Fellowship Committee. A historian of the African American experience in UUism, he is the author of Black Pioneers in a White Denomination, Darkening the Doorways: Black Trailblazers and Missed Opportunities in Unitarian Universalism and The Selma Awakening: How the Civil Rights Movement Tested and Changed Unitarian Universalism. Mark also wrote the curriculum "How Open the Door? The African-American Experience in Unitarian Universalism" and the book In Between: Memoir of an Integration Baby.A former president of the Canadian Unitarian Council, he's currently an affiliated faculty member at the Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago.
Rev. Morrison-Reed can be contacted at markmr4@excite.com.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on January 3, 2016. The theme for the month of January is resistance.
Sermon delivered by Matt Meyer on December 27, 2015. Matt is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music and has studied abroad in Cuba, Ghana and Central America. He has led hundreds of services for UU congregations across the country and lives in Boston, where he plays with several world music groups. Matt is also a member of the UUA's Council on Cross-Cultural Engagement and a board member and resident of the Lucy Stone Cooperative, a newly-formed Unitarian Universalist housing cooperative creating an intentional community and a center for social justice in the Boston area. Matt can be reached at laghalot4@hotmail.com.
Homily delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor at the late service on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2015. The month's theme is taking a path of expectation.
Sermon for this worship for all ages delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on December 20, 2015. December's theme is how to take a path of expectation.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on December 13, 2015. December's theme is expectation.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on December 6, 2015. This month's theme is expectation.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on November 29, 2015. The sermon relates to the November theme of ancestry.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on November 22, 2015. November's theme is ancestry.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on November 15, 2015. She explores the November theme of ancestry.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on November 8, 2015 during this month when the theme is ancestry.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on November 1, 2015 which is the Mexican Day of the Dead and the Christian All Souls Day. The November theme is ancestry.
Sermon delivered by UTUUC member Ron Moline. Ron and his wife, Barbara have been Unitarian Universalists for over thirty years, and members of the Unity Temple UU Congregation since its merger with Beacon Unitarian Church in 1994. They have two children, and two Vietnamese foster sons. Ron has had a life-long interest in the history of religion, and has also been the archivist for the Unity Temple congregation for many years. In 2003, the year that Alan Taylor was called to be the minister of Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Ron was chair of the Ministerial Search Committee and Barbara the president of the congregation.
Ron Moline is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Psychiatry, where he continues to teach. He ended his private practice of psychiatry in 2007.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on October 28, 2015. The theme for October is how to take a path of letting go.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on October 11, 2015. The October theme is taking a path of letting go.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on October 4, 2015. The theme for the moth of October is how to let it go.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on September 27, 2015. The September theme is how to take a path of invitation.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on September 20, 2015. The theme for the Month of September is how to take a path of invitation.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on Homecoming Sunday September 13, 2015. The theme for the month of September is how to take a path of invitation.
Sermon delivered by Rev. C. J. Hawking on September 6, 2015. Rev. Hawking has been Executive Director of Arise Chicago since 2007. She has been partnering with religious leaders to bring a fuller measure of God's justice to the workplace since 1993. Rev. Hawking has organized faith-labor coalitions in five U.S. cities and currently serves as the Harry F. Ward Pastor for Social Justice at Euclid Avenue Methodist Church in Oak Park. She is also a board member for Community Renewal Society. Rev. Hawking is a visiting lecturer on labor and social movements at the University of Illiinois and co-authored Staley: The Fight for the New American Labor Movement(University of Illinois Press, 2009) which won three Book of the Year awards. She can be reached at cj@arisechicago.org. The theme for the month of September is invitation.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on August 30, 2015. The theme for the months of July and August has been belonging.
Sermon delivered by UTUUC member Cheryl Muñoz on August 23, 2015. Sugar Beet Food Co-op & Schoolhouse Founder, Cheryl Muñoz, is working to create greater access to sustainable food in the western suburbs of Chicago. Cheryl built a community-owned food co-op that serves as a marketplace for local farmers in the Village of Oak Park, Illinois called Sugar Beet Food Co-op. Sugar Beet Food Co-op is a full-service grocery store as well as a leader in environmental sustainability that will provide good jobs with health benefits for over 25 employees. Cheryl also created Sugar Beet Schoolhouse, a 501(c)3 organization, that develops and facilitates food literacy training for all ages and organizes educational workshops on gardening, cooking and community health. Cheryl can be contacted at cheryl@sugarbeetcoop.com.
Sermon delivered by UTUUC member Terry Kinsey on August 16, 2015. Terry Kinsey joined Unity Temple in 1982. As a member of this congregation he has taught many AYS/OWL classes for junior high students. He participates in the original Men's Group which started in 1984 and has led several Men's Retreats. Terry founded Mother Earth Adventures which existed from 1991-2010 and offered vision quests and sweat lodges. In 1985, he became a counselor at Marwood Camp, a weeklong UU rites of passage summer camp for adolescents. Professionally, Terry is a retired pediatric physical therapist. His interest in secular/liberal Buddhism began in 1998. He has attended many 9- to 11-day silent Buddhist wilderness backpacks and canoe retreats as well as many 6- to 11-day silent center-based Buddhist retreats. His Buddhist "coaches" are Stephen Schettini and Erik Kolvig. Terry can be reached at mindful@unitytemple.org or terrykinsey@gmail.com. The theme for the month of July and August has been belonging.
Sermon delivered by Kellie C. Kelly on August 9, 2015. Kellie C. Kelly is a Unitarian Universalist Candidate for Ministry and seminarian at Meadville Lombard Theological School. Before entering seminary, she built a career in the staffing industry as both a sales manager and technical recruiter. Kellie’s call to ministry began when she worked as a U.S. Navy family ombudsman and deepened during her time as a director of faith development. As a third-generation single mother, she became the first person in her family to attend college, completing her undergraduate degree at the age of 41.
Kellie is an “out” mental health advocate, trying to reduce the stigma of mental illness for herself, her special needs son, and the community. She also is a steering committee member and workshop facilitator for the UU Class Conversations project. Kellie feels a strong commitment to work with and for the people society pushes to the margins, whether based on the color of their skin, their class, or their perceived disabilities. Kellie can be reached at kkelly@uuma.org. The August theme is belonging.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on August 2, 2015 on the August theme of belonging.
Sermon delivered by Heather Godbout on July 26, 2015. Heather has been an educator in public schools for 22 years. She pent the first two decades of her career teaching special education and currently serves as the literacy coach at an elementary school in one of Chicago's south suburbs. Ms. Godbout has also been involved in Unitarian Universalist youth ministry since 1997, currently serving as the youth coordinator for this congregation. She and her wife Amanda and daughter Briana have been members at Unity Temple since 2007. The theme for July has been belonging.
Sermon delivered by Vera and Duane Dowell on July 19, 2015. Vera, Duane and their daughter Beth Dowell lived and worked in Haiti for many years. Although Duane and Vera are now retired, Beth continues occasionally to teach and work in the developing world as a family physician. All three have recently traveled with the Unitarian Universalist College of Social Justice to work in Haiti. They have been members of UTUUC since 2007.
Sermon delivered by Alix Klingenberg on July 12, 2015. Alix Klingenberg is entering her third year at Meadville Lombard Theological School and is a born and raised Unitarian Universalist. She spent her childhood in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois and attended the church there until she went to Oberlin College in Ohio. After graduating with a degree in visual art, she spent 12 years as an artist and photographer and had her own wedding photography business. She began serving as a high school youth advisor at Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois and through her connection with youth she found her calling to ministry. Alix's passion is for small group ministry and faith formation. She hopes to create an intergenerational ministry worthy of the changing landscape our UU movement is traversing. She just completed a year as the student minister to Peoples Church of Chicago. Alix lives with her husband, John, their son, Quillen, and 2 cats. She can be contacted at alixrk005@gmail.com.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Brian Chenowith on July 5, 2015. Brian was an intern minister at Unity Temple for two years between 2012 and 2014. He was recently called as the new settled minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Lexington, Kentucky, where he begins serving August 15. The theme for the month of July is belonging. Brian can be contacted at minister@uulc.org.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on June 28, 2015. June's theme has been taking a path of revelry.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on June 21, 2015. The theme for June is revelry.
In this annual Flower Communion service, reflections were given by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor and Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage. This service from June 14, 2015 was the first service held at United Lutheran Church in Oak Park while Unity Temple undergoes a 15-month restoration.
This podcast from the congregation's last service in Unity Temple before the 15-month restoration project begins with a homily from Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage. Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor follows with his sermon on June 7, 2015. The theme for the month of June is revelry.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on May 31, 2015. The theme for the month of May has been tradition.
Sermons delivered by Rev. Teresa Schwartz and Rev David Schwartz on May 24, 2015. Rev. Teresa Schwartz and Rev David Schwartz are Senior Co-Ministers of the First Unitarian Church of Chicago, called in 2013. They live in Hyde Park with their two young children Josie and Matthew. They were delighted to participate in a long Unitarian Universalism tradition of pulpit exchange and lead services at Unity Temple while UT Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor preached at First Unitarian.
With the May theme being tradition, this sermon was delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on May 17, 2015.
This service from May 10, 2015 was created and presented by the Unity Temple high school youth group to honor the graduating seniors. Heather Godbout, the youth group leader, begins with introductory remarks and is followed by each of the seniors presenting their reflections. In order, they are Paloma Campillo, Clare Darnall, Gillian Dwyer, Connie Meade, Fiona Ryan, Siobhan Sandoval, Julia Studer, Liam Sundling and Ursula Wildfield. Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage and Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor then address the group. The theme for the month of May is tradition.
This podcast from May 3, 2015 presents the Mozart Mass in C as performed under the direction of UTUUC Music Director Marty Swisher by the Unity Temple Choir with members of the North Shore Unitarian Church Choir (Wayland Rogers, Director), the Metropolitan Orchestra and soloists Jennifer Kosharsky (mezzosoprano), Anisha McFarland (lyric soprano), Luther Lewis III (tenor) and Dan Richardson (bass-baritone). The Mass is preceded by introductory remarks from Marty Swisher related to the May theme of tradition.
The Unity Temple Choir and director gratefully acknowledge the significant contribution of Wayland Rogers, Music Director of the North Shore Unitarian Church in Deerfield, IL. His collaboration has been inspriting and instructive, and he has provided immeasurable leadership in this project. Heartfelt appreciation is extended to the NSUC choir for their full commitment in making this a wonderful musical exchange.
This service from April 26, 2015 was prepared and presented by 9th grade students in the Unity Temple Coming of Age Program. One of the facilitators of the year-long program, Dan Crimmins, introduces the program and is followed by each of the students presenting their personal credo. One student, Kelsey Libert, expressed her credo in a self-choreographed dance performance. The spoken credos in order were given by Joey Pintozzi, Clare Roarty, Iris Nosek, Ayanna Sloan, John Harren, David Romine, Patrick Korenich, Sydney Meyer, Declan Cawley and Anika Waco. Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage and Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor also address the students.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on April 19, 2015. The sermon further explores the April theme of revelation.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on April 12, 2015. Rev. Gage has just completed a six-month sabbatical and returns to the pulpit to preach on April's theme of revelation.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015. The theme for the month of April is how to take a path of revelation.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Scott Talbot Lewis on March 29, 2015. Scott has been the Sabbatical Minister handling the congregation's Faith Development responsibilities while Minister of Faith Development, Rev. Emily Gage, is on sabbatical through March. This is his last sermon in that position. The theme for March has been resilience.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on March 22, 2015. Taking a path of resilience is the theme for the month of March.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on March 15, 2015. The theme for March is resilience.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on March 8, 2015. The theme being explored in March is living with resilience.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on March 1, 2015. The theme for March is how to take a path of resilience.
In this worship for all ages from February 22, 2015, Sabbatical Minister and Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor offer their reflections on what it means to take a path of faith, February's theme. The video referred to was shown in lieu of a story for all ages and can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM. Music was provided by the children of the UT Chalice Singers.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on February 15, 2015. The sermon explores the February theme of what it means to take a path of faith.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Scott Talbot Lewis on February 8, 2015. Scott is the Sabbatical Minister and is handling the congregation's Faith Development responsibilities while Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage is on sabbatical through March. The theme for February is how to take a path of faith.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on January 25, 2015. This os the final sermon on January's theme of living with integrity.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on January 18, 2015. The January theme is living with integrity.
Sermon delivered by visiting minister Rev. James Hobart on January 11, 2015. Rev. Hobart is a born and raised Southerner. He attended Antioch College and Meadville Lombard Theological School. Now in his 51st year in the UU ministry, Jim has served congregations from Massachusetts to Colorado. In all his congregations, communities and in the UUA, his work has included civil rights, Black empowerment, and anti-racism/anti-oppression. The January theme is living a life of integrity.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Scott Talbot Lewis on January 4, 2015. Scott is the Sabbatical Minister and is handling the congregation's Faith Development responsibilities while Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage is on sabbatical through March. January's theme is integrity.
Sermon delivered by Sabbatical Minister Rev. Scott Talbot Lewis on December 28, 2014. The theme for December has been cultivating a sense of wonder.
This recording is of the Christmas Eve 11:00 p.m. service. The homily, delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor, is preceded and followed by pieces performed by the Unity Temple Choir under the direction of Music Director Marty Swisher.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on December 21, 2014. The theme for December is a sense of wonder.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on December 14, 2014. December's theme is cultivating a sense of wonder.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on December 7, 2014. The theme for the month of November is wonder.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Scott Talbot Lewis on November 30, 2014. This worship follows the November theme of grace. Scott is serving as the Interim Minister of Faith Development while Rev. Emily Gage is on sabbatical.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on November 23, 2014. We have been exploring the theme of grace in November.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on November 16, 2014. The monthly theme for November is grace.
The Unity Temple Choir and Singers under the direction of Music Director Marty Swisher perform five pieces by composer Eric Esenvalds on November 9, 2014. For this service on the theme of grace, the choir is accompanied by Mary Ann Gardner on recorder. Marty offers some introductory remarks about the composer and the music.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on November 2, 2014. Services in November will be on the theme of grace.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Scott Talbot Lewis on October 26, 2014. This worship for all ages follows the October theme of renewal. Scott is serving as the Interim Minister of Faith Development while Rev. Emily Gage is on sabbatical.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on October 19, 2014. The theme for October is renewal.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on October 12, 2014. The theme for October is renewal.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on October 5, 2014. The theme for October is renewal.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on September 28, 2014. The theme for September is risk. This was Rev. Gage's last service before she begins a six-month sabbatical October 1.
Sermon on the September theme of risk delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on September 21, 2014.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on September 14, 2014. The theme for the month is risk.
In this worship for all ages, the sermon was delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on September 7, 2014. The theme for the month of September is risk.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Michael Dowd on August 31, 2014. Rev. Michael Dowd is an outspoken religious naturalist, evolutionary theologian, bestselling author, and one of the most inspiring science and religion speakers in America today. Since April 2002, Michael and his wife (UU science writer Connie Barlow) have lived entirely on the road, delivering talks at more than 400 UU congregations, summer camps, and minister retreats, as well as for other religious and secular groups. Their work was featured as the cover story of our national membership magazine, UU World, in the spring of 2006. Their ministry has also been featured in The New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post, and Discover magazine, and Michael has appeared on television nationally on CNN and ABC News. Michael has delivered two TEDx talks and has also spoken at the United Nations. He will be offering a free presentation Friday, September 5 at Unity Temple entitled "The Future is Calling Us to Greatness: Inspiring Science, Realistic Hope."
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on August 24, 2014. The July/August theme has been discovery.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on August 17, 2014. The July/August theme has been discovery.
This service was presented on August 10, 2014 by the Unity Temple Mental Health Awareness Team (MyHAT). Members of the team who offered their reflections here are, in order, Bonnie Jordan, Joan Greene, both co-chairs, and Janet Holden. Other members of the MyHAT Planning Team are Joan Vanderbeck, Lynne Borland, Alice Ocrey, Lee Lee Ward, and Kimberly Knake.
MyHAT's mission is to welcome people living with mental illness and those who care about them, creating a community of acknowledgement, acceptance and understanding.
Anti Stigma Campaign - If you have signed our interest list you will periodically receive information about mental illness that has appeared in the media. It is educational and timely as well as being a barometer of how mental health is being presented to the public. We ask, if you can, to respond to the creators of the stories/broadcasts, either in a positive or negative way as appropriate, to support or correct the information that is being put out by the media.
Legislative Advocacy - If you have signed our interest list you will periodically receive information about legislation that affects the well being of persons with a mental illness. We ask you to contact your elected officials and tell them about your support or disapproval of this legislation. The team can be contacted at myhat@unitytemple.org.
Sermon delivered on August 3, 2014 by Brian Chenowith who has been UTUUC's intern minister for the past two years and who will begin a full-time ministry internship with the First Parish UU congregation in Concord, Massachusetts in the Fall. This was Brian's last service at Unity Temple. The theme for July and August is discovery.
This service from July 27, 2014 was presented by members of UTCAN, the Unity Temple Congregational Action Network. UTCAN helps to coordinate the congregation's social action outreach programs including peace, environmental justice and social justice. Members delivering faith testimonials in this podcast were, in order, John Mikos, Anne White, Rich Pokorny and Jamie Boyce, who has been UTUUC's Community & Action Coordinator. She recently resigned her position to pursue a degree in ministry in the Fall.
Sermon delivered by James Galasinski on July 20, 2014. James Galasinski has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Jazz Studies from Cardinal Stritch University and has just completed his coursework at Meadville Lombard Theological School for his M-Div. He recently completed a ministerial internship at Unitarian Church North in Mequon. First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee is his congregational sponsor and where he has been a member for over 6 years. He has been a pulpit guest in numerous UU churches throughout Wisconsin and Illinois. In September, James will start a 9-month ministerial position at First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque, NM.
Sermon delivered by UTUUC member Terry Kinsey on July 13, 2014. Preeding the sermon is a faith testimonial given by Terry's husband, Jay Cohen.
Terry Kinsey joined Unity Temple in 1982. As a member of this congregation he has taught many AYS/OWL classes for junior high students. He participates in the original Men's Group which started in 1984 and has led several Men's Retreats. Terry founded Mother Earth Adventures which existed from 1991-2010 and offered vision quests and sweat lodges. In 1985, he became a counselor at Marwood Camp, a weeklong UU rites of passage summer camp for adolescents. Professionally, Terry is a retired pediatric physical therapist. His interest in secular/liberal Buddhism began in 1998. He has attended many 9- to 11-day silent Buddhist wilderness backpacks and canoe retreats as well as many 6- to 11-day silent center-based Buddhist retreats. His Buddhist "coach" is Stephen Schettini. Terry can be reached at terrykinsey@gmail.com.
Jay Cohen joined his first Unitarian Church back in 1989. He moved to Oak Park in 1998 and became a Marwood counselor in 1999. He is a full-time professor at a community college and is both a certified public accountant and a licensed clinical social worker. Jay recently completed an 8-week course on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction at Rush University. This is a certified course based upon the work of Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn from the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Jay and Terry have been together for 19 years and were recently legally married with 10 other couples at Unity Temple's own "Big Fabulous Gay Wedding" on June 8th of 2014. They have 3 adult children and 4 grandchildren.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Aidan McCormack on July 6, 2014. Aidan McCormack is the Community and Congregational Relations Coordinator at The Night Ministry. He is a Unitarian Universalist Minister and a 2011 graduate of Meadville Lombard Theological School where he was awarded the Charles F. Billings Prize for Preaching. In addition to ministry, Aidan is a writer involved in the live literary scene in Chicago.
Brenda Parker is an Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Research Scholar with the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy at University of Illinois at Chicago. She received a Masters and Doctorate Degree in Human Geography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Brenda's research interests include gender, race, urban policy and urban inequalities. Brenda has been awarded several research fellowships and has published several articles and book chapters. Her book, Gendering Urban Neoliberalism: A Feminist Exploration of Masculinities and Markets, is forthcoming from University of Georgia Press.
In addition to her academic work, Brenda has worked in the public and non-profit sectors. She sits on several boards and committees, including the Center for Research on Women and Gender and the Honors College. She served on the board of Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers (CLAIM) for two years. When CLAIM became part of Cabrini Green Legal Aid (CGLA), she became a board member at CGLA.
Brenda and her husband, Matt Clifford, live in Oak Park. After lurking in the shadows for a while, they officially became members at Unity Temple in Spring of 2013 and are delighted they did. They have three children.
Please contact Brenda directly at bparker1@gmail.com if you would like to listen to her sermon, "Making Vulnerable Voices Visible."
Sermon delivered on June 22, 2014 by Brian Chenowith who has been UTUUC's intern minister for the past two years and who will begin a full-time ministry internship with the First Parish UU congregation in Concord, Massachusetts in the Fall. The theme for June is gratitude.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on June 15, 2014. This sermon is on the June theme of gratitude.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on June 8, 2014. This is the second of a series of sermons on the June theme of gratitude.
Sermon delivered on June 1, 2014 by Brian Chenowith who has been UTUUC's intern minister for the past two years and who will begin a full-time ministry internship with the First Parish UU congregation in Concord, Massachusetts in the Fall. Following Brian's sermon, Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor presents his charge to Brian for his future ministry. The theme for June is gratitude.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on May 25, 2014. This is the final sermon on the May theme of imagination.
For this Choir Sunday service on May 18, 2014, the Unity Temple Choir conducted by Music Director Marty Swisher and accompanied by the Metropolis Orchestra, performs Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms. The featured soloist is boy soprano Henry Schellinger, an 8th grader at the University of Chicago Lab School. Marty begins by oresenting some background on Bernstein and a description of the work.
This service from May 11, 2014 was entirely designed and presented by the High School Youth Group. Each graduating senior shared thoughts about their life and faith in a reflection. In order, the seniors presenting are Zoe Ryan, Declan Riordan, Nik Maniotis, James kay, Cody Dowda, Jake Skubish, Daley Ripley, Liam Sheridan, Nora Watkins, Sara Blobaum, Levi Todd, Dania Einhorn, Tess Fisher,Zoe Kelley and Gabe Matesanz. Following the reflections, Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage and Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor address the seniors. All music in the service was performed by members of the Youth Group.
This service from May 4, 2014 was developed and presented by the 9th grade Coming of Age (COA) Program participants. COA Co-leader Pete Malecki introduces the program talks about the credos that each of the participants presents in this service. In order, the students reading their credos are Julia Borelli, Alex Ubogy, JT Sandoval, Gabriel Lewis, Leo Boler IV, Isabella Andries and Samanth Michaud. Grace Van Note represents her credo by singing "For Good." Minister fo Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage and Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor each address the group. All music at the service was performed by members of the COA group. The May theme for services is imagination.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on April 27, 2014. This is the final sermon on the April theme of freedom.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on April 20, 2014. This sermon is one in a series on the April theme of freedom.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on April 13, 2014. This sermon is on the April theme of freedom.
Homilies delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on April 6, 2014. The April theme is freedom. Nick Page, choir director at Unoty Temple 30 years ago, provided the music for the service.
This sermon, the last of a series on the March theme of vulnerability, was delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on March 30, 2014.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on March 23, 2014. The sermon continues the March theme of living a life of vulnerability.
Sermon delivered by ministerial intern Brian Cenowith on March 16, 2014. Brian is a ministry student at Meadville-Lombard Seminary. This is one of a series of sermons on the March theme of vulnerability.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on March 2, 2014. This is the first in a series of sermons on the March theme of vulnerability.
This sermon on the February theme of passion was delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on February 23, 2014. It is preceded by a brief testimonial by UTUUC Music Director Marty Swisher about her own passion. Introductory singing is provded by the Unity Temple Chalice Singers comprised of children in the congregation led by Marty Swisher and accompanied by Betsy Davis on piano and Ray Holdsworth on percussion.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on February 16, 2014. This sermon is on the February theme of passion.
This sermon on the February theme of passion was delivered by Rev. Dr. Brent Smith on February 9, 2014. Rev. Dr. Smith is professor of religious studies at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan with 26 years parish experience with Unitarian Universalist congregations, including All Souls Community Church which he founded. He lives in Grand Rapids with his wife Pat and has two grown children. You may contact Brent at smithbr@gvsu.edu or through his website at http://www.drbrentasmith.com/.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on February 2, 2014. This sermon begins a series based on the February theme of passion.
In the third in a series of sermons on January's theme of character, Senior Minister Rev Alan Taylor examines what Michelle Alexander explores in her book, "The New Jim Crow" in this sermon delivered on January 19 2014, the eve of Martin Luther King Day.
Our speakers on January 12, 2014, were Martin and Caroline Lavanhar, members of the Unitarian Society of Ridgewood, New Jersey. They are founders of The Sienna Project which has built nine schools in Guatemala since 2007. Unitarian Universalists from 22 different congregations, including UTUUC, have participated in these trips. For more information about The Sienna Project, please visit http://siennaproject.org/.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on January 5, 2014. This is the first in a series of sermons on the theme of character throughout January.
Sermon delivered by ministerial intern Brian Cenowith on December 29, 2013. Brian is a ministry student at Meadville-Lombard Seminary. This is the last of a series of sermons on the December theme of courage.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on December 22, 2013. This is the fourth in a series of sermons in December on the theme of courage.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on December 15, 2013. This is the third sermon on the theme of courage in the month of December.
This recording from December 8, 2013 begins with a testimonial delivered by UTUUC member Rob Bellmar. Rob speaks about why he gives to UTUUC and how that relates to the December theme of courage. The sermon was delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor and UTUUC members Barbara Moline and Rich Pokorny.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on November 24, 2013.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on November 17, 2013. This is the third in a series of sermons on the November theme of humility.
On November 10, 2013, the Unity Temple Choir directed by Marty Swisher and accompanied by Peter Storms on piano performed Adiemus and Te Deum by Karl Jenkins. In this podcast Adiemus is followed by a homily by Music and Choir Director Marty Swisher. Also accompanying Adiemus were Alice Muciek on recorder and Atiba Jali on djembe.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on November 3, 2013. This is the first of a series of sermons on the theme of humility throughout the month of November.
Sermon delivered by ministerial intern Brian Cenowith on October 27, 2013. Brian is a ministry student at Meadville-Lombard Seminary.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Clare Butterfield on October 20, 2013. Rev. Dr. Butterfield is stepping down from her position as the Director of Faith in Place, an interfaith environmental ministry in Chicago that gives religious people the tools to become better stewards of Creation. Faith in Place congregations work together to support renewable energy, conserve energy, build markets for local sustainable agriculture and fair trade products, and train the next generation of stewards of the earth through urban agriculture with youth. Clare has accepted the position of Program Director for the new Illinois Science and Energy Innovation Foundation, a grant-making entity related to the new Smart Grid authorization. Rev. Dr. Butterfield is an ordained Unitarian Universalist community minister. She has a D. Min. from Chicago Theological Seminary (2008) with a focus on faith and the environment, an M. Div. from Meadville Lombard Theological School (2000), a J.D. (University of Illinois College of Law, 1983), and a B.A in History (University of Illinois, 1980).
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on October 13, 2013. This is the second sermon on the mindfulness theme for October.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on October 6, 2013. This sermon explores October's spiritual theme of mindfulness.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on September 29, 2013.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on September 22, 2013. This is the third in a series of four sermons on the September theme of connections.
Sermon delivered on this Homecoming Sunday by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on September 8, 2013.
Sermon delivered by Rev. C. J. Hawking on September 1, 2013. Rev. Hawking has been Executive Director of Arise Chicago since 2007. She has been partnering with religious leaders to bring a fuller measure of God's justice to the workplace since 1993. Rev. Hawking has organized faith-labor coalitions in five U.S. cities and currently serves as the Harry F. Ward Pastor for Social Justice at Euclid Avenue Methodist Church in Oak Park. She is also a board member for Community Renewal Society. Rev. Hawking is a visiting lecturer on labor and social movements at the University of Illiinois and co-authored Staley: The Fight for the New American Labor Movement (University of Illinois Press, 2009) which won three Book of the Year awards. She can be reached at cj@arisechicago.org.
Sermon delivered by ministerial intern Brian Cenowith on August 11, 2013. Brian is a ministry student at Meadville-Lombard Seminary.
This service from July 28, 2013 was presented by members of the Living By Heart Spirituality Group that includes Carol DiMateo, Vera Dowell, Lynne Hensel, Janet Holden, Bonnie Jordan, Rosemary Sammons, Polly Walwark, Gini Williams and Ellen Wehrle. The group was formed following a workshop of the same name about Unitarian Universalist spiritual practices given by UU minster Rev. Laurel Hallman.
The sermonettes included here are by Bonnie Jordan, Janet Holden and Carol DiMateo. The recording opens with a song by Victoria Storm and the Call to Worship by Lynne Hensel.
Sermon delivered by ministerial intern Brian Chenowith on July 21, 2013. Brian is a ministry student at Meadville-Lombard Seminary.
Jason Cook is currently the intern minister at the Anaheim Unitarian Universalist Church in California. He is pursuing his Master of Divinity Degree at Meadville Lombard Theological School, where he is the recipient of the Bradburd Scholarship for Ministerial Excellence. He also serves Aids Services Foundation of Orange County as a state-certified HIV counselor. After attending the University of Southern California, Jason worked as an actor and writer before finally accepting the call to Unitarian Universalist ministry. He is legally married to vocalist Lawrence Ingalls, and they live in the diverse community of Santa Ana where they have been engaged in social justice work for many years.
Sermon delivered by ministerial intern Brian Chenowith on July 7, 2013. Brian is a ministry student at Meadville-Lombard Seminary.
Sermon delivered by ministerial intern Brian Chenowith on June 30, 2013. Brian is a ministry student at Meadville-Lombard Seminary.
Sermon delivered on this annual Flower Communion Sunday from June 9, 2013 by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage.
This service from June 2, 2013 was presented by the UTUUC high school youth group. Graduating seniors who shared their reflections were, in order, Asher Einhorn, Serena Brewer, Ian Edmiston, Tom Faron, Annie Lanier, Miriam Sundling. First, Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage addressed the group. Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor closes with his special words for the group.
This sermon about the transformative power of listening with nothing but love was delivered by Social Justice Minister Rev. Scott Aaseng on May 12, 2013. Scott is finishing in his role as UTUUC's part-time Assistant Minister for Social Justice. His focus has been on building up congregational participation for justice through the Unity Temple Congregational Action Network. UTCAN uses a congregation-based community organizing process to connect members and friends around shared values and relationships, and organizes them into a network ready to take collective action on issues of common concern. Scott will continue in his position as Consulting Minister with the Quincy, Illinois congregation and is hoping to build a statewide UU advocacy network some day.
This service from May 5, 2013 was prepared and persented by youth in this year's Coming of Age program. After a brief introduction by COA facilitator Pete Malecki, each youth presented his or her personal credo. Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage and Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor then addressed the group with their personal reflections. Credos presented in order were from Maya Korenich, Hannah Entner, Jane Roarty, John Pintozzi, Kimberly Huizinga, Gabriel Krell, Mimi Baker and Julia Bankes. Sidney Renaud-Eberly danced her credo and her song is included.
The Unity Temple Choir under the direction of Music Director Marty Swisher and accompanied by a 12-member orchestra performs Sunrise Mass by Ola Geilo on April 28, 2013. Following this symphonic choral work, Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor offers a benediction.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Clare Butterfield on April 21, 2013. Rev. Dr. Butterfield is the Director of Faith in Place, an interfaith environmental ministry in Chicago that gives religious people the tools to become better stewards of Creation. Faith in Place congregations work together to support renewable energy, conserve energy, build markets for local sustainable agriculture and fair trade products, and train the next generation of stewards of the earth through urban agriculture with youth. Rev. Dr. Butterfield is an ordained Unitarian Universalist community minister. She has a D. Min. from Chicago Theological Seminary (2008) with a focus on faith and the environment, an M. Div. from Meadville Lombard Theological School (2000), a J.D. (University of Illinois College of Law, 1983), and a B.A in History (University of Illinois, 1980). Clare can be reached at Clare@faithinplace.org.
Sermon delivered by guest minister Rev. Kathleen McTigue on April 7, 2013. Rev. McTigue is director of the UU College of Social Justice (UUCSJ), which is a joint collaboration of UUSC and the Unitarian Universalist Association. She leads the UUCSJ in strategically pursuing its mission to increase the capacity of Unitarian Universalists to catalyze justice. Prior to joining UUCSJ, Kathleen served in parish ministry for 25 years, including 21 years as senior minister to the Unitarian Society of New Haven, Connecticut. Her previous experience also includes several years of social justice activism in the San Francisco Bay area and six months volunteering with Witness for Peace in Nicaragua. Rev. McTigue earned a Master of Divinity degree from Starr King School for the Ministry. She can be contacted at kmctigue@uucsj.org.
This is the third in a series of three sermons on Practicing Love. It was delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on March 31, 2013.
This sermon, the second in a series of three, was delievered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on March 24, 2013.
Sermon delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor on March 17, 2013. This is the first of a series of three sermons to be delievered over the next three weeks.
Sermon delivered by Reverend Martin Woulfe on March 10, 2013. Rev. Woulfe was raised in the Chicago area in the Roman Catholic tradition. Martin joined the First Unitarian Society of Chicago in 1987 and several years thereafter enrolled in the Meadville-Lombard Theological School. While completing his Masters in Divinity coursework, which included a chaplaincy at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and an internship at the Countryside UU Congregation, Martin was granted preliminary fellowship as a UU Minister by the UUA's Ministerial Fellowship in 1998.
Martin served for two years as the Interim Minister at the Unitarian Universalist Community Church in Park Forest, Illinois; the members there ordained him in March 2003. Prior to that settlement, Martin worked as an on-site house parent of a group home for teenagers comnnected with Maryville Academy. He also worked at Maryville's Emergency Service Shelter for abused and neglected youth, both during and after his seminary training.
Martin was called by a congregational vote to serve the Abraham Lincoln Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Springfield, Illinois as their first full-time settled minister. He and his wife, Angela, and daughter, Celeste, moved to Springfield in the summer of 2003 where he assumed his duties in August of that year. Martin can be reached at Minister@ALUUC.org.
This sermon was delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on February 24, 2013. Before the sermon, Rev. Gage reads a letter written by 10 year old member Braiden Neubecker and published in the Windy City Times on February 15, 2013.
Sermon delievered by Social Justice Minister Rev. Scott Aaseng on January 13, 2013. Scott is Unity Temple's part-time Assistant Minister for Social Justice. His focus is on building up congregational participation for justice through the Unity Temple Congregational Action Network. UTCAN uses a congregation-based community organizing process to connect members and friends around shared values and relationships, and organizes them into a network ready to take collective action on issues of common concern.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed on January 6, 2013. Mark Morrison-Reed grew up in Chicago where his family attended the First Unitarian Society and he sang in the Chicago Children's Choir. He co-ministered with his wife Donna for 26 years in Rochester N.Y. and Toronto, Ontario. While serving the latter congregation he was also president of the Canadian Unitarian Council. He's currently an affiliated faculty member at the Meadville Lombard Theological School. A historian of the African American experience in UUism, he is the author of Darkening the Doorways: Black Trailblazers and Missed Opportunities in Unitarian Universalism.
Rev. Morrison-Reed can be contacted at markmr4@excite.com.
Sermon delivered by Ministerial Intern Brian Chenowith on December 30, 2012. Brian is a ministry student at Meadville-Lombard Seminary.
Sermon presented by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor at the 11:00 p.m. candlelight service on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2012.
The Unity Temple Choir's performance of the Cantata 142 by Johan Kuhnau is preceeded by a reflection from Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor and introductory words from Unity Temple Music Director Marty Swisher. The choir, conducted by Marty Swisher, is accompanied by chamber orchestra and features Amanda Thomas, mezzo soprano, Burt Anderson, tenor, and Michael Swisher, baritone.
Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage presented a play with six of the UTUUC youth on December 16, 2012. It is followed by her reflections on the season.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on November 18, 2012.
Sermon delivered by Rev. William Schulz on November 11, 2012. Rev. Schulz, President of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, is a former Executive Director of Amnesty International USA (1994-2006) and President of the Unitarian Universalist Association (1985-1993).
Sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Clare Butterfield on October 21, 2012. Rev. Dr. Butterfield is the Director of Faith in Place, an interfaith environmental ministry in Chicago that gives religious people the tools to become better stewards of Creation. Faith in Place congregations work together to support renewable energy, conserve energy, build markets for local sustainable agriculture and fair trade products, and train the next generation of stewards of the earth through urban agriculture with youth. Rev. Dr. Butterfield is an ordained Unitarian Universalist community minister. She has a D. Min. from Chicago Theological Seminary (2008) with a focus on faith and the environment, an M. Div. from Meadville Lombard Theological School (2000), a J.D. (University of Illinois College of Law, 1983), and a B.A in History (University of Illinois, 1980). Clare can be reached at Clare@faithinplace.org.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development on September 30, 2012.
Homily delivered by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor in this worship service for all ages on September 9, 2012.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Mark Kiyimba on September 2, 2012. Rev. Kiyimba, a Unitarian Universalist minister and political activist, is the founding minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Kampala, Uganda. He has received international attention for his courageous public fight against the inhumane anti-homosexuality legislation under consideration by the Uganda parliament. In addition, Rev. Kiyimba initiated – and is the drive behind – New Life Children's Home. New Life Children's Home has been set up to provide a place for children who have lost parents to AIDS, who are themselves HIV positive or have AIDS or whose families simply no longer have the means to care for their children.
Sermon delivered by Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on August 26, 2012. The service included a ceremony affirming the ordination of former Ministerial Intern Rev. Scott Aaseng.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Danny Spears on August 19, 2012. Danny was raised in the Apostolic Oneness (Pentacostal) tradition. He left the Pentacostal church after openly accepting his homosexuality at age 18. Danny took a "leave of absence" from church life and religion in general until he discovered Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) in the early 1980s. He was ordained as an MCC minister in November 2001, and has served two congregations: MCC od Corpus Christi, Texas from December 2001 until July 2007; and Holy Covenant MCC in Brookfield, Illinois since July 2007.
Danny's spiritual journey has led him to embrace Unitarian Universalism, and he now holds dual memberships at Holy Covenant and the Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation. He is also an Aspirant in the UUA ministerial credentialing process. He holds both the Masters of Divinity and Doctor of Divinity degrees from Austin Presbyterian Theological Semninary in Austin, Texas. He is married to Richard Lofstrand and resides in Brookfield where they share their home with their three cats, Powder, Tony and Cleo.
This service was presented by Laura Miller and Nicholas Cable on August 5, 2012. Laura Miller is a recent graduate of Oak Park-River Forest High School and will be attending Willamette University in Portland, Oregon this fall to study visual art and psychology. Nic Cable is a life-long UU who just completed his first year in the Master of Divinity program at Chicago Theological Seminary. He has been thoroughly involved in the work of this tradition for several years and feels blessed to bring this award winning sermon to the UTUUC congregation. Nic is most patient about building religious pluralism and working towards creating mutually beneficial relationships between religious communities. He was raised in Milwaukee and grew up attending Unitarian Universalist Church West in Brookfield, Wisconsin.
Sermon delivered by Nitrice Johnson on July 29, 2012. Nitrice has worked as a volunteer crisis counselor for Rape Victims Advocates, as intake counselor and later Executive Director of the Chicago Abortion Fund, as well as a safe sex educator for African American Women Evolving. Presently, she is working on obtaining a degree in Psychology and spends her free time designing and creating beautiful jewelry. If you would like to contact Nitrice Johnson, e-mail her at nitricejohnson@aol.com.
Readings and reflections were delivered by The Sugar Beet Cooperative on July 22, 2012. The Sugar Beet Cooperative will be a corner grocery store and neighborhood gathering place in the Oak Park/Austin area. It will provide high quality, locally sourced food produced in ecologically sound ways. Not only will it offer good food at fair value to member-owners and the community, The Sugar Beet Co-op will also serve as a hub for sharing and learning, which in turn will support our regional food shed.
The members of the The Sugar Beet Cooperative who presented today are Cheryl and Anthony Muñoz, Jenny Jocks Stelzer, Michael Stelzer Jocks, Krista Mikos and Karen Bara. Mark Robinson performed music for the service. You can find more information about The Sugar Beet Cooperative at www.sugarbeet.com or by contacting Cheryl Muñoz at junemoon15@gmail.com or 773-988-6205.
This sermon was led by Kimberly Vulinovic and Kim Wade on July 15, 2012. Kim Vulinovic has been attending Unity Temple since 1999 and became a member in 2000. She resides in Oak Park and has run Yoga Kids of Oak Park, an educational yoga business for children, since 2001. She also teaches adults, incorporating lyengar alighment techniques for a class that is calming, energizing athletic and safe. To contact Kim and find out more about Yoga Kids classes, visit her website at www.yogakimv.com
Kim Wade has always been a creative individual who enjoys the challenges of living an active lifestyle. She earned a BFA in Theater and has worked professionally as an actor since childhood. She describes herself as a very active person, both physically and spiritually. Her personal philosophy is that joy is an option and happiness is a choice. She enjoys working with clients across the spectrum from beginner to advanced, and with those searching for both physical and emotional realignment. You can reach Kim and learn more about her work at www.innergazeyoga.com.
Rich Logan is a musician/Yoga instructor/Massage therapist who has played the Chicago Kirtan scene for several years. He has taught Yoga/movement for 10 plus years. Rich has been a band member with Devi 2000, Amy and the Ananda Bliss Tribe, and Jagati, recording albums with each. He has also played with Dave Stringer and Wade Imre Morissette. Rich can be contacted at logonrich@yahoo.com.
Sermon delivered by Janet Holden on July 8, 2012. Janet has been a “GA Junkie” ever since she attended her first General Assembly in Nashville in 2000 when her luggage got lost. She realized that she could buy a different UU T-shirt in the Exhibit Hall every day and still fit right in. Since coming home from the 2010 GA in Charlotte, she has been working on the Congregational Study Action Issue, Immigration as a Moral Issue. The decision to attend the Justice GA this year, held in controversy in Phoenix, AZ, was not an easy one for many reasons. Janet will explore what this GA means on a personal, spiritual level as well as what it means for our UU faith.
Janet Holden and her husband Tom Barnes have been members of the congregation since 1988. She received a Certificate in Congregational Health Ministry from Andover Newton Theological School in 2008. Janet has served on the UTUUC Board and is currently a member of the Unity Temple Choir. She can be reached at janetholden@sbcglobal.net.
This Flower Communion Sunday service was presented on June 10, 2012 by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor, Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage and Intern Minister Scott Aaseng. Reflection delivered by Rev. Emily Gage.
This service from May 20, 2012 was presented by participants in the first Coming of Age program at Unity Temple. Each of the ninth-graders offered their personal credo and several of them provided the music for the service. In order, the youth who spoke were Gillian Dwyer, Ursula Wildfield, Fiona Ryan, Julia Studer, Clare Darnall, Siobhan Sandoval, Liam Sundling, Madeleine Standen, James Harren, Brita Holmlund and Paloma Campillo.
This is a performance by the Unity Temple Choir of Tarik O'Regan's "Triptych" directed by Marty Swisher, Music Director, and accompanied by orchestra and Peter Storms on piano on May 13, 2012. Introductory comments are delivered by Marty Swisher and readings presented by Burton Anderson. Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor offers a reflection following the choir's performance.
This service from May 6, 2012, was presented by the High School Youth Group. Readings were presented by Zoe Ryan and sermonettes given by Jake Skubish, Levi Todd, Gabe Matesanz and Liam Sheridan. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development, offers some thoughts about our UT youth. Seniors Briana Craig, Nick Matesanz and Laura Miller offered reflections on growing up in the Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation and on life after high school. The introductory song was performed by Tom Faron, James Kay, Laura Miller, Nik Maniotis and Matt Parks.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Clare Butterfield on Earth Day, April 22, 2012. Rev. Dr. Butterfield is the Director of Faith in Place, an interfaith environmental ministry in Chicago that gives religious people the tools to become better stewards of Creation. Faith in Place congregations work together to support renewable energy, conserve energy, build markets for local sustainable agriculture and fair trade products, and train the next generation of stewards of the earth through urban agriculture with youth. Rev. Dr. Butterfield is an ordained Unitarian Universalist community minister. She has a D. Min. from Chicago Theological Seminary (2008) with a focus on faith and the environment, an M. Div. from Meadville Lombard Theological School (2000), a J.D. (University of Illinois College of Law, 1983), and a B.A in History (University of Illinois, 1980). Clare can be reached at Clare@faithinplace.org.
Reflection delivered by Rev. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development, on April 15, 2012, in this service for all ages.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Calvin S. Morris on April 1, 2012. Rev. Morris is in his 15th year as the Executive Director of the Community Renewal Society, a metropolitan Chicago, faith-based organization that concretely improves the lives of individuals affected by racism and poverty. He received his Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Arts degrees in history from Boston University, Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree from Boston University School of Theology, and Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Lincoln University. Rev. Morris is ordained in the United Methodist Church and has Dual Standing in the United Church of Christ. You can learn more about Rev. Calvin Morris by clicking here.
This service from March 11, 2012 begins with the 3rd and 4th grade Chalice Ceremony. Rev. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development, delivers the sermon.
Homily delivered by Rev. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development, on February 19, 2012. This worship for all ages was led by Senior Minister Rev. Alan Taylor, Rev. Emily Gage and Scott Aaseng, Intern Minister.
Sermon delivered by the Rev. Dr. Michael Schuler on February 12, 1012. Rev. Schuler has served as Parish Minister to First Unitarian Society in Madison, Wisconsin since 1988. He holds Masters and Ph.D. degrees in religion and the humanities, and previously served congregations in Iowa and New York. With his wife, Trina, Michael enjoys skiing, hiking, travel, museums and concerts. He practices Ta'i Chi, yoga, and is an avid runner. Michael and Trina have an adult son, Kyle, in a Masters program in Art Education, and a Papillon "therapy" dog, Sasha. Michael is active in a variety of civic and environmental organizations and serves on the steering committee of Dane County United. He can be reached at michaels@fusmadison.org.
Sermon delivered by visiting minister Rev. Don Southworth on January 29, 2012. The Rev. Southworth is the first Executive Director of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association. He has served congregations in San Francisco; Atlanta; and Durham, North Carolina, and has led workshops on growth and stewardship in the United States and England. Don can be reached at executivedirector@uuma.org or 617-848-0416.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development, on January 15, 2012.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Clare Butterfield on January 8, 2012. Rev. Dr. Butterfield is the Director of Faith in Place, an interfaith environmental ministry in Chicago that gives religious people the tools to become better stewards of Creation. Faith in Place congregations work together to support renewable energy, conserve energy, build markets for local sustainable agriculture and fair trade products, and train the next generation of stewards of the earth through urban agriculture with youth. Rev. Dr. Butterfield is an ordained Unitarian Universalist community minister. She has a D. Min. from Chicago Theological Seminary (2008) with a focus on faith and the environment, an M. Div. from Meadville Lombard Theological School (2000), a J.D. (University of Illinois College of Law, 1983), and a B.A in History (University of Illinois, 1980). Clare can be reached at Clare@faithinplace.org.
Sermon delivered on January 1, 2012 by Rev. Scott Aaseng, UTUUC Intern Minister for 2011-2012. Happy New Year!
Homily and prayer delivered by Rev. Alan Taylor at the 11:00 candlelight service on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2011.
The podcast of this worship for all ages on December 18, 2011, begins with a story read by Rev. Emily Gage and is followed by Rev. Scott Aaseng's reflection.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development, on December 11, 2011.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Scott Aaseng on November 27, 2011. Scott is the Intern Minister for the Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation for the 2011-2012 church year. His journey towards Unitarian Universalism ministry follows his previous ministry as a Lutheran pastor on the southwest side of Chicago in the early 1990s. He has since worked as a nonprofit administrator, project coordinator with American Friends Service Committee, and church musician (most recently at Third Unitarian Church in Chicago). Scott is focused on church-based community organizing during his year at Unity Temple. Rev. Aaseng lives in the Austin neighborhood with his wife and two teenage daughters.
Homily delivered at this worship for all ages service by Rev. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development, on Sunday, October 30, 2011.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Bill Haney on October 23, 2011. Rev. Haney is the interim minister at the Green Valley UU Congregation near Tucson, Arizona. Prior to his call to ministry he was an architect. Bill attended Oklahoma University, studying under the architect Bruce Goff after having a private interview with Frank lloyd Wright to see if he would want to study at Taliesin. After a fulfilling vocation, he attended Starr King School for Ministry when he met and married Loretta Williams. He served the Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbia, Missouri for 21 years prior to his current position. Bill can be contacted at whaney@uuma.org.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed on October 16, 2011. Mark Morrison-Reed grew up in Chicago where his family attended the First Unitarian Society and he sang in the Chicago Children's Choir. He co-ministered with his wife Donna for 26 years in Rochester N.Y. and Toronto, Ontario. While serving the latter congregation he was also president of the Canadian Unitarian Council. He's currently an affiliated faculty member at the Meadville Lombard Theological School. A historian of the African American experience in UUism, his new book, Darkening the Doorways: Black Trailblazers and Missed Opportunities in Unitarian Universalism, was published in April of this year.
Rev. Morrison-Reed can be contacted at markmr4@excite.com.
Reflections given by members of the Dream Act Action Team (Kathy Clark, Janet Holden, Shirley Lundin, Kris Mazza, Juan Ramirez) and sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Taylor on October 9, 2011.
This service from September 11, 2011 celebrated the congregation's coming together with a water ingathering ceremony. Members were asked to bring water from their summer journeys or from wherever was meaningful to them. They then expressed on index cards the significance of their water offering. Some of the cards were read by Rev. Alan Taylor, Rev. Emily Gage and Rev. Scott Aaseng who will be our ministerial intern this church year. Sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Taylor.
Sermon delivered by E. Eliot (Ben) Benezra, M.D. on September 4, 2011. Ben was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey and learned to speak Turkish, Greek, French and Ladino, an ancient Sephardic form of Spanish that was spoken in his home. He graduated from Robert College which was part of the American University system where he learned English.
Ben immigrated to the United States in 1943 during World War II. He traveled on a Merchant Marine ship as part of a returning convoy that had delivered supplies to U.S. service members stationed in the Mediterranean area. He attended Carleton College and Northwestern University Medical School and served in the U.S. Air Force as a Base Psychiatrist.
He and his wife, Betty, settled in Elmhurst with their three children. Ben, who with his family, was an involved member of Unity Temple, worked as a psycho-analytical psychiatrist for 55 years in private practice. He lectured, taught residents and was active in various medical organizations until his retirement in 2010. Twelve years after his divorce from Betty, Ben married Barbara in 1984 in a Unitarian service. Together, they made their home in Oak Brook with Barbara's two children. Ben believes that the power of every human lies not in a higher being, but within himself/herself and considers himself a secular humanist. Ben can be reached at b.benezra@comcast.net.
If you would like to follow a PowerPoint presentation of Ben's sermon, you can download it by clicking here.
This service from August 14, 2011 was presented by the Squash Blossoms who started a garden together in 2009 after taking a Menu for the Future class at Unity Temple. Since that time, they have discovered something much larger and more meaningful than a kitchen garden free of pesticides. They have found each other and a means of protecting the posterity of the seed, whose mysteries we will never fully understand. The Squash Blossoms are Cathy Busking, Sunny Hall, Maribeth and Rocco Petrosino, Monica Phillips, Sharon Storbeck and Anne White. The podcast includes a meditation, readings and a sermon by Anne White. You can visit the Squash Blossoms' blogsite at www.squashblossomblog.com.
In this service from August 7, Rev. Alan Taylor solicited questions from those in attendance to be written on note cards. His "sermon" consisted of his responses to many of those questions.
This service was organized by Diane Scott with the following personal reflections and a song presented by members of the congregation's Peace Committee (in order):
Why I Meditate, Marilyn Myles
Why I Study Non-violent Communication, Sue Piha
Why I Serve on the Oak Park-River Forest School Board, Ralph Lee
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize, folks song lyrics by Alice Wine, performed by Charlie Rossiter and Jack Rossiter-Munley
What I Learned About Peace While Working for Justice, Rich Pokorny
What War Taught Me About Peace, Stephen Jordan
Diane Scott has been a member of Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation since 1999 and has happily helped with 3rd Saturday Coffeehouse for the last eight years. Along with Marilyn Myles she has led writing workshops at the annual women's retreat. Diane is currently a member of the Unity Temple Board of Trustees. She has gone door-to-door for Harold Washington and Barack Obama, protests against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and believes it is good to speak what is in your heart. She can be reached at Dihome@comcast.net.
Readings and sermon delivered by Psychologist Madeleine Van Hecke on July 17, 2011. Madeleine and her husband, Greg Risberg, have been members of Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation for seven years. She is a Chalice Circle member and writes the Beacon column each month that describes possible Chalice Circle topics. Madeleine has conducted workshops on the topic of forgiveness at the adult education center, Common Ground, where she is a regular lecturer. She was an award-winning professor when she taught courses in psychology, critical thinking and creative thinking at North Central College in Naperville. Currently Madeleine provides workshops to businesses and other organizations based on her two books, Blind Spots: Why Smart People Do Dumb Things (Prometheus Books, 2007) and The Brain Advantage (Prometheus Books, 2010). She can be contacted at mlvanhecke@aol.com.
Sermon delivered by Janet Holden on July 10, 2011. Janet's sermon is preceded by two related personal stories presented by Bonnie Jordan and Anne White. Janet Holden and her husband Tom Barnes have been members of the congregation since 1988. She received a Certificate in Congregational Health Ministry from Andover Newton Theological School in 2008. Janet has served on the UTUUC Board and is currently a member of the Unity Temple Choir. She can be reached at janetholden@sbcglobal.net.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Taylor on July 3, 2011. The congregation welcomed back Rev. Taylor this Sunday following his 6-month sabbatical.
Sermon delivered by Chris Nemeth on June 26, 2011. Chris has been a UTUUC member since 2010 and lives in Oak Park with his wife, Tara, and their two girls, Marie and Vivienne. Chris speaks to how our popular society --a society wedded to the notion that we should ultimately be able to "have it all"-- seems increasingly fearful of and unprepared for the inevitability of disappointment, tragedy and, ultimately, death and loss. Chris can be reached at lcnemeth@gmail.com. A printable copy of his sermon can be found at http://www.unitytemple.org/pdf/sermons/TheAlgebraofLoss.pdf.
Sermon delivered by John on June 19, 2011. John has been a member of our congregation for almost 50 years and currently serves as a Pastoral Associate. He is retired from Northwestern University where he was in research administration, and was formally the Co-CIO of the American Hospital Association. He and his wife Jane lead an active life within our congregation and local community and greatly enjoy their annual travels to visit with grandchildren. He confesses to a great affection for bad puns.
This worship service from June 12, 2011, honors the life of Unitarian minister Rev. Norbert Capek and the beautiful tradition he began that is still celebrated by U.U. congregations around the world. The podcast begins with the choir singing a piece composed for a past Flower Communion Sunday by former UTUUC Music and Choir Director Jonathan Miller. Following the choir is a play enacted by four children of the congregation. The service ends with a reflection by Rev. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development.
Sermon delivered by Reverend Dr. Qiyamah A. Rahman on June 5, 2011. Rev. Rahman shares her circuitous spiritual odyssey beginning with her childhood religion in the Baptist church, her God-is-Dead period, 10 years as a devout practicing Muslim, her non-denominational period, and now 19 years of service in the vineyard of Unitarian Universalism. "If Unitarian Universalism had not existed, I would have had to invent it," she laughingly states.
Mystical humanist/womanist/post-colonial feminist Unitarian Universalist is how she describes herself on a good day! She recently tackled the question, "How does my nationality, race, gender, class and sexual orientation shape how I make meaning of the sacred and holy in my life and how have I come to name that?"
Sermon delivered by Andrew Harvey on May 29, 2011. Andrew Harvey is an internationally acclaimed poet, novelist, translator, mystical scholar, and spiritual teacher. He has published over 20 books including The Hope, a Guide to Sacred Activism (Hay House) and Heart Yoga, the Sacred Marriage of Yoga and Mysticism (North Atlantic Books). Harvey was a Fellow of All Souls College Oxford from 1972-1986 and has taught at Oxford University, Cornell University, The California Institute of Integral Studies, and the University of Creation Spirituality, as well as various spiritual centers throughout the United States. He was the subject of the 1993 BBC film documentary The Making of a Modern Mystic. Harvey is the Founder of the Institute for Sacred Activism in Oak Park, Illinois, where he lives. His website is www.andrewharvey.net.
This service was given on May 22, 2011 by 10 ninth graders who participated this past year in our inaugural Coming of Age Program. Each of them presents a personal credo as a way of celebrating this rite of passage.
This special choral service from May 15, 2011 features a small orchestra, The Unity Temple Choir, and soloists. Under the direction of Music Director Marty Swisher, The Unity Temple Choir performs Requiem, by John Rutter, in its entirety. Soprano Audrey Cole sings the soloist movements with choral and instrumental support. Harpist Stephen Hartman, oboist Deb Stevenson, cellist William Cernota, timpanist/glockenspielist Jim Holland, flutist Jane Wood, and our own UT organist, Peter Storms, provide instrumentation for this enchanting music replete with tender, comforting melodies and dramatic expressions of hope and longing.
Sermon delivered by Matt Meyer on May 8, 2011. Matt is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music and has studied abroad in Cuba, Ghana and Central America. He has led hundreds of services for UU congregations across the country and lives in Boston, where he plays with several world music groups. Matt is also a member of the UUA's Council on Cross-Cultural Engagement and a board member and resident of the Lucy Stone Cooperative, a newly-formed Unitarian Universalist housing cooperative creating an intentional community and a center for social justice in the Boston area. Matt can be reached at laghalot4@hotmail.com.
This service was put together and conducted by the UTUUC Youth Group of high school students on May 1, 2011. Several readings are offered by Youth Group members followed by personal reflections from bridging seniors Nick Rohm and Sam Simon. Dania Einhorn contributed the introductory music.
This podcast includes a "living story" narrated by Rev. Scott Talbot Lewis and acted out by children of the congregation. The story is preceded and followed by two choral pieces performed by The Sounds of the South high school choir from Bloomington, Indiana directed by Gwen Whitten-Upchurch. The first piece is "Lux Arumque" by Whittacre. The podcast closes with "Dulamon" by Mooney.
Rev. Scott Talbot Lewis is the Consulting Minister at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Rock Valley in Rockton, IL. He will also be serving the Unity Temple congregation as the Minister for Pastoral Care while Rev. Alan Taylor in on sabbatical. Scott earned a Master of Divinity degree from Meadville Lombard Theological School and was fellowshipped by the Unitarian Universalist Association in 2009. Prior to seminary Scott was a Children’s Services Librarian for 16 years in Columbus, Ohio. He served on the 2001 Caldecott Medal committee and was a children’s book reviewer for the Columbus Dispatch. He can be reached at scott@scottandtony.com.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Clare Butterfield on April 10, 2011. Rev. Dr. Butterfield is the Director of Faith in Place, an interfaith environmental ministry in Chicago that gives religious people the tools to become better stewards of Creation. Faith in Place congregations work together to support renewable energy, conserve energy, build markets for local sustainable agriculture and fair trade products, and train the next generation of stewards of the earth through urban agriculture with youth. Rev. Dr. Butterfield is an ordained Unitarian Universalist community minister. She has a D. Min. from Chicago Theological Seminary (2008) with a focus on faith and the environment, an M. Div. from Meadville Lombard Theological School (2000), a J.D. (University of Illinois College of Law (1983), and a B.A. in History (University of Illinois, 1980). Clare can be reached at clare@faithinplace.org.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Laurel Hallman on April 3, 2011. Rev. Hallman was the senior minister of the First Unitarian Church of Dallas for 22 years, retiring in 2009. Her congregation grew from 550 to 1,100 members during that time, reflecting the depth and breadth of her ministry in that city. She is currently President of Prairie Group, a Unitarian Universalist ministers' study group in existence for more than 60 years.
Laurel is the author of the video and workbook, "Living by Heart: A Guide to Devotional Practice", using poetry and wisdom literature as broadly based resources for spiritual practice. She has also published "Reaching Deeper", a collection of her sermons.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Brian H. Covell on March 27, 2011. Rev. Covell began his ministry at Third Unitarian Church of Chicago in 2003. In his preaching, Rev. Covell relates the principles of liberal religion to both contemporary social and personal concerns. He believes that as Unitarian Universalism emphasizes the inherent worth and dignity of every living being, its congregations should take practical, tangible initiatives to make this principle real in our neighborhoods, cities and world.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Lee Barker. A life-long Unitarian Universalist, Rev. Barker is president and professor of ministry at the Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago. He has held pulpits in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and California. Each of his ministries has contributed to a surge in institutional growth, a renewed commitment to social justice and the adoption of a far ranging religious and spiritual vision.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Emily Gage on March 13, 2011. The music for this Sunday's worship services was led by songwriter and choir director Nick Page accompanied by the Unity Temple Choir under the direction of Marty Swisher. Yo can hear Nick's original piece, "We Pray", leading into and following the sermon.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Matthew Johnson-Doyle on March 6, 2011. Rev. Dr. Johnson-Doyle has been senior minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Rockford, Illinois since 2008. He is a third-generation UU focused on the good news of Unitarian Universalism. "This is a religion," he says, "which can save lives and the world. People seek a spiritual path that integrates their whole selves, that inspires awe, that celebrates beauty, and grounds justice. We can offer a vision of the good life and the tools to make it real." Matthew is passionate about welcoming newcomers to church, building strong communities, the preaching life, and working in accountable and effective ways for justice among all creation. He can be reached at 815-398-6322 ext. 14, or minister@uurockford.org.
NOTE: In his sermon, Matthew refers to several pieces of art which you can download as a PDF file and view at http://www.unitytemple.org/pdf/JohnsonDoylePhotos.pdf.
Sermon delivered by Rev. John Bueherns on Febrary 27, 2011. John Buehrens served as President of the Unitarian Universalist Association from 1993 to 2001. He is the author of Understanding the Bible: An Introduction for Skeptics, Seekers, and Religious Liberals; and co-author (with Forrest Church) of A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism and (with Rebecca Parker) of A House for Hope: The Promise of Progressive Religion in the 21st Century. His latest book, Universalists and Unitarians in America: A People's History, will be published in April. Minister of First Parish in Needham, Massachusetts, since 2002, he is a member of the adjunct faculty at Harvard Divinity School, a trustee of Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, and national co-chair of Freedom to Marry (www.freedomtomarry.org). John can be reached at revbuehrens@uuneedham.org.
Sermon delivered by Scott Talbot Lewis on February 20, 2011. Scott is the Consulting Minister at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Rock Valley in Rockton, IL. He will also be serving the Unity Temple congregation as the Minister for Pastoral Care while Rev. Alan Taylor in on sabbatical. Scott earned a Master of Divinity degree from Meadville Lombard Theological School and was fellowshipped by the Unitarian Universalist Association in 2009. Prior to seminary Scott was a Children’s Services Librarian for 16 years in Columbus, OH. He served on the 2001 Caldecott Medal committee and was a children’s book reviewer for the Columbus Dispatch. He can be reached at scott@scottandtony.com.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Clare Butterfield on February 13, 2011. Rev. Dr. Butterfield is the Director of Faith in Place, an interfaith environmental ministry in Chicago that gives religious people the tools to become better stewards of Creation. Faith in Place congregations work together to support renewable energy, conserve energy, build markets for local sustainable agriculture and fair trade products, and train the next generation of stewards of the earth through urban agriculture with youth. Rev. Dr. Butterfield is an ordained Unitarian Universalist community minister. She has a D. Min. from Chicago Theological Seminary (2008) with a focus on faith and the environment, an M. Div. from Meadville Lombard Theological School (2000), a J.D. (University of Illinois College of Law (1983), and a B.A. in History (University of Illinois, 1980). Clare can be reached at clare@faithinplace.org.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development, on February 6, 2011. The sermon is preceded by thoughts shared about heroes by long-time members Charlotte and Ralph Lee.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development, on January 30, 2011.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed on January 23, 2011. Mark Morrison-Reed grew up in Chicago where his family attended the First Unitarian Society and he sang in the Chicago Children's Choir. He co-ministered with his wife Donna for 26 years in Rochester N.Y. and Toronto, Ontario. While serving the latter congregation he was also president of the Canadian Unitarian Council. He's currently an affiliated faculty member at the Meadville Lombard Theological School. A historian of the African American experience in UUism, his new book, Darkening the Doorways: Black Trailblazers and Missed Opportunities in Unitarian Universalism, is due out in April.
Sermon delivered by Rev. David Owen-O'Quill on January 16, 2011. David Owen-O'Quill was raised and lived in the Pacific Northwest. He received a doctorate with honors from Meadville Lombard Theological School and spent six years leading a Unitarian Universalist congregation in Corpus Christi, Texas. He started Micah's Porch Community Church in Chicago to reach the unchurched urban population. Rev. Owen-O'Quill believes the real purpose of church is about joining with others to change your world. He is married to Jennifer and has one child, Daniel.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Scott Talbot Lewis on January 2, 2011. Scott is the Consulting Minister at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Rock Valley in Rockton, IL. He will also be serving the Unity Temple congregation as the Minister for Pastoral Care while Rev. Alan Taylor in on sabbatical. Scott earned a Master of Divinity degree from Meadville Lombard Theological School and was fellowshipped by the Unitarian Universalist Association in 2009. Prior to seminary Scott was a Children’s Services Librarian for 16 years in Columbus, OH. He served on the 2001 Caldecott Medal committee and was a children’s book reviewer for the COLUMBUS DISPATCH. He can be reached at scott@scottandtony.com.
Reflections on Christmas are offered by Rev. Alan Taylor and Rev. Emily Gage on December 19, 2010. This was a worship service for all ages in which children stayed in the sanctuary with their families.
This service from December 12, 2010 presents a special musical offering of Three Nativity Carols by Stephan Paulus. Performed by the Unity Temple Choir with an introduction by Marty Swisher, Unity Temple Choir Director, and accompanied by harpist Stephen Hartman and oboist Deb Stevenson, the carols preceed a brief homily delivered by Rev. Alan Taylor.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Jennifer Owen-O'Quill on Movember 28, 2010. Rev. Owen-O'Quill is a lifelong Unitarian Universalist. She was raised in California, studied theology at Meadville Lombard, has served at Second Unitarian Church of Chicago and now serves at Micah's Porch Community Church. She is strongly committed to spreading the good news of our faith beyond our walls and into the lives of un-churched people. Jennifer is married to the love of her life, David Owen-O'Quill, and they have a three year old child named Daniel. She can be contacted at Jennifer@micahsporch.org.
This is a recording of the full installation service of Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage on November 7, 2010.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Emily Gage on November 7, 2010. Emily was installed this day as Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation's Minister of Faith Development.
Reflections delivered by Rev. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development, on October 31, 2010.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development, on October 24, 2010.
On September 12, 2010, Rev. Alan Taylor launched a six-part series on the theme of A Religion For Our Time. This sermon, delivered on October 17, is the last installment in that series.
On September 12, 2010, Rev. Alan Taylor launched a six-part series on the theme of A Religion For Our Time. This sermon, delivered on October 10, is the fifth installment in that series.
On September 12, 2010, Rev. Alan Taylor launched a six-part series on the theme of A Religion For Our Time. This sermon, delivered on October 3, is the fourth installment in that series.
On September 12, 2010, Rev. Alan Taylor launched a six-part series on the theme of A Religion For Our Time. This sermon, delivered on September 26, is the third installment in that series.
On September 12, 2010, Rev. Alan Taylor launched a six-part series on the theme of A Religion For Our Time. This sermon, delivered on September 19, is the second installment in that series.
With this sermon delivered on September 12, 2010, Rev. Alan Taylor launched a six-part series on the theme of A Religion For Our Time.
Sermon delivered by Jamie Boyce on September 5, 2010. Jamie is in her third year as the Membership Director at Third Unitarian Church, Chicago. Prior to that, she worked at North Shore Unitarian Church for two years as Membership Coordinator. In addition, she has worked in social services in the Chicago area for the past 10 years in both youth and older adult services. Jamie grew up in Michigan and studied at Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey for four years prior to earning her degree from Michigan State University. She joined the Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation in 2003 and can be reached at jeboyce2@hotmail.com.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development, on August 29, 2010.
Reflections delivered by Jared Nourse on August 8, 2010. Jared has been involved at Unity Temple on and off for over 40 years, playing roles from Marwood Camp counselor to junior high teacher, treasurer, Finance Committee chair, adult education coordinator, board member, board president, and Administrator.
As much as he has earned his living in the business community, his passion has been for the innner world, with the many challenges and wonders that it affords. This led him to Zurich, Switzerland during a mid-life hiatus where he took the inner journey under the guidance of a Jungian. This experience is at the foundation of this service. Jared can be reached at jarednourse@yahoo.com.
Sermon delivered by Toni Maddi on August 1, 2010. Toni was a pastoral associate at Unity Temple until her recent move. She and her family now reside in Crystal Lake where they attend the U.U. Congregation of Woodstock. Having worked as a hospice spiritual support volunteer as well as a hospice chaplain intern, Toni is currently pursuing her Masters degree in Theology. She can be contacted at toni@tonimaddi.com.
Sermon delivered by Duane Dowell on July 18, 2010. Duane is the current president of the Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation and a retired pediatrician. He speaks about the incomprehensible disasters in Rwanda, where he recently visited, and in Haiti, where he and his wife Vera lived and worked for almost 10 years. Duane can be reached at dldowell@aap.net.
This sermon was delivered by Dilara Sayeed, an educator in Naperville's District 203 and in the Department of Education at Benedictine University. She has an M.S.Ed from Northwestern University and is pursuing a doctorate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dilara serves on the Boards of KidsMatter (www.kidsmatter2us.org) and the Mohammed Webb Foundation (www.webbfound.org), and is on the Education Committee of the Islamic Center of Naperville. She has spoken internationally on topics of education, youth development, and community service. Dilara believes that through faith and service, we are empowered to "be the change we want to see in the world"! She can be contacted at dilarasayeed@yahoo.com. The recording begins with her son, Sajid Sayeed, reciting Surah (Chapter 30) The Romans, Ayah (verses) 20-27 from The Holy Quran followed by Dilara offering an English translation.
This service on June 27 was led by Toni Maddi and Amelia Dellos. The sermon was delivered by Amelia Estelle Dellos who is currently working on her BS in Holistic Ministry at the American Institute of Holistic Theology. She volunteers as a Pastoral Associate at Unity Temple. Amelia is also screenwriter. Her email is amelia@intuityou.com. Ms. Maddi is also a Pastoral Associate at Unity Temple. Having worked as a hospice spiritual support volunteer as well as a hospice chaplain intern, Toni is currently pursuing her Masters degree in Theology. She can be contacted at toni@tonimaddi.com.
Reflection delivered by Rev. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development, on June 13, 2010.
This 8th Grade Recognition service was held on May 23, 2010. Every aspect of the service was created by the Junior High (7th and 8th grade) students along with help from their teachers. This year's curriculum was Neighboring Faiths which involved many visits to other houses of worship. Opening remarks are from Rev. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development. They are followed by readings of others' or their own words by 8th graders Libby Foster, Gabe Matesanz, Susan Lorraine, and Liam Sherida. Rev. Alan Taylor closes with remarks addressed to the 8th graders.
Musical reflections delivered by Marty Swisher, Unity Temple Choir Director, followed by the choir's performance of a 21st century musical setting of poems by Tennyson, Shelley, and Blake on May 9, 2010.
An opening reflection from Rev. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development, is followed by each of the members of the 2009-2010 Unity Temple UU Congregation Senior Class reading reflections that they wrote. They are in order Sam Blobaum, Camilla Brewer, Charlotte Jeffries, Clara Lewis, Christian Matesanz, Kayla Parks and Sam Slattery. Rev. Alan Taylor closes with his address to the seniors. The services took place on May 2, 2010.
Sermons delivered by Rev. Alan Taylor, Rev. Emily Gage, and Rev. Dr. Clare Butterfield. Rev. Gage is Unity Temple's Minister of Faith Development. Rev. Dr. Butterfield is Unity Temple's Community Minister and the Executive Director of Faith in Place which, since 1999, has been giving religious people the tools to become good stewards of the earth. She can be reached at clare@faithinplace.org.
Sermon delivered on March 7, 2010 by Rev. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development. The sermon is preceded by a portion of the 4th Grade Chalice Ceremony.
Story read by Rev. Emily Gage and sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Taylor on February 14, 2010.
Sermon delivered by Dr. Charlie Clements on February 7, 2010. Dr. Clements is a well-known human rights activist and public health physician. Early in his career, after he quit the Air Force as a pilot because he felt war was immoral, he chose to work in the midst of El Salvador's civil war, where the villages he serveed were bombed, rocketed, or strafed by some of the same aircraft in which he trained. He captured his experiences in Witness to War which was made into an Academy Award-winning documentary.
Dr. Clements will soon be stepping down from his role as president and CEO of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee to accept a new position as head of a major human rights research and teaching institution at Harvard University. For the time being, he can still be reached through the UUSC at http://uusc.org/email/1799/field_email.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. F. Jay Deacon on January 24, 2010. Rev. Deacon is a Unitarian Universalist minster and writer who was the minister of the Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation between 1993 and 2002. He has also served congregations in Northampton and North Easton, Mass.; Bangor, Maine; Orlando; and the UK.
Jay is on a search for the Next Thing in his life-work, a search that includes the fairly arduous task of finding a publisher for his book, Magnificent Journey: Religion as Either a Lock on the Past, or an Engine of Evolution. Jay can be reached either through his website, www.jaydeacon.net, or at fjdeacon@uuma.org.
Sermon delievered by Rev. Dr. C. Scot Giles, BCC, DNGH, on January 17, 2010. Scot served the Unity Temple Congregation (when it was known as the Unitarian Universalist Church in Oak Park) as its Parish Minister
between 1981 and 1991. He is a Board Certified Chaplain, a Doctor of Ministry, and a Diplomate with the National Guild of Hypnotists. He is also the Community Minister of Countryside UU Church in Palatine.
Scot is a member of the Advisory Board of the National Guild of Hypnotists. His hospital-affiliated practice focuses on medical hypnotism, and he is especially well-known around the country for his work with
cancer patients.
Rev. Giles lives in Wheaton, Illinois with his wife and cats. Scot's wife, the Rev. Dr. Lindsay Bates, is the Senior Parish Minister to the Geneva UU Society. He can be reached at ScotGiles@comcast.net or through his website, www.CSGiles.org.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Clare Butterfield on January 10, 2009. Rev. Clare Butterfield is ordained as a Unitarian Universalist Community Minister. Her ministry, as Director of Faith in Place at the Center for Neighborhood Technology, is a call to all people of faith in the region to reflect on their faith's teachings about environmental stewardship and to come together to act on those teachings.
As our Community Minister, Clare's eco-ministry is embraced by this congregation. She also facilitates social mission here at Unity Temple, and preaches in our pulpit once or twice each year, to keep us updated on her own work and the work of our social mission.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development, on January 3, 2010.
Reflection on Kwanzaa delivered by Amy Clark Williams on December 27, 2009. This is followed by Karen Haskins-Brewer, Glen, Camilla, and Serena Brewer offering an expression of their family's annual Kwanzaa tradition.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Taylor at the 11:00 p.m. Christmas Eve Candlelight Service on December 24, 2009.
Reflection delivered by Rev. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development, on December 20, 2009, followed by the Unity Temple Choir's performance of Morten Lauridsen's "Sure on This Shining Night."
Reflection delivered by Rev. Alan Taylor on December 6, 2009, followed by the Unity Temple Choir singing John Rutter's "Gloria" in its entirety, Martha Swisher, Music Director.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development, on November 15, 2009. Rev. Gage can be contacted at egage@unitytemple.org.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development, on November 8, 2009. Rev. Gage can be contacted at egage@unitytemple.org.
Homilies delivered by Rev. Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development and Rev. Alan Taylor on November 1, 2009. Rev. Taylor can be reached at revtaylor@unitytemple.org. Contact Rev. Gage at egage@unitytemple.org.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Taylor on October 25, 2009. Rev. Taylor can be contacted at revtaylor@unitytemple.org.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Taylor on October 18, 2009. Rev. Taylor can be reached at revtaylor@unitytemple.org.
Sermon delivered by Toni Maddi on October 11, 2009. Ms. Maddi is a pastoral associate at Unity Temple. Having worked as a hospice spiritual support volunteer as well as a hospice chaplain intern, Toni is currently pursuing her Masters degree in Theology. She can be contacted at toni@tonimaddi.com.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Taylor, Rev. Dr. Scot Giles, and Rev. Dr. Jay Deacon on October 4, 2009. Rev. Deacon and Rev. Giles were the congregation's ministers immediately preceding Rev. Taylor and were invited by him on the occasion of Unity Temple's centennial celebration to offer their reflections on worship during their respective tenures. Rev. Taylor can be reached at revtaylor@unitytemple.org.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Taylor on September 27, 2009. Rev. Taylor can be contacted at revtaylor@unitytemple.org.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Taylor on September 20, 2009. Rev. Taylor can be contacted at revtaylor@unitytemple.org.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Taylor on Homecoming Sunday, September 13, 2009. Rev. Taylor can be contacted at revtaylor@unitytemple.org.
Sermon delivered by Michael Leuchtenberger on September 6, 2009. Michael has been the Ministerial Intern for the 2008-2009 church year.
Sermon delivered by Michael Leuchtenberger on August 23, 2009. Michael has been the Ministerial Intern for the 2008-2009 church year. During this time he has coordinated and led Taizé services on the fourth Friday of every month. Though Michael will be moving on, the monthly Taizé services will continue and all are invited to attend.
Sermon delivered by Jerome A. Stone, Ph.D. on August 16, 2009. Dr. Stone holds the positions of Adjunct Faculty at Meadville Lombard Theological School and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at William Rainey Harper College. He is currently in Preliminary Fellowship with the Unitarian Universalist Association and is a former United Church of Christ minister. He can be reached at Jersustone@aol.com.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Emily Gage on August 9, 2009. Rev. Gage is the Minister of Faith Development. She can be reached at egage@unitytemple.org and at 708-848-6225, ext. 103.
Sermon delivered by Maria Dahman on July 26, 2009. Maria trained as a philosopher, a journalist, and then an actor. Currently she is working on an acting text book with Ted Hoerl, one of her teachers, entitled Beyond Meisner: How to Feel Your Way into the Script. In addition, she is preparing to homeschool her young son. Maria began attending Unity Temple in 2005 and has enjoyed singing in the Unity Temple Choir since 2006. Feel free to contact her at maria.dahman@gmail.com.
Sermon delivered by Christine Steyer on July 19, 2009. Christine became a member of UTUUC in 2008. She is a lyric soprano who is primarily recognized in the field of opera. Christine has received critical acclaim for her mature voice, artistry and acting, most notably in the title roles of La Traviata and Madama Butterfly and the role of the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier. In addition to a vast repertoire in the oratorio and recital genres, Christine has won prizes at major competitions and is featured on a CD of sacred music--a collaborative project with New York Times best-selling author Caroline Myss. She is the Co-founder and Artistic Director of Bellissima Opera based in Oak Park and plans to initiate Bellissima Opera Outreach to schools this fall. Christine is also an active member of numerous arts organizations.
Sermon delivered by Greg Risberg, CSP, MSW, on July 12, 2009. Greg is a warm, funny motivational speaker who, for the past 20 years, has traveled to 48 states, Canada, Great Britain, and Australia with his “humor with a message” programs. He offers his audiences useful ways to improve communication, handle stress, and increase humor in their lives. Greg has addressed a wide range of audiences, from educators to bankers, from health care providers to insurance personnel.
Greg is the author of a chapter entitled "Humor, Hugs, and Hope!" in the recently published Humor Me! He is also the author of the soon to be published 52 Ways To Fill Your Life with Humor, Happiness and Hope.
Rev. Emily Gage read this story called "Big Mama Makes the World" and delivered her reflection on June 14, 2009. Rev. Gage is the Minister of Faith Development at Unity Temple. She can be reached at egage@unitytemple.org and at 708-848-6225, ext. 103.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Michael A. Schuler, Senior Minister at First Unitarian Society in Madison, Wisconsin (http://www.fusmadison.org/index.shtml). First Unitarian Society is a community of 1450 adults and over 500 children, united in their passion for learning, integrity, reverence, and social justice. They see theirs as a community "Where Spiritual Curiosity and Conscience Connect."
Three sermons delivered by members of the high school religious education class, Jack Rossiter-Munley, Camilla Brewer, and Christian Matesanz on May 3, 2009. Graduating seniors are addressed by Acting Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage and Rev. Alan Taylor, Minister.
On April 26, 2009, the Unity Temple Choir under the direction of Marty Swisher and accompanied by Tehra Hiolski performed Morten Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna, a five movement quasi-Requiem that includes elements from the traditional Latin Requiem combined with other Latin prayers that include reference to light.
Readings and reflections offered by members of the 7th/8th grade religious education class. The 8th grade recognition ceremony was conducted by Acting Minister of Faith Development Rev. Emily Gage. Rev. Alan Taylor's charge to the 8th graders is also included.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Clare Butterfield on March 29, 2009. Rev. Butterfield is ordained as a Unitarian Universalist Community Minister. Her ministry, as Director of Faith in Place at the Center for Neighborhood Technology, is a call to all people of faith in the region to reflect on their faith's teachings about environmental stewardship and to come together to act on those teachings.
As our Community Minister, Clare's eco-ministry is embraced by this congregation. She also facilitates social mission here at Unity Temple, and preaches in our pulpit once or twice each year, to keep us updated on her own work and the work of our social mission.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Emily Gage on February 22, 2009. Rev. Gage is the Acting Minister of Faith Development at Unity Temple. She can be reached at egage@unitytemple.org and at 708-848-6225, ext. 103.
Sermon delivered by Michael Leuchtenberger on February 15, 2009. Michael is our Intern Minister for the 2008-2009 church year.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Jim VanderWeele on January 18, 2009. Rev. VanderWeele is minister of Community Church of New Orleans in Louisiana. He has been a commodities broker, activist, and explorer of the world's religions, and turned to ministry in his 40s. His graduation from Meadville/Lombard Theological School in 2000 was followed by an invitation to an interim position in Germantown, Maryland. Jim was called to Community Church of New Orleans in 2002 and has been active in his promotion of ethics, opportunity, and public safety as the city, and his church, move through the process of rebuilding.
Sermon delivered by Michael Leuchtenberger on January 11, 2009. Michael is our Intern Minister for the 2008-2009 church year.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Emily Gage on January 4, 2009. Rev. Gage is the Acting Minister of Faith Development at Unity Temple.
Sermon delivered by Michael Leuchtenberger on December 28, 2008. Michael is our Intern Minister for the 2008-2009 church year.
Sermon delivered by Rev. William G. Sinkford on November 30, 2008. Rev. Sinkford was elected as the seventh president of the Unitarian Universalist Association in June, 2001. His presidency has been distinguished by his social justice work, particularly his efforts to defend oppressed peoples. He is an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq, a nationally recognized champion of equal marriage rights for same-sex couples, and a passionate advocate for the people of Darfur.
Under Sinkford’s leadership, the UUA became the first national denomination to join the New Sanctuary Movement, and last year the denomination formally voted to work to combat global warming. He has been a staunch defender of religious pluralism and church/state separation. A deeply spiritual man, Sinkford has freely shared his own spiritual journey and called on Unitarian Universalism to reclaim a language of reverence.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Clare Butterfield on November 16, 2008. Rev. Clare Butterfield is ordained as a Unitarian Universalist Community Minister. Her ministry, as Director of Faith in Place at the Center for Neighborhood Technology, is a call to all people of faith in the region to reflect on their faith's teachings about environmental stewardship and to come together to act on those teachings.
As our Community Minister, Clare's eco-ministry is embraced by this congregation. She also facilitates social mission here at Unity Temple, and preaches in our pulpit once or twice each year, to keep us updated on her own work and the work of our social mission.
Homily delivered by Nick Page and sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Taylor on November 9, 2008. Nick Page is a composer, conductor, author, and song leader. He has been a frequent song leader and conductor at several UU General Assemblies. At the 2008 Boston General Assembly, he led the Mystic Chorale of Boston which he has directed for 20 years. He directed our Unity Temple Choir from 1983 to 1985 while he was conductor with the Chicago Children's Choir. Nick is the author of three books including his latest, The Nick Page Sing With Us Songbook, and has recorded over 20 CDs.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Emily Gage on October 19, 2008. Rev. Gage is the Acting Director of Faith Development at Unity Temple for the 2008-2009 church year.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Myriam Renaud on July 20, 2008. Myriam is a member of UTUUC as well as an ordained UU minister. After a decade-long career as a software engineer, she was called to ministry and attended the University of Chicago's Divinity School where she was awarded an M.Div. degree in 2005. She is currently a third-year Ph.D. student in Theology, also at the Divinity School.
Sermon delivered by Stacey Horn on June 29, 2008. Dr. Horn is an Associate Professor of Educational and Developmental Psychology in the Department of Educational Psychology at University of Illinois at Chicago. Stacey is on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, serves on the Research Advisory board of the National Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network and is Chair of the Governing Board for the Illinois Safe Schools Alliance. Her research has been published in journals such as Developmental Psychology, the International Journal of Behavior and Development, and the Journal of Youth and Adolescence. She has been a member of Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation since 2001.
Readings written and delivered by members of the High School Youth Group on May 11, 2008.
Readings delivered and play performed by members of the Jr. High School class on April 13, 2008.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Clare Butterfield on March 30, 2008. Rev. Clare Butterfield is ordained as a Unitarian Universalist Community Minister. Her ministry, as Director of Faith in Place at the Center for Neighborhood Technology, is a call to all people of faith in the region to reflect on their faith's teachings about environmental stewardship and to come together to act on those teachings.
As our Community Minister, Clare's eco-ministry is embraced by this congregation. She also facilitates social mission here at Unity Temple, and preaches in our pulpit once or twice each year, to keep us updated on her own work and the work of our social mission.
Sermon delivered by Dr. Charlie Clements on March 16, 2008. Dr. Clements serves as President of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. He is a human rights and public health advocate, renowned for his courageous leadership on a range of domestic and international human rights and humanitarian issues. He is known throughout the human rights community for his ground-breaking efforts to end U.S. intervention in Central America in the 1980s and more recently for his efforts to raise international awareness about access to water as a human rights issue and of the danger of land mines. For more information visit www.uusc.org.governance changes are available.
Sermon delivered by David Pyle on March 2, 2008. David is the Ministerial Intern at the Unitarian Church of Evanston and a student at the Meadville Lombard Theological School. A U.S. Army Chaplain Candidate, David plans to serve on active duty after seminary. David is the co-founder of the Great Lakes Military Ministry Project and the coordinator of Unitarian Universalist Military Ministries. His website is www.celestiallands.org.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Myriam Renaud on February 24, 2008. Myriam is a member of UTUUC as well as an ordained UU minister. After a decade-long career as a software engineer, she was called to ministry and attended the University of Chicago's Divinity School where she was awarded an M.Div. degree in 2005. She is currently a third-year Ph.D. student in Theology, also at the Divinity School.Rev. Renaud is a member of UTUUC and a student at the University of Chicago Divinity School.
Sermon delivered by Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray on February 17, 2008. Susan is a life-long Unitarian Universalist minister, serving at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Youngstown in Ohio. She is a graduate of Harvard Divinity School and the University of Wisconsin, where she studied molecular biology. Susan's ministry centers around worship, leadership development, personal growth, and community organizing.
Sermons delivered by Ellen Wehrle, Nina Gegenheimer, and Sandy Meyer on January 27, 2008.
Daniel Pinkham’s "Christmas Cantata" sung by The Unity Temple Choir & First United Church of Oak Park Choir accompanied by Tehra Hiolski and the Brass Ensemble, directed by Martha Swisher, UTUUC Music and Choir Director.
December 16, 2007