Listen to Past Sermons

During this pandemic I’m finding deep resonance in the Jewish story of liberation told in the Book of Exodus. I believe the Exodus story has much to teach us about how, together, we can overcome great obstacles: whether it’s this pandemic, or the even greater threat of global climate change. With Passover beginning next week, tune in on Sunday for insight and inspiration gleaned from this age-old story. 

Many of the choices that once structured our daily lives have been taken away from us during the pandemic. Where to go? Who to see? What to do? In their wake, what choices remain? During this week’s worship, Rev. Hardies explores some of the spiritual and ethical choices we must now confront.

The year 2020 marks the 100^th anniversary of the 19^th Amendment, which extended voting rights to white women. The struggles for gender justice—and for racial justice—have changed in some ways, but in other ways we’re still working against the same entrenched resistance. How do we keep the struggle going? And what’s our Unitarian Universalist faith got to do with it? A multiracial, multigenerational group of girls and women join Rev. Keithan in presenting this special service as part of All Souls observance honoring the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment, recognizing who was left out, and recommitting to the work still to do.

I’ve always believed that All Souls is the best name a church can have. But what do we really mean when we say “all souls”? What are the promises and perils of a church that dares to call itself “all souls”?

No matter our differences, there is one undeniable fact we all have in common – a body. A body that gets tired. A body that gets old. A body that grows weary, and a body that has needs. How then can we meet the demands of a society that seems to demand constant and unwavering productivity? Join us this Sunday as we explore the humility it takes to be an animal and how that humility might save our lives.

Assaults on our worth and dignity come from all sides these days: injustice, oppression, the cruelties of our civic discourse. Yet one of the greatest threats to our worth comes from inside us. This Sunday we’ll talk about shame and other feelings of unworthiness, and the toll they take on our dignity.

The poet and activist, Audre Lorde, calls the erotic “our most profoundly creative source.” The relationship therapist and author, Esther Perel, suggests that eroticism is “a pathway to freedom.” Drawing on various religious traditions, Black feminist theory, and the psychological sciences, this Sunday we explore how the erotic can serve as a source of sacred and life-giving power for us all .

At times in our lives, we feel suddenly called to stop and let go of control. It can be a painful experience and it can also be liberating. Surrender requires that we trust in something higher and greater than ourselves. Often, surrender comes when we simply trust that we are enough. Is it possible that the Universe conspires in our favor when we surrender? Join Chaplain Christin Green to explore the element of surrender in this month’s theme of vulnerability.

Last month, on the Sunday we celebrated the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., our congregation was targeted by Christian fundamentalist protesters shouting homophobic and white supremacist slurs. This morning we will reflect theologically on that event through the lens of our February spiritual theme: vulnerability. Vulnerability is a defining characteristic of being human. Yet legacies of power and privilege render some of us more vulnerable than others. As life on Earth grows more and more precarious, how we respond spiritually and ethically to our vulnerability may determine whether and how the human family survives and thrives going forward.

This Sunday we welcome back the young South Africans of the Bokamoso Youth Choir. Drawing on South Africa’s rich tradition of freedom singing, the young people of Bokamoso (joined by the All Souls Jubilee Singers and All Souls Childrens and Junior Choirs) will intermingle their own stories with the stories of their nation and ours. This is one of the most inspiring services of the year! Please invite your friends and family to share in this special intergenerational service!

In A People’s History of the United States, historian Howard Zinn helped us uncover forgotten or untold stories from our collective past. Now, we’re desperately in need of just and sustainable visions for our shared future. On Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday we’ll turn to Dr. King and others to help us imagine what a people’s future of the United States could look like.

Whether we’re traveling through an airport or entering into a new relationship, we are invited in different ways to “check” our baggage. What are we holding on to? What is weighing us down? Is it time to let it go? Join All Souls Chaplain, Christin Green, to explore the practice of checking our baggage.