Sunday Mornings at Cedars

Rev. Barry Andrews, Guest Minister Gregory Cook, Worship Associate As another Labor Day approaches, America’s workers are anxious about their future. Government firings, robots and A.I. replacing humans, paychecks not keeping up with the cost of food and rents, these leave workers feeling unappreciated as well as pessimistic. Let’s reflect on the virtues of work and the role it plays in the cultiv...

Rev. Margo Rinehart, Cedars Minister Nancy Philip, Worship Associate Come and discern what it means for us to protest and otherwise speak out during these politically challenging times. Learn to increase your inner strength by practicing freedom, together. Reverend Margo Rinehart  is our minister at Cedars UU Congregation. She has been a Kitsap County resident for over 20 years before recently fin...

Rev. Kate Lore, Guest Minister Johanna Munson, Worship Associate We are living in the pause between stories. The familiar expectations no longer hold. The new ones are not yet formed. This is the threshold: not a place of clarity, but of courage. Kate Lore is a recently retired UU minister who currently lives in Battle Ground, WA. Prior to that, she served as the Senior Minister at the Port Townse...

Kathryn LaFond, Guest Speaker Nancy Philip, Worship Associate Given what we are facing on a collective level in the USA, I find it helpful to explore what sustained the religious freedom fighters of our past. Dorothy Day said, “The greatest challenge of the day is how to bring about a revolution of the heart…” Frederick Douglas reminded us, “Power concedes nothing without demand." What are ou...

Rev. Margo Rinehart, Cedars Minister Tyler Weaver, Worship Associate We often hear the expression, "It's on my bucket list!" referring to the rush to see and do the things of our deepest desires before our life runs out. What if we created these pilgrimages and life experiences now rather than putting them off for our last years? Come and explore how to build your list for the here a...

Rev. Margo Rinehart, Cedars Minister Johanna Munson, Worship Associate This service explores the religious and spiritual beliefs of Albert Einstein and his beliefs about the relationship between science and religion. In Einstein's own words, "I am not an atheist...I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself wi...

Rev. Barbara Gilday, Guest Minister Mike Cox, Worship Associate When life catches us off guard, how do we respond - in families, in communities, in our country? What can we learn from deaths in two families, from a city devastated by earthquakes, and from our current political environment? How can communication, planning, and community action make a difference in our states of mind and long-term o...

Rev. Dr. Barbara Wells ten Hove & Rev. Jaco B. ten Hove, Guest Ministers Jenny Weaver, Worship Associate These last few years have been tough on everyone. Is it possible that kindness might bring healing and hope to our world? And does the universe even care? Barbara Wells ten Hove and Jaco ten Hove, Emeritus Ministers of Cedars, are back among us for the first time since they retired in 2017...

Grace Bonow, Guest Speaker Nancy Philip, Worship Associate Come and celebrate the Bridging of Grace, our graduating high school senior. Grace will describe how Unitarian Universalism shaped her journey from childhood to adult thinking and being. Grace Bonow is a graduating senior and a young member of Cedars UU Church who will be speaking about her spiritual journey. She has a deep passion for the...

Rev. Jennifer Alvair, Guest Minister Gregory Cook, Worship Associate Sometimes beauty has the power to shake up the status quo, re-examine our assumptions, and invite curiosity. Come join us as we learn to embrace the paradox of beauty, wonder and courage as wise companions on our spiritual journey. Rev. Jennifer Alviar is a Unitarian Universalist minister, spiritual innovator and avid community b...

Kathryn LaFond, Guest Speaker Nancy Philip, Worship Associate When fear tries to drive the bus of our lives, how do we remain loving? We live in a world increasingly hostile to those fighting for liberation, fighting for freedom from harm. The gifts in this moment may be that we are forced to learn how to center, ground, nourish, and focus. Kathryn LaFond, Intuitive Energy Healer/Health Coach, Aut...

Gregory Cook. Guest Speaker Nancy Philip, Worship Associate Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson said “The Universe is under no obligation to make sense to you." While this is certainly true, we (collectively, all of humanity) have learned how to describe and predict many things. From Johannes Kepler's observation that celestial bodies travel in elliptical orbits to the complex differential...

Rev. Kari Kopnic. Guest Minister Jenny Weaver, Worship Associate When you care deeply, whether for others, your community, or the world, it’s easy to overlook your own well-being. Come and explore how self-compassion is not a luxury, but a vital practice for those engaged in caregiving and justice work. Drawing on the insights of Kristin Neff, Tricia Hersey, and Israa Nasir, we’ll reflect on how t...

Rev. Margo Rinehart, Cedars Minister Gregory Cook, Worship Associate Come and explore the interrelationships of generosity, joy and service as we try to live lives of integrity and purpose. This sermon will also make mention of the Cedars pledge drive! Rabindranath Tagore inspires us with his poem: "I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and, beho...

Rev. Margo Rinehart, Cedars Minister Johanna Munson, Worship Associate This sermon is a kick-off for all the learning and visioning we will be doing together in the months to come. Let us work together in building a co-ministry of support, beauty, and restoration.  John O'Donohue says, "We each possess an imagination. Everyone, whether they like it or not, is involved in the construction of the wo...

Rev. Barbara Cornell, Guest Minister Nancy Philip, Worship Associate Hope is tricky, especially when things are going wrong. Does it mean hoping for a cure, or turning this disaster around, or what exactly? In this sermon, we'll consider the changing nature of hope and explore our options for getting through these uncertain times. Rev. Barbara Cornell was in an About Your Sexuality class when she...

Rev. Bruce Bode, Guest Minister Gregory Cook, Worship Associate An exploration of why “everyday depression” comes to us, what it intends, and what meaning it may hold for us. Bruce A. Bode is Minister Emeritus at the Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (QUUF) in Port Townsend, from which he retired in 2018 as the Senior Minister after serving the congregation for fourteen years (2004-2018).

Rev. Rose Edington & Rev. Mel Hoover, Guest Ministers Jenny Weaver, Worship Associate Springtime and gardening go together and have us imagining Beloved Community as a garden. Imagine the soil of Beloved Community as the ground of being that nurtures Unitarian Universalism. What do we want to cultivate? How do we handle the weeds? Will everyone be welcome? Camille Dungy's book "Soil:...

Rev. April Frazier, Guest Minister Johanna Munson, Worship Associate Moral injury is a human condition, suffered as a part of living in a world where we, others, and the earth are harmed by actions or the failure to act. How do we integrate these experiences to be able to continue to live when everywhere we look there are more reasons to cry in agony, scream in anger, or perhaps become numb? Let&#...

Rev. Kate Lore, Guest Minister Nancy Philip, Worship Associate We ALL face challenging changes and losses in our lives—whether it be a change in our health, the loss of a loved one, or the evaporation of a dream. And every time we face such changes, we are offered a powerful spiritual choice. Rev. Kate Lore is a Unitarian Universalist minister known for her work in social justice and community min...

Speaker: Jennifer J. Wilhoit, Ph. D. Worship Associate: Mike Cox This talk will focus on the potent inner/outer landscape: the intersection between who we feel we are internally and how we behave in the world. As areas of confluence in the natural world, ecotones are especially rich in biodiversity. Viewing ecotones as a concept, we can begin to apply their value in human contexts – in particular,...

Rev. Carol McKinley - Guest Minister Gregory Cook - Worship Associate The architect, philosopher and futurist R. Buckminster Fuller wrote, “We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.” In our changing world, that call has become increasingly urgent: when we hear it, how can we respond in ways that help create the future we hope to see? The Reverend Carol McKinley, now retired, l...

Aman Fatima, Guest Speaker Nancy Philip, Worship Associate What is it like being a teenage Pakistani Muslim in America? Hear from exchange student, Aman Fatima, as she shares her Muslim faith and the differences between life in Karachi and Poulsbo, Washington. Aman Fatima is a 15-year-old exchange student from Karachi, Pakistan. She attends West Sound Academy in Poulsbo.

Guest Minister - Rev. Kate Lore Worship Associate - Jenny Weaver Life doesn't always pause when our hearts are heavy, our minds are fractured, or our spirits feel like they're unraveling. This truth is both raw and universal. And yet, we endure. That's the miracle of being human--we endure. Somewhere in the depths of our pain, we find reserves of strength we didn't know we possesse...

Guest Minister - Rev. Barbara Gilday Worship Associate - Johanna Munson Visiting an elderly uncle in Toronto recently, I was shocked to discover that he was actively dying and none of his 5 children or other family members was present. I realized that in our culture, we have very little information or encouragement to be present in this difficult but transformational and often deeply spiritual tim...