UUMAN Unitarian Universalist Metro Atlanta North Church

This week's service focuses on UU-affiliated Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, which has been in operation since 1979. Steph Anderson's sermon (yes, it IS a sermon! If you're at the pulpit on Sunday morning, you're delivering a sermon) it serves as an explainer to us Roswell congregants. While theirs is not a church home as such, it is a place people gather to call home if only...

We hear from the Religious Exploration staff and, of course, from the students themselves, including those commenting on a "new adventure" about to be undertaken by one of their own. "A New Day" and “Circle of the Children” composed and performed by Alex Pietsch. Copyright 2024. All rights reserved. Intro and outro background music by Tim Moor at Pixabay. UUMAN is a welcoming c...

Our Rev. Kim Palmer, who will be departing these environs in a rather disturbingly short amount of time, explains that while transitions afford growth and opportunity, they can also be tinged with sadness and loss. "Since You've Been Gone," "When You're Not Here", and "Emptiness" composed and performed by Alex Pietsch. Copyright 2024. All rights reserved. Intr...

Join UUMAN's own Gus Hadorn as he leads our annual Earth Day service. Learn how caterpillars may have more in common with our kids than you might think. "Healing Vibrations for Our Earth" and "Spirit of the Four Elements" composed and performed by Alex Pietsch. Copyright 2024. All rights reserved. Intro and outro background music by Tim Moor at Pixabay. UUMAN is a welcoming...

Duncan Teague, our guest in the pulpit, recommends we savor a jelly donut while considering the wisdom of Albert Camus: "Eternity was here, while I was waiting on it." The sabbatical is similar to a school's spring break, but we often miss the fact that not only is the minister gone to explore, like Rev. Dave Dunn, but also the congregation has an opportunity to also explore collecti...

"Letting go of our preconceived objections." A return to an attitude of freshness, openness, and intimacy with what is arising in this present moment’s experience, Intro and outro background music by Tim Moor at Pixabay. UUMAN is a welcoming congregation and we thank you for taking the time to get to know us a bit better. You can learn more about us by visiting our website at www. UUMAN....

"Where flowers bloom, so does hope." Our lay speaker, UUMAN member Debra Burrell, uses Lady Bird Johnson's inspirational words to inform this service. It's a ritual with a long and courageous history. Originally created in 1923 by Unitarian martyr Norbert Čapek of Prague, Czechoslovakia, the Flower Ceremony was introduced to the United States by Rev. Mája Čapek, Norbert's wid...

We shouldn't HAVE to affirm our own worth, but given the silos we're forced into as citizen-consumers, sometimes it's something to consider. Our guest preacher, Lylah Lockridge, offers the example of airline perk programs as emblematic of the perceived social class we're assigned. Or, as she puts it, "Those who are unable or unwilling to pay a higher price receive no perks.......

This year's annual Youth Service includes musings on leadership (and what goes with it), why we light this chalice (three guesses!), and how the youth of today are "taking on the fossils that guide society." All piano accompaniment and musical direction by Alex Pietsch. Intro and outro background music by Tim Moor at Pixabay. UUMAN is a welcoming congregation and we thank you for tak...

Our guest minister, the Reverend Jonathan Rogers, guides us through our process of formally committing ourselves to "dismantle racism in our selves and in our institutions." His sermon traces racism's history on our continent, and how we have historically enshrined it in our governing documents and practices, can give us some clues about its origins and causes. But before that, you&#...

This week's guest service leader Mark Gebert tells us: "I have a saying: 'If you want to change the world, then transform and align your own life in the direction of the path of goodness, discovery and Truth.'" En route to all that goodness are our youth joyfully enlisting our Playscape support, and Claudia Lewis from Cats in the Cradle (our March 50/50 offering plate recipie...

"What does the midwife tell us to do?"  "Breathe! And then? Push!" A tortured vocation over the centuries, fought for by women who deserve what we might call secular canonization, midwives have been around since the start of human history.  Listen and learn of its saints from the past, and how today, midwifery is there to help all of us, regardless of gender, to be kind, brave,...

This week's episode features UUMAN's own Rev. Kim Palmer, asks us to consider how religion and spirituality are connected to health. Serious illness can be a shock to us in every way: physically, mentally, and spiritually. How does our spirituality help us cope? How can we bring our values and beliefs to bear in the service of healing? You'll also hear our wacky Stewardship team's...

Wherein our guest preacher asserts that "choosing to drop fear, is an act of love for oneself." Learn how she is able to create "a shift in awareness, and [how] it helps me re-set my awareness on the loving states of being." And we welcome a heaping helping of newcomers in our New Member ceremony. "Beyond the Face of Fear" and "My Heart Strings" composed and...

Is it possible to live with fewer material possessions? Our guest speaker, the Reverend Jeff Jones, shares how he accepted a challenge from his father, and seriously explored the topic for a year, with some surprising results. He introduces his story with his connection to UUMAN dating back the mid-1990s, when Jeff was our part-time minister (prior to his own ordination in 1998), as we conducted a...

On this, Rev. Dave's last service before leaving for a months-long sabbatical, we'll hear about what he'll be up to and what we'll be experiencing at UUMAN in his absence. You'll also hear specifications for "The Perfect Minister," which may or may not align with who'll appear in our pulpit between now and August. "The Time Draws Near," "Gocher Back...

Do we really belong here, in this world, at this moment? Bizarre as it may seem to UUs, in this service, we're presented with the backdrop of collective religious and philosophical thought on the matter, from the distant past and into the present. It prompts this question: Who are we to argue with some of the world's most celebrated thinkers on five continents? Then again, there's anot...

How can we place love at the center? Is Article II's proposal the way to accomplish this? What can we learn from our own denomination's statement of "Rule and Practice" dating back to the year 1790? Consider, too, that "the mission of the church is not to meet our needs. The mission of the church is to heal our worlds," per Rev. Dr. Marilyn Sewell, as quoted in this epi...

Are we our "stuff"? How can we let go of what can harm us? Rev. Dave Dunn, Jim Saunders, and Denise Wilson teach us how to find our way, and welcome Dr. Spencer Murray from No Harm , who shares a poem about his difficult personal path through preconceived notions of manhood, to healthy living. "A Prayer" recited and composed by Jim Saunders. Copyright 2024. All rights reserved....

We commemorate another trek 'round the Sun this year with LatinX tales of grapes, red and yellow underwear, and empty suitcases. There's also a massive helping of original music, and a sermon that ties it all together. "Passing Storm," "Circular Fifths," Roswell Rumba," and "Barn Dance" written and performed by John Pruitt. Copyright 2024. All rights rese...

Abraham Lincoln credited Unitarian and Universalist minister Thomas Starr King with saving California for the Union. On the 199th anniversary of his birth, we review his most extraordinary life that took him from New England to California. And learn how the state honors him as a beloved figure, and how, more recently, right wing elements have worked to erase him from our nation's history. All...

For this podcast episode, the "Sounds" are mostly spoken rather than sung or performed instrumentally, alas, due to copyright issues with musical compositions and arrangements in a downloadable podcast. As always, the amazing music can be heard in the unedited YouTube video created from our Livestreamed services, at our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCrD1sqb7SE What yo...

While learning about the ancient traditions, we can learn as well from how some frequently quoted-out-of-context parables can be applied to our own lives. Learn how to invest YOURSELF in something bigger. Sermon by Rev. Dave Dunn; announcements and readings by worship associates Valeria Caamano (debut performance!) and Greg Waggoner. All original music and musical accompaniment, and "A Season...

These native stories shared in service, while engaging and occasionally hilarious, are individually copyright protected, some from decades past. Thus it is doubtful we'd be able to secure copyright protections any time soon, if ever. Thus these tales (one a tale of tails) cannot be included in this podcast although, as always, you can hear and see what went on by visiting our YouTube channel....

For those who've never partaken in person, this annual communion is an opportunity to not just partake of exquisitely scrumptious baked goods, but to hear the stories behind the heat + chemistry. From this hemisphere and well beyond. And, this year, to learn, along with our youngest, why it's NOT coincidental that "humus" sounds a lot like "human." All original music co...