Church of the Larger Fellowship UU Worship

This July 4th weekend, the United States of America will be celebrating 250 years. It is hard to fully celebrate in light of the current political climate, and yet I think there is plenty of reason for hope and celebration in spite of the ways this country has been the gold standard for oppression.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu taught that we become human through one another. In a culture that often values independence more than connection, this service explores the everyday practices that help us build communities where everyone can flourish. From the unseen work that sustains our lives to the relationships that shape who we become, we'll reflect on what it means not only to recognize our interde...

What do our faith, shared values and covenant call us to do about the Prison industrial Complex? The ministers, staff, and incarcerated members of the Church of the Larger Fellowship will invite us to embody our Universalism as we unlearn theologies of punishment and embrace one of inherent worthiness.

250 years ago, a group of privileged colonizer men declared the United States an independent nation. What might it mean to understand instead a world community of interdependence? Who gets to declare that?

Interconnectedness is a central tenet of Buddhist teaching. We will explore the ways Buddhist teachings illustrate the ways we cannot escape the ways what we do impacts each other.

For a few brief days, the world got to experience collective wonder and exhilaration through the crew of the Artemis II spacecraft as they circled the moon and came back to Earth. “Moon joy” has awakened in me a curiosity about what it really means to thrive, and how we can make such a thing available to everyone.

Why do we expect justice from imperial systems that are designed to perpetuate injustice? When you live at the margins, like Alice in Wonderland, we must learn to navigate the world differently;  our vision and pursuit of justice must be reimagined.

Justice has always been contextual. It is a hard truth and one that we must understand as we work to dismantle systems of oppression. As an abolitionist, I am called to understand what justice looks like when we dismantle the idea of locking people away.

We are called to create communities where all people can thrive. For this to happen, we need to be able to bring our whole selves, unapologetically. Our identities, our backgrounds, and our accomplishments, and also our struggles, our mistakes, and our places of brokenness. Unitarian Universalist theology creates a space for this to happen. Will we make it possible?

What do we owe each other? Not in theory. Right now, in this country, in this moment — when people are being taken from their children, their homes, their languages, and placed behind walls designed to make the rest of us forget they exist. This sermon is about the covenant that follows us into the wilderness. Bio (feel free to edit): Rev. JeKaren Bell (she/her) is an ordained and fellowshipped Un...

It has been 63 years since Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. handwrote one of the most famous letters in United States history. We will read excerpts from the letter and consider how far we have and have not come as a country.

In the West, we are socialized by the logic of empire to understand identity as a static or fixed self. However, as embodied beings, we change and grow from every lived experience, emotion, and life lesson.  What happens when we pay close attention to the various selves we have been and are becoming?

Many years ago, I heard a line in the movie Kung Fu Panda, "You meet your destiny on the road you take to avoid it." I learned later that this sentiment is attributed to French poet Jean de La Fontaine. We will explore what this means for our lives and our communities.

Twenty years ago this week, I brought a group to volunteer in New Orleans, and began a spiritual journey of understanding resurrection in a new way. On this Easter Sunday, I will wrestle queerly with the notion that what is dead might once again live.

The phrase "it's easier to wear slippers than to try and carpet the world," has stuck with me since first hearing it many years ago. The phrase is a way to embody our role in movement work. This week, we'll explore the ways we can wear slippers and impact what we can locally as a way to keep from falling into despair at the state of the world.

In the Northern Hemisphere, this weekend marks the beginning of spring. In this service, we will connect our spiritual journeys to the Earth, honoring the green shoots of new life that herald the beginning of something beautiful.

Using Grover’s fear in The Monster at the End of This Book, the sermon explores how fear often comes from the stories we tell ourselves about what lies ahead. The message reflects on courage, curiosity, and the spiritual practice of continuing to turn the page even when uncertainty is present.

In the Christian Scripture of Luke, Jesus is asked, “Who is my neighbor?” We will be paying attention to the people in our neighborhoods--physical and metaphorical--so that we might better respond to them with love.

Join us this week as we explore the importance of communal rituals like worship in creating the sacred bonds of belonging.

Regarded as one of the founders of gospel music, Rev. Charles Albert Tindley, an African American Methodist minister, composed the songs, “The Storm is Passing Over” and “By and By” over 100 years ago, and they continue to sing to us. In witnessing the rise of fascism and authoritarianism, how do we keep journeying toward a world of greater acceptance and affirmation? Perhaps Rev. Tindley’s exampl...

A close friend of mine described death as "not the end, only a change of address." This has stuck with me and on this weekend where most people celebrate love, we will honor death and the reason we grieve is indicative of how much we love.

What does it mean to cultivate generosity of spirit? The practices of generosity, gratitude, hope, and interdependence can be part of our embodiment of resilience, especially in difficult times.

The Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of Earth taken on Feb. 14, 1990, by NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft. Carl Sagan wrote about this image and its implications for humanity. We will explore what it means to be human on a pale blue dot floating through space. “Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human b...

When powers and principalities do their worst, how do we receive and respond to the call of love?