First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin

Rev. Meg Barnhouse's sermon delivered on November 4, 2018. What does the word "mercy" mean to you? When do you need it? When do you give it? Where does it come from?

Rev. Meg Barnhouse's sermon delivered on October 28, 2018. We have a Clootie Tree again, from the Scottish/Irish/Appalachian tradition. We will put our wishes and our remembrances on pieces of cloth and drape them on the tree. What would we like to claim from our ancestors? What would we like to let go?

Rev. Meg Barnhouse's sermon delivered on October 21, 2018. Our second End (goal) as a congregation is "We support and challenge one another in worship, spiritual growth and lifelong learning to practice a rich spiritual life" What forms can a spiritual life take? The job of a church is often described as "to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable."

Assistant Minister Rev. Chris Jimmerson's sermon delivered on October 14, 2018. We have talked about the ancient history of offering sanctuary as we have with Sulma and Alirio. In the broader context, we all need sanctuary, a respite, a sacred place to get re-centered. We will discuss what it means to be a people of sanctuary.

Rev. Meg Barnhouse's sermon delivered on October 7, 2018. Most people look for ways to feel useful, to find good meaning in their lives, and to connect with others as they seek to leave the world a better place than they found it.

Rev. Meg Barnhouse's sermon delivered on September 30, 2018. Being edited, rejected, praised, criticized, inspired, and uninspired; I'll create circumstances in which you have to just keep your head down and write anyway.

Rev. Meg Barnhouse's sermon delivered on September 23, 2018. This Sunday will be a party. We will talk about UU 101, 201, and 301 with original songs and stories from Rev. Meg. We will all be invited and encouraged to make our pledges together as a celebration of faith and hope, expectation and promise.

Rev. Meg Barnhouse's sermon delivered on September 16, 2018. As we begin a sermon series on our church's ends/goals, we will talk about living our UU faith and values, teaching them to our children, and acting on them in the world.

Rev. Meg Barnhouse's sermon delivered on September 9, 2018. We bring some water from a place special to us for the common bowl as we speak together about places that move us, have meaning for us, or hold comfort for us.

Assistant Minister Rev. Chris Jimmerson's sermon delivered on September 2, 2018. Our spirits become most fully alive and connected to our human potential when we are able to embrace our UU faith and spirituality in our daily lives. Join Rev. Chris and Jules Jaramillo as we explore the wonderful possibilities of our UU Living Tradition.

Assistant Minister Rev. Chris Jimmerson's sermon delivered on August 26, 2018. Jim and Jane Henson created their lovable puppet characters over six decades ago, and the Muppets really began to gain prominence in the early 1970s. Through their decades of television and movies, what have the Muppets had to tell us about life, love and creating community?

Assistant Minister Rev. Chris Jimmerson's sermon delivered on August 19, 2018. For many of us, the stories and images we have been witnessing in our news and social media have felt like trauma. In fact, some notable authors have suggested that Americans have begun to show the signs of trauma as a people. We will explore some of the ways to lower our trauma responses and foster resilience, love, an...

Guest Speaker Kye Flannery's sermon delivered on August 12, 2018. So many people in so many ways have said "the truth shall set you free." What are the truths that set us free? What sounds like truth but doesn't liberate us at all? Together we'll be exploring our experience, how we know ourselves, and how we speak from our deep truth to create better relationships and a better world.

Assistant Minister Rev. Chris Jimmerson's sermon delivered on August 5, 2018. With the LGBTQ Pride Festival and Parade coming soon, members of our "Alphabet Soup" group will share their stories of finding a spiritual home at First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin.

Rev. Meg Barnhouse's sermon delivered on July 29, 2018. The service is created in collaboration with the Camp UU Hogwarts. Celebrate the magic we make here at First UU and the magic you make in your world!

Rev. Meg Barnhouse's sermon delivered on July 22, 2018. So many people suffer from blue days, sad weeks, or stormy months. How do you know if what you have is depression? Is it related to events, or is it hereditary? Does it come to you out of nowhere? Let's talk about what we know.

Assistant Minister Rev. Chris Jimmerson's sermon delivered on July 15, 2018. Our new mission statement says that we "build the Beloved Community". As Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. defined it, that's a huge dream though. We do not do it alone. We do so as part of a rich Unitarian Universalist heritage and our larger UU movement, as well as in partnership with many other faiths and groups. We'll...

Rev. Meg Barnhouse's sermon delivered on July 8, 2018. Unitarian Universalist Children and Youth learn about gender identity, sexual preference, gender presentation, and all the other terms in the multicolored universe in our curriculum called Our Whole Lives. There is an adult version, too. Here are some bits of information that might be new to you!

Rev. Meg Barnhouse's sermon delivered on July 1, 2018.Throughout human history there have been moments, places, and events which have seemed holy. What does that mean? How do we mark those times and places in our own lives?

Guest Speaker Rev. Erin Walter's sermon delivered on June 24, 2018. How do we nourish ourselves, as caregivers, activists, workers, or simply human beings living in troubled times? How can we put our spiritual values to deep use in our daily lives? Rev. Erin Walter will share lessons from her new ministry with the YMCA and reflect on what we can learn from unconventionally sacred spaces.

Rev. Meg Barnhouse's sermon delivered on June 17, 2018. Unitarians and Abolition. Some were heroes, others not very heroic at all. It seems that we have always been, and still are, a mixture of passion and fear, militant and hesitant, part of the solution and part of the problem.

Rev. Meg Barnhouse's sermon delivered on June 10, 2018. People in the congregation write their questions down and Meg will read the questions and answer as many of them as she can.

Rev. Meg Barnhouse's sermon delivered on June 3, 2018. In this intergenerational service we celebrate the traditional Unitarian ceremony of flower communion. We remember its origins as a vivid resistance to Nazi oppression.

Assistant Minister Rev. Chris Jimmerson's sermon delivered on May 27, 2018. In her newest book, Dr. Brene Brown examines the supposed duality between becoming fully ourselves as individuals and finding true belonging and community. She finds it to be a false duality. She raises the question of how we find sacredness both in being a part of something and in standing alone when necessary.

The senior high youth group's sermon delivered on May 20, 2018. This year's Youth Service finds the youth exploring their dreams and yearnings. There will be music, inspirational stories and the Bridging Ceremony of our youth.