First Universalist Church of Minneapolis Sunday Service Podcast

What are the spiritual muscles we need to exercise in order to take our place and make room? How do we tone up our aerobic capacity to lift up the whole of our stories, take in the whole of another’s story, the particular of our community’s story, and within the context of our national story? This week, we will talk about the meaning of “reparations,” and develop a musculature to hold “the full ac...

Our theme this month is “Taking our Place, and Making Room.” Both of these practices require noticing our ego and its movement in our lives. Are we willing to step back, make room, and let other voices, experiences, and realities hold center stage? Are we willing to step forward when that feels dangerous, uncertain, and vulnerable? So often, deep spiritual work involves navigating and understandin...

Ever wonder why and how our church was founded? What does it mean to celebrate the anniversary of a minister’s ordination and installation? Are we consciously using our history to inform our future as a faith movement? This week, we remember and dream together.   Call to Worship- Monroe Chumklang Sermon- Rev. Karen Hutt

Disney’s Moana tells the story of a young woman who hears the call of the ocean. In answering the call, Moana embarks on a voyage to save her people, and find the place she belongs in the process. Most of us aren’t called forth into our belonging so dramatically, and few us are accompanied by a soundtrack featuring The Rock. This Sunday, we listen for how the story and music of Moana speak (and si...

One of the most important and powerful longings of the human heart is for belonging. Perhaps more important even than food or shelter, belonging can offer us a sense of purpose, meaning, and connection that can sustain us no matter what ups and downs life may throw our way. On this episode, we explore what it might mean to honor that human longing for belonging, for ourselves and each other.  Call...

Secrets, shame, and stigma are not helpful when striving for wellness, health, and spiritual well-being. Through great strides have been made over the years, there is all too often a deafening silence around mental health challenges. At First Universalist Church, we aspire to be a place where we can bring our whole selves, as we are welcomed in joy. Join us for our 3rd annual Mental Health Sunday,...

A “Why Church?” case study by the Rev. Karen Hutt. Come journey back in time and hear a story about how a UU church was founded to serve the needs of those who wanted church, but were denied.  Call to Worship - Monique Wentzel (:32) Sermon - An Open Door - Rev. Karen Hutt (4:30)  

In the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon, Calvin invents a transmogrifier that transforms anything into anything else at the push of a button or the zap of a transmogrifying gun. Change, in the world of Calvin and Hobbes, is easy. Octavia Butler added some nuance to this, reminding us that “all that we touch we change, and all that we change, changes us. That the only constant is change, and that God is c...

The English poet John Donne wrote, “No person is an island…we are all a part of the continent, part of the main.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, “In a real sense, all life is inter-related. All people are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” While this may be true, our lived experience is often that we feel terribly alone, separate, isolated. We...

Why Church? With so many options on a Sunday morning, why come to church? Why be in human community? Why wrestle with meaning and purpose? Why be unsettled and provoked and calmed and steadied? What are we doing here, anyway? Why are we at church? This service is also Water Communion Sunday, an annual service at which we celebrate the many rivers, eddies and waterways of our life experiences, conv...

When the culture around us doesn’t encourage us to our best selves, how do we model the kind of world we want to live in? Guest speaker and musician, Matt Meyer, will reflect on the good and bad of middle school, the time he picked the very best costume for a high-stakes 5th grade costume party, and how we find the skills for beloved community. Matt is a musician and community organizer who has le...

Our sixth annual Backpack Blessing and worship service is a multi-generational service that offers children, youth, and adults of all ages the opportunity to reflect upon how we might carry the love of our church community and the tools of our faith with us wherever we go. In this season of returning and restarting, we affirm the boundless worth of each and every person, and encourage one another...

Our breath is the very essence of our lives and a doorway into presence and connection. This episode, Arif Mamdani preaches his first sermon as First Universalist’s new Director of Membership and Adult Ministries, in an exploration of breath, relationship, and hospitality. Call to Worship - Rev. Justin Schroeder (:32) Sermon - Arif Mamdani (1:52)

Guest preacher Rev. Ashley Horan asks, what do improvisational comedy and religious community have to do with each other? We’ll explore the lessons improv can teach us about mutual support, shaping reality together, and being open to the possibilities of collaboration that are greater than anything we can do alone. Call to Worship: Rev. Ruth MacKenzie (:30) Sermon: Rev. Ashley Horan (1:29)

Using a familiar parable (Luke 15), we dive into what it means to search for something in our lives. What impact does the act of searching have on what is found? What is worth searching for in our lives? Are we searching for the impossible?  Responsive Reading and Sermon: Rev. Karen Hutt

Unitarian Universalism is rooted in the radical reformation of Christianity. Yet, many of us seem to squirm when we consider the historical constructs and events that undergird our faith. Some of us do so because we do not know— and others would prefer not to know— because they trigger emotions about how we have experienced Christianity. Let’s set the record straight about our history and explore...

“Faith development is all we do. Unitarian Universalism is the faith we teach. The congregation is the curriculum.” Connie Goodbread is a credentialed religious educator who consults about healthy congregations and transformation for the Unitarian Universalist Association. Her words remind us that faith development is not just for children; in fact, it is a thread woven through all our activities....

A core spiritual practice at First Universalist is to “listen deeply to where love is calling us next.” Since early January, a group of congregants and ministers have been following this call, working toward sponsoring a detained (imprisoned) asylum seeker. Dozens of congregants are part of this effort, and at the end of May, a young, indigenous, Guatemalan woman arrived in Minneapolis, sponsored...

July is Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. We know that mental health conditions do not discriminate. Anyone can experience mental health challenges. Yet, background and identity often determine access and quality of care to mental health treatments. This week, Isha Caldwell ( Navigator at Mental Health Connect ), Daryn Woodson (Worship Associate), and Rev. Ruth MacKenzie lean into questions...

Executive Director of  Black Lives of UU  and First Universalist member, Lena K. Gardner, will be exploring the importance of a grounded, principled understanding of “yes, and…” that doesn’t eschew responsible action in the world for tepid inaction or hollow half-steps under the guise of thoughtfulness and embracing “all sides”. We will explore what a principled “yes, and” could mean in the midst...

On May 12, in her sermon, “Our First Sound,” Rev. Karen Hutt reflected on the complicated, lovely, weird, fun, scary, and joyous relationships we have with our mothers, and all of the nuance that exists around Mother’s Day. This Sunday, Rev. Hutt and Rev. Schroeder, along with several congregants, reflect on what it means to be a father, what it means to be a father in this #MeToo era, what it mea...

Jaylani Hussein, the Executive Director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN), speaks about true American community. How will we live out Dr. King's dream? Mr. Hussein suggests four things we can do.  Call to Worship: Rev. Justin Schroder (:30) Sermon: Jaylani Hussein (1:33)

Flower Communion is an early-summer tradition of Unitarians and Universalists. The ritual is a metaphor for the diversity, connectedness, and beauty of our community. In this service, the First U congregation honored the participation, learning, and work of the many leaders, teachers, facilitators, planners, and more through this celebration of giving and receiving blessings. Call to Worship: Rev....

The poet Wendell Berry writes, “Any man’s [person’s] death could end the story: his [their] mourners having accompanied him to the grave through all he knew, turn back, leaving him complete. But this is not the story of life. It is the story of lives, knit together, overlapping in succession.” This Memorial Sunday, we remember the history of Memorial Day and those who have served in this knitting...

On this updated version of our May 12th Mother's Day Service, hear credos from First Universalist's Coming of Age Class of 2019.  Credo Intro by Rev. Ruth MacKenzie-  :30 Credos- 2:25-14:16 Sermon, "Our First Sound" - 14:20