First Universalist Church of Minneapolis Sunday Service Podcast

You may or may not know that there have been multiple flavors of Universalism, some with caveats or some that were questionable. We can learn a lot about our own flavors of Universalism through the stories from our spiritual ancestors. As First U decides who we become next, it can be helpful to reflect on who we have been.  Singing to Gather- Lead With Love by Melanie DeMore (:22) Call to Worship...

Multiple choice question: Who said: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”? Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Theodore Parker None of the above This Sunday morning we learn the answer, not just for this question but more so for what these ministers and theologians had to say to Unitarians and Universalists in the past, and what their words say to us today. In particular...

The Sanctuary and Resistance Team at First Universalist Church works to accompany immigrants in the struggle within an immigration system which criminalizes migration, incarcerates immigrants in detention, and separates families. Since November 2016, we carry out this work as an emergent strategy team, and in conjunction with many community partners, by providing sanctuary space in the church, obs...

Music for Entering the Space- All People that on Earth Do Dwell (:20) Call to Worship- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (1:12) Singing Together- Lean On Me (5:36) Prayer and Meditation- Rev. Ashley Harness (10:21) Practice of Giving and Receiving- Rev. Ashley Harness (18:43) Offertory- There is a Balm in Gilead - trad. Arr. Mark Hayes- Franco Holder (19:48) Message- Who Said 70 is the New 50?- Rev. Karen H...

Hymn for Gathering- Building a New Way- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (:27) Words of Welcome- Rev. Ashley Harness (3:31) Call to Worship- Dallas Rising (8:31) Time for All Ages- Stone Soup- Rev. Arif Mamdani (12:11) Singing Together- Love Will Guide Us- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (21:16) Meditation Prayer and Cycle of Life- Rev. Arif Mamdani (24:31) Message- When's Your Shift for the Revolution? - Meleah H...

Time and time again, in stories and scriptures and songs, ancestors have left lessons for building beloved community. Though they come in all languages and expressions, the wisdom persists: to resist materialism and hold on to what truly matters; to unshackle from habits of needless prejudice; to put down the weapons we store in our hands and hearts and study war no more. How much comfort can we t...

Remembrance Sunday is a yearly service in which we name and honor those we’ve lost in the congregation and the wider community. Through story, song, and ritual, this service invites us to name and make room for the loss, grief, and sadness in ourselves, within this community, and beyond in the wider world. This service includes an invitation to name with a neighbor, in-person or at home, any losse...

Join us for a time of contemplation and intention setting as we gather on the turning of the year. Together, we’ll engage in the spiritual practices of pausing, noticing, settling and resetting—practices that serve us well in living lives of love, purpose and meaning in all the moments of our lives. We’ll also enjoy music by special guest Dean Magraw on this Sunday. Words of Welcome- Lóre Stevens...

Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout, Cummins Ministerial Intern Lóre Stevens, and Rev. Arif Mamdani invite you to Christmas morning at church, where our worship leaders will be gathered by the fire opening presents together—presents we are gifting to ourselves and to the church as we work to bring the spirit of these winter holidays into the day-to-day of our lives all throughout the year. Music for Gathering...

As we approach the longest nights of the year and the beginning of Hanukkah, we’ll explore the wonders that take place in the dark. Perhaps it is in our dreaming, in those times when the limitations that so often diminish our imagination drop away, that we can find healing and hope. Join us on Sunday as we claim our space in this darkest time of the year and trust in the generative power of our dr...

The everyday work of world change takes trust, patience, and faith. The individual steps it takes to progress a vision can look mighty different, more complex, smaller, even frustrating at times. It can be hard to see sometimes how what we’re doing even makes a difference in the world. Yet, this diligent faith is the very dream in action.  This Sunday, December 11, Lena K Gardner talks with Dr. Gl...

Winter is a time of turning inward, a time where the nights are longer and so too is our time for dreaming. December is a month in which we experience ever shorter days, the longest night, and then the turning toward the long days of summer again. It is also a month in which some amongst us share stories about a light that held out against hope and others tell of the coming of a singular light to...

On this multigenerational Sunday, our shared attention will turn to the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address, a practice created and shared by the indigenous people of the Turtle Clan, Wolf Clan, and Mohawk tribe. This practice invites us to begin and end our days with gratitude, and together we will experiment and wonder about how we might choose to begin and end our days, and how we and our relati...

This Sunday, Nov. 20, we will celebrate the miracle that is at the center of our larger story and the cycle of life. We will welcome, name, and dedicate ourselves to the care of children in our congregation through a Child Dedication Ritual. Together we will discern and practice the spiritual work of committing ourselves to the care of our youngest and making room for the people they will become o...

We are members of many things: families, gyms, affinity groups, and faith communities. Our culture likes us to think of “membership” as an administrative task: a series of tasks that lead us to checking off a box. This Sunday, November 13, we welcome and celebrate the commitment of our newest members of First Universalist, and invite you into reflecting on- and participating in!- membership as a c...

This Sunday, November 6, we open the theme of “ Giving, Receiving (as love shows us how) .” We’ll enter the theme through the Tonglen practice, a Buddhist practice that invites us to open our hearts and spirits to giving and receiving and in doing so, soften our hearts and live more deeply into the experience of our interdependence. Drawing on the work of rev. angel Kyodo Williams and Lama Rod Owe...

As our monthly worship theme of “You Can Count On This,” comes to a close this week, we’ll turn our attention to the practices of Universalism. Our faith tradition claims a love so strong it will not let any one of us go and a circle so wide that everyone is included, but how do we put that faith into practice in our lives, our congregations, and our communities? You can count on this: the spiritu...

As we continue exploring our monthly theme, "You Can Count on This," we move from heart, body, and mind to…space? Many may wonder how the vast field of galaxies can be counted on. But our ancestors have always traced stories onto constellations. Humanity navigated dangerous waters using those reliable but distant stars. During our own times of loss and alienation, how can the mysterious, interdepe...

This Sunday, October 16 is Mental Health Sunday, a service where we commit ourselves to creating a world where struggles with mental health are normalized and where seeking mental health care is destigmatized. Through word, song, and ritual we will make visible these commitments of our hearts, bodies, and minds, knowing that mental health care is something we all need access to, and that while not...

As we continue our exploration of the theme, “You Can Count On This,” we turn our attention to our bodies this week. Sources of ancient wisdom carried deep within our bones, sources of comfort, pleasure, pain, joy, grief, and frustration – our bodies hold so much. Through story, prayer, music, poetry and shared breath, we’ll explore the wisdom of the body this week. Singing to Gather- Dr. Glen Tho...

As we begin our exploration of the monthly theme, “You Can Count On This,” we’ll start with our hearts. What do our hearts tell us, and how do we listen? Where and with whom do we place our hearts? And what do we do with the inevitable heartbreak that comes? We’ll explore all of these questions and more through stories, songs, meditation, and prayer together. Singing Together- Circle 'Round for Fr...

Rumi and Jung agree on at least one thing: paradox is our greatest spiritual gift. As Rumi notes: Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase each other doesn’t make any sense. And isn’t that what we long for – that space of paradox, out beyond righ...

The dream has been alive for years – Beloved Community. A place, a people, a moment in time when we might truly be, as our Visionary Goal proclaims, “a multi-racial, multicultural, and intergenerational faith community of mutual caring and support where people bring all of who they are and welcome each other with joy. Our sense of who we are as a community of faith is ever expanding.” What does it...

We are water. 60% give or take, and about as salty as the ocean. So at least metaphorically, each of us is a body of water. When we gather in community, it is as if each of us is a drop in a larger body of water, held by the vessel that is our church. Our Water Communion and in-gathering service invites us to experience the truth of our interconnection through ritual, word, and song.   Singing Tog...

What can architects, masons, and the sound of water teach us about crafting a home by hand? And what do rivers remind us about living a life in motion and movement? Join us for worship with guest worship leader, Matt Meyer. Matt is a musician and worship leader who has led hundreds of services for UU congregations across the country. He has a degree in hand drumming and serves as Director of Commu...