First Universalist Church of Minneapolis Sunday Service Podcast

How do we prepare ourselves for a new year? A big transition? New experiences? With the help of stories and spiritual practices, our worship leaders will guide us through our annual Backpack Blessing ritual. Music for Gathering- I'm On My Way- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout and Franco Holder (:25) Words of Welcome- Rev. Jen Crow (4:46) Time for All Ages- Lauren Wyeth (11:13) Song- There Is More Love Some...

The First Universalist Choir, Dr. Randy Buikema, Aimee K. Bryant, Franco Holder, Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout, Rev. Arif Mamdani, Rev. Jen Crow, and Lauren Wyeth will lead and inspire us through music, story, and message. Music for Gathering- Where Do We Come From?- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout and Aimee K. Bryant (19:24) Words of Welcome- Rev. Jen Crow (5:39) Call to Worship- Eagle Poem by Joy Harjo (10:53...

Following a summer of Sundays exploring “The Bigger Story,” this Sunday we recognize the Biggest Story of all, the story of change, the story of transformation, the story of evolution. It’s a story that applies to living organisms, to communities, and even to patterns of worship. Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout and Rev. Kate Tucker will invite us into that living, breathing Pause that dwells between what...

How do we become the perfect leader? Is flawless leadership even obtainable for imperfect humans? Should we aspire for perfection or strive towards growth and learning in our leadership? Words of Welcome- Rev. Kate Tucker (:30) Announcing the New Piano- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (3:02) Invitation to Give to the Offering Plate- Rev. Kate Tucker (9:39) Offertory- The Human Heart by Lynn Ahrens  &  Ste...

Over the course of our 200-or-so-year history as a denomination, we Unitarian Universalists have undergone considerable change. That doesn’t mean that transformation has always–or ever–been easy. In the coming year, we are faced with the opportunity to be a part of the sacred task of renewing our faith as both a community and a movement. What can the transcendentalist revolutionaries of early Amer...

Poet Wendell Berry’s description of “The Larger Circle” as “the circle of all creatures/Passing in and out of life” takes on new meaning as we gaze at – and struggle to comprehend- the 13 billion light-year view of the earliest galaxies in the universe provided by the James Webb telescope. Are those faint smudges even connected to us? Do they matter? How? Or is the question, why?   Music for Gathe...

Poet Marge Piercy writes that “a good anger acted upon is beautiful as lightning and swift with power.” Who teaches us about that kind of anger and power? How do we learn? What kind of inner transformation does it invite or require?  Music for Gathering- Aimee K. Bryant, Franco Holder Words of Welcome- Rev. Kate Tucker (1:17) Story for All Ages- Zoe Mulvihill (5:56) Prayer and Meditation- Rev. And...

When we are faced with a difficult situation, it can be challenging to greet it, not necessarily with agreement, but to simply take it in and receive it as another truth. This is what Unitarian Universalist process theologian Bernard Loomer describes as the essence of the spiritual path—the practice of receiving rather than resisting reality in the fullest possible sense. Come explore how we can g...

On this Fourth of July weekend, we’ll hear different versions of the story of the United States of America. What kinds of stories build resilience and trust and what kinds build fragility and fear? This Sunday we’ll explore how the stories we tell create meaning. Words of Welcome- Rev. Kate Tucker (:30) Time for All Ages- Mark Caswell (5:49) Prayer and Meditation- Rev. Kate Tucker (13:16) Message-...

This summer, as we explore the theme of  The Bigger Story , we reflect on how we live in stories and also how stories live in us. Spiritual growth can mean giving up stories that have become too small.   This Sunday, join us for a message from Minister Emerita Rev. Kate Tucker, who will lead worship alongside Rev. Arif Mamdani, vocalist Aimee K. Bryant, and guest pianist Tim Kraack.   Music for Ga...

The equation for calculating price per unit is a simple one, handy for finding the best value at a store. Yet trying to fit our values and Principles into that equation complicates it quite a bit. In this time of rainbow capitalism, performative activism, and faltering progress, let us double check our trajectory. Are we on our way to the heaven on earth Universalists dreamed of, or do we need a n...

On Sunday, June 12, our choir and orchestra will take us on a journey that’s both deep and wide. We’ll celebrate the human spirit as it moves through struggle and sadness to healing and hope. It’s a journey of discovery, it’s a story of resilience, and it’s an offering to (and from) our community of faith.  All music performed by First Universalist Choir and Orchestra, conducted by Dr. Randal Buik...

99 years ago, almost to the day, Rev. Norbert Capek led the first Flower Communion ritual. He developed it then, and we observe it today, as a ritual of giving and receiving, of connecting with the beauty in each of us, and the bigger story of that beauty when we come together in community, in fellowship, and in the spirit of love that is this church. We’ll have music from Dean Magraw and his band...

Almost 30 years ago, First Universalist Church dared to dream of a physical space that might mirror our mission – a place where there would always be room for one more, where our sense of who we are is ever-expanding, a building that might embody a love that will not let anyone go. This Sunday, May 15, we celebrate the completion of our capital project, Not for Ourselves Alone: Building an Inclusi...

This Sunday, May 8, 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. Words of Welcome and Land Acknowledgement- Rev. Jen Crow (:20) Call to Worship- First Universalist 6th Graders (6:26) Child Naming and Dedication Ritual- Lauren...

This Sunday, May 1, we celebrate the culmination of Earth Week and honor the mutual commitment between members and community in the ongoing story of this congregation. Join us to explore the sacred trust we hold to create a sustainable future for our children and our children’s children, and to celebrate how our collective breath, prayer, activism, and meaning making reflect the roots of our commu...

In Unitarian Universalism, our congregations, and specifically the members of our congregations, are the only body that can ordain a minister, calling out and lifting up one whose ministry is formally recognized and named in the act of ordination. This Sunday, we gather to formally lift up the ministry of Stephanie Vos. Through word, song, and story, we’ll share some of her journey, tell a bigger...

This Sunday, April 17, we will rise in the fullness of our community – inviting people in every age and stage of life to join together as one body. We’ve designed an Easter church experience with elements to engage the imagination and spirit of every age, with music, rituals, art, and movement that will help us all consider what boulders stand in the way of the flow of love in our life, and how we...

Folks in organizing circles say that Power requires Organized Money and Organized People. This congregation does an excellent job of organizing its money every Sunday, and sharing generously with important partners. What else is possible if we organize our people similarly? What would it take for us to take our organizing and mobilization to the next level? Join us for a dialogue with poets and mo...

Things rise and fall every day: not just baked items in the oven but energies, emotions, commitments, willingness. Though the idea of ‘onward and upward forever’ has been long proven to be a lie; most of us use our days trying to create more of what we want in ourselves, our families, our communities, and our world. What are some of the obstacles and what can help us to rise, even a tiny bit? Word...

We talk a lot about love here. A love that will not let us go. A love that draws a circle so wide that everyone is included. A love that works to end oppression in all of its forms and build beloved community. The Universalist spirit of love and hope. But what does it mean to live a life through the lens of love? This Sunday, as author bell hooks would say in her essential text, it’s all about lov...

In this bigger togetherness, what do you need promised to you? In this bigger togetherness, what do you promise to those around you? In this bigger togetherness, what aspirations stretch you to who you want to be? This Sunday, March 20, let’s talk about covenant and the promises we make, the promises we want made to us, and what it is that we’re reaching for when we covenant together in this ever...

Sometimes the swirl of the world, our communities, our lives, is just too much. Rest and stillness are part of the story – and so is change. This Sunday, March 13, we’ll explore what it means to let go of perfection and live in full progress – risky, messy, beautiful becoming. Words of Welcome- Rev. Jen Crow (:30) Celebration of 10 Years with Lauren Wyeth (3:39) Call to Worship- Liv Dalby (8:17) S...

As we live into new and more expansive ways of being together, what will we hold on to, and what will we release? What fierce and holy imagination will guide us as we drop the ways of being that weigh us down, taking only what we need into a future full of justice, liberation, love and joy for the generations to come?  Prelude- Gather Together- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout and Franco Holder Welcome and...

The first humanists in the United States were people of African descent. They brought with them a philosophy that is rooted in every attempt America has made to envision a more perfect union. This Sunday, we will explore two moments where explicit and implicit humanist constructs informed the movement of human dignity. Words of Welcome and Call to Worship- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (:20) Community P...