UUMKE Sunday Service Podcast

Studies have shown that more choices make people less happy, and yet, as a people of possibility, we cherish freedom. The relationship between freedom and boundaries can be a paradox, seemingly contradictory and yet potentially mutually reinforcing. Join us for this worship where we will explore the paradox of choice and how to swim in the sea of possibility.

They say that opportunity only dances with those who are on the dance floor. Last summer I happened to be camping up north during the Perseid meteor showers, so I chose to stay up late and lie on the dock star-gazing. Getting out on the dance floor with the meteor showers was worth the lost sleep. Being a person of possibility means that I try to approach life like a “choose your own adventure” bo...

Free will is a concept that religions have been grappling with since Eve bit into an apple and led us out of blissful animal ignorance. How we use our freedom to live into rather than away from our knowledge of suffering in the world, and also our knowledge of joy, is a religious question. And it is as hard of a question today as it has ever been. Lynne Jacoby gives a perspective on how commitment...

Although being a UU means coming together with people who want to ask questions, sometimes not knowing the answers can be anxiety-provoking. We have a variety of individual reactions to mystery, from fear to humility to control to relief to wonder, we need communal practices to increase our tolerance for ambiguity. Join us as we name the pain of ambiguity, and explore shared spiritual practices fo...

When changes take place, we often respond by moving quickly past the change into a new space. This quick movement may alleviate initial anxieties but often produces more confusion in the long run. Michele Grove, a Unitarian Universalist interim religious educator, will explore difference between change and transition. What gifts come when the entire congregation stands still and reflects on the va...

Our Unitarian Universalist congregation is a place where reason and spirituality come together, where people of different beliefs hold shared values. We are people who are both searching and found. What is the relationship between the known and the unknown, doubt and faith, reason and mystery? How can we live together when one or the other end of the infinite eight circling the concrete and the in...

We struggle to find hope in a world where hard work and integrity does not create a flourishing life for all humankind. Deeply rooted in our American values is the belief in a work ethic that one should and can work their way through any hardship. Being of use is an ethic we share, and often our identity and worth are wrapped up in the products of work. Let us examine the human need to believe in...

This Sunday, November 18th, 2018, the Reverend Jennifer Nordstrom, the Reverend Dena McPhetres, and First Church member Noreen Gilbertsen acknowledge the 20 years of service of Director of Administration Jean Johnson.

While eye-witness testimony is notoriously unreliable, we still depend on narrative as central to knowing. When we remember together, however, we begin to weave individual narratives into a collective story of what happened, making the collective memory into history. Through story-telling, we create truth, pass on tradition, and become a community. Join us in this service where we explore collecti...

Memory is a vehicle we board to travel through time, stopping at our favorite destinations to relive significant events, describe them to others, and tell stories about what those memories mean to us. Aging, “chemo-brain,” and dementia make time travel challenging, especially to recent memories. Who are we without memory?

In the Torah, the holiest place of the temple is a place of awe and terror. As Unitarian Universalists, we often think of the Holy as love, welcome, and invitation. What can we learn from the Talmudic understanding of the Holy as overwhelmingly awesome? How is the Holy related to death?

Immortalized in the song by the Byrds, Ecclesiastes claims there is a time to every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, a time to die, a time to dance, a time to weep. But as a people who want to give welcome, sanctuary, and affirmation to each other, every part of ourselves, and others, how do we know what time it is? How do we know when it is time for comfort, or time for challenge? Join us...

Church should be a sanctuary for our people, a place where our authentic selves are welcome. What does that mean when people come to church bringing differences of culture, race, and ethnicity? How do we create refuge for the whole of people? How do we embody our Unitarian Universalist values in our welcome, our worship, and our communal practice? Please join us in this worship service with guest...

Every Sunday, we welcome people into our beautiful sanctuary and community by saying “we welcome all your heart longs to set down.” Sanctuary is a refuge, a respite, a place where we can set down our burdens and gain renewed strength to pick them up again. When times are tough, I remind myself that I carry my sanctuary within – an oasis of wholeness that is always there, even when outer conditions...

The 12th-century Christian polymath, Hildegaard von Bingen, was a composer, a writer, a theologian, a scientist, and a mystic. She is recognized as the founder of scientific natural history in Germany, and was an Abbess in the Catholic Church. She preached publicly, which was extremely unusual for a woman at the time. She recorded her visions in books, drama, and liturgical poems and songs. Join u...

In the apocryphal story of Michelangelo, he described his creative process of sculpting as simply “chipping away all the marble that doesn’t look like David.” Sometimes visions, creative or otherwise, come to us already fully formed. Join us in a service that explores creativity, curiosity, and realizing visions.

Sight and vision are different. It’s not what we look at that matters, it’s what we see. Vision is a focus that eliminates other possibilities; vision sets a direction toward a destination. I love that about vision, but how often do I consider my sins of omission in pursuit of a vision? This week brings the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, a day of at-one-ment with all we are: our accomplishments and...

In visions, possibilities are unveiled. In Hesiod’s telling of the story of Pandora, opening up the box of the unknown unleashes terror. But if we reconsider the story as one of opening up the box of life’s possibilities and the womb of the future, then maybe more than just hope flies out. On this celebratory Sunday, as our community gathers in for the return of the two-service church year, join u...

During this spring’s Youth Service, our young voices challenged us to examine our practice, our social-justice activity, and our contribution to the status quo. Some congregational feedback stated that this made them uncomfortable. This Sunday, let’s explore how we are being challenged by today’s youth and whether FUSM is a place to get comfortable.

“Between here and now and forever is such precious little time” sings Carrie Newcomer, yet we find so many ways to escape the present moment, especially if it’s painful. Today we’ll explore paying attention to our mortality in the here and now and the lessons that come from being present with painful experiences. Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron says “the most precious opportunity presents itself whe...

We all learn many helpful lessons and guiding principles in our childhoods. But sometimes, those lessons have unintended harmful consequences. Through storytelling, this sermon will explore some common childhood lessons and the harm embedded in them, and then reflect on how UU principles can help us unlearn those lessons and embrace our inherent worth. Beth is originally from Eastern Tennessee and...

In January of 2017, Monica Kling got on a plane to India to embark on what was called “A Pilgrimage of Peace,” learning and experiencing Mahatma Gandhi’s message in the places where he walked, talked, and lived. Now, over a year later, she explores how her own powerful experience and Gandhi’s message of a truly non-violent existence can be applied to present-day Milwaukee. How do we as a congregat...

For those of us who worry, hearing the admonition “don’t borrow trouble” can help sometimes. Practicing living in the here and now can also help calm anxieties, including the fear of missing out on the next awesome thing that is going to happen. Being present to what’s in the moment (not the past and not the future) is one of the most accessible and least expensive spiritual practices. There is al...

2018/07/29 ● The Rev. Dena McPhetres ● Seeking Justice, Needing Beauty by First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee

The poet Mark Nepo writes: “To Journey without being changed is to be a nomad. To change without journeying is to be a chameleon. To journey and to be transformed by the journey is to be a pilgrim.” We are a pilgrim people and a pilgrim church. As individuals and as a community we journey together, and are transformed by the road we travel – sometimes with ease and grace, sometimes with resistance...