Episodes
Wednesday Oct 04, 2023
Oct. 1, 2023- Loosen, Loosen, Baby
Wednesday Oct 04, 2023
Wednesday Oct 04, 2023
A single cylinder of interlaced bamboo strips seems delicate around two pointers–at least at first. But soon, they’ll want out. Without thinking, the digits back away from their closeness and find themselves stuck in place. Neither force nor frenzy will help; not twisting, not waiting, not pulling apart. The mind will need to calm to think of something beyond what’s worked before. The hands will need a wiser, more elegant idea to get free from the finger trap.
Hubris would teach us to limit our trust to the ideas we already know. Panic for the problems around us will tighten our grip on what’s familiar. Living from fear for the future will only make it harder to remember the wisdom in the generations. To make space for what we’ve not imagined, we’ll need to release some of what we have. To get free will mean to decenter a lot of what we think we can control, what’s common, what’s cozy, what’s currently clear.
To grasp what love needs from us now, how can we relieve the tensions which trap us? To get to freedom, what would happen if we found the way to loosen up and let go?
Singing to Gather- Woyaya- Aimee K. Bryant (:31)
Call to Worship- Dallas Rising (3:26)
Singing Together- Loosen, Loosen, Baby- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (10:45)
Story for All Ages- Aimee K. Bryant (14:59)
Prayer and Meditation- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (24:40)
Practice of Giving and Receiving- Rev. Arif Mamdani (35:25)
Offertory- Aimee K. Bryant and Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (38:23)
Reading- Generous Listening by Marilyn Nelson- Dallas Rising (42:19)
Anthem- Aimee K. Bryant (44:09)
Message- Loosen, Loosen, Baby- Rev. Jen Crow (48:29)
Hymn and Benediction- (1:06:09)
Monday Oct 02, 2023
Sept. 24, 2023- Tough Love
Monday Oct 02, 2023
Monday Oct 02, 2023
The experience of being welcomed with open arms can change us, rooting us in communities of care that transform individuals and society. Practicing this kind of love requires a tough mind and a tender heart, Dr. Martin Luther King once wrote, urging us to develop the characteristics that can ground us in transformative love.
Opening Hymn- My Life Flows On In Endless Song (:25)
Call to Worship & Words of Welcome- Nanette Stearns (6:43)
Singing Together- Lone Wolf- Shelley Des Islets and Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (12:59)
Time for All Ages- Allison Connelly-Vetter (20:48)
Prayer & Cycle of Life- Rev. Ashley Harness (28:44)
Practice of Giving and Receiving - Rev. Jen Crow (36:42)
Offertory- Paolo Dubuque (38:21)
Reading- from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (41:34)
Singing Prayer- Standing Stone - Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (45:23)
Message- Tough Love- Rev. Jen Crow (47:39)
Singing Together & Benediction (1:06:31)
Wednesday Sep 20, 2023
September 17, 2023- Every Last Drop: Welcoming All People
Wednesday Sep 20, 2023
Wednesday Sep 20, 2023
Spiders catch water from thin air and store it in the web. There’s no need to go and find it; they are quenched simply by the water the web holds. Spiders build webs to pull raindrops in toward the center which, in turn, make more room on the edges for new drops to arrive.
What if entering the beloved community were a continuing cycle of coming out from the rain, closer and closer to each other? And what if welcoming those on the edges were the action at our core?
Drops of water and wisdom await us on the web. The more we welcome well, the healthier we all are. What would it take to welcome all people? What would we have to lose? What’s not to gain?
Call to Worship- Rev. Arif Mamdani (:42)
Singing Together- Come, Come, Whoever You Are and Make Channels for the Streams of Love - Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (2:38)
Lighting the Chalice (7:27)
Singing Together- Hold Everybody Up! - Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (12:17)
Time for All Ages and Blessing for RE- Rev. Jen Crow, Rev. Arif Mamdani (17:05)
Prayer and Meditation- Rev. Jen Crow (25:09)
Practice of Giving and Receiving- Rev. Arif Mamdani (30:59)
Offertory- Paolo Dubuque (36:14)
Reading- What We Need Is Here by Wendell Berry (39:54)
Sermon- Every Last Drop: Welcoming All People- Rev. Jen Crow (41:45)
Benediction and Singing- Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (1:02:04)
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
September 3, 2023- Lessons for Future Ancestors
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
“Let us measure success by how many of us can say: I am living a life I don’t regret. A life that will resonate with my ancestors…” -adrienne maree brown. This Sunday, we reflect on heavy suitcases, surprise turning points, and opening to welcome, even when the people are complicated and the path is unclear.
Singing to Gather- Enter, Rejoice, and Come In and Bright Morning Star- Matt Meyer (:27)
Words of Welcome- Rev. Jen Crow (7:28)
Reading- by adrienne maree brown - Matt Meyer (12:09)
Singing Together- Wake Now My Senses- Matt Meyer (13:03)
Story for All Ages- Redefining Success- Matt Meyer (17:06)
Singing Together- Anthem, words by Leonard Cohen - Matt Meyer (24:37)
Community Prayer- Rev. Arif Mamdani (28:24)
Practice of Giving and Receiving- Rev. Arif Mamdani (35:37)
Offertory- Not Heavy by Faya Ora Rose Toure- Matt Meyer (37:08)
Reading- What You Missed That Day You Were Absent in Fourth Grade by Brad Aaron Modlin- Rev. Arif Mamdani (40:40)
Homily- Lessons for Future Ancestors- Matt Meyer (44:04)
Benediction and Closing Songs- We Are the Ones by Bernice Johnson and Where You Go I Will Go, Beloved by Shoshana Jedwab (59:19)
Tuesday Aug 22, 2023
August 20, 2023- Lake Harriet Worship
Tuesday Aug 22, 2023
Tuesday Aug 22, 2023
Rev. Ashley Horan, Aimee Bryant, and Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout lead worship with you at the bandshell at Lake Harriet. By the waters, we’ll embody the joy and talk the truths of willful change we can make to the ways we do community. We’ll live a little of love’s post-pandemic, not-far-along-enough-yet call. Truth be told, it has more to do with play and laughter and loving yourself than we’ve often understood. And the possibilities, when we’re willing to untether from the needful, are more wonderful even than we could have dreamed.
Singing to Gather- Rev. Ashley Horan, Aimee Bryant, and Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (:30)
Words of Welcome and Call to Worship- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (3:55)
Singing Together- Morning Has Come (7:03)
Poem- I Thank You God - e. e. cummings (8:07)
Singing Together- Morning Has Come (10:23)
Singing Together- Breathing In, Breathing Out (14:42)
Reading- Building a Common Life by Elea Kemler- Allison Connelly-Vetter (22:39)
Community Prayer- Rev. Ashley Horan (28:55)
Practice of Giving and Receiving- Rev. Ashley Horan (40:09)
Offertory- Light of a Clear Blue Morning by Dolly Parton- Dr. GTR (42:45)
Reading- Touched by an Angel by Maya Angelou (47:07)
Anthem- Home by Diana Ross- Aimee K. Bryant and Dr. GTR (48:36)
Message- To Change What We Know- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (52:06)
Singing Together- We Are the Ones (1:02:35)
Benediction- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (1:06:50)
Tuesday Aug 15, 2023
August 13, 2023- Why Stop Now?
Tuesday Aug 15, 2023
Tuesday Aug 15, 2023
We often exclaim church to each other as a place, a sanctuary, a place away from other places. Isn’t it at least as much a moment we make special together? A present-day prophet, the Black science fiction writer Octavia Butler describes “God is change.” How would your relationship with holy things shift if you were looking not for things that have become divine, but instead were on a hunt for the becoming itself in progress? Would that change what goodness you discovered in you?
This Sunday, we explore the ways the divine expresses in units of time. Guided by the ancient Hebrew practice of sabbath-keeping, we reflect on the special moments of life that keep us in motion. And we ask ourselves and each other: What will stop to have time for what’s holy? What gets a no, so you can be present to what’s right in front of you?
Music for Gathering- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout and Aimee K. Bryant (:29)
Words of Welcome & Call to Worship- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (3:51)
Story for All Ages- The Stuff of Stars by Marion Dane Bauer- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (12:49)
Meditation on Breathing- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (22:43)
Community Practice & Prayer- Rev. Ashley Harness (26:26)
Reading- from A Look to the Future (1957) by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (34:17)
Anthem- Amazing Grace- Franco Holder on piano (37:22)
Message- Why Stop Now?- Rev. Ashley Harness (40:52)
Giving and Receiving- (1:02:11)
Benediction- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (1:07:41)
Tuesday Jul 25, 2023
July 23, 2023- ”Art & Soul” with Ellis Delaney
Tuesday Jul 25, 2023
Tuesday Jul 25, 2023
Each Sunday in July, worship will feature artists and musicians sharing their craft and some reflections on how their art is connected to their spirituality. We continue this worship series with musician, composer, and First U Member, Ellis Delaney. Ellis is at once funny and wise, thoughtful and uninhibited, with a captivating voice that is matched by tender, sometimes funny, uplifting lyrics. Their music is transformational; leaving audiences feeling better, with softened edges & opened hearts.
Music for Gathering and Words of Welome- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (:19)
Story for All Ages- Dinosaur Air by Rev. Nancy Shaffer (24:21)
Hymn- Building Bridges Between Our Divisions- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout and Aimee K. Bryant (26:15)
Meditation, Prayer, and Cycle of Life- Rev. Ashley Harness (33:08)
Message- "Art & Soul" with Ellis Delaney (39:44)
Transition Music- Prelude in C- The Well-Tempered Clavier (1:14:23)
"Art & Soul" with Ellis Delaney- Continued Conversation (1:18:55)
Wednesday Jul 12, 2023
July 9, 2023- ”Art & Soul” with Dean Magraw
Wednesday Jul 12, 2023
Wednesday Jul 12, 2023
Each Sunday in July, worship will feature a different local musician sharing their music and some reflections on how their art is connected to their spirituality. Dean Magraw is a consummate guitarist, playing with wit and soulful abandon. A performer like no other, he is part-comedian, part-philosopher and all-around musical genius. This past Sunday, he and Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout talked poetry, impressionists, and John Coltrane.
* Please note significant cuts and edits have been made due to poor original sound quality.
Opening Hymn- How Can I Keep from Singing? (:24)
Words of Welcome- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (3:48)
Poem- Monet Refuses the Operation by Liesel Mueller (10:30)
Prayer and Cycle of Life- Rev. Ashley Harness (13:39)
Practice of Giving and Receiving- Rev. Ashley Harness (18:54)
Offertory- Dean Magraw (22:38)
Message- Art and Soul: Music and Conversations with Dean Magraw (23:09)
Benediction- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (48:51)
Wednesday Jul 05, 2023
July 2, 2023- ”Art & Soul” with Aimee K. Bryant
Wednesday Jul 05, 2023
Wednesday Jul 05, 2023
Each Sunday in July will feature a different local musician sharing their music and reflection on how their art connected to their spirituality. Sunday, July 2, we begin our July worship series with our own vocalist in residence, Aimee K. Bryant.
Worship led by Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout, Aimee K. Bryant, and Sally Reynolds on piano
Singing to Gather (:26)
Words of Welcome (4:49)
Time for All Ages (13:23)
Singing Together- Just As Long As I Have Breath (19:26)
Prayer, Poetry, Silence (21:44)
Practice of Giving and Receiving (32:16)
Offertory- Open the Window, Children (36:10)
Message- Art and Soul: Song and Conversation with Aimee K. Bryant (40:13)
Benediction and Singing- Where You Go, I Will Go, Beloved (1:13:55)
Tuesday Jun 13, 2023
June 11, 2023- Freedom- Not for Ourselves Alone
Tuesday Jun 13, 2023
Tuesday Jun 13, 2023
In these days when the circle of who has autonomy over their body and what history we can teach in our classrooms grows smaller and smaller, we are called to remember that freedom is not freedom if it is for the individual, alone. Freedom is individual and collective—a personal experience and decision, and a collective commitment, experience, and responsibility. Universalism invites us to draw the circle wide, and draw it wider still. What does our faith require of us when the circle of freedom is shrinking in our society?
Opening Hymns- Circle 'Round for Freedom and Woyaya- Aimee K. Bryant- (:32)
Words of Welcome- Rev. Jen Crow (8:45)
Story for All Ages- The Stonewall Inn- Rev. Ashley Harness (15:12)
Hymn- Make Channels for the Streams of Love- Aimee K. Bryant (26:33)
Song, Silence, Meditation- Lóre Stevens (28:18)
Practice of Generosity- Rev. Ashley Harness (36:23)
Offertory- Franco Holder (38:24)
Reading- by Marge Piercy- Lóre Stevens and Rev. Jen Crow (41:13)
Anthem- Aimee K. Bryant- (43:24)
Message- Freedom, Not for Ourselves Alone- Rev. Jen Crow (46:39)
Benediction- Freedom is Coming- Aimee K. Bryant and Rev. Jen Crow (1:05:48)