First Universalist Church of Minneapolis Sunday Service Podcast

July 29, 2018 - Next Gen: Helping and Hoping

We often say that kids give us hope for the future. And clearly that’s warranted, with so many youth leading and living in courageous, compassionate and creative ways. If we’re placing our hope in them, how are we called to support the young people in our communities? Admiring them from a distance is not enough. This Sunday we’ll explore ways we can help ensure our hopes are realized, while still leaving the next generation plenty of room to spread their wings.

Call to Worship: Let Our Children by Jeanne Harrison-Niewejaar, read by Rev. Ruth MacKenzie; Reflection: My Other America by Rui Rui Bleifuss; Sermon by Lauren Wyeth, Director of Children, Youth, and Family Ministries

July 22, 2018 - In the Boat Together

​In most ​Danish churches, a model of a​ ​sailing ship hangs ​suspended​ from the ceiling​ somewhere above the congregation.​​ The boat shifts ​and sways ​​with the breath of ​those gathered, reminding ​everyone who enters and worships ​that we are meant to sail together. We explore our emerging understanding of community, not simply as a group of like-minded people, but as a covenantal community, tapping into something larger than our individual wants or longings. We explore the question: What would it mean to be in the boat together, particularly using our racial justice commitment as our nautical compass?

Call to Worship and Sermon by Rev. Ruth MacKenzie

July 15, 2018 - No Going Back

Our world is changing quickly, so often in ways that are in deep conflict with our values. From immigration, to climate change, to foreign affairs, we wonder what to do with our despair, fear, and disorientation. Historically, religious liberals have seen ourselves as charged to keep catastrophe at bay by fixing the world’s brokenness and re-building the world in its proper shape. Instead, what if we imagined the Apocalypse not as a future event, but as one that is already behind us? How would we understand the task at hand? How might this worldview help us understand our role in the emergence of our shared future?

Call to Worship and Sermon by Rev. Elaine Aron Tenbrink

July 8, 2018 - Awakenings

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, it becomes essential to have open and honest discussions about consent, sexuality, and relationships. Every culture has specific (usually implicit) codes for dating, sex, and intimacy, and these codes are changing and adapting. Our lives also are an ever-evolving journey of awakenings, and we regularly emerge into new ways of being as do our partners, family, and friends. How do we realize and express these emerging desires in mature and healthy ways?

Call to Worship by Rev. Elaine Aron Tenbrink, Sermon by Jack Gaede

June 24, 2018 - There Is No Spoon: Moving Beyond White Fear and Getting to Work On Racial Justice

Our Unitarian Universalist faith calls upon us to seek equity and racial justice in our individual lives and work. But it is not always clear what that looks like or how we break through personal barriers that may be holding us back. First Universalist Church Board of Trustees President,  Eric Cooperstein shares part of his journey into racial justice work outside of our Church and what is emerging for him from that process.

Call to Worship by Rev. Ruth MacKenzie, Sermon by Eric Cooperstein

July 1, 2018 - The 18" Pilgrimage

 

The work of social transformation and racial justice can be personally taxing, toxic, and tyrannical. Jumping into the fight for racial justice ill-equipped to hold space and follow leadership has led to many lasting wounds in the movement toward collective liberation. The 18″ Pilgrimage is an exploratory sermon on navigating the inner-workings of the personal and intimate self-work before engaging in social/racial justice work. It is a sermon comprised of story and observation of intersectional justice work with impacted communities and frontline UUs.

Call to Worship by Rev. Justin Schroeder, sermon by Pastor Danny Givens, MUUSJA Statewide Organizer and Senior Pastor of Above Every Name Ministries. 

June 17, 2018 Behind the Wall

Why should we remember criminals? What role can liberals play inside the prison? Is there space in your heart for the unlovable? Rev. Karen Hutt will take you to prison with her and help you unlock the challenges of the heart for those inside and outside the wall.

Call to Worship by Rev. Ruth MacKenzie and Sermon by Rev. Karen Hutt

June 10, 2018 Call to Worship by Rev. Elaine Aron Tenbrink

June 10, 2018 Sermon by Lena K. Gardner - Endless Emergence

June 3, 2018 Call to Worship by Rev. Jen Crow