by Rev. Janet Onnie
June 8, 2025

The new worship team has been meeting to look at the Sunday services here at HUU.  One of the more theologically interesting discussions refers to the Order of Service.  They asked the very good question why we do what we do in the order we do them.  Why do we have to have an Order of service?   Why is it not called the Order of Worship? They’re not so much interested in changing the elements of the Sunday service or even their order.  Like good, curious Unitarian Universalists they want to know WHY we do what we do.  They thought you might like to know too.

Being something of a worship wonk I welcomed the opportunity to explain the rationale for our Sunday morning activities.  Let’s first distinguish between the words Service and Worship. The word service is derived from the word ‘serve’, which means giving something to someone.  In the Christian context the something being served is praise and gratitude.  The someone who is receiving the praise and thanks is a deity called God.  It can also be seen as God serving the people.  The something being served is limitless love.  This is a bit different in the Unitarian Universalist context.  The something being served are our values.  The someone being served is ourselves and the whole human community or – for some — that which we deem greater than ourselves.  That someone is called by many names, including God.

In all world religions, including ours, worship – praise, thanks, supplication — is the something being served.  Worship is an outward expression of service.  I understand that word ‘worship’ is a toxic word for some.  Its current usage defines it as to treat somebody or something as a deity, and to show respect by engaging in acts of prayer and devotion.  What immediately springs to many minds (mine included) is the image of God as the white-bearded Euro-American male in the sky who knows all, sees all, and judges all.  Sort of a temperamental Daddy.  It has taken years for many of us to shift that image to something else.  Or to throw it out altogether.  Some of us haven’t yet managed to reset this default.  So when I use the word ‘worship’ I get a lot of responses that ask – with varying degrees of politeness – WHO I think we’re worshipping.  Not WHAT.  WHO.  That anthropomorphic image of what is worthy of our most devoted consideration and highest respect is what keeps many churches and therapists in business.

[Read more…]

By Rev. Janet Onnie
May 18, 2025

            “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” If you’re a subscriber to process theology, all seasons are seasons for change.  As we heard in the reading, “We must choose every moment how we will relate to the new world aborning in our midst.” 

            The events of these past few months have given us a glimpse of one possible ‘new world’ aborning.  And it’s not one designed to soothe anxiety.  The specter of a lawless, incompetent dictatorship reigning over a disintegrating physical and social environment leaves many of us mightily anxious about the future.  Even those who don’t pay much attention to current events seem to be on edge. There are all sorts of mini outbursts about things that really aren’t the things the outbursts seem to be about.  (pause)  We are all exhibiting the signs of being an anxious people, even before unusual weather patterns, technological breakdowns, a convicted felon winning a free and fair election for highest office in the land, and an unelected billionaire given free reign to rid the government of inefficiency.  And people. 

Anxious people fight about stupid things.  To quote the religious consultant Sarai Rice,  “It’s always easier, although rarely helpful, to fight about personal behavior rather than address larger realities, especially if the larger realities have to do with decline or loss.  When we don’t know what to do about the big important things, we fight about what somebody said.”  Or, I might add, the color of the paint, the volume of the choir, or the placement of a comma.

[Read more…]

by Rev Janet Onnie
May 11, 2025

I have mixed feelings about preaching on Mothers Day – balancing terror and wonder.  Terror because I know that no matter what I say at best I’m going to leave someone out.  At worst I’ll going to engender painful memories.  I worry about the responses of women who have – by chance or by choice — not had children.  Or have buried their children.  Or given them up.  Or lost them to circumstances way, way beyond their control.  Or simply don’t like them.  I worry about the men – left out of this mythology – who are raising children alone or in partner with another man.  Or the men who have unknowingly fathered children.  I worry about non-binary combination of parents not acknowledged by this day.  I worry about causing you pain by bringing up memories you may have of your mother. 

But I also view Mother’s Day with a wonder that has been repressed for quite some time.  For many of us it is our mother who is the first divinity for us:  she is literally our life-giver, our nurturer.  The bad thing about the perfect mother myth perpetuated by the greeting card people is that children believe it and demand it of their mother. Our mother was our God from which all blessings – nourishment, comfort, and care – flowed.  There is a story of Egyptian men who were awed by maternal behavior patterns, wondering why women did what they did to maintain the race.  Maxims written about 1500 BCE said:  “Thou shalt never forget thy mother and what she has done for thee….For she carried thee long beneath her heart as a heavy burden, and after thy months were accomplished she bore thee.  Three long years she carried thee upon her shoulder and gave thee her breast to thy mouth, and as thy size increased her heart never once allowed her to say, “Why should I do this?”!

[Read more…]

by Merle Wenger
May 5 2025

 UU Minute

James Luther Adams (1901-1994) was a prominent Unitarian Universalist theologian and a significant figure in 20th-century liberal religious thought. Born in 1901 in a small Nebraska town, Adams faced a challenging youth that shaped his commitment to social justice and religious pluralism. He studied at several institutions, including Harvard Divinity School, where he was influenced by both Unitarianism and the pragmatism of philosophers like William James and John Dewey.

Adams is best known for his concept of “the ethics of responsibility,” emphasizing the need for individual and collective action in the pursuit of justice. He believed that personal faith must be expressed through social action, encouraging congregations to engage in meaningful community service and advocacy.

Adams defines ministry broadly, and that caught my attention: defining ministry as a means of engaging in the world to shape history through voluntary associations like church, promoting social justice and ethical action, and fostering dialogue and consensus across different groups. 

Adams argued for a faith grounded in shared human values rather than specific dogmas.

[Read more…]

by Ben Campbell
April 27, 2015

I want to begin by saying that you might not agree with everything I am about to say – and that’s OK. It’s OK in Unitarian Universalism far more than it is in any other faith I know of. If you look around on the HUU website, you’ll find a pamphlet titled 100 Questions That Non-Members Ask About Unitarian Universalism. One thing it says is “We do not believe that any religious precept or doctrine must be accepted as true simply because some religious organization, tradition or authority says it is. Neither do we believe that all UUs should have identical beliefs.” Regarding other, non-spiritual matters such as politics and social issues, it says, “Even though we make collective statements and urge specific action, it is the individual who must ultimately decide his or her position on every issue.”

Merle Wenger has approached me twice about giving a talk here. The first time, he asked me what about my spiritual journey and life led me here, to Unitarian Universalism. The second time, he had noticed my unease whenever political matters came up in our discussions here. Believe it or not, these two matters are related. After I shared my initial thoughts with him, he also asked if I would share some reflections on my time at HUU: what I think we do well, and what I think could be improved.

I’ll start with that last one by giving two compliments and one critique.

[Read more…]

By Rev. Kirk Ballin
February 23, 2025

Revolutionary Love
By Dayna Edwards

I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for my faith.
My faith that our collective love united
can drown out the evils
of empire and hate and greed;
Together we create
a love energy
more powerful than
any force of oppression.

Because
When two or more people are gathered
side by side, arm in arm, shoulder to shoulder
the force of love ignites liberation.

Revolutionary love calls us
to know ourselves deeply
see God in the stranger
find beauty in the imperfect.
Revolutionary love calls us to find
the divine in dirt
the holy in the heartache
and the sacred in the scars.

Revolutionary love calls us out and then back in;
Revolutionary love calls us to be better and do better;
Revolutionary love calls us to heal and hold each other;
because
None of us would be here if it weren’t for our faith
in each other.

UNISON READING – “A PERSON WILL WORSHIP SOMETHING” – R.W. EMERSON

“A person will worship something—have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts – but it will out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives and character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming.”

READING #1

JOHN 13:34  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Matthew 21:12-13
And making a whip …Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers…. / And He declared to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer.’ But you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’

READING #2

“…See, people forget that billionaires have political ideologies just like everyone else. And remember, most people’s political ideologies are generally tailored to improve the life of the person holding the ideology. Democracy sounds great if you’re a peasant living under a king and you have no say in how things are run. But in what way would democracy improve your life if you’re a multi-billionaire who can buy politicians ? Once you’re up that high in the food chain, democracy is no longer a step UP, it’s a step DOWN.” –  The Trumpland Diary

READING # 3 -The Limits of Tyrants Frederick Douglas

“Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are people who want crops without  plowing up the ground. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never did and it never will. Find out what people will submit to, and you have found out  the exact amount of injustice  which will be imposed upon them. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”

SERMON: WHAT TO DO ABOUT JESUS : WHAT TO DO ABOUT BILLIONAIRES

 Jesus finally attends the National Prayer Breakfast

Jesus! OR I can say that name that way or I can say that name in a different way  — JUEEEZUSS! GEEZUS. JESUUUS CHRIST! JEESUS CHRIST! We can say the name profanely or divinely or academically or dispassionately. But every one of us, when we hear the name, goes to some kind of image, association, critique, reaction, judgement, belief system, opinion, you name it! None of us are lacking an opinion, a perspective about Jesus. Whether we like it or not, Jesus is embedded in our cultural makeup. Each of us has had to come up with some way to deal with the presence of Jesus in our culture. Jesus is a potent and ubiquitous meme. And by meme, I mean what Richard Dawkins the Evolutionary Biologist coined to mean “a unit of cultural information spread by imitation. A noun that “conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation”. Since the day he died (whether as an actual human being or in some story with a character named Jesus) Jesus has been an ever-circulating meme making its presence known in a profoundly influential way within human cultural manifestations worldwide. In present day jargon, Jesus was and still is in death, a serious influencer. And his role as a meme, as an influencer, like a gene, has gone through thousands of mutations to serve specific cultural manifestations; so what is called Jesus is whatever suits the cultural milieu that claims him. To me the person, the teaching of, the ministry of Jesus was co-opted, stolen early on for various political purposes.

[Read more…]

by Rev. Janet Onnie
February 16, 2025

The offertory this morning was the familiar song by The Beatles, “All You Need Is Love.” I have always been slightly uncomfortable with this sentiment.  It was the same sort of general discomfort – manifesting itself as annoyance – at the Hallmark sentiments on Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Grandparents Day, and all the other “days”.  Too often these Hallmark holidays excuse perfectly awful behavior toward the one being honored the rest of the year. 

But I generally exempt Valentine’s Day from my bashing of Hallmark holidays because it has a long history.  You former Catholics were taught that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of St. Valentine’s death or burial–which probably occurred around A.D. 270.  Others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an effort to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia.  Lupercalia was a fertility festival, involving flaying with strips of sacrified male goats and dogs and random matching of men and women to encourage pregnancy.  Not exactly the same thing as our modern celebration of love via chocolates and flowers. 

Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written Valentine’s didn’t begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London.  Chaucer mentioned it, and Sam Weller in Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers bought a valentine for the object of his affection. All those loves are lovely, but there are lots of definitions of love.  What are we talking about?

[Read more…]