Come celebrate together as we kick off our annual pledge drive! We’ll reflect on plans for next year and how we share resources as part of being in loving community. We’ll reflect on what it means to value equity over equality, and the fact that equity is something we can only achieve together.

Written by: Rev. Laurel Gray
Music by: Kala Farnham
Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

[Sermon] Celebration Sunday, 3.10.24

Spring has sprung – at least according to the calendar! Today Rev. Laurel and members of the Garden Team will share about how outdoor spaces can transform our sense of welcome and foster a sense of new life.

Written by: Rev. Laurel Gray
Music by: Kala Farnham
Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

[Sermon] Spring Transformation, 3.17.24

Resurrection can be a sticky theological concept for UUs. Come gather for this festive Easter service as we reflect on what it means to be transformed by love. Come one, come all!

Written by: Rev. Laurel Gray
Music by: Kala Farnham
Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

[Sermon] Easter Sunday: A People Transformed, 3.31.24

Amanda and Rev. Gray discuss: gardens!; turquoise vs teal; flourishing is vulnerable; citrus allergies and equity; putting the Easter story in a post-traumatic wisdom frame; the worst sermon Laurel ever heard

Sermons written by: Rev. Laurel Gray
Theme music: Antidepresseur by Patchworker | https://soundcloud.com/patchworker
Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

And Yet, We Get There: ChUUrch Talk March 2024

The heart of Unitarian Universalism is not a creed, but a covenant, a promise to care. Considering changes to our seven principles with Article II asks us to remember that the promises we make in this congregation are connected to a wider UU web of care.

Written by: Rev. Laurel Gray
Music by: Kala Farnham
Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

[Sermon] The Path of Covenant, 4.7.24

Written by: Rev. Laurel Gray
Music by: Kala Farnham
Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

[Sermon] The Path Ahead, 4.14.24

Today we’ll tell the ancient Passover story and reflect on what it means to seek a new way, away from abuses of power, and towards a more just world. We know that what we do affect each other and transformation is something we can only ever achieve together.

Referenced in this sermon:

Rabbi Botzum's essay can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kNhiqgFP5NB3CCJaPn9VgArCJ8X5vM_T/view?ref=lifeisasacredtext.com

Freedom for All Seder Haggadah: https://www.freedomforallseder.com/haggadah/resources

More Seder Sources and Resources from Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg:
https://www.lifeisasacredtext.com/socialist-haggadah/

Written by: Rev. Laurel Gray
Music by: Kala Farnham
Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

[Sermon] Passover: We Go Together, 4.21.24

Amanda and Rev. Gray discuss: 3 months’ notice; despair doesn’t have the final say; etymology nerds sound off; operationalizing covenant; the need for collective catharsis; let’s talk about The Thing; encampments on campuses; the potency of knowing where you’re rooted; stories of rupture

Sermons written by: Rev. Laurel Gray
Theme music: Antidepresseur by Patchworker | https://soundcloud.com/patchworker
Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

We Do Not Worship Despair: ChUUrch Talk April 2024

In honor of Mother’s Day, this morning we’re focusing on all the ways to be a family. Sometimes we experience a deep sense of belonging in our families of origin, and sometimes we don’t. Come celebrate all the ways we find our people and our way home.

Written by: Rev. Laurel Gray
Music by: Kala Farnham
Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

[Sermon] The Plurality of Family, 5.12.24

What does the word “God” even mean? So often, when people say they do or don’t believe in God, they’re reacting to one particular definition or image. This morning we’ll explore lots of different definitions of what one might call God.

Written by: Rev. Laurel Gray
Music by: Kala Farnham
Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

[Sermon] The "G" Word, 5.19.24

Amanda and Rev. Gray discuss: we have a new minister!; the two-year rule; church is life with training wheels; the most loaded topic in UUism; muscular Christianity; process theology; no Birkenstock erasure; signing off!

Referenced in this episode:
Omnipotence and Other Theological Mistakes by Charles Hartshorne: https://sunypress.edu/Books/O/Omnipotence-and-other-Theological-Mistakes

Radical Equations: Math Literacy and Civil Rights by Robert P. Moses and Charles E. Cobb Jr: https://www.abebooks.com/9780807031261/Radical-Equations-Math-Literacy-Civil-0807031267/plp

Sermons written by: Rev. Laurel Gray
Theme music: Antidepresseur by Patchworker | https://soundcloud.com/patchworker
Hosted and Edited by: Amanda Hall

White Hunky Jesus: ChUUrch Talk May 2024

Reverend Laurel Gray writes sermons that help make sense of the complexities of life, and then she talks about them with (non-reverend) Amanda Hall once a month. 

Episode titles starting with "[Sermon]" are read by Rev. Laurel. Monthly ChUUch Talk episodes are conversations between Rev. Laurel and Amanda.

This podcast is by the Unitarian Universalist Congregational Society of Westborough (UUCSW), from Westborough, Mass. www.uucsw.org

[Sermon] Celebration Sunday, 3.10.24

ChUUrch Talk

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