Sermons & Newsletter – UU Church of Rutland

Our hymnal says, “The sweet June days are come again…Oh, how our cup o’er brims with good…for all the joys of field and wood we lift our song of praise.”  What do June and summertime mean this year, after so many, many unusual months, including two peculiar summers?

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This sermon is the second in a double-feature about science and morality. The first one was about the dual nature of the interdependent human individual. It explored the concept of moral courage: the ability to stand alone against the group in order to serve the group. This second sermon is about the necessary tensions between reality vs. uncertainty in science, and faith vs. doubt in religion, with a focus on current events within Unitarian Universalism.

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The human being has a dual nature – as an individual, and as a community member. This lifelong dance of interdependence has some interesting manifestations. For better and for worse, how do groups influence individual perception and behavior, and what is the role of the individual’s moral choices within community? In this sermon, Rebecca explores rocket science, psychology, and moral responsibility, and hears some choice words from God.

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This comes from a collection of sermons exploring our seven principles. This one examines the practical implication of a theoretical belief in the “inherent worth and dignity of every person” as well as the sometimes complicated balance between valuing the individual and valuing community. This sermon was written by Rev. Sarah Lammert, currently the Co-Director of Ministries and Faith Development at the UUA. It is the first in a series of sermons by various ministers on each of the Seven Principles, with the last on May 29th.

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Most of us believe in being nice. We try to be kind, courteous, unaggressive, and altruistic, even when that appears to put us at a great disadvantage in a dog-eat-dog society. So why should we persist in niceness, and how can we practice it effectively?

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The concept of ambiguous loss was pioneered by Pauline Boss to describe many situations of loss that do not include the certainty of death. Unemployment, illness, divorce, and empty nest are examples of situations that may constitute an ambiguous loss. Because the trauma of ambiguous losses often goes unrecognized by loved ones, they may lead to disenfranchised grief.

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“How to Be Wrong: Right Things, Wrong Things, and Embracing the Uncertainty in Between”

We Unitarian Universalists are skilled appliers of reason, rationality, and intellect- all the better with which to seek truth. Yet we’d be wise to ponder the words of Anne Lamott, who tells us, “When we are stuck in
our convictions and personas, we enter into the disease of having good ideas and being right.” The truth is messy, tricky, and even at times overrated. In this message, we will ponder the grace it takes to recognize the limits of our truth-seeking and live with uncertainty- and the rewards that may flow from doing so.

If you are anything like me, reading has been even more important than usual to you in this year of isolation. Tell us about a book that has particularly helped you survive and prosper. This will be our first attempt at meeting both in person in our sanctuary and by Zoom at the same time. If you come in person, you are invited to bring books to exchange, but no books will be left at the church after the service.

Ethan will discuss America’s Most troubling and least understood impact on globalization. Based on his book Crazy Like Us, he reveals that the most devastating consequence of the spread of American culture has not been out golden arches but our bulldozing of the human psyche itself. We are in the process of homogenizing the way the world goes mad. It turns out that we have not only been changing the way the world talks about and treats mental illness –we have been changing the mental illness themselves. As we introduce Americanized ways of treating mental illness, we are in fact spreading our version of these disease.

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