Sermons & Newsletter – UU Church of Rutland

Welcome to our Sermons Page!

Posted by Tim on November 8, 2022

If you do not select by category you will be presented with all sermons in descending date order. If you wish, you can select to view just previous sermons by our minister Rev. Barbara Threet, or previous sermons by guest ministers, or previous sermons by lay leaders. Selection is made by using the “Categories” drop down located in the right hand column of this page.

You can select sermons by the month and year by clicking the month and year at the “Sermon Archives” section in the left hand column of this page.

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March 19,2023 – Regina Kohlhepp – While Waiting for the Final Call – Living to the Very End.

Posted by Tim on March 24, 2023

Old age comes with the fragile ecstasy of being alive; it need not be the tragedy of life.

To hear the sermon click the arrow below:

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March 12 – David Mook – “A Search For Truth & Meaning or Job Training”

Posted by Tim on March 15, 2023

What is (or should be) the purpose of education? My talk will explore this question as it relates to higher education in general and also more specifically within the context of the merger of Castleton University, Vermont Technical College, and Northern Vermont University (Johnson and Lyndon) into a single entity to be called Vermont State University.

To hear the sermon, click the arrow below:

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March 5, 2023 – Rev. Barbara Threet “A Wall of Separation”

Posted by Tim on March 7, 2023

In 1801, Thomas Jefferson said there should be a “wall of separation between church and state”. There wasn’t such a ‘wall’ in most states then, and that ‘wall’ seems be rapidly crumbling in many parts of our country now. What built that ‘wall’, what role did our religious forebears have in dismantling it, and why does separation of church and state matter now?

To hear the sermon, click the arrow below:

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February 19 – Presidential Dreaming – Rev. Kathy Duhon What Could Have Been (and What Really Should Be)

Posted by Tim on February 20, 2023

We assume that our system for selecting a president is the only way, even though the process is fraught with problems which can reap results that are real humdingers!  Some Unitarians and Universalists from our past would have made excellent presidents – (I can dream) – so how can we ensure that this most powerful of jobs is filled by such people of competence, capability, and compassion?  Come explore ideas of justice and hope for our future through our own UU heroic history, and by some daring presidential dreaming.

To hear the sermon click the arrow below. Sermon will start in 18 seconds:


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February 12 -Marianne Hill – Building A Solidarity Society: Power, People and Planet.

Posted by Tim on February 13, 2023

The talk will focus on how to build a solidarity society, one that is compassionate and eco-friendly, and the values and qualities we need to draw on to make that happen.

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February 5, 2023 – Rev. Barbara Threet, Remembering Those We Love

Posted by Tim on February 5, 2023

In this Valentine’s Day month, we’ll explore how the end of the life of a loved one might affect those of us who loved them. Then we’ll create a collective memorial to those we’ve each lost by bringing a picture or a small memento of them, which we’ll share as we speak briefly about these ancestors.

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January 22, 2023 – Calvin Dame – “An Abundant Life”

Posted by Tim on January 22, 2023

Among my favorite phrases attributed to Jesus of Nazareth are, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”   What might that mean to us? 

To hear the sermon click the link below:

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January 8 2023 – Phil Crossman – “Some Animals More Equal”: Attitudes Toward Equality and Inequality in American Life”

Posted by Tim on January 9, 2023

Americans have been thinking about, feeling about, and debating the subject of equality for as long as we can remember. Some inequalities disturb us to the core. Some inequalities we have been taught to celebrate. Some of the same are hardly noticed.  This talk looks at equality and inequality from a philosophical, religious, and historical perspective, and asks us all to consider just how our attitudes toward different forms of inequality have been shaped without leaving an inventory.

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January 1 2023 – New Years Resolutions From the Sublime to the Ridiculous – Herb Ogden

Posted by Tim on January 2, 2023

Sources will vary from the Seven Principles of the Unitarian Universalist Association to the writings of Mark Twain. 

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December 11 – Rebecca Mattis – Keeping the Faith in Liberal Religion

Posted by Tim on December 15, 2022

Rebecca will discuss liberal religion – what it is, why it’s worth keeping, and different ways we may practice it, both in church and in life. 

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