Universalist National Memorial Church

Intervention: Risk, Folly, and Inner Healing

A sermon preached by Deacon Sue Mosher on January 22, 2012

My topic today is intervention, usually considered the stuff of sitcoms and war, but a surprisingly common visitor to our everyday lives. If we subscribe to the ethical imperative to "Love thy neighbor as thyself", we can hardly avoid intervening when we see our neighbor has a problem. Yet we find ourselves faced with many difficult questions: When is it right to caution or criticize someone or inject our opinions into their lives? By what authority? By what measure of effectiveness?

January Leland Dinner Cancelled

The monthly Leland Place dinner planned for Jan. 21 has been cancelled. Please plan to participate next month, on Saturday, Feb. 18, which will feature a Mardi Gras theme. RSVP to Dave Skidmore.

“Power” and Kwanzaa

Join us this Sunday, January 8, at 11 a.m., for a special worship service in Swahili and English followed by a Kwanzaa celebration! Eliserena Kimolo, founder of Jambo Africa Child Hope, will be preaching on "The Position of Power". The worship service will also include our traditional Epiphany celebration of communion, in which everyone is invited to participate fully. After worship, about noon, we will gather in the downstairs fellowship hall for food, entertainment, and a silent auction to support the work that Jambo Africa Child Hope does to help with the education, training, and care of impoverished and orphaned children in Africa.

Celebrate the New Year with the Men of Leland Place

Come out of the cold and into a warm kitchen on Saturday, January 21 -- and help prepare a meal for the men of Leland Place, a halfway house on North Capitol Street for men in recovery from homelessness and addiction.

We are scheduled to gather in the church kitchen at 2:30 p.m. with the goal of carpooling to Leland, a facility of SOME (So Others Might Eat), and sharing the meal at 5 p.m. We will return to the church at around 6:30. Volunteers generally share the cost of the meal (up to $20 per volunteer) but volunteers who simply want to donate labor and time are more than welcome.

To reserve your place, please RSVP to Dave Skidmore at dave_skidmore@verizon.net.

At our last meal, Eric Solomon, Bill Baker, Marsha Silverberg, and Dave served up some pre-Christmas cheer at Leland on December 17 -- along with baked ham, scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole, and steaming homemade apple crisp served with vanilla ice cream.

Merry Christmas

Source of all, we give you thanks and praise, that when we were still in darkness, you sent your light through Jesus into the world to guide us home. Grant that his spirit may be born anew in our hearts this day. Open our ears that we may hear again the angelic chorus of old. Accept the gladness of our hearts as our richest gift upon your altar, and confirm the spirit of this holy time that it may be with us throughout the days to come. May the dayspring from on high visit us, to give light to those who sit in darkness, and to guide our feet in the way of peace. Amen, and Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Welcome

If you are looking for a warm, welcoming place to celebrate Christmas in the heart of Washington, DC, seek no further! We invite you to join us on Christmas Eve at 8 p.m. for a traditional service of lessons and carols by candlelight. Then, on Christmas Day at 11 a.m., we gather around the table to sing a couple of carols, share communion, and reflect on the Child who is God's gift to the world. All are welcome to participate fully in both services. And wherever you are, we wish you all the blessings of Christmas.

UU and Bible Fundamentalist (Sort of)

A sermon preached by Mike Miller on November 13, 2011

I recall decades ago watching a Billy Graham Christmas special on TV. Rev. Graham made a compelling urgent case that we all needed to accept Jesus and be saved. He made it sound so very simple and easy that I felt I would be a fool not to. So I called the number, said a prayer, and they even sent me a bible full of guidance about what Christians believe.

I read that Bible and when I came to the passion narrative, Jesus is on the cross and says, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?" From what I had read in the Christian guidance part of my new bible, that statement could be re-stated, "Myself, myself, why have I forsaken myself?"

I asked a pastor about this and he said: "Jesus was fully human and fully God, so he felt all the pain and anguish like any man." But then I asked, didn't he even remember he was God as well?

"Not while he was bearing all mankind's sins", was the pastor's answer. This is when the seeds of Unitarianism were planted in my heart.

Later I asked: What about some kid who grew up in a Muslim country and died as a young man, having never really been told about Jesus? Would he go to Hell? "It is not my place to judge", said the pastor, "but as I read the scripture, I think he unfortunately would". And that Hell is a place of never ending fire and torment for all eternity? "Yes, you don't want to go there." And the God of love, who is love, would send this young man there? "Yes", was the pastor's answer. The seed of Universalism was planted on that day.

Spread Christmas Cheer to the Men of Leland Place

Looking for an opportunity to give back amidst the bustle of holidays? Our next dinner at Leland Place, a halfway house for men in recovery from addiction and homelessness, is planned for Saturday, December 17. Our usual practice is to gather in the church kitchen at 2:30 p.m. with the goal of carpooling to Leland, on North Capitol Street, in time to serve dinner at 5 p.m. We return to the church by 6:30 p.m. Volunteers generally share in the cost of the meal (up to $20 per volunteer), but you are most welcome to donate just your labor. RSVP, please, to Dave Skidmore at dave_skidmore@verizon.net.

The dining room of Leland rang with good cheer at an early Thanksgiving feast prepared by volunteers Eric Solomon, Marsha Silverberg, and Dave Skidmore on Saturday, November 19. The men dined heartily on oven-baked chicken, stuffing, whipped yams, and steamed broccoli. (And thanks to Judy Burns for her donation of pies - sweet potato and lemon coconut.)

Leland Place is a facility of S.O.M.E. (So Others Might Eat).

The Five Ws and the One H of Giving Thanks

A sermon by Deacon Dave Skidmore, preached on November 27, 2011

Good morning. My topic, not surprisingly on this Sunday after Thanksgiving, has to do with giving thanks. "Wait a minute," you might say. "We just gave thanks on Thursday. Aren't we done with that?" My response is, "No. We are never done. At least I hope we are never done."

"Giving thanks," is a big topic. I wasn't quite sure how to tackle it. So, I fell back on my early training as a journalist. I was taught in my introductory newswriting class at Penn State that every news story should answer six questions -- the five Ws and the one H -- who, what, when, where, why, and how. News stories organized using the traditional inverted pyramid structure attempt to answer as many of those questions as possible in the first paragraph -- and then elaborate as necessary. So, here are the answers -- up front -- and then I'll elaborate.

• Who? We give thanks to God.
• What? We give thanks for anything that moves us to gratitude.
• When? We should give thanks as often as we can.
• Where? Here -- wherever here may be at any given moment.
• Why? Because it's good for us.
• How? We can make it a discipline, starting by saying grace at meals. And we can give thanks by giving back.

The Issa Imperative–Jesus in Islam

A sermon by Marti Martinson on November 20, 2011.

As a Near Eastern religion, Judaism, in its deepest antiquity, must have been influenced by its neighbors, for it is a well accepted fact that Greek Neo-Platonic thought influenced early Christianity. If you recall world history from high school, you might remember the Code of Hammurabi. It is a very ancient Babylonian law code that dates from 1700 BCE, approximately 450 years before the generally accepted time period of the Exodus. However, there is a lost law code that is known about only by incomplete references to its originator, Urukagina, a Mesopotamian king who reigned from 2360 to 2350 BCE -- more than one thousand years before the Exodus.