“Aspire” is a new column in Enews. It is intended to revisit moments in our programming, aspirations if you will, that you might want to add to your internal playlist of concepts for reflection and action.

    • Evolved to Transcend?
      Rev. Larry often adds his perspective as a trained psychologist to the many ways of understanding human experience that we explore in our services. A common theme in our services is the nature of transcendence and practices that help us rise above life’s daily challenges. Psychological principles can add practical nuances to our spiritual work. For this week’s Aprire we offer social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s Ted Talk, “Religion, evolution, and the ecstasy of self-transcendence” as a reflection on what we might incorporate into our practices if we think of our ability to transcend as an evolutionary trait.
    • What does your own life intend for you?
      “Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it, listen for what it intends to do with you… Vocation does not come from willfulness. It comes from listening. I must listen to my life and try to understand what it is truly about – quite apart from what I would like it to be about – or my life will never represent anything real in the world, no matter how earnest my intentions.” – Parker Palmer In this week’s Enews we have the announcement of two deaths in our congregation. Death inevitably prompts us to consider the story …
    • Practicing Everyday Awe
      We have two offerings from Rev. Larry’ sermon, “The absolute Necessity of Everyday Awe.” The first is the sermon itself, in which he draws on poetry ranging from Elizabeth Barrett Browning to the Bible t0 guide our reflection on ways to experience Awe. It culminates in three practices for us to consider: Stay Awake to Awaken; Show Up Again and Again; Defend the Most Vulnerable! Our second offering is the inspirational video below, “Wisdom at 96: Life Advice from a Century of Experience”
    • Aspiration: Practice the Pause
      Sometimes people ask what we mean when we describe our Sunday service as “worship.” If you browse the meanings of worship in a dictionary, particularly one that includes historical uses of the word, you will find it has many meanings. That makes it a particularly good word to describe what we are doing. Certainly, some of us do worship in the more common, contemporary sense of feeling adoration and reverence for a higher power. But all of us engage in a meaning in the origin of worship, to recognize and hold up what is important, what is of worth. In …
    • Aspiration: A Community of Practice
      “Aspire” is a new column in Enews. It is intended to revisit moments in our programming that you might want to add to your internal playlist of concepts for reflection and action. In his orientation to Unitarian Universalism for newcomers, our minister, Rev. Dr. Larry Peers, invites us to think of what we often refer to as our UU principles or values, as practices. Whatever language we may use to describe who we are, ultimately our common ideas will be expressed in familiar practices. To think of them as practices is to recognize that how they transform our behavior is …