This service will mark the one-year anniversary of the COVID pandemic affecting our communities, our congregations, and our lives. One year later, what have we learned about each other, about faith, life, and community?

Viola Liuzzo was a Unitarian Universalist who was killed after participating in the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. Her story is compelling and offers inspiration for us today. What might we learn from Viola Liuzzo and the example of others from her era?

Our deepest commitments to love and justice begin not with the human intellect but with the human heart. And it is our connection to our hearts that sustains our work. As Brené Brown has pointed out, “Courage is a heart word . . . the word courage meant ‘To speak one’s mind by telling all … Continued

Author and activist Margaret Wheatley suggests that, in the midst of “the rise of hatred, violence, poverty, and ecological destruction” on a global level, we must work locally to create islands of sanity that will preserve the best of the human spirit. How do we go about this important work?

Unitarian Universalism puts forth love and justice as primary values to be nurtured and practiced as individuals and in covenant with others. No one is perfectly loving and just, nor is any community or organization. How do we keep these values front and center in all that we do?

For decades, many institutions and organizations—including the church—have emphasized diversity and inclusion as important values. We often talk of celebrating diversity and striving to be more inclusive. But are diversity and inclusion enough? This sermon will explore how an emphasis on diversity and inclusion may sometimes keep us from working for real justice and equity.

Many of us have high hopes for 2021, particularly after the many struggles and sorrows that characterized 2020. How might the human imagination fuel and inspire the work that needs to be done in order to fulfill our hopes for this year and for our future?

MLK popularized philosopher Josiah Royce’s concept of “Beloved Community” as “a global vision in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth.” How might this vision inform the work that is before us now?