Below is a list of past sermons given at The Fellowship. Once you find the sermon you’d like to listen to, just click on the sermon title listed, and it will open that sermon in a page with the options to listen to it via the web, to download the MP3 for listening offline, or to open the transcript of the sermon to read.

A Salute to the Sun

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A Salute to the Sun
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by Rev. Rob Eller-Isaacs

Unitarian Universalist children of my generation were taught that it was the Pharaoh Akhenaten who first  “unified the Godhead,” by insisting that everyone worship Amun Ra, the sun god. By doing so he became, in effect, the founder of Unitarianism. Farfetched, perhaps, but it makes for a fascinating narrative for a service on Creation. Alexander Von Humboldt will drop by to visit as will Darwin and a number of his associates.

Rob Eller-Isaacs is co-minister with his wife, Janne, of Unity Church-Unitarian in Saint Paul, Minnesota. In addition to his work in Saint Paul, Rob is a sought-after coach and consultant on congregational governance. A former President of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association, Rob currently serves as a UUA Trustee and Board Secretary.

An Infinite Expectation of the Dawn

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An Infinite Expectation of the Dawn
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By Rev. Karen Hering

Easter’s celebration of resurrected hope and new life invites us all to consider how hope rises in the midst of loss and despair. “We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake,” wrote Thoreau, “not by mechanical aids but by an infinite expectation of the dawn.” What habits, spiritual practices and bonds of community will nurture our “infinite expectation of the dawn”? How do we keep our hearts awakened to the dawning of the morning star? Wear your Easter hat or bonnet to continue the tradition started last year.

Rev. Karen Hering serves as consulting literary minister at Unity Church-Unitarian in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is author of Writing to Wake the Soul: Opening the Sacred Conversation Within and leads guided writing sessions and retreats in congregations and other community settings in the Midwest and beyond. She grew up in Appleton and is a graduate of Appleton East. www.karenhering.com

It Is What It Is

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It Is What It Is
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by Rev. Dr. Wayne Arnason

There’s a politician I know who uses this line a lot, especially when he’s advocating an unpopular program, like a new tax increase. Most of us would prefer to live our lives unencumbered by limitations imposed by government, money, or time. Political conservatives call that “freedom.” This week let’s explore how “liberation” is different from “freedom” when it consists of accepting the limits of things as they are.

It is What It Is March 19 and 20 2016

To Tell the Truth

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by Rev. Kathleen C. Rolenz

Telling the truth can be liberating – or it can be paralyzing! Politicians are both rewarded or reviled for “telling it like it is,” marriages and relationships can be strengthened or damaged– all by that simple act of truth telling. This week we’ll explore both the liberation and the responsibilities that come with naming what you see, think or feel.

To Tell the Truth-March 13-14 2016

A Generous Universe?

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A Generous Universe?
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Rev. Don Southworth

Is the universe a place of generosity or scarcity? How about our own lives? As we celebrate the blast off of the 2016-17 Fellowship stewardship drive we will reflect on generosity, abundance and how we can create a universe and a Fellowship of our dreams.

The Rev. Don Southworth is the founding Executive Director of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association. Prior to this role, he spent ten years in parish ministry in San Francisco, Atlanta and Durham after a twenty-year career in corporate America. He has led workshops on stewardship and congregational growth around the world and returns to the Fox Valley for his fourth visit. He is a California native and it is only because of his fondness and love for the Fellowship that he ventures into the frigid tundra of the north!

Our Hearts’ Desire: A Service of Congregational Response

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by Rev. Kathleen Rolenz, Rev. Dr. Wayne Arnason, and Rev. Leah Hart-Landsberg

Who are we now? What do we want to become? What is our Heart’s Desire for our Fellowship? Half way through the tenure of the Transitional Consulting Ministry, Kathleen and Wayne have some observations to share, and possibilities to offer, in a mid-year report sermon inspired by our monthly theme. Equal time will be given in this unusual hour-and-a-half service to Congregational Response, in a cafe-style setting in the Sanctuary. The children and young people attending Religious Education will be involved in their own age appropriate workshop/programming at this time-they will be called back to the Sanctuary toward the end of the event in order to contribute their ideas to the larger group. Join us on Saturday or on Sunday (one service only at 10) for a milestone service on the road to our future.

Our Hearts Desire The State of the Fellowship 220212016

The Missing Peace

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The Missing Peace
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by Rev. Dr. Wayne Arnason

On the cultural holiday when loving relationships are celebrated, single people can feel left out. Whether you are partnered or single, all of us will ultimately lose those we love the most, so it makes a difference now how we think and feel about what our most intimate loving relationships really mean in our lives. Are they the “missing piece” that completes us, or are we “missing peace” by expecting that won’t can’t be whole within ourselves?

The Missing Peace. Feb13142016.Arnason

Desire from All Sides

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Desire from All Sides
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by Rev. Jim Foti

Throughout our lives, we humans are instructed to manage, ignore, and stifle our desires. At the same time, equally loud messages tell us to listen to, follow, and fulfill our desires. As E.B. White would say, “This makes it hard to plan the day.” Desire can be dangerous, powerful, life-giving — what are loving, thinking people to do? Where might we turn?

Rev. Jim Foti serves as the Assistant Minister at the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis, where his portfolio includes pastoral care and adult learning. Jim received his master of divinity degree in 2013 from Meadville Lombard Theological School, a UU seminary in Chicago, and was ordained in 2015. Jim is a Milwaukee-area native and earned his undergraduate degree from UW-Madison. Before going into ministry, he had a 20-year career as a newspaper journalist. Jim lives in Minneapolis with his partner of 10 years, Ralph.

 

Sandpaper People

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Sandpaper People
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by Rev. Leah Hart-Landsberg

Some people just seem to rub us raw, maybe for an obvious reason or perhaps due to no discernible cause. What’s the best way to handle those to whom we seem to have instinctive resistance? Do we simply grit our teeth and try to survive them or is engagement possible? We might even find that difficult folks, sometimes known as sandpaper people, can be meaningful spiritual teachers.

Sandpaper People 1 30-31 16

Resistance to Reality: On Not Being Able to Control Change

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Resistance to Reality: On Not Being Able to Control Change
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by Rev. Mark Belletini

The Greek philosopher Heraklitus suggested that change is really the only permanent thing our lives and in reality as a whole. Other teachers, including Gautama Buddha and Jesus of Galilee, also proclaimed this as a central message. Grief, moves, losses, and aging have made change central to my life, so I want to unpack what this has meant for me.