During an interim ministry there are specific tasks that the interim minister and the congregation are supposed to focus on in order to prepare for the success of future ministries. One of these tasks is strengthening the connection between the congregation and the larger Unitarian Universalist Association. In recent months we have been doing this by bringing outstanding denominational leaders...
as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, February 24, 2019 At the outset of this morning’s sermon, I would like to invite you to turn in your grey hymnal and read the first principle of the Unitarian Universalist Association with me. You will find it about five or six pages in, right after the Preface. Let us start with the phrase, “We, the member congregations” and read...
The Rev. Robert Lloyd Schaibly faithfully served the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston as its senior minister for twenty years. He is remembered by many who knew him as one of the congregation’s most influential ministers. He was the first openly gay minister to serve a congregation in the city that was not affiliated with the Metropolitan Community Church movement. This was not the...
The theme for worship in January is transformation. This is a particularly apt theme for a period of interim ministry. The departure of one senior minister and the arrival of another is always a significant time of transformation in congregational life. The first month of the year is also a time when people naturally think about the past and imagine the future. Thinking about the past and...
as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, Museum District campus, December 24, 2018 And in despair I bowed my head:“There is no peace on earth,” I said,“for hate is strongand mocks the songof peace on earth,to all good will.” These words were penned by the great Unitarian poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He wrote them on Christmas Day in 1863. He wrote them in the middle...
as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, Museum District campus, January 13, 2019 This is my first Sunday in the pulpit since we began live streaming our sermons to our Tapestry and Thoreau campuses. I want to begin by sharing a greeting to the members of the congregation who are worshipping with us in Richmond, Texas. You will note that I did not extend my greeting to...
Dear Members and Friends of First Houston:December is a busy time. Thanksgiving is quickly followed by the winter holidays. Growing up in an inter-religious household we celebrated in what always felt like rapid succession Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Years. In my home we still do. Alongside all of the work of the season my month will be filled with lights, snatches of Hebrew, Christmas music...
as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, Museum District campus, December 2, 2018 It is good to be back with you. I hope you all had good Thanksgivings–not too much food or drink. I was in Denver for the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion and then here for the holiday. My parents came to visit. We had Thanksgiving with some of their friends who live...
as offered at the Ordination of the Rev. Sarah Prickett, Northwoods Unitarian Universalist Church, Spring, TX, December 1, 2018 There are few rites practiced within the Unitarian Universalist tradition that are older than the right hand of fellowship. The practice is attested to in the Christian New Testament. We find Paul describing it in his letter to the Galatians: When James, Cephas, and...
as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, Museum District campus, November 11, 2018 “Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing, once all other possibilities have been exhausted.” Those words about the United States are attributed to former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. They are apocryphal. He did not actually say them. But it is a good quote. And...