The annual "This I Believe" service has become a much anticipated part of our summer service line-up. Come and hear several members of our community share about their deepest and most cherished spiritual beliefs.

 During the first half of the 20th century the majority of Unitarians considered themselves Religious Humanists. So what role does Religious Humanism play in our congregations today, 100 years later? Join me in gaining a deeper understanding of this very important part of our UU heritage.

 A sermon raising awareness of domestic violence/partner abuse in the LGBT community by the Rev. Dottie Mathews. This message will also examine the tendency toward violence in society and within each of us.

 A friend gave me a brilliant book of poetry by Maurice Manning called Bucolics. He addresses every poem to God and calls God "Boss". This got me thinking...

 Nic Cable is a young adult Unitarian Universalist who is heading toward the UU ministry. He has been a member of Unitarian Universalist Church West in Brookfield, WI, and is entering his senior year at DePaul University. Reflecting on his UU upbringing and his experiences as an interfaith scholar at DePaul, he'll explore the Fourth Principle—"a free and responsible search for truth and meaning"—and our theological commitment as UUs to interfaith engagement and the importance of embracing those in faiths other than our own. To make this engagement work, we need to risk vulnerability and discomfort.

 We each have a story to tell of a loved one dying, but seldom do we share those stories. Matthew Nelson, an ordained minister with the United Church of Christ and member of the national board of Compassion & Choices, will share his story of his fatherʹs death and his experiences as a volunteer for Compassion & Choices. His work with end of life choices began in Oregon where he twice voted to let the citizens of Oregon have the right to die peacefully in the face of a terminal illness.

 Spirituality is a key component of the Twelve Steps path of recovery from alcoholism and other addictions. Finding a way to incorporate spirituality into recovery has been a challenge for many UUs who seek recovery. Our panel of UUs in recovery will share how they have overcome this challenge.

 World religions live in part via holy real estate, whether Chartres or the Himalayas, in Mecca or in the Black Hills. And live in rituals, whether millions going to the Hajj, or holding candles at midnight 12/24, or joining each week in a host of weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, memorial services, dedications, christenings. Yet for all of this that is seen clearly, spiritual power and its influences are largely unseen. And they are the basis and a first cause for all those religions. And inform the heart of science. And drive the pulse of healing. And reside in family and community. And deserve honor by our best reflections and richest metaphors. So this service will consider the wonders unseen underground, and how what is above ground grows, and how patterns have power to enrich and embrace.

 Seminary Student, Karon Sandberg explores the definitions of love found in First Corinthians 13 and the difficulties and gifts of the dance of life shared between a father and daughter.

 Prophethood is not something that you choose. It is something that arouses with elemental power and compels you to walk a path, an adventurous path that is sometimes joyful, sometimes painful, and often both. But it is YOUR WAY, and you can't do otherwise. It gives you strength, for it is coming from the SOURCE OF LIFE. This sermon invites us to get closer to the memory of Balázs Ferenc (1901-1937), Unitarian minister of Mészkő, Transylvania. He was a man with vision, a world traveler, a writer, a poet, a community builder, a parent and husband, and a misunderstood prophet. His wife Christine went on to become a founder of our Fellowship, and their daughter Enika is a friend of our Fellowhsip. The Rev. Balint is the minster of the Unitarian Church of Mészkő, and is the Balázs Scholar at Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley.

 The Question Box Sermon comes to prime time! Because of the visit of a Transylvanian minister next month, I decided to move the Question Box sermon forward into four-services-a-weekend territory. Come with your questions! At the beginning of each service, I’ll invite folks to write questions they have for me on index cards; my spontaneous responses to these questions will be the sermon.

 Life is ever and always in flux. The only constant (we have learned over and over again) is that things will change! Births, deaths, teens leaving for college, elders moving into assisted living facilities, job changes, relationships beginning and ending -- adapting to all these is one of the biggest challenges of human life. What might help us welcome the transitory nature of life with grace, rather than struggling against it?

 The beloved member and former Fellowship Choir Director Cynthia Stiehl returns for another musical collaboration with Roger. Cyndy (accompanied by Dan Van Sickle) will sing and Roger will reflect on six seventeenth and eighteenth century Japanese haiku set to music beautifully by Steven Mark Kohn. Haiku offer brief and moving glimpses of truth. The truths we’ll hear about have to do with letting go, the insights of humor, and the futility of building monuments to the self. Like most haiku, the natural world pulsates through the poetry.

 We come, as Unitarian Universalists, from a long, proud line of heretics and blasphemers, people whoʹve said no to orthodoxy, hypocrisy, oppression. But to what do we say yes? In what do we place our faith? What do we love, and live for, live by? The Rev. Safford has been Minister of White Bear Unitarian Universalist Church since 1999, following a ten-year ministry at Northampton, Massachusetts. She is widely regarded as one of the premier preachers in Unitarian Universalism today; both Roger and Dottie would put her right up at the top of their lists.

 As a child I was fascinated by Yellowstone National Park. It’s a place that has remained equally fascinating to me as an adult. In addition to its spectacular and unusual beauty, Yellowstone reveals a lot about our planet’s history—and our planet’s future. It offers plenty of lessons that I have found useful in my spiritual path.

 The famous theologian Reinhold Niebuhr wrote a simple prayer that became known as the Serenity Prayer in the midst of World War Two. It says a lot about the time in which it was created, and it continues to speak to many people—particularly in the Twelve Steps community which has made the prayer a familiar mantra of recovery.

 Come and hear the wisdom of the high school teens who have experienced being a part of our Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Community. Our active group of teens are wonderful representatives of the UU principles both here at the Fellowship as well as in the wider community.

 In one of the stories about Ra, the Sun God in ancient Egyptian religion, Ra dies every night and is resurrected each morning when the sun rises. We’ll explore the meaning of this story as well as the story of Jesus’ resurrection in this Easter sermon. This is a service for all ages.

 Whatʹs it like to step into eternity? Bliss? Nothingness? New Form of Energy? Everlasting Peace? This "mighty" question has been pondered and pontificated upon since the beginning of time. We will come together this weekend to think about and honor the question.

 The Atonement—commonly understood as the idea that God and humanity are reconciled through the life, suffering and death of Jesus—continues to be a central feature of Christian theology and doctrine. Early Universalists like Hosea Ballou recast the Atonement in a universalist light, asserting that it the Atonement is not inconsistent with their belief that everyone is saved regardless of creed or deeds. Interest in what the Atonement means continues to surface here—most recently in my Question Box Sermon last spring. What is the Atonement? Can it be seen in a universalist light? What might it mean to us?

 Joseph Priestley is an important and fascinating person in our pantheon of UU spiritual ancestors. In addition to helping found Unitarianism first in England, and then in the United States when he fled here after his home was burned by an angry mob in 1791, Priestley was also famous as a pioneering scientist and an outspoken political dissenter. His contribution to our faith continues to help light our way, two hundred years later.

 Internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter, painter and cultural activist Magdalen Hsu-li returns to the Fellowship to team up with Roger for another service. Her piano based rock/folkmusic has a cool, edgy, tender, insightful blend that has made her a mainstay on the alternative college music scene. Self-identified as Chinese-American and bisexual, many of her songs explore the spiritual challenge of finding one’s identity. Roger’s thoughts on identity will be interlaced through the sermon.

Music and Lyrics by Magdalen Hsu-Li © Smash The Celing Music 2010

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 Having a single afternoon service allows us a rare opportunity to experience our community all together in one room. Roger’s and Dottie’s sermon will focus on a poem by Rumi with the theme of “What do you think will happen?” and explore exciting possibilities of what might happen at the Fellowship in the coming months and years.

 Revs. Bertschausen & Mathews

 Prometheus and many other of the characters in Greek mythology suffer considerably at the hands of the gods. Some might onclude that it pays to do what the gods (or whoever the powers that be are) say and to be subservient to them. But I think it’s possible to discern the opposite wisdom in Greek mythology. This sermon will also touch on the question that every religion or philosophy must answer: Why do bad things happen?

 One scholar of mythology calls the Odyssey the Parts Department for Western Literature. The Odyssey may also be the Parts Department for Western spirituality. One of the epics great spiritual themes is the return home. From The Wizard of Oz to Coming Home, Cast Away, and Cold Mountain, this theme continues to be mined. Each in our own way, we face the same challenge Odysseus faced in Homers great work: How do we find our way home?

 Each of us faces a fundamental spiritual challenge: figuring out who we really are at the core. To lead an authentic life, we continually need to answer the question “Who are you?” This was a very frequent theme in Greek mythology. The ancient Greeks have some hints about this spiritual challenge.

 I'll kick off my sermon series with an overview of ancient Greek mythology and its foundational place in the Western imagination. I'll also explore how Greek myths might continue to speak to us about our lives and spiritual journeys three millennia later.

 This Goddess of Compassion is known by many names in many cultures and many religions. By whatever name she is called, she is the emblem of mercy and lovingkindness, and she offers us an example of the true strength available at the core of an pen-heart.

 Many within our community are impacted by mental health issues, either by personal experience or loving someone who deals with these issues. FVUUF member Karen Schiller and her mother will join Dottie to offer information and hope about this very important topic.

 Society tells us that the winter holiday time is meant to be joyful for everyone. Many of us, however, are aware that the holidays can be anything but a time of celebration. Join us as we explore the "space between" to find peace and, perhaps, joy as the world bustles around us.

 Join us for our annual Winter Solstice service as we celebrate the darkness of this time of year as well as the beginning return of the light.

 The season of Advent, the Winter Solstice and Christmas largely focuses on mystery: the mysteries of hope and expectation, darkness and light, and new life born in the bleak mid-winter. Amidst all of the hustle and bustle of December in America, I hope that contemplating the illuminating, fascinating, beautiful mysteries that underlie the season will help spiritually ground our experiences of the holiday season this year.

 This sermon will carry forward strands from the Rev. Dottie Mathews sermon last month on social-networking media. Here’s the big question I want to consider: With all of the possibilities and demands of living in the wired world today, how can we be intentional and even spiritual about the ways we connect electronically with others in our incredibly shrinking global family? I’ll share my answer to this question.

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 A panel will join us in sharing their personal stories of adoption. A variety of different perspectives from the triad of adoption—the birth parents, adoptive parents and adoptees—will be shared. This service recognizes that November is National Adoption Month and that adoption has touched a great many families in our Fellowship—including ours!

 The crisis in Darfur can seem like one of several world issues that is difficult to sort out and impossible to impact in a meaningful way. Dottie is joined by Helen Powling (one of our Senior High youth) in sharing information, hope, and opportunities for this Fellowship to make a difference there.

 Diverse spiritual writers such as the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh and the Christian theologian Marcus Borg have written comparisons of the Buddha and Jesus. In this sermon I’ll explore some of the commonalities as well as the differences in these two spiritual giants. This sermon will coincide with our religious education program’s focus on prophetic men and women as one of the sources of our UU faith.

 Abortion, gay marriage, gun control, the legalization of some drugs, affirmative action—these and other hot button issues continue to threaten to rip apart the fabric of our society. Is it possible to find common ground on some of these issues? Is it desirable? What might some of this common ground look like?

 This topic is much in the news and people seem to fall into one of three categories: avid fans, scornful refuseniks, or (quite frequently, it seems) befuddled and wondering if they are somehow missing the rapidly departing boat. Join Dottie - with help from our Senior High Youth Group - as we look into this phenomenon and its implications for society and our faith.

 With all the political rhetoric (to classify some of it charitably) about health care, can we step back and look at it through the lens of our UU faith? I think so!

 If I had my way, I'd drop "Unitarian" from our too-long name and just go with Universalism. In this sermon I'll tell you why. This is the sermon that I'm most excited about for this year—if you can come to only one service (which I hope isn’t the case!), come to this one! Paradise, hell, social justice, love, the future of our faith: it's all in the sermon.

 In this message, we'll discuss my views on why the recent Wisconsin legislation has been so highly celebrated by committed same-gender couples in this state and we’ll learn more about the rights now afforded them under the law. As an overriding theme, we will also consider the apparent truth that incremental steps are often required to bring about significant changes in society.

 Former U.S. Attorney and Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager candidly speaks of her life's twists and turns, describing her strategies for moving forward despite the challenges that have confronted her and missteps she has made. She describes how family, friends, community, and a sense of purpose in her work, afforded her the opportunity to move past challenges and view the future with optimism. Lautenschlager, an attorney for 29 years, now practices with a Madison law firm. She is married and the parent of three children and two step-children. Lautenschlager and her two sons, Joshua and Ryan, were, for several years, regular attendees of our Fellowship. FVUUF member Prerna Kvalvik is the favorite aunt of Peg's sons.

 We’ll celebrate the start of the new Fellowship year with our annual “Mingling of the Waters” ceremony. Everyone is invited to bring water from your summer adventures near and far to share during the ceremony. Weather cooperating, the service will take place in front of our building by the "Welcoming Waters" pond.

 "Ethical Eating: Food and Environmental Justice" was chosen at the 2008 General Assembly to be a 2008-2012 Congregational Study/Action Issue of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. Trish Kirk will introduce this CSAI and discuss the social and environmental consequences of our food choices in her sermon 'Ethical Eating: Compassionate Choices.

 Many in our congregation come from Christian backgrounds and sometimes struggle to reconcile their past heritage with their current faith journey. Jim will share his own experiences and those of several authors who found ways to express their Christian faith within a diverse world view.

 Getting to heaven…. As with all the places we seek, there seems a drive to find an ever simpler road to a well-publicized destination, with more billboards and road signs than ever. However, anything we know of an afterlife comes through the eyes, ears, touch, and connections with this world and its everpresent mysteries. So, what visions shall we find along the backroads to that better place? Perhaps Wall Drug signs, tall trees, poets and musicians among the many tour guides, Burma-Shave, flowing springs. What shall we learn during the journey? Likely something about hope, expectations, compassion, surprise, and wonder. Something about other life, not just after life. Something about the dance of consciousness and its mysterious partners. Come and reflect on these bits of paradise already available to us, through poetry, music, and stories.

The Irish band U2 has had a long and distinguished run. It’s easy for the remarkable activism of the band’s lead singer, Bono, to overshadow the band’s musical accomplishments. Not surprisingly, the values and vision embodied in Bono’s activism permeate the music. His work impacts the music, and no doubt the music impacts his work. What are some of the important messages and wisdom expressed in U2’s music?

 Last year my PET SUNDAY message was "The Zen of Dogs". This year we’ll shift our attention to the "Tao of Cats". You are invited and encouraged to bring your pets to the service. Dogs, rats, humans, cats, fish, birds, snakes, guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits: these critters and many more species are all welcome! The service gives us a chance to celebrate the non-human animals in our lives, and to introduce them to our Fellowship friends!

 Learning what it means to be a "good" parent is one of our most significant - and befuddling - tasks, whether we're trying to care for a toddler, a teen or a thirty-something. This sermon will explore the mix of feelings and frustrations (and joys) we experience as we seek strength, wisdom, and hope from one another in this crucially meaningful role.

 Although the majority of the UUs in this country are well-educated and middle class, thousands of UUs in the Philippines and several other parts of the world live in extreme poverty and find our faith brings them the hope and inspiration to live lives of meaning and compassion towards others. Learn how they are keeping their faith and religious organizations alive and how we can join them in this challenging work.