Maternal nurturing wasn't available for all of us as children. Many of us have been challenged to find that sort of care and support in other relationships long after we've reached adulthood.

 Cyndy Stiehl and Roger Bertschausen team up for another sermon exploring the intersection between music, poetry, and spirituality. This time they turn their attention to the poetry of Walt Whitman and his celebration of the different kinds of human love.

 Our beliefs influence how we live our lives on a daily basis. For many of us this can be challenged by our ever insistent culture, our vast responsibilities, or simply feeling overwhelmed and lulled in to inertia. How can regular spiritual practice keep our beliefs and convictions in the forefront of our decision making process? We will explore what gets in the way of this important piece of our spiritual journey and look at how spiritual practices can influence our lives and be a pathway to walking our talk.

 We are often reminded that in order to understand the experience of another, we need to "walk a mile in their shoes." In this service, we will journey with those who deal with poverty every single day of their lives. Importantly, this is also the weekend of the Fox Valley CROP Walk, which offers us an opportunity to show our care for those whose most basic needs are in doubt. Please join us for this weighty and meaningful conversation

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  We know that the majority of domestic violence is perpetrated by men toward women. And yet we know that most men are not perpetrators of violence. Who is speaking for men as we address the problem of violence against women? What role do sexism and language play in violence against women? This service is designated to address the issue of violence against women from the voices of men. Please come as we explore how we can come to the realization that men are, in fact, both part of the problem and part of the solution.

Bob Galinsky and Harbor House

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  From the beginnings of recorded religious history, women have given voice to their unique religious and spiritual experiences in ways both traditional and revolutionary. During the upheaval of the Protestant Reformation, these voices were, to a great degree, silenced or marginalized. By listening for those voices of the past, women and men can hear a challenge to again give expression to the interior stirrings of Spirit for the sake of their own growth and the good of our mother the Earth.

Ann Barker

 Do you have a vision for your life? Where do we look for our vision? Carl Jung wrote, "Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens." Let’s look inside our own hearts, and into the heart of our congregation today as FVUUF celebrates the installation of The Rev. Dottie Mathews as Associate Minister, and the vision she brings to our shared life. The Rev. Suzelle Lynch has served as minister to Unitarian Universalist Church West in Brookfield, Wisconsin since 2003. She previously served as minister to the Kitsap UU Fellowship in Washington State, and is a lifelong UU.

 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.

 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.

 Unitarianism: The Oneness Church. This weekend we are blessed to feature three different sermons by two eminent UU ministers. The Rev. Dr. Richard Boeke, a cousin of Fellowship member Lee Boeke Burke and his wife the Rev. Johanna ("Jopie") Boeke will be our guest preachers. It is not an overstatement to say that they are two of the most respected and honored UU ministers in the world. Both have been leading lights in strengthening relationships among UUs around the world. For the past twelve years they have served Unitarian congregations in the United Kingdom. Richard is the emeritus minister of the UU Church of Berkeley, California. He is the Vice President of the World Congregation of Faiths and is Moderator of Friends of the International Council of Unitarian Universalists.

 There are obvious and subtle transitions in our spiritual journeys as we grow from children to adolescents to young to middle-aged to older adults. Some of our members grew up UU, so they've experienced most or all of the maturing of faith as UUs. Many more of us grew up in a different faith, and so had the significant transition of leaving our childhood faith, finding UU-ism, and making it our own.

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The Rev. Paul Beckel has been an annual guest in our pulpit since he became the minister of the First Universalist Unitarian Church of Wausau in 2001. He writes about his sermon, "Religion is in many ways like language, and being multi-lingual is no easy task. So appreciating another person's religious perspective may require extra effort on literal, poetic, and cultural levels. But this effort pays off when we find that our different words -- and our other diverse ways of expressing ourselves -- need not divide us."

Rev. Paul Beckel

 The focus of our April "Endings and Beginnings" theme is identity. Who do we understand ourselves to be? I'll focus in on one important area of self-identity: our sexual identity. Our individual sexual identity unfolds through our lives as we grow from children to adolescents to adults. Our journey as sexual beings appears to be much more fluid than we once thought. This sermon will examine transitions in self-identity--particularly sexual identity--through a spiritual lens.

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 This service centers on simplifying life as part of a spiritual journey.

 Dave Gerlach

 Healing seems in largest part the task of dealing with life's intrusions and crises. While there is a graded set of plateaus that walk us into adulthood (and beyond!), more time living means more adversities. The core spiritual challenge within growth and healing is how to change, all the while welcoming the stability of one's nature, warts and all. This sermon will look at plateaus, crises, and the power of equilibrium. And becoming more and more like yourself, but different...

 Several members of the Fellowship will share their belief statements during this popular annual summer service.

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  in more depth than is possible within our regular service. This is a chance to learn ever more about our diversity, as well as the connections that bind us together. This year's panel will be: Travis Britzke, a 'recently joined' UU; Ed Calhan, a UU Humanist for many years; Maryanne Marx (Adhimoksha), a Buddhist teacher, UU; and Renee Taylor, a Follower of Tao, UU.

Margaret Alexander

 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.

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  All Souls Day on November 2nd provides an opportunity to remember the dead whose lives continue to give us strength and wisdom. I will share about some of the souls who continue to impact my life in rich and wonderful ways in spite of the fact that they are not physically here. And I will invite you to remember some of the departed souls who continue to enrich your lives.

Rev. Roger Bertschausen

 Come one and all for this most unusual and lively service: dogs, rats, humans, cats, fish, birds, snakes, guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, 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! The service is also for all ages—there will be no children’s program at either service, though nursery care as always will be available at both. The theme will be lessons on being that we can learn from our canine friends. This will be the first of a two-part series: Next year’s Pet Sunday sermon will focus on the Tao of Cats.

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?

 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.

 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.

 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.

 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!

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  “Life is Beautiful” is my second favorite film. It combines humor and tragedy like no other film, and in so doing contains many truths about life.

Rev. Roger Bertschausen

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  Steven Spielberg’s "Munich", released a year ago, is a stunning and disturbing portrait of the lure and, ultimately, the futility and bankruptcy of vengeance. Like “The Village,” it contains a lot of wisdom for this age of terrorism, as well as wisdom about the dangers of letting vengeance eat us up in our personal lives.

Rev. Roger Bertschausen

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  M. Night Shamalyan’s "The Village" explores the considerable costs of the search for security in our insecure world. For me, this movie contains much wisdom about how to live—and not live—in an age of terrorism.

Rev. Roger Bertschausen

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  My favorite film is the 1995 Warner Brothers film of the classic children’s book “A Little Princess.” This is a movie that, incredibly, improves on the book. Interplaying with the Hindu classic The Ramayana, this movie expresses the truth that every girl is a princess (and every boy is a prince).

Rev. Roger Bertschausen