I spent a lot of time in my youth trying hard to avoid failure. Even as a young adult, I often navigated my life to avoid things that might cause me to experience failure. Now in middle age I have begun to see failure much differently, as a teacher, as an opportunity and even a muse. Failing at something often creates a transition, a change of path or plans. How can we embrace failure as a wise teacher who may really be opening a new window?

 Our prison system is a striking example of how racism can become institutionalized and perpetuated. How did this happen? What does it mean? What can we do to end Jim Crow in our prison system?

 We have a long and extensive history in Unitarian Universalism of both racism and anti-racism. Every major achievement in anti-racism has been supported by some Unitarian Universalists, and opposed by others. An awakened conscience requires that we honestly assess our history.

 We'll shift our focus from Unitarian Universalism to our Fellowship and to our individual lives: How can we translate an internal commitment to anti-racism and multiculturalism into action in our Fellowship and in our lives beyond these walls?

 This will be a follow-up to my sermon last month examining possible false idols in Unitarian Universalism and the Fellowship. This sermon will explore where our nation might be guilty of idolatry. I'll talk about Wall Street, the Pentagon, and much more.

 We live today in what can seem like an endless battle of ideas. Every day we see people vigorously defending their opinions, distinguishing themselves from their perceived opponents. This is the essence of modern democracy, it seems. Or is it? Has democracy always been about choosing sides? ... about battling it out? What is a person to do when dialog and civility seem so strained? How might liberal religion help us to keep our balance?

 As we embark on our search for a second minister, it will be important for us to consider what conscious or unconscious biases we may be carrying. Are we thinking that our new second minister should fit a particular category (e.g., a particular gender or age or sexual orientation)?

 An awakening of conscience involves a transition: an old understanding is replaced by a new understanding. And new understandings help us live our lives differently. This month I'll use my mid-winter sermon series on race and racism as a focus on this kind of transition. I'll explore race and racism in my own life, in Unitarian Universalism, and in our larger society.

 As we embark on our search for a second minister, it will be important for us to consider what conscious or unconscious biases we may be carrying. Are we thinking that our new second minister should fit a particular category (e.g., a particular gender or age or sexual orientation)?

 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. Our message will lift up hope and peace even as we recognize the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Weather cooperating, the service will be held outside in the footprint of our sanctuary-to-be. A pot-luck brunch will immediately follow the service. You are invited to bring a chair for the service and a meal to pass for the brunch.

 Finding the divine in eating. Sister Caroline Sullivan is the dynamic Executive Director of the Bridge Between Retreat Center in rural Brown County--a retreat center frequented by many Fellowship members and friends over the years.

 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.

 Religion is about values in action. So is work. Each of us has a calling, a voice inside that we balance with financial need and personal circumstance. How might liberal religion help us to resolve our calling to meaningful work? What spiritual wisdom or tools exist that can help us to navigate tough economic times? Transitions related to work will be the focus of "Endings and Beginnings" in November.

 The Rev. Cheryl M. Walker is the Minister of the UU Fellowship of Wilmington, NC. She served as the Assistant Minister of All Souls Unitarian Church in New York City prior to being called to Wilmington. Before that she spent twenty-five years working in technology and on Wall Street. The Rev. Walker co-chairs the continuing education committee of the Unitarian Universalist Association with Roger Bertschausen.

 Experiences in nature can teach us about wildness--not just wildness in nature, but in ourselves, too. Our pets--though domesticated--may, like us, also have traces wildness in them. We invite you to bring your pets to hear this message, too!

 For religious liberals, finding our way toward spiritual growth can sometimes feel like taking a road trip without a map. With avenues so varied, where do we turn when we need help or friendship? How might we come to know ourselves beloved, even when we are away from our spiritual home?

 This sermon is about well-meaning men—the good guys who never would be violent towards a woman or girl. The problem is that well-meaning men have all too often stood by silently in the face of not just violence from not-so-well-meaning men, but also the remarks and jokes and other more subtle actions that sow the seeds of our culture's devaluing of women. Well-meaning men speaking up against violence is a huge part of the solution to domestic violence.

 We go through so many transitions in our lives: our own birth, going to school, leaving the nest to go out on our own, maybe having kids of our own, and returning care to our parents when they get older--to name just a few. These transitions in our lives will be the focus of our Wellspring theme of "Endings and Beginnings" in October.

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 This service is the culminating event of the year-long Coming of Age program. Come and hear our youth share about the program and share their credos. A credo is a belief statement—the Latin root means that which you give your heart to. This is always a very moving and inspiring service.

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 What’s on your mind? Are there questions you have about the spiritual journey, theology, ethics, the Fellowship, life in general, or a thousand other things? This is your chance to ask! Your questions will be the focus of my sermon. Bring them on!

 Idolatry is not a word we use much in Unitarian Universalism. What is idolatry, especially in the context of liberal religion? I'll share my definition. Then I'll share the places where I think we UU's may be most susceptible to idolatry.

 Aging well: Benjamin Franklin offered that the only things certain in life are "death and taxes" but he didn't quite tell the whole story. The other inevitability for us all is the process of human aging, which everyone must navigate to the best of their abilities. Scientists from several disciplines have recently identified what enables people to age successfully and well. Please be with Rev. Alexander as he explores what it takes for us to age well, no matter how far along life's journey we each may be.

 This sermon kicks off our thematic focus for the new Fellowship year: Endings and Beginnings. The idea of pilgrimage is a good lens for looking at life's transitions.

 The spiritual writer Evelyn Underhill notes that "we spend most of our lives conjugating three verbs: to want, to have, and to do." How can we free ourselves from being dominated by these three verbs? What does spiritual freedom look like?

 Our ministers and Director of Religious Education will lead a service celebrating ordinary miracles and Easter.

 In the collective American psyche we avow that, here, people get what they deserve. Or, at least, our laws are designed to create a level playing field. You work hard, you get ahead, right? Let’s look at the reality. And reaffirm that the pursuit of this dream-world can still lead to happiness.

 There are indications that immigration may well be the next highly controversial issue in our state. Immigration is not only a political issue, but also a highly spiritual issue. It has to do with soul -- the soul of individuals, the soul of our nation.

 There's a fascinating concept in Buddhism that predated by a couple millennia modern psychology's concept of the shadow. The Buddhist concept of "near enemies" acknowledges that there are shadows to our greatest virtues, and it helps us figure out how to live in a way that minimizes this shadow.

 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...

 Eleven years ago Roger gave a sermon urging the Fellowship to consider entering into a partner church relationship with a Unitarian congregation in Transylvania. That partnership has been transformative -- for us and for our partners in Deva. In this service, Karon and Roger, with considerable help from Lee Boeke Burke and Vickie Milde, are going to urge us to enter a second partner church relationship. We believe the opportunity to partner with the Unitarian Universalists in Mabuhay in the Philippines is another opportunity for transformation. So we'll consider: Who exactly is in our UU family? How are we related?

I used to be friends with Jesus when I was a child, at least in the way my church had taught me to be. Over the years we drifted apart. Like many of us who have reconnected with old friends on Facebook, it feels like I have become reacquainted with Jesus through the ideas of Paul Knitter and Marcus Borg. Is it possible that we might be friends again?

 

 Unitarian Universalist congregations in the states find the pews filled with mostly white, middle class, well educated folks. My trip to the Philippines to visit our partnership church in Banaybanay showed me that our liberal and accepting theology resonates with the poorest of the poor and those with little education. Share in learning more about our partnership church and how they can teach us how to welcome more diversity in our Fellowship here.

 Over the spring and summer we have re-imagined our social justice ministry. My hope is that our new structure will better fit a large congregation and help us do even more to build a better world. I’ll talk about our new social justice ministry and explore why the work of building a better world is so central to the Fellowship and Unitarian Universalism.

 Our lives are filled with events and exchanges that cause us to hold on to hurts and transgressions caused by ourselves or others in our lives. Studies show that the chemical makeup of our mind and body actually shift when we are able to come to a place of forgiveness. What is this about? Who is actually served when forgiveness is offered? We will explore the benefits and struggles of inviting forgiveness into our lives.

 Three musicians shared a beautiful piece at one of the Oshkosh Fellowship Wednesday programs last year. It was a lament for a beloved dog who had died. This reminded me that our pets give us lessons even in their deaths: the deaths of pets are some of the most formative and significant experiences of death we have. We'll acknowledge these lessons our pets teach us--and we'll do so in a way that celebrates their lives, not just their endings. The service will be far more about gratitude and ongoing gifts than endings. And yes, it will be designed for all ages, and all species.

 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.

 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.

 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.

 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.

 Some pundits say that every minister has only one good sermon in them - which they just recycle and recycle and recycle using different words and titles. As my time as your second minister draws to a close, I thought it might be interesting to think about what my one sermon has been. What is it I've been trying to say all this time?

 We will take a look back at this year of examining Big Questions and reflect on what we've learned through the year.

 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.

 Many spiritual paths lift up the possibility of "living spaciously"—that is, of living in an unhurried, thoughtful way that is full of heart and connectedness. I'll explore what living spaciously might mean, especially in our fast-paced and busy lives, and how go about cultivating a spirit of spaciousness.

 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.

 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.

 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.

 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

 We Unitarian Universalists view ourselves as liberal, open folks who are consistently welcoming of diversity....at least that is our goal. The plain truth is that there are times when it is difficult to find that "soft place" of compassion when dealing with people who hold dramatically different views of faith and religion. What does it mean to be genuinely welcoming of religious diversity here and out in the world?

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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

 With Roger's twentieth anniversary here and Dottie’s finishing her fifth year and preparing to leave the Fellowship for the Goodwill chaplaincy, this feels like the perfect time for us to reflect together on what we’ve learned at the Fellowship—lessons about the ministry, the spiritual journey, and life.