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The familiar sweater and sneakers, the simple lyrics and tunes, the methodical and intentional language - all
these were props to convey enormous wisdom and authentic compassion and they allowed Mr. Rogers
to reach the hearts and lives of millions. Dottie Mathews will share some of this icon's life and work and
invite us to look at how he was able to defy conventional wisdom in gaining the rapt attention of children.
Rev. Dottie Mathews
Come one and all to 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 theme will be lessons that we can learn from our canine friends.
Rev. 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!
Rev. Roger Bertschausen
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.
Karon Sandberg
The Project Promise Poverty Coalition has the bold goal of eliminating poverty in the Fox Valley. Several leaders of the Coalition will share the history of Project Promise, the Coalition’s mission and structure, and how people can get involved to end poverty in the Fox Valley.
Debra Cronmiller
In recent months we’ve been exploring the idea and are finding a lot of enthusiasm from our Oshkosh members and friends. A strategic planning team has come up with a proposal for moving toward having a satellite in Oshkosh. This is a significant undertaking not just for our members and friends in Oshkosh but for our whole Fellowship. So whether you live in Oshkosh or Appleton or Hortonville or wherever, the subject of this sermon will be important.
Rev. Roger Bertschausen
More and more people around the world are recognizing global warming as the most significant challenge facing humanity today. Much of the challenge has to do with science, sustainability, and economics. But it is also partly a spiritual challenge. There’s an aspect of the spiritual challenge of global that is particularly tricky for those who are deeply convinced that global warming does pose a very serious threat to humanity and the world. The sermon will focus on this particular challenge.
Rev. Roger Bertschausen
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!
Rev. Roger Bertschausen
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.
Rev. Roger Bertschausen
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.
Rev. Scott Alexander
The Rev. Drew Kennedy has been the senior minister of the First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee since 1986. During this tenure his congregation has been one of the fastest growing UU congregations in the country. His sermon will be about the spiritual “soul-work,” if you will, of finding ways to bless our pain and to somehow transform the struggles of our lives into wisdom, which arguably is a perennial spiritual challenge.
Rev. Drew Kennedy
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.
Rev. Roger Bertschausen, Marie Sawall, Nancy Freier, and Debra Morningstar
Sermon by Gene Gibas
In true UU fashion, I believe the answer depends on your world view. How does someone answer this question if they believe in a strong code of ethics? What if someone feels the path of
history ultimately leads to peace and harmony or chaos and ruin? What if someone views the universe as amoral and without a grand plan? How would you answer this question? Is there a
universal answer?
Jim Coakley
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.
Rev. Roger Bertschausen
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.
Rev. Roger Bertschausen
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?
Rev. Roger Bertschausen
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?
Rev. Roger Bertschausen
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.
Mark Marnocha
I’ll continue our focus on the afterlife by sharing my latest take on what happens after we die.
Rev. Roger Bertschausen
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.
Rev. Dottie Mathews
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.
Rev. Roger Bertschausen
Justine Urbikas is the Unitarian Universalist Association Trustee for the Central Midwest District. As the first UUA Trustee who is a young adult, her election last year made history. She writes about her sermon: “We each individually generally know for what it is we strive, for what change we would like to be in the world. Our congregations, area clusters, regions, Districts, neighboring Districts, up to the UUA have individual - and collective - visions. These change and become broader as each target area becomes larger and larger with more constituents to please, and more varying viewpoints of what it is we are specifically working towards. And yes, the principles do unite us, as do so many other things we UUs commit ourselves to. But what measurable things are we striving for on our different levels? As the UUA embarks on the next steps of working under policy governance- developing our ends statements (end goals) - what is your agenda? What do you think the UUA should be striving to be and do?”
Justine Urbikas
We will take a look back at this year of examining Big Questions and reflect on what we've learned through the year.
Revs. Bertschausen and Mathews
Rev. Joseph Ellwanger is a retired ELCA Pastor who served an urban parish in the African
American Community in Birmingham, Alabama, 1958-67, and a central city congregation in
Milwaukee, 1967-2002. His organizing experience includes participation in the civil right
movement in Birmingham and Selma, Alabama, in 1963 and 1965, and various roles social justice groups in Milwaukee,1988-2002. Since Joe’s retirement from parish ministry, he has been serving as an organizer with interfaith social justice groups. Locally, Joe works with Fox Valley’s ESTHER group and he is a campaign organizer working especially on the statewide issue of Treatment Instead of Prison (TIP).
Rev. Joseph Ellwanger
