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In this sermon, Jan Briedé will draw on his personal experience from working at a Leprosy Center in Uganda, Africa in 1978 and 1979 to discuss liberation theology, social and economic justice and lay a connection to our UU faith. Jan Briedé has been a member of the UUFP since 2000. Originally from Holland, he became a US citizen in 1994 and has been married to Donna for forty-two years. Jan has a PhD in Range Science from New Mexico State University and works for the Department of Environmental Quality. As a state employee of a certain age, he is currently in mandatory self-isolation. Early in his career, Jan worked in international development in Uganda, Nepal and Yemen.

This year’s Easter Sunday will feature empty churches as worshipers keep themselves at home to help “flatten the curve”. How will the good news of Easter be celebrated when people can’t gather in person to sing and rejoice? What might we find in the story of Easter to give us hope and courage in these difficult times?

In 1889, Joseph Jordan became the first ordained African-American Universalist minister, and the church he founded became the First Universalist Church of Norfolk. With support from the Universalist General Convention, Jordan expanded the church with a school for African-American children and founded another Universalist school in Suffolk that served generations of African-American families through the 1980s.

As we celebrate this Mother’s Day, a secular holiday thanks to Anna Jarvis, her mother Ann Reeves Jarvis and the Unitarian Julia Ward Howe, let’s consider the older religious holiday of “Mothering Sunday”, a day to visit the church of one’s baptism, to take a break from Lenten fasting, and to gather violets for children to give to their mothers. We’ll also celebrate the very successful conclusion of this year’s Canvass!

Many of us were never really mainstream or always had unorthodox ways of looking at things. Perhaps we never felt like we “fit in”. For some of us, our occupations turned out to be non-conventional or require “creative” thinking. Does that mean joining Unitarian Universalism — not exactly a “mainstream” religion — wasn’t that much of a surprise? And once we arrived at that unique place, did we embrace it or only worry about our “elevator speech”? Let’s celebrate our individual journeys, our diversity, our uniqueness, and how being so different actually brings us all together. Steve Kadar became a UU in 1987 and has been a member of the UUFP since 2006. He began his UU journey at First UU in Richmond and was a founding member of UUCC in Glen Allen. Steve currently serves on the Policy Board, the Real Estate Task Force and the Membership Committee.

“What is REAL?” asked the Velveteen Rabbit. “Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real. It doesn’t happen all at once. You become. It takes a long time.”

What are commonly called the Seven Principles are part of the covenant that all UU congregations make to each other as part of our membership in the Unitarian Universalist Association. Here at the UUFP, however, we have named four more principles that are uniquely ours: growing in wonder, connecting in love, engaging in service and inspiring generosity.

Unitarian Universalist congregations are famously non-creedal communities. We say that what binds us together is our common covenant, rather than a common creed, but does being non-creedal mean that we don’t have any creeds? What about the individual beliefs of individual UUs? How do we build deep relationships with each other when we don’t share the same beliefs, and how do we build community with other people of faith around us? The Rev. AJ van Tine is the minister of the Sierra Foothills Unitarian Universalists in Auburn CA. He is a lifelong Unitarian Universalist and a graduate of Christopher Newport University, during which time he attended the UUFP regularly, hosted campus ministry and co-organized the Hampton Roads UU Revival of 2013. We welcome Rev. AJ back to the UUFP in this (long-distance) pulpit swap with Rev. Andrew!

Our emphasis on Beloved Community owes much to Dr. King, but he was preceded in his call to non-violent justice by other activists, theologians and philosophers including Mohandas Gandhi and Leo Tolstoy. Indeed, the vision of a more immanent than imminent heaven-on-Earth may be traced back to the Gospel of Luke, when Jesus says, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed: for, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.”

As Unitarian Universalists, we believe that “what we choose is what we are, and what we love we yet shall be”. Bidding good riddance to 2020, let’s look toward 2021 and envision a better year to come. We know we can’t go back to a “normal” that was riddled with injustice and inequity, so let’s decide what we want from — and what we’ll give to — a fairer future for all.

As we continue our journey through Advent together, let’s take a moment to pause. Setting aside the busy-ness of the season, let’s take a little time to be still, to open ourselves to the beauty of the world around us, and to listen to the silent spirit that dwells within us. What wisdom, what comfort might we find when we embrace peace both inside ourselves and beyond?

We are poised on the threshold of what many are calling the most consequential election in generations. Indeed, with massive get-out-the-vote efforts like UU the Vote underway for months, many of us have already voted! Taking stock on this All Saints’ Day, what can we say about our struggles and our hopes that will see us through this crucial time of national decision-making? What can we do to help one another through this portentous week?