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A crowd isn't belonging. You can sit in the same room for years and still be a stranger. Belonging is being missed, being needed, and giving the room something nobody asked you for. It takes all of us or it doesn't happen at all. In a country loud with platitudes and prejudice, All Souls points to the best in people instead of the worst. It tears down walls, stands against fear, and asks nothing that insults your intelligence or your conscience. Just a place to be fully yourself, with people who are fully there with you. Religion here is for joy, comfort, gratitude, and love. It cares more about human beings than doctrine, and never calls anyone a sinner while knowing how hard everyone is fighting. That's what's waiting for you, and it's yours to help keep. QUESTIONS TO SIT WITH: What are you doing with your time, your money, and your energy that makes the world a little better?Knowing your life is limited, how do you want to spend the time in between?Is belonging just a feeling for you, or something you actually show up and do?Are you just passing through, or are you part of this? CHAPTERS: 0:00 Opening Song 1:03 From Kyoto to Tulsa 3:00 Picking Fights With Believers 4:07 Proven Wrong 4:46 A New Way to See God 8:07 God as Energy and Matter 12:49 What Makes Anything Holy? 14:27 Small Acts That Matter 16:33 Why People Join a Church 18:54 Who This Place Is For 20:54 How You Can Help 21:17 We Belong Together 23:47 Closing Song This message, "We Belong Together," was delivered by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa. SUBSCRIBE TO WATCH OTHER VIDEOS: @allsoulsunitarian GIVE A DONATION TO HELP US SPREAD THIS LOVE BEYOND BELIEF: https://www.allsoulschurch.org/GIVE or text AllSoulsTulsa to 73256 LET'S CONNECT: Facebook: /allsoulstulsa Instagram: /allsoulstulsa All Souls Church Website: https://www.allsoulschurch.org #AllSoulsTulsa #AllSoulsUnitarianChurch #LoveBeyondBelief #Belonging #Community

You don't have to be a spiritual person to have a sacred experience. You just have to be the kind of person who feeds the horses even when you don't want to — because the holy stuff doesn't show up for people waiting around for it. It shows up for people doing the unglamorous, thankless work of taking care of something else, on a morning they'd rather have skipped. QUESTIONS TO SIT WITH: - What's the unglamorous, thankless thing you keep showing up for anyway? - Have you ever stumbled into something sacred in the middle of an ordinary chore? - Can you hold both the tenderness and the cruelty of nature as equally true? - Who — or what — are you responsible for, whether you feel like it that day or not? CHAPTERS: 0:00 Opening Song 0:53 Growing Up With Animals 1:51 A Morning Fog 2:57 The Horses Are Missing 3:52 A Third Horse Emerges 4:44 Who Blessed Whom 5:19 Animals in Every Culture 6:04 Breath and Spirit 7:25 The Goldfish in the Bowl 8:58 Nature's Tooth and Claw 10:19 Beauty Despite the Cruelty 11:09 Showing Up Every Day 12:57 What Pets Teach Us 13:41 You Don't Need a Pet 14:55 Why We Bless 16:06 Closing Blessing 16:50 Closing Song This message, "Who Blesses Whom?," was delivered by Rev. Dr. Nicole Kirk at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa. SUBSCRIBE TO WATCH OTHER VIDEOS: @allsoulsunitarian GIVE A DONATION TO HELP US SPREAD THIS LOVE BEYOND BELIEF: https://www.allsoulschurch.org/GIVE or text AllSoulsTulsa to 73256 LET'S CONNECT: -Facebook: /allsoulstulsa -Instagram: /allsoulstulsa -All Souls Church Website: https://www.allsoulschurch.org #AllSoulsTulsa #AllSoulsUnitarianChurch #LoveBeyondBelief #BlessingOfTheAnimals #Animals

What if the real test of a belief has nothing to do with whether it's true and everything to do with what it makes of you? Not whether it's the right religion, the right God, the right set of rules. Whether it makes you more loving or more judgmental. Whether it holds you up on your worst day or only sounds good on your best one. Whether it gives you the courage to be honest, even when honesty costs you something. This message isn't interested in which belief is correct. It's interested in what yours is actually making of you. QUESTIONS TO SIT WITH: - Do your beliefs hold you up, or do they only work when things are already going fine? - Do they make you kinder, or more judgmental? - Could you stand by what you believe even if it disappointed someone you love? - Would they get you out of bed on your hardest day? CHAPTERS: 0:00 Opening Song 1:05 Playground Theology 3:04 Kids Explaining All Souls 4:30 One God, All Are Saved 6:45 What Does "Saved" Mean? 8:17 The Cathedral of the World 10:49 Testing What's True 11:31 Throwing Rocks Through Windows 12:52 Strange, But Not My Business 14:37 Love Over Doctrine 15:55 One Source, All Loved 16:59 Beyond What You Believe 19:17 What Your Beliefs Make of You 20:28 Closing Music This message, "Simple Answers to Big Questions," was delivered by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa. SUBSCRIBE TO WATCH OTHER VIDEOS: @allsoulsunitarian GIVE A DONATION TO HELP US SPREAD THIS LOVE BEYOND BELIEF: https://www.allsoulschurch.org/GIVE or text AllSoulsTulsa to 73256 LET'S CONNECT: Facebook: /allsoulstulsa Instagram: /allsoulstulsa All Souls Church Website: https://www.allsoulschurch.org #AllSoulsTulsa #AllSoulsUnitarianChurch #LoveBeyondBelief #Belief #BigQuestions

The world is dangerous and beautiful at the same time. Most of us only have the bandwidth to notice one — so we either rush past the hard parts, or shrink our whole lives down to avoid them.Writer Annie Dillard warned against exactly that: living an "itsy bitsy" life to dodge how wild and extravagant the world really is. Rev. Dr. Nicole Kirk pairs that challenge with the story of Kate Bowler, told at 35 that she had two years to live, and a friend's gentle instruction — don't skip to the end. Kirk connects both ideas to her own experience choosing to live, not wait, through her husband's terminal illness.It's a message about staying present to everything at once: the danger, the beauty, and the people who help you carry both.QUESTIONS TO SIT WITH:- Are you rushing past a hard season, or shrinking yourself to survive it — or both?- Have you ever made an intentional choice about how to live in uncertainty, rather than just enduring it?- Can you hold "this is dangerous" and "this is beautiful" as true at the same time?- What's one place you've been living small to avoid something big?CHAPTERS:0:00 Opening Song1:01 A Diagnosis, and a Secret2:48 "Don't Skip to the End"3:00 My Own Threshold4:31 What Is a Threshold?8:02 Coming of Age & New Beginnings9:22 The Fall Equinox11:30 A World on Edge12:33 A Warning Against Shrinking14:55 Turning Cancer Into Art18:02 A Lifeline of Beauty19:53 Present in the Betwixt and Between21:24 You Don't Have to Wait Alone23:22 Measured by Love23:47 Closing SongThis message, "Beauty in a Spot of Danger," was delivered by Rev. Dr. Nicole Kirk at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa.SUBSCRIBE TO WATCH OTHER VIDEOS: @allsoulsunitarianGIVE A DONATION TO HELP US SPREAD THIS LOVE BEYOND BELIEF: https://www.allsoulschurch.org/GIVE or text AllSoulsTulsa to 73256LET'S CONNECT:Facebook: /allsoulstulsaInstagram: /allsoulstulsaAll Souls Church Website: https://www.allsoulschurch.org#AllSoulsTulsa #AllSoulsUnitarianChurch #LoveBeyondBelief #Grief #Presence

There's a difference between fitting in and belonging — and most of us have spent years mastering the wrong one. Fitting in means changing yourself to be accepted. Belonging means being accepted exactly as you are.This message argues that real community isn't built by people performing that they have it all together. It's built by people willing to show up as their actual, unfiltered selves — and makes the case that doing so isn't a risk to resilience. It's the source of it.QUESTIONS TO SIT WITH: When did you last let someone see you struggling, instead of managing it alone?Is there a difference between the people around you and the people who actually know you?What would change in your life if isolation wasn't the default?Who do you turn to when you can't carry something by yourself?CHAPTERS:0:00 Opening Song1:00 A Man Walks Naked Toward Armed Guards3:24 What This Story Means For Us4:04 David and Goliath6:03 Our Modern-Day Giants8:02 Why Less Armor, Not More9:31 A Funny Recognition Moment11:37 Three Things We Actually Have12:02 What "Covenant" Means13:24 A Ritual of Honesty14:47 Belonging Changes Everything16:32 Fitting In vs. Belonging18:44 The Science of Connection20:44 Why Scars Matter22:44 A Question to Carry With You23:45 Closing SongThis message, "Belonging Changes Everything," was delivered by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma.SUBSCRIBE TO WATCH OTHER VIDEOS: @allsoulsunitarianGIVE A DONATION TO HELP US SPREAD THIS LOVE BEYOND BELIEF: https://www.allsoulschurch.org/GIVE or text AllSoulsTulsa to 73256LET'S CONNECT:Facebook: /allsoulstulsaInstagram: /allsoulstulsaAll Souls Church Website: https://www.allsoulschurch.org#AllSoulsTulsa #AllSoulsUnitarianChurch #LoveBeyondBelief #Belonging #Vulnerability

The message was delivered on Sunday, September 6, 2026, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Randy Lewis, Assistant Minister. Description: What remains when the beliefs that once held your life together no longer fit? Letting go can feel like losing meaning itself, especially when certainty has been mistaken for faith. But the collapse of an old answer may uncover something more honest and sustaining. Sometimes the way forward begins with what we are willing to release. Watch this message on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ig1HeIu-KKo Give a donation to help us spread Love Beyond Belief: https://www.allsoulschurch.org/GIVE or text AllSoulsTulsa to 73256 Let's connect: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allsoulstulsaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/allsoulstulsaAll Souls Church Website: https://www.allsoulschurch.org

"A blend of Mother Goose, Cinderella, and the local hooker." That's how Dolly Parton once described her own look — and her willingness to laugh at herself, before anyone else could, became part of why an entire country trusted her. Drawing on the life, faith, and radical kindness of Dolly Parton, this message makes the case that the way she loved people — without judgment, without conditions, across every divide this country has — isn't just a nice tribute. It's a blueprint for a kind of community, and a kind of faith, most people have never actually experienced. QUESTIONS TO SIT WITH: - What would it look like to love people without judging them first? - Do you know what you actually have in common with someone you've written off politically? - Is your faith (or lack of one) built on believing the right things, or feeling truly seen? - Who in your life makes you feel loved without conditions? CHAPTERS: 0:00 "Light of a Clear Blue Morning" 0:51 Everything's Going to Be Alright 2:20 A Divided Country 3:22 The World Loses Dolly 5:04 The Unlikely Saint 7:55 Her Quiet Struggles 10:16 Living in Dolly's America 11:20 "I Do Not Judge" 12:21 Not a Grievance Christian 13:48 Money and the Kingdom of Heaven 14:54 The House That Whitney Built 17:09 What Love Beyond Belief Means 21:40 Building Dolly's America 23:29 Closing Blessing 23:47 "I Will Always Love You" This message, "Living In Dolly's America," was delivered by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. GIVE A DONATION TO HELP US SPREAD THIS LOVE BEYOND BELIEF: https://www.allsoulschurch.org/GIVE or text AllSoulsTulsa to 73256 LET'S CONNECT: Facebook: /allsoulstulsa Instagram: /allsoulstulsa All Souls Church Website: https://www.allsoulschurch.org #AllSoulsTulsa #AllSoulsUnitarianChurch #LoveBeyondBelief #DollyParton #DollysAmerica

What if you didn't have to choose between believing everything your religion tells you, and believing nothing at all? Most of us have been told those are the only two options. All Souls Unitarian Church exists for that wider space in between. It's a community where people build their own relationship to faith, meaning, and mystery, instead of inheriting someone else's certainty. Almost everyone who finds their way here says the same thing: they wish they'd found it years sooner. And most people don't stumble onto a place like this on their own. They find it because someone else told them it existed. QUESTIONS TO SIT WITH: - Have you ever felt forced to pick between "true believer" and "nothing at all"? - What would it mean to build your beliefs from your own experience, instead of what you were taught? - Have you ever felt pressured to defend your beliefs to someone determined to convert you? - Who in your life might need to know a place like All Souls exists? CHAPTERS: 0:00 Music 0:54 Opening 1:22 A Church For Skeptics 1:33 What Is an Oasis? 3:47 A Letter From Grove 4:45 Spiritual, Not Religious 9:12 Losing Sienna 9:54 An Angry Kind of Grief 11:21 Room to Breathe 13:44 A Zen Parable 14:35 Two Kinds of Travelers 17:14 Spread the Word 19:12 The Real Moral Issues 21:02 An Oasis For All 21:30 Closing This message, "Oasis on the Arkansas," was delivered by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. GIVE A DONATION TO HELP US SPREAD THIS LOVE BEYOND BELIEF: https://www.allsoulschurch.org/GIVE or text LOVEBB to 73256 LET'S CONNECT: Facebook: /allsoulstulsa Instagram: /allsoulstulsa All Souls Church Website: https://www.allsoulschurch.org #AllSoulsTulsa #AllSoulsUnitarianChurch #LoveBeyondBelief #UnitarianUniversalist #ProgressiveClergy

Every child asks the big questions eventually — where do we go when we die, why do bad things happen, what's actually magic and what isn't. Rev. Dr. Nicole Kirk's son had his own answer one August morning: the acorns in the yard were magic beans, obviously.She turns that memory into a reflection on wonder, growth, and nearly 200 years of Unitarian Universalists championing both public and religious education. Drawing on Horace Mann, William Ellery Channing, and mentor Rev. Dr. Laurel Hallman, she makes the case that the goal was never to hand our children — or ourselves — the answers. It's to help us stay curious enough to keep asking.KEY QUESTIONS TO SIT WITH: What big questions did you have as a kid that never got answered?Can you slow down and sit with hard questions instead of rushing past them?What if curiosity mattered more than having the right answers?Who taught you to find magic in everyday things?Could you explain your faith in a way a child would understand?CHAPTERS:0:00 Opening Music0:30 The Magic Beans2:53 Why Education Matters3:55 Unitarians Who Founded Colleges5:24 Horace Mann's Fight for Schools6:14 Teach Kids to Question7:57 You Carry a Divine Spark8:26 Two Unitarians, One Legacy9:30 How Kids Invent Religion11:05 The Risk of Bland Faith13:41 Your Own Spiritual GPS14:12 What All Souls Nurtures16:46 Let's Climb Together17:06 Closing MusicGIVE A DONATION TO HELP US SPREAD THIS LOVE BEYOND BELIEF: https://www.allsoulschurch.org/GIVE or text AllSoulsTulsa to 73256LET'S CONNECT:Facebook: /allsoulstulsaInstagram: /allsoulstulsaAll Souls Church Website: https://www.allsoulschurch.org #AllSoulsTulsa #AllSoulsUnitarianChurch #LoveBeyondBelief #Unitarian #Universalist #UU #AllSoulsTulsa #AllSoulsUnitarianChurch #LoveBeyondBelief #ReligiousEducation #BackToSchool

What if life came with a GPS. Not for the roads you drive, but for the ones you're not sure how to take?In his message, 'Life is a Highway' Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar continues All Souls' summer series on living in America with a personal reflection on discernment, loss, and finding direction.Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar turns the mechanics of an actual GPS — receiver, transmitter, ground system — into a map for navigating life's biggest questions.Drawing on his own experience of grief after the death of his daughter Sienna, the story of a young man facing a life-altering diagnosis, and the practices that keep us grounded before crisis hits, he makes the case that finding our way isn't a solo drive — it's a system, built together, long before we need it.QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER: How do you know if you're headed the right direction?What helps you recover after a devastating loss?Who tells you the truth when you can't see it yourself?What practices reignite you when you're running on empty?CHAPTERS:0:00 Opening0:48 The Road Trip1:21 Life's Big Questions2:14 The Spiritual GPS5:00 Bill's Diagnosis7:52 Losing Sienna11:15 Receiver, Transmitter, Ground13:06 Something Bigger15:05 Blocked Signal19:15 Time to Listen21:02 Who Tells You the Truth26:16 Recalibrate

What if the answer to lingering pain lies not in forced forgiveness, but in embracing acceptance and the honest acknowledgment of injustice? As we follow the unfolding questions about justice, accountability, and the lingering scars that remain, explore how far the road to genuine healing can stretch when we stop demanding forgiveness and start bearing witness. The message was delivered on Sunday, August 2, 2026, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Randy Lewis, Assistant Minister. SUBSCRIBE TO WATCH OTHER VIDEOS: @allsoulsunitarian WANT TO LISTEN? SUBSCRIBE TO AUDIO PODCAST: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/all-souls-unitarian-church/id193096943 GIVE A DONATION TO HELP US SPREAD THIS LOVE BEYOND BELIEF: https://www.allsoulschurch.org/GIVE or text AllSoulsTulsa to 73256 LET'S CONNECT: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allsoulstulsa Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allsoulstulsa All Souls Church Website: https://www.allsoulschurch.org

What does it mean to carry both grief and joy on the same road home? Rev. Dr. Nicole Kirk reflects on a solo drive down Route 66 this summer — and what 19 months of grief have taught her about memory as something we tend, together.Rev. Dr. Nicole Kirk traces a single road trip into a reflection on grief, home, and belonging. Drawing on John Steinbeck's "Mother Road," a poem by Joy Harjo, the history of Tulsa's Council Oak, and stories from members of this congregation, she makes the case that memory isn't something we carry alone — it's something a community holds with us.KEY THEMES: What do we choose to remember — and what do we let go?Can grief and joy travel the same road?What does it mean to "guard" a memory on purpose?How does a community help each other remember?Where is home, if it's a direction and not a place?CHAPTERS:0:00 Introduction and road trip context1:05 Measuring distance between Oklahoma cities2:30 Route 66's 100th anniversary and Tulsa's role3:26 Steinbeck's "Mother Road" from The Grapes of Wrath5:28 Grief, 19 months after her husband's death6:50 Joy Harjo's poem "Remember"9:19 The Council Oak and Muscogee history12:10 A conversation about guarding memories13:35 A memory her son gave back to her15:00 Bluegrass music and collective memory17:07 Closing reflection and blessingSUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE: @allsoulsunitarianGIVE A DONATION TO HELP US SPREAD THIS LOVE BEYOND BELIEF: https://www.allsoulschurch.org/GIVE or text AllSoulsTulsa to 73256LET'S CONNECT:Facebook: /allsoulstulsaInstagram: /allsoulstulsaAll Souls Church Website: https://www.allsoulschurch.org

What if the love you need most right now is love for yourself? Rev. Cathey Edwards names the habit she calls "spiritual amnesia" — forgetting our own worth — and offers a simple two-word practice to interrupt it.Guest minister Rev. Cathey Edwards, part of the All Souls community since the 1980s, explores what it means to turn Love Beyond Belief inward. In this message, delivered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Rev. Edwards makes the case that self-compassion isn't a self-help detour from justice work, it's the foundation of it.KEY THEMES:- Self-compassion as a spiritual practice- The "just like me" practice for dissolving judgment- Naming "spiritual amnesia" as forgetting our own worth- Sharon Salzberg's "but I love you" technique- Truth-telling as an ethical, not just emotional, stance- Holding our own contradictions and multitudesSUBSCRIBE TO WATCH OTHER VIDEOS: @allsoulsunitarianWANT TO LISTEN? SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PODCAST on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1TOSFe2QQ0Di7zeiwlcZgv and Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/all-souls-unitarian-church/id193096943GIVE A DONATION TO HELP US SPREAD THIS LOVE BEYOND BELIEF: https://www.allsoulschurch.org/GIVE or text AllSoulsTulsa to 73256LET'S CONNECT:Facebook: /allsoulstulsaInstagram: /allsoulstulsaAll Souls Church Website: https://www.allsoulschurch.org#AllSoulsTulsa #AllSoulsUnitarianChurch #LoveBeyondBelief #SelfCompassion #Tulsa

The reflection was delivered on Sunday, July 12, 2026, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Randy Lewis, Assistant Minister. Explore how everyday objects become silent keepers of love, loss, and hope, and discover what unseen stories emerge when we open a forgotten chest or a sealed letter. What would happen if the treasures we hoard were actually mirrors reflecting the lives of those we’ve never met? Dive into a journey that reveals how letting go can uncover deeper connections and inspire a legacy far beyond material possessions. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/all-souls-unitarian-church/id193096943 https://youtu.be/Zn7LKgJhwwc https://www.allsoulschurch.org/GIVE or text AllSoulsTulsa to 73256 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allsoulstulsaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/allsoulstulsaAll Souls Church Website: https://www.allsoulschurch.org

What is the 4th of July to someone who was never free to celebrate it? In 1852, Frederick Douglass posed that very question to a nation still holding Black Americans in bondage — and the answer he gave still cuts just as deep today. Subscribe: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/all-souls-unitarian-church/id193096943 Watch this message on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qzC6LDiTrek Give a donation to help us spread Love Beyond Belief: https://www.allsoulschurch.org/GIVE or text AllSoulsTulsa to 73256 Let's connect: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allsoulstulsa Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allsoulstulsa All Souls Church Website: https://www.allsoulschurch.org