Shows
The Search for Living Prophets#74: Against Empire – Empire and Identity
One of the ways that empires have controlled populations is by rewriting history to reshape our heritage and cultural identity. Centuries later, when the truth is discovered, people still struggle to accept how their identity has been crafted by past deception. This is the story of the Phoenician Irish, the Mauritanian Welsh, the Islamic Kingdom in Middle England, and the many other examples of our rich multicultural past, and how modern empires continue to use this tactic to retain power.
Listen (18 mins)
2022-03-2300 min
The Search for Living Prophets#74: Against Empire – Empire and Identity
One of the ways that empires have controlled populations is by rewriting history to reshape our heritage and cultural identity. Centuries later, when the truth is discovered, people still struggle to accept how their identity has been crafted by past deception. This is the story of the Phoenician Irish, the Mauritanian Welsh, the Islamic Kingdom in Middle England, and the many other examples of our rich multicultural past, and how modern empires continue to use this tactic to retain power.
Listen (18 mins)
2022-03-2300 min
The Search for Living Prophets#73: Against Empire – Labor and Trade
This month the world announced thousands of sanctions against Russia in retaliation for its criminal invasion of Ukraine in 2022. This episode dives into trade as a weapon wielded by (and against) empires.
How is fair trade different from exploitation?
Is capitalism truly the source of freedom in the world? (hint: it’s complicated).
Is socialism really dead? We look at Karl Marx’s insights on the contradictions of capitalism. And we analyze Ronald Reagan’s 1986 speech against sanctions to end apartheid in the context of the world’s epic sanctions against Russia for it’s cri...2022-03-1700 min
The Search for Living Prophets#73: Against Empire – Labor and Trade
This month the world announced thousands of sanctions against Russia in retaliation for its criminal invasion of Ukraine in 2022. This episode dives into trade as a weapon wielded by (and against) empires.
How is fair trade different from exploitation?
Is capitalism truly the source of freedom in the world? (hint: it’s complicated).
Is socialism really dead? We look at Karl Marx’s insights on the contradictions of capitalism. And we analyze Ronald Reagan’s 1986 speech against sanctions to end apartheid in the context of the world’s epic sanctions against Russia for it’s cri...2022-03-1700 min
The Search for Living Prophets#72: Gandhi and Empire
During the age of imperialism, in the nineteenth century, Europe’s empires ruled over 80 percent of the people of Earth despite being a fraction of the world. That all changed when Gandhi demonstrated that active nonviolent resistance worked. This episode dives into the life and lessons of Gandhi, culminating with modern research that shows his methods are far more effective than violence, and the only viable path to democracy.
Listen: #72 Gandhi and Empire
2022-02-2800 min
The Search for Living Prophets#72: Gandhi and Empire
During the age of imperialism, in the nineteenth century, Europe’s empires ruled over 80 percent of the people of Earth despite being a fraction of the world. That all changed when Gandhi demonstrated that active nonviolent resistance worked. This episode dives into the life and lessons of Gandhi, culminating with modern research that shows his methods are far more effective than violence, and the only viable path to democracy.
Listen: #72 Gandhi and Empire
2022-02-2800 min
The Search for Living Prophets#71: Against Empire – The structure of empire
Season 3 (2022) begins with an episode (#71) that illustrates the structure of empire using Rome as the prototype. We examine its rivalry with Carthage and the racism and genocide that are the inevitable result of the way empires function. This introduces the themes that we will explore in the next 10 episodes.
Why are so many Americans comfortable with the USA becoming an empire? Perhaps they haven’t been paying attention.
Finally, we review the events of the past week (Russia invaded Ukraine) in this context.
Listen: Episode #71
2022-02-2800 min
The Search for Living Prophets#71: Against Empire – The structure of empire
Season 3 (2022) begins with an episode (#71) that illustrates the structure of empire using Rome as the prototype. We examine its rivalry with Carthage and the racism and genocide that are the inevitable result of the way empires function. This introduces the themes that we will explore in the next 10 episodes.
Why are so many Americans comfortable with the USA becoming an empire? Perhaps they haven’t been paying attention.
Finally, we review the events of the past week (Russia invaded Ukraine) in this context.
Listen: Episode #71
2022-02-2800 minThe Search for Living Prophets#70: The Gratitudes
What gives you hope? What sustains you? How could the way we see things be fundamental to our ability to change the world? The Gratitudes are short stories of people showing courage and resolve to overcome tragedy and change the world within their reach.
[Listen 30:58]
2020-11-1500 minThe Search for Living Prophets#70: The Gratitudes
What gives you hope? What sustains you? How could the way we see things be fundamental to our ability to change the world? The Gratitudes are short stories of people showing courage and resolve to overcome tragedy and change the world within their reach.
[Listen 30:58]
2020-11-1500 min
The Search for Living Prophets#69: The Liberal Myth
Do you find yourself in conversations with people who believe all the right things, but who remain stuck, unable to act in any meaningful way to fight racism?
Doing the “usual stuff” to fight racism isn’t working because it is only a quarter of what is needed. As I explain the “liberal myth,” find out through examples from Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, Jr, and Gandhi just how much more of a commitment it takes for change to happen.
[Listen #69: 19:50]
2020-10-3000 min
The Search for Living Prophets#69: The Liberal Myth
Do you find yourself in conversations with people who believe all the right things, but who remain stuck, unable to act in any meaningful way to fight racism?
Doing the “usual stuff” to fight racism isn’t working because it is only a quarter of what is needed. As I explain the “liberal myth,” find out through examples from Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, Jr, and Gandhi just how much more of a commitment it takes for change to happen.
[Listen #69: 19:50]
2020-10-3000 min
The Search for Living ProphetsEpisode #68: There is another way
Continuing to explore the ways that Christian churches talk about race, here is Bishop Michael Curry of the Episcopal church speaking in Charlottesville VA one year after the race riots about love, titled “There is another way.”
[Listen 18:39]
2020-10-0900 min
The Search for Living ProphetsEpisode #68: There is another way
Continuing to explore the ways that Christian churches talk about race, here is Bishop Michael Curry of the Episcopal church speaking in Charlottesville VA one year after the race riots about love, titled “There is another way.”
[Listen 18:39]
2020-10-0900 min
The Search for Living Prophets#67: How are evangelical churches talking about race?It has been many years since “Black Lives Matter” and “#Metoo” have been part of everyday conversation. Yet many churches struggle in confronting race issues from the pulpit head-on. Few are laying bare the dark legacy that organized religion has had in forming a society that sees humanity through the lens of race.
“From the 1600s until present day the American church has been complicit in specific and pivotal ways that allow racism to survive and embed itself in our society,” says evangelical white preacher Dave Lomas. He goes on to explain that “race is a social construct” and calls on eve...2020-09-2600 min
The Search for Living Prophets#67: How are evangelical churches talking about race?It has been many years since “Black Lives Matter” and “#Metoo” have been part of everyday conversation. Yet many churches struggle in confronting race issues from the pulpit head-on. Few are laying bare the dark legacy that organized religion has had in forming a society that sees humanity through the lens of race.
“From the 1600s until present day the American church has been complicit in specific and pivotal ways that allow racism to survive and embed itself in our society,” says evangelical white preacher Dave Lomas. He goes on to explain that “race is a social construct” and calls on eve...2020-09-2600 min
The Search for Living Prophets#66: America the contradictionAmerica is founded on some lofty ideals, but baked into its ethos and history are many contradictions. We claim to be a moral force for good in the world yet embrace the tenets of imperialism. The service unpacks these contradictions and looks ahead to what we can do in 2020 to transform the covid-19 era into a time of growth.
This sermon was originally given on July 4, 2020 at First Universalist of Denver
[Listen 16:08]
2020-09-2300 min
The Search for Living Prophets#66: America the contradictionAmerica is founded on some lofty ideals, but baked into its ethos and history are many contradictions. We claim to be a moral force for good in the world yet embrace the tenets of imperialism. The service unpacks these contradictions and looks ahead to what we can do in 2020 to transform the covid-19 era into a time of growth.
This sermon was originally given on July 4, 2020 at First Universalist of Denver
[Listen 16:08]
2020-09-2300 minThe Search for Living Prophets#65: Starting the conversationAs protests continue against systemic police brutality in the US, and activists demand that we defund the police, episode #65 explains how to start “the uncomfortable conversation” with a friend or family member — the one about white privilege, implicit bias, and a journey towards understanding.
Being a bridge between your moral center and the people you love is a balancing act. It is not without risk, and you will have to sacrifice the comfort of a relationship, perhaps for years, for the possibility of bringing about a change of heart. But to remain silent would make us complicit in the...2020-06-2300 minThe Search for Living Prophets#65: Starting the conversationAs protests continue against systemic police brutality in the US, and activists demand that we defund the police, episode #65 explains how to start “the uncomfortable conversation” with a friend or family member — the one about white privilege, implicit bias, and a journey towards understanding.
Being a bridge between your moral center and the people you love is a balancing act. It is not without risk, and you will have to sacrifice the comfort of a relationship, perhaps for years, for the possibility of bringing about a change of heart. But to remain silent would make us complicit in the...2020-06-2300 min
The Search for Living Prophets#64: Declaration of InterdependenceWhat should we think about riots during a pandemic, following a murder in Minneapolis by the hands of police? People respond in two ways: The descend into sectarianism or rise with a Harambee attitude. Hear about the power of interdependence from Fred Small and Martin Luther King, Jr — this is how we build an interdependent world that yields the persistence of justice and lifts us all.
[Episode 64: Listen 22:31]
2020-05-3100 min
The Search for Living Prophets#64: Declaration of InterdependenceWhat should we think about riots during a pandemic, following a murder in Minneapolis by the hands of police? People respond in two ways: The descend into sectarianism or rise with a Harambee attitude. Hear about the power of interdependence from Fred Small and Martin Luther King, Jr — this is how we build an interdependent world that yields the persistence of justice and lifts us all.
[Episode 64: Listen 22:31]
2020-05-3100 min
The Search for Living ProphetsJubilee and coronavirus2020 – the year of the covid19 lockdown – is quickly becoming a repeat of the year of the Jubilee from leviticus. A time when wrongs were righted and agriculture came to a halt. The wisdom of this time, as we think about the kind of world we will be restarting, is that there is no equity without scarcity, not justice without sacrifice.
Listen 20:14
http://ia601404.us.archive.org/26/items/covid19-in-2020-as-year-of-jubilee/%2363_jubilee.mp3
2020-05-1000 min
The Search for Living ProphetsJubilee and coronavirus2020 – the year of the covid19 lockdown – is quickly becoming a repeat of the year of the Jubilee from leviticus. A time when wrongs were righted and agriculture came to a halt. The wisdom of this time, as we think about the kind of world we will be restarting, is that there is no equity without scarcity, not justice without sacrifice.
Listen 20:14
http://ia601404.us.archive.org/26/items/covid19-in-2020-as-year-of-jubilee/%2363_jubilee.mp3
2020-05-1000 min
The Search for Living ProphetsCovid19: The Best of Us, and lessons from the plagueAs we shelter-in-place during covid19, I wanted to share some of the more inspiring things happening around the world. There is a twitter hashtag #thebestofus that people use to share stories of others making a difference. And, as bad as things seem, did you know that this was the first century in the last 700 years that has NOT had a pandemic? Hear lessons of how people reacted in past centuries wracked with the plague. Did it unite people, or did the catastrophe divide them?
This is a small part of my longer journey to discover how I...2020-04-0900 min
The Search for Living ProphetsCovid19: The Best of Us, and lessons from the plagueAs we shelter-in-place during covid19, I wanted to share some of the more inspiring things happening around the world. There is a twitter hashtag #thebestofus that people use to share stories of others making a difference. And, as bad as things seem, did you know that this was the first century in the last 700 years that has NOT had a pandemic? Hear lessons of how people reacted in past centuries wracked with the plague. Did it unite people, or did the catastrophe divide them?
This is a small part of my longer journey to discover how I...2020-04-0900 minThe Search for Living ProphetsDisease and Dis-Ease Symptoms
Disease and Dis-Ease Symptoms: Anthropologist Margaret Mead once said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient cultures is digging up a femur (thigh bone) that had been broken and had been allowed to heal.
In the ancient world, if you broke your leg, you’d die. A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell. Helping each other through difficulty is where civilization starts.
In these times, hear messages from leaders about how we (re)build community and strengthen ourselves in the process. We are at ou...2020-03-2800 minThe Search for Living ProphetsDisease and Dis-Ease Symptoms
Disease and Dis-Ease Symptoms: Anthropologist Margaret Mead once said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient cultures is digging up a femur (thigh bone) that had been broken and had been allowed to heal.
In the ancient world, if you broke your leg, you’d die. A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell. Helping each other through difficulty is where civilization starts.
In these times, hear messages from leaders about how we (re)build community and strengthen ourselves in the process. We are at ou...2020-03-2800 min
The Search for Living ProphetsOut of fear, inspiration
In these trying times, we need to be reminded that we are where we are in the world because past leaders have inspired us to work for the benefit of humankind, to sacrifice for noble causes that have made the world as wonderful as it is today.
Here are three speeches that can serve to organize us for the days ahead during the 2020 pandemic:
“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” — FDR
“We choose t...2020-03-1500 min
The Search for Living ProphetsOut of fear, inspiration
In these trying times, we need to be reminded that we are where we are in the world because past leaders have inspired us to work for the benefit of humankind, to sacrifice for noble causes that have made the world as wonderful as it is today.
Here are three speeches that can serve to organize us for the days ahead during the 2020 pandemic:
“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” — FDR
“We choose t...2020-03-1500 minThe Search for Living ProphetsEpisode #59: Resist ContemptTwo sermons from 2019 and 2020 about resisting the trap of feeling contempt for people that we disagree with. We are in a national crisis of contempt and it is tearing our world apart.
Listen to episode #59 (21:15)
2020-02-2200 minThe Search for Living ProphetsEpisode #59: Resist ContemptTwo sermons from 2019 and 2020 about resisting the trap of feeling contempt for people that we disagree with. We are in a national crisis of contempt and it is tearing our world apart.
Listen to episode #59 (21:15)
2020-02-2200 min
The Search for Living ProphetsEpisode #58: The Prayer Before the Prayer to ForgiveReverend Rob Hardies explains the three things we must all go through before we can truly forgive. The title draws upon a prayer from Desmond Tutu during the South African Truth and Reconciliation Process in the 1990s.
And in Part II Jean Botham speaks in court and forgives Amber Guyger for shooting his brother.
If you haven’t listened to Episode #57 yet, start there, as this is closely tied to Revolutionary Truth and Reconciliation.
[Episode #58 Listen 23:51]
2020-01-1800 min
The Search for Living ProphetsEpisode #58: The Prayer Before the Prayer to ForgiveReverend Rob Hardies explains the three things we must all go through before we can truly forgive. The title draws upon a prayer from Desmond Tutu during the South African Truth and Reconciliation Process in the 1990s.
And in Part II Jean Botham speaks in court and forgives Amber Guyger for shooting his brother.
If you haven’t listened to Episode #57 yet, start there, as this is closely tied to Revolutionary Truth and Reconciliation.
[Episode #58 Listen 23:51]
2020-01-1800 min
The Search for Living ProphetsRevolutionary Truth and ReconciliationPeacemaking has many flavors. The language of how we make peace is a spectrum: Forgiveness, contrition, amnesty, reconciliation, retribution, restoration. Hear stories of how Truth and Reconciliation efforts are the bridge between those unwilling to forgive and those unready to own up to past misdeeds.
Listen to Episode #57 [20:42]
(Sources: UU Oklohoma City, BBC history podcast, Daily Show between the scenes; Soundtrack: Michael Kiwuanuka)
2020-01-1800 min
The Search for Living ProphetsRevolutionary Truth and ReconciliationPeacemaking has many flavors. The language of how we make peace is a spectrum: Forgiveness, contrition, amnesty, reconciliation, retribution, restoration. Hear stories of how Truth and Reconciliation efforts are the bridge between those unwilling to forgive and those unready to own up to past misdeeds.
Listen to Episode #57 [20:42]
(Sources: UU Oklohoma City, BBC history podcast, Daily Show between the scenes; Soundtrack: Michael Kiwuanuka)
2020-01-1800 minThe Search for Living ProphetsEpisode #56: Hold her in the LightMost people have heard of Quakers, but few actually know what they believe. Herein: stories from Quakers about peacemaking, and their own flavor of prayer and activism, captured in the phrase, “Hold them in the Light.” (Music from Alaska Tapes and Joseph Arthur)
[Listen 25:19]
2019-10-1600 minThe Search for Living ProphetsEpisode #56: Hold her in the LightMost people have heard of Quakers, but few actually know what they believe. Herein: stories from Quakers about peacemaking, and their own flavor of prayer and activism, captured in the phrase, “Hold them in the Light.” (Music from Alaska Tapes and Joseph Arthur)
[Listen 25:19]
2019-10-1600 min
The Search for Living ProphetsEpisode 55: How will the world be different because we met today?
UU Minister John Crestwell speaks about race, the 2014 Ferguson, MO shooting, Martin Luther King Jr, building relationships with the “other” all under the theme of building the beloved community together.
His sermon is mixed to the soundtrack of the Interstellar soundtrack – music by Hans Zimmer.
Images and context
The QuikTrip That Burned in Ferguson Protests Is Now a Community Center
2019-08-1000 min
The Search for Living ProphetsEpisode 55: How will the world be different because we met today?
UU Minister John Crestwell speaks about race, the 2014 Ferguson, MO shooting, Martin Luther King Jr, building relationships with the “other” all under the theme of building the beloved community together.
His sermon is mixed to the soundtrack of the Interstellar soundtrack – music by Hans Zimmer.
Images and context
2019-08-1000 min
The Search for Living Prophets#54: A Community Stand – that it might bend through our faithful living
The Rev. Sophia Betancourt talks about her immigrant heritage and the struggle to live in ways – at risk to herself – that help others.
What will you give up for our collective salvation?
How does a community stand for justice? How does the “moral arc of the universe” bend towards justice? She shares answers to how we can “dangle from that arc,” that our lives might add weight and bend it through faithful living.
2019-08-0500 min
The Search for Living Prophets#54: A Community Stand – that it might bend through our faithful living
The Rev. Sophia Betancourt talks about her immigrant heritage and the struggle to live in ways – at risk to herself – that help others.
What will you give up for our collective salvation?
How does a community stand for justice? How does the “moral arc of the universe” bend towards justice? She shares answers to how we can “dangle from that arc,” that our lives might add weight and bend it through faithful living.
2019-08-0500 minThe Search for Living Prophets#53: The Tolerance Spectrum
Tolerance is the cornerstone of a pluralistic society. So it should surprise us that many religious leaders from the conservative to the liberal end of the spectrum preach against tolerance. Both sides oppose tolerance — for a “society gone wrong” and tolerance for intolerance. What matters is how our different understandings of who is harmed by tolerance shapes our views. Ultimately, there are ways to know which kind of tolerance we should support. Listen to some viewpoints on tolerance.
2019-06-0900 minThe Search for Living Prophets#53: The Tolerance Spectrum
Tolerance is the cornerstone of a pluralistic society. So it should surprise us that many religious leaders from the conservative to the liberal end of the spectrum preach against tolerance. Both sides oppose tolerance — for a “society gone wrong” and tolerance for intolerance. What matters is how our different understandings of who is harmed by tolerance shapes our views. Ultimately, there are ways to know which kind of tolerance we should support. Listen to some viewpoints on tolerance.
2019-06-0900 min
The Search for Living ProphetsChasm at the border (#52)In this episode I share stories of activists walking the border and telling stories of the people who cross into the US. Then I launch into a deeper dive on understanding the politics of the Southern border wall through a spiritual lens: The Gospel of Prosperity is the underpinning of Conservative ideas, and on the Left, Liberation Theology is its core morality.
2019-04-0500 min
The Search for Living ProphetsChasm at the border (#52)In this episode I share stories of activists walking the border and telling stories of the people who cross into the US. Then I launch into a deeper dive on understanding the politics of the Southern border wall through a spiritual lens: The Gospel of Prosperity is the underpinning of Conservative ideas, and on the Left, Liberation Theology is its core morality.
2019-04-0500 min
The Search for Living Prophets#51: TransformationElections don’t unite, they divide. Here are seven reasons why we must prepare ourselves to be transformers – and role models of understanding – in the face of conflict. When elections end, the hard work begins to heal and unite the divided, angry, bewildered peoples of our world.
Speakers: Rev Justin Osterman, Rev Rob Hardies, Rev Lavanhar, Rev Deneice Mason, Father Leo Booth, Martin Luther King Jr, Rev Barber Listen
2018-10-3100 min
The Search for Living Prophets#51: TransformationElections don’t unite, they divide. Here are seven reasons why we must prepare ourselves to be transformers – and role models of understanding – in the face of conflict. When elections end, the hard work begins to heal and unite the divided, angry, bewildered peoples of our world.
Speakers: Rev Justin Osterman, Rev Rob Hardies, Rev Lavanhar, Rev Deneice Mason, Father Leo Booth, Martin Luther King Jr, Rev Barber Listen
2018-10-3100 minThe Search for Living Prophetsmy father’s identityHow much does our identity, and not our values, define our politics?
In episode 50, I share my own journey to understand my father – a kind and generous person who vents anger on twitter – through the lens of identity politics. Meg Barnhouse explains the divided camps of “radicals” and “respectables” behind all social change movements, and I wrestle with the choice we must each make between trying to replace or transform those with whom we disagree.
Listen
2018-10-1000 minThe Search for Living Prophetsmy father’s identityHow much does our identity, and not our values, define our politics?
In episode 50, I share my own journey to understand my father – a kind and generous person who vents anger on twitter – through the lens of identity politics. Meg Barnhouse explains the divided camps of “radicals” and “respectables” behind all social change movements, and I wrestle with the choice we must each make between trying to replace or transform those with whom we disagree.
Listen
2018-10-1000 min
The Search for Living ProphetsJesus for the outcastsWhat did it mean to be a woman in the time of Jesus? A child? a tax collector? A foreigner? Deniece Mason shares three stories about Jesus bringing dignity to outcasts. Their meanings change when read in the original Greek, and when viewed in the context of the times and when looking at what stories they followed in the Gospel of Luke.
Listen to Episode 49
2018-08-3000 min
The Search for Living ProphetsJesus for the outcastsWhat did it mean to be a woman in the time of Jesus? A child? a tax collector? A foreigner? Deniece Mason shares three stories about Jesus bringing dignity to outcasts. Their meanings change when read in the original Greek, and when viewed in the context of the times and when looking at what stories they followed in the Gospel of Luke.
Listen to Episode 49
2018-08-3000 min
The Search for Living ProphetsBe proximate to sufferingBryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), shares three life lessons from his time as a lawyer just starting to work with death row inmates – many of whom were later found innocent and exonerated.
(Listen – sound quality isn’t great)
2018-08-2100 min
The Search for Living ProphetsBe proximate to sufferingBryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), shares three life lessons from his time as a lawyer just starting to work with death row inmates – many of whom were later found innocent and exonerated.
(Listen – sound quality isn’t great)
2018-08-2100 minThe Search for Living ProphetsEmpowerment or empirement?This time: Stories about the false promise of empowerment, and how the attitudes of colonialism, imperialism, and empire continue to affect our efforts at creating a more perfect world.
The final mini sermon explains how this can be traced back to the moment the purpose of Christianity was twisted by the Roman Empire that adopted it as the state religion long ago.
Episode 47
2018-07-3000 minThe Search for Living ProphetsEmpowerment or empirement?This time: Stories about the false promise of empowerment, and how the attitudes of colonialism, imperialism, and empire continue to affect our efforts at creating a more perfect world.
The final mini sermon explains how this can be traced back to the moment the purpose of Christianity was twisted by the Roman Empire that adopted it as the state religion long ago.
Episode 47
2018-07-3000 minThe Search for Living ProphetsListening to gender and identityMeg Barnhouse tells stories about gender and its ambiguities, about raising children that are not pidgeonholed, and helps us become better listeners when others are expressing their true identity.
(Episode 46)
2018-07-1300 minThe Search for Living ProphetsListening to gender and identityMeg Barnhouse tells stories about gender and its ambiguities, about raising children that are not pidgeonholed, and helps us become better listeners when others are expressing their true identity.
(Episode 46)
2018-07-1300 minThe Search for Living ProphetsOf mustard seeds and children in cages
Christ Church (Anglican) Cathedral in Indianapolis, IN decided to cage the holy family in chainlink on their front lawn to prove a point about immigrants and refugees, and remind us about the Gospel message. This is the sermon that accompanied that protest.
2018-07-0600 minThe Search for Living ProphetsOf mustard seeds and children in cages
Christ Church (Anglican) Cathedral in Indianapolis, IN decided to cage the holy family in chainlink on their front lawn to prove a point about immigrants and refugees, and remind us about the Gospel message. This is the sermon that accompanied that protest.
2018-07-0600 minThe Search for Living ProphetsHarry and Meghan’s Wedding sermon: Redemptive Love
In the sermon from the 2018 Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, American Episcopal Bishop Michael Curry gave an impassioned plea to live by the power of love. Inspired by MLK’s sermon about how to love your enemy, Curry reminds us that love could transform the world, if we could just be open to it.
2018-06-0400 minThe Search for Living ProphetsHarry and Meghan’s Wedding sermon: Redemptive Love
In the sermon from the 2018 Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, American Episcopal Bishop Michael Curry gave an impassioned plea to live by the power of love. Inspired by MLK’s sermon about how to love your enemy, Curry reminds us that love could transform the world, if we could just be open to it.
2018-06-0400 minThe Search for Living ProphetsA new name for GodRob Hardies shares a personal journey of losing faith in God and calling himself an atheist out of pain, not belief. After coming out, he couldn’t accept that God loved him as he was, and so he stopped believing in God to get back at him. But time and healing brought him back to Life and gave him a new name for God.
2018-05-2300 minThe Search for Living ProphetsA new name for GodRob Hardies shares a personal journey of losing faith in God and calling himself an atheist out of pain, not belief. After coming out, he couldn’t accept that God loved him as he was, and so he stopped believing in God to get back at him. But time and healing brought him back to Life and gave him a new name for God.
2018-05-2300 minThe Search for Living ProphetsThe Long Arc
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice” is an often spoken idea from abolitionists to civil rights leaders. Martin Luther King used it often. This episode explains and illustrates what this means. This pulls from a 2007 William Schulz sermon – Schulz was a one-time President of Amnesty International and President of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
2018-05-0300 minThe Search for Living ProphetsPower in a name
Two sermonlets about the power found in a name. Rev Justin Osterman (UU Raleigh) tells his story of when we served as a translator in Guantanamo. When he entered the prison cell, he did the most natural human thing.
In another story Rev Rob Hardies (All Souls UU DC) tells the story of Moses and the burning bush. “Tell me your name?” he asks. And the name God gave could change our entire world view, depending on how it is translated – for His name is both “I am who I am” and “I will be who I will be.”
2018-04-0300 minThe Search for Living ProphetsSpeaking out: reconciling diversity within the movement
A core part of effective activism is individual witness – standing up to those who one sees and works with every day.
This sermon captures the story of one minister’s behind-the-scenes efforts to cleanse her church’s leadership of sexism and sexual predators and the conflicts that emerged. It reveals how even the most liberal institutions are still not immune to #metoo problems. Efforts at fostering a healthy diversity within the church did not permeate the leadership. And amazingly, as of Februrary 2018, Susan was not just removed from the puplit, she was defrocked by her ordain...2018-03-2600 minThe Search for Living ProphetsMLK: How to love your enemiesMartin Luther King, Jr was an amazing preacher. Listen to excerpts from one of his sermons on how to love your enemies. He says, “Jesus has become the practical realist… his commandment [to love your enemies] is an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization.” He argues it is the only pragmatic way to change the world, and restore unity where there hate has sown the seeds of division.
2018-03-0200 minThe Search for Living ProphetsMoral VulnerabilityThere are three parts of being an effective activist:
(1) To protect and serve the vulnerable.
(2) To wake people up to the plight of the marginalized.
And (3) to practice individual witness to those who stand against progress as a bridge towards mutual understanding, reconciliation, and restoring justice. This explains is what that third part is all about. The lessons of history show that you cannot be an effective activist if you are not practicing moral vulnerability – ready to forgive, ready to be the first to sacrifice, ready to make peace without victory.
It’s a bitt...2018-02-1800 minThe Search for Living ProphetsEffective Activism“Do you need to be an activist to be a Unitarian?”
That was the question posed to Rev Dr Justin Osterman of the Raleigh UU fellowship (http://www.uufr.org/). His answer is the best 20 minute explanation of how to be an effective activist I’ve ever heard.
2018-01-2500 minThe Search for Living ProphetsThe dream of racial justice and the courage to pursue it
Two sermons from two Unitarian Universalist churches (Washington DC and Tulsa OK) from MLK Sunday (2018) about courage and the journey towards justice that continues, 50 years later. Both tell the story of James Reeb – a UU minister and activist martyred in 1965 – an event that triggered the signing of the voting rights act a week later. Where does the courage come from to work for justice? What kind of daily activities helps us develop resolve? Martin Lavanhar and Rob Hardies offer some answers.
(Music: Jamie Cullum – Pure imagation featuring Rev William Barber III and Martin Luther King, Jr Run...2018-01-2400 minThe Search for Living ProphetsOwning the pain of grief with tears of praise for lifeThis combines two sermons from All Souls UU Church in Washington, DC 2010. Rev. Rob Hardies and Louise Green speak about grief, and finding a way to express both the pain of loss and the praise for life. Our tears are a lament and a prayer – of thanksgiving for what life offers us every day.
“Notice how we try to protect others from the pain of grief,” Rob says, “and how the voice of the psalm cries out in grief without reservation. We don’t know how to deal with grief.”
I compiled this for someone who just got...2017-12-1100 minThe Search for Living ProphetsDeniece Mason: Mountains beyond the transfiguration Reverend Deniece Mason tells two stories: Trekking in the Himalayas as a teenager with friends, and an episode of a woman in a nice neighborhood who noticed a homeless figure sleeping for days on a bench at the bus stop on her street. Both stories are a reminder that Jesus is not high on a mountain; He lives and works in the world, and if we want to understand God, we must look for him on park benches.
2017-11-2300 minThe Search for Living ProphetsJesus among the outsiders, on the margins of society
Doug Brown draws parallels between the story of Jesus healing the 10 lepers and how we approach outsiders in our communities today. Jesus was himself an outsider, and that gave him a perspective that revealed more truth. In this story, though all ten lepers were cleansed (cured) as they traveled to present themselves to the priests (to get an official recognition of being cured), only one out of the ten – a Samaritan and outsider among the Jews – returned to thank Jesus and learn about His message.
Those on the margins of society are the people who reform and...2017-11-1600 minThe Search for Living ProphetsParable of the Red Cranes in the DMZ With news of Trump in Korea this week, and talk of the unlimited potential of human endeavors to reshape the planet as a technology-enabled paradise, this parable of the red cranes offers a different viewpoint. In the DMZ between North and South Korea there live rare majestic birds whose habitat would be crushed by development if the two countries reunited. Both plan to build a massive city on the mouth of the river in the DMZ, making the cranes extinct in that country. Their livelihood depends on a fragile truce. The pastor asks whether the story of the tower...2017-11-0900 minThe Search for Living ProphetsSpeaking peace shalom in times of political strife Deneice Mason tells the story of an early Christian peacemaker who bought an end to the circus of death in Rome, and asks us how are we bringing Peace and fostering dialogue in these times of political strife.
Source: Pleasant Valley UMC
2017-10-3100 minThe Search for Living ProphetsFind a god as you understand god – the key to liberation“Find a god as you understand God. That was the key to my spiritual liberation,” explains Father Leo Booth. Booth (http://fatherleo.com/ a recording from 2000) shares his story of struggle with addiction and with the essential ingredients of the disease, and his redemption. These feelings mirror those of victims of sexual assault, as Rev Kathy Schmitz (https://www.orlandouu.org/) shares in an excerpt from her sermon “me too” and becoming vulnerable.
We are all on similar journeys through life, and it has been my focus this month to share stories that intersect in dealing with racism...2017-10-2500 minThe Search for Living ProphetsBuying into other people’s power: Addiction, recovery from racism
“The danger for us is to think too small. Buy into other people’s power rather than the power that we have. In every solitary one of us, there is a Martin Luther King.”
Father Leo Booth provides makes a compelling case that addiction and recovery are a spiritual journey of becoming aware of our own power. He highlights all the self-doubt and ego that drives a person into addiction, and how to overcome this. What’s interesting is that you can replace every mention of “acohol” and “alcoholic” with “racism” or “racist” and it would make perfect sense. This...2017-10-1900 minThe Search for Living ProphetsBullets could not deter me and I would not seek revenge – Malala
Dear Friends, on the 9th of October 2012, the Taliban shot me on the left side of my
forehead. They shot my friends too. They thought that the bullets would silence us. But
they failed. And then, out of that silence came, thousands of voices. The terrorists thought
that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions but nothing changed in my life
except this: Weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was
born. I am the same Malala. My ambitions are the same. My hopes are the same. My
...2017-10-1800 minThe Search for Living ProphetsBono: Grace is the opposite of Karma
U2’s singer Bono used to be a believer in Karma but through his journey, he’s grown to be a firm believer in Grace.
Most religions are based on Karma. The ancient Israelites believed in Karma (“we are God’s chosen people” and “lepers must have sinned to be diseased”). Hinduism and the caste system is about karma. And most importantly, a large swath of Republican social conservatism is also based on Karma.
Deniece Mason explains why Christianity is so revolutionary – that it is based on Grace, not Karma. Karma is getting what we...2017-10-1600 minThe Search for Living ProphetsKarma or Grace is the choice to deny or to buildMost religions are based on Karma. The ancient Israelites believed in Karma (“we are God’s chosen people” and “lepers must have sinned to be diseased”). This is about how U2’s singer Bono used to be a believer in Karma but through his journey, he’s grown to be a firm believer in Grace.
2017-10-1500 minThe Search for Living ProphetsA prophetic vision of peacemaking
We have a prophetic vision of peace, not unlike we see in a local nonprofit – they are cutting up military uniforms, pressing the fibers into pulp to make paper, and transforming ex-soldiers into artists.
Peace and justice are built around rebuilding relationships. Jesus dismantled the law, the commandments and the ordinances in order to make peace. That’s why peace church Christians today work to change laws and establish greater justice.
They called Jesus the Son of David because kings were powerful, public, political figures. The Bible was written by people who had not yet...2017-10-1100 minThe Search for Living ProphetsThe fierce ugency of now – Rob Hardies
Rob Hardies – The fierce ugency of now (sermon at All souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Washington, DC) is about the Treyvon Martin story and how it relates to the 1963 march on Washington, when a pastor at this very church was killed in Selma Alabama – James Reeb. Lessons for today.
http://ia800408.us.archive.org/26/items/uu-fierce-urgency-of-now/13.18.25TheFierceUrgencyOfNow.mp3
2017-10-0900 minThe Search for Living ProphetsWhat is Peace, really?
“They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.” Pastor Deniece Mason explains what this means in a modern context. She points out that Memorial Day wasn’t a holiday before 1971. And long before that, it’s origins come from women in Mississippi who, while decorating the graves of their ancestors in a cemetery, noticed some long neglected overgrown graves. These were for union soldiers. And they decided to clean these up and put flowers on them, because it didn’t matter that they were men who fought against their own ancestors. Humanity m...2017-10-0900 minThe Search for Living Prophets03.01.19 Most Durable Power This sermon explores what some call the roots of religion: awe and humility. How does our particular faith, Unitarian Universalism, address these two large concepts? Can we learn to say, “We don’t know?” with awe and humility? The Rev. Barbara Wells serves as co-minister (with her husband, Jaco ten Hove) at Paint Branch UU Church in Adelphi, MD.
Sunday, January 19, 2003 at 10:50am: ‘The Most Durable Power’ — Rev. Robert M. Hardies
https://ia601201.us.archive.org/25/items/03.01.19-Most-Durable-Power-h6bzfe/03.01.19MostDurablePower.mp3
2017-10-0800 minThe Search for Living ProphetsCreating sanctuary after Trump
In the days after the 2016 election with a surprising Trump victory, many in the congregation were shocked and horrified and despondent. Rob Hardies’s sermon struck a perfect balance between accepting the results and preparing All Souls Church as a “sanctuary” for the times ahead.
He reminded us that the church’s bell, crafted by Paul Revere’s son, has tolled for the powerless in past times. It tolled for John Brown when he was hung for his abolitionist raid on Harper’s Ferry. It tolled for the Emancipation Proclamation, and the end of the civil war. I...2017-10-0700 minThe Search for Living ProphetsHow Hope – faith in the future – Transforms and Sustains
From the Gospel story of the woman who sneaks through the crowd to touch Jesus’s robe because she believes she can be healed, Deniece Mason explains why there is more to the story of a nameless, sick, ostracized woman than it first seems. This story is about coping with and hoping through tragedy in our own lives.
When Jesus says, “Daughter, your faith has made you well, and now go in peace and be healed,” the original meaning has a deeper connotation. It’s more like, “Your faith has given your soul lasting salvation, now go in peac...2017-10-0700 minThe Search for Living ProphetsI choose you – Yahweh, Moses, and a burning bushThe burning bush in the desert was not something amazing, but rather something sublime that only a careful observer of the world could have noticed. And Moses, at nearly 80 years old, did not fit the mold of an activist or revolutionary. What mattered was that he was paying attention, and receptive, and didn’t turn a blind eye. Such is the way for all those who wish to make the world a better place, Deniece Mason explains (of Pleasant Valley United Methodist Church in Texas).
2017-10-0600 minThe Search for Living ProphetsBeyond the Moment and the Movement: Spiritual Transformation in Times of Division and Fear“Not a moment but a movement,” has become a popular slogan in progressive circles, a reminder that our social justice work must go beyond mere resistance to the immediate political crisis, and strive to build a lasting movement for justice and equality. As people of faith committed to building beloved community, we understand this. Yet I would argue that as people of faith we seek something beyond the moment and the movement. I would argue that our current climate of division and suspicion and fear offers the possibility of an even deeper transformation, a spiritual and moral transformation. This Sund...2017-10-0500 minThe Search for Living ProphetsBill Quigley – Message on Law and Social Justice
Dr. Martin Luther King’s message is not for the faint of heart. You must BE WILLING TO BE UNCOMFORTABLE, because questioning our laws will make other people uncomfortable. … We must NEVER CONFUSE LAW AND JUSTICE. What is legal is often not just. 100 years ago children were employed in dangerous industries. Women and African Americans could not vote. Bosses paid workers whatever they wanted. Industrialists used police to beat up strikers, and lawyers, judges, and legislators enforced laws that we know now were terribly unjust.
In the struggle for social justice, be prepared to be misu...2017-10-0200 minThe Search for Living Prophets05.10.02 Choose To Bless The World – Rob HardiesAs Hurricane Katrina has reminded us, inspite of our ‘melting pot’ national image, race still matters. As we strive to be an ‘evermore diverse’ congregation, how do we see and talk about the differences between us?
http://s3.us.archive.org/05.10.02-Choose-To-Bless-The-World-kqj0fv/05.10.02ChooseToBlessTheWorld.mp3
Sunday, October 2, 2005 at 10:50am: ‘Choose to Bless the World’ — Rev. Robert M. Hardies
2017-10-0100 minThe Search for Living ProphetsHenry David Thoreau – Essential excepts from Civil Disobedience
2017-09-2900 minThe Search for Living Prophets04.06.06 Found In Translation.mp3What’s on my mind these days? What do I see in the world? What does it mean?
Sunday, June 6, 2004 at 10:50am: ‘Found in Translation’ — Rev. Robert Hardies
2017-09-2700 min
The Search for Living ProphetsRob Hardies – A train through Trumps America (2017)Rev Rob Hardies of All-Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Washington DC shares an open letter to his 5-year old son. Journeying from San Francisco to Chicago on the day after the violence in Charlottesville, a gay dad and his multiracial son board a train for a trip across Trump’s America. Why? In part because his son loves trains, and in part because he wants to understand the America that will shape his family, his church, and their future.
Part of a larger theme of sermons answering the tough question of how we live with people who do...2017-09-2500 min
The Search for Living ProphetsHoly Ground – our land in the image of God who is, was, shall beUnitarian Universalist Megan Lloyd Joiner speaks about America of 2017. A nation just beginning to become the vision set out 200 years ago in documents. An invitation to create a world that offers everyone hope and joy. The original name for God, YAHWEH, is a conflation of the Hebrew words for “I was”, “I am”, and “I shall be.” And like this God we worship, we must commit our lives to a world of promise.
The Black Lives Matter is a battle for the soul of our nation. And it is part of living our faith and our values in worshipin...2017-09-2100 minThe Search for Living ProphetsMennonite sermon on the loaves and fishesDavid Miller Mennonite sermon on loaves and fishes
The two best preachers I’ve heard are David Miller (University Mennonite Church, State College PA) and Rob Hardies (All Souls Unitarian in Washington, DC). Here is one of David’s.
https://ia601505.us.archive.org/18/items/02062005DavidMillerMennoniteSermonLoavesFishesAndEmpiresThatActInGodsNameedited/02-06-2005%20David%20Miller%20Mennonite%20Sermon%20-%20Loaves%20Fishes%20and%20Empires%20that%20act%20in%20Gods%20name%20(edited).mp3
Download – David Miller Mennonite sermon on loaves and fishes
2017-09-1500 minThe Search for Living Prophets03.03.23 Coalition Of The Willing.mp3
On March 30 and April 6, our candidate for associate minister will preach. You can meet the candidate after church and throughout the week. On April 6, we will vote on whether to call the candidate.
Sunday, March 23, 2003 at 10:50am: The Coalition of the Willing — Rev. Robert Hardies
http://s3.us.archive.org/03.03.23-Coalition-Of-The-Willing-349psi/03.03.23CoalitionOfTheWilling.mp3
2017-07-1900 minThe Search for Living Prophets03.03.16 Smooth Stones.mp3
We’ve heard a lot of talk this week about a so-called "coalition of the willing." But the coalition that Rev. Hardies speaks about would work to break down the barriers that divide the human family, locally in our neighborhoods as well as in our ever-shrinking and more complex global village.
Sunday, March 16, 2003 at 10:50am: ‘The Smooth Stones of Liberal Religion’ — Rev. Robert M. Hardies
http://s3.us.archive.org/03.03.16-Smooth-Stones-h3t9vs/03.03.16SmoothStones.mp3
2017-07-1900 minThe Search for Living ProphetsI will be who I will beThe God of Possibility and the Possibility of God
How would our understanding of God change if we took the season seriously and understood God not as the cause of all things, but as the possibility in all things? Repeated at the 11:15 service.
Quoting Rob Hardies:
God says to moses, a slave, “I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out. And I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them out of...2017-01-1600 min
The Search for Living ProphetsWilliam Barber II Moral Movement Watch Night Sermon (Dec 31, 2016)Rev William Barber is the today’s leading moral religious voice for a pluralistic society that provides all people with the rights that Martin Luther King Junior struggled to enshrine through the civil rights movement.
Given December 31st, 2016 – In response to a fearful America who is not sure how to respond to the changing political climate under Trump, this Moral Monday Architect deliverd a powerful message at a New Year’s Eve Watch Night Service in the historic Metropolitan A.M.E. Church in Washington, DC.
Original full sermon: https://www.youtube.com/wa...2016-12-3100 min