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.

Living Prophets: sermons from liberal religion

#70: The Gratitudes

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 […]

#69: The Liberal Myth

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]

Episode #68: There is another way

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 […]

#67: How are evangelical churches talking about race?

America 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 […]

#66: America the contradiction

As 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 […]

#65: Starting the conversation

What 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 […]

#64: Declaration of Interdependence

2020 – 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 […]

Jubilee and coronavirus

As 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 […]

Covid19: The Best of Us, and lessons from the plague

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 […]

Disease and Dis-Ease Symptoms

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 […]

Out of fear, inspiration

Two 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)

Episode #59: Resist Contempt

Reverend 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 […]

Episode #58: The Prayer Before the Prayer to Forgive

Peacemaking 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 […]

Revolutionary Truth and Reconciliation

Most 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]

Episode #56: Hold her in the Light

A digest of sermons or other speeches and conversations from unitarian universalist ministers, mennonites, UMC, and other liberal religious voices.

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Living Prophets: sermons from liberal religion

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