What does it mean to be good? To do good? What does it mean to choose something “for good” or on behalf of “the greater good?” This service will playfully and philosophically explore goodness itself - as an aspect of our individual and communal identities.

River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation

For Good

As we put in the work to bring about the Beloved Community, we take pause to explore what Freedom, Justice, and Liberty really mean in our daily lives and the lives of those around us. How do we create the world we long for and cultivate the love that’s living in our hearts? What does it mean to really be free?

How It Feels to Be Free

In sacred Hindu scriptures, did you know that all things are created through the playtime of the gods? Not the intention or the planning or the due diligence – but the sheer ebullient playtime of the holy. What lessons can we take from this story? From the ways in which play creates something new, just as much as planning ever could – and maybe more. We’ll also recognize our annual Senior Bridging ceremony today!

Divine Play

We’ll be joined by our awesome Affiliated Community minister this week for a shared reflection on the theology and wisdom of that saint of our time - Dolly Parton herself. With that can-do Dolly spirit and some beautiful music, we’ll consider what the troubadour has to teach us.

The Doctrine of Dolly

Join us for our annual Spring Music Service, “Going to the Rising of the Sun.” Enjoy spoken and musical reflections on our shared experience of emerging from times of pain and difficulty to a time of new hope. The service will feature musical offerings of many styles and genres, including classical two-piano works, contemporary and folk songs, and the River Road Choir’s latest virtual offerings.

Going to the Rising of the Sun

How do the stories we tell shape the future? Is it possible that our stories can be portals or gateways into some new reality we haven’t yet created? Is a story a doorway between one version of the world and the next, and how are we going to choose the stories we tell about this time in our lives and in history?

Stories as Doorways

 Human beings are storytelling creatures, but sometimes our stories have a way of getting too simple. Sometimes we let the conventional telling of a story limit our perceptions of what’s possible. Can we tell stories about ourselves and our world that are complex, honest and compelling at the same time?

Trapped in Simple Stories

With poetry and reflection, this service will point you toward actions you can take this Earth Day. How can we be patient when the work asks for it while also embracing the urgency of this epoch-changing climate crisis?

Urgency and Patience: Earth Day in an Uncertain Age

 This service will serve as a time honor and remember all that we have lost in the last year.  It will be a time to grieve,  to give praise, and to begin becoming something new as we emerge into the Spring and beyond.   

Ring the Bells that Still Can Ring

This Easter Sunday, we’ll tell the story of a man who died long ago, only to become a whole new thing on the other side of the story. What are the conditions necessary for anything to become a whole new thing? For the re-making that comes when we are un-done and put back together again? And how do we express that in art and creativity?

The Necessary Conditions for Transfiguration

As our world is breaking open with new possibilities of defining ourselves and understanding one another, we often find barriers to becoming who we truly are. Sometimes it seems as though society has decided for us who we are supposed to be, often giving us very little options for authentic growth. How can we transcend the binaries that so rigidly define who we are in this world? How can we lean into one another, our faith, and our community as we journey these unknown paths of self discovery and transformation?

Transcending the Binary

You know those days – those days that it all just doesn’t add up. Did you know you’re not alone? How do we come back to our highest commitments even in the middle of all that?

Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Days

In this service, Rev. Nancy will be one among a diverse group of clergy colleagues across the country reflecting on the ways we have found hope in our communities during this year of online community. From the desert of the US southern border, to Louisiana New England and right here in our nation’s capital, we’ll reflect on the meaning we’ve found and the meaning we’ve made in one year (kind of) apart.

Our Year (Kind Of) Apart

This Sunday we begin our new monthly spiritual theme of commitment using a story about temptation and renewal from the Christian scriptures. What is it that tempts you away from your commitments? Maybe not a little devil on your shoulder, but perhaps a deep exhaustion in your heart? How can we re-commit to what matters even when we are tempted to move right on by?

A Whisper Over One Shoulder

This Sunday we’ll lift up all the ways in which each of us as individuals and as a congregation are meeting the moment each and every day. As we kick off our stewardship campaign, we’ll ponder what it is that community means to us, especially in times like this.

Meeting the Moment

Sermons from our ministers, Rev. Nancy McDonald Ladd and Rev. Louise Green

hubhopper

River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation

hubhopper