Worship Notes There were three readings for this service. The first was a story from Rabbi Moshe Leib, a Hasidic master who lived during the 18th-century in what is now the Ukraine, which was retold by Martin Buber in his book Tales of the Hasidim.[ref]”How to love men is something I learned from a peasant. He was sitting in an inn with other peasants, drinking. For a long time he was as silent as all the rest, but when he was moved by wine, he asked one of the men seated beside him, ‘Tell me, do you love me or don’t you love me?’ “The other peasant replied, ‘I love…

Worship Notes The reading for this service is my translation of Genesis 16:7-14.  It is a literal translation and may not make a lot of sense at first reading, but should become clear as you read the sermon. Sermon – The Power of Naming During my last year of seminary, I ended up having to take about five Bible courses.  I wasn’t looking forward to it before the year started, but when you go to a non-UU school, that’s how it is.  So I took my first class and fell in love with exegesis. Exegesis is when you study a passage or story in depth, attempting to find out the…

Worship Notes The reading for this service was a story called “The Woman Who Had No Shadow,” a Scandinavian folk tale that can be found at a website of folktales put together by professor D. L. Ashliman.  For the children’s story, I told “Who Ate the Squabs?” that can be found in the book From Long Ago and Many Lands compiled by Sophia Lyon Fahs. Sermon – Coming to Forgiveness In my work as a chaplain with chemically dependent patients, I frequently come across people who either feel great shame, and guilt, and remorse – in fact most of them feel that – because of what they’ve done in their…

Worship Notes Over the years, I have used various readings with this sermon, including: “If There is to Be Peace” by Lao Tse, a section of Honey From Stone: A Naturalist’s Search for God by Chet Raymo, and from O Come Ye Back to Ireland by Niall Williams and Christine Breen. I have used the responsive readings #517 by Starhawk in the Unitarian Universalist hymnal Singing the Living Tradition, or “The Stream of Life” by Rabindranath Tagore, found in the old Unitarian blue hymnbook as #351 and in a shortened version as #612 in “Singing the Living Tradition.” Sermon Once upon a time, a Buddhist monk was being chased by…

Worship Notes For the Children’s Story, I told “The Most Wonderful Gift,” a Turkish story about three brothers who look for gifts to bring a princess in hopes they will bring the best gift and thus win her hand in marriage.  One brother finds a magic mirror that can see all over the world, the other a magic carpet, and the third a lemon that can cure any illness.  While walking to the princess’ lands, they see in the mirror that the princess is dying.  They use the carpet to take them there so the third brother can use the lemon to cure her.  The story can be found in…

Worship Notes For a reading, I used the poem “Kindness” by Naomi Shihab Nye. I told the story of “Kotura, the Lord of the Winds” that is found in a collection of Siberian tales called The Sun Maiden. Sermon – The Spirituality of Kindness In Hebrew, the word for kindness is chesed. Chesed also means benevolence, affection, goodness, love. It is perhaps best translated as loving-kindness. According to Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins in The Wisdom of Judaism [1], chesed, or loving-kindness, could be considered the mission of the Jewish people. He quotes the Talmud: “The Jewish people is recognized by three qualities: They are compassionate, they are modest, and they perform acts…