The Art of Compassion – June 14, 2020

Offering our loving kindness is easy when we like the person on the receiving end. And we can stretch, without too much effort, to encompass the stranger about whom we feel neutral. Now, the person whose behavior irks or angers us? Hmmm….   From the self-compassion we cultivated the previous week, we continue our journey along […]

Tongues of Fire – May 31, 2020

 Note: This service came the week after George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis, the week the protests and riots began, and the week the number of COVID-19 deaths in the United States passed the 100,000 mark.  Rev Kevin’s opening at the beginning of the service included the following:  “This past week has stacked heartbreak upon […]

Flower Power and Radical Welcome – May 17, 2020

Flower Power and Radical Welcome A message delivered via Zoom, May 17, 2020 by Rev. Kevin Tarsa Unitarian Universalist Community of the Mountains Grass Valley, California For pdf of sermon text click HERE. Reading  Open Up the Doors by Rev. Lindasusan Ulrich https://www.uua.org/worship/words/opening/open-doors Opening Doors I know, the metaphor of opening doors is ironic, even painful, […]

Our Mother-Ship – May 10, 2020

Our Mother-Ship A message delivered via Zoom, May 10, 2020 by Rev. Kevin Tarsa Unitarian Universalist Community of the Mountains Grass Valley, California To see the video click HERE. For pdf of sermon text click HERE. Mother’s Day Beginnings Unitarian Julia Ward Howe is best known today for writing the lyrics of “The Battle Hymn […]

The Most Sacred of Times: Life, the Universe, and Everything – March 29, 2020

The Most Sacred of Times: Life, the Universe, and Everything A message delivered via Zoom, March 29, 2020 by Rev. Kevin Tarsa Unitarian Universalist Community of the Mountains Grass Valley, California   See the video HERE. This morning’s service was to have been a service celebrating the end of our annual Stewardship campaign – our […]

What is Given from the Heart – March 1, 2020

What is Given From the Heart (The title and some recurring lines are rooted in the book, What is Given from the Heart by Patricia C. McKissack, Illustrated by April Harrison.) A message delivered March 1, 2020 by Rev. Kevin Tarsa Unitarian Universalist Community of the Mountains Grass Valley, California At Christmas, in my family, […]

When the Winds Have Shifted, When the World Comes Undone – February 16, 2020

When the Winds Have Shifted, When the World Comes Undone * (* phrases from the song “Resilient” by Rising Appalachia) A message delivered February 16, 2020 by Rev. Kevin Tarsa Unitarian Universalist Community of the Mountains Grass Valley, California   Our Heritage of Optimism Universalists and Unitarians over the centuries have been, by nature and […]

Connected Beyond Belief – January 12, 2020

Connected Beyond Belief A message delivered January 12, 2019 by Rev. Kevin Tarsa Unitarian Universalist Community of the Mountains Grass Valley, California “Ultimately, the only freedom adequate to human dignity is the freedom to do what love asks of us. And the greatest blessings of life come to us and through us to all the […]

Feel the Presence of a Hope – December 15, 2019

A message delivered December 15, 2019 by Rev. Kevin Tarsa Unitarian Universalist Community of the Mountains Grass Valley, California Reading:  “The Moment of Magic” by Rev. Victoria Safford  READ IT HERE Message: Feel the Presence of a Hope by Rev. Kevin Tarsa Gail Johnson Vaughan spoke last Sunday of the ineffable nature of transcendent experience […]