Readings from March 20, 2016

by Kia Hatch and Frank Lawrence Statements by people who have orbited planet Earth After an orange cloud – formed as a result of a dust storm over the Sahara and caught up by air current – reached the Philippines and settled there with rain, I understood that we are all sailing in the same […]

On Learning How to See, Part II

On Learning How to See, Part II a sermon by Jerry Jacoby at the Unitarian Universalist Community of the Mountains March 6, 2016          As many of you know, I am a retired engineer, and during my thirty-year career I learned much about the history of science, although it was mostly catch as catch can. […]

Do You Have a Dream?

by Rev. David Usher Invocation Robbie Walsh writes: Some say we get what we deserve in life, but I don’t believe it.  We certainly don’t deserve J S Bach for example.  What have I done to deserve the Second Brandenburg Concerto?  I have not been kind enough; I have not done enough justice; I have […]

The Transient and the Permanent

by Rev. David Usher January 10, 2016 In his novel, Barchester Towers, the English Victorian Anthony Trollope wrote “There is, perhaps, no greater hardship at present inflicted on mankind in civilized and free countries, than the necessity of listening to sermons.”  So prepare yourself for a great hardship to be inflicted upon you for the […]

The Snail and the Hermit Crab

by Rev. David Usher Sunday, January 3, 2016 A man and a woman had been married for more than sixty years.  They had shared everything.  They had talked about everything, they had kept no secrets from each other except the old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had […]

From Infant to Child

by Rev. David Usher So, here we are, just five days before Christmas.  You are all ready to observe the holiday I’m sure, to make it the best yet.  You have done all of your Christmas shopping – right? – the tree is up and decorated with sparkly baubles, the lights are twinkling around every […]

The Third Principle

by Rev. David Usher “The thing about being a Unitarian Universalist that I like is that I can believe anything I want.”  I wonder how many times I have heard that, or a variant.  I wonder how many times, in explaining to an enquirer what Unitarian Universalism is, I have said something which might have […]

Good Religion/Bad Religion

by Rev. David Usher It’s 39 years ago that I finally decided I wanted to a Unitarian minister. It was something I had been toying with for several years, but I had always managed to find an excuse not to do it. But I spent 1976 doing what seems almost an obligatory rite of passage […]

A Declaration of Interdependence

by Rev. David Usher I need to issue a full disclaimer right at the beginning of this sermon. I need to acknowledge my debt to a colleague, Rev. Sue Phillips, who is Regional Lead for the UU congregations in northern New England, and whose article, also called A Declaration of Interdependence, I read this past […]

Being in Covenant

by Rev. David Usher November 22, 2015 After becoming a member of UUCM, it took me 2 years, before I started to understand what membership really meant. When I was a Lutheran all I had to do was say I believed what the church said and I could be a member. The UUCM bylaws say […]