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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
by Rev. David Usher My first ministry was in Atherton, a small town on the western periphery of the Greater Manchester conurbation in north west England. It was a very nondescript working class town, caught in the grip of Thatcherism so that its only two industries of cotton and coal had been ruthlessly closed down, […]
by Rev. David Usher Given that it can be such a contentious issue, particularly in our Unitarian Universalist context, I thought it would be useful if this morning I preached about religious language. Words are our primary medium for communication, but often they also lead us down the path to misunderstanding each other. I am […]
