Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church: Sacred Love

Friday, February 5, 2010

Sacred Love

1246
The minute I heard my first love story
I started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.

Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere.
They’re in each other all along.
— Rumi

The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him - that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.
—Swami Vivekananda

That sense of sacredness, that thinking in generations, must begin with reverence
for this earth.
—Paul Tsongas

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February Sunday Services!

In the Hebrew Bible, the Book of Psalms are 150 songs or verses from a wide range of life experience and faith stances. It is as if the whole community’s diversity—or the whole diversity within one person’s life—has been captured in a series of lamentations, praise-songs, petitions for mercy, and declarations of anger.

In February, ORUUC will focus on the spiritual theme of reverence. We won’t just talk about it—we’ll practice it. Let us share the psalms of our lives, and of all of life, in our worship together.

Sunday, February 7, 2010
Psalm in the Swamp
Rev. Jake Bohstedt Morrill, leading both services

Science and religion are often foolishly pitted against each other. But in this age of environmental disaster, we need a worldview that unites the world as it is with the world as it ought to be--that links facts and values. As we begin this month of reverence, we'll explore a theology built from the stuff of creation, that does not reject life, but revels in it.

Sunday, February 14, 2010
Psalm in the City
Rev. Jake Bohstedt Morrill and the Welcoming Congregation Team, co-leading both services

The Bible begins with the simple and pastoral society of Adam and Eve and concludes with the complex fever dream, the urban visions, of the Book of Revelation. Our world in the twenty-first century is more like the latter--a tapestry of cultures, values, and lives which defy simple reduction. Throughout this diversity, Unitarian Universalism asserts the unity of love. On this Valentine's Day, along with many of our sister congregations, we will take the chance to affirm our faith in a wider love that encompasses each person and each family, and fuels our work toward aligning the world with the reality of this love. Because this will be a service about justice, this will be a service about love.

Sunday, February 21, 2010
Psalm in the Highway
Members of ORUUC

As Jake preaches at the new UU congregation in Maryville, members of our community will share their stories of overcoming obstacles and learning the practice of reverence, each in their own different way in the journey.

Sunday, February 28, 2010
Psalm in the Storm
Rev. Jake Bohstedt Morrill, leading both services

No matter our positive thoughts on sunny days, times come when the rain won't stop, when we're caught in a storm. In times of challenge, some of us may secretly envy those of an authoritarian faith, who have something solid to cling to when times are hard. How can we, of a free faith, stand firm in our faith when we are challenged, when hard times come? How can the hopeful faith of Unitarian Universalism engage the reality of evil?

January Sunday Services

We Welcome You!

January 10, 2009: Bring-a-Friend Sunday
Ubuntu: A Promise We Make to Each Other
Rev. Jake Bohstedt Morrill, leading both services

Ubuntu is a Xhosa concept from South Africa that describes a sense of community and human interdependence. Speaking of 'Ubuntu,' South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu has said, 'The solitary human being is a contradiction in terms and therefore you seek to work for the common good because your humanity comes into its own in belonging.' On this Sunday, come to experience the 'Ubuntu' of ORUUC and to feel fully human in your belonging.

January 17, 2009: Martin Luther King, Jr, Sunday
Vision: A Promise We Make to Our Grandchildren
The Youth Group, leading both services

At the Ministry Vision session last fall, a leading theme of people’s hopes was greater youth involvement and leadership. ORUUC is blessed by strong youth leaders, who have a keen eye on the present and the future of UUism. Today, we’ll hear news from the front-lines of our faith.

January 24, 2009
Hope: A Promise We Make in the Dark
Caitlin Cotter and Rev. Jake Bohstedt Morrill,
co-leading both services

Winter is a time of cold and darkness, when the joyful evidence of life can be hard to find. After the celebrations of the turning of the year are over, where do we look for meaning in this season? What is winter's power and potential, and how is it important for our personal journeys? Caitlin S. Cotter is a third generation UU and a native Tennessean. After graduating from Bryn Mawr College in 2008, Caitlin spent a year as a professional environmentalist and now is working as a batik artist. In January, she'll take part in a social justice residency at The Mountain before beginning seminary studies in the fall, toward UU ministry.

January 31, 2009
Recovery: When We Break Our Promises
Rev. Jake Bohstedt Morrill, leading both services

Well, as it turns out, making promises is easier than keeping them. But, good luck: when we inevitably fail in our quest for perfection, what really matters is how we respond. Do we give up? Do we despair? Or do we take a breath, come to center, and go on with intention. How can we do this?

Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church

Friday, February 5, 2010

Sacred Love

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