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The Sermon Page

We are podcasting! See below for instructions

On this page we have a selection of sermons available - some in written form and some as audio files.

The audio files can be played directly on your computer by clicking the webcast links below or can be downloaded to your computer or MP3 player as a podcast by following the directions below.

Webcasts

There will be a delay as the file downloads after you click the links below. Make sure that your computer’s sound is turned on.

 
August 10, 2008 What’s the Most Important Question You Can Ask in Life? by Rev. Arthur Vaeni
  When Albert Einstein, was once asked, “What’s the most important question you can ask in life?” He replied, “Is the universe a friendly place or not?” What do you imagine to be the most important question? Just for fun and profit –for our soul’s profit, at least- let’s consider how we might understand the nature of existence.
August 3, 2008 Responding to the Tragedy in Knoxville by Rev. Arthur Vaeni
  We gather to mourn the two people who were killed, to convey our caring and support for the Knoxville congregation and to renew our commitment to the creation of a society that honors diversity and affirms the inherent worth and dignity of every person, including those who deny our own.
July 27, 2008 Where Bullets Rain Down Like Water: Swimming Against a Tide of Violence by Kelly Thompson
  Reflecting on his journey from child of a fundamentalist upbringing, to unarmed medic in the jungles and rice paddies of Vietnam, to nonviolent organizer, Kelly Thompson - a member of OUUC - will share some thoughts about effective, nonviolent responses in a violent empire. His first question is, “Are we always personally responsible for our actions?”
July 20, 2008 Reconstruction and Development of Rwanda by guest speaker Dr. Karl Weyrauch, MD
  Dr. Karl Weyrauch MD is a Seattle-based physician who is deeply affected by the Rowandan massacre which killed nearly 2 million people. He has established a unique and powerful organization that is working with and empowering local indigenous peoples to assist them in a grassroots program. As a result of his efforts, the communities he has been involved in have been transformed into vibrant, cohesive and productive segments of society.
July 13, 2008 Maybe the Hokey Pokey Is What It’s All About by Rev. Arthur Vaeni
  Our lives constitute an ongoing series of beginnings and endings – not in series that form a neat linear progression but series that overlay, interlace, overlap in ongoing circles, cycles and spirals. Some thoughts – serious and otherwise- concerning what its all about.
November 25, 2007 The Values of Liberalism by Rev Arthur Vaeni
  In his book, Freedom’s Power, Paul Starr writes: “The proposition that each of us has a right to ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ remains as good a definition as anyone has ever come up with of liberalism’s first principle and America’s historic promise.” The values and understanding of what constitutes a healthy society derived from liberalism are central to the American experience and to the possibility of fostering freedom, justice and equity throughout our society.
November 18, 2007 Beyond the Myth of the First Thanksgiving by Rev Arthur Vaeni
  When we look behind the myth of the Pilgrim’s first Thanksgiving, we gain a different understanding of the lives of the Native Americans and their relationships with the Europeans. And in doing so, we deepen our understanding and appreciation of what it means to be human.
October 21, 2007 What Is the Source and Way of True Peace? by Rev Arthur Vaeni
  In this auction sermon purchased by Ann Yeo we will reflect on our principle of promoting “the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all” in light of our General Assembly’s 2006 resolution calling us to examine what peacemaking presently means to us as Unitarian Universalists. Can we exist with integrity somewhere between agreement with “just war” theory and a commiment to nonviolence?
October 14, 2007 Wrestling with Angels by Rev Arthur Vaeni
 

In his poem “The Man Watching” Rainer Maria Rilke writes:
   What we choose to fight is so tiny!
   What fights with us is so great!..
   When we win it's with small things,
   and the triumph itself makes us small.
In this service that initiates our stewardship drive we consider how this religious tradition calls us to be engaged in the world. Are we made greater by that to which we give our life energy?
September 30, 2007 Why Not Health Care for All? by Rev Arthur Vaeni
  “How are you doing?” someone asks. “As long as I’ve got my health, I can’t complain,” you might respond. In many ways we recognize that good health is at the heart of living well, yet our society has created a health care system that too often fails to support the well-being of too many.
September 23, 2007 Faith Without End by Rev Arthur Vaeni
  Some years ago, James Fowler proposed a theory of faith development in which he suggested that people often move through established stages of faith. What can we learn from this about the nature of faith, and our capacity to create a faith that evolves as our understanding of ourselves and life grows.
September 16, 2007 The End of Faith by Rev Arthur Vaeni
  The title is taken from Sam Harris’s book of the same name. Both Dr. Harris and Richard Dawkins who wrote, “The God Delusion,” challenge not only commonly held religious perspectives but the wisdom of tolerance for those perspectives that are held by so many people.
June 17, 2007 Job’s Understanding of Life by Rev Arthur Vaeni
 

Job is one of the great stories in the Jewish and Christian traditions. It is also one of the most important reflections on life and the nature of the Divine in those scriptures. What of it may be relevant to us?

Podcasts

Podcasts are a way of letting a program manage subscriptions to audio content, downloading programs you subscribe to so you can then listen to them any time, or even load them onto a mp3 player (or iPod). You can even set the programs to automatically download during the night if you have a slower modem.

There are a number of programs that can be downloaded to obtain podcasts, some for a fee, but one of the best is the free download of iTunes from Apple (which runs nicely on PCs). You can get it at http://www.apple.com/itunes/download. If you would like information on other types of programs available for downloading podcasts a list of them can be found at http://www.podcastingnews.com/topics/Podcast_Software.html.

If you use iTunes, you can subscribe to our Podcast by clicking here. Anytime you start up iTunes, new sermons will either automatically download (if you set your preferences for that) or you can right-click the OUUC Podcast title in the list and select Update Podcast to get any new episodes that have been added.

Text of sermons by Rev. Arthur Vaeni

May 7, 2006 Creating a Safe Congregation
April 30, 2006 What I Learned in Louisiana
January 23, 2005 What Are the Defining Qualities of this Liberal Religion?
October 17, 2004 Nature Says: ’Evolve, ’Cause I Bat Last’
November 30, 2003 Self-Reliance Is the Starting Point Not the Goal
November 23, 2003 Gratitude Is the Fairest Blossom Which Springs from the Soul
June 1, 2003 Into the Heart of the Cosmos Where Science and Religion Meet
February 2, 2003 With Malice Toward None; with Charity for All
January 5, 2003 A Principle of Justice, Equity and Compassion
September 29, 2002 The Sixth Principle and Iraq
August 11, 2002 The Pledge of Allegiance and God
April 28, 2002 Fifty Years is Only Half the Story: A Brief History of Unitarianism in Olympia in the 1800’s
April 14, 2002 The Third Leg of the Stool
December 2, 2001 Pausing on the Edge of Darkness

Text of sermons and Services by others

July 16, 2006 - Remembering Louisiana by the Rev. Carol McKinley
April 24, 2005 - Global Warming Service by Green Sanctuary and Social Justice Committees
January 30, 2005 - LLyn De Danaan’s Story, Babur’s Fabulous Journey:The Enduring Heart formed the basis for the worship service
The 2006 Yule Play Script