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Sermon Archive

Countless Small Actions

Countless Small Actions

Countless Small Actions © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church March 10, 2024     We had a good time talking about butterflies in our service last week. For those who weren’t here or watching online, I was talking about how personal transformation in our lives...

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Imaginal Cells

Imaginal Cells

Imaginal Cells © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church March 3, 2024     He was an enemy of the earliest Christians, a Pharisee named Saul of Tarsus, who was charged with hunting down the apostles and their followers, and ordering them dragged off to prison. He...

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Reparations Service

Reparations Service

Reparations Service. 2/18/24 Remarks Dick Prouty   As you look around this sanctuary today and take in the wonderfully designed woodwork and stained-glass windows, how many of you are aware that this building was built in large part by the fortunes of families on Cape...

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Confronting the Past, Creating the Future

Confronting the Past, Creating the Future

Confronting the Past, Creating the Future © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church February 18, 2024     In April of 1862, at the height of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed a law giving freedom to enslaved people in the District of Columbia. This...

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Toward a Truly Liberating Theology for UU’s

Toward a Truly Liberating Theology for UU’s

Toward a Truly Liberating Theology for UU’s © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church February 11, 2024     It was Dr. Paul Farmer, the late founder of Partners in Health, who introduced me to the concept of Liberation Theology. I was devouring Tracy Kidder’s...

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The Stories Behind the Music

The Stories Behind the Music

The Stories Behind the Music © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church February 4, 2024   Today is the time and the place to call upon the memories of the ancestors. Today we are hearing of heroes, and of giants. In the words of our author Qiyamah Rahman, “It is...

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Love The Hell Out of This World

Love The Hell Out of This World

Love the Hell Out of This World © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church January 21, 2024     I read a story recently by the Reverend Susan Frederick-Gray, who just last June finished her term as the president of the Unitarian Universalist Association. She was...

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Power Without Love…Love Without Power

Power Without Love…Love Without Power

Power Without Love…Love Without Power © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church January 14, 2024     It wasn’t until the election of 2016 that I fully came to understand the depth of the derision and dislike that conservative sectors of our country, actually,...

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To Lead with Love

To Lead with Love © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church January 7, 2024     We speak often about love. Love is, perhaps, the greatest force we know, perhaps the greatest mystery, ‘the only magic’ it was called in our reading earlier. So we think about it,...

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The Risk of Birth

The Risk of Birth Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church Christmas Eve, 2023   In 1973, the poet Madeleine L’Engle wrote these words:   “This is no time for a child to be born, With the earth betrayed by war & hate And a comet slashing the sky to warn That...

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Saying “Yes” to Mystery

Saying “Yes” to Mystery © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church December 3, 2023   The other day the Washington Post reported that a lobsterman in Maine had pulled up a two-colored lobster. The lobsterman, named Jacob Knowles, was fascinated by his discovery and...

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Completing the Gift

Completing the Gift © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church November 19, 2023   The poet Mary Oliver gave us this poem, called The Gift:   Be still, my soul, and steadfast.Earth and heaven both are still watchingthough time is draining from the clockand your...

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Upcoming Services

Nov 10, 2024

Trust That You Are Held, led by Reverend Janet Parsons, with Steve Lacey, musician. In the aftermath of the presidential election, how do we find hope and healing? Please invite friends and family who are in search of caring community this week.

Join us at 10am in-person or at the livestream link below.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIeJfO72kLh-gAtZZT-QOng/live

Children's programming will be provided by Kiana during the worship service for elementary-age and older.

Recent News

Thinking Too Much and Listening Too Little

Thinking Too Much and Listening Too Little © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church October 13, 2024 How many of you got to see the Northern Lights the other night? I found it as thrilling as it was back in May when I got to see them for the very first time in my...

Sunday, October 20

Seeking the Bell Stand Within, led by Reverend Janet Parsons, with music by Steve Lacey. Thomas Merton once wrote, "there is in all things...a hidden wholeness." But how do we hear that in times of great turmoil and stress? Please join us at 10am in-person or at the...

Thinking Too Much and Listening Too Little

Thinking Too Much and Listening Too Little, led by Reverend Janet Parsons with music by Sanae Kanda. Our theme for October is Deep Listening. As we prepare to honor Indigenous Peoples this weekend, we will consider the indigenous practice of listening to the natural...