First Parish Sermon Archive

“Once Upon a Time…                                                                                                May 22, 2011
Bev Waring                                                                                                   First Parish in Wayland
 
(** reading is at the end of this document and should be read first for clarity**)
 
Do you know what I am going to say?
 
Although unlike Nasreddin, I do like to preach, I have to start by saying that writing [...]

(** note that the two readings used during this service appear at the end of this document**)
 
 

When I was in Divinity School, we had to take one class in the area of administration.  The class I chose was called “Money Matters” and was a two week winter intensive course on church finances.  The first two [...]

 
Standing on the Side of Love emerged as a uniting slogan for people of faith here in Massachusetts during our early efforts for same sex marriage rights. The Unitarian Universalist Standing on the Side of Love Campaign was launched in 2009, inspired by the shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, and the response [...]

**Please note – due to numerous requests for the reading, prayer and benediction these pieces as well as the Chinese New Year zodiac chart can all be found at the end of the sermon**
Chinese New Year starts with the new moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon [...]

The Art of Racing in the Rain                                                             
(Note – readings referenced in this sermon are included at the end of this posting)
 
“That which you manifest is before you.”[1]  This is the mantra of the narrator of the book that inspired this service, The Art of Racing in the Rain.  Most frequently, Enzo, the narrator, [...]

Everybody needs a rock.  Maybe not a real, put in your pocket, rub off the painted-on- lady-bug rock like I have but…everybody needs a rock.  The story for all ages this morning about finding your rock contains many messages (as we heard from the children after the story).  For me, on this day, the lesson [...]

Opening words  From “The Secret” by Denise Levertov
 
Two girls discover the secret of life
in a sudden line of poetry.
 
I, who don’t know the secret, - wrote the line.
 
They told me (through a third person)
they had found it but not what it was
not even what line it was.
 
No doubt by now, more than a week later,
they [...]

Beverly V. Waring                                                            August 1, 2010
Starting Out: Visions of a Transitional Ministry                 First Parish in Wayland
 
Reading 1                                           “Working Together” by David Whyte.[i]
We shape our self to fit this world and by the world are shaped again.
The visible and the invisible working together in common cause, to produce the miraculous.
I am thinking of the way [...]