UUABQ Voice

April 28, 2024: ““Disobedience” The Rev. Angela Herrera Koren

Sometimes we have to break a few rules. Good thing there are so many good role models!

April 21, 2004: The Common Living Dirt: Celebrating Earth Day, The Rev. Bob LaVallee

Marge Piercy’s poetry is celebrated by Unitarian Universalists for the way it weaves across the breadth of politics, gender, and environmentalism. We’ll use her poetry and more to celebrate this Earth Day. 
Music: Chalice Choir, with Nicia Rae and Susan Peck

April 14, 2024: "How We Change" The Rev. Angela Herrera Koren

How does change happen in a person’s life? How much change is possible? A sermon about the spiritual and the psychological.
Music: Lydia Clark

April 7, 2024: “Calling All Holy Troublemakers” Heather Vickery, UU Service Committee

As many of you know, our trans and gender expansive beloveds are under attack and being criminalized in many US states right now. This is so serious that they fit the criteria to be designated as internally displaced people (IDPs) by the United Nations. This isn’t the first time fascism has reared its ugly head, and we at UUSC know how to respond. UUSC has been dedicated to aiding people being targeted by fascism since our founding in 1940. Our faith calls us to make holy trouble for the powers that would deny anyone’s full humanity and divinity. Join us, holy troublemakers, now is the time!

Music: Sol Singers with Susan Peck. Sing justice songs with us!

Heather (she/her) is the Coordinator for Congregational Activism at the UU Service Committee and as such, works with congregations, state action networks and other groups that want to do their social justice work more effectively and faithfully. She is part of the Congregational Accompaniment Project for Asylum Seekers (CAPAS) team that matches (and supports) congregations with asylum seekers needing sponsorship and coordinates with UUSC’s frontline trans partners working to get our beloveds free and safe through the Pink Haven Coalition. Outside of her paid work, Heather co-coordinates the Beyond Bond & Legal Defense Fund which is part of the wider Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network in Massachusetts and is an active member of her UU church, First Parish Malden and an aspirant to UU Ministry.

March 31, 2024: “A Hope You Can Count On” The Rev. Angela Herrera Koren

If you wonder what hope there is, if you’re feeling hopeless, if you’re afraid being hopeful will only lead to disappointment, or if you think of hope as a form of wishful thinking, then this intellectually honest, nourishing sermon is especially for you. And everyone else will probably appreciate it too! With an uplifting message and an easter egg hunt for kids, this is a great day to invite new friends to try our church.
Music: Lydia Clark and special guests.

March 24, 2024: "A Principled Decision" The Rev. Angela Herrera

In a few months UUs will have a big decision to make at our denomination’s annual general assembly: whether to transform the Seven Principles into a new kind of statement for our new era. Here’s what’s being proposed, and how our congregation can get involved.
Music:Chalice Choir, Nicia Rae, piano

March 17, 2024: "A Pandemic Elegy" The Rev. Bob LaVallee

Four years ago, our lives were upended by a virus. The most deadly phase has passed, but we haven’t returned to “normal” and we certainly haven’t acknowledged all that was lost in that time. 
Music: Spare Parts, with Keith Morris, Chris Paul, Susan Peck, and Evan Sadek-Kennedy

March 10, 2024: "Another Way Is Possible" The Rev. Angela Herrera

In the polarized rhetoric around Israel and Palestine, each side gets dehumanized in the service of “justice.” Fathers Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan, a Palestinian and an Israeli who both lost daughters to the violence, want us to know that another way is possible.
Music: Lydia Clark

March 3, 2024: "Less Is More" The Rev. Bob LaVallee

The global economy is built on constant growth, creating and consuming more regardless of whether we need it or not. The result is the devastation of our planet and the creation of a tiny class of ultra-rich and the impoverishment of the rest of us. Degrowth is the idea that we scale down this destructive cycle and focus instead on human needs and the planet’s well-being.
Music: Linda Myers, singer-songwriter

February 25, 2024: "Repentance and Repair" The Rev. Angela Herrera

“Repent” is a religious word with a lot of baggage. It brings to mind shame and threats of punishment. But there is another side to it: one that has to do with healing, repair, and peace. This sermon draws from the UUA’s Common Read, On Repentance and Repair by Danya Ruttenberg. You can learn more about the Common Read program here. (https://www.uua.org/read)
Music: Lydia Clark & Tom Godfrey