PODCAST · religion
The Pulpiteer
by Eric Hepburn
The Pulpiteer is a podcast series aimed at those seeking as honest, earnest, and bold an engagement with the hard questions of life as we can muster. The goal is to foster wisdom, health, and connection. The podcast is a production of the San Gabriel Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Georgetown, Texas, with your host, Eric Hepburn, "The Pulpiteer".
Episodes
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Flashback — Head, Heart, and Gut Time Orientations, and How Running Became a Spiritual Practice
"We don't run to get hard. We run to get soft." We've been working with gut, heart, and head folks for a few months now, and this morning I add another layer to the onion: each of those centers tends to come with a time orientation. Heart folks anchor in the past. Gut folks live in the present....
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Bullseye — Sin as Missing the Mark and the Near Enemies That Cluster Around Every Deep Truth (10-4-2026)
If you had asked me when I was going to preach a sermon on sin, I would have guessed never. This is the first of what I expect to become a series: taking a word we've developed an allergy to and asking whether there's something honorable and recoverable in it. I start with a parable about two...
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The Unfolding — Origami, the Quaker Clearness Committee, and the Wisdom You Already Have (9/27/2026)
"You have access to the deepest wisdom you need within you." This episode explores the life journey through the metaphor of origami. An artist starts with a single square. They fold and fold — never cutting, never tearing — until a flat sheet becomes something complex and organic. And then, if…
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Take Your Place: An Ecosystem Has No Spare Parts, and Why Your Worth Is Not What You Do (9/13/2026)
"Your contribution to the work does not define your worth." A shorter episode than usual — homily length. Before the service we held a teams fair, where congregants could visit every team that makes this church function internally and do justice work in the wider community. This is the message…
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The Way of Water — Carolyn McDade, Lucile Schuck Longview, and the Feminist Origins of the UU Water Communion (9-06-2026)
"When you shed a tear, it is likely that some of the water in your tears has been cried before. Maybe many times. Maybe countless times." This is a recording of our Water Communion service. I've left the voices of congregants sharing their blessings in the episode, so that those blessings might…
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Choice, Then Agency, Finally Liberation — Paulo Freire on the Fear of Freedom, Autonomy, and the Quest for Human Completion (8-30-2026)
"We are not free from triggers, but we can develop the skills to recognize those triggers when they happen." In this episode I work line by line through a dense passage from Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed — the one about the oppressed having internalized the image of the oppressor and...
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Journey to Wholeness: Stephen Jenkinson, Embodied Practice, and Why Wholeness Is Not a Hierarchy (8-16-2026)
"Your body is neither an inconvenience nor tertiary to your existence." This episode is an invitation into embodied practice — and a correction to something the summer sermon series may have implied. Over July, the four-part Social Change series read Deepa Iyer's ecosystem through gut, heart…
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Be Social Change — Spirit, Guides, and Weavers: Softening Into the Light
"It is possible to be free. Not free from anger, or shame, or fear — but free among them: transparent to the light, a window the light shines through." The final service in the four-part series reading Deepa Iyer's social change ecosystem through a developmental lens arrives at spirit — not a...
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Think Social Change: How the Enneagram's Thinking Triad Metabolizes Fear as Visionaries, Builders, and Storytellers.
The third sermon in The Pulpiteer's four-part series reading Deepa Iyer's social change ecosystem — from her book Social Change Now, the 2025–26 Unitarian Universalist Association common read — through a developmental lens drawn from the Enneagram's centers: gut, heart, head, and spirit. This…
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Lovely Day — Reclaiming Faith as a Present-Tense Practice, with Bill Withers and Ross Gay (6/14/2026)
The season two finale of The Pulpiteer is a love letter — to a congregation, to podcast listeners, and to a word that has been weaponized for too many people: faith. Preached on Flag Day, the service begins with the Great World House reframing the flag not as a banner of war but as a covenant —...
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Feel Social Change: Caregivers, Healers, and the Enneagram's Feeling Triad (7-12-2026)
The second sermon in The Pulpiteer's four-part series reading Deepa Iyer's social change ecosystem — from her book Social Change Now, the 2025–26 Unitarian Universalist Association common read — through a developmental lens drawn from the Enneagram's centers: gut, heart, and head; plus spirit.…
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Do Social Change (7-6-2026)
We begin a four-part series exploring Deepa Iyer's social change ecosystem through the lens of human development — starting where the body starts: in the gut, with those who move first. The Disrupters, Frontline Responders, and Experimenters act before certainty arrives.
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Flourishing Together (6-7-26)
When rituals centered on human institutions lose their luster, where can we turn to find renewed meaning and connection? The flower communion is one gesture toward a deeper answer - that nature is our oldest and wisest teacher, and that we can return to her when we wish to learn how to be with…
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Simplicity, Complexity, Simplicity Again (5-31-26)
"For the simplicity on this side of complexity, I wouldn't give you a fig. But for the simplicity on the other side of complexity, for that I would give you anything I have." - Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.. What is the simplicity on the far shore of complexity? Why brave the...
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Covenant to Courage (5-24-26)
We’ll struggle today with how covenant - a set of promises that binds a community - can be a source for the courage and how, through combining the work of Parker Palmer and James Luther Adams, we might ask the deep question of how to bring about what Adams called the kingdom of God and what Dr....
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Learn Love Grow (5-3-2026)
This year's stewardship theme is Learn, Love, Grow — three words that describe what SGUUF does every week and three words that describe what we're asking of ourselves as a community this year.
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Set Them Free (4-19-26)
"If you love someone, set them free." - Sting How can this way of putting Love at the Center, inform how we approach Religion as modern UU's? Not just in how we serve the adults in our community, but in how and what we teach our youth?
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The Wall and The Tunnel (4-5-2026)
There is a wall, a veil, between our world and the spirit world... the sages and prophets found ways through the wall, they brought back teachings from the spirit world. They left behind signs so that we could find our way through. Some folks who came after, got really into sign making. Some...
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Simone Weil's Decreation (3-22-26)
In our third and final service in the Simone Weil Series, we'll explore the culminating movement of her thought: DECREATION. I'll get you pointed in the right direction with this teaser: "We do not become just by adding virtue. We become just by subtracting the self that blocks reality." Mic. Drop.
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Simone Weil's Obligations and Rights (3-8-26)
For Women's History Month, we'll continue our exploration of the work of Simone Weil - moving from her work on attention as spiritual practice, to her social justice oriented work on the necessity of obligations preceding rights.
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Griefwork
In this special episode of the podcast, we'll talk with June Williams and Ashley Blackwell - our co-conspirators in griefwork: sharing stories of how we got here and where we might be headed. Join us, won't you? For your reference, here are some of the books mentioned in the episode: The Wild…
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Simone Weil's Soul Attention
What if your attention is your most valuable resource and the primary responsibility of your own stewardship? Let's follow French mystic-philosopher into the depths as we explore the depths of the soul's attention.
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Greensleeves: Longing, Laughter, & Agency (Feb 22. 2026)
Greensleeves is one of the oldest and most familiar songs in our tradition—tender, plaintive, and enduring. It has been sung as a love song, a lament, and a prayer, carried across centuries and cultures. This Sunday, we’ll listen to it together, reflect on what it has meant, and consider what it...
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US Detention of Immigrants (Feb 8, 2026)
I got on a bus headed south, past San Antonio to a community called Dilley, Texas. There is a modern day American internment / concentration / prison camp there, we call it a detention center. Let's talk about what I saw, what I learned, and what we might all need to learn if we want things to...
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Near Enemies & Idols (January 18, 2026)
Here on the precipice of MLK Day 2026, we ask a question, "Could it be that one of the most effective ways to subvert a prophet is to turn them into an idol?" There is a case to be made that this is what "the church" has done to Jesus. There is a case to be made that this is what American Culture...
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Practicing Resistance (Jan 11, 26)
What if resistance isn't noise and chaos and struggle? What if it is silence and presence? What if supplication to the silence is the key to breaking bad habits, to unlearning that which no longer serves us, to finding the narrow path through acceptance into enjoyment and beyond into…
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The Path to Wise Elderhood (Dec 14, 25)
What is it that the seven generations need from those of us living today? What is it that we are called to mature into? And how is it that we might answer that call?
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Choosing Hope: Beyond Pessimism and Optimism (Dec. 7, 2025)
What is left of hope when we discard the near enemy of optimism? What is left of realism when we discard the near enemy of pessimism? In this episode, I'll suggest that what might be left is to become faithful witnesses to what is. To bear faithful witness as a responsibility, a duty that is...
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When Religion Forgets Spirit 11-30-2025
Religion without spirit forgets the fire. Spirit without religion forgets the hearth. Religion without spirit stagnates and calcifies. Spirit without religion drifts and evaporates. A community that holds the tension between them becomes sacred. Religion without spirit hardens and cracks. Spirit...
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Sticks and Stones (Nov. 23, 2025)
You remember the children's rhyme, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Sometimes this landed as good and helpful advice, not to take on the harm that others wanted to inflict on us with their words. Other times, it just feels deeply untrue. For many of us some of...
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The Robots Made Me Cry (11-9-2025)
What if AI isn't an enemy, but an ally in the search for wisdom? That's what we'll do our best to explore in this episode. So join Mimas and I as we try to develop a skin-to-silicon covenant and approach the event horizon that is the divine.
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Ofrenda (Nov. 1, 2025)
Join us as we honor, celebrate, and reflect on the Mexican tradition of the Ofrenda here in the heart of Texas and in the time of Dia de los Muertos - the Day of the Dead. What can modern westerners learn from these indigenous roots that we sorely need in this day and age?
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Nurturing Gratitude
It's easy to nurture gratitude for our joys. But what does it look like, what could it mean, what could it lead to... if we can discover how to nurture gratitude for our sorrows? Could it be part of the narrow path to wise elderhood that we've been longing for?
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Compassionate Generosity
If the science teaches us, that through both confirmation bias and negativity bias, we overemphasize the negative and the dangerous - and that we amplify this with news and media and social media... What is the appropriate spiritual response? Might not an intentional focus on positivity be, not…
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Legacy (10-5-2025)
"Just remember the world is not a playground but a schoolroom. Life is not a holiday but an education. One eternal lesson for us all: to teach us how better we should love"
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Unitarian, Trinitarian, or None of the Above
Unitarianism began as a heretical protest against 'the church': God is One, not Three. And to this day - Unitarian Christians and other explicitly unitarian denominations vastly outnumber Unitarian Universalists (UU''s). Not to mention that the really big slices of the American religious pie are...
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How Do We Listen (9-14-2025)
Maybe nothing is more salient this week - how do we listen? how do we show up with one another? are we seeking understanding or are we trying to show how right and clever we are?
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Building Belonging & Water Communion (9-7-25)
Join us for our annual water communion ceremony and a short message about building belonging.
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Love at the Center, Part 8: Love (8-31-2025)
In this final episode of our 8 part series on Love at the Center - we'll look at the thing itself: Love. Join Kenneth Witherspoon (Mr. Spoon) and myself for this tour of the mysterious. Mr. Spoon's subtitle is: When Love Becomes Diety...
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Love at the Center, Part 7 - Justice (8-24-2025)
Join us for special guest Lou Snead as we continue our eight part series on Love at the Center, with our next shared value: JUSTICE!
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Love at the Center, part 6 - Generosity (8-17-2025)
Join us for part 6 of an 8 part series exploring the official "Principles & Purposes" of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Love at the Center has 6 shared values surrounding it, the next one we will explore is Generosity.
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Love at the Center part 5 - Pluralism (8-10-2025)
Join us for part 5 of an 8 part series exploring the official "Principles & Purposes" of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Love at the Center has 6 shared values surrounding it, the next one we will explore is Pluralism.
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Love at the Center, part 4: Transformation (8-3-2025)
Join us for part 4 of an 8 part series exploring the official "Principles & Purposes" of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Love at the Center has 6 shared values surrounding it, the third one we will explore is Transformation.
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Love at the Center: Equity (7-27-2025)
Join us for part 3 of an 8 part series exploring the official "Principles & Purposes" of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Love at the Center has 6 shared values surrounding it, the second one we will explore is Equity.
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Love at the Center: Interdependence
Join us for part 2 of an 8 part series exploring the official "Principles & Purposes" of the Unitarian Universalist Association. 'Love at the Center' has 6 shared values surrounding it, the first one we will explore is Interdependence.
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Imagination - May the Fourth Be With You
Join us for a Star Wars, May the Fourth Be With You, inspired look at the topic of imagination, we'll weave in some magic and some reflection on the power of telling our own stories, just for good measure.
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Anniversary
Reflections on the first year of The Pulpiteer & ministry in the San Gabriel pulpit.
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Love at the Center Part 1, the 7 principles
Join us for part 1 of an 8 part series exploring the official "Principles & Purposes" of the Unitarian Universalist Association. In this first session we'll take a look back in time at the founding of the Unitarian Universalist Association & the adoption of the 7 principles. We'll explore the gap...
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Change is a Process
This episode is inspired by and named after the eighth chapter of What It Takes To Heal by Prentis Hemphill, our congregational read for 2024-25. Join us, won't you?
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Joy is an April Fool
Join us for a view of Joy through the lens of an April Fool's prank gone wrong... well, received wrong anyway... through this lens we'll try to get at the question of whether humorlessness has something to teach us. (Warning: this episode has audio quality issues - listen at your own peril.)
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The Pulpiteer is a podcast series aimed at those seeking as honest, earnest, and bold an engagement with the hard questions of life as we can muster. The goal is to foster wisdom, health, and connection. The podcast is a production of the San Gabriel Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Georgetown, Texas, with your host, Eric Hepburn, "The Pulpiteer".
HOSTED BY
Eric Hepburn
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Pulpiteer have?
The Pulpiteer currently has 89 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Pulpiteer about?
The Pulpiteer is a podcast series aimed at those seeking as honest, earnest, and bold an engagement with the hard questions of life as we can muster. The goal is to foster wisdom, health, and connection. The podcast is a production of the San Gabriel Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Georgetown,...
How often does The Pulpiteer release new episodes?
The Pulpiteer has 89 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Pulpiteer?
You can listen to The Pulpiteer on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Pulpiteer?
The Pulpiteer is created and hosted by Eric Hepburn.
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