All Episodes
All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church -- Shreveport, Louisiana - Sermon Podcasts — 554 episodes
"The Soul Felt Its Worth"
"Two Notions of God and Their Effect on Movements"
"Bound Together in Love and Commitment"
"Companions for the Journey"
Day of the Dead Service
"Truth or Dare: The Quest and the Calling"
"Finding Balance Before the Download"
"What Unitarian Universalism Holds Sacred"
Annual Homecoming Service Message
"Someone Else's Truth"
"Transcending What? Balancing Life and Spirit"
"Starving Darkness"
Water Communion Service
"After Apologies, Then What?"
"There is Love More Powerful than Differences or Fears in its Claim on Our Hearts"
"When Lady Liberty Weeps"
"The Myth of Self-Sufficiency"
"Rule-Breakers and Heretics"
"Loving Unconditionally in a Conditional Society"
"Carry the Flame"
2019 Graduating Senior Sermons
"Ain't Got No Home"
"I Will Build This World from Love"
"Circle of Mercy to Mother the World"
"How We Get There"
"Given-ness: A Celebration of Easter, Passover, and the New Life of Spring"
Faith Climate Action Week Service
"A Seat at the Table"
"Celebration of Women: Still Angry"
"Growing Justice"
"Justice and U(U)s"
"Parsing the Paradox of Peace"
"With Help from the Essential Wisdom of the World’s Religions"
"The Four Limitless States of Mind"
"Right"
"Rhythms / Cycles / Circles of Life and Religious Differences"
"What Is Religion Good For? (Dangling Preposition and All ... )"
"A House of Prophecy ... Outrunning Times Past"
"One World, Two Pockets, and Three Traditions"
"The Evolution of God"
"Tribute, Solace, Challenge: Some Thoughts on Veteran's Day"
"Loving the Hell Out of the World: The Universalist Belief of Hosea Ballou"
"This I Believe"
"The Soul of Animals"
"One Universalist"
"The Power of a Timid Revolutionary"
"Repent, Reboot: Unitarian Universalism, the Jewish New Year, and Preparation for What Lies Ahead"
"Come as You Are"
"That's Part of the Ocean, Too"
"Worthy Tools for the Struggle"
"When Love is Not the Easy Choice"
"Independent Variables"
"Imagine That: Creative Independence and Connection"
"Keeping Your Head in the Age of Twitter: Not Being Hijacked by Hashtags"
"The Day Will Come When the Church Will Break Your Heart -- A Joyful Message (No, really ... )"
"Variations on a Theme of Independence"
"Stay Angry"
"On Fathering: The Reflections of Three Men at Different Stages of Fatherhood"
A Celebration of Pride
"Necessary Roughness — An Observance of Memorial Day"
"Reflections on Motherhood"
"Whether Recovery or Discovery: The Dance Between Emptiness and Fullness"
"Spirit and an Unexpected Path"
"Pulling Weeds and Other Lessons for the Work of Justice"
"The Right to Go to Hell"
"A Celebration of Easter"
"This I Believe"
"The Spirit of Change"
"Taking a Swim in the Cosmic Soup"
"Willingness and Belief"
"Living Out Fragile Freedoms and Ecumenism as a Baptist from East Texas"
"Where They Find the Light"
"It Makes a World of Difference"
"Thus Conscience Makes Cowards of Us All"
"The Moral of the Story"
"Advent"
"First Light and Theological Headstands"
"I Can Say 'Amen' to That: Walking Around in the Lord's Prayer"
"The Blind Men and the Trinity"
"The Person and the Presence"
"A New Look at an Old Path"
"They Left Me for Dead"
"Not an Occasional Act"
"Keeping It Alive"
"Companions for the Journey"
"A Place Within a Dynamic Faith"
"What Makes You Safe?"
"Understanding"
"How UUs Say Grace in a Graceless World: Awful, Amazing, Gritty Grace"
"Screwtape 2017"
"A Damascus Moment"
"But What Kind of Change?"
"Church of the Orthodox Heretics"
"Keep Calm and Father On"
"Life: We're In It Together"
"The Importance of Human Rights Advocacy"
"Of Joy and Dog Whistles"
Earth Day Celebration
"Open to Transformation"
"A New Model for Ship-Building"
"Space-Makers"
"The Not-So-Accidental Activist"
"Who Is Talking to Us?"
Excerpts from "Knowing Our Neighbors" (An Intergenerational Worship)
"The Challenge of Change"
"In the Wisdom of the Sages"
Women's March Sermon
"Overbearing Partisanship"
"In the Palm of Your Hand"
"Waiting for the Light"
"A Tradition of Faith"
"Seeing the Future"
"Like the Earth Gives"
Veteran’s Day Tribute Service
"Companions for the Journey"
Excerpts from "Love is the Doctrine of This Church — A Service in Celebration of our Unitarian Universalist History and Identity"
"No Greater Love"
"Run, Spectate, or Commit"
"A Living Tradition or a Community of Like-minded?"
"A Sense of Belonging"
"From Ashes to Action: The Rebirth of the YWCA"
"Yet the Sea is Never Full"
"One Big Rhythm"
"The Contemplative Journey"
"As Love Grows Up"
"The Value of Independence All Depends"
"To Affirm and Promote the Inherent Worth and Dignity of Every Person"
"Celebrating Father's Day"
"Coming Home to Myself"
"Crowd Control on the Road Less Traveled"
Excerpts from "Within and All Around Us: Seeking the Source"
"Reason and Science: Dancing with My Short Suit"
"Remaining Faithful"
"Mothering in the Second Half of Life"
"Righteous Among the Nations"
"Opening to What's More"
"The Home We Share with All Living Things"
Excerpts from "I Cannot Do Everything, But I Can Do Something"
"A Legacy of Caring"
"Into the Fire"
"Can Justice Evolve?"
"Storytelling as a Tool for Justice"
"A Criminal Justice Nightmare"
"What Does Peace Look Like?"
Excerpts from "World Community Begins at Home"
"In Community with the World"
"When Smart People Fail"
"In Support of Our Neighbors"
"Hyde: Roe's Ugly Stepsister"
Reflection on Shreveport's Civil Rights History
" ... Grow Into Harmony ... "
"Dark --> Lightning --> Light --> Repeat"
"The Gifts We Bring"
"A Water Sign Meets a Watery Grave"
"Making Light of It"
"Fall in the Soul"
"Gratitude is a Vote of Confidence in What We Cannot Control"
"Wordsmithing: The Uses of Poetry"
"This Side of the Tower of Babel"
"Why We Do It"
"Blessed is the Flame"
"Seeker's Sanctuary"
"The Language of Hope"
"The Federal Flood and the Lesson of Listening"
"When in Doubt: Challenging the Calculus of Certainty"
Water Communion Homily
"Daily Practice"
"Turn the World Around"
"A More Imperfect Union"
"Celebrating Pride"
"What's Love Got to Do With It? (and Other Egregiously Borrowed Themes)"
"Getting to the Long View"
"Digging Back into the Toolbox" (An Intergenerational Worship)
"Companions for the Journey: The Fifth Source"
"Infinity and Potential"
"Short of the Glory"
Words from 2015 Emerson Award Recipient
"My Brother's Keeper"
"Living on a Living Planet"
"One's Place in the Web"
"Rising Green"
"How Do You Spell God?"
"Breaking Open"
"Hope for the Homeless"
"Our UUnique Gifts"
Celebration of Women Week
"To Dwell Together in Peace"
"One Light, Many Windows"
"Seeking the Philosopher's Stone"
"Finding the Need for Peace"
"Sing a New Song"
"The Age(s) of Colorblindness"
"Your Brain on Peace"
"More Than Enough (The Mental Illness)"
"This I Believe"
"Cycles of Transformation"
"Exodus from the Door of No Return"
"Giving Thanks a Pagan Way"
"Words of Thanksgiving"
"The Francis Effect"
"Life is a (Mission) Trip"
"We Never Saw Anything Like This Before"
"The Prophetic Imagination"
"Collective Choices and a Singular Punishment"
Excerpts from "The Prophet's Toolbox" (An Intergenerational Worship)
"A Blank Page"
"Debate — What Better Explains Morality — Naturalism or Supernaturalism?"
"I Know the War on Women is Real"
"Turning and Returning"
"To Be Religious Liberals in a Trying State"
"Prophetic Witness: Two Portraits"
"When Love is not the Message Received"
"Gifts of the Elders"
Excerpts from "The Modern Mantra (Part 2)"
"The Modern Mantra (Part I)"
"Affinity or Affliction"
"The Gentle Fierceness of a Hard-Won Wisdom"
"Evolving to Care"
"I'm Feeling Vulnerable"
A Message from the 2014 Emerson Award Recipient
"It's Not Our Job"
"A Passion for Science"
Excerpts from "Blessing of the Animals"
"Does It Hurt to Bloom?"
Excerpts from "Hitched to the Universe"
"We Were Framed"
"Something Real"
"The Spirit of Friendship"
"Celebrating the Wisdom of Women"
Excerpts from "This Holy Inclination" (an intergenerational worship)
"Seeking Common Ground"
"Between the Valley and the Summit"
"How Spiritual Practice Changes the World"
"A Word from the Wise"
"The Elephant and the Pope"
Excerpts from "Season of Light, Season of Love" (An Intergenerational Worship)
"Growing Peace"
"The Spirit of This Church and The Season"
"The Light of the World"
"Thanksgiving Meditation"
"Giving from Abundance ... Because That's What We Do"
"Somewhere Between Church and State"
Excerpts from "Expressions of Conscience"
Excerpts from "A People of Conscience, A People of Covenant"
"Between Scylla and Charybdis"
"Coming to America: John Murray and Universalism in the New World"
"No Reward or Punishment -- Just Consequences"
"Beginning the Search Responsibly: Towards Wholeness"
"Laboring for More Than Love"
"The Words and Deeds of Prophetic Women"
"Whose Reality Is It Anyway?"
"A Good Starting Place"
"The Deep End"
"We Are the Ones — Our Unitarian Universalist Heroes: The Men"
"The Land Between"
"The Death Penalty"
"The Right to Be Wrong"
"Excerpts from Artist Sunday"
"What is Religion?"
"Thoughts on Fatherhood"
"A Little Love for the Journey"
Excerpts from "Kindling the Flame Within" (An Intergenerational Worship)
"Who Goes There?"
Message from 2013 Emerson Award Recipient
"In Celebration of Mother's Day"
"Seeds of Hunger"
"With Truth in Mind"
"Every Day is Earth Day"
"Why 'Why' Is Not My Question"
Excerpts from "A Bridge to Beloved Community" (An Intergenerational Worship)
"In a Positive Light: The Good News That Is Ours"
"Our Daily Bread: How Food Connects Us to the Community, to the Earth, and to Life"
"Our Nature to Create"
"Celebrating the Spirit of Women"
"Come and Go with Me to That Land"
Excerpts from "If We Agree in Love" (An Intergenerational Worship)
"With Love as Our Doctrine: Away from Individuolatry"
"Beyond Pro-Life and Pro-Choice"
"Committed to Working for Justice and Acting for Peace"
"Leaving It All Behind"
"The Sweetness of a New Year"
"Darkness and Light and All the Fixings"
"When Inside and Outside Agree"
"Individuals and Growing Toward One"
"Welcoming Our Soldiers Home"
"Caught in an Inescapable Web of Mutuality: Hostage or Healer — What Is the Zip Code of Beloved Community?"
Excerpts from "Gifted"
"Knocking Around and the Quest for Truth"
Excerpts from "Behaving, Believing, Belonging: Growing a Unitarian Universalist Identity at Any Age"
"Discovering a World"
"Elevated View of the Elephant"
"Laboring for Love"
"Cross Roads and He Who Must Not Be Named"
"When Bread is not Bread"
"A Few Lessons From Water"
Excerpts from Artist Sunday 2012
"How Geography Can Save Planet Earth"
"Companions for the Journey"
"Faith Development in a 21st Century World"
"After the Fireworks: Liberal Religion -- Show Me Your Papers"
"The Way of Wonder"
"Reflections on Father's Day"
"Celebrating Pride: Be Fair Shreveport. Make Us All Proud!"
"One True Thing or One Great Truth"
"Doing Our Best In and With an Imperfect World"
Excerpts from "The Many Ways We Pray"
"From Where We Have Come"
"Companions for the Journey"
"Eastern Religion Alternatives to the Western Religion Trinity"
"A Web of Roots"
Excerpts from "Interdependence Day" (An Intergenerational Worship)
"Resurrecting the Promise That is Ours"
"Maybe the Joke's on Us"
"A Season of Wonder"
"People of Vision"
"The Meaning of Life and Goodness, Scientifically"
"Broken and Beautiful"
"Ripples of Hope -- The Courage of Ideals"
Excerpts from "Inspired by the World" (An Intergenerational Worship Service)
"Seen or Unseen"
"Where Justice Leads"
2012 World Religion Day Message
"What Will They Say at Your Funeral?"
"Ever Wonder"
Excerpts from "Love and Light: A Celebration of Christmas, Hanukkah, and Yule"
"What Have We to Give"
"Why We Look Up"
"When Tolerance is No Longer Enough"
Meditation from Thanksgiving Worship
"Choices - Meaning - Gratitude: That's the Way We Roll"
"Giving Back to the Future"
Excerpts from "The Feast of All Souls"
"How Beautiful"
"A Place for Character"
"Worms, Bees, Bacteria"
"Minding the Gap"
"Give Them Not Hell But Hope"
Excerpts from "9/11/2001: Ten Years Later"
"Life Like Water"
"Unfamiliar Alliances"
Excerpts from "Artist Sunday" Worship
"The Narrow Way"
"You Don't Look Like Anyone I Know"
"Ordinary Art"
"Religious Problems and Benefits of a Scientific Perspective"
"Companions for the Journey"
"Beyond Independence"
"We Bid You Welcome: Living the Welcoming Congregation"
"Old Parables ... Modern Times" (includes children's story at beginning)
"From the Beginning"
Excerpts from "Ideas of God" (Affirmation Sunday Intergenerational Worship)
Excerpts from Ordination Service for Rev. Barbara Jarrell
"A New Paradigm of Power"
"Lightning Strikes"
A Message from the 2011 Emerson Award Recipient
"Parenting Where There is No Path: Learning to Care for a New World"
"The Bible Tells Me So"
"Clearing the Way"
Excerpts from "We Create a Web of Life" (An Intergenerational Worship)
"What I Call God"
"With the Integrity of Spring"
"Moving From Who to Whose"
"Moving Mountains in Shreveport"
"Celebration of Women"
"Evolved to Wonder"
"No, We're Not 'That Church' with All the Religions"
"Going for the Gusto -- A Path with Heart"
"Cha' kani' na' (The Place for Crying) and the Spiritual Origins of the Caddo People"
"The Universality of Religion"
"We Happy Few"
"From This Hour"
"A New Year, A New Perspective"
Excerpts from "A Celebration of Light" (An Intergenerational Worship)
"What's the Meaning of This?"
"Companions for the Journey"
"Unexpected Messengers"
Excerpt from Thanksgiving Worship
"Celebrating Service"
"Gold Stars" (includes presentation of Norma Veridan Religious Education Award to Susan Caldwell)
"Living Up to What Light We Have"
"Viable, Vital, and Valuable -- Not Necessarily in That Order"
Excerpts from "Blessing of the Animals"
Excerpts from "A Leap of Faith"
"Reason for Hope"
"Exodus From the Door of No Return"
"What You Ought to Know About the Bill of Rights"
"Space Between"
"Good Work"
"I Have a Dream Too: Taking Up the Mantle of Social Justice"
"The First Smooth Stone"
"Love Beyond Belief"
"Six Tools for a Life of Unconditional Freedom"
"From the Fire"
"Companions for the Journey"
Excerpts from 2010 Artist Sunday Worship Service
"Long Division -- Making Up Your Mind"
"Freedom From or Freedom To?"
"Mother Teresa's Centenary"
"Keeping Watch"
"The Eye of the Beholder"
"Waging Peace as a Daughter of Warriors"
"Thoughts on Being Wiccan and Unitarian Universalist"
"Excerpts from 'To Touch Inward Springs (An Intergenerational Worship)'"
"A Journey of a Thousand Miles: Are We There Yet?"
"The Way We Care"
Evolution vs. Creationism Debate
"Mary and Martha Revisited"
"Is There Room for Peace?"
Excerpts from "The Home We Share with All Living Things" (an intergenerational worship)
A message from our 2010 Emerson Award Winner
"Finding the Sun"
"Beloved Community"
"The Relevance of Spring"
"A Study of Our Lives"
"Companions for the Journey (Celebration of Women Week Edition)"
"What Is It That You Really Want"
Excerpts from "Get to Know Your Elephant"
"Standing on the Side of Love"
"The Left and What's Left: A Story of Evolution"
"Staying in Character"
"Violence, Pacifism, and the Possibility of Freedom from Both"
A Martin Luther King Day Message
Excerpts from "History Makers: A Tradition of Organizing"
"Impetus to Move"
Excerpts from "Season of Light, Season of Hope, Season of Love" (An Intergenerational Worship)
"Companions for the Journey"
"The Fire of Commitment"
"In the World and Not"
Excerpts from "Service of Thanksgiving"
"Glorfying God, Providing Spiritual Strength, Serving All"
"Keepers of the Dream"
Excerpts from "Yes, We Really Mean 'All Souls'" (An Intergenerational Worship)
"Steinbeck's 'Spiritual Streak' in The Grapes of Wrath"
"Acting From Love"
"Standing on the Side of Love"
"Lessons From Our Brother Dakota"
"Reckoning: The Balance of One"
"The Courage to Create"
"Homecoming"
"Being Comfortable with What Is ... in an Uncomfortable Way"
"Grow Into a River"
"Companions for the Journey: Member Reflections"
"How Then Shall We Live"
Excerpts from "A Matter of Principle"
"Enhancing Each Other's Faith"
"Where the Spirit Is"
Excerpts from the Annual "Artists Sunday" Worship Service
"Labor of Love"
"A Visit from the Past"
"Answering the Call"
"A Generation of Bridge Builders"
"Breadth and Depth"
"Why We Can All Worship Together"
Excerpts from "Let Your Light Shine" (An Intergenerational Worship)
"The Space Between the Notes"
"Mother Church"
"And Service Is Its Prayer"
Excerpts from "The Great Journey"
"The Compassion of Spring"
"Experiences in Education"
Excerpts from the "2009 Celebration of Women Week Worship"
"Fresh Beginnings, Mindful Steps"
Excerpts from "Thank God for Evolution" (Live Presentation)
Excerpts from "World Wide Wisdom" (an intergenerational worship service on world religions)
"The Big Picture: Species and Spirit"
"Companions for the Journey"
"Free to Take a Chance"
"A Gentile Reads the Book of Mormon"
"What Does Justice Look Like?"
"Embracing Our Limitations - the Pathway to an Authentic Life"
"There's a Crack in Everything - That's Why We Need Great Love"
"The Privacy of One's Heart"
Homily from "Gifts of the Season, Gifts of the Spirit" (An Intergenerational Worship)
"Believe It or Not"
A Talk on the Role of Public Defenders
"Giving Thanks" (Excerpts from 2008 Thanksgiving Worship)
"The Ethics of Reciprocity"
"Creative Community"
"Commitment as Who We Are, not What We Do"
Excerpts from "The People Bring the Light" (an intergenerational worship)
"The Spirituality of the Interdependent Web of All Existence (The Seventh UU Principle)"
"Duty, Honor, Country"
"Great Expectations"
"Gaialogia: Science Meets Spirituality in an Ecological Paradigm"
"The Baby in the Bathwater"
"It's All in the Judgment"
"Companions for the Journey"
"The Way of the Present Movement"
Excerpts From Our Annual "Artist Sunday" Worship Service
"Independence or Interdependence?"
Excerpts From Our Annual "Blessing of the Animals" Service
"The Heart of the Matter -- Without Forgiveness There Is No Love"
"An Authentic Life"
"Polygamists, Priests, Preachers, the Pope, and Other Problems that Begin with the Letter 'P'"
"The Silence of Worship" - a meditative worship with several moments of silence for meditation
"Unitarian Universalism - An Acquired Taste: What's the Metric for Intangibles?"
Excerpts from "Mythical Fathers" -- A Father's Day Worship
"Becoming the World We Want to See"
Homily from "Stretch Your Soul" -- An Intergenerational Worship
"Prayer That Empowers"
"Life Passages: Stages of Life, Stages of Faith, Part I"
"Living on a Living Planet"
"Non-Competition: The Way of Winning"
Excerpts from "Our Place in the Web"
"The Dogs That Bark Within"
"Rise Up and Go Forth"
"Alone and Not Alone"
Excerpts From "Songs of the Soul"
"The Strength of a Woman's Spirit"
Excerpts from "With All the Windows Open" (An Intergenerational Worship)
"Outside the Box"
"A Moving Horizon"
Excerpts from "A Celebration of World Religions"
"The Joys of New Beginnings"
"What Is This Thing Called 'Love'?"
"A Question of Place: The Grounding and Creation of Meaning"
"Does Religious Truth Have To Be True?"
"The Joys of Living Traditions"
"Belonging: Need or Luxury?"
"Confessions of an Anglican Unitarian: The Trinity of Episcopalianism (Scripture, Reason, and Tradition)"
"Glad Tidings"
"The Secret Message of Jesus"
"How Can We Grow?"
"Moses and the Covenant"
Excerpts from "Remembering" Worship Service
"Commitment to Gratitude"
"What's in a Word"
"Feed Your Soul, Feed the World"
"Hypocrites, Hairshirts, and Holy People"
"How to Live in a Glass House"
"Blessed are the History Makers"
"Life's Greatest Questions"
Selections From "Jena Six" Prayer Service
"Beyond Community: Living Religiously in a World of Fundamentalism and Secularism"
"Welcome Home, Welcome Back: The Spirit of Community"
"Impressions of Cyprus"
Selections from Our Annual Artist Sunday
Selection from "Clean Hearts, Dirty Feet"
"Truth, Reason, and Terrorism - or Why Tolerance of Intolerance is Intolerable"
"Dressing Up for Sunday - What a Community Ought to Look Like"
"The Holy Pursuit of Liberty"
"Growing a Ship"
"Is It Reasonable to Believe in God"
"World Peace - More Than a Punch Line - Our Response to Violence"
Selections From "Blessing of the Animals" Service
"Interdependence Day"
Emerson Award Acceptance Speech
"Transitions"
"Shared Memories in the Spirit of Memorial Day"
"Supermoms: The Myths and Realities of This Profound Role"
"Works of Love"
"What's Going On And Why Should We Care?"
"Why Pride?"
Easter Sermon