THE PRICE OF WISDOM Character. Integrity. Dependability. Maturity. These things are usually hard won in our culture. One young man’s story speaks to all of us about the price of wisdom. Joan Shiels is a preacher, teacher and storyteller who has a long relationship with our fellowship. She understands the...

WHAT HAPPENED TO COMPROMISE? Why does compromise seem so much harder? From the debt ceiling debates at the Federal level, to the collective bargaining debates at the State level to deciding what the family should do for vacation, making compromises seems to be getting more difficult. What does this say...

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE GARDEN? The Garden of Eden story describes how humans became detached from their instinctive roots. What is the way back? Jay Brickman, Emeritus Rabbi of Congregation Sinai in suburban Milwaukee, preaches at the Fellowship several times each year, as well as teaches Saturday morning Bible classes...

VIRTUES: GIFT AND SHADOW What is Virtue?  What virtues guide your life? Where did they come from? What does your little voice of conscience whisper in your ear to call you back to be a better person? Cynthia Johnson, a retired Unitarian Universalist minister who served UU congregations in Texas...

LEAVING ROOM FOR SERENDIPITY The heroes in a Persian folktale, “The Three Princes”, were always making discoveries of things they were not in quest for, accidental, unsought transformations. We typically overrate our understanding of life based on the presumption that we make rational decisions. A look at Murphy’s Law and...

MARTYRDOM, THE ULTIMATE GIFT What motivates the willingness to offer one’s life in a sacred cause? Jay Brickman, Emeritus Rabbi of Congregation Sinai in suburban Milwaukee, preaches at the Fellowship several times each year, as well as teaches Saturday morning Bible classes here during the summer. Jay is the author...

THE FORGIVENESS TREND From time immemorial, forgiveness has been incorporated into our sacred texts and rituals; today it’s the foundation for group and personal therapy, social and legal reform, and both private and public confession. By means of specific examples and stories, this sermon invites you to ponder your own...

HUMAN IN NATURE An exploration of the religious and philosophical dimensions of our encounter with the natural world. Rev. Dr. Clare Butterfield, an ordained Unitarian Universalist community minister, is the Director of Faith in Place, an interfaith environmental ministry in Chicago that gives religious people tools to become better stewards...

THE SURPRISE CATCH OF THE DAY When we tie our words together as if making nets large or small, what is it that we hope to catch? What is the power of poetry and story, of naming and metaphor, to catch or to carry that which is beyond words? How...

CHRONOSOPHY: MAKING PEACE WITH THE PASSAGE OF TIME The solstice is a moment to contemplate the passage of the seasons and our place in time. As a society, we have become time-illiterate. We live in active denial of aging. Our collective sense of process, sequence and consequence is being undermined...