The era of Covid 19 changed everyone and everything. Climate Change has been shown to be far more imminent in it’s danger than we first realized. In this sermon, Rev. Don will reflect on ways to build our resistance to panic, as well as ways to build resilience for the long haul. Doom and gloom cannot be our new normal. We have to learn how to build a better world, even as we learn how to survive in this one.

About the Speaker:

Rev. Dr. Don Stouder is a career hospital and hospice chaplain and medical ethicist and has served the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert in various capacities since moving to the Palm Springs desert in the summer of 2017 with his husband Tim. He currently serves as our Affiliated Community Minister, a common designation for UU ministers called to serve in roles beyond the congregation. As chaplain and grief counselor, Rev. Don served in hospital trauma centers in the San Diego area as well as working with organ donor families. While in San Diego, he served as Affiliate Community Minister at Summit UU Fellowship since 1996. Here in the valley, his focus has turned to hospice patients and their families. Before being ordained in 1993, Rev. Don was an EMT-Paramedic in his home state of New Jersey as well as California after moving here in 1985. Rev. Don is the author of four books and several research articles, and loves photography, aviation, sailing, good wine, road trips, and holds a Doctor of Ministry Degree in Pastoral Care and Counseling from the Graduate Theological Foundation. Rev. Dr. Don Stouder maintains a very small, selective Pastoral Counseling and Spiritual Direction practice, specializing in grief issues and personal spiritual growth, primarily within the LGBTQ community. He is excited to walk with people along these paths and welcomes questions and inquiries.