December starts a season of waiting. In nature, we wait for the solstice to come so the days will get longer once again; in the Christian tradition, it is the season of Advent, in preparation for the celebration of Christmas; and for our own Fellowship, we mark our progress towards reopening. All of these themes, … Continue reading Antici…
Rev. Straube will reflect on what love of country means in a time of crisis for our democracy. We welcome Rev. Arvid back to our Summit pulpit, where he has preached many times. A parish minister for 35 years, he was most recently Lead Minister at First UU Church of San Diego. He is an … Continue reading Reclaiming Patriotism
Description: Hope is a fun word. It can be a verb: “Here’s hoping!” “I hope you are doing well.” “I sure hope I left enough food for the fish.” (A conflicted verb — “hoping against hope?”) It can be the childhood home of a U.S. president. It is also a noun, representing that quality which we … Continue reading Hope into Action
Description: Dear Summit sibling, we Americans are truly inspired by the words of the Inaugural poet, Amanda Gorman, as we aspire to grow more hopeful lives and world in 2021. The Rev. Dr. Tom Owen-Towle was ordained in 1967 and is still preaching, hither and yon, throughout our PSWD. When the pandemic is over, Tom will … Continue reading We are Not Broken, Simply Unfinished
In our last service during a month in which we focused on Imagination, we turn to imagine the Beloved Community, as envisioned by Martin Luther King, Jr. What would a world founded on justice, equity, and love look like? How can Summit take part? And as we enter Black History Month, what can we commit … Continue reading Imagining Beloved Community
Twenty years ago, when I started working with refugees, I believed in the saying “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day—teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime”. I’ve come to understand that the problem is not a need for fishing lessons, but an unequal distribution of fishing rods. By … Continue reading Half as Wise and Twice as Effective
September 20 Americans, and Unitarian Universalists, tend to love the idea of choice, and cherish the right to choose freely. But most choices we make every day don’t involve much thoughtful decision-making. Mostly, we do what we are used to doing…what is normal. And when something feels normal it’s hard to even see the alternative … Continue reading The New Normal
Rev. Dr. Andrea Travers is an interfaith minister who has worked with the incarcerated for 23 years implementing restorative justice programs for men and women in Oregon and Southern California. In the last 5 years she implemented Victim Offender programs in three prisons and co-authored a Restorative Justice Reentry Prep program for San Diego County … Continue reading To Hope and Wait: Faithful waiting while preparing for new possibilities
Using a phrase from President Abraham Lincoln’s Inaugural Address in 1861, Rev. Owen-Towle will turn to our Unitarian Universalism as a religion of “ever-evolving love” for grounding and guidance during this time of a raging pandemic and savage racism. Rev. Owen-Towle was ordained in 1967 and has served Unitarian Universalist parishes for the past fifty … Continue reading Better Angels of Our Nature
Janus was the Roman god associated with doorways, transitions, beginnings and endings… As Summit begins a time of planning and self-reflection in preparation for searching for a called minister, we’ll look at some of the ways we might prepare for transitions. …read more
