Selected Sermons Text, UU Church, Brunswick, Maine

NOTE: All sermons are in Adobe PDF format. If they do not open when clicked, go to this link to install the latest free Adobe reader. All sermons copyright © the Rev. Sylvia Stocker. You are free to download and print for personal use in-home only.

 

Rev. Stocker explores the place of the sacred drum in African history and contemplates the implication drumming has for us today.

Hoping for Light When Darkness Descends, December 6, 2009
As daylight hours dwindle, many of us find ourselves hoping for light’s return. Is there another way through the dark season? Rev. Stocker eaching.

 

Luddite Lite, October 18, 2009
High tech has changed our world without a doubt. Rev. Stocker ponders what we are to make of it.

 

Stepping Toward Reconciliation, October 4, 2009
On Association Sunday, Rev. Stocker explores racism, its hold on us even yet, and hopes for a brighter future when we can shed the stains of the past.

 

Watering, Growing, Weeding, August 30, 2009
After a long, wet summer, Rev. Stocker contemplates the harvest.

 

Mission Impossible
Today, National Coming Out Day and the tenth anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard, Rev. Stocker tells some stories about the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts to illustrate how people can make impossible dreams come true. This sermon anticipates the church's journey toward creating a new Mission Statement. You can listen to the audio version.

The Preservation of the World
In his book Walden, Henry David Thoreau said, “In wildness is the preservation of the world.” Rev. Sylvia Stocker contemplates one of the wildest of creatures, the wolf, for lessons about human beings. She draws on the story of the Wolf Project, as described in the book Shadow Mountain, by Renee Askins.

Choosing Peace, Being Peace
In honor of the International Peace Day, peace activist Lynn Ellis and Rev. Sylvia Stocker ponder what it means to choose peace. Lynn Ellis describes her journey to peace. Rev. Sylvia Stocker reflects on what it means to choose peace in light of the July shootings at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church and the shock jock rhetoric that may have been a contributing factor to those shootings.

Spanners
We can be “spanners,” Rev. Sylvia Stocker asserts. We can be an intentional intergenerational community – a group of seekers that spans the generations, fostering safe, healthy, and meaningful relationships among all. This sermon draws from All Are Welcome, by James V. Gambone. Also included in this sermon is a story about Sylvia’s father, written by Rev. Anita Farber-Robertson.

Sanctuary
For Homecoming Sunday, Rev. Sylvia Stocker asks what it means to have sanctuary and to create sanctuary together. She refers to the children’s story told earlier in the service -- “Sunflower House,” by Eve Bunting, in which a young boy creates a special place for himself among tall sunflowers. In addition, she alludes to the morning’s reading -- “A Fist in the Eye of God,” an essay about a hummingbird building her nest, in Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver.