SERMONS BY
        REV. STEPHEN AMES

(Editor’s note for UUCE website sermons: not all service elements are listed each Sunday. Some weeks, just the sermon will appear on the website. Other weeks, a few elements particularly relevant to the sermon or reflection will be included). Some sermons are currently available in audio or in PDF formats only.

2009

Growing a Church **
October 4, 20009
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...In the Pastoral congregation, "Community" is the end goal and is regularly celebrated. In the Program congregation, the focus is on the church's mission, and community is a by-product. Yet, ironically, when community is a by-product of a group of people working together towards a healthy vision, it is a much stronger form of community than when people seek community for its own sake. I am reminded of the Black Church in the Civil Rights Movement, which, led by Rev. Dr. King sought to end racial discrimination and enter a new Promised Land, for millions of people. They kept their Eyes on the Prize while singing, "We Shall Overcome." Community in the present was not the goal, but a by-product of working together towards a vision, in a church of shared values, stories, and song. The transition of any church from pastoral to program is generally one of turning outward -- not as a collection of individuals but as a church with a vision, rooted in its faith and heritage...

Rejoice in the Light
June 21, 2009
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The Flower Communion
June 14, 2009
audio   PDF

May we have compassion for ourselves and others,
Knowing that deep hurts lead people to fear life, to fear the present moment.
And yet, may we bring ourselves back. Again and again.
May we let go of our stories about others, about life, about ourselves.
May we seek the help of others.
May we seek the help of that Peace we find in Stillness, in Silence.
May we trust in Life.

2007-2008

Generation to Generation
December 21, 2008
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Water Communion - The Soft Power of Water
September 7, 2007
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...Soft power is the power of nonviolence, the power of listening and creating relationship. Where hard power uses coercion, soft power uses persuasion. Where hard power seeks to control and stamp out dissent and difference, soft power celebrates diversity, seeking not uniformity but unity. Soft power says, when each of us becomes ourselves more fully, the community is blessed.

To God or Not To God
Sept 30, 2007
audio    PDF

My religious perspectives have changed over time. As a child, I experienced what I now call God most strongly in nature, particularly in a field in the woods where I lived in Pennsylvania. God was something open, quiet, and peaceful in a place of life – it was something I felt most often alone or with a close friend. After several years I came to call it God because of a feeling of connection I experienced: with myself, with my companion or companions when I had them, and with this “other” that was the field – and the trees and the stream and the sky beyond. I know many who have had similar experiences without naming it God.

Beginnings
September 16, 2007
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There may be no time in life in which mindfulness and care are not valuable. Yet during transitions the quality of our conduct is especially important. I strongly believe that transitioning well in any area of your life helps you transition in other areas, including the last transition, death. Transitioning well applies to all three stages: ending, neutral zone, beginning.

Trust
September 23, 2007
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Our decision to trust should not ignore our feelings or other information. Our personal safety depends on our willingness to pay attention to our feelings and information about others. Please don’t hear me as recommending that our trustful or mistrustful feelings be ignored. They are part of the information available to us and they have their place. As Berry says, let us keep a place for our information but know also that trusting is ultimately a decision, among the most creative we can make.

Growing Our Faith - Now is the Time
October 14, 2007
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..... ...It was a blessing that you were born.
..... We each have a piece of the truth about God.
..... It matters what you do.
..... You don’t have to go it alone.

What would the world be like, if, each year or two, twice as many people carried a message like this in their hearts? I hope they are not all Unitarian Universalists: we need many perspectives, many ways of living, religious and secular, spiritual and scientific, many people and groups allied in our commitment to honor our connections, our unity, our being one human family among many families on this miraculous earth. I want to see Unitarian Universalism let its light shine. I want to see our light mingle with those of other life-affirming movements and traditions.

Equal Marriage - What's God Got to Do with It?
October 21, 2007
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I have begun to talk about God, publicly... Some of you may squirm in your seats at the thought of my doing this. Some others of you may think, “Well, he’s the minister, he’s supposed to do that. But not me!” Some of you, I hope, will, after careful reflection, begin to speak about God not as if you knew everything, but as if you knew something – because you do. Consider how this current political issue relates to that which is sacred to you and to our faith. Practice articulating it. Dare to speak of your experience of the sacred, because each of us has a piece of the truth about God.

Day of the Dead
October 28, 2007
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If we could embrace death, dance with it, laugh with it, we would perhaps stop living in fear of death. We would be more at home with ourselves, living in respect for the natural limitations of life. It is interesting to me that El Dia De Los Muertos seems at first glance to be superstitious, full of magic and other-worldliness. And yet its effects are so practical. It helps people come to terms with death, with the death of others and ultimately our own death. It reconnects people with their family, both the living and the dead. It honors the past. It teaches people that they will become part of an honored past, and that they will be remembered as individuals, when they pass on.

Inherent Worth and Dignity - Living Our First Principle
November 4, 2007
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Our first Principle is a call to make the time and effort to get to know people in their particularities – especially those people from unfamiliar backgrounds. A religious community covenanted to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person is gently yet continuously stretching itself – noticing who is missing, actively seeking out those whose lives seem foreign, building relationships with and spreading the stories of those whose worth and dignity are jeopardized – and doing our best to help them be restored to a place of worth and dignity.

The Second Mile - Loving One's Enemies
December 9, 2007
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[Consider that] Jesus is saying: don’t fall into any of the standard roles in the drama of violence. Don’t be the victim, the avenger, the champion, the perpetrator, the collaborator, or the bystander. Disrupt the cycle of violence with something so unexpected it’s almost comical. Introduce a new role for which the other has no label. Surprise the abuser. Look him in the eye. Get him to see you not as a victim or object but as a human being, an individual who has just made a choice. Invite him to become not a perpetrator but a free person who can respond to your choice.