Albert Einstein claimed that “the most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” This Sunday our service is an invitation to look at the human response to mystery through the lens of our monthly theme, Creativity. We’ll ask … Continue reading Beautiful Dreamers with Rev. Janet Newton

UUSMV OOS for April 30, 2023 During our April 30th Service we are planning a Blessing of the Animals. Here are 5 ways you and your animal(s) might choose to participate: If you have a well-behaved animal that can be trusted in the chapel space — specifically with other animals and people of all kinds … Continue reading Blessing of the Animals with Reverend Janet Newton

There’s a common trope that on Easter Sundays in Unitarian Universalist congregations you’re likely to encounter messages that trumpet the hope found in the bursting forth of spring, with all its ostentatious flowers and budding trees. Spoiler alert: This is not that message. Why? Because while the return of spring is inevitable, resurrection? That takes … Continue reading Looking Jesus in the Eye and Reckoning with Resurrection with Rev. Janet Newton

In the fast pace of our secular world we often feel compelled to do whatever we can to “keep up.” It can feel disorienting and dangerous to choose to let that pace fall away and instead claim a speed for our lives that invites us to return to the enchantment and awe that we remember … Continue reading What If Letting Ourselves Get Lost Is an Act of Resistance? with Rev. Janet Newton

To Live a Living Tradition: Faith, Change and Responsibility Unitarian Universalism has long referred to itself as a “Living Tradition.” We find evidence for this in the title of our hymnal — “Singing the Living Tradition.” But what does it mean to be a Living Tradition? How does that differentiate us from other faiths? This … Continue reading To Live a Living Tradition: Faith, Change and Responsibility with Rev. Janet Newton

Despite our ostrich-like tendency to avoid this truth, we human beings are vulnerable creatures. We live out our brief but beautiful lives subject to both natural and manmade forces that test us and our communities, and no amount of pretending we are powerful in the face of evidence to the contrary — natural disasters and … Continue reading Keeping Up with the Changes: Vulnerability & Longing with Rev. Janet Newton      

This Sunday we continue our exploration of this month’s theme by reflecting on whether our lives and truths — finding the center we seek — are representative of who we would wish to be. We take as our jumping off point the story told by philosopher Martin Buber about the great Hasidic Rabbi Zusya of Hanipol. … Continue reading Why Were You Not More Like Yourself? Pursuing Truth in a Complex World with Rev. Janet Newton

Many of us received long-held admonitions about what to talk about at dinner parties — we may even have passed those same admonitions down. How to avoid heated disagreement in mixed company? Don’t talk about sex, politics, or religion. But in the absence of conversation about these most fundamental aspects of human longing and understanding, … Continue reading What Would the Neighbors Say? with Reverend Janet Newton

This Sunday we will engage in a beloved ritual for many Unitarian Universalist congregations: mixing and mingling the waters that give us life and blessing those waters through our attention and intention. While this ritual is common across the UU-sphere, just like a river it’s rarely done the same way everywhere. Here at UUSMV, we … Continue reading The Waters that Belong to Us, and the Waters to Which We Belong