Sermon Archive
prior to July 1, 2022
ONLINE SERMONS PRIOR TO JULY 1, 2022
click on the sermon image to view the video
“A Morning with the Eugene Gay Men's Chorus”
with Rev. Scott Rudolph, Minister
June 26, 2022. To celebrate Pride, we welcome the Eugene Gay Men’s Chorus to hear them sing and invite a conversation with Rev. Scott Rudolph about the power of music and community. Happy Pride, everyone!
“The Untapped Blessing Within” with James Simmons-Cox, Lay Leader
June 19, 2022. Through the seasons of our lives – our faith constantly evolves. Yet, some truths remain steadfast: “All life is sacred”. James unpacks the concept of blessings and how we can encounter and nurture a more blessed existence within a chaotic world.
“Crossing Thresholds” with Rev. Scott Rudolph, Minister
June 12, 2022. Life has threshold moments where we cross over into a new reality. Sometimes these occasions bring us joy and other times they mark a difficult new path. As a religious community, we bear witness to one another as we journey through life. We hold members of our community as they honor their crossing no matter what it may be: birth, death, rebirth, life transitions, or moments of profound growth.
“Seeds of Change” with Rev. Scott Rudolph, Minister
June 5, 2022. Join is this morning as we celebrate our annual Flower Celebration service. At this all-ages service, we will meditate on the life of a flower (and our lives, too) while we receive a series of anthems by our choir.
“Creating Beautiful Memories” with Rev. Scott Rudolph
May 29, 2022. During the summer we make memories of life. This season of warmth and play begins on Memorial Day on which we remember the fallen. The lives of the living and the memory of the dead are always intertwined.
“Today We Slay” A Youth-Led Service supported by Amy Brock, DRE
May 22, 2022. One definition of slay is, “to do something spectacularly well.” Our UUFCO youth invite you to embrace your inner slay.
“Banning Books is on the Rise” with Heather McNeil, Lay Leader
Sunday, May 15, 2022. Books can be illuminating, exalting, and beautiful. They can also be disturbing and challenging. Youth books are the target of censors like never before, so we’ll take a look at what books are being removed and why, and what you can do to promote FREADom.
“Noticing Beauty" with Rev. Scott Rudolph, Minister
Sunday, May 8, 2022. Have you looked around lately? Oh my goodness! So much beauty everywhere! Seriously… take a moment and look around you right now. Wow! Beauty is always happening.
“A Thing of Beauty” with Rev. Scott Rudolph, Minister
May 1, 2022. What makes something beautiful and who gets to decide? They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. They are right. Let’s behold some beauty.
“Inch by Inch”
with Kristel Masterson, Lay Leader, and Amy Brock, DRE
April 24, 2022. Everything starts as a seed. What experiences have brought you growth? Join us for this hands-on multi-generational service as we welcome new members, explore seeds of ideas, and plant seedlings with the Sacred Grounds Team. Please bring a towel wear gardening clothes if you wish to participate in our closing planting practice.
“Life Again” with Rev. Scott Rudolph, Minister
April 17, 2022. The practice of pysanky, Ukrainian egg dying, has rich religious and cultural history. The stories that surround this art form offer us hope and resilience. From the darkness of early morning dusk, the sun rises.
“Waking Up to What’s Inside of You”
with Rev. Scott Rudolph, Minister
April 10, 2022. Sleepwalking happens in real life. It also happens in our spiritual lives. The world around us lingers, always ready to open itself to your noticing. Your internal world waits in the same way. This Sunday is a gentle alarm clock for that awakening.
The recording of “What Really Matters” from April 3, 2022 is not available. We apologize for the inconvenience.
“Is God Real?” with Rev. Scott Rudolph, Minister
March 27, 2022 . God is real or God is not real, right? Well… that all depends on what we mean by God. And the idea of God has meant many things over the ages. The question of God invites us to consider our beliefs, but also then ask the question, “So what?”
“Speaking Ourselves to Life” with Mari Esabel Valverde, Guest Speaker
March 20, 2022. In anticipation of International Transgender Day of Visibility on March 31st, we will contemplate the paradox of the disappearance and the hyper-vigilance of trans bodies in public. This exploration will emphasize the importance not only of trans visibility but also trans flourishing and will spur us into action in solidarity for trans liberation.
Mari Esabel Valverde (b. 1987) is an award-winning composer and singer in steady demand across the United States and Canada. Based in North Texas, she sings in multiple professional ensembles and teaches singing and transgender voice training with Your Lessons Now. She holds degrees from St. Olaf College, the European American Musical Alliance in Paris, France, and San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
“Prayers and Actions for Ukraine”
with Rev. Scott Rudolph, Minister
March 13, 2022. Our hearts break as we witness the Ukrainian countryside descend into violence. We feel helpless being so far away. And yet, we remain committed to doing what we can in the face of injustice and tyranny. This war emphasizes that we are truly a global community.
Artwork shown is a mural by the artist My Dog Sighs.
“How Things Spread (not about covid)”
with Rev. Scott Rudolph, Minister
March 6, 2022. The last couple years of the pandemic have shown us that illness can pass between people. Relationship binds us together for good or ill. This means that love, peace, acceptance, and beauty can also spread! This morning we celebrate In-Gathering: Part 2 as Covid limitations begin to ease, and we kick off our Stewardship month. We plan to spread some joy on this morning!
“Expanded Possibilities Powered by Compassion”
with Jamie Bianchini, Guest Speaker
February 27, 2022. Jamie Bianchini has spent the last two decades globetrotting nearly 100 countries to explore his passions of adventure sports, intercultural connections, and social entrepreneurship. This colorful talk will take you around the world and into the heart of humanity to reconnect with our innate compassion we are all born with, and invite us to rethink what’s possible in our own lives, and in the lives of those around us, when we allow compassion to truly flourish in our lives.
Jamie lives and works here in Bend as a speaker and consultant to help organizations and businesses find innovative ways to solve our most challenging social and environmental issues.
“Coloring Outside the Lines”
with Rev. Scott Rudolph, Minister
February 20, 2022. Heretics, artists, justice seekers, visionaries are all people who push through boundaries. Coloring outside the lines can create a new picture all together. Some boundaries are healthy and positive. Others need to be pushed and reshaped.
“Hell No, We Won’t Go!”
with Rev. Scott Rudolph, Minister
February 13, 2022. Our Universalist ancestors proclaimed that a loving God could never damn anyone to a fire and brimstone hell. Hell like that doesn’t exist. Though, loss of connection and love here and now sure feel like a kind of hell sometimes.
“Do I Have to Care About All 7.9 Billion People?”
with Rev. Scott Rudolph, Minister
February 6, 2022. On a good day, our hearts may want to care for everyone and everything. Yet, compassion fatigue is a real thing. So are unreal expectations. So, how much caring is “enough” caring?
“The Secrets/Traumas We All Have”
with Jeff Belzer, Lay Leader
January 30, 2022. Want to know a secret? We all have secrets, traumas, and experiences as humans that make us the people we are today. This week we’ll explore how we can use compassion and love to help bridge our divides; to better understand the secrets we all have.
“Sex in the Sanctuary—Power, Religion, and Choice”
with Rev. Scott Rudolph, Minister
January 23, 2022. 59 years ago, Unitarian Universalists became the first religious organization to support a woman’s right to choose. 49 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled on Roe vs Wade allowing women access to abortion. Reproductive justice invites us to consider questions of power. Who has it? How and why is it used? What is the impact?
“Put on Your Darwin Glasses”
with Pat Kailey, Lay Leader
January 16, 2022. Come, put on your Darwin glasses for a while. This Sunday's lay-led service will be a brief introduction to looking at the world through an evolutionary lens. We'll see how Darwin's idea is deeply connected to our 7th UU principle and how evolutionary thinking can be a powerful tool for understanding our world, shaping the society we want, or just building a better New Years' resolution.
“No Willy-Nilly Walkie-Talkie”
with Rev. Scott Rudolph, Minister
January 9, 2022. Healthy and constructive relationships rest upon the power of listening and the purpose of sharing. How we communicate is how we relate. And how we relate is who we are and what we become. It’s best to be clear about it. You copy? Loud and clear? 10-4? Over and out…
"Choose Your Own Adventure"
with Rev. Scott Rudolph, Minister
January 2, 2022. Which path do I pick? Every minute of every day, we make choices that propel our lives in a certain direction. From what to have for breakfast to how you will spend the hours of your day, living with intention means making decisions.
“Opening to Joy”
with Anastacia Compton, Lay Leader
December 26, 2021. Do we open to joy, or is it something we have to strive for? Can we seek it out, or is it a matter of recognizing it where it already exists? Where does it come from – inside us or around us, within the world or transcending it? As we let go of the old year and prepare to greet the new, join us as we ponder what brings us joy and how we make space for it in our lives.
“Put on Your Own Mask First”
with Rev. Scott Rudolph, Minister
December 12, 2021. If an airplane loses oxygen on an airplane, we are encouraged to put on our own mask before helping others. Claiming joy enables us to encounter the world with an open and fortified heart. “Attention passengers. This is the captain speaking. We are experiencing some serious turbulence.
“UU History Through the Written Word”
with Rev. Scott Rudolph, Minister
November 14, 2021. Our UU religious trajectory was dramatically transformed by significant writings over time. This morning we will look back at some of the seminal moments in our unique history that formed our current faith tradition. Thank goodness folks wrote this stuff down, write?
“Those Who Came Before & Those Who Will Come After”
with Rev. Scott Rudolph, Minister
November 7, 2021. “We build on foundations we did not lay. We warm ourselves by fires we did not light. We sit in the shade of trees we did not plant. We drink from wells we did not dig. We profit from persons we did not know.” – A variation on Deuteronomy 6:11 – Rev. Peter Raible
online service archive
If you would like access to a previously-recorded service, please send the date and title via email to Leora Mauck, Fellowship Administrator.
December 2020 – Stillness
2020-12-20 no recording due to tech gremlins
2020-12-13 Introverts & Extroverts During Covid
November 2020 – Healing
2020-11-29 Find Your Way Out of the Dark with Carmin Caterina, Guest Speaker
2020-11-22 This Precious Day
2020-11-15 Healing Our Nation with Erika McAlpine, Guest Speaker
2020-11-08 How We Heal
2020-11-01 Calm Amidst Chaos
October 2020 – Deep Listening
2020-10-25 Listen. Then Speak!
2020-11-11 It Takes Practice with Matt Meyer, Guest Speaker
2020-11-18 Not Hell, But Hope part ii
2020-11-04 Not Hell, But Hope part i
September 2020 – Renewal
2020-09-27 When Hope is Hard to Find with Natalie Fletcher, Guest Speaker
2020-09-20 Sacred Anchors
2020-09-13 Letting Go & Going Forward
2020-09-06 The Spirituality of Clotheslines with Chela Sloper, Congregational Life Facilitator
August 2020
2020-08-30 Portland, Bend, and the Legacy of John Lewis
2020-08-23 Crack a Ceiling, Chip a Wall
2020-08-16 Hope in Action
2020-08-09 Prayer: It’s Not What You Think with Tom Wykes, Lay Leader
2020-08-02 Postcards from the Adventure with UUFCO congregants
July 2020
2020-07-19 The Spiritual Journey at Home and Work with Gwen Yuill and Dana Rhode, Lay Leaders
2020-07-12 Go Ahead and Ask
2020-07-05 Lifting Our Voices
June 2020 – Compassion
2020-06-21 The Spiritual Power of “Seeing” with Bob Barber, Lay Leader
2020-06-14 Spiritual Solitude
2020-06-07 Flower Communion
May 2020 – Thresholds
2020-05-31 Crossing Thresholds
2020-05-24 Spiritual Journey
2020-05-17 Justice from Home
2020-05-10 Framing & Claiming: Youth Coming of Age
2020-05-03 The New Not Normal
April 2020 – Liberation
2020-04-26 We Are All a Part of the Choir with Mark Hickman, Music Director
2020-04-18 Outside Every Day
2020-04-12 What Rises
2020-04-05 Purpose
March 2020 – Wisdom
2020-03-29 Yup. This Stinks.
2020-03-22 Playing Catch Up
2020-03-15 From Emergency to Emergence