by Dacia Reid and Eva Riebold

Footnotes for the message are HERE.

Our Opening Words this morning are the words of Sophia Lyon Fahs – a Unitarian Religious Educator whose work made its way into my Methodist childhood. While she speaks of children she also speaks of the self. . . . In this case we can think of “children” as all of us.

It Matters What We Believe
Words of Sophia Lyon Fahs (SLT #657)

Some beliefs are like walled gardens. They encourage exclusiveness, and the feeling of being especially privileged.
Other beliefs are expansive and lead the way into wider and deeper sympathies.

Some beliefs are like shadows, clouding children’s days with fears of unknown calamities.
Other beliefs are like sunshine, blessing children with the warmth of happiness.

Some beliefs are divisive, separating the saved from the unsaved, friends from enemies.
Other beliefs are bonds in a world community, where sincere differences beautify the pattern.

Some beliefs are like blinders, shutting off the power to choose one’s own direction.
Other beliefs are like gateways opening wide vistas for exploration.

Some beliefs weaken a person’s selfhood. They blight the growth of resourcefulness.
Other beliefs nurture self-confidence and enrich the feeling of personal worth.

Some beliefs are rigid, like the body of death, impotent in a changing world.
Other beliefs are pliable, like the young sapling, ever growing with the upward thrust of life.

Moment of Perspective

by AJ Fox, DRE

Confidence
From Songs Without Words by Felix Mendelssohn
Public Domain
Performed by Eva Riebold

Mo Li Hua
Traditional Chinese Folk Song
Public Domain
Arranged and Performed by John Prescott

Nocturne
by Felix Mendelssohn
Public Domain
Performed by John Prescott and Eva Riebold

Soon the Day Will Arrive
Words by Ehud Manor
Music by Nurit Hirsch
Used With Permission
Performed by Eva Riebold

We close with the words of the great nineteenth-century Unitarian Minister, Theodore Parker. In an age without amplification – he had a tremendous speaking voice. More importantly, he was a staunch abolitionist and sheltered escaping slaves in the basement of his home as part of the Underground Railroad.

Be Ours a Religion

Be ours a religion which, like sunshine, goes everywhere;
Its temple, all space;
Its shrine, the good heart;
Its creed, all truth;
Its ritual, works of love;
Its profession of faith, divine living.