A Simple Matter of Complexity

April 17 : A Simple Matter of Complexity
Rev. David W. Chandler

Looking ahead to the minister’s sabbatical this fall? Well, the minister is. I’m not the only one, but here are some thoughts about what it will mean to me, and to you. We are getting prepared for a special opportunity for renewal and discovery.

Courageous Love

April 10 Service

Photography by John Morill Read

Speaker representing the Gay Straight Transgender Alliance from Biddeford High School

Special Music - 'A Wish and a Promise'

Courageous Love

April 10:  Courageous Love
Gay-Straight-Trans Alliances in Schools

GSTAs are student clubs open to all and dedicated to reducing anti-gay harassment in local high schools. Betsy Parsons of GLSEN-Southern Maine will join the youth in reporting

Affectionately Yours

March 27:  Affectionately Yours
Rev. David W. Chandler

Love gets most of the praise and poetry, but affection may be our essential need. No relationship – with those we love and all those around us – can last long without the elixir of the human heart. After all, we are not Gods but only people.

 

A Sermon on the Amount

March 20:  “A Sermon on the Amount”
Rev. David W. Chandler

“We Got Bills!” is the subtitle of this sermon. Church is like that – a blending of the ethereal and the practical. We kick off our annual pledge drive – Making Magic – with thoughts on why that is a good thing, now and in the coming year.

Wheel of the Fortunate

March 6: “Wheel of the Fortunate”
Rev. David W. Chandler

What happened to the “magic money” given out in 68 envelopes during our special stewardship service on January 30? What good people have we assisted? What good causes have we supported? What generosity are we growing in our hearts?

Click here to view the comments posted from January’s ‘Stewardship’ service.

[Sermon] Pilgrims In the Paradox

by Rev. David W. Chandler

The Hasidic story has been appropriated so much it has become a commonplace. How shall we know, his students ask their rabbi, when the light is sufficient to declare the day has begun and we may commence the religious rituals?

“When you can clearly see,” he replies, “that the one who approaches is your brother or sister.”

There is wisdom here, but also the potential for self-satisfaction. We can feel the soft glow of dawn, picture the dusty street of a village or town, imagine ourselves waking to a profound truth about the people around us – and who we are supposed to be.

Pilgrims in the Paradox

February 27:  Pilgrims in the Paradox
Rev. David W. Chandler

What should we not even try to understand? Who should we not even try to love?
These questions come up repeatedly along our journey of life. Do we know the answers? Or must we accept the paradox – what is right is sometimes wrong?

[Sermon] Say What? – Part II

by Rev. David W. Chandler

After all the pertinent questions about why I had come into his emergency room on a Saturday night, the triage nurse at Pen Bay Hospital paused to ask me the reason for my visit to the area. He gave a little fist pump when told I was to preach the following morning at the local Unitarian Universalist church.

“The UU,” he said. “That’s the only way to go. The others don’t even come close. Do you know my friend Kate Braestrup?”

The next morning at breakfast we find one of our fellow guests at the B&B is a congregant in Bangor. Monday morning – Sally noted they waited until after my service to break cover – the two innkeepers shared their UU background. One was raised in an Arkansas fellowship.

Say What? – Part II

February 20: Say What? – Part II
Rev. David W. Chandler

Part I (January 23) was the history of our Seven Principles.

Part II is this Sunday … why are they worded the way they are? How do these Principles provide meaning – and to whom? What values do they uphold? How do they promise we would make the world better?