Virtual Service Recordings

Sunday, May 23 2021
"RE Sunday"
D.R.E. Julie Riegel

We will have our second Religious Education Sunday on Zoom! Mark your calendars to hear our two graduating seniors Laila Panzenhagen and Irving Sendra share their Statement of Faith Projects. We will have a guest soloist and a slide show of what has brought our RE Families comfort this past year. We hope you stay on Zoom and go to the Annual Meeting right after the service. At 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. you can drive by the church and pick up an Ice Cream from our Ice Cream Cart!!! Our parents and students will be handing them out!! We celebrate our GPUC community that lift up the span of all ages.

Sunday, May 09 2021
"Mother's Day Reflections"
Dr. Alexander Riegel, Ariana Riegel,
Jackie Hoats-Shields, and Janna Sendra

A few years ago, several members of our congregation spoke about the meaning of Mother’s Day. This Mother’s Day, Dr. Riegel will deliver a brief homily on the Divine Feminine, after which three members of our congregation will share their reflections on Mother’s Day.

Sunday, May 30 2021
"'In the beginning, God created...': a Kabbalistic Reading"
Rabbi Olivier

Our guest speaker on Sunday, May 30th, will be Rabbi Olivier BenHaim, a teacher of Jewish mysticism from Seattle who will unpack the Book of Genesis' Creation Story anew for us, through the lens of the Kabbalah. What will ensue will challenge us to understand the early verses of this story in a radically different way. It might cause us, at least, to reexamine our assumptions. At most, it might just change our life.

Sunday, April 25 2021
"Challenges, Lessons, Gifts:
Reflecting On a Year of Pandemic"
Dr. Alexander Riegel

Sunday, May 02 2021
"Trust Thyself"
Dr. Alexander Riegel

We have spent the last year in a pandemic that has dragged on longer than most of us would have imagined! Though a trying and tragic year, in every experience there are lessons and gifts to be had. This Sunday, several of our fellow GPUCers will reflect of the challenges, lessons, and gifts this year has brought us.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was a Unitarian minister, essayist, and public speaker, best known for his Transcendentalist theology. He is also known for his theology of radical individualism. In this sermon, Dr. Riegel will reacquaint us with Emerson’s radical individualism and also consider what happens when radical individualism slips from the realm of the theological into the psychological.

Sunday, April 11 2021
"Bowing Awestruck Into the Dust"
Dr. Alexander Riegel

Sunday, April 18 2021
"Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Aether"
D.R.E. Julie Artis and Dr. Alexander Riegel

There are moments of artistic experience in life when the spirit is elevated beyond all thought. For many, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony works such magic. Hence, Beethoven: “Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.” Think, also, of other artists: Frida Kahlo, Vincent van Gogh, Edna St. Vincent Millay (yes, poets included), Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Join us as we celebrate art in life!

This earth day we celebrate the elements that make life possible: earth, wind, fire, water, and aether. This will be an intergenerational service with various people sharing about each of these vital elements. Come, recall the wonder of your “blue boat home”!

Sunday, March 28 2021
"Commitment to Our Earthly Vision"
Joshua Berg

Sunday, April 4 2021
"Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?"
Dr. Alexander Riegel

Rev. Mary Safford was a founder of the Iowa Sisterhood, a group of women ministers who spread Unitarianism into the rural Midwest during the turn of the 20th century. She wrote that “the liberal church today is to be obedient to its heavenly vision. Not only must we proclaim the saving truths we hold, but we must also strive to build up these truths in our own lives and in the lives of others.” This Sunday we'll explore the Iowa Sisterhood and what they modeled that we can emulate today to move Unitarian Universalism successfully into the future.

Many people do not realize just how much Jesus’ (and his disciples) religious sensibilities were rooted in his/their Jewish heritage. One example of this is the words Jesus spoke as he was dying on the cross: “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” This is directly from Psalm 22. The Psalms are a seldom tapped source of comfort and wisdom. This Easter we will consider the Psalms with this in mind.

Sunday, March 14 2021
"Eschewing Escher"
Dr. Alexander Riegel

Sunday, March 21 2021
"Back to Zanzibar"
Dr. Alexander Riegel

Einstein’s special theory of relativity taught us that what we perceive depends on where we stand and how fast we are moving relative to the object of our perception. In other words, we live in a “perspectival” universe. There is no objectivity to be found. Dr. Riegel will explore this theme of perspectivism and draw out its implications for how we live our lives.

In Feb., Dr. Riegel preached a sermon on proverbial wisdom from around the world. There is no end to such proverbial wisdom, so, due to popular demand, Dr. Riegel will revisit more proverbial wisdom from around the world. Maybe you CAN step into the same river twice?! Have a favorite proverb you’d like to hear Dr. Riegel ponder?

Sunday, Feb 28 2021
"Exploring the Wisdom of Mary Oliver"
Tonya Wells

Sunday, March 07 2021
"The Forest and the Trees"
Dr. Alexander Riegel

During this sermon, we will explore the well-loved poetry written by Mary Oliver to extract wisdom for everyday living. The service will include some favorite poems of Mary Oliver as well as some less known works.

We live in an “anti-institutional age.” The millennial generation especially shuns institutions, per the Pew Research Center. If this trend continues, what does that portend for society as a whole and religion in particular? Have we simply lost site of the forest for the trees or is something deeper taking place in the cultural landscape? In this sermon, Dr. Riegel will argue for the importance of institutions and how our commitment to institutions is vital to the well-being of society.

Sunday, Feb 14 2021
"Stillness: A Door into the Temple"
Dr. Alexander Riegel

Sunday, Feb 21 2021
"Much Treasure, Many Moths"
Dr. Alexander Riegel

In her book, “A Thousand Mornings,” Mary Oliver, a true, modern mystic poet, drops another spiritual nugget into our laps: “Stillness. One of the doors into the temple.” It is in this sermon that Dr. Riegel will bring the sermon series on The Self to a close. He will suggest to us that now that we understand the self, we are more capable of finding the spiritual gold that lies within.

This week, Dr. Riegel takes us on a tour around the world to discover the wisdom of different cultures, by exploring their various popular proverbs. He will begin with one of his favorite sayings, “She who has been burnt by the soup blows on the yogurt.” Join us! This is one of the ways quickly to gain wisdom regarding how best to meet life’s challenges!

Sunday, Jan 31 2021
"Welcome Revelations from Julian of Norwich"
Kelly Fordon

Julian of Norwich’s story resonates today on many fronts. A medieval anchorite and mystic, Julian (1342-1416) lived through a global pandemic and penned the first book in English written by a woman. The central message of Revelations of Divine Love is “All Shall Be Well,” which was not a popular notion at the time. In this sermon, Kelly will discuss Julian’s various roles as mystic, writer, and revolutionary, as well as how she survived the last 44 years of her life in a small anchorite cell.

Sunday, Jan 17 2021
"Keys to the Kingdom: The Heart Has Its Reasons"
Dr. Alexander Riegel

This is part two of a three-part sermon series on the nature of the “self.” Dr. Riegel will discuss the role of emotions within the self, exploring everything from the evolutionary role of emotions to the emotions’ unrecognized influence on the mind.

Sunday, Jan 10 2021
"Keys to the Kingdom: Intro on the Self"
Dr. Alexander Riegel

This portion of Sunday's service (1/10/2021) includes the beginning of the service, the Message for All Ages, the Reading, and the intro to the three part sermon series: "Keys to the Kingdom: Intro to the Self."

Sunday, Dec. 27, 2020
"Hearing One Another:
There Is More to It Than Meets the Ear"
Tonya Wells

Your intentions, attention and intuition have so much to do with the ability to really listen to another human being and form meaningful connection. come to consider how we can listen better in order to generate more love in our intertwined world.

Sunday, Dec. 13, 2020
"Question Box Part II"
Dr. Alexander Riegel

This sermon is the continuation of the "Question Box" sermon begun Dec. 6, 2020.

Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020
"The Experience of Gratitude in a
Time of Disconnected Lives"
Dr. John Artis

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, "In ordinary life, we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich." Today, a few days after Thanksgiving, we are able to find our pathway toward gratitude and the enrichment of our lives. Today let us explore what we can be grateful for in our lives.

Sunday, Oct. 25, 2020
"Be in the World as a Traveler"
Dawud Walid

Prophet Muhammad, the last prophet of Islam, said, "Be in the world as a stranger or a traveler on a path." This sermon will touch on this prophetic saying in relation to how we can strive to detach ourselves from the trends within our society that are increasingly leading to more political rancor and growing economic polarization.

Sunday, Oct. 11, 2020
"The Soul's Sabbath"
Rev. Dr. Alexander Riegel

In last Sunday's sermon, Rev. Dr. Riegel provided a lot of information, that was challenging to absorb, about the "surveillance capital" nature of our social media driven world and also about the potential for the abuse of our ever increasingly technological ability.
At the end of that sermon, he stated that we need to ask ourselves the question: "What does it mean to be an individual in a world in which individualism has become taboo?"
More than anything, it means that we must remember the importance of our own subjectivity, our own inner life, as the world outside us whirls about us, threatening to disorient us.
It's time to remember to give the soul it's Sabbath.

Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020
"'One if by land, two if by sea': Whom Should We 'Revere'"
Rev. Dr. Alexander Riegel

Most Americans grow up learning about Paul Revere's ride, when he is said to have shouted: "The British are coming! The British are coming!" The truth is that he never shouted this famous phrase. Had he done so, the British troops who had already infiltrated Massachusetts surely would have shot him dead!
There is another falsehood about Paul Revere's ride, namely, that it was a solo act. It was not. A number of others rode with Revere on that famous night, including a black man and a woman.  Do you know their names? Probably not, without first looking this up on Google. That's a problem! In this sermon, Dr. Riegel discusses the importance of the non-male and nonwhite history of America.

Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020
"Can You Feel It?"
Rev. Dr. Alexander Riegel

The world is rocking our world these days! There's no need to elaborate on the challenges this pandemic has brought us. We are all far too familiar with "the condition our condition is in." (Thank you, Mickey Newbury.) Dr. Riegel will reflect on the state of the world and finally answer Tina Turner's famous question, "What's love got to do with it?"

Sunday, Aug 30, 2020
"Myth-Busting the Spiritual Journey... or,
Was Patanjali Right All Along?"
Carol Guither

It's both an entertaining look at my own attempts and obstacles in starting a spiritual journey and practice, and some real advice and cautions from Patanjali and others on what a spiritual journey could look like, challenges along the way, and practices to stay on the path. Patanjali is the author of The Yoga Sutras, which is one of the most important classic texts on the traditional practice of Yoga.

Sunday, Aug 16, 2020
"Antisemitism-Henry Ford and the International Jew"
Chuck Palmer

One hundred years ago, Henry Ford attacked Jews through his newspaper, the Dearborn Independent. He also printed 500,000 copies of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." Chuck will discuss antisemitism and retired Detroit Free Press journalist Bill McGraw's Autumn 2018 article of the same title for the Dearborn Historical Commission, which the Commission pulled from publication and refused to distribute.

Sunday, Aug 2, 2020
"Reality: What a Concept"
Robin Ramsay

Right now, most of us can say that there are things going on in our lives that are very difficult; things we wish weren't part of our lives. When faced with pain, it's very easy to get caught up in wishing that reality were different and bemoaning the wrongness, or unfairness of it. We can waste so much energy fighting with the fact that this situation is actually happening, that we get stuck in suffering, and unable to take useful action. As the author Tom Clancy puts it so well, "When you fight with Reality, you lose, but only 100% of the time." Dr. Ramsay will discuss common human thoughts and reactions that get in the way of accepting reality, and making effective choices for well-being based on that reality.

Sunday, July 19, 2020
"Love in the Face of Adversity"
Ken Meisel

Ken Meisel, an area poet and psychotherapist and a prior guest lecturer at GPUUC, will offer encouraging thoughts and commentary on how we are challenged and invited to love deeper and braver in times of adversity - whether that adversity exists within ourselves, in our deeper heart relationships or in the world at large. He will offer helpful insights on love and marriage, love and personal growth, and love as it relates to our social contract with the community-at-large.

Sunday, June 14, 2020
"Learning to Be White"
Rev. Dr. Alexander Riegel

Anyone who has taken the time to read black authors who write about the black experience understands that black people undergo a process of learning what it means to be black in a predominantly white culture. Contrariwise, most white people do not understand that they undergo a similar process of learning what it means to be white in a predominantly white culture. Dr Riegel will discuss this experience of "learning to be white," as well as address how the moral outrage white people express at moments of heightened racism in this country is itself an expression of white privilege.

Sunday, May 31, 2020
"Religious Education Sunday"
D.R.E. Julie Artis

We will have our first Religious Education Sunday on Zoom! Mark your calendars to hear our three graduating seniors Morgen Bocci, Ada Marotzke and Noelle Shields share their Statement of Faiths Projects. Our guest soloist will be Henry Sendra. We hope you join us to share the end of the year celebration of this unusual church school year. We are a community that lifts up the span of all ages.

Sunday, May 17, 2020
"9/11, 2008, Coronavirus, Kundabuffer,
and Remembrance"
Rev. Dr. Alexander Riegel

Lately, we have repeatedly heard that this pandemic we face is going to bring a new normal to our lives.  Be prepared for ongoing social distancing and face covers.  But what about a different type of new normal?  Crisis tend to help one get one's priorities in order.  Will this reordering of our priorities last?  What would it take for us to carry this kind of new normal into the future?

Sunday, May 3, 2020
"Here Be Dragons"
Rev. Dr. Alexander Riegel

Ancient cartographers used to write the phrase, "Here Be Dragons," when they mapped out uncharted ocean territory.  What is our modern version of these dragons?  And, how best to engage these creatures in our lives?

Sunday, April 19, 2020
"A Person, A People, A Planet"
Mary Ann Perrone

Sunday April 5, 2020
"Hope Alive - The Currency of the Vision in All of Us"
John Artis

Sunday, Feb 07 2021
"Do Not Break Faith with Your Awakened Heart"
Dr. Alexander Riegel

During Dr. Riegel’s recent sermon of The Self, “Keys to the Kingdom,” he received a question about how to deal with difficult people in one’s life. Using the information contained in that sermon series, coupled with a little help from the psychologist Carl Jung, Dr. Riegel will suggest a different way to view and manage interpersonal relationships.

Sunday, Jan 24 2021
"Paradise by the Dashboard Light"
Dr. Alexander Riegel

This is part three of a three-part sermon series on the nature of the “self.” Dr. Riegel will discuss the role of body within the self, explaining why it is the body that is most dominant within the self. He will end by explaining how a correct understanding of the self gives us the “Keys to the Kingdom.”

Sunday, Jan 10 2021
"Keys to the Kingdom: Part I - The Mind"
Dr. Alexander Riegel

This portion of Sunday's service (1/10/2021) is the first of the three part sermon series, "Keys to the Kingdom: Part I - The Mind."

Sunday, Jan. 03, 2021
"Ponder This"
Dr. Alexander Riegel

Life is said to be a journey. There are many ways of “journeying” through life. Some people make a bee line from cradle to grave. Some people do the “drunkard’s walk,” constantly drifting from one “shiny object” to the next in a seemingly nonsensical pattern. Other’s merely sit by the side of the road and watch other travelers go by... Another manner of journeying through life is to walk, stop and ponder. In this sermon, Dr. Riegel will extol the virtues of “pondering.”

Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020
"Christmas Eve Service"
The Revs. Kimi and Alexander Riegel

Sunday, Dec. 6, 2020
"Question Box Part I"
Dr. Alexander Riegel

Typically, in the spring, Dr. Riegel does a Question Box sermon. (Last spring the Question Box sermon got waylaid by this pandemic.) This is an opportunity for you to submit a question to Dr. Riegel, which he will answer during the sermon.

Sunday, Nov. 15, 2020
"It's All about the Squiggles"
Rev. Dr. Alexander Riegel

The symbol for the Taoist tradition is yin-yang. This is understood as a symbol that represents opposites, which together comprise the whole. Such opposites include male-female, light-dark, moon-sun, intuitive-logical... In this sermon I will take the liberty of adding another pair of opposites, squiggly-straight, and argue that "It's all about the squiggles."

Sunday, Oct. 18, 2020
"This Spider... This Moonlight"
Rev. Dr. Alexander Riegel

Dr. Riegel has been known to flavor his sermons with tidbits from the philosopher Fredrich Nietzsche. In this sermon, he will present what he considers to be Nietzsche's most constructive philosophical idea, which possesses a powerful philosophical/religious challenge for us all. "Would you not curse the demon who spoke thus, or, would you bow down before him and say, 'Never have I heard anything more divine!'"

Sunday, Oct. 04, 2020
"The Politics of Consciousness"
Rev. Dr. Alexander Riegel

In 1963, Harvard professors Richard Alpert and Timothy Leary, later turned Yogi and psychedelic gurus, respectively, co-authored an essay entitled "The Politics of Consciousness Expansion." In that book, they argued for the right of individuals to explore their own consciousness through the use of psychedelics. Dr. Riegel will connect their argument about the right of psychological autonomy to the detrimental effects today's technological and social media driven business empires have upon the individual. Welcome to 1984 on steroids...

Sunday, Sept. 20, 2020
"Toxoplasma gondii and the Audacious Mouse"
Rev. Dr. Alexander Riegel

The power of belief on the human psyche is awesome! Surprisingly, little attention is given to the effect beliefs have on us as human beings. Second only to our biology, they are powerful motivators for human action in the world. Dr. Riegel will suggest that one of the most effective ways forward for our species in these challenging times is not through military might, economic success, or political persuasion, but the altering of the beliefs that we hold.

Sunday, Sept. 6, 2020
"Unitarian Universalism and Working People:
What Are We Called To Do?"
Joe Buttiglieri

What does or should it mean when Unitarian Universalists celebrate Labor Day? An examination of how America's laborers are mistreated and what our Principles and Purposes call on us to do as individuals and as congregation. 

Sunday, Aug 23, 2020
"Finding Compassion"
Jerry Herron

Compassion seems a particularly important topic these days, given all that is happening. I've come to the conclusion that compassion is not so much a fixed state of mind as it is an over-and-over-again destination, that we can get to, and keep coming back to, if we have a proper map. From there, it becomes possible to feel toward ourselves and each other, and then to act, in ways that might prove as beneficial as they are necessary. What I am proposing, then, is a kind of traveler's guide for finding compassion, with advice provided by poetry, philosophy, fiction, drama, music, and film.

Sunday, Aug 9, 2020
"Tips for Staying Together in a Long-Term Relationship"
Kathy Konwiak

As Unitarian Universalists, we work to affirm and promote justice equity and compassion in human relations as our second of seven principles. Living out this principle with a person we are closest to - our life partner - is so important to quality of that relationship. Kathy Konwiak has recently retired from a 35-year career as clinical psychotherapist. Kathy is offering her insights as a therapist and as almost a four-decade long Unitarian Universalist into those qualities that appear to be most important in nurturing and protecting these most important relationships.

Sunday, July 26, 2020
"'God moves in mysterious ways':
Natural Selection as The Creator"
William Moore

The British theologian William Paley published his best-selling book "Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity" in 1802; the title is a concise synopsis of the theology that dominated the Church of England in the 18th and 19th centuries. Scores of naturalist-parsons spent their ample leisure piously collecting beetles, butterflies, mosses and other organisms searching for the Attributes of God. What they found was "nature, red in tooth and claw" and a Creator whose attributes resembled those of Rube Goldberg rather than the omniscient God of the Old Testament. Could the human genome be a Rube Goldberg invention? It certainly looks that way.

Sunday, June 21, 2020
"A Long Way from Love"
Rev. Dr. Alexander Riegel

Liberals are on the move again! Catalyzed by the pandemic that has clearly revealed the profound inequities in our culture and additional killings of black citizens at the hands of police, the rally cry for social justice is gaining momentum. This is wonderful to see, as it has been too long since we've seen such passion pushing back against the power structures that divide and oppress people. But there is something disturbing in this renewed passion for social justice. Rather, there is something disturbingly lacking in this renewed passion for social justice. Too many people on the left have bought into the mentality that we are in the midst of a moral Civil War, holding those on the right with as much disdain as the right holds them and disregarding those on the left who aren't "woke" enough to "get it." Dr. Riegel will address this disturbing trend, suggesting that we are a long way from love, and will also speak to how love is a platform from which liberal religious people need do their work.

Sunday, June 7, 2020
"The Nightingale and the Rose"
Rev. Dr. Alexander Riegel

"The Nightingale and the Rose" is a beautiful, tragic-romantic short story by Oscar Wilde. Dr. Riegel will do a special reading of the "The Nightingale and the Rose" and reflect upon its meaning. Dr. Riegel will also be providing another hammered dulcimer Prelude for this service.

Sunday, May 24, 2020
"Transitions"
Dr. John  Artis

In a time of deep physical and emotional change, how do we embrace the transitions in our life? We all face tremendous change in our lives and have so many questions to answer about how to transition through the changes. On this Memorial Day, let us examine the transitions and make a commitment to handle the change in a positive way.

Sunday, May 10, 2020
"Religion without a Net"
Rev. Dr. Alexander Riegel

Unitarian Universalism is a creedless religious path.  We offer no prescribed beliefs or ritualistic practices by which one may guide one's religious life.  Instead, we hold to the right of conscience in determining one's own spiritual path.  The apt metaphor here is walking the high wire without a net beneath oneself.  Similarly, Dr. Riegel calls Unitarian Universalism "religion without a net."

Sunday, April 26, 2020
"Personal Stories from the COVID-19 Crisis"
Various Members of GPUC

Five GPUC members offer brief reflections on their personal experiences and how they've managed to survive the current crisis.

Sunday April 12, 2020
"Empty Tombs and Spiritual Deserts"
Rev. Mitra Rahnema

Sunday March 29, 2020
"Happy All The Time?"
Jerry Herron