A sermon is an oral presentation by a live speaker to a live congregation. It always involves a bit of interaction, even if it’s just eye contact and facial expressions. Reading the text of a sermon, then, is like reading the script of a play to yourself. The live, communal experience is gone.
Nevertheless, please enjoy reading these text versions of sermons and other presentations made at the UU Fellowship of Topeka during our worship services. You may find that there are additional notes and/or commentaries to the original text.
January 29, 2012 — Shawna Foster
Unitarian Universalist seminarian Shawna Foster explores the implications of having people who have no citizenship work in the United States and examines a variety of answers that have been presented.
Watch the sermon on video: Where Immigration and Hunger Collide: Slavery
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January 22, 2012 — Rev. Lisa Romantum Schwartz
It’s one thing to criticize traditional religion. Truly, atheists have been doing so for centuries. And the arguments are reasoned and cogent…but somehow God just won’t go away. Rev. Lisa R. Schwartz will examine some of the latest ideas on a vital Unitarian Universalist humanism that affirms a morally responsible life of meaning and purpose rather than simply negating the religious beliefs of others.
Listen to the sermon: If Not God, Then What?
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Is a book a combination of paper, ink, glue and cardboard, or the embodiment of ideas? Rev. Lisa Romantum Schwartz tells the story of Michael Servetus, a scientist and freethinking theologian of the 16th century who was executed for publishing a heretical book on the errors of the trinity. The fire that killed Servetus was stoked with the last known copy of his book, so as to eradicate the ideas along with the man. But unbeknownst to the powerful forces that tried to systematically erase all traces of early Unitarianism, three copies of the book survived. This is the story of their clandestine journey through the centuries, and of the enduring power of ideas.
Listen to the sermon: Out of the Flames
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November 6, 2011 — Rev. Lisa Romantum Schwartz
“There is great danger of a final, and [perhaps even] fatal, identification of the word religion with doctrines and methods which have lost their significance and which are powerless to solve the problem of human living.” This bold statement resonates with many religious liberals today. Yet it was written nearly eight decades ago, part of the introduction to the original Humanist Manifesto. What was the manifesto, how has it changed over the years, and why is it particularly relevant to Unitarian Universalism? Rev. Lisa Romantum Schwartz explores this topic in the sermon purchased by Phil Roudebush at the UUFT auction last spring.
Listen to the sermon: For All the Saints and Sinners
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October 30, 2011 — Rev. Lisa Romantum Schwartz
Does suffering ever lead to redemption, or death to triumph? A culturally dominant theological view suggests so. But sometimes this belief leads to silence in the mist of anguish and violence. And when faith communities maintain silence, they seem complicit in the ongoing problem. The month of October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and Rev. Lisa Romantum Schwartz brings a message of hope on this Sabbath of Domestic Peace.
Listen to the sermon: Death, Here is Thy Sting
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