ACCOUNTABLY DISMANTLING RACISM AND OTHER OPPRESSIONS a sermon by the Reverend Paul Oakley 10:30 AM, Sunday, August 15, 2021 When I was preparing for the Christmas Eve service back in 2015, I asked Virginia Edwards if she would accompany me on piano as I sang the well-known Christmas carol “O Holy Night.” So at our … Continue reading Accountably Dismantling Racism and Other Oppressions
A WELCOMING CONGREGATION (CAPITAL W, CAPITAL C) a sermon by the Reverend Paul Oakley 10:30 AM, Sunday, August 8, 2021 I became a Unitarian Universalist at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Mt. Vernon, rural southern Illinois city of about 15,000 people, surrounded by farms and coal mines. It was a small, emerging congregation. We were … Continue reading A Welcoming Congregation (capital W, capital C)
PERSONALLY SIGNIFICANT COMMITMENTS a sermon by the Rev. Paul Oakley 10:30 AM, Sunday, August 1, 2021 Recently, I’ve been in a bit of a genealogical mode, looking back at as many of the branches of my ancestry as I can. None of my ancestors were rich, as far as I can tell. So none of … Continue reading Personally Significant Commitments
SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT a sermon by the Rev. Paul Oakley 10:30 AM, Sunday, July 25, 2021 A required part of every Unitarian Universalist minister’s training for ministry is Clinical Pastoral Education (abbreviated as CPE), chaplaincy training and practice, most often offered in a hospital setting. In my CPE experience, I served and learned in two St. … Continue reading Spiritual Development
STEWARDSHIP OF OUR PLANET a sermon by the Reverend Paul Oakley 10:30 AM, Sunday, July 18, 2021 Yesterday evening, I drove through the winding mountain roads between Lynchburg and Buena Vista in a thunderstorm. I’d just officiated at the wedding of our own Haley Thompson to Davis Spurlin in a lovely antebellum estate in Forest, … Continue reading Stewardship of Our Planet
CONSISTENTLY COURAGEOUS ACTION a sermon by the Reverend Paul Oakley 10:30 AM, Sunday, July 11, 2021 In January 2010, I was in Chicago for an intensive month at my seminary. I lived for that month in a condo on the Chicago River with just two buildings between me and Lake Michigan. I was right downtown, … Continue reading Consistently Courageous Action
LOVING, ACTIVE, WELCOMING GRACE AND UNDERSTANDING a sermon by the Reverend Paul Oakley 10:30 AM, Sunday, January 26, 2020 In keeping with our faith and inspired by our Vision, it is the mission of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Waynesboro to grow a loving, active and welcoming community, practicing grace and understanding in … Continue reading Loving, Active, Welcoming Grace
JUSTICE AND GENEROSITY a sermon by the Reverend Paul Oakley 10:30 AM, Sunday, December 15, 2019 This morning we’re going to take a look at the paired words “Justice and Generosity” that come from this congregation’s Vision Statement. This is the fourth in this year’s sermon series on the ways we here have … Continue reading Justice and Generosity
THE PRACTICE OF LOVINGKINDNESS a sermon by the Reverend Paul Oakley 10:30 AM, Sunday, November 17, 2019 If you google the word “Lovingkindness” – that is how we initially seek information that is new to us nowadays, isn’t it? Google it? – and then from the links provided make your way to Wikipedia, … Continue reading The Practice of Lovingkindness
DIVERSE AND VIBRANT a sermon by the Reverend Paul Oakley 10:30 AM, Sunday, September 22, 2019 Over the course of the 2015 to 2016 fellowship year, my first year here, a task force made up of leaders of the congregation led us on the journey of discerning how our various individual preferences and … Continue reading Diverse and Vibrant
