Podcast
The Search for Living Prophets
Hosted by Marc Maxmeister · EN
A series for activists who want to work for change in a spiritually grounded, healing-transformative way. Inspired by sermons from Christian leaders, universalist ministers, mennonites, UMC, and other liberal religious voices.
65episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Harry and Meghan’s Wedding sermon: Redemptive Love
Jun 4, 2018Tap to summarizeIn the sermon from the 2018 Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, American Episcopal Bishop Michael Curry gave an impassioned plea to live by the power of love. Inspired by MLK’s sermon about how to love your enemy, Curry reminds us that love could transform the world, if we could just be open to it.
Transcribe →A new name for God
May 23, 2018Tap to summarizeRob Hardies shares a personal journey of losing faith in God and calling himself an atheist out of pain, not belief. After coming out, he couldn’t accept that God loved him as he was, and so he stopped believing in God to get back at him. But time and healing brought him back to Life and gave him a new name for God.
Transcribe →The Long Arc
May 3, 2018Tap to summarize“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice” is an often spoken idea from abolitionists to civil rights leaders. Martin Luther King used it often. This episode explains and illustrates what this means. This pulls from a 2007 William Schulz sermon – Schulz was a one-time President of Amnesty International and President of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Transcribe →Power in a name
Apr 3, 2018Tap to summarizeTwo sermonlets about the power found in a name. Rev Justin Osterman (UU Raleigh) tells his story of when we served as a translator in Guantanamo. When he entered the prison cell, he did the most natural human thing. In another story Rev Rob Hardies (All Souls UU DC) tells the story of Moses and the burning bush. “Tell me your name?” he asks. And the name God gave could change our entire world view, depending on how it is translated – for His name is both “I am who I am” and “I will be who I will be.”
Transcribe →Speaking out: reconciling diversity within the movement
Mar 26, 2018Tap to summarizeA core part of effective activism is individual witness – standing up to those who one sees and works with every day. This sermon captures the story of one minister’s behind-the-scenes efforts to cleanse her church’s leadership of sexism and sexual predators and the conflicts that emerged. It reveals how even the most liberal institutions are still not immune to #metoo problems. Efforts at fostering a healthy diversity within the church did not permeate the leadership. And amazingly, as of Februrary 2018, Susan was not just removed from the puplit, she was defrocked by her ordaining denomination. One person’s pursuit of the truth is another’s professional misconduct. We are on a journey. Are we caring for each other along the way with respect and mindfulness? Or just trying to put up a facade to hide our own struggles from public scrutiny? Source: Susan Moore, All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Washington, DC
Transcribe →MLK: How to love your enemies
Mar 2, 2018Tap to summarizeMartin Luther King, Jr was an amazing preacher. Listen to excerpts from one of his sermons on how to love your enemies. He says, “Jesus has become the practical realist… his commandment [to love your enemies] is an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization.” He argues it is the only pragmatic way to change the world, and restore unity where there hate has sown the seeds of division.
Transcribe →Moral Vulnerability
Feb 18, 2018Tap to summarizeThere are three parts of being an effective activist: (1) To protect and serve the vulnerable. (2) To wake people up to the plight of the marginalized. And (3) to practice individual witness to those who stand against progress as a bridge towards mutual understanding, reconciliation, and restoring justice. This explains is what that third part is all about. The lessons of history show that you cannot be an effective activist if you are not practicing moral vulnerability – ready to forgive, ready to be the first to sacrifice, ready to make peace without victory. It’s a bitter pill, but if you are serious about transforming the world, it must be your life’s work.
Transcribe →Effective Activism
Jan 25, 2018Tap to summarize“Do you need to be an activist to be a Unitarian?” That was the question posed to Rev Dr Justin Osterman of the Raleigh UU fellowship (http://www.uufr.org/). His answer is the best 20 minute explanation of how to be an effective activist I’ve ever heard.
Transcribe →The dream of racial justice and the courage to pursue it
Jan 24, 2018Tap to summarizeTwo sermons from two Unitarian Universalist churches (Washington DC and Tulsa OK) from MLK Sunday (2018) about courage and the journey towards justice that continues, 50 years later. Both tell the story of James Reeb – a UU minister and activist martyred in 1965 – an event that triggered the signing of the voting rights act a week later. Where does the courage come from to work for justice? What kind of daily activities helps us develop resolve? Martin Lavanhar and Rob Hardies offer some answers. (Music: Jamie Cullum – Pure imagation featuring Rev William Barber III and Martin Luther King, Jr Running time: 26 min)
Transcribe →Owning the pain of grief with tears of praise for life
Dec 11, 2017Tap to summarizeThis combines two sermons from All Souls UU Church in Washington, DC 2010. Rev. Rob Hardies and Louise Green speak about grief, and finding a way to express both the pain of loss and the praise for life. Our tears are a lament and a prayer – of thanksgiving for what life offers us every day. “Notice how we try to protect others from the pain of grief,” Rob says, “and how the voice of the psalm cries out in grief without reservation. We don’t know how to deal with grief.” I compiled this for someone who just got the news that her brother walked onto the freeway and died a few days ago. I hope this is a message that resonates as an answer to both “how” and “why” – how to work through grief, and why it is important to live open to the brokenness. With tears we cherish and respect the joy that others have brought us in life. Tears are an offering on the altar. To live full of spirit is to put something of ourselves on the altar, and recognize the preciousness of life.
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