The UU Church-Rockford, IL

How Religion is Got
May 27, 2018 at 10 a.m.
Rev. Armida Alexander

In This Refulgent Summer
July 8, 2018 at 10 a.m.
Rev. Dr. Matthew Johnson

With those words, Ralph Waldo Emerson began his “divinity school address,” which would help ground our faith in a sense of the beauty and truth of the natural world. I’ll reflect on the way transcendentalist, religious naturalist, and neo-pagan Unitarian Universalists have located themselves in the natural world and celebrated this earth, our home.  

May 13, 2018 at 10:00 a.m.
​A Carefully Loaded Ship
Rev. Dr. Matthew Johnson
How does Beloved Community work in multigenerational ways, across the gulf of time? We’ll reflect on the love that passes between ancestors and decedents, and how we might cultivate and nurture such a love. 

May 6, 2018 at 10:00 a.m.
Rehearsal for the Kindom
Rev. Dr. Matthew Johnson
Are we, gathered in this church, the “beloved community”?  Well, sometimes we get close. But other times, we struggle. It’s like life. What if we thought of our life together as a dress rehearsal for the way we want the world to be? 

Pressure Cookers and the Freedom Land
April 29, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. Rockford
Rev. Elizabeth Nguyen 

Living up to our deepest values is hard enough on most days. Under pressure – when our kids or the political moment or life is stressing us out – it can feel impossible. Rev. Elizabeth Nguyen reflects on embodying our values under pressure. And on pressure cookers, which she has very little experience with.

 The Rev. Elizabeth Nguyen roots for the Wisconsin Badgers, lives in Boston, and is learning all the time about courage, singing, cowardice and prayer. She is the Senior Strategist with Side with Love.

Rockford’s Resurrection?
April 8, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. Rockford
Rev. Dr. Matthew Johnson
Rockford is a very different city, and thus our region a different place, then it was when I arrived 10 years ago.  I’ll offer my observations on what has come alive — and where I think we should go from here. 

Living Lightly in the Call of Things
March 25, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. Rockford
Rev. Linda Slabon
How might we live lightly in this time of great stress and change?  I find that both Carolyn McDade and Wendell Berry advise that to survive we must live with humility.  That means we relinquish some cherished ideas, learn what is good for the world, yield to its limits, and acknowledge the mystery and awe of the universe.  

For 26 years Rev. Linda and Toni, Music Director, served the UU Fellowship of DeKalb, having retiring in July, 2017.  Linda is now Minister Emerita, a member of the UU Society for Community Ministries, and is running for the DeKalb County Board.  Toni has directed choirs at UU General Assembly and at local choral festivals, and continues to lead Cymbal, a UU women’s singing group.  In their additional careers, Linda maintains a small clinical social work practice and Toni serves on two local boards, leads seminars, and does state-wide consulting as a retired Professor from the College of Education at Northern IL University.  Spouses since 1991, they committed in a Civil Union in 2011 and were married in 2014 (when IL made it legal).  Toni and Linda continue to learn and love sharing the power of music in worship and song.  “And most importantly,” states Linda, “we are fabulous grammas who can sing songs from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Moana with our grand-baby.” 

Interfaith Humility
Rev. Dr. Matthew Johnson
How can we be in authentic and loving relationship with people across the lines of faith?  We often think "oh, we UU's are good at this."  But are we? Or do we think we're "more evolved" than everyone else? How can we be in a posture of equality instead of colonialism?  
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March 11, 2018: A Heaven of Stars
Rev. Dr. Matthew Johnson
When you look up to the heavens - especially if you’re out in the wild, without the city lights and distractions - and see the stars, what do you feel?  Do you feel small, and humble?  Or connected, and magical?  Or some of both?  We’ll talk about how the experience of cosmology might inform our spirituality.