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Do Social Change by Eric Hepburn
We begin a four-part series exploring Deepa Iyer's social change ecosystem through the lens of human development — starting where the body starts: in the gut, with those who move first. The Disrupters, Frontline Responders, and Experimenters act before certainty arrives.
7 days ago1 min read


Lovely Day by Eric Hepburn
As Bill Withers sings, "Then I look at you, and the world's alright with me. Just one look at you, and I know it's gonna be: A lovely day!" Think of this as a love letter to the congregation and to all those who gather in joy and in sorrow to work toward the beloved community that signals a lovely day for all. We will have our Annual Congregational Meeting after service.
Jun 91 min read


Flourishing Together & Flower Communion by Eric Hepburn
On the first Sunday of each month, we explore our Soul Matters theme. For this month, that's Flourishing Together. We are also celebrating our annual Flower Communion so all are encouraged to bring a flower and leave service with a different one! After service we're having a congregational information meeting and potluck.
Jun 21 min read


Simplicity, Complexity, Simplicity Again by Eric Hepburn
"For the simplicity on this side of complexity, I wouldn't give you a fig. But for the simplicity on the other side of complexity, for that I would give you anything I have." - Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.. What is the simplicity on the far shore of complexity? Why brave the treacherous seas of complexity to get there?
May 261 min read


From Covenant To Courage by Eric Hepburn
Our covenants are promises that are the foundation of our congregational polity - they make us, practitioners without creed or canon, a bound community. But why? What do these promises make possible? Combining the work of Parker Palmer and James Luther Adams, we'll put forward a claim about our community's purpose and process.
May 191 min read


Cultivating Wisdom Workshop Sessions by Eric Hepburn
This workshop will explore a sequence of skills to develop and deepen your living wisdom practices. Session 1: Responding to Change. You can also download the Session 1 Worksheet. Session 2: Identity. You can also download the Session 2 Worksheet. Session 3: Head, Hand, Heart. You can also download the Session 3 Worksheet. Session 4: Spirit, Presence, and Practices. You can also download the Session 4 Worksheet.
May 121 min read


Learn, Love, Grow by Eric Hepburn
This year's stewardship theme is Learn, Love, Grow — three words that describe what SGUUF does every week and three words that describe what we're asking of ourselves as a community this year.
Apr 281 min read


Set Them Free by Eric Hepburn
"If you love someone, set them free." - Sting How can this way of putting Love at the Center, inform how we approach Religion as modern UU's? Not just in how we serve the adults in our community, but in how and what we teach our youth?
Apr 141 min read


The Wall & The Tunnel by Eric Hepburn
There is a wall, a veil, between our world and the spirit world... the sages and prophets found ways through the wall, they brought back teachings from the spirit world. They left behind signs so that we could find our way through. Some folks who came after, got really into sign making. Some thought that the tunnels through the wall should be enlarged, decorated, celebrated... Some spent their lives making their religion's entrance look more beautiful and inviting than others
Mar 311 min read


Simone Weil's Decreation by Eric Hepburn
In our third and final service in the Simone Weil Series, we'll explore the culminating movement of her thought: DECREATION. I'll get you pointed in the right direction with this teaser: "We do not become just by adding virtue. We become just by subtracting the self that blocks reality." Mic. Drop.
Mar 171 min read


The Duties & Rights of Simone Weil by Eric Hepburn
For International Women's Day, we'll continue our exploration of the work of Simone Weil - moving from her work on attention as spiritual practice, to her social justice oriented work on the necessity of duties preceding rights.
Mar 31 min read


Soul's Attention - Simone Weil by Eric Hepburn
On the first Sunday of each month, we explore our Soul Matters theme. For this month, that's Paying Attention. Our teacher in attention is philosopher-mystic Simone Weil.
Feb 241 min read


Greensleeves by Eric Hepburn
Greensleeves is one of the oldest and most familiar songs in our tradition—tender, plaintive, and enduring. It has been sung as a love song, a lament, and a prayer, carried across centuries and cultures. This Sunday, we’ll listen to it together, reflect on what it has meant, and consider what it might still be teaching us. We’ll sing it, sit with it, and listen again—trusting that sometimes an old song can open new space when we give it our full attention.
Feb 171 min read


US Detention of Immigrants by Eric Hepburn
I got on a bus headed south, past San Antonio to a community called Dilley, Texas. There is a modern day American internment / concentration / prison camp there, we call it a detention center. Let's talk about what I saw, what I learned, and what we might all need to learn if we want things to change.
Feb 31 min read


Near Enemies & Idols by Eric Hepburn
Could it be that one of the most effective ways to subvert a prophet is to turn them into an idol? There is a case to be made that this is what "the church" has done to Jesus. There is a case to be made that this is what American Culture has done with Dr. King. If we toss the idol, maybe we can ask what the prophet was trying to teach.
Jan 131 min read


Practicing Resistance (Soul Matters) by Eric Hepburn
On (or around) the first Sunday of each month, we explore our Soul Matters theme. For this month, that's Practicing Resistance.
Jan 61 min read


The Path to Wise Elderhood by Eric Hepburn
As I reach the midway point of my Doctor of Ministry in Social Justice program at Meadville Lombard — our UU seminary in Chicago — I want to share the heart of what has been unfolding. Stephen Jenkinson has said that we live in a time with more old folks and fewer wise elders than ever before. In this reflection, I’ll explore what it might mean to rescue wise elderhood from western history’s dustbin — to draw a clear, compassionate distinction between wise elders and old adol
Dec 9, 20251 min read


Choosing Hope (Soul Matters) by Eric Hepburn
On the first Sunday of each month, we explore our Soul Matters theme. For this month, that's Choosing Hope.
Dec 2, 20251 min read


When Religion Forgets Spirit by Eric Hepburn
When religion forgets its spirit, it becomes a shell — beautiful, perhaps, but hollow. Inspired by Christopher Wallis’s Near Enemies of the Truth, this service explores how both religion and spirituality can lose their way, mistaking form for life or freedom for meaning. Together we’ll remember what religion once promised: to bind us not in dogma, but in wonder — to help us remember the sacred light that first called us to belong. Livestream Available: https://www.youtube.co
Nov 24, 20251 min read


Sticks and Stones by Eric Hepburn
You remember the children's rhyme, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Sometimes this landed as good and helpful advice, not to take on the harm that others wanted to inflict on us with their words. Other times, it just feels deeply untrue. For many of us some of the most painful hurts we've ever received have been delivered mostly through words. So, we'll spend some time with this worthy paradox - and hopefully leave with a deepened sense of
Nov 18, 20251 min read
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