People's Church Of Kalamazoo

A psychologist recent studied the food cultures of France and the United States. When asked for a word they associate with chocolate cake, the French chose “celebration” and the Americans chose “guilt.” On the verge of “the winter eating season,” Rev. Rachel will explore the sin of gluttony and the complicated relationships between our food choices, ethics, and morality. How might we develop more celebratory relationships with our food and our bodies?

The election is finally over! Rev. Rachel will look back on what we have learned from this surprising election season and look forward. Now what? How is the world different now? Who is this new world calling us to be, as individuals and as a church community?

Our Universalist heritage proclaims that all of us are wrapped in a love that surrounds us always and will not let us go. This Sunday, Rev. Rachel will help us remember our commitment to respect the inherent worth and dignity of every person, no matter what, no exceptions.

At People’s Church, we are skilled and comfortable talking about some of the things you’re not supposed to talk about. (Our children receive comprehensive sexuality education four times before they’re 18!) How could we be become as comfortable talking about money as we are talking about sex? This Sunday, we’ll be kicking off a short supplementary pledge campaign to make up our budget deficit – and we’ll start to become more comfortable talking about money, a topic closely wrapped up with family, shame, and values.

Rev. Rachel, members of the People’s Church Social Justice Coordinating Committee, and other church members will explore the virtue of justice and how doing justice work is how we live our faith, transform ourselves, and transform the world.

Did you know that in the 1870s the United States government tasked the American Unitarian Association with “civilizing” the Northern Ute Tribe? The effort ended in a massacre. As we mark Indigenous People’s Day, Rev. Rachel will tell the story of this little-known piece of our denominational history and explore what it means to be an organization committed to making the world better that sometimes falls short of our aspirations.

Animals bring so much joy to our lives. Let us celebrate and bless the animals in our lives and in our world. Join Rev. Rachel and Diane Melvin, animal lover and director of religious education, for an intergenerational blessing of the animals service. Please bring your well-behaved pets, pictures of beloved animals (living or dead), and/or your favorite stuffed animals.

Anger can eat us alive or fuel us to do good and important work in the world. How do we harness this powerful force? Rev. Rachel will draw on the work of feminists and womanists to explore how we can recognize and name our anger, not dwell in it too long, and allow it to give us energy to do the transforming work of love in the world.

Rev. Rachel begins her sermon series on virtues and vices with faith. It has been said that the opposite of faith is not doubt, it’s certainty. Our Unitarian Universalist faith does not provide us with easy answers to religious questions, but challenges us to seek our own answers and then hold them lightly, ready to change them as evidence and experience changes. How do we live a faith without certainty?

Author E.B. White once said, ‘every morning, I awake torn between a desire to save the world and an inclination to savor it. This makes it hard to plan the day.’ This service, our first of the program year, will dwell in that tension between saving and savoring this world. We will mark this new beginning with a joining of waters ritual, savoring all that is precious about our church home. We will also mark the 15th anniversary of the September 11th attacks—and recommit ourselves to be co-creators of justice in our world.

This intergenerational service will feature a flower ceremony ritual (please bring a flower to share!), poetry, music and story celebrating the beauty and impermanence of flowers—and each of us.

Please join us for this service planned and led by our high school youth. With ritual, the incoming freshman will be bridged into the youth group and the seniors bridging out. The graduating seniors will share some reflections on their experiences growing up at People’s Church, how they’ve been influenced, and what they are taking with them on their journey into adulthood.

On this Memorial Day Weekend, we remember those we have lost—in war and not in war, in our congregation and in the wider world.

Some say that anything can be a spiritual practice—all that matters is the attitude that one brings to it. How can we approach the sometimes-mundane tasks of our lives—doing the dishes, mowing the lawn, answering email, sorting the laundry—as though they are holy work? Rev. Rachel will explore how we might imbue our everyday tasks with spiritual grounding.

Rev. Rachel’s official installation as People’s Church’s minister will happen on Saturday, May 21 at 3 p.m. At this special service, we will celebrate our call to Rev. Rachel to be People’s Church’s minister. There will be special music, preaching, and rituals. Installations are a rare occurrence in the life of the church–this is not to be missed!

In the words of Robert Frost, “Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.” Come enjoy the sound of People’s own voices as we share heartfelt poetry together. You’ll also receive a special gift from last year’s congregational writing titled, “We are from Love.”

This year, People’s Church offered Our Whole Lives Comprehensive Sexuality Education to middle schoolers, high schoolers and young adults. This Sunday, we will here reflections from class participants about their experience and Rev. Rachel will preach on why comprehensive sexuality is a core part of religious education at People’s Church.

We UUs use reverence to seek our highest values, even though some of us do not use that concept to identify what we are doing. Let's reflect upon where and how we come to know our highest values and then I think using reverence will enable us to be more fulfilled in the practice of our religion.

This Sunday, we will mark the holidays of Earth Day and Passover. Rev. Rachel will reflect on the idea of ‘promised land.’ We will remember that it is a long journey to the Promised Land, a journey that often takes generations to complete.

This Sunday, we will tell the story of Hare and Monkey competing to build the best home. We will explore the importance of living together in community through story, song—and a dance party.