In this sermon, Rev. John looks at the book of Genesis in The Bible and discusses why we need to reinterpret what it teaches as it relates to our relationship with other living beings. (Delivered: Sunday April 21, 2024)

Many come to religious communities seeking support in becoming their best self. Change is more than just understanding how you want to be, it is based on new behavior. Spiritual practices can be a powerful means for this process of becoming. Let's consider the transformational value of spiritual practice. (Delivered: Sunday April 14, 2024)…

As we process, Rev. Anastassia's pending departure from ministry at UUCA, what are the important things we have to say to one another?

Reverend John explains the meaning and importance of UUCA's Flower Communion tradition. (Delivered: Sunday, March 31,2024)

Join Reverend Anastassia as she explores the idea of improbable hope and how it relates to miracles and new beginnings.

In this sermon, Rev John discusses his journey as a UU, why his faith has stood the test of time, and why he continues giving his financial resources to the UUCA community. (Delivered Sunday March 10, 2024)

Human beings are meant to belong, to experience the commune of life, yet so many of us struggle to find belonging. Sometimes we, almost miraculously step into a community of belonging, but more often, Beloved Community is something we mutually create through acts of contribution. This Sunday, as we launch for pledge drive, let us consider how contr…

It has been nearly a decade since marriage equality became a legal right, but this was so much more than a Supreme Court decision. Let's review this movement, its power, its people, its values, and its impact. What might we carry forward as we think about the creation of equity and the Beloved Community beyond it. (Delivered: February 25, 2024)…

In this sermon, Rev John reviews a new book that chronicles the story of mental health abuse and why repair is needed today to make amends for past sins. (Delivered: February 18, 2024)

In this sermon Rev John discusses fear and why it prevents humanity from creating a more just and. Equitable society. (Delivered: Sunday February 11, 2024)

William Ellery Channing, one of the founding leaders and theologians of our faith, was kept awake at night by a particular concern: have we missed the message about caring for people particularly, as we care for humanity universally? How much has this theology helped us engage more deeply in practicing care and inclusion with a more particular focu…

In this sermon, Rev. John will discuss what being radically welcoming means to him and how this equitable approach in life leads to more authentic relationships. (Delivered: Sunday Jan. 28,2024)

In this sermon, Rev. John discusses the number 2, the human body and brain and why making 2 into 1 is the key to peace, equity and unity in our lives. (Delivered: Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024)

Martin Luther King, Jr. perhaps is most famous for his "I Have a Dream Speech," but he wasn't the originator or the last owner of this dream. This MLK Sunday, let's consider the history and future of the collective movement of dreamers. Rev. Anastassia preaching,

During this intergenerational service, we will create the Beloved Community by honoring the sacramental transitions and celebrations in the lives of our members through poetry, music, and naming. Help us mark the joining of new members, coming-of-age advancement, the passage into adulthood, gender renaming, member departures, weddings, and deaths. …

On this last worship service for 2023, and in this season of Kwanza, what do you need more and less of to get into your positive flow for 2024? This is a participatory service with a homily and congregational sharing. https://youtu.be/icK0zLKEgWY

In this week's Christmas Eve sermon, Reverend Anastassia highlights the parallels between the circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus and present day events in Palestine and Israel. (Delivered: Sunday evening December 24, 2023)

We are called by our faith to honor the interdependent web of all existence. In fact, it is one of our most central truths. With reverence for the great web of life and with humility, we acknowledge our place in it. Let us explore what living this belief and reality looks like. Delivered: Sunday Dec. 17, 2023…

In this participatory worship service that will include a short reflection, members will reflect on what they are giving and being given as a part of the interdependent communal web which ground all in faith, hope, and love.

In this service, your ministers will answer questions about their shared vision for our congregation, their hopes for Unitarian Universalism, and why interdependence is one of our most cherished values.

With war around the globe and the rise in hate, how do we turn the world around? (Delivered on Sunday, November 19, 2023)

Interdependence means there is support between and among groups of people. The story of the Buffalo shows us the opposite and reminds us of our willingness to dehumanize and forget that we are connected to all living beings. (Delivered: Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023)

With the violent and heartbreaking loss of life in Israel and Gaza, how are we as Unitarian Universalists called to respond? What do our theology and the philosophy of Beloved Community have to offer us during this time? (Delivered by Rev. Anastassia Zinke, Nov. 5, 2023)

Sunday's sermon will connect our UU Beliefs to the beliefs of our ancestors via their relationship to nature and the stars. Where did we come from? Who are we? The answer may be in Astrotheology. (Delivered: October 29, 2023)

Sometimes our poets and writers are the best place to turn to in order to find Unitarian Universalists using a language of reverence. Come hear some of their pieces set to music and performed by our UUCA Choir. By what do we feel so inspired to use words of reverence ourselves? (Delivered: Sunday, October 22,2023) https://youtu.be/wB9v8ds9jeg…

God is 3 in one in more than just Christianity. Today we talk about the number 3, its significance, and why it has the power to help us understand reality and our lives. (Delivered: Sunday, October 15, 2023)

Indigenous people deeply reflect the natural world in their religious, societal, and political institutions and expressions. It is a deeply innate human response to the world and one that Western cultures have moved away from. How might we do better by using nature as a model in our collective lives? Rev. Anastassia preaching. (Delivered: Sunday Oc…

The rise of fundamentalism in the world comes as a direct result of religions that do not want to expand their tolerance for difference. This makes pluralism impossible and threatens democracy. In this message, Rev. John offers his take on where we are in the world using the story of Muhammad as a lesson of how intolerance creates bitter rivalries …

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, when Jews seek forgiveness from their God, follows just days behind the Rosh Hoshanah, the Jewish New Year. What Jews recognize in this sequence is that when one moves forward, one must still account for the past and seek appropriate forgiveness. As we at UUCA move into a new year, what acts do we need to ask forgi…

One can live in diversity but not experience pluralism; it has to be brought forward by the community's practices of respect, tolerance, and curiosity. One benefit of experiencing and engaging in religious pluralism is the experience of being “religious inter-religiously.” Come hear Rev. Anastassia share more about what this means and how you can p…

Each year, UUCA invites you to bring a small container of water to partake in our Water Communion ritual as a sign of unity. Delivered: Sunday September 10, 2023

Join us this Sunday to learn about our ongoing relationship with the Unitarian Universalist Association, its annual meeting, and how you can get more involved in their National issues. Delivered Sunday, September 3, 2023

In this service, you will learn what you can do to end racism, microaggressions, and behaviors that keep us from beloved community. (Delivered: Sunday, August 27, 2023)

Join Rev. John as he discusses the monthly themes for the upcoming church year and how you might engage with them for your spiritual growth.

The period between 1945 to 1968 profoundly shaped the American landscape we see today. I am so intrigued by these 20+ years and the way we still wrestle with the same issues. Join me today as I catch you up on some of my insights and inspirations during my time away. Delivered: Sunday, August 13, 2023…

In her poem, Summer Day, the poet-narrator asks, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Come let us reflect on both how Mary Oliver answered this question, and reflect on how we each might answer. Delivered Sunday, August 6, 2023

Rev. Anastassia finds that William Stafford's poem "A Ritual To Read to One Another" provides valuable reminders that could well guide congregational communities. Let's hear what it says, and take it to heart. Delivered: Sunday July 30, 2023

Our ancestors -- of blood, family, faith, and community -- often share life lessons and values with us. These gifts teach us about the world and hopefully assist us in surviving and thriving. In dialogue with Philip Booth's First Lesson, let us consider some of these lessons ourselves. Delivered July 23, 2023…

"Let us measure success by how many of us can say: I am living a life I don’t regret. A life that will resonate with my ancestors" -adrienne maree brown Join us for a reflection on heavy suitcases, surprise turning points, and attending to the complexity of our times with love and resilience. Matt is a musician and traveling worship leader who has …

All of us have experienced moments or periods of lonliness, pain, or loss. We also know, therefore, the wonder and power of being truly welcomed. Part of our purpose of being a community at UUCA is to welcome each other, sometimes in small ways and sometimes in large ways. Come be welcomed, and hear Rev. Anastassia share how we can welcome again an…

Poetry is More Than a Spiritual Luxury: The prophetic poet Audre Lorde in her 1985 essay reminds us that "poetry is not a luxury" in a world that desperately and insistently needs liberation. Come hear Rev. Anastassia share more of Lorde's wisdom and about how poetry can be a meaningful companion to us in our spiritual work and in our quest for lib…

The climate crisis has become painfully real after wildfire smoke from Canada covered the east coast. There are some who believe that it is too late to do anything about the ecological emergency. People of faith are called to have a different response. Climate justice is not solely about saving the environment but rather it is about creating someth…

In this sermon, Rev. John tells the story of Juneteenth and shares what reparations might look like in Anne Arundel County and all of Maryland. (Delivered: Sunday June 18, 2023)

Since the Stonewall Riots, we Americans have both confronted and celebrated the reality that life is not nearly as simple or set as we had once held it to be. We aren't at the end of this journey of unfolding, emerging, becoming, and fully living, but we know that the world is queerer in every sense of the word than we once thought it to be. Come l…

In this message Rev. John helps us understand a post-modern perspective on what ‘God’s will’ and ‘blessings’ mean in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. (Delivered Sunday May 29, 2023)

On this very special Mother's Day, join Rev. as he examines the Civil War, Julia Howe, Lincoln, Douglass, religion and the human quest for freedom; and how authenticity can only be achieved through pain and suffering. (Delivered: May 14, 2023)

Our most deeply centered and understood theology comes in those moments of greatest challenge. In short, they emerge from our own authentic life experiences. Come hear what Rev. Anastassia Zinke learned about surrender, love, and not needing to be enough. (Deivered Sunday May 7, 2023

Remember when Rev Jeremiah Wright criticized America in his sermon creating a rift between he and Obama? In this sermon on authenticity, I will look again at what Rev. Wright damned in America and offer some insights and suggestions on what White-allyship really means. This sermon is dedicated to Darrel Nash a long time antiracism advocate at UUCA.…

Quite often our failure to be authentic with others stems not from a lack of desire, or an overwhelming fear of vulnerability, but from the fact that we lack authenticity with our very selves. Connecting with others requires us to stay connected with ourselves: and not just with our mental selves—as most schools and workplaces would have it—but wit…

When vulnerability is the first thing we look for in others and the last thing we want to show, how do we find each other? Join guest minister Rev. Christin Green for an exploration of grace, peace, vulnerability, and authenticity. (Delivered 4/16/23)