Sunday Service December 4 : The Gift of Presence As the winter holidays approach, are you thinking mostly about presents or more focused on presence? We will explore some of the ideas and methods offered by the Humanist Community at Harvard to nurture mindfulness and combat the stress often associated with the hustle and bustle of the holiday seaso…

November 27: Thanksgiving Poetry Readings Richard Albright and other members of the congregation will present poetry, prose and music related to the Thanksgiving holiday. Poetry: Edna Weigel, Pamela Lee, Jerry Fitzmaurice, Richard Albright Facilitator: Richard Albright Click Here to ListenBy Sky Island UU

Sunday Service Nov. 20 : Najashi Najashi was the 7th century Christian ruler who protected early Muslim emigrants. Homily: Ahmed Meiloud Facilitator: Linda Lawrence Bio Ahmed Meiloud is a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Middle East and North African Studies and a former Fulbright Scholar, with MAs in Near Eastern Studies and American Studies. Ahme…

November 13: When Story Is Not Enough Stories help us make sense of life, affirm our sense of individual identity and also help us build and preserve community. They can also limit us to one narrative or blind us to painful journeys in our lives or the lives of others. In this month of November, we will take up the challenge of a business proposal …

Sunday Service November 6: The Power of Stories Shakespeare wrote: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” But we are more than puppets in someone else’s script. We can be directors, screenwriters, and authors – the stars of our own lives! Come and explore the playfulness and power of stories.Homily: Rev. Linda Lawrence…

Sunday Service October 30: Dia de los Muertos: Circle of Life We will celebrate the circle of life in this multi-age service and honor some of the traditions of our Mexican neighbors and friends. Children are welcome to wear their Halloween costumes. All are invited to bring a photo or memorabilia to place upon the altars we will create to remember…

Sunday Service October 23: Loving the Hell out of the World How do you love someone you hate? How do you love when another unarmed man is killed by the state? What is love in the face of violence? What does your love look like? Message: Rev. Ron Phares Facilitator: Lorraine Groberg Click here to listen:…

Meet a Muslim Special Podcast October 20th, 2016 Moina Shaiq is President of the Interfaith Council in Fremont, California. She answered questions to foster understanding of Muslims within the wider community. We know that people who have met Muslims are less likely to give into prejudice and fear against them. How do Muslims practice their faith? …

Sunday Service October 16 – Detained and Deported Margaret Regan will give a slide lecture about her newest book, Detained and Deported: Stories of Immigrant Families Under Fire, now out in paperback. Focusing on Arizona, the book looks at the fate of undocumented immigrants who are arrested long after they’ve established lives and families in the …

Sunday Service October 9: Justice that Heals The second principle of Unitarian Universalism advocates “Justice, equity and compassion in human relations.” How can all three elements work together to ensure right relations among us? When does anger serve a helpful function, indicating a problem in our connections? How do we respond to that symptom i…

Sunday Service October 2 : Love Meets the Dragon What do dragons, cyclones, and tides have in common, and what do they have to do with our monthly worship theme of healing? Sermon: Rev. Linda Lawrence Click Here to ListenBy Sky Island UU

Sunday Service September 25: Personal and Spiritual Covenant On reflection I can see my career as the result of searching for fulfillment of a Covenant given to me at a very young age. Covenant has legal, religious, spiritual, personal and cultural dimensions depending on use. I will share with you how I view my life as representing the combination…

Sunday Service September 18: Who Will Inherit from Abraham? Abraham worried about who would inherit from him, and who would fulfill God’s blessing. Might it be us? Bio: Rabbi Helen Cohn is the spiritual leader of Congregation M’kor Hayim, a liberal congregation formed in Tucson in 2008. She was ordained in 1994 at Hebrew Union College, a Reform Jew…

Sunday Service September 11: We Owe It to Ourselves The Unitarian Universalist website, when it speaks of covenant, asks “What Do We Promise One Another?” and considers “What calls human beings into deeper relationships with the holy, one another, and all beings?” But what about our relationship with ourselves? Are we aware of what we promise to ou…

Sunday Service September 4: Coming of Age We will honor one of our youth today in a special “Coming of Age” ceremony as he turns eighteen. We will explore these questions: “What do we promise our children? How are we, as a congregation, coming of age?” Sermon: Christopher Groberg Click Here to Listen…

Sunday Service August 28: Happiness III In this 3rd installment of sermons about happiness, we will find out if there is a correlation between happiness and music or happiness and pets. We will hear a little about the business of happiness. Last but not least, we will attempt to answer the question, “Why is happiness important?” Hearing Happiness I…

Sunday Service August 21 : The Kindness of Karma Buddha’s teachings on karma explain the relationship between our mind, our actions and our experiences. Karma is like gravity; it’s not personal, it’s not singling us out. If we trip and fall, we don’t get angry with gravity. Understanding how karma functions puts us in control of our life so we can …

Sunday Service August 14 : Love Your Enemies; Ancient Challenge and Spiritual Practice for Today Sermon: Rev. Tina Squire Facilitator: Wallace Hoggatt Click Here to ListenBy Sky Island UU

Sunday Service August 7 The Political IS Religious or What I Did on My Summer Vacation Vacation is a time to “get away from it all” – right? That’s not as easy as it sounds, and maybe it’s not even as desirable as it seems. Rev. Linda tells how Unitarian Universalist values colored her time with family members and friends, her reactions to media st…

Sunday Service July 31 How do Unitarian Universalists want to be perceived? What is it Unitarian Universalists do? We will learn what Rev. Galen Guengerich wishes were the 10 things everyone knew about Unitarian Universalists. We will hear about the 5 ways Unitarian Universalists live the faith. Learn a Buddhist approach for starting or beginning s…

Sunday Service July 3 The Mountain of Tolerance: A Community’s Experience of Dirty Dishes Guest speaker Emrys Staton will share some experiences of living in intentional communities, and how those skills translate into our wider experience of creating strong communities. Emrys Staton is currently serving as the ministerial intern at the Unitarian U…

Sunday Service June 19 Not Necessarily Your Father’s Day When President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaimed the first official nationwide Father’s Day in 1966, he said that in American homes “we look to the fathers to provide the strength and stability which characterizes the successful family.” The ideal father we’re supposed to honor on Father’s Day tea…

Sky Island UU Church Sunday Service May 22 Justice and the Future Can we achieve justice for the Earth and its current inhabitants? And can we extend justice 7 generations into the future? Is justice a concept that only applies to human life? The future of life on Earth depends an awful lot on what we humans choose to do or not do in the very immed…

Sky Island UU Church Sunday Service May 15 Treasuring the Past, Looking to the Future What is your vision for your own life, for your children/grandchildren/great grandchildren, for our congregation, for Unitarian Universalism, for the earth? We’ll explore these questions during Rev. Linda’s last sermon of this church year (she’ll be back in the pu…

Sky Island UU Sunday Service May 8 Poor Archy’s Almanack One hundred years ago this spring, journalist and poet Don Marquis created Archy the cockroach and Mehitabel the alley cat to fill space in a newspaper column. Over the next twenty years, Archy and Mehitabel provided America with clear-eyed yet charitable observations about the world and the …

Sky Island UU Sunday Service May 1 Flower Service The service will be led by Rev. Linda Lawrence and church member Terry Zapotocky. The service is multi-generational so the children will participate in the service, and there will be no separate children’s religious education. We will learn about the origin and meaning of the Flower Celebration or C…

Sky Island UU Sunday Service April 24 Conversos or Crypto-Jews The title refers to early Spanish settlers to the American southwest, many to northeastern New Mexico. Ferdinand and Isabella gave the Jews the option of conversion to Christianity or exile. Suspicion lingered, however, that many among the converts continued to practice “the Dead Law of…

Sky Island UU Sunday Service April 10 The Spirit of Islam Through the Tacheria School of Spiritual Direction, our minister recently spent a day with Imam Jamal Rahman as he spoke about Islamic Sufi spiritual insights and practices. With pleasure and with the imam’s blessing, Rev. Linda will share some of those teachings to foster a better understan…

Sky Island UU Sunday Service March 27 As We Give We Gain – A Multi-Generational Service Our March 27th service will celebrate some of the themes of Spring: Easter, renewal and the rebirth of the human spirit through acts of altruism and kindness. Come, celebrate with us, all the wonderful volunteers in our midst, those who keep our congregation ren…

Sky Island UU Sunday Service April 3 Spirit: Relating to It All Our congregation’s own Jerry Fitzmaurice writes: I have always been interested in how people of different cultures and religions viewed life. So I welcome the opportunity to share some of what I have learned. I will try not to stray into my own beliefs, rather I will share what I have …

Sky Island UU Sunday Service March 20 The Reality of Interdependence According to Buddha, for every action there is an effect, and all of our actions affect others. Small actions can lead to great effects. In these challenging times, we need confidence that all of our actions matter and can bring benefit to those around us in the interdependent web…

Sky Island UU Sunday Service March 13 Interdependence: The Tension Between Individualism and Community As we become more independent we experience groups and communities of different sorts and sizes. How do we weave a satisfying web of community while honoring the uniqueness of its individual members? Presenter: Rev. Linda Lawrence Facilitator: Car…

Sky Island UU Sunday Service March 6 The Oneness of Everything: Reflections on my trip to Alaska Sharon Travis has been a member of Sky Island since it’s very first congregational meeting in Feb. 1996 at the Pintek Ranch in Bisbee. On her bucket list, Sharon always wanted to travel to Alaska. Her desire was fueled by hearing Jean MacKeen talk about…

Rev. Linda Lawrence We will explore some of the stories and issues raised in this year’s UU Common Read –”Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption” by Bryan Stevenson. Although the subject matter of the book is tough – “defending the poor, the wrongly condemned, and those trapped in the furthest reaches of our criminal justice system,” this mo…

Sky Island UU Sunday Service February 21 Justice: My Perspective from Baha’i Writings Gwen Calhoun will address our February theme of “Justice: Soul Force” from the perspective of the Baha’i faith. Biography of Gwen Calhoun Currently a member of the Sierra Vista City Council, Gwen Calhoun also serves on several boards such as AZ Community Foundatio…

Sky Island UU Sunday Service February 14 Soul Force: What Is It? Who Has It? Who Needs It? On this Valentine’s Day, we will explore some of the deeper meanings of love as demonstrated by the teachings and lives of Jesus, Ghandi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Presenter: Reverend Linda Lawrence Facilitator: Tricia Gerrodette Click Here To Listen…

Sky Island UU Sunday Service February 7 Soul Force What calls to you most deeply? What motivates you to take action? Why? These are questions we’ll explore as we begin examining our next monthly Baja 4 theme: Soul Force. Brief Biography of Rev. Lisa McDaniel-Hutchings Rev. Lisa is a life-long Unitarian Universalist and an ordained minister. She cur…

Sky Island UU Sunday Service January 31 Wage Reconciliation There is a double meaning to this title. The more obvious meaning is about how we reconcile our wages in a time of rampant wage inequality. The other, subtler meaning is about waging not war, but reconciliation. To wage reconciliation would be to aggressively pursue forgiveness. Is it poss…

Sky Island UUC Sunday Service January 24 STUCK Being stuck is no fun. America is stuck. What are we “stuck” on? How badly “stuck” are we? Most importantly: How do we get “unstuck”? As a nation, we are at a crossroads. One way or another, how we answer these questions will determine our fate – and doing nothing is a likely, unfortunate, and totally …

Sky Island UU Sunday Service January 17 What Does It Mean to Forgive? Forgiveness is a concept that everyone understands – until they’re asked to define “it” (from Amish Grace). This morning we will continue to explore the meaning of forgiveness and its importance to us as Unitarian Universalists. Message: Rev. Linda Lawrence Facilitator: Carolyn E…

Sunday Service January 10 : Choices on the Path to Forgiveness We often hear that forgiveness is a virtue; we are told that forgiving is good for us; and because we believe it is difficult, we marvel at some folks’ ability to forgive. This morning we will consider choices on the paths to forgiveness and how our UU faith might guide us. Message: Sus…

Sunday Service January 3 Life is Too Short The message will be a reminder for some and a lesson for others to keep moving! Our lives matter and the length of those lives are in our hands. We all should be the most important person to ourselves. Message: Jim Howe Facilitator: Merrie Longbottom Click here to Listen…

Sunday Service December 27 Doing The Impossible Understanding our, and others, relationships to the spiritual. How working for the Peace Corps in Malaysia 40 years ago informed my spirituality. Sermon: Gary Ezzell Facilitator: Rev. Linda Lawrence Click Here to ListenBy Sky Island UU

Sunday Service December 13 Where Does it Hurt and How Can I Help? We will explore the human experience of affliction or suffering and the much needed human response of comfort or consolation in the face of affliction. If we stay in tune with news and social media, affliction is everywhere and always in our faces, hearts, and minds. How do we bring …

Poetry Anthology December 5 The long-awaited poetry anthology took place on December 5. For those who were unable to attend, a podcast is available here. Click Here to ListenBy Sky Island UU

Sunday Service December 6 : It’s Tough Getting Old – Don’t Try It! The worship theme for December is “Comfort for the Afflicted.” As we begin this month with a new theme, we’ll consider something that (if we’re lucky) we can’t avoid: aging. Sermon: Rev. Linda Lawrence Facilitator: Rita Johnson-Aronna Click Here to Listen…

Reverend Tina Squire will talk about listening to minority faith traditions in Cochise County. Sermon: Rev. Tina Squire Facilitator: Lorraine Groberg Click here to listenBy Sky Island UU

Sunday Service November 22 : Stories from the Border Rev. Linda Lawrence and Sandy Weir will share stories, reflections, and photos from their February 2013 UU College of Social Justice/Borderlinks trip. This service will offer personal stories, an invitation to participate in the Guest at Your Table program, and opportunities for continued learnin…

Memorial Service for Burt Jones Saturday November 21 The service was led by Rev. Linda Lawrence and the eulogy was given by Rev. Rod Richards. Click Here to ListenBy Sky Island UU

Sunday Service November 15 : Climate Change: A Moral Storm The theme is a justice one – Climate Justice. Climate change is affecting the very poorest of the earth in places like Bolivia, the Philippines and Sub-Saharan Africa. The United Nations climate summit in Paris later this month could make a big difference. Today’s service will update us on …