I expect you have noticed that the Sunday service and the sermon matter a lot to me. I see this as the place where the life of the congregation comes into sharpest focus, the place where the church meets the general public, meets the newcomers who appear there occasionally. It’s where the public gains some sense of our identity as a religious community.

In almost all UU churches, I have noticed, the sermon is experienced as an especially significant element in our religious celebrations. This is how I see it myself, so I have over the years, invested a considerable percentage of my professional life in the task of sermon development. I spend a lot of time, research, reflection, and energy in their creation.

I have also noticed that a number of UUs are somewhat uncomfortable with the word “sermon.” It’s not a form of discourse held in high regard in the world today, and UUs have been affected by this prevailing estimate of its value. The word “sermon” tends to generate an “Ugh!” or a “Yuck!” response in those who hear it. Being aware of this over time has led me to rename the sermon, “Reflections on the Nature of Things.” This actually is accurately descriptive of the form the sermon has taken in our kind of religion.

In UU religion, the sermon is an art form. It is not a lecture. Not an essay. Not an editorial. Not an article. Not a short story. In its essential form, it is closest to the essay, in that both are a personal reflection on the nature of things.

A sermon is defined generally as a public talk on religion. And what is religion in our UU community of churches? It is a concern for the fully lived human life. Its aim is to celebrate life, to explore its problems and possibilities, to enrich it, to enhance its quality. To avoid wasting it, throwing it away.

A sermon grows out of one person’s grappling with the most significant questions and issues raised by our being alive on the earth, here and now. It is one person stating aloud to a gathering of other people, how it appears to her or to him, after reflecting deeply on it over a sustained period of time. In the sermon, the speaker explores the implications of the issue being considered to the fullest extent of which he or she is capable. It is a public and personal search for insight, understanding, meaning.

Lex