Podcast: Vancouver Unitarians

Religious Naturalism

While sharing core values, Unitarians, worldwide, are noted for theological diversity that ranges from pagan spirituality to secular humanism. We’ll be looking at a rich source drawn from our theological diversity, called “religious naturalism.”

While viewing that the natural world is all we have reason to believe exists, religious naturalism is deeply attuned to a sense of reverence in response to the beauty and scope of the natural world.

A Beautiful World of Broken Hearts

Justice work is the mystic’s path.

Guest minister Rev. Ron Phares invites us to contemplate justice and the opportunities it offers to create a more beautiful world and a more connected spirituality. We will walk reflectively from heartbreak to joy in pursuit of justice, equity, and compassion.

Sanctuary and the Vision of Religion

The principle and practice of providing sanctuary has been a lesser known but core feature of the religious vision from the beginnings of cultures down to the present.
Exploring the rites and right of sanctuary is a fitting way to commemorate this year’s Martin Luther King Day.

The Legacy of “Spiritual Bad-Ass” Richard Wagamese

Acclaimed Indigenous author, Richard Wagamese (1955 – 2017) did not seek to be a teacher or guru, but the honest, evocative observations he made along his own journey to become, as he says, “a spiritual bad-ass”, forged a legacy of wisdom and inspiration sought by many spiritual seekers.

Today’s guest, Rev. McFadyen, reflects on the life and words of teacher and friend, Richard Wagamese.

Seeds – The Stuff and Staff of Life

We live in a world of seeds. They support our diets, economies and civilizations. They are objects of beauty and evolutionary wonder. We’ll be surprised and awed by how they’ve shaped the world and human history. A good way to prepare for this year’s Advent season.

Podcast: ARRESTED! One Settler’s Journey To and From

Through snapshots of turning points in her life, Nan Gregory will attempt to reconstruct her journey to the Kinder Morgan Tank Farm Gates to stand up for a just and honourable Reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. She’s grateful to share with you her discomfort and excitement transiting countless open questions regarding culture, history and honour, ever seeking the ideal of a moral world.

In Memoriam: Remembrance Day

This is the one hundredth anniversary of the ending of World War I. We commemorate this Remembrance Day in a service of poetry, music and meditation. We gather to feel and think on the tragedy of war and the gifts of peace. We honour those who have served us in death and life.

Program:

Find A Stillness, Chalice Choir
The Drum, John Scott, 1730 – 1783
Old Man Travelling, William Wordsworth, 1770 – 1850
Hashivenu, Chalice Choir
The Due of the Dead, William Makepeace Thackeray, 1811 – 1863
Anthem for Doomed Youth, Wilfred Owen, 1893 – 1918
In Flanders Fields, Chalice Choir
From Walking Wounded, Vernon Scannell, 1922 – 2007
In Celebration of Spring, John Balaban, 1943-
Intermezo op. 117 no. 1 (excerpt), Brahms, Pat Armstrong and Elliot Dainow
Unmentioned in Dispatches, Peter Wyton, 1944-
Reconciliation, Walt Whitman, 1819 – 1892

Peak Bull

It’s no secret that we’re contending with a world awash in bullying, post-truth, and alternative facts. Unitarians are committed by covenant to a “free and responsible search for truth and meaning.”

We look at what’s being called the new war on truth and consider how we could and should fight back

Encountering our Ancestors XIV

It’s the season of Samhain/Halloween/Day of the Dead. For the fourteenth time, we summon eminent ancestors from our Unitarian Universalist history to experience their stories. Join us to welcome these visitors from the past: an occasion to reckon our good fortune as heirs of an amazing religious tradition.

Ancestors:
Andrzej Wiszowaty 1608-1678
Hannah Greg 1766-1828
Fannie Farmer 1857-1915
Adlai Stevenson 1900-65

The poem that opens this podcast is an excerpt from Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman.

See previous Ancestors services at: http://vancouverunitarians.ca/topic/ancestors/