https://www.revmicahcma.com/home daily 1.0 2023-12-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e1a8b5c320ae049d27025fc/8df8efd2-394b-4093-b97f-b605b20c5a01/MMF6.jpg Home - All of church is religious education. Church is where we teach each other what we need, and where we learn what it takes to live in a better world. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e1a8b5c320ae049d27025fc/15136033-134a-4d00-ad63-39a8a02ddaa2/NAACPCHRISTMASPARTY+%281%29.JPG Home - Building Beloved Community within and beyond these walls. We are building Beloved Community as the Rev. Dr. Martin King Luther, Jr. envisioned it: a world with peace, liberty, and justice for all. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e1a8b5c320ae049d27025fc/032b3188-e39c-4b9c-8d82-a37aede37ce9/MMF10.jpg Home - In worship we give worth to what we consider precious. What’s precious to you? Is it God? Community? Justice? The Earth? All of the above? Does it change week by week, or is there a common thread? https://www.revmicahcma.com/preaching daily 0.75 2024-04-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e1a8b5c320ae049d27025fc/1578867654505-SN9GO06UHT9TLPJUUHFF/preaching+in+robe.jpg Preaching - Services are not about me. They’re about us, and what we’re building together. They’re about what we want to say—to newcomers, to ourselves, and to people who’re thinking about leaving. Good worship should be inclusive, multisensory, and participatory. That means I want us to laugh, to cry, to sing, to dance, to clap, to call out—however the spirit moves you. I want everyone to be engaged, whether it’s as a worship associate, an usher, or just sitting in the pews giving thanks for another day. And that means EVERYONE, from the littlest ones toddling down the aisle to the elders who remember when the church was a single building in the middle of a field. Features of my worship services include: Simple, direct language, so that the service can be accessible to as many people as possible. Singing and music: sung hymns, special music from the choir and/or special performers, drumming—whatever it is that moves, engages, and evokes emotion in people. A Time For All Ages—working with the religious educator(s), of course—so that families can spend more time together and we can learn what it means to be part of a multigenerational community. Space for contemplation, or as Mr. Rogers might say, “the gift of a minute” to pray, meditate, grieve—or simply breathe. Inclusive language, to bring us closer to that Beloved Community with peace, liberty, and justice for all. Humor; because if you’re laughing, you’re paying attention! Special rituals to mark special occasions in the life of the congregation and/or the congregation’s history: Water Communion, Fire Communion, Samhain, Child Dedications, Rev. Martin King Luther, Jr. Day, Earth Day…and anything else that we believe, as a community, is worth paying attention to. Because in worship, we give worth to what matters to us. (My most recent worship services can be found at the Unitarian Coastal Fellowship’s YouTube Channel. I especially recommend Shifting Baselines, Confucius Says, and A Tower of Spaghetti and Marshmallow.) https://www.revmicahcma.com/teaching daily 0.75 2023-12-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e1a8b5c320ae049d27025fc/1578870013262-1WE4YK2K7ZLKDA6Y7ZI0/image-asset.jpeg Teaching - We all have something to learn from each other. All of church teaches us something, from how people are greeted when they come in the door to what decor lines the hallways to the governance structure itself. People of ALL ages have things to learn from and teach each other: history; how we want to be treated; organizing tactics; recipes; how to share; ideas about justice. In church, we learn to be something greater than the sum of our parts. Some things that are important to me, that I hope our congregations are thinking about: Where is the congregation in its anti-racist, anti-oppression, multicultural work? How often do we interact as a multigenerational community? How are decisions made? Who makes them? Are they transparent? What is a family? What do families need? Have we asked? How often do we refer to the Principles/Values, and in what contexts? Who are our leaders? What do they look like? How old are they? What are their backgrounds? Are worship services accessible to people of all ages and classes? How often do we talk about money? How often do we talk about generosity? How often do we talk about resources? How engaged is the congregation with the UUA? How involved is the congregation with interfaith partners? Why are we Unitarian Universalist? What does being Unitarian Universalist mean to us? Children—and adults—learn from ALL of church, not just in the classroom, and none of us are empty vessels just waiting to be filled up with knowledge. We all have something to teach, just as we all have many things to learn. https://www.revmicahcma.com/outreaching daily 0.75 2023-12-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e1a8b5c320ae049d27025fc/1579559997304-I9MLQNNUUI5KVYWGA9NO/immigrant+vigil.jpg Outreaching - It’s our Sixth Principle. The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all. That’s the Beloved Community that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed of: a global vision in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth. In which poverty, hunger, homelessness are not tolerated by a people of conscience; in which racism, bigotry, prejudice, and all forms of discrimination have been replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of kinship. Love and trust win out over fear and hatred. Peace and justice prevail over war and military conflict. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e1a8b5c320ae049d27025fc/1d543797-382a-4080-bfcb-61122e139070/MMF8.jpg Outreaching - How do we get there? We move at the speed of trust, as someone—not me!—once said, and that means being in relationship with one another. The work of justice is the work of being in relationship, and that begins with asking someone, “What’s your name? What do you need? How can I help?” And then coming back. Again and again and again. Even when things get hard. Even when mistakes get made. Even when we hurt each other. To build Beloved Community is to, first, believe that Beloved Community is possible. I believe that it’s not only possible, but that we are called as Unitarian Universalists to build it. And the only way to build it is to come together. https://www.revmicahcma.com/get-started daily 0.75 2025-05-12 https://www.revmicahcma.com/get-started/p/relationship-with-youothers-mn5w9 monthly 0.5 2024-04-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ced8e1d5fd4c700018dd761/1560190004400-XTA0DF0S9WOZJUG994C8/Stocksy_txp824ffa5crXt000_Original_845035.jpg Get Started - Relationship with You+Others https://www.revmicahcma.com/get-started/p/relationship-with-others-5l225 monthly 0.5 2024-04-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ced8e1d5fd4c700018dd761/1560189982811-KFAJF1TCUH1SXZ827UMC/Stocksy_txp824ffa5crXt000_Large_844923.jpg Get Started - Relationship with Others https://www.revmicahcma.com/get-started/p/relationship-with-you-6836w monthly 0.5 2024-04-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ced8e1d5fd4c700018dd761/1560189874730-3B0TSLDUHTQ93497V3L8/Stocksy_txp824ffa5crXt000_Large_844934A.jpg Get Started - Relationship with You