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Worship 2019: A Selection of Sermons with Order- of-service Context Unitarian-Universalist Church of the South Hills (Sunnyhill), Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania Rev. Jim Magaw with Graduates of the Sunnyhill Sermon-Writing Class for the Prior Year (2018-2019) Published 2020 Rev. Jim Magaw, Minister, Unitarian-Universalist Church of the South Hills, 1240 Washington Road, Mount Lebanon, Pennsyl- vania Title: Worship Planning 2019: A Selection of Sermons ithw Order-of-Service Context. Volume 1. Frequency: Annual Flaming Chalice Clipart from: https://www.google.com/search? source=univ&tbm=isch&q=Flaming+Chalice+clip+art&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjT0ODYxP3pAhX4TDABHWZICQ8QsAR6BAgKEAE&bi w=1600&bih=789; Sunnyhill Symbol from UU Church of the South Hills, Mt. Lebanon, PA. ISSN: 2693-6631 Editorial Team: Lorraine Underwood, Michael Farb, Judith Graham, Valerie J. H. Powell (Editor) Church Administrator: Roy Simmons; email: [email protected] Postal address: 1240 Washington Road, Mt. Lebanon, PA 15228 Web address: sunnyhill.org Phone: 412-561-6277 Copyrights 2020 by individual authors. Published by Unitarian-Universalist Church of the South Hills, Mt. Lebanon, PA 2 Table of Contents 1 Introduction – Rev. Jim Magaw – 2020 4 2 MLK and Racial Barriers – Rev. Jim Magaw – January 20, 2019 5 3 Trust in an Era of Mistrust – Rev. Jim Magaw – February 3, 2019 9 4 Tale of Two Freds – Rev. Jim Magaw – March 24, 2019 13 5 Transgender Visibility – Rev. Jim Magaw – March 31, 2019 17 6 The Earth: Whole and Broken – Rev. Jim Magaw – April 7, 2019 22 7 Passover Journeys – Rev. Jim Magaw – April 14, 2019 26 8 Practice Resurrection – Rev. Jim Magaw – April 21, 2019 32 9 Soda Pop Salvation – Dr. Jeffrey Vipperman – May 26, 2019 37 10 Because I Knew You – John Armstrong – June 16, 2019 41 11 I Found God in a Lightning Bug – Krista Baselj – June 30, 2019 47 12 Someone’s Knocking at the Door – Dr. Dawn Moeller – July 7, 51 2019 13 Choosing to Listen – Michael Farb – July 21, 2019 56 14 The Flaming Chalice – Rev. Jim Magaw – July 28, 2019 60 15 The Privilege of Serving – John Graham – August 4, 2019 64 16 Change Sustains Us – John Luff – August 11, 2019 72 17 What Is Unitarian Universalism? – Rev. Jim Magaw – August 18, 77 2019 18 The Prophetic Imperative – Rev. Jim Magaw – September 15, 82 2019 19 The Power of Belonging – Rev. Jim Magaw – October 13, 2019 86 20 David and Goliath – Rev. Jim Magaw – October 27, 2019 90 21 Won’t Get Fooled Again – Rev. Jim Magaw – November 10, 94 2019 22 Pregnant Questioning – Rev. Jim Magaw – December 8, 2019 98 23 Note on Chalice Worship Lighting and Extinguishing 2019 104 24 Hymns Selected from UU Hymnals for 2019 Services 106 3 1. Introduction, Rev. Jim Magaw © 2020 by Jim Magaw Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “The true preacher can be known by this, that he deals out to the people his life— life passed through the fire of thought.” These words still ring as true as ever, even after more than 150 years. What I attempt to do through my preaching (with varying de- grees of success), and through the sermon writing class I teach each year, is to put forth not just abstract treatises or personal opinions but rather something that is reflects both intimacy (my own personal experience) and ultimacy (universal truth and meaning) in such a way that it challenges and inspires the listener. In my experience, good preaching always points toward transformation—whether it is on the personal or societal level. The sermons I have heard that stick with me most are those that have inspired me to work for change, both in my own life and in the life of the larger community. And “life passed through the fire of thought” is the best way I know to convey both the vulner- ability and the theological grounding that are necessary to inspire meaningful transformation. For the past four years, it has been my pleasure to teach sermon writing classes for Sunnyhill members and friends using The Shared Pulpit: A Sermon Seminar for Lay People by Erika Hewitt1. I have been extremely impressed with the thoughtfulness exhibited by participants, and their work reflects well on the congregation as a whole and its commitment to shared min- istry. This congregation, which began as a lay-led fellowship, has a long and proud history of lay-led services, and this class has helped facilitate high-quality sermons and services led by members. It has been a great pleasure to work with Sunnyhill member Valerie Powell to help put together this volume which includes some of my sermons from 2019 and the sermons of sermon writing class participants from that year. I hope that these sermons will continue to inspire and trans- form, and I look forward to future collaborations like this one. Reference: 1Hewitt, Erika, The Shared Pulpit: A Sermon Seminar for Lay People. (Boston, Skinner House Books, 2014.) ISBN: 978-1-55896-722-9 4 Service for January 20, 2019 Order of Service: Gathering Music: “Clair de lune” [C. Debussy], Trey Reichenfeld Opening Words: “Lift Up Your Eyes” [Maya Angelou] Hymn: “I’ve Got Peace Like a River” Story: “The Good Samaritan” [Chris Buice] Special Music: “Why? (The King of Love Is Dead)” [Nina Simone] Musical Meditation: “There Is More Love” Sermon: “MLK and Racial Barriers,” Rev. Jim Magaw Hymn: “I’m On My Way” Closing Words: “Making Justice Real” [Rosemary Bray McNatt] Sermon: “MLK and Racial Barriers,” Rev. Jim Magaw If you watched the Super Bowl on television last year, you may remember a certain commer- cial for Dodge Ram pickup trucks that prominently featured a recording of a portion of a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. The part of the speech included in the commercial was about service to others, and said, in part: “You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know [Einstein’s] theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermo- dynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.” It’s a great and noble sentiment, and one that we desperately need to keep in mind. But it was shocking to me, as I suspect it was for many of you, to hear the voice of Martin Luther King being used to sell cars. In fact, my jaw dropped when I saw that commercial. And I thought to myself, “What were they thinking?” The speech which that particular quote comes from was called “The Drum Major Instinct,” and it was one of King’s finest pieces of oratory. But using it in a car commercial was not only ab- surd and disrespectful but also not at all in keeping with the speech itself. In that very same speech, King warns about how automobile manufacturers try to lure you into spending more money than you have on a car that you don’t need. He said: “Do you ever see people buy cars that they can’t even begin to buy in terms of their income? You’ve seen people riding around in Cadillacs and Chryslers who don’t earn enough to have a good [Model-T] Ford. But it feeds a repressed ego . “Now the presence of this instinct,” King said, “explains why we are so often taken by adver- tisers. You know, those gentlemen of massive verbal persuasion. And they have a way of say- ing things to you that kind of gets you into buying. In order to be a man of distinction, you must drink this whiskey. In order to make your neighbors envious, you must drive this type of car . .. And . before you know it, you’re just buying that stuff.” Those are the words of King from the very same speech quoted by an automobile manufacturer in a car commercial on national television on Super Bowl Sunday. 5 I’m not aware of any more compelling evidence for the idea that we as a society have some- how gone through the Looking Glass from Alice in Wonderland and are now living in a world in which down is up, wrong is right, and fiction is fact. And it is heartbreaking to see the words and the image of King being used merely as window- dressing to prop up the status quo of toxic capitalism while forgetting the radical message be- neath those words and images. In our current “through-the-Looking-Glass” world, there is a popular delusion that race no longer matters, that the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s accomplished what it set out to do—that we are essentially living in a triumphant, post-racial era. One of the MLK quotes that often gets trotted out at this time of the year, especially by post- racialists, is this one: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Very often when this quote is used today, it is to reinforce the mistaken idea that we have reached that point dreamed of by King, that it is only the content of one’s character that mat- ters now and not the color of one’s skin. In fact, you may recall when Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, there was a strong feeling in the air that having a black president proved the point that race was no longer much of an issue in the United States.

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