Podcasts
At the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Monmouth County, we record our sermons. They can be accessed from this page as they become available.
We are a liberal spiritual community which seeks to create community, transform ourselves and transform the world. If you like what you hear and have not yet visited UUCMC, please consider being our guest on a Sunday morning soon!
February 16, 2020 Caught in the Act: A Multigenerational Service
Rev. Virginia Jarocha-Ernst & Michelle McKenzie-Creech
On this Random Acts of Kindness Day, we will look for some new ways to be kinder, inspired by some old friends named Charlotte and Wilbur.
Reflection: Who has dignity? The Malley/O’Malley Family
Reflection: What is kindness? Michelle McKenzie-Creech
Reflection: How do you lift others up? The Mednis Family
February 9, 2020 Imperfect Together: Kindness Communion
Rev. Craig Rubano
The gifts we have to offer one another lie not in our perfection but precisely in the ways that we deviate from the “standard.” Using social work research professor Brené Brown’s concept of “wholehearted living,” we’ll find the courage, compassion, and connection at the heart of resilience by living into our imperfect and wondrous selves, and we’ll celebrate a “Kindness Communion” ritual together to cement our bonds.
February 2, 2020 Learning to Fly
Michelle McKenzie-Creech, CDFM
Depression and anxiety affect people of every age, economic situation, and race. The stigma of mental illness can cause people to feel ashamed therefore preventing them from getting the help they need and seeking support. We’ll challenge those stigmas and explore resilience as we weather life’s storms.
January 26, 2020 Driving While White
Rev. Virginia Jarocha-Ernst
On a recent road trip to visit significant African American historical sites, this white, female UU minister made some observations about the meaning of race in America. My first stop was the Harriet Tubman Museum in Cambridge, MD.
January 19, 2020 How to Be an Antiracist: MLK Sunday
Rev. Craig Rubano
American historian Ibram X. Kendi argues passionately that the proble with claiming to be “not racist” is that the stance is neutral, and there can be no neutrality in the racism struggle. The opposite of “racist” is no “not racist” but rather “antiracist.” On this morning in honor of the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, we’ll use Kendi’s insights to discover ways that we can become more antiracist, personally and collectively.
January 12, 2020 Founding Mothers
Elisabeth Eittreim, Ph.D.
Who are America’s “founding mothers”? Many people have a sense of the men who traditionally constitute the nation’s founding fathers, but fewer know or consider the mothers who birthed the nation. Thinking beyond the traditional heroines lauded in American history, Elisabeth M. Eittreim will share stories about people you may know (or think you know) as well as others foundational in building the nation.
A UUCMC member since 2014 (along with husband, Tom Harbison, and children – Cole, Benjamin, and Alice), Elisabeth received her doctorate in women’s and gender history in 2015. She teaches history at Rutgers University in Newark and women’s studies at Georgian Court University and recently published her first book, Teaching Empire: Native Americans, Filipinos, and US Imperial Education, 1879-1918.
January 5, 2020 Let It Be
Rev. Craig Rubano and Rev. Virginia Jarocha-Ernst
We begin a new year hoping to embrace lives of integrity, our January congregational theme. What if this year, rather than resolving to add healthy practices or to prohibit certain foods or thoughts or ruts, we instead made a serious vow just to let things be: underneath the noise, the business, the promises, the errands, the masks, just who are we, really? Perhaps integrity, among other things, means authentically to be the one and only us. Dare we let that be?
Rev. Virginia’s Homily: Daring to be Real
Rev. Craig’s Homily: Being Enough
December 22, 2019 Out of the Darkness
Michelle McKenzie-Creech, CDFM & Rev. Craig Rubano
Together, on the shortest day of the year, as we celebrate the sacred flame that burned far longer than it should have, we return to the light. We find hope, possibility, and promise in light, casting us out of the darkness on this day as the Winter Solstice and Hanukkah arrive just hours apart.
December 15, 2019 O Come, O Come: Advent Anticipation
Rev. Craig Rubano
Advent is a time of waiting, waiting for the coming of something novel, for the arrival of a new way of doing or thinking about things, and, in Christian tradition, the birth of a child. Yet, unlike more homogeneous spiritual communities, in our congregation, each of us may well be waiting for something quite different. This morning, exactly halfway through Advent, we’ll explore the lessons of the season: what can all of us learn from being mindful about waiting?
December 8, 2019 The Awe-ful Truth
Rev. Virginia Jarocha-Ernst
Being filled by awe is both exhilarating and troubling. The fear and trembling we experience when faced with forces far beyond us is not always reassuring. What truths might bring you to that edge of fear and wonder?
December 1, 2019 The Suffering Artist Myth
Rev. Rosemarie Newberry, guest minister
I reject that artists must suffer in order to be great creative types. I believe that tapping into our creative natures is natural and available to all of us. The source of creativity is from the divine, the sacred. Let’s honor all creativity from that sacred place.
November 24, 2019 The Breads of Our Lives: A Multigenerational Thanksgiving Communion
Rev. Virginia Jarocha-Ernst, Rev. Craig Rubano, and Michelle McKenzie-Creech
Part of glorying in our common humanity is to enter into the wonder of what is different about each of us and, at one level, we eat what we are—in other words, our heritages are tied to our foods. This morning, we express our communal gratitude for our specificities through the breads of our diversity. We will have many baker volunteers, to offer and briefly describe in the service the culture their offering represents.
November 17, 2019 Attending to Joy
Rev. Craig Rubano
Getting out of ruts, discovering new meaning, living into bliss—these all may emerge somewhat counterintuitively, by doing less. This morning, we’ll attend to finding stillness, embracing honesty, and identifying desire as beginning steps of paying attention to our joy.
November 10, 2019 We All Can Rise
Dr. Carol Penn
“Just like moons and like suns, with the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, still I rise.” ~ Maya Angelou
This service is designed to be lively and interactive to bring a message of hope and inspiration as we pay attention to the collective vibration of goodness and hope that can rise in us together as a conscious, awakened community.
November 3, 2019 All Souls’ Sunday: Love and Loss
Rev. Craig Rubano & Rev. Virginia Jarocha-Ernst
It is a practice, this paying attention to our grief. This Sunday, we pay attention once again to those who have died this year and to those whose lives still resonate years after death has claimed them. On this All Souls’ Sunday, we will reflect on the nature of love and loss.
October 27, 2019 Which Witch Are You?
Rev. Virginia Jarocha-Ernst
Are witches good or bad, or even from Kansas? This All Hallow’s Eve, let’s explore the nature of witchcraft. How and why has it come to be so misunderstood?
Sermon:
SisterCircle offered the Search for Meaning: Jo Grazide & Linda Stehlik
October 13, 2019 Exploring Sexuality Values for Our Whole Lives
Melanie Davis, Ph.D., guest speaker
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Our Whole Lives (OWL) Sexuality Education, a lifespan curricula co-published by the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ. Now used in secular and faith settings across the US and nternationally, OWL is considered the Gold Standard for comprehensive sexuality education. Dr. Melanie Davis, the UUA’s OWL Program Manager, will provide an OWL overview and will introduce us to the values and their connection to our faith.
Dr. Melanie Davis is the author of OWL for Older Adults, which will be released next month, and Sexuality and Our Faith, a Companion to OWL for Grades 7-9, 2d edition. For 15 years, Dr. Davis has been a lay speaker for UU congregations around the US. She is a member of the UU Trauma Response Ministry and the UU Congregation of Somerset Hills. Dr. Davis has a private sexuality counseling and education practice for teens and adults.
October 6, 2019 A Comfortable Faith
Rev. Virginia Jarocha-Ernst
Does Unitarian Universalism offer us the right mix of comfort and challenge in these troubling times? Today we will consider some of the stories that call us in and call us out. Are we creating brave space together?
September 29, 2019 A Time for Turning
Rev. Craig Rubano
This evening marks the beginning of a new year on the Jewish calendar. Rosh Hashanah, the “head of the year,” marks the beginning of ten days in which not only time is celebrated, but the human ability to change and grow. In keeping with our monthly congregational theme of “expectation,” what can we all learn from this holiday that bids us metaphorically to turn, to re-inscribe ourselves in the book of our lives?
September 22, 2019 People of Faith and the Climate Strike
Rev. Susan Smith, guest speaker
Rev. Susan Smith is the Stated Clerk of the Presbytery of Monmouth, Parish Associate of First Presbyterian Church of Rumson and Green Faith Fellow whose ministry is dedicated to environmental justice.
UUCMC youth member, Leila Merhi, offered the Search for Meaning:
Sermon:
September 15, 2019 What We Have Come to Expect
Rev. Virginia Jarocha-Ernst
There is a hidden power in our expectations. In our interactions with one another and in our expectations of the world around us, if we expect the worst, if we give in to cynicism and fear, we can expect to find them. How do we realistically and practically expect anything better? I hope to find out.
August 11, 2019 Shamanism- Ancient Ways in a Modern World
Eileen D. Ellis, MSW, Native American Healing, LLC
There has been a significant renaissance in global shamanism in the 21st century. Ancient wisdom and pathways are being translated by contemporary shamans to heighten our awareness and our consciousness. With these pathways come practical strategies to live a sacred, peaceful, healthy life for yourself and the planet. Your requirement- an open heart.
Eileen Ellis is a full-blooded Mohawk Native American with ancestral healing roots with a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Rutgers University. She is a retired NJ public school administrator with 25+ years of educational experience, and since 2006 has been a practicing shaman and spiritual/energy consultant, teaching and facilitating classes in meditation (breathing, mindfulness, guided imagery, shamanic journeying) as well as varied topics in energy healing.
July 21, 2019 Are We There Yet?
Rev. Craig Rubano & Rev. Virginia Jarocha-Ernst
July 14, 2019 Have You Ever Been a Pilgrim?
Rev. Julie Newhall
To answer the question, you’ll need to decide what you think a pilgrimage is. It’s not always just a walk.
Reverend Julie Newhall was ordained in our Earth Room 15 years ago. She is a circuit-driving minister for the UU Ocean County Congregation and for the UU Society of South Suffolk in Bay Shore, Long Island. It’s a thrill for her to be able to attend services and preach at UUCMC, which is typically only possible during the summer.
July 7, 2019 Start As You Mean To Continue
Rev. Craig Rubano & Rev. Virginia Jarocha-Ernst
Our year of co-ministry experimentation begins now! What are the values, benchmarks and signs of success and failure that we will be learning from? Beginning again is a chance we are willing to take.