Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Stanislaus County

Rev. Joe Cherry: Sermons

This are sermons by Rev. Joe Cherry. We also have sermons by Rev. Grace Simons, who retired in 2011. Our Guests, who include clergy, lay people and one rocket scientist.

Mother's Day:
This holiday sprung into its modern existence from Social Gospel practitioners around the turn of the 20th century. Unitarians, Methodists and Temperance folk each had a hand it its creation. It was a West Virginian woman, Ann Jarvis, who continued the work of her own mother that brought us what we think of as Mother's Day. Any holiday can be hard for some, and exciting for others. Days that celebrate family can be particularly difficult for some and extremely joyful for others.

Rites of Spring:
All around us in nature there are new little lives, just beginning. The foal, the calf, even the little ducklings are taking their first, sometimes tentative steps into their own existence. We humans take longer to mature than most other animals. What can that mean for us?
(May 6, 2012)

Prescott Estates:
Rev. Joe reflects on the shootings at Prescott Estates / Whispering Woods, on what a church can do to help in times of trouble, and on our false nostalgia for the "good old days".
(April 15, 2012)

Improbable Beliefs:
Easter is central to the faith of our Christian friends. What can we glean from this story of Jesus for ourselves? What improbable beliefs do we UUs have?
(April 8, 2012)

Immigration:
Coming in June is the Justice Focused General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. Members of the congregation asked Rev. Joe to give a sermon on Immigration and teach the UUA's 6-part class on Immigration Justice, to help prepare us for the important work that immigration justice requires.
(March 25, 2012)

Renewal:
It's Springtime around the world. How do some other people of faith explore and celebrate the turning of the seasons, the sprouting of new life and the passage of time? How can we benefit from their wisdom?
(March 18, 2012)

Poison Apple:
In today's world of complicated business relationships, it's hard to be a good consumer. What are the spiritual implications of trying to be(come) and ethical consumer? How much do you know about the products you purchase and what they say about you?
(March 4, 2012)

100 Monkeys:
Do you know the theory of 100 Monkeys? Change is a-coming and I think that we might be the 99th monkey in the chain. What part will be yours to play in bringing about the next great era of humanity?
(February 19, 2012)

Pig Skin and Life Lessons:
Twenty-Two men in pads on a patch of sometimes actual grass; what can this game teach us about our lives? Among other things, you can do things you didn't think you were capable of, groups that laugh or cry together become more tightly knit, and men can have close friends.
(February 5, 2012)

What Am I Doing Here?:
How Rev. Joe came to question some of the tenets of Christianity, which was the start of a long journey that brought him to be our Interim Minister.
(January 29, 2012)

We are a liberal church and the only UU congregation in Stanislaus county. We serve Ceres, Denair, Escalon, Hickman, Hughson, Keyes, Manteca, Modesto, Oakdale, Patterson, Ripon, Riverbank, Salida, Turlock and Waterford. We welcome Agnostics, Atheists, Buddhists, Christians, Deists, Free-thinkers, Humanists, Jews, Pagans, Theists, Wiccans, and those who seek their own spiritual path. We welcome people without regard to race, physical ability, ethnicity or sexual orientation.