July 26, 2023
We’ll hike down the lake bluff to the lakeshore and do a beach walk north to Schlitz Audubon beach and back to Doctors Park.
June 30, 2023
I want to thank you all for my "send off" on my last official Sunday with you (June 25th). The festivities that day were not just inspiring but so much...
June 1, 2023
In this, the last issue of All Things RE before summer break, I would like to take just a moment to say thank you. Thank you to our team of teachers...
May 26, 2023
On Sunday, June 4th, we will be honoring Gay Pride Month by celebrating "The Theology of The Wizard of Oz," and exploring some of its relevance to UU spiritual...
May 21, 2023
Clergy through the centuries have often been called pastors ("pastor," after all, being the Latin word for "shepherd"). And a congregation has often been called a flock. (In fact, at the...
May 5, 2023
A month from now (June 4th), UCN will be celebrating LGBTQ Month (June), with a service and sermon on "The Theology of The Wizard of Oz." (Yes, there is a theology there,...
May 1, 2023
MAY 2023
On this fourth day of May, May the 4th be with you. Today is known as Star Wars Day. When you think about it, May is really all about flowers...
April 5, 2023
Sunshine, 80 degrees and the threat of snow on the weekend. It must be spring in Wisconsin...
March 31, 2023
Today (March 31st) is my 74th birthday. As some of you know, I have always wished my birthday had been the day after, since April 1st seems to fit my...
March 30, 2023
UCN proudly presents an intimate evening of live music, featuring multifaceted husband & wife duo, B~Free and Quinten Farr - an Ozaukee County 1st.
March 5, 2023
Sunshine, 80 degrees and the threat of snow on the weekend. It must be spring in Wisconsin...
February 24, 2023
A few weeks ago UCN began our pledge drive, with a service on why we support Unitarian Universalism (and Unitarian Church North). One thing I didn't have time to mention...
February 21, 2023
A few weeks ago UCN began our pledge drive, with a service on why we support Unitarian Universalism (and Unitarian Church North). One thing I didn't have time to mention...
February 6, 2023
February may be the shortest month of the year, but it gives us so much. Punxsutawney Phil makes his annual prediction on Groundhog Day, February 2nd (get ready for six more weeks of winter this year)...
January 29, 2023
Many of you have probably noticed that we have been getting more families with children here at UCN. (Which is exactly what we were hoping for when we revamped our Sunday School...
January 15, 2023
“Prejudice and Privilege” Rev. Dr. Tony Larsen 1/15/23 During the Civil Rights Era of the 1960s, many of us thought that if we could just get rid of overt prejudice, […]
January 3, 2023
And just like that...we have a new year. 2022 seemed to exit in a whirlwind, sprinkling blessings and challenges all along the way. As we enter this traditional time of...
December 30, 2022
One of my favorite singer/songwriters, Chris Williamson, grew up in Wisconsin (in a little place called Moonlight Ranch). This holiday season I've been thinking about a story she once...
December 1, 2022
It’s hard to believe December is here. Shorter days, colder nights, the season for hot chocolate and lights. It has been my privilege to get to know you..
November 20, 2022
There once was a farmer who called a real-estate company to help her sell her farm. And so a real-estate broker came over and wrote an ad for...
November 17, 2022
The UCN Fund for Social Justice was established in 2000 following the state legislature's decision to send tax-rebate checks to taxpayers, rather than using...
November 17, 2022
The Unitarian Universalist principles serve us in many ways, including helping guide us in our personal search for truth and meaning. They can also serve to help guide us in relation to our role in our community...
November 17, 2022
There are many ways to engage in the democratic process and support democracy in our society at large. Not everyone can do everything, but we hope you will take the time to vote...
November 2, 2022
All Things RE!
November 2022
Welcome Our New Director of Religious Education!
LaToya Bates is proud to be a member of UCN and is excited...
September 30, 2022
Religious education at Unitarian Church North is off and running! September 18th marked the beginning of the new RE year with three classes for our children...
September 28, 2022
Welcome to the first issue of the monthly UCN Religious Education newsletter – All Things RE! that will be published the third Wednesday of each...
September 18, 2022
There is an author and speaker I like named Doug Adams. (Not the Doug Adams who wrote The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but a former Episcopalian...
September 6, 2022
In late June, the first bipartisan gun safety legislation in 26 years — the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act” — was passed by the U.S. Senate and House and signed by […]
September 1, 2022
UCN’s Share the Plate for Sept. and Oct. is the Ozaukee County Jail’s Literacy Program, a non-profit that teaches literacy, GED preparation, and life skills...
August 14, 2022
I'd like to try a little experiment. If I were to ask you, "Do you consider yourself more religious or more spiritual?" how many of you would say...
July 29, 2022
I once read about a sermon-rating system that coincides somewhat with movie ratings. I thought you might find it interesting food for thought, so here it is...
July 6, 2022
For the Summer and Fall, there are two categories of hikes: 1. Ice Age Trail Alliance (IATA) sponsored hikes 2. UCN hikes organized by the Green Committee (Julie and John […]
July 6, 2022
As I watched UCN folks clear the sanctuary for the laying of the new carpet (thank you, thank you!), I thought about a few typos from church bulletins that I...
May 31, 2022
The African-American preacher and author, the Rev. William Sloan Coffin, once said: “We don’t have to be ‘successful,’ only valuable. We don’t have to make money, only a difference…” Yet […]
April 27, 2022
The Wisconsin Black Historical Society & Museum in Milwaukee is UCN’s Share the Plate recipient for May and June 2022. The Society’s founder, Clayborn Benson III, gave UCN’s Sunday sermon […]
March 8, 2022
Just over a week ago was Ash Wednesday, a day I remember as a time to be humble. The priest would put ashes on people's...
March 2, 2022
Nominated by Social Justice Committee member Leigh Hoftiezer, our March and April Share the Plate recipient is WRTP/BIG STEP. These two acronyms stand for the two partners in this twenty-year-old […]
February 1, 2022
Some of you may remember my sermon on "The God I Believe In" (delivered on December 12, 2021). In it I referred to a Jewish concept--"tikkun olam," which means "repair of the world."...
January 4, 2022
Every once in a while I have shared actual typos from church newsletters and bulletins in my Northliner column. Not all of them are technically typographical, of course--some are simply words...
January 3, 2022
Hanan RRG is not an official refugee resettlement agency receiving government support, but an entirely volunteer organization using 100% of donations for direct refugee services. Of the estimated 850 Afghans […]
December 3, 2021
By the time you read this, Thanksgiving will have come and gone. But, since it’s important to give thanks on more than one day a year, I thought I’d include this anecdote...
November 23, 2021
Normally I write a Parson to Person column to be printed on the last Friday of one month, and the first Friday of the month following. But since the...
November 8, 2021
In last week's "Parson to Person" I wrote about my visit with my family in the Seattle area, and how we "overcame" political disputes with games and small talk. There...
November 2, 2021
UCN’s Share the Plate recipient for November and December 2021 is Braver Angels, a non-partisan grassroots organization formed in 2016 to help bridge the political and cultural divide between reds […]
November 2, 2021
Last week I came back from 4 days of vacation with my siblings at a family reunion in the Seattle area. This was our first reunion without my sister Alice...
September 28, 2021
Since we've been doing a series of Sunday services on our 8 UU principles, I thought I'd use this column to give a few examples of how they influence me...
September 1, 2021
Starting in August, I began a series of sermons on our eight UU principles. Although I already gave my sermon on the first one ("[we covenant to affirm and support]...
August 3, 2021
Now that we are holding in-church services, and UCN is looking at new/old ways to reach out to the wider community, I thought I'd bring up an issue that...
July 16, 2021
Those of you who regularly read this Parson to Person column (otherwise known as p2p) may have noticed that I haven’t written a column for a couple weeks. As you may remember...
June 29, 2021
We will be meeting in church for Sunday services, starting July 4th. (Yay!) We may or may not have in-person visitors that Sunday, but I think we can assume that...
June 29, 2021
UCN acts directly to live our principle of “justice, equity, and compassion in human relationships.” Through the Share the Plate program UCN supports, with monthly donations from offerings, humanitarian and...
June 22, 2021
Since we will start having Sunday services at church starting in July, and probably more and more of us will start seeing each other in person...
June 15, 2021
Last Sunday, celebrating Gay Pride Day (and month), I quoted from Glen Thomas Rideout, a young gay African American who wrote about his experience of being hired by the UU church...
November 15, 2020
The Hindu festival we're celebrating today is called Diwali, which is short for Deepa-wali. Deepa, meaning lamp or light (like this one); and Wali, meaning row. So, a row of lights, or festival of...
November 1, 2020
The Day of the Dead is a time to remember loved ones who have died--not just because we may miss them, but because we may be grateful for things they...
October 4, 2020
The ancient Aztecs prayed this prayer: "Grant me, Lord, a little light--but no more than a glow-worm gives, which goes about by night, to guide me through this life...this dream which...
September 29, 2020
Back in April I wrote a couple Parson-to-Person columns on things children often mis-hear (like "Howard be thy name" for "Hallowed be thy name," "Deliver us from email"...
August 23, 2020
The opening words are from Anne Scott, in her book Serving Fire:
"I have always been fascinated by the compost pile just outside our garden...
August 9, 2020
July 26, 2020
f you look carefully, I think you'll find the wording here rather interesting. Take the word "inspires." If it had been written without the "s," the...
July 19, 2020
Today's sermon is the second in my series on the six sources of our UU tradition:
Words and deeds of prophetic people,
which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil
with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love...
July 12, 2020
Consider a few statistics with me. Black folks make up about 13% of the U.S. population. But they account for about 25% of COVID-19 cases and 25% of COVID-19 deaths. For a number of reasons: One being that many service jobs that entail a lot of interaction...
June 3, 2020
Many of us, I'm sure, are thinking about the recent death of Darlene Lochbihler. I didn't know her for as long as many of you, but even in the time...
March 6, 2020
On February 18th, when it was time to vote for a candidate to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, I realized that I knew which of the 3 nominees I didn’t want to win--but I wasn't sure...
December 24, 2019
My name is Benjamin bar Jonah, and I was there at the birth of Yeshua bar Joseph, the one you call Jesus. It happened in my mother's stable at Bethlehem...
August 18, 2019
Do events happen haphazardly in our lives, or are there things that "meant to be"? Do we each have some kind of destiny -- some thing or things we are expected...
August 8, 2019
The African-American theologian and former president of Union Theological Seminary, Henry Sloane Coffin, was at one time a hymnbook editor and actually taught a course in hymnology...
July 7, 2019
Was this country founded as a Christian nation? Religious conservatives often say yes; liberals usually say no. And both can marshal! quotes from the "founding fathers" to support their views...
July 24, 2018
Twenty-five UCN members and friends braved the sweltering heat to promote UCN in the Mequon-Thiensville Family Fun Before the 4th Parade on June 30...