Unity Temple

Meanwhile, the firefly glows on.

Our Unity Temple Vote Love team, which has a focus on preserving democracy and supporting elections, is spotlighted this month.

The midterm elections set for November third may sound far away, but they're really not.

Now is the time to be checking our voter res-registration.

Now is the time to be educating ourselves about candidates and issues.

Now is also the time to be spreading the word that our very democracy and elections are under attack, and that it's even more essential to fight disinformation and get out the vote.

While technically I hold the justice portfolio, and thus the ultimate responsibility for the justice ministry here at Unity Temple, the truth is, is that a lot of the time, I am learning from our various justice teams.

Today, the Vote Love team is holding an event after this service, which includes a short interview of Stacey Abrams.

Reverend Rogers said a similar thing a few weeks ago in his last sermon.

He said that I was going to be my own version of Unity Temple's lead minister, and that is the way it should be.

It's not just true for me.

It's each of our jobs to be the best version of ourselves.

She had big beautiful blonde hair and she wore glittery clothes and high heels all the time because that was what she wanted to do and that was who she was.

She meant it when she said, find out who you are and do it on purpose.

It always felt to me like Dolly always knew she looked great and she made others feel that way too in our unity temple calendar we call this our homecoming sunday because this is a sunday when we go back to having two services there are lots of people who are busy doing lots of other things during the summer and so this is when they get back into the habit of coming here on sundays it's a great thing to celebrate our coming together again but also I hope this is a place where we can feel like we can come home to ourselves, where each person can be reminded that you are just straight up beautiful and amazing and worthy and wonderful.

And also, you are more than your fear.

It seems that a common denominator in any type of gathering is the significance of acceptance and belonging and the way we hold each other with care.

One of the most beautiful parts of the Unity Temple community is the way we become a spiritual home, a place where acceptance and belonging helps us feel safe to process our own life journeys, a place where we connect in meaningful ways, knowing that people care about us.

Today, three spiritual care team members are going to share aspects of their journeys, including how they're thinking through some larger questions and how they've received kindness and comfort along the way.

Thank you in advance to Diana, Jay, and Maureen for being willing to share your stories.

Hi, I'm Diana Coates.

My pronouns are she and her.

Did you know that attending Unity Temple could actually be good for your health? I don't know about you, but my finish line is getting closer, so I want to know as much as I can in the years that I have left, especially since my finish line is getting closer all the time.

Dan Ratner's book, Blue Zones, identifies five core areas in the world where daily routines naturally support extreme longevity.

Wright keeps coming back to that.

And can we see that in Unity Temple in a prairie house?

Yeah, I think so.

I mean, Wright describes the Japanese house as basically one space that was temporarily divided by Fusuma.

I'm going to confess to you that I preached a sermon here on June 6th, 2010 that was also entitled, Take the Fork.

After the worship service that day, the congregation was going to vote on whether or not to call me as a minister at Unity Temple.

On that day, I talked about how I had left the congregation I was serving in Joliet after 11 years, not knowing what I was going to do next.

At some point, I was invited in to talk to people here at Unity Temple.

At the time, Unity Temple's full-time religious education director had just departed, and they needed someone to oversee that programming.

I had some other job possibilities in the works, other doors I might have opened, but as I said to someone at the time, the opportunity at Unity Temple is the one that scares me the most.

So I think that's where I am supposed to go.

In other words, I was nervous and excited.