2024 Services: see below
Zoom meetings were live and not recorded.
Click here for 2023 Services
Click here for 2022 Services
Click here for 2021 Services
Click here for 2020 Services
Click here for 2019 Sermons
For 2018 and earlier sermons:
Click here for 2018 Sermons page and
click here for the newsletters page with earlier sermons.
Zoom meetings were live and not recorded.
Click here for 2023 Services
Click here for 2022 Services
Click here for 2021 Services
Click here for 2020 Services
Click here for 2019 Sermons
For 2018 and earlier sermons:
Click here for 2018 Sermons page and
click here for the newsletters page with earlier sermons.
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June 23 pm:
Sermon led by Rev Molly Housh Gordon
We are all tangled up together in a great web of life that is woven with beauty and hardship, love and loss, thriving and struggle. How do we tend well to the weaving so that all of us are held in care?
Join us for the largest annual gathering of Unitarian Universalists joining in worship. This powerful, communal worship experience will be available by clicking the image to the left.
Embrace the electrifying spirit of the year's largest UU gathering, where we come together in unity for an awe-inspiring Sunday worship celebration like no other! It's a vibrant, communal worship experience that promises to uplift your soul and ignite your passion. And here's the thrilling part – everyone is invited to be a part of this event through a live stream accessible to the public. Don't miss out on this extraordinary gathering of hearts and minds!
Sermon led by Rev Molly Housh Gordon
We are all tangled up together in a great web of life that is woven with beauty and hardship, love and loss, thriving and struggle. How do we tend well to the weaving so that all of us are held in care?
Join us for the largest annual gathering of Unitarian Universalists joining in worship. This powerful, communal worship experience will be available by clicking the image to the left.
Embrace the electrifying spirit of the year's largest UU gathering, where we come together in unity for an awe-inspiring Sunday worship celebration like no other! It's a vibrant, communal worship experience that promises to uplift your soul and ignite your passion. And here's the thrilling part – everyone is invited to be a part of this event through a live stream accessible to the public. Don't miss out on this extraordinary gathering of hearts and minds!
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Rev. Molly Housh Gordon will be joined by Violet Vonder Haar, Jamila Bachelder, Rev. Leon Dunkely, Rev. Eric Kaminetsky, Rev. Joan Javier-Duvall, Rev. Jordinn Nelson Long, Rev. Aaron Wisman, Rev. Sadie Lansdale, and Rev. Sarah Oglesby-Dunegan.
Featuring musicians: Natasha Steinmacher, GA Music Coordinator; Lea Morris; Francisco Ruiz; beheld; Violet Vonder Haar; Paul Winchester; and choirs from All Souls Unitarian Church, Indianapolis, IN; First Parish in Concord, MA; First Parish UU in Lexington, MA; First UU Congregation of Ann Arbor, MI; UU Fellowship in Athens, GA; UU Fellowship of Poughkeepsie, NY; UU Church in Cherry Hill, NJ; UU Church in Reston, VA; and UU of Minnetonka, MN.
Join us virtually for the largest annual gathering of UUs in worship. Sunday Worship will be live-streamed here, Sunday, June 23, 2024, at 1:00 to 2:30 pm.
No registration required. DVR controls, which provide the ability to pause and rewind the live event, will be available.
The worship collection will benefit Side with Love, including its campaigns for climate justice (Create Climate Justice), democracy (UU the Vote), and bodily autonomy, including reproductive, LGBTQIA+, and disability justice (UPLIFT Action). Your gift to the Side with Love collection supports all this essential work.
Order of Service (PDF)
The on-demand video will also be made available at the same time the livestream starts. The on-demand video will contain closed captions, allowing you to turn on and off the captions. The live broadcast stream will include "burnt in" captions, so it's recommended to turn off YouTube's auto captioning feature.
Featuring musicians: Natasha Steinmacher, GA Music Coordinator; Lea Morris; Francisco Ruiz; beheld; Violet Vonder Haar; Paul Winchester; and choirs from All Souls Unitarian Church, Indianapolis, IN; First Parish in Concord, MA; First Parish UU in Lexington, MA; First UU Congregation of Ann Arbor, MI; UU Fellowship in Athens, GA; UU Fellowship of Poughkeepsie, NY; UU Church in Cherry Hill, NJ; UU Church in Reston, VA; and UU of Minnetonka, MN.
Join us virtually for the largest annual gathering of UUs in worship. Sunday Worship will be live-streamed here, Sunday, June 23, 2024, at 1:00 to 2:30 pm.
No registration required. DVR controls, which provide the ability to pause and rewind the live event, will be available.
The worship collection will benefit Side with Love, including its campaigns for climate justice (Create Climate Justice), democracy (UU the Vote), and bodily autonomy, including reproductive, LGBTQIA+, and disability justice (UPLIFT Action). Your gift to the Side with Love collection supports all this essential work.
Order of Service (PDF)
The on-demand video will also be made available at the same time the livestream starts. The on-demand video will contain closed captions, allowing you to turn on and off the captions. The live broadcast stream will include "burnt in" captions, so it's recommended to turn off YouTube's auto captioning feature.
Lydia Denworth is a nationally known, award-winning science writer and contributing editor to Scientific American. She is the author of several books of popular science including "Friendship: The Evolution, Biology and Extraordinary Power of Life's Most Fundamental Bond" and "I Can Hear You Whisper: An Intimate Journey Through the Science of Sound and Language." Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Time and many other publications.
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May 26:
Operation Hope in Brevard County
Sermon by Jesse Zermeno (in person)
Operation Hope of Greater Florida Inc., a non-profit organization, has remained dedicated to providing support, education, and assistance to needy families regardless of race, color or religion. Founded in 1997 by Jesse Zermeno, who recognized the plight of Florida's unprivileged individuals, Operation Hope was created to make a difference in the lives of laborers, families and anyone who wishes to be assisted. With numerous diverse individuals and corporate partners, Operation Hope Seeks to improve the sometimes-desperate living conditions of those that labor tirelessly. Individuals are rallied, and their efforts and donations are channeled to serve the greatest good. Their strong resolve to improving these conditions is demonstrated weekly when volunteers are assembled to distribute donations of food, clothing and household items to the needy. In addition, to this dependable resource of necessities, Operation Hope volunteers offer words of encouragement and support. Each year Operation Hope has many activities, in August they supply about 700 children with school supplies, for Thanksgiving 800 baskets are given to families and for Christmas a celebration is held with as many as 1200 children receiving aid.
Jesse Zermeno was born in Mexico City on November 3, 1947, the oldest of six children. After completing high school (Institute Juventud) he helped put himself through college by working in marketing for a telephone company. Zermeno graduated from the Institute of Technology at Mexico City with a B.S. degree in business in 1974. He continued with the telephone company after graduation and was offered an opportunity by the company to attend school in the U.S. in order to learn to speak English. Zermeno chose a school in Chicago because he had a family living there. While attending school, Zermeno took a part time job as a waiter at La Margarita, a Mexican restaurant. Restaurant management decided that the all-male servers might be more effective if they teamed with female waitresses. An ad was placed in the newspapers for Spanish-speaking waitresses. Despite management’s plan they hired only one waitress - Jann, Jess’s future wife. By 1976 they were married.
Jann, a native of Glenview, a Chicago suburb, was the oldest of three children. After graduating from Glenbrook South High School, she attended Western Illinois for two years and spent her junior year abroad at the University of Barcelona, Spain. Later she was to graduate from the UCF with a degree in elementary education and add an A.A. degree in travel and tourism from FMU to her dossier.
Jesse and Jann lived in Chicago until a former Mexican classmate of Jesse’s was elected to a high-ranking government position and asked Jesse to return to Mexico to be part of his administration. The Zermenos moved to Mexico, but the timing was bad. The bottom fell out of the Mexican economy soon after they relocated and the Zermenos decided to return to the U.S.. They moved to Melbourne, Florida, to live with Jann’ s retired parents until they could get back on their feet. By now the Zermenos had three children: Jesse, Jeanette and Jackie.
Jesse became a U.S. citizen and found employment in production control at Harris Corporation. He also enrolled in a masters degree program at the Florida Institute of Technology. Within six months the Zermenos were able to purchase a home in the Eau Gallie section of Melbourne where they still live. Three years later Jesse bought the Sandpiper Dry Carpet Cleaning Business.
In 1997 Jesse founded Operation Hope after learning of the plight of migrant workers in Fellsmere. Since that time he has organized volunteers, mostly from Melbourne, to make the 70-mile round trip to Fellsmere to bring food, clothing and a message of hope to the desperately poor families of the farm workers. Jann has been by Jesse’s side every inch of the way.
Operation Hope in Brevard County
Sermon by Jesse Zermeno (in person)
Operation Hope of Greater Florida Inc., a non-profit organization, has remained dedicated to providing support, education, and assistance to needy families regardless of race, color or religion. Founded in 1997 by Jesse Zermeno, who recognized the plight of Florida's unprivileged individuals, Operation Hope was created to make a difference in the lives of laborers, families and anyone who wishes to be assisted. With numerous diverse individuals and corporate partners, Operation Hope Seeks to improve the sometimes-desperate living conditions of those that labor tirelessly. Individuals are rallied, and their efforts and donations are channeled to serve the greatest good. Their strong resolve to improving these conditions is demonstrated weekly when volunteers are assembled to distribute donations of food, clothing and household items to the needy. In addition, to this dependable resource of necessities, Operation Hope volunteers offer words of encouragement and support. Each year Operation Hope has many activities, in August they supply about 700 children with school supplies, for Thanksgiving 800 baskets are given to families and for Christmas a celebration is held with as many as 1200 children receiving aid.
Jesse Zermeno was born in Mexico City on November 3, 1947, the oldest of six children. After completing high school (Institute Juventud) he helped put himself through college by working in marketing for a telephone company. Zermeno graduated from the Institute of Technology at Mexico City with a B.S. degree in business in 1974. He continued with the telephone company after graduation and was offered an opportunity by the company to attend school in the U.S. in order to learn to speak English. Zermeno chose a school in Chicago because he had a family living there. While attending school, Zermeno took a part time job as a waiter at La Margarita, a Mexican restaurant. Restaurant management decided that the all-male servers might be more effective if they teamed with female waitresses. An ad was placed in the newspapers for Spanish-speaking waitresses. Despite management’s plan they hired only one waitress - Jann, Jess’s future wife. By 1976 they were married.
Jann, a native of Glenview, a Chicago suburb, was the oldest of three children. After graduating from Glenbrook South High School, she attended Western Illinois for two years and spent her junior year abroad at the University of Barcelona, Spain. Later she was to graduate from the UCF with a degree in elementary education and add an A.A. degree in travel and tourism from FMU to her dossier.
Jesse and Jann lived in Chicago until a former Mexican classmate of Jesse’s was elected to a high-ranking government position and asked Jesse to return to Mexico to be part of his administration. The Zermenos moved to Mexico, but the timing was bad. The bottom fell out of the Mexican economy soon after they relocated and the Zermenos decided to return to the U.S.. They moved to Melbourne, Florida, to live with Jann’ s retired parents until they could get back on their feet. By now the Zermenos had three children: Jesse, Jeanette and Jackie.
Jesse became a U.S. citizen and found employment in production control at Harris Corporation. He also enrolled in a masters degree program at the Florida Institute of Technology. Within six months the Zermenos were able to purchase a home in the Eau Gallie section of Melbourne where they still live. Three years later Jesse bought the Sandpiper Dry Carpet Cleaning Business.
In 1997 Jesse founded Operation Hope after learning of the plight of migrant workers in Fellsmere. Since that time he has organized volunteers, mostly from Melbourne, to make the 70-mile round trip to Fellsmere to bring food, clothing and a message of hope to the desperately poor families of the farm workers. Jann has been by Jesse’s side every inch of the way.
April 21:
Earth Day - Saving the Indian River Lagoon
Sermon by Virginia Barker (in person)
Our speaker will discuss "The Save Our Indian River Lagoon Program" which funds projects that improve the health, productivity, appeal, and economic value of our lagoon and to reverse decades of degradation to this priceless natural treasure. Funding comes from a ½ cent sales tax, approved by Brevard County voters in 2016.
Virginia Barker completed undergraduate degrees in Science and Math and a Masters in Coastal Environmental Management at Duke. She has worked in Sri Lanka for US AID, as a research diver for the Florida Department of Natural Resources, and in marine and environmental management positions for Monroe County and Brevard County.
Ms. Barker is now the Director of Brevard County’s Natural Resources Management Department. During her 27 years with the County, she has been responsible for beach management, the stormwater utility program, mosquito control, and numerous environmental initiatives and programs.
Earth Day - Saving the Indian River Lagoon
Sermon by Virginia Barker (in person)
Our speaker will discuss "The Save Our Indian River Lagoon Program" which funds projects that improve the health, productivity, appeal, and economic value of our lagoon and to reverse decades of degradation to this priceless natural treasure. Funding comes from a ½ cent sales tax, approved by Brevard County voters in 2016.
Virginia Barker completed undergraduate degrees in Science and Math and a Masters in Coastal Environmental Management at Duke. She has worked in Sri Lanka for US AID, as a research diver for the Florida Department of Natural Resources, and in marine and environmental management positions for Monroe County and Brevard County.
Ms. Barker is now the Director of Brevard County’s Natural Resources Management Department. During her 27 years with the County, she has been responsible for beach management, the stormwater utility program, mosquito control, and numerous environmental initiatives and programs.
I would love to hold a town hall style event for people to ask a transgender woman questions about issues related to being transgender. Put another way an, "Ask a trans woman anything you were scared to ask." In my experience, most transphobia and discrimination against the transgender community originates from a lack of knowledge of someone who is transgender and of what it means to be transgender. I would like to dispel some of the myths and misinformation by sharing my story and perspective.
In full disclosure, I am a candidate for Florida State Senate District 19 (most of Brevard County). I do not intend this as a campaign event.
Vance was born and raised in South Florida where she developed a passion for science and music. When she wasn’t traveling through the summer with her family to historic sites of our past wars she was exploring the woods, rivers, and marshlands across her home state.
After High School, she served in the Navy for 4 years as a Hospital Corpsman where she learned to be a Surgical Technologist as the student class to maintain the Navy’s Flagship Hospital through Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
She first moved to Palm Bay in 1995 where she began her family. She now has four adult children and two grandchildren. In 2019 she came out as transgender to her family and friends and was finally able to begin living life as her authentic self at 48.
She began her drive as an activist in 2022 protesting racial disparity, restrictions on the LGBTQ+ community and women’s rights. In 2023 she announced her campaign to run for State Senate. When she is elected, she will not only be Florida’s first openly transgender State Senator, but the first transgender person to be elected to a state level position in Florida History.
In full disclosure, I am a candidate for Florida State Senate District 19 (most of Brevard County). I do not intend this as a campaign event.
Vance was born and raised in South Florida where she developed a passion for science and music. When she wasn’t traveling through the summer with her family to historic sites of our past wars she was exploring the woods, rivers, and marshlands across her home state.
After High School, she served in the Navy for 4 years as a Hospital Corpsman where she learned to be a Surgical Technologist as the student class to maintain the Navy’s Flagship Hospital through Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
She first moved to Palm Bay in 1995 where she began her family. She now has four adult children and two grandchildren. In 2019 she came out as transgender to her family and friends and was finally able to begin living life as her authentic self at 48.
She began her drive as an activist in 2022 protesting racial disparity, restrictions on the LGBTQ+ community and women’s rights. In 2023 she announced her campaign to run for State Senate. When she is elected, she will not only be Florida’s first openly transgender State Senator, but the first transgender person to be elected to a state level position in Florida History.
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Amazon gives the following description:
One war: three collisions--in this vividly written, narrative history of the war in Ukraine, Michael Kimmage puts together the pieces of a complicated international puzzle to understand the origins of the current conflict that has brought the world to the brink of a new Cold War.
In Collisions, Michael Kimmage, a historian and former State Department official who focused on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, offers a wide-angle, historically informed account of the origins of the current Russia-Ukraine war. Tracing the development of Ukraine and Russia's fractious relationship back to the end of the Cold War, Kimmage takes readers through the central events that led to Vladimir Putin seizing a large portion of Ukraine--the Crimea--in 2014 and, eight years later, initiating arguably the most intensive military conflict of the entire post-World War II era.
From the halls of power in Washington, Kyiv, and Moscow to the battlefields of Ukraine, Kimmage chronicles Putin's ascendancy to the Russian presidency, delves into multiple American presidencies and their dealings with Russia and Europe, and recounts Europe's efforts to bring Ukraine closer to the European Union. He tells the story of how Ukraine went from an embattled country on the edge of Europe to a formidable military power capable of pushing back the Russian military. Just as importantly, Kimmage captures how the current war has transformed multiple centers of power--from China to the United States--and dramatically altered the path of globalization itself. He makes the case that the war in Ukraine has shifted the direction of major macro-trends in world politics, contributing to the fragmentation of international politics, higher inflation, greater food insecurity, and the general collapse of arms control. These intersecting dangers amount to a new age of global instability, born in war and in the collision between Russia and the United States that has brought the world to the brink of a new Cold War.
An authoritative interpretation of possibly the most important geopolitical event of the post-Cold War era, Collisions is essential reading for anyone interested in the origins of this epochal conflict and its ripple effects across the globe.
One war: three collisions--in this vividly written, narrative history of the war in Ukraine, Michael Kimmage puts together the pieces of a complicated international puzzle to understand the origins of the current conflict that has brought the world to the brink of a new Cold War.
In Collisions, Michael Kimmage, a historian and former State Department official who focused on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, offers a wide-angle, historically informed account of the origins of the current Russia-Ukraine war. Tracing the development of Ukraine and Russia's fractious relationship back to the end of the Cold War, Kimmage takes readers through the central events that led to Vladimir Putin seizing a large portion of Ukraine--the Crimea--in 2014 and, eight years later, initiating arguably the most intensive military conflict of the entire post-World War II era.
From the halls of power in Washington, Kyiv, and Moscow to the battlefields of Ukraine, Kimmage chronicles Putin's ascendancy to the Russian presidency, delves into multiple American presidencies and their dealings with Russia and Europe, and recounts Europe's efforts to bring Ukraine closer to the European Union. He tells the story of how Ukraine went from an embattled country on the edge of Europe to a formidable military power capable of pushing back the Russian military. Just as importantly, Kimmage captures how the current war has transformed multiple centers of power--from China to the United States--and dramatically altered the path of globalization itself. He makes the case that the war in Ukraine has shifted the direction of major macro-trends in world politics, contributing to the fragmentation of international politics, higher inflation, greater food insecurity, and the general collapse of arms control. These intersecting dangers amount to a new age of global instability, born in war and in the collision between Russia and the United States that has brought the world to the brink of a new Cold War.
An authoritative interpretation of possibly the most important geopolitical event of the post-Cold War era, Collisions is essential reading for anyone interested in the origins of this epochal conflict and its ripple effects across the globe.
January 7:
Humanism vs Theism: A Conversation With God
Humanism vs Theism: A Conversation With God