Services from 2006 and 2007
December 16, 2007: Christmas Service
This memorable service showcased the talents of many of our members. Click here to see some photos.December 2, 2007: Appalachia - Mark T. Banker, Teacher-Historian
What images come to you mind when you hear the word "Appalachia?" Do you identify yourself as "Appalachian?" Responses from persons like ourselves to these questions have shaped the history of East Tennessee in ways that few observers have recognized. This presentation will offer insights into East Tennessee's past through the lenses of 30 years of Appalachian Studies scholarship and reflect on implications of these insights for the 21st century.November 18, 2007: The Woodcarver: Journey Inward, Journey Outward - Rev. Dr. Billy Newton, Director of Maryville College's Center for Strong Communities
This sermon will be a reflection on a poem by Chuang Tzu and the prophecy of Isaiah. Both of these prophets tell the story of freeing ourselves from the powers that be, in order to rediscover a genuine calling to relationships of intimacy, justice and compassion. It seems I'm always trying to reconcile my need for a spiritual life and sense of inner freedom with the active life of community responsibilities and social change. Maybe Chuang Tzu and Isaiah can help.
Annette Marquis
November 4, 2007: Can we really believe anything we want? - Annette Marquis, Thomas Jefferson District Executive, Unitarian Universalist Association
Because Unitarian Universalism doesn't require adherence to a creed or doctrine, it is often said that UUs can believe anything we want. But, can we really believe anything? What is our responsibility to engage in a spiritual search for what we believe? What is the role of a congregation in providing an environment where people are encouraged to clarify their beliefs and deepen their spiritual lives? How do we deal with theological diversity in our congregations? We will explore these questions in relation to the Living Tradition of the Unitarian Universalist Association.October 21, 2007: Masks of One Form or Another - Owen Rhodes
Halloween is a time when we celebrate a harmless ritual of deception and trickery. But, hiding behind masks of one form or another is all too common for so many people fearing rejection, humiliation, and persecution. Religions should be there to help people be comfortable with who they are and aiding their spiritual, moral, and ethical development within their own personal truth. All too often, though, religious messages of shame and guilt drive people further away from the truth and deeper into fragile, tragic lives of self-deception and self-destruction. That's not what religion should be about and at this service we will dedicate new members into our fledgling congregation which strives so hard to send religious messages of love and acceptance and honors the free and responsible pursuit of faith and reason.October 7, 2007: What's Your Story? - Donnell King
One of the things modern American religious liberals and conservatives tend to agree on without realizing it is the assumption that the Bible was intended to be taken literally, for the most part. If it had been written by 19th-century American white men, that might be a good assumption. But it wasn't. Such an assumption leads some conservatives to defend things that are more and more indefensible in light of what we now know about history and science, and has also led some liberals to reject the value of the Bible altogether since it's "wrong." But what if it were never intended to be taken that way in the first place? How different would our experience be if we thought the Bible was intended all along to be read as "story"--not something that is false, but something for which mere factuality matters little--for which truth runs much deeper than factuality? We'll examine an ancient way of looking at scripture that may be new to modern readers and that, possibly, can make the Bible valuable in a different way.September 16, 2007: Forgiveness and Atonement - Dan Bing
With the beginning of Yom Kippur less than one week away, we will explore forgiveness and atonement. Do we all share a collective guilt, something for which we should all be forgiven? Rather than rely on Genesis 2-3, let's explore the Babylonian Adapa myth as a possible alternative for an answer more relevant to our time.Dan Bing has been an active member of TVUUC for over 40 years. He taught ancient history at UT Knoxville from 1966 until his retirement in 2000, and published articles on a variety of topics ranging from Sumerian and Babylonian myths, Alexander the Great and the Persian Empire, and Athenian military history.
September 2, 2007: The Dignity of Labor - Carl Gombert
Labor Day is a time to reflect on the meaning and nature of human labor: Is it a blessing or a curse? Something to love or to loathe? If there is indeed dignity in labor, why is it so often overlooked? This sermon celebrates successes of the labor movement and explores some of the important questions surrounding this fundamental aspect of the human condition.August 19, 2007: To Infinity and Beyond - Owen Rhodes
In the movie "Toy Story", Buzz Lightyear's battle cry is "To Infinity... and beyond!" That cry embodies the distinctly human qualities of endless curiosity and an undying thirst for exploration. Explorers of the infinite in mathematics, cosmology, physics, philosophy, and religion have brought us great gifts of truth and have often paid for those gifts with their liberty, their lives, their faith, and their sanity. One such explorer was Georg Cantor, who discovered and proved that within mathematics there are multiple infinities and that some of these infinities are even bounded. Using these two types of infinities -- the bounded and the unbounded -- as a metaphor for the human condition, we will look at our place in the universe, our moral obligation to each other, and our responsibility to understand and forgive our infinite self.The Reverend Oliver Thomas
Find out more about Rev. Thomas by clicking on the links above.
August 5, 2007: 10 Things Your Minister Wants to Tell You (But Can't, Because S/he Needs the Job) - Rev. Oliver "Buzz" Thomas
Join the Rev. Oliver "Buzz" Thomas for an inspirational and informative sermon based on his new book 10 Things Your Minister Wants to Tell You (But Can't, Because S/he Needs the Job), including insights on religion as it relates to gender and sexual orientation. Buzz Thomas is a minister, attorney, teacher, community leader, and Executive Director of the Niswonger Foundation. He is also author of The Right to Religious Liberty (the ACLU handbook on the law of church and state) and co-authored Finding Common Ground, the First Amendment handbook endorsed by the Department of Education and used in many of the nation's public schools.July 15, 2007: A Birthday Party for Woody Guthrie - Carl Gombert
July 14th marks the ninety-fifth anniversary of the birth of Woody Guthrie, America's pre-eminent hard travelin' folk troubadour. Through his many classic songs, Woody championed the underdogs: the working stiffs and immigrants, the disenfranchised and powerless, the homeless, the downtrodden and the poor. With music, he affirmed the inherent worth and dignity of every individual. Join us as we celebrate a man who spent his life promoting the principles that we embrace as Unitarian Universalists.July 1, 2007: Cycles of Life - Crystal Colter
M. Scott Peck's classic self-help book The Road Less Traveled begins with this line: "Life is difficult." So it is. In cycles, life brings us heartache, sorrow, pain, and loss. And yet life also brings us, in unpredictable cycles, amazing experiences of extreme joy, deep love, and profound peace. The struggles and challenges we face are at times mild and easily manageable and at other times unimaginably difficult and fundamentally life-altering. How do we survive this back-and-forth up-and-down cycle that is life? How do we "bottle" the happy experiences in order to survive the painful parts of the cycle? How is it that, time after time, we manage to pick ourselves up, to fill our hearts, to grow our souls, to feed our spirits, and to light the fire of renewal and live happily again? Explore with us the ways in which, through faith, family, friends, fellowship, and the "free and responsible search for truth and meaning," we somehow find our way through the cycles of life.June 17, 2007: Sins of Our Fathers - Owen Rhodes
Within the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) the god-as-father model is central. For me, the inverse model was more true: father-as-god. For Fathers Day, we will take a look at the impact fathers (and parents in general) have on their children and how those impacts carry on from generation to generation to generation in both positive and not so positive ways.June 3, 2007: Mary Magdalene, the Apostle: A Theological Love Story - Dr. Susan Fuhr
Dr. Fuhr grew up in Blount County, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister. Formerly an Associate Professor of Psychology at Weber State University in Ogden, UT, she is currently on the Adjunct Faculty of Psychology and Statistics at Maryville College, and is a private practice therapist. She is a former secular humanist looking now for the religious left to flex its political will.
Dr. Newton
May 6, 2007: “Micah, What is a Strong Community?” - Dr. Billy Newton, Director of the Center for Strong Communities at Maryville College and an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA)
Rev. Billy Newton is the director of the Center for Strong Communities at Maryville College, and he is on a campaign to ask the perpetual question, “What is a strong community?” He has discovered that many have simply given up on the question and consider any sense of real community to be a fantasy. Others can only describe what they remember from the 1950s. For others, the measure of a community is in the pursuit of prosperity, power and security. In this sermon, Dr. Newton asks the prophet Micah, “What is a strong community?” Although Micah devotes most of his biblical contribution to ranting and raving about broken communities, the prophet takes a moment to share a dramatic vision of community that is surprisingly meaningful for now.April 1, 2007: Hopes and Dreams - Owen Rhodes
In the same way that food and water sustain our bodies, it is our hopes and dreams for the future which sustain our spirits (and our souls if you believe we have one). Please join us as we explore the hopes and dreams of several members and friends of this church and what those hopes and dreams mean for our collective future as a growing and loving faith community.March 4, 2007: Unintended Messages - Owen Rhodes
It would be easy to believe that in the Information Age human communication would be virtually free of ambiguity and confusion. Alas, it's not the case. In fact, as parents, off-spring, siblings, church-goers, leaders, employees, neighbors, advocates, volunteers, enthusiasts, and all the other hats we can wear, it seems easier and easier for our words and actions to be misunderstood or misinterpreted and have impacts on others that we would have never dreamed possible. Unitarians and Universalists (and anyone else for that matter who has decided to step out and challenge the status quo) have experienced this first-hand throughout history. Our new members, who will officially declare themselves as UU's at this service, will follow in these hallowed, and often deeply misunderstood, footsteps.
Rev. McKee's
Faith and Learning Program
is a wonderful example of Christian liberalism.
February 4, 2007: The Joys of Human Love - Reverend Anne McKee, Maryville College Campus Minister
To help us celebrate the Month of Valentines, The Rev. Anne McKee, Campus Minister of Maryville College and a strong supporter of our efforts to bring Unitarian Universalism to Blount County, will draw from sources in literature, hymn, and popular song to help us reflect on the joys of human love and recognize how human love is both different from and also a taste of divine love. As part of the worship service, Shirley Gist has planned a special musical presentation which includes love songs sung by Juan Flores Cruz. This will likely be a service to remember.January 7, 2007: Martin and Many, Many More - The Reverend Gordon Gibson
On this Sunday the Rev. Gordon Gibson will honor the life and work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. But Gordon, who was jailed in Dr. King's Selma voting rights campaign and cherishes the contacts he had with Dr. King in the 1960s, will suggest that the civil rights movement was not the work of just one great man or just a few leaders but of thousands of ordinary people who did extraordinary things. Indeed, what was done then challenges us to think about what we could accomplish in our day with a similar measure of courage, intelligence, and dedication.The picture below was taken in February of 1965. It shows Dr. Martin Luther King greeting the Reverend Ira Blalock (left) and the Reverend Gordon Gibson (right) after the two UU ministers were released from a week in jail in Selma, Alabama.
