Speaker: Rev. Joe Cleveland

Hope in a Riven World

04/02/2023 Rev. Joe Cleveland

Is hope and faith foolishness for those living in a riven world? Or could faith and hope be just the foolishness we need?

Speaker: Rev. Joe Cleveland | “I wake to sleep and take my waking slow.” So starts a famous poem by Theodore Roethke. There is no wakefulness without sleep. This morning we explore rest as a spiritual practice and as key to liberation. We look to the rhythms of nature—which bring to us now long nights … Continue reading Wake to Sleep

The Mistake of Epiphany

01/08/2022 Rev. Joe Cleveland

With help from James Baldwin, we explore the experience of epiphany and its relationship to the willingness to admit mistakes and openness to change and creativity.

The Sun Cow and the Thief

12/04/2022 Rev. Joe Cleveland

Speaker: Rev. Joe Cleveland | During the winter holiday season, sometimes we can feel out of sync with all the cheery music. We can feel a little left out. We explore that feeling in this service by exploring a folk story from eastern India called “The Sun Cow and the Thief.” In this time when … Continue reading The Sun Cow and the Thief

Listening for a Change

October 11, 2020 at 10:00 am Rev. Joe Cleveland

Listening for a Change Rev. Joe Cleveland Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Saratoga Springs October 11, 2020 May we “pray without ceasing.” In Unitarian Universalists I have often encountered a resistance to prayer. This tends to be because we tend not to think that some supernatural force is going to enter into the world and … Continue reading Listening for a Change

Responding to Now

05/14/2023 Rev. Joe Cleveland

Speaker: Rev. Joe Cleveland | Unitarian Universalists don’t really share a common belief about a hereafter. The call we hear and the sense of mission we feel comes from opening ourselves to the realities of Now.

Love’s Definition

02/26/2023 Rev. Joe Cleveland

Speaker: Rev. Joe Cleveland | The word ‘love’ gets used in so many ways meaning so many different things that it can seem like the word doesn’t mean anything anymore. But Unitarian Universalists are not going to stop using the word ‘love’ any time soon. In fact, we are leaning more and more into love. … Continue reading Love’s Definition

Doing Interdependence

01/22/2023 Rev. Joe Cleveland

Speaker: Rev. Joe Cleveland | We live in an interconnected, interdependent world. Our lives and our living participates in all life. Interdependence is a fundamental characteristic of life. But it’s not a static state. The web of life is constantly being woven. So, what does it mean to do interdependence?

Howard Thurman, Present Now

01/15/2023 Rev. Joe Cleveland

Speaker: Rev. Joe Cleveland | Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman is often regarded as a Christian mystic and was effectively the godfather of the civil rights movement of the late ’50s to ’60s. He was thought of as a mentor and teacher by many civil rights leaders, including Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Thurman’s book … Continue reading Howard Thurman, Present Now