A sermon is an oral presentation by a live speaker to a live congregation. It always involves a bit of interaction, even if it’s just eye contact and facial expressions. Reading the text of a sermon, then, is like reading the script of a play to yourself. The live, communal experience is gone.

Nevertheless, please enjoy reading these text versions of sermons and other presentations made at the UU Fellowship of Topeka during our worship services. You may find that there are additional notes and/or commentaries to the original text.

Archive for September, 2008

An Intellectual Declaration of Independence

September 6, 2008 at 9:23 pm · Filed under All

September 21, 2008 — by Rev. Lisa R. Schwartz

Imagine an American scholar telling the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard University that they are devoid of original thought and instead simply parrot the Big Ideas of past thinkers. Imagine that he goes on to say that knowledge that comes from books is about as nourishing to a creative mind as “boiled grass and the broth of shoes” are to the body. If it sounds outrageous today, imagine how shocking it was when Unitarian minister Ralph Waldo Emerson said those things during his “American Scholar” lecture 171 years ago. Rev. Lisa will explore Unitarian Universalism’s roots in the radically independent soil of transcendentalism.

Listen to the sermon: An Intellectual Declaration of Independence

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