This message was delivered on Sunday, June 19, 2022 at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa Oklahoma by Carlton D. Pearson. Description This Sunday, on both Father's Day and Juneteenth, Carlton Pearson explores what it means to reckon with our fraught histories surrounding inclusion. Some of us are victims of exclusion — maybe in our own lifetimes, or maybe through our inherited histories, such as native black Americans that are descended from slavery. Maybe we ourselves have excluded others in o...
Jun 19, 2022•32 min
This message was delivered on Sunday, June 12, 2022 at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma by Rev. Barbara Prose, Executive Director of Ministry in The Point Humanist Hour Service. Description: This Sunday, Rev. Barbara reflects on the chaotic moment we are living in and asked the question, "Is peace even possible right now?" What would it look like for us to choose peace at a moment like this, and should we? Channeling Buddhist monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh, Rev. Barbara exp...
Jun 17, 2022•28 min
The homily was delivered on Sunday, April 19, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister. DESCRIPTION Many people around the world have taken to wearing masks. Masks are being worn in the hopes that they will keep us safe from the coronavirus. However, people also wear masks for other reasons. Join me to explore the use of various kinds of masks with the idea that on the other side of this pandemic, perhaps, we can also take off some of t...
Apr 19, 2020•13 min
The sermon was delivered on Sunday, April 5, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Mariela Pérez-Simons, Intern Minister. The recording includes a pastoral-care message from Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister. DESCRIPTION “Survival of the fittest” has always been a deeply misunderstood concept, but now, after decades of research by sociologists and evolutionary biologists, a new picture of human nature has emerged, showing how human beings—in order to survive as a spe...
Apr 05, 2020•29 min
The service was held on Sunday, March 22, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Kelli McLoud-Schingen, Guest Speaker, Mariela Pérez-Simons, Intern Minister, and Rev. Barbara Prose, Executive Director of Ministry. DESCRIPTION Our celebration of Women’s History Month continues. “Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.” —The Zen master Dogen (1200-1253), founder of the Sōtō school of Zen On this Sunday, as we delve into the concept of the Divine Feminine, we will be explorin...
Mar 22, 2020•30 min
The service took place on Sunday, March 15, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister, Rev. Barbara Prose, Executive Director of Ministry, Carlton D. Pearson, Affiliate Minister, Mariela Pérez-Simons, Intern Minister. SUBSCRIBE TO AUDIO PODCAST: WATCH THIS SERVICE ON YOUTUBE: SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL: GIVE A DONATION TO HELP US SPREAD THIS LOVE BEYOND BELIEF: or text LOVEBB to 73256 LET'S CONNECT: Facebook: Twitter: All Souls Chu...
Mar 15, 2020•54 min
The message was delivered on Sunday, March 8, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Barbara Prose, Executive Director of Ministry, at the Humanist Service. DESCRIPTION There is a positive death movement happening. It involves talking openly about our bodies: how we age, get sick, and die. It includes practices like: death doulas, death dinners, death care guides and more. For so long, our culture has kept death hidden from us. Here at All Souls, we face death openly, as...
Mar 08, 2020•23 min
The sermon was delivered on Sunday, March 8, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Carlton D. Pearson, Affiliate Minister. DESCRIPTION Authority is one of the most needed and yet intimidating words in the English language. Authority must first come from your human essence. You share and/or delegate portions of your authority in life, but never all of it. We learn to honor our authorship of our own lives and our authority to live based on our assignment in life. Join us as we...
Mar 08, 2020•42 min
The sermon was delivered on Sunday, March 1, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Mariela Pérez-Simons, Intern Minister. DESCRIPTION “What a long time it can take to become the person one has always been,” says the writer and teacher Parker Palmer. This sermon is inspired by Palmer’s words. I want to explore the ways in which the human soul goes into “hiding” because of acculturation, oppression, or trauma. Psychologists have a term for it, disassociation, and some indigeno...
Mar 01, 2020•29 min
The message was delivered on Sunday, February 23, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Jan Peppler, Ph.D., Guest Speaker, at the Humanist Service. DESCRIPTION Courage isn’t reserved for the few. Every day we are each face the need to be courageous in both small and big ways. The courage to step up, to surrender, to do the right thing, to choose love over fear, and—perhaps scariest of all—the courage to be the person we are meant to be. This is what the world needs more than...
Feb 23, 2020•24 min
The sermon was delivered on Sunday, February 23, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister. DESCRIPTION There is a long history of using the Bible to further discrimination. During the years of legalized slavery, many Christians used biblical explanations to justify their “right” to own slaves. Today religious freedom is, again, being weaponized as a tool of discrimination and political gain by those who want to deny the rights of LGBT p...
Feb 23, 2020•22 min
The message was delivered on Sunday, February 16, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister, at the Humanist Service. DESCRIPTION “Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.” These words from Fredrick Douglass seem quite fitting for the current state of the American republic. We are a county that was founded on the principle of freedom and ...
Feb 16, 2020•23 min
The sermon was delivered on Sunday, February 16, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Barbara Prose, Executive Director of Ministry. DESCRIPTION In an election year, 32 years ago, John Wolf preached this sermon and said, “If the people of this country do not feel manipulated, if their basic instincts for fair play and for justice are not confounded, then something ominous has to have happened. Human nature being what it is, as Emerson says, we have a natural affinity f...
Feb 16, 2020•25 min
The message was delivered on Sunday, February 9, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Barbara Prose, Executive Director of Ministry, at the Humanist Service. DESCRIPTION Talking about race and racism is often so painful, we want to avoid the conversation. Still, in the depths of our being, we understand that none of us will be free, until all of us are free. If we are white, that often means learning how to talk about race and how to listen to talk about race, without ...
Feb 09, 2020•25 min
The sermon was delivered on Sunday, February 9, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Arthur F. Carter, Jr., Ph.D., Guest Minister. DESCRIPTION Successful organizations, institutions, and movements often have visionary leadership. When these entities fail, onlookers frequently point to leadership as the locus of failure. While not the source of hierarchy, this tendency supports top-down views of the world. Many well-intended persons regularly evaluate success from top to bot...
Feb 09, 2020•35 min
The message was delivered on Sunday, February 2, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister, at the Humanist Service. DESCRIPTION Janis Joplin famously sang: “Freedom is just another word for ‘nothing left to lose.” I would contest that we all have things to lose. How do our attachments keep us from being free? What is the right relationship to have between freedom and attachment? How and when must we choose freedom over everything else? ...
Feb 02, 2020•29 min
The sermon was delivered on Sunday, February 2, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Carlton D. Pearson, Affiliate Minister. DESCRIPTION Freedom is a commodity. Freedom of choice is more to be treasured than any possession or privilege life can offer. Freedom is the power to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. The act of Freedom isn't for cowards. It takes courage to be free and a little "crazy" too. Join in February at All Souls as we present ...
Feb 02, 2020•39 min
The sermon was delivered on Sunday, February 2, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister. DESCRIPTION Janis Joplin famously sang: “Freedom is just another word for ‘nothing left to lose.” I would contest that we all have things to lose. How do our attachments keep us from being free? What is the right relationship to have between freedom and attachment? How and when must we choose freedom over everything else? Taking inspiration in part...
Feb 02, 2020•24 min
The sermon was delivered on Sunday, January 26, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Mariela Pérez-Simons, Intern Minister. DESCRIPTION Throughout history, human beings have felt a sacred kinship to the sun—being the bestower of life and light. For instance, sun-worshipers such as the priests of the Incas used to blow kisses to the rising sun during religious ceremonies. Join our ministerial intern, Mariela Pérez-Simons, on this special SUNday as she shares new reasons to h...
Jan 26, 2020•25 min
The message was delivered on Sunday, January 19, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister, at the Humanist Service. DESCRIPTION THROWBACK SERMON SUNDAY Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar, Throwback from Rev. Dr. John Wolf, 1966 In 1966, a young Dr. John B. Wolf spoke to All Souls in Tulsa about Black Power in no uncertain terms. A year earlier Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had spoken to the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly in a message titled...
Jan 19, 2020•31 min
The sermon was delivered on Sunday, January 19, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Carlton D. Pearson, Affiliate Minister. DESCRIPTION It is a main, and sometimes impossible, challenge to change what someone else created, we can only manage it as responsibly as we can. However we can change and/or save what we have created using our own innate abilities to imagine and re-imagine it creatively. We save creation by saving ourselves and save ourselves by saving creation. We ...
Jan 19, 2020•48 min
The sermon was delivered on Sunday, January 19, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister. DESCRIPTION THROWBACK SERMON SUNDAY Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar, Throwback from Rev. Dr. John Wolf, 1966 In 1966, a young Dr. John B. Wolf spoke to All Souls in Tulsa about Black Power in no uncertain terms. A year earlier Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had spoken to the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly in a message titled “Don’t Sleep Through the ...
Jan 19, 2020•31 min
The sermon was delivered on Sunday, January 12, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Carlton D. Pearson, Affiliate Minister. DESCRIPTION Saving Creation may possibly be the number one planetary charge and challenge of the 21st century. We are obviously too late to save some of it, but we're never too late to begin to more aggressively correct what we have insulted and assaulted on the planet's natural virtue, value, and valor. Creation can be describe as anything invented, ...
Jan 12, 2020•39 min
The message was delivered on Sunday, January 12, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Barbara Prose, Executive Director of Ministry, at the Humanist Service. DESCRIPTION Did you know that nearly 91,000 people were removed from the voter rolls in Oklahoma this past April? Jason Nichols, an instructor of political science at Northeastern State University, and former mayor of Tahlequah recommends we all double check our registration with our county election board to be su...
Jan 12, 2020•31 min
The sermon was delivered on Sunday, January 12, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Barbara Prose, Executive Director of Ministry. DESCRIPTION Did you know that nearly 91,000 people were removed from the voter rolls in Oklahoma this past April? Jason Nichols, an instructor of political science at Northeastern State University, and former mayor of Tahlequah recommends we all double check our registration with our county election board to be sure we will able to vote in...
Jan 12, 2020•29 min
The sermon was delivered on Sunday, January 5, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister. DESCRIPTION Brother David Stendal-Rast, a Benedictine monk has observed: "Ninety-nine percent of the time we have an opportunity to be grateful for something. We just don’t notice it. We go through our days in a daze." We often don’t realize what we have until it’s gone. It’s often after a relationship ends that we realize how much it meant to us or...
Jan 05, 2020•28 min
The sermon was delivered on Sunday, January 5, 2020, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister. DESCRIPTION We are in the third decade of the 21st century. We’ve split the atom, discovered quarks and the most microscopic of things. We have telescopes that let us peer into the ageless past. Yet there are still people who think that everything there is to know about life and spirituality and truth is written down in the Bible. Not just any peopl...
Jan 05, 2020•29 min
The sermon was delivered on Sunday, December 29, 2019, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Carmen White-Janak, Guest Minister. DESCRIPTION 2009 through 2019 closes out a decade. A decade where many travelers on their journey have chosen conformity over releasing old patterns, habits, and pathologies, leaving them tired and weary. My message, "I’m Tired of This Church," is an exploration of what’s possible when we give ourselves permission to step into greater possibility by...
Dec 29, 2019•1 hr
The sermon was delivered on Sunday, December 29, 2019, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister. DESCRIPTION On this final Sunday of the year (and of the decade) I will share both evocative and practical tools to visualize your future. Discover innovative ways to bring the right things into your life in the coming weeks and year and decade. We are about to enter the 20’s, on the calendar, but what decade of your life are you in? Do you have a...
Dec 29, 2019•22 min
The sermon was delivered on Sunday, December 22, 2019, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister. DESCRIPTION Last year on the Sunday before Christmas, the hilarious and talented Dionne Lambert joined me on the chancel for a short skit of God talking to his angel Gabrielle (Gabriela in this case) about whether or not to go down to Earth as a human being in the incarnation of Jesus. We will reprise this provocative and heartwarming dramatizatio...
Dec 22, 2019•32 min
