“An Undivided Life” – October 26, 2025

Rev. Sophia preaching, with Kyle Belmont, Charlyn Bethell, Carole Katz, Izzy Tappan-deFrees, and Guy Urban.

We Unitarian Universalists tend to be pretty good at caring for others and the world, and fall a bit short when it comes to caring for ourselves. As we close out the month’s theme of Compassion we will reflect on the transformative power of learning to love, forgive, and compassionately care for ourselves–key ingredients for living our faith and lives fully. We will close worship by singing the beautiful hymn “How Could Anyone?” and receive the blessings of special music offered by Izzy Tappan-deFrees and Guy Urban. How about doing something kind and loving for yourselves: come to church and let your weary heart find rest. 

Reading: “Sometimes When I Catch Myself,” by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Sometimes when I catch myself
judging someone else—
a stranger or perhaps a beloved—

I imagine my son and father watching me,
not looking down from above,
I imagine them looking out from inside me.

I don’t worry I am disappointing them—
I feel certain they would be generous with me.
See how human she is, they might say,

loving me despite my humanness,
because of my humanness.
In that moment of imagining,

I feel myself soften,
feel my heart unfurl like a new leaf in spring,
feel how possible it is to be generous

with the humanness of myself and others
and the relief it brings.
In that moment, it is easy to be alive.

Easy to notice my annoyance
and be gentle with the self who gets annoyed.
Easy to touch my palm to my heart

and know it as the palm of my son,
the palm of my father,
reminding me how truly I want to walk it,

this path of compassion.