News: January 3, 2025
With the New Year comes the first email newsletter of 2025. I hope your holidays were happy ones, and you were able to take part in our special services.
In this past week’s sermon, I looked ahead at ways we might buoy ourselves during the upcoming few years. As is my custom, this upcoming week, I’ll look back on some individuals, now gone, who left a legacy and what we might learn from their lives. Rev. Colin will return to the pulpit on January 12th.
A new round of the Newcomer Covenant Group will begin in late January. If you are a new member, or been visiting for a while, it is a good place to meet others, learn more about Unitarian Universalism, and think about your life in a spiritual way. It meets once a month for five months on a Thursday night. Let me know if you are interested in attending.
I also have a new Navigating Grief workshop beginning in mid-February. It will be held on six consecutive Tuesdays. It is a class for those experiencing grief due to a significant life change, such as the death of a loved one or a divorce.
Most of the session work is done in a group process by the participants, although the facilitators have information to impart. There is “group-think,” self-processing, table-sharing opportunities, and some writing work between sessions.
I already know of several people who are interested. Please email me if you would like to find out more.
This past year held unexpected stress, disappointment, and surprises for many of us. What I wish for each of you in the new year is much peace, love and especially hope. I end with the last part of a John Roedel poem he posted on his Facebook page here.
hope is the quiet voice of Love
that is endlessly begging us to
not surrender to the crawling shadows
and the voice is always
saying the same thing:
“Hold on, my love, hold on, my love.”
if you give it a moment of silence
you will find that hope is a real
chatter box
it won’t stop talking to you
if you let it get started
hope is everywhere
even in places where
you won’t expect to find it
~it’s in your rushing blood
~it’s in your unfolding wrinkles
~it’s in your hushed grief
hope is relentless
amid the noise of
this clanging world
just listen
I swear,
my love,
if you just listen
to the whispering hope
that surrounds you
I swear
you’ll never give up again”
Holding you in hope and love,
Rev. D. Scott Cooper
Associate Minister
First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston
scott@firstuu.org
Where are the Ministers? - January
Dr. Bossen will be off until January 6th. During this time Rev. Scott will be responsible for pastoral care. Dr. Bossen will be preaching on January 12th and 19th. He will be assisting in the pulpit when the congregation welcomes Rev. Tyler Coles to lead the service on January 26th. He will be out of the office on January 16th and 29th. Starting January 28th he will be teaching a class online for the Starr King School for the Ministry on Unitarian Universalist Theologies.
Rev. Scott will be preaching his annual “Inspired” sermon on January 5. He will look at the lives of some of those who passed away the previous year, who left a legacy, and what we might learn from their lives.
He then returns to Dallas to collect Conrad and head out for another Broadway cruise. He then returns to Houston on Inauguration Day, which also happens to be Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. He will be preaching on the 26th.
