Let's talk about grief. We're all feeling it. Let's name it. Wrestle with it. Maybe transform it? Article discussed today: https://hbr.org/2020/03/that-discomfort-youre-feeling-is-grief

Let's talk about grief. We're all feeling it. Let's name it. Wrestle with it. Maybe transform it? Article discussed today: <a href="https://hbr.org/2020/03/that-discomfort-youre-feeling-is-grief" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://hbr.org/2020/03/that-discomfort-youre-feeling-is-grief</a>

Everyday Theology: Part 7 - A Theology of Grief

What's a parable? What's a parabola? Why do I have to wear this mask?

What's a parable? What's a parabola? Why do I have to wear this mask?

Everyday Theology: Part 6

On Dr. Norbert Capek, the first Flower Communion, and having a "theology of the Desert". 

On Dr. Norbert Capek, the first Flower Communion, and having a "theology of the Desert".

Everyday Theology: Part 5

About Genesis, the creation of everything, and order/chaos in a Corona Age. 

About Genesis, the creation of everything, and order/chaos in a Corona Age.

Everyday Theology: Part 4

On UU saints, a theology of uncertainty, and seeing holiness everywhere. Check out uudb.org!

On UU saints, a theology of uncertainty, and seeing holiness everywhere. Check out <a href="http://uudb.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">uudb.org</a>!

Everyday Theology: Part 3

What does it mean to have a "theology of spring"?

What does it mean to have a "theology of spring"?

Everyday Theology: Part 2

What is theology? Can anyone do it? Does it have to be all....Jesus-y and whatnot? Listen to hear a view on theology from your resident neighborhood pastor.

Everyday Theology: Part 1

What can the story of the Exodus teach us about liberation in the Corona Age? Sermon audio from 4.5.2020 at UU Restoration in Philadelphia. Referencing the story of Moses and the Hebrews leaving Egyptian bondage and wandering in the desert. 

What can the story of the Exodus teach us about liberation in the Corona Age? Sermon audio from 4.5.2020 at UU Restoration in Philadelphia. Referencing the story of Moses and the Hebrews leaving Egyptian bondage and wandering in the desert.

Episode 32: Scriptures of Liberation

Sermon audio from 3.29.2020. In our troubled time, we need wise inspiration more than ever before. The Old and New Testaments and the Qur’an—our Abrahamic faiths—all contain sayings to ponder and practice, but so do writings from the scriptures of other major and minor religious faiths, and from philosophers of many cultures.  Our UU Principles exhort us to practice wisdom. By email or mail you’ll be receiving four pages of wisdom from around the world, beginning with our Fourth Principle, before our service begins.  May this be a wise conclusion of a month that we have focused on wisdom.

Sermon audio from 3.29.2020. In our troubled time, we need wise inspiration more than ever before. The Old and New Testaments and the Qur’an—our Abrahamic faiths—all contain sayings to ponder and practice, but so do writings from the scriptures of other major and minor religious faiths, and from philosophers of many cultures.  Our UU Principles exhort us to practice wisdom. By email or mail you’ll be receiving four pages of wisdom from around the world, beginning with our Fourth Principle, before our service begins.  May this be a wise conclusion of a month that we have focused on wisdom.

Episode 31: Wisdom from World Religions

Sermon Audio from our first COVID-19 online service. Apologies for the slap-dash audio and editing job! Hang in there! Emergent Strategy: We'll be exploring what emergent strategy means and how we can learn from biodiversity and the rhythm of life to connect more deeply to our humanity. Audio from 3.22.2020. 

Sermon Audio from our first COVID-19 online service. Apologies for the slap-dash audio and editing job! Hang in there! Emergent Strategy: We'll be exploring what emergent strategy means and how we can learn from biodiversity and the rhythm of life to connect more deeply to our humanity. Audio from 3.22.2020.

Episode 30- Wisdom from Emergent Strategy

A UU minister's search for a better way to live. Join McKinley Sims on his wonder-filled journey through ancient texts, current politics, and future dreams. McKinley served as a Psychiatric Chaplain at a mental health facility and is a fellowshipped Unitarian Universalist minister at UU Mt. Airy in Philadelphia. Tune in to the pod for hilarious and heartbreaking stories from the psych ward, long answers to the deep questions in life, and fun conversations with a goofy cast of friends and family.

Faith and UU (The Podcast for Everyone)

Church ought to be a place where you can talk about mental health. A place where we should be able to wrestle with the stuff we find in our shadows when they're shown to us by our friends and community. It's a place where we search for the interconnectedness and interdependence of the universe, our neighbors, and our own bodies/brains. Tune in for stories about grief, group therapy, and how to get incarnational with your resilience.

Church ought to be a place where you can talk about mental health. A place where we should be able to wrestle with the stuff we find in our shadows when they're shown to us by our friends and community. It's a place where we search for the interconnectedness and interdependence of the universe, our neighbors, and our own bodies/brains. Tune in for stories about grief, group therapy, and how to get incarnational with your resilience.

Episode 29: Bring me some Mustardseeds...or go to Group Therapy

Are you a servant of the Empire or a prophet of the Resistance? Sermon audio from 12/1 about Texas basketball, Star Wars, the Resistance in the time of Trump, and making hard choices. Apologies for the sniffles and audio quality. 

Are you a servant of the Empire or a prophet of the Resistance? Sermon audio from 12/1 about Texas basketball, Star Wars, the Resistance in the time of Trump, and making hard choices. Apologies for the sniffles and audio quality.

Episode 28: Advent for the Resistance

HELLOOO, FRIENDS! WE. ARE. BACK. After a delay in production, Faith and UU returns with a sticky topic: Religious myth. Christmas! Advent! Hanukkah! Yule! Ok, sure there are a lot of holidays in December....but I don’t believe any of those stories.....so what do I do? Rev. McKinley offers an exploration of ways that humanists and non-theists find and experience Awe during the holidays, even if we don’t subscribe to all the Myth and fable in the air. Buckle in for Incan legends, quantum mechanics and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Have your UU Bingo cards ready! Join us to learn how we all can find Awe and Wonder in the universe, whether we believe in God or Santa Claus or Inti the Sun. 

HELLOOO, FRIENDS! WE. ARE. BACK. After a delay in production, Faith and UU returns with a sticky topic: Religious myth. Christmas! Advent! Hanukkah! Yule! Ok, sure there are a lot of holidays in December....but I don’t believe any of those stories.....so what do I do? Rev. McKinley offers an exploration of ways that humanists and non-theists find and experience Awe during the holidays, even if we don’t subscribe to all the Myth and fable in the air. Buckle in for Incan legends, quantum mechanics and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Have your UU Bingo cards ready! Join us to learn how we all can find Awe and Wonder in the universe, whether we believe in God or Santa Claus or Inti the Sun.

Episode 27: Religious Myth and Quantum Entanglement

Many UU Congregations express the desire to be multicultural and welcoming. What happens when that breaks down? What do our theologies speak to that might ground and center our hearts and minds and bodies to be able to wade into the discomfort of talking about race in church? With a little help from the poem that begins the Book of Genesis, McKinley shares his story of water, rock, wind, light, Hebrew prepositions, Harriet Tubman, and why the point of church is to be discomforted together. 

Many UU Congregations express the desire to be multicultural and welcoming. What happens when that breaks down? What do our theologies speak to that might ground and center our hearts and minds and bodies to be able to wade into the discomfort of talking about race in church? With a little help from the poem that begins the Book of Genesis, McKinley shares his story of water, rock, wind, light, Hebrew prepositions, Harriet Tubman, and why the point of church is to be discomforted together.

Episode 26: Finding Your Reshith

It was a special treat to record a conversation with one of my best friends and one of the best men in the world, the incomparable J.E.!!! Raised in the deep south, J.E. talks about his faith and how growing up in the buckle of the Bible Belt was complicated by the marginalization of being Black and gay in the Missionary Baptist Church. With a few giggles along the way, J.E. introduces McKinley to what it's like to grow up as "the visitor" in church,  how he's learned to reclaim prayer and connection, and how the white and Black experience of America plays out on Sunday mornings. Also, we talk about culture, Uncle Ben's Rice, and what the perfect church looks and feels like. Join us!

It was a special treat to record a conversation with one of my best friends and one of the best men in the world, the incomparable J.E.!!! Raised in the deep south, J.E. talks about his faith and how growing up in the buckle of the Bible Belt was complicated by the marginalization of being Black and gay in the Missionary Baptist Church. With a few giggles along the way, J.E. introduces McKinley to what it's like to grow up as "the visitor" in church,  how he's learned to reclaim prayer and connection, and how the white and Black experience of America plays out on Sunday mornings. Also, we talk about culture, Uncle Ben's Rice, and what the perfect church looks and feels like. Join us!

Episode 25: Chicken Fried Faith with J.E.

What can flowers teach us about doubt? Is it okay to have questions about God, religion, ourselves? Today we delve into the curious case for curiosity as a fundamentally human tool that helps us live more fully human lives, helps us see the Divine in other people, and helps us care for ourselves so we can work for justice in the world. For more information on Dr. Norbert Capek and the Flower Ceremony, check out uua.org or toss his name in your favorite search engine!

What can flowers teach us about doubt? Is it okay to have questions about God, religion, ourselves? Today we delve into the curious case for curiosity as a fundamentally human tool that helps us live more fully human lives, helps us see the Divine in other people, and helps us care for ourselves so we can work for justice in the world. For more information on Dr. Norbert Capek and the Flower Ceremony, check out <a href="http://uua.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">uua.org</a> or toss his name in your favorite search engine!

Episode 24: The Curious Case for Flowers

Sermon audio from Rev. McKinley's words of inspiration to UU Restoration on March 10, 2019. As a kickoff for a talk on stewardship, membership, and moving into the future, it occurred to me that our church could use a little tidying. Tune in to find out how Marie Kondo's excellent process for tidying spaces has deep spiritual tones to it, and could serve us all in moving through change. 

Sermon audio from Rev. McKinley's words of inspiration to UU Restoration on March 10, 2019. As a kickoff for a talk on stewardship, membership, and moving into the future, it occurred to me that our church could use a little tidying. Tune in to find out how Marie Kondo's excellent process for tidying spaces has deep spiritual tones to it, and could serve us all in moving through change.

Episode 20: How to #KonMari your Church

Sermon audio from Rev. McKinley's words on Feb. 24th, 2019 at the UU Church of the Restoration in Philadelphia, PA. Restoration honored Black History Month. Tune in to learn more about the Case for Reparations, Alice Walker, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and how head-butting your friend into a sandpit as a child teaches a lesson about restorative justice. 

Sermon audio from Rev. McKinley's words on Feb. 24th, 2019 at the UU Church of the Restoration in Philadelphia, PA. Restoration honored Black History Month. Tune in to learn more about the Case for Reparations, Alice Walker, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and how head-butting your friend into a sandpit as a child teaches a lesson about restorative justice.

Episode 19: In Preparation for Reparations

Someone asked me my views on homosexuality in light of my Christianity. Here's my response! As a Unitarian Universalist, we affirm every human being's inherent worth and dignity and believe that all genders are whole, holy, and worthy. But what about "those" verses that some folks use to justify their bigotry towards the LGBTQ community? Let's dive in, shall we? Tune in to hear about Rainbow Man, how we mistranslate the Bible, and how the biggest sins are the ones we still commit today, and have nothing to do with whom we sleep with. 

Someone asked me my views on homosexuality in light of my Christianity. Here's my response! As a Unitarian Universalist, we affirm every human being's inherent worth and dignity and believe that all genders are whole, holy, and worthy. But what about "those" verses that some folks use to justify their bigotry towards the LGBTQ community? Let's dive in, shall we? Tune in to hear about Rainbow Man, how we mistranslate the Bible, and how the biggest sins are the ones we still commit today, and have nothing to do with whom we sleep with.

Episode 18: Rainbow 'Fros and "Those" Verses

Sermon audio from Rev. McKinley's words on Feb. 10th, 2019 at the UU Church of the Restoration in Philadelphia, PA. Restoration celebrated Evolution Sunday as part of the Clergy Letter Project. Tune in to learn more about the Darwins, Dr. Just, and how science and religion are complimentary forces, and not oppositional ones. 

Sermon audio from Rev. McKinley's words on Feb. 10th, 2019 at the UU Church of the Restoration in Philadelphia, PA. Restoration celebrated Evolution Sunday as part of the Clergy Letter Project. Tune in to learn more about the Darwins, Dr. Just, and how science and religion are complimentary forces, and not oppositional ones.

Episode 17: Life Less Ordinary

A day of service is upon us! Tune in to hear the updates on why McKinley's been gone so long...and what's coming in the future. Also, did Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. really say that America may go to hell? And what does that have to do with us as we get ready for a long holiday weekend? Also, was the division in our country worse in the 60s than it is now? Come find out!

A day of service is upon us! Tune in to hear the updates on why McKinley's been gone so long...and what's coming in the future. Also, did Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. really say that America may go to hell? And what does that have to do with us as we get ready for a long holiday weekend? Also, was the division in our country worse in the 60s than it is now? Come find out!

Episode 16: America May Go to Hell

Circle

Audio from McKinley's sermon, "Draw the Circle Wider?" given at the UU Church of the Restoration in Philly on 10/28. What would it look like to move beyond thinking about life in terms of straight lines, us/them, straight/queer, black/white? How do we get through dark times together? McKinley talks about the message of the Transgender community for all of us to see, to really see, the individuals for who they are, and to struggle together for liberation.

Episode 14: Draw the Circle Wider

A lot of folks have asked why I'm a UU minister and how McKinley finds hope and meaning in the darkness that can threaten to overwhelm us at times. Check out the winding path that brought him to the ministry and why he sticks around. Feel free to share your story with him! mckinley.L.sims@gmail.com or @mckinleyLsims

Episode 13: My Story

The best podcast episodes on non-current politics. Covering topics such as universal basic income, democracy, poverty & justice and more. For anyone interested in learning more about politics that affect that world, not just now, but in the longer term. Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!

Best Non-Current Politics Podcasts

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