Category Archives: Sermons

Here are sermons I have preached.

Beyond the Apocalypse: Cultivating Eco-Resilience (sermon)

Posted on February 24, 2020 by KGJ

February 23, 2020 The Unitarian Society, East Brunswick, NJ Reverend Karen G. Johnston “…we are, indeed, facing the end of the world.  Not the literal end of civilization or the human species, but a transition so profound that on the … Continue reading →

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Mission: POSSIBLE (sermon)

Posted on February 6, 2020 by KGJ

The Unitarian Society, East Brunswick, NJ January 26 2020 To not let go of the thread, we have to find the thread, know the feel of the thread, make it ours, and hold it in our fingers.  That thread – … Continue reading →

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Growing Equanimity: Via Rumi’s Guest House (sermon)

Posted on February 2, 2020 by KGJ

Do you know that old, and perhaps tired, and perhaps true, cartoon about Unitarian Universalists? There are two doors.  Each has a sign over it.  The first door says, “Heaven.”  No one is going through that door. The second door … Continue reading →

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Awestruck (sermon)

Posted on December 8, 2019 by KGJ

It is said that in each of his pockets, Rabbi Simcha Bunim carried a slip of paper. On one was written: f or my sake the world was created… How awesome is that?!? On the other was written: I am … Continue reading →

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Healing the Heart of Democracy (sermon)

Posted on November 10, 2019 by KGJ

The Unitarian Society, East Brunswick November 10, 2019 What if this darkness is not the darkness of the tomb, but the darkness of the womb? What if our America is not dead but a country still waiting to be born? … Continue reading →

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Race & Power: Then & Now (sermon)

Posted on October 28, 2019 by KGJ

The Unitarian Society, East Brunswick, NJ October 27, 2019 Fisticuffs.[i] Violent shoving. Spitting in the face. Name calling. In June, I preached on the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, what is commonly understood as the start of the gay … Continue reading →

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This is Not a Drill: A Global Call to Strike for the Climate (sermon)

Posted on September 15, 2019 by KGJ

September 15, 2019 The Unitarian Society, East Brunswick, NJ Reverend Karen G. Johnston We refuse to bequeath a dying planet to future generations by failing to act now. We act in peace, with ferocious love of these lands in our … Continue reading →

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On Not Waiting to Be the Hummingbird (redux)

Posted on July 15, 2019 by KGJ

The Life and Death of Lee Hawkins First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque July 14, 2019 A quarter century ago, I asked the coordinator of my grandmother’s hospice care, how my grandmother was doing – not medically, but spiritually.  She said … Continue reading →

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All Good Intentions: A Sermon on White Fragility

Posted on May 6, 2019 by KGJ

The Unitarian Society East Brunswick, NJ May 5, 2019 Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout is the Director of Music and Worship at the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor.  A Black, gay man, he wrote, not all that long ago, … Continue reading →

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I Want You to Panic: An Earth Day Sermon

Posted on April 22, 2019 by KGJ

When it comes to climate change, climate changeD, climate chaos, climate constriction, climate collapse…whatever you call it — preaching hope is not a straight-forward thing. Continue reading →

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