Category Archives: Sermons

Here are sermons I have preached.

Keep Going On (sermon)

Posted on November 22, 2020 by KGJ

Thanksgiving is not as we imagined or hoped it would be. This will likely be true for Christmas and New Year’s. So much loss, sacrifice, change.  And still, we keep going on. Some of us have lost loved ones – … Continue reading →

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Choose Democracy

Posted on November 1, 2020 by KGJ

November 1, 2020 The Unitarian Society, East Brunswick, NJ Reverend Karen G Johnston Choose democracy.  That’s the title of this service.  I want to be clear from the outset, I am not advocating a particular vote for a particular candidate.  … Continue reading →

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Maps Don’t Know Everything

Posted on October 18, 2020 by KGJ

on the occasion of the ordination of Gregory Jones October 18, 2020 Reverend Karen G. Johnston In addition to Ruth Feldman’s “Detour,” I offer two brief quotes. First, from the 20th century Jewish philosopher, Martin Buber: The second is from … Continue reading →

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Widening the Circle of Concern

Posted on October 4, 2020 by KGJ

Reverend Karen G. Johnston October 4, 2020 The Unitarian Society, East Brunswick, New Jersey What is at stake is nothing less than our future. So says Widening the Circle of Concern, the highly anticipated report from the UUA’s Commission on … Continue reading →

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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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