The Emerging Church

This is the video of the service at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Vero Beach this morning. This is the whole service, my sermon is the last half of the video.

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Vero Beach January 18, 2026Rev. Dr. Roger RaySkin in the Game

The best way to totally misunderstand a good story is to try to take it literally. The birth narratives in Matthew and Luke are not historical, not even close. They are mini sermons in the form of a story. While they are really bad history, they are actually really good sermons if we can dismiss literalism and hear the story the authors are trying to tell us.
These progressive sermons are available as podcasts at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/progressive-faith-sermons/id419225485

https://youtu.be/4nkn3fLxCBQ?si=yw-dDbUbBwCaKjHa

More than Just a Story The best way to totally misunderstand a good story is to try to take it literally. The birth narratives in Matthew and Luke are not historical, not even clos...

In the Marvel Universe, the Norse god, Thor, takes his place alongside of Iron Man and Spider Man without theological comment on the improbability of either human superheroes or gods from Asgard existing. Most of the time we easily can tell the difference between what is real and what is fantasy but when it comes to religion, it seems that most people are all too willing to suspend reason and to at least pretend to dive into myths and fantasies. Such religion does us little good and more often does a great deal of harm. So, let’s free ourselves from mental slavery since none but ourselves can free our minds!

These progressive sermons are available as podcasts at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/progressive-faith-sermons/id419225485
https://youtu.be/CgypAtpAnSM?si=CHEsDPzJd2dipL4G

Lucifer in LA In the Marvel Universe, the Norse god, Thor, takes his place alongside of Iron Man and Spider Man without theological comment on the improbability of either ...

The Hollowing of America
T. S. Eliot may have been painfully prophetic when he described our nation as being hollow folk with heads full of straw. None of the major religions represented in our nation have successfully created an influential conversation about character, honesty, or personal or corporate virtue. Maybe we could try again? Perhaps a time of reading the sayings of Confucius, without the distraction of a rival theology, might help us to spend time thinking about becoming better people.

These progressive sermons are available as podcasts at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/progressive-faith-sermons/id419225485
https://youtu.be/mz9ODyxHCRM?si=UV6lFZGLjKFgXpt4

The Hallowing of America T. S. Eliot may have been painfully prophetic when he described our nation as being hollow folk with heads full of straw. None of the major religions represe...

While everyone has a right to believe what they want to believe, beliefs are not all of equal value. How do we know what we know? Philosophy tells us that knowledge can be inherent, deductive reasoning, or it can be based on experience. What it cannot be is just imagination or personal prejudice. Science, which looks for knowable facts, depends upon something being at least 3 things: observable, repeatable, and testable. Everything else is either personal preference or something we should be more suspicious of than gas station sushi!

These progressive sermons are available as podcasts at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/progressive-faith-sermons/id419225485
https://youtu.be/_syF5jR1PGE?si=I_NCBMCunQ6-gcqr

How Do We Know What (we think) We Know? How do we know what we know? Philosophy tells us that knowledge can be inherent, deductive reasoning, or it can be based on experience. What it cannot be is ...

https://youtu.be/vl8G2zLZfck?si=qP1LoYSX51OM7Cgc

What Would Jesus Say About Donald Trump? In this segment we explore what would Jesus Christ say about Donald Trump if he returned today.