Unitarian Universalist Congegation of Castine

Sermons

Love First

Sept. 18, 2011

It is said that in Turkey in the 13th century there was a Sufi Muslim cleric named Mullah Nasrudin. Many stories and jokes are told about him. He is portrayed as having been both wise and foolish. Here is one of those stories.

Mullah Nasrudin decided to start a flower garden. He tilled the soil and planted the seeds of many beautiful flowers. When the flowers came up, however, they were accompanied by a nearly equal number of dandelions. He sought advice from gardeners all over Turkey, and tried all of their methods to get rid of the dandelions, but the ...

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Do We Need Heaven?

July 10, 2011

When I first mentioned that my sermon title was “Do We Need Heaven?” I was asked, “What’s the alternative?” Good question. Many people think they know the answer, but there is widespread disagreement. Most Christians believe that our souls will go to heaven or hell when we die. Universalists traditionally taught that a loving God would gather us all into heaven eventually, even if there was some temporary punishment for a few. The New Testament most often suggests that the bodies of the faithful will rise from their graves when the Messiah comes to establish the kingdom of heaven right ...

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