Rev. Furrer preaches on what pursuing excellence here at ESUC would require of us going forward… and the manifold benefits it will generate for both our membership and the greater Bellevue community.

Rev. Furrer preaches on Taoism’s Middle Way. With notes on the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin twenty-five years ago, the poetry of Robert Frost and Jack Kerouac, and Aristotle’s Golden Mean.

Rev. Furrer preaches on how not to commit suicide. On beating the mid-winter blues. Health and sanity in the midst of darkness and gloom.

How church covenants and covenant-centered chalice circles can help congregations grow in fellowship and spirit, with particular attention to the manifold virtues of consensus decision making.

Unitarian Universalists’ promise and prospects for building beloved community in the days and months ahead. Notes on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement. Please note, the 11:00 a.m. service is a multigenerational service also focusing on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Have … read more.

Dr. Furrer reflects on those moments and situations that usher in a whole new perspective; transformational beginnings in our lives and the lives of institutions.

“Breakthrough”

January 13, 2019

When I was in seminary in Berkeley, quite fortuitously I
became student coordinator of a Nation Endowment for the Humanities … read more.

Definition: far-POTCH-ket (Yiddish): Something that is all fouled up, especially as a result of an attempt to fix it. [adjective]. Dr. Furrer preaching on how we sometimes make things worse by trying to improve them.

“Farpotschket”

Sometimes,
in our attempts to improve things, we just make matters … read more.

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service with story, music, and song.

A Christmas pageant replete with heartless innkeepers, barnyard animals, many little pagans, and favorite carols. Should be fun!

The Story of Christmas

Suffering under the Law

The Christmas Story is a long story. Wrapped in myth and legend, scented with seasonal aromas and familiar, lingering memories, … read more.

Rev. Furrer will preach on how to focus on the good stuff and ignore the commercial overkill of Christmas.

“The Heart of Christmas”

My message this morning: how to find the heart of Christmas. How to get beyond the commercialism and crazy hype, the overindulgence, and stress. … read more.

The evolution of Christmas from an outlawed and unfashionable affair into the American commercial extravaganza we have today—and every day from mid-November through early January.

“From Callithumpians to Pajama-Clad Tykes”

The Christmas Season is upon us: Decorations, advertising campaigns, Santas collecting for the Salvation Army. And a … read more.

An attempt , first, to weave together notes on Hanukkah, Christmas, and breakthrough moments of deep insight engendering total esthetic synthesis: what the French poet Charles Baudelaire called synesthesia. And secondly, a little something about the Unitarian poet ee cummings as preface to excerpts from … read more.

What, if anything, does the story of the Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving tell us about the emerging America, both of 1621 and of 2018: nearly four hundred years later but confronted with many of the same seemingly intractable issues. Reverend Furrer, descended from four of those … read more.

Recognizing that all oppressions are connected, Rev. Furrer will preach this morning about one in particular: racism. The Unitarian Universalist Association has made a committed effort since 1992 to study how race has effected our movement—and us as members of that movement—and to take concrete … read more.