UU Community Church of Washington County's Podcast
Episodes
200 episodes
August 16, 2026 Bill Ellis - Des Moines, Diversity and Me
You don’t know what you don’t know. Right? Growing up in a small town in Iowa I had no exposure to diversity – until there came times when it slapped me upside the head. When homogeneity became difference, and when not just my...
August 9, 2026 Kerri Nussbaum - Spiritual Journeys Are Not Linear
Kerri's religious life, as opposed to her spiritual life, began in Catholicism, swerved briefly into born-again Christianity, and finally veered clunkily into agnosticism. She'll share how not getting a satisfactory answer from a nun abou...
August 2, 2026 Kym Lamb - Blackboard Spirituality
Kym’s spiritual journey started at an early age after witnessing a miracle. After a lifetime of conservative beliefs and “not enoughness” she used a blackboard image to find and transition to a new path. This path allows for twists ...
July 26, 2026 Lyssa Martin - Truth Is All Around Us
Raise your voice, your spirit, and your smile as we get to know Lyssa Martin - a creator, a caregiver, an advocate, and your newest UU sibling! Explore the wonderful winding path life takes as Lyssa shares stories about the moments that helped ...
July 19, 2026 Bernal Cruz - Reclaiming the Sacred: How Kind Spirit Found Me
The long shadow of colonization brought my people Catholic Christianity, and in that history it became the dominant spiritual framework around me, overlaying but never fully replacing ancestral connections to the earth and the cosmos. Over time...
July 12, 2026 Kevin Rex - A Straight Man's Eulogy Turned Gay
If you’ve never thought you were Doris Day and could seduce Rock Hudson to kiss you, then you’re in for a treat as I turn the world upside down with music, TV, Hollywood, and some literature, too. Let’s see if we can award a Tony, Emmy, Grammy,...
June 21, 2026 Helen Rivers - Say Gay, Y'all
Did you know that having just one affirming adult in their life can decrease a LGBTQ+ youth’s risk of devastating mental health outcomes by up to 40%? What does it take to earn the title of ‘ally’ when the stakes are so desperately high? What d...
June 7, 2026 Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto - Blooming Together
What do people need to grow and thrive? This service explores the beauty of each of us being ourselves and what we can provide one another to grow.
May 24, 2026 Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto - The Magic of Jazz
This service explores the spiritual wisdom of jazz—what it teaches us about trust, collaboration, and making meaning together without certainty. We’ll reflect on how improvisation invites us to be present, how dissonance can become beauty, and ...
May 10, 2026 Rev. JeKaren Bell - What We Owe Each Other in the Wilderness
We have always known how to carry each other. This sermon is about what happens when we forget that, and what becomes possible when we choose to remember, not as an act of charity, but as an act of love.
April 26, 2026 Rev. Nick Sanchez - Say Yes: Embracing a Life of Purpose
Modern life can be an exhausting barrage of things clamoring for your attention. Having access to 'more' puzzlingly enough often leads us to doing 'less.' We can easily become overloaded and stuck. And with current events, finding the motivatio...
April 12, 2026 Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto - Learning a New Response
In a famous set of experiments, psychologist Albert Bandura helped people unlearn their fear of snakes—not through reasoning, but through watching others gently touch what they feared.Sometimes transformation doesn’t come from within. So...
April 5, 2026 Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto
When Jim Henson died, people didn’t only speak of loss. They spoke of presence—of how his voice, his characters, his particular way of making meaning and mischief in the world continued to live in them. Easter tells a story l...
March 8, 2026 Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto
Not all transformation is about becoming new—some of it is about the ability to adapt that allows us to continue forward. We reflect on the forces, seen and unseen, that bind bodies, communities, and worlds. What if holiness is less about...
February 22, 2026 Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto - There Will Your Heart Be
“We are held by what we hold in common.”— Robin Wall KimmererAs we take the opportunity to pledge support to this community, we look more deeply into the rewards of generosity for ourselves and one another.
February 15, 2026 Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto - Who We Know Ourselves To Be
"We are not what other people say we are. We are who we know ourselves to be, and we are what we love. That's okay." — Laverne Cox What does it mean to be a welcoming Congregation? UUCCWC has a great variety of beloved folks ...
February 8, 2026 Rev. Elle Dowd - Jesus: Enemy of the State
Drawing on the prophetic witness of Martin Luther King Jr., Fred Hampton, Archbishop Oscar Romero, and the radical story of Jesus in Mark’s Gospel, this sermon reframes “taking up the cross” not as private suffering but as collective resistance...
February 1, 2026 Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto - Halfway There
Let’s lean into the wisdom of the calendar, as we land halfway between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. What are the lessons of looking forward to the coming of Spring?
January 26, 2026 Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto - The Sweetness of Giving
“The fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose.”– Hada BejarWe’re going to really lean into what we love about our congregation: what we know from the past, choices for the present, and what we dream for the future.
January 11, 2026 Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto - Resisting the Scam
New Year is the time when we’re romanced into thinking there’s something wrong - with us, with our lives, our bodies, our relationships. What if, instead, it’s a time to lean in love ourselves and each other more deeply?
January 4, 2026 Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto - Embracing Courage
Witold Pilecki was a Polish cavalry officer in WWII, who was the only person to ever break into Auschwitz and then back out again. Together we’ll examine lessons from his life and legacy.
December 21, 2025 Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto - Here Comes the Sun
Join us for a celebration of the lengthening days and consideration of what it means to embrace progress and inspiration.
December 14, 2025 Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto - They Did What They Could With What They Had
What is Hanukkah anyway? Join us to talk about how a story about resisting military enemies can teach us about courage and offer us questions about peace.
December 7, 2025 Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto - Gifts From the Darkness
“Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet confinement of your aloneness to learn…” - David WhyteThis part of the year often gets described as the end of the year, but before any...
November 30, 2025 Terri Schmiesing - Giving Thanks, Finding Joy
Even when we find ourselves in the midst of struggles, every day gives us a new opportunity to practice gratitude and find joy. Please join us in taking time to reconnect, laugh, and sing for joy! We will celebrate being alive, toge...