The sermon, delivered by the Reverend Denise Tracy for UUMUAC’s August Vespers service, centers on the theme “Beyond Words: Seeing Beyond Our Assumptions and Learning to See to the Heart of Life.” Tracy begins by situating her own life story: growing up in an all‑white town, entering ministry as one of the earliest women in UU leadership, and learning—through adoption, community work, and personal relationships—to see human complexity beyond surface differences. As she says, “My church taught me to see beyond color. Adopting brown children opened my heart, mind, and life and faith to understand a unity and complexity beyond words.” Her biography frames the sermon’s central message: that genuine human connection is a spiritual practice.

She illustrates this message through vivid stories about her father, a man whose curiosi ...