Sunday Reflection with Rev. Aaron Payson @ The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester, MA

Sunday Reflection with Rev. Aaron Payson @ The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester, MA

by Rev. Aaron R. Payson

Spirituality Philosophy

Season 2026

20260412 Remembering As Resistance - On Yom HaShoah

This Sunday, in honor of Yom HaShoah (Holocost Remembrance Day), we remember the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust and widen the circle of our remembrance to include all who were targeted by Nazi terror: Roma and Sinti people, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, political dissidents, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and countless others whose lives were deemed expendable by a regime built on hatred and dehumanization. “Remembering as Resistance” calls us to hold history with honesty, to confront antisemitism and all forms of bigotry today, and to recommit ourselves to building a world where every life is protected, every identity is honored, and no one is forgotten. The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester (UUCW) is located in Worcester, the heart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our services are live-streamed on ... at 10 am every Sunday and stored on our website www.uucworcester.org for future viewing. The music you hear is from "Song Without Words," written and performed by our Music Director, Matt Johnsen.

20260405 Easter Sunday - On The Afterlife of Love

On this Easter Sunday morning, we will gather to celebrate the season with music, reflection, Easter eggs, and more, honoring the holiday. The service “On the Afterlife of Love” will explore how the story of Jesus lives on—not only in ancient texts or inherited doctrines, but in the countless ways communities across time have reinterpreted his life, teachings, and courage, invites us to consider resurrection as a continuing human practice: the ways love outlives endings, how justice persists beyond defeat, and how compassion keeps rising in new forms. The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester (UUCW) is located in Worcester, the heart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our services are live-streamed on ... at 10 am every Sunday and stored on our website www.uucworcester.org for future viewing. The music you hear is from "Song Without Words," written and performed by our Music Director, Matt Johnsen.

20260329 Palm Sunday - What the Donkey Knows

This Palm Sunday, we pause to consider the story of Jesus ‘triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, not from the center of the crowd, but from the quiet perspective of the donkey. What does this humble creature know that the cheering throngs do not? Through the lens of Unitarian Universalist values—humility, interdependence, and reverence for all beings—we explore the wisdom of quiet service, the tension between triumph and truth, and the sacredness of overlooked companions. This reflection invites us to walk gently, listen deeply, and honor the steady presence that carries hope forward. The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester (UUCW) is located in Worcester, the heart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our services are live-streamed on ... at 10 am every Sunday and stored on our website www.uucworcester.org for future viewing. The music you hear is from "Song Without Words," written and performed by our Music Director, Matt Johnsen.

20260315 Blessed Are The Mistaken

In honor of National Everything You Know is Wrong Day, celebrated on the Ides of March annually, we will pause to consider the spirituality of imperfection and the role that knowledge and information systems play in how we discern truth. The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester (UUCW) is located in Worcester, the heart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our services are live-streamed on ... at 10 am every Sunday and stored on our website www.uucworcester.org for future viewing. The music you hear is from "Song Without Words," written and performed by our Music Director, Matt Johnsen.

20260308 Honoring Remarkable Women

Join us this Sunday as we honor International Women’s Day. For International Women’s Day Women’s Day (March 8th), we will joyously pay tribute to ourselves as women, honor the prophetic leadership and legacy of the largely unknown Black Feminist Ella Baker, often called “the female Martin Luther King” for her prophetic leadership during the Civil Rights Movement. We will learn about her prophetic leadership during the Civil Rights era. The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester (UUCW) is located in Worcester, the heart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our services are live-streamed on ... at 10 am every Sunday and stored on our website www.uucworcester.org for future viewing. The music you hear is from "Song Without Words," written and performed by our Music Director, Matt Johnsen.

20260301 For Good, Be Good

We gather this first Sunday in March to kick off our 2026 Stewardship Drive, exploring what it means to be bound together in this community, changing one another and our world for the better. “For Good” is the sequel to last year’s theme, “Defying Gravity!” The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester (UUCW) is located in Worcester, the heart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our services are live-streamed on ... at 10 am every Sunday and stored on our website www.uucworcester.org for future viewing. The music you hear is from "Song Without Words," written and performed by our Music Director, Matt Johnsen.

20260222 Wishing For More, Wanting Less

We gather this week on the first Sunday of Lent to explore the dueling desires for wanting more out of life and less in it at the same time. What does it mean to wish for more and want less? What might the Lenten tradition offer us in response to this seemingly eternal tension? The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester (UUCW) is located in Worcester, the heart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our services are live-streamed on ... at 10 am every Sunday and stored on our website www.uucworcester.org for future viewing. The music you hear is from "Song Without Words," written and performed by our Music Director, Matt Johnsen.

20260208 Beyond Enlightenment

Join us this Sunday as we honor the Buddhist celebration of Nirvana Day that celebrates the Buddha’s enlightenment. We gather to ask if enlightenment, however, is in fact the goal in this ancient, revered tradition. We will also explore contributions to the Buddhist tradition from Black practitioners who help frame the essence of samsara (to move beyond the karmic cycle) to involve communal liberation. The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester (UUCW) is located in Worcester, the heart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our services are live-streamed on ... at 10 am every Sunday and stored on our website www.uucworcester.org for future viewing. The music you hear is from "Song Without Words," written and performed by our Music Director, Matt Johnsen.

20260201 Setting The World Aflame

Join us this Sunday as we honor the traditions of Imbolic and Candlemas, asking what it means at this moment in our history for the return of the light and what part in the process we all must play. The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester (UUCW) is located in Worcester, the heart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our services are live-streamed on ... at 10 am every Sunday and stored on our website www.uucworcester.org for future viewing. The music you hear is from "Song Without Words," written and performed by our Music Director, Matt Johnsen.

20260125 Frogs & Other Forms of Resistance with Rev. Alice Anachecka-Nasemann

This service was conducted and produced online. Political scientists have suggested that it takes 3.5% of a population to successfully (and nonviolently) create systemic change. This morning, we will hear inspiring examples of creative, effective, and sometimes even playful resistance. We are pleased to welcome Rev. Alice Anacheka-Nasemann as our Guest Minister this Sunday. Rev. Anacheka-Naseman is in her first year as the minister of the Brookfield Unitarian Universalist Church. She is also the minister emerita for the Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson, where she served for 20 years as DRE, associate minister, and then as the solo minister. She lives in Amherst, MA, with her spouse, one of their two young adult kids, two cats, a dog, and two rats. The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester (UUCW) is located in Worcester, the heart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our services are live-streamed on ... at 10 am every Sunday and stored on our website www.uucworcester.org for future viewing. The music you hear is from "Song Without Words," written and performed by our Music Director, Matt Johnsen.

2 of 4