Unity of Walnut Creek

2024-01-14 January 14, 2024 – The Law of Circulation Rev. Kristin Powell Rev. Kristin launches a powerful new series on the Law of Circulation by weaving together the parable of the Good Samaritan with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s transformative insight - that the question "If I do not stop to help, what will happen to him?" is the catalyst for true change. She explores how giving from a pure heart initiates an infinite flow of abundance, much like blood circulating through the body, and challenges listeners to release contracted thinking about scarcity and fixed limitations. Rev. Kristin reminds us that we cannot outgive God, inviting us to bust open our limited thinking and trust the divine flow of generosity that makes us fully alive.

2024-01-07 January 7, 2024 – White Stone Ceremony: Your Gift for 2024 Rev. Kristin Powell Rev. Kristin leads Unity of Walnut Creek's traditional White Stone Ceremony for 2024, weaving together the charming story of "Chip the Monk" to illustrate our spiritual journey - from the great forgetting of our true nature, through our soul's arrival and training, to stepping boldly into our purpose. Through this delightful allegory and guided meditation, Rev. Kristin invites each person to receive a sacred word or quality from spirit, written on a white stone as a reminder of the fresh start and divine gift available to us in the new year.

2023-12-31 December 31, 2023 – Uncherished Gifts Vanish Christopher Brown delivers a heartfelt message on the transformative power of gratitude as we stand at the threshold of a new year. He reminds us that uncherished gifts vanish - that when we fail to appreciate what we already have, we lose sight of the abundance surrounding us. Through personal stories, including his own journey with chronic back pain and a life-changing encounter with a blind man on the street, Christopher Brown illustrates how shifting our focus from complaint to gratitude opens the heart and becomes the creative force that moves mountains. He invites us to feed the wolf of gratitude, fill our grace bank accounts, and remember that cherishing our lives exactly as they are is the foundation for all transformation.

2023-12-24 December 24, 2023 – Living Joy Rev. Kristin Powell Rev. Kristin delivers a deeply moving Advent message on living joy, weaving together the dramatic first-person narrative of Mary's journey to Bethlehem with powerful modern parallels - from the Grinch's discovery that Christmas cannot be stolen, to the faithful young Christians gathering in Bethlehem this year despite canceled celebrations. Rev. Kristin reminds us that no outer circumstance can touch the sacred light within us, inviting us to follow our intuition like the wise men followed the star, trusting the promise of goodness even through fear and uncertainty. This message calls us to courageously birth forth the Christ consciousness within us, knowing that new life and joy await on the other side of our yes.

2023-12-17 December 17, 2023 – Living Love Rev. Kristin Powell Rev. Kristin delivers a moving Advent message on the transformative power of love, using Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem as a lens for understanding how love dissolves anger, restores balance, and awakens us to our divine nature. She explores how anger signals a loss of light and how dropping into the heart reveals deeper feelings that open the door to healing. Rev. Kristin passionately speaks to the restoration of the divine feminine - our feeling nature and intuition - as essential for bringing balance to a world dominated by overt masculine energy, reminding us that love is both our origin and our pathway home.

2023-12-10 December 10, 2023 – Living Peace Rev. Kristin Powell Rev. Kristin explores the sacred gift of "light-minded soul companions" - those who walk beside us on our spiritual journey, helping us find peace even in dark and challenging times. Drawing from the story of Mary and Elizabeth finding reassurance together during Advent, Rev. Kristin distinguishes between "like-minded" and "light-minded" connections, encouraging us to seek companions who may come from diverse backgrounds yet share a commitment to spiritual growth. Through inspiring examples ranging from the Three Amigos interfaith clergy to Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, she invites us to open our hearts to prayer partnerships and soul friendships that stretch us toward our magnificence while helping us discover peace through both light and darkness.

2023-12-08 December 10, 2023 – Living Peace

2023-12-03 December 3, 2023 – Living Faith Rev. Kristin Powell Rev. Kristin delivers a powerful message about trusting our spiritual experiences rather than discounting them over time, sharing her own profound story of direct communication with her father after his passing. Through the metaphor of breaking through a board - where muscling through with bravado failed but softening into fear and opening to divine presence made it feel like butter - Rev. Kristin illustrates that faith is not about powering over fear but moving through it with compassion and surrender. She invites the community to lean into their inner knowing, honor their spiritual experiences, and live in constant connection with spirit, walking "right down the line" toward the ever-unfolding revelation of Christ consciousness within.

2023-11-26 November 26, 2023 – Living The Questions Rev. Kristin Powell Rev. Kristin leads an engaging open forum where she responds to heartfelt spiritual questions from her community, exploring themes of forgiveness, Advent preparation, navigating the "middle muddle" of spiritual growth, finding hope during chronic challenges, and staying present to God amid worldly chaos. With warmth and wisdom, Rev. Kristin reminds us that the spiritual journey is not a solo endeavor - guiding the community through a powerful visualization of shared Christ light expanding outward to transform suffering into harmony. She encourages curiosity, self-compassion, and the courage to follow our hearts as we live into life's deepest questions together.

2023-11-22 November 19, 2023 – The Two Branches of Gratitude

2023-11-19 November 19, 2023 – The Two Branches of Gratitude Rev. Kristin Powell Rev. Kristin explores the transformative power of gratitude through the parable of two sets of travelers encountering a shade tree - one pair longing for what they lack, the other overflowing with appreciation for what is present. Drawing on the wisdom of Brother Steindl-Rast's two branches of gratitude - gratefulness that fills us up and thanksgiving that flows outward to others - Rev. Kristin invites us to live within this beautiful cycle of receiving and giving. She also honors Native American Heritage Month with a call toward truth-telling and shares the inspiring story of the Pachamama Alliance as a modern Thanksgiving vision of shifting consciousness toward sufficiency and connection.

2023-11-12 November 12, 2023 – Hope: The Renewable Resource Rev. Kristin Powell

2023-11-05 November 5, 2023 – Faith’s Evolution Rev. Kristin Powell Rev. Kristin explores the dynamic evolution of faith - both personal and collective - as part of the Becoming Wise series inspired by Krista Tippett's work. Drawing on the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, her own journey with a beloved dog named Chaos, and the inspiring example of intentional communities, Rev. Kristin illustrates how faith is not static certainty but a living, breathing courage to embrace mystery, cross boundaries, and remain curious about one another. She reminds us that as we say yes to our own spiritual evolution, we contribute powerfully to humanity's unfolding, worshiping together in spirit and truth across all traditions and differences.

2023-10-29 Becoming Wise, Part 4: Wholehearted Love Rev. Kristin explores love as the most challenging yet supreme calling of our spiritual lives, drawing from Krista Tippett's "Becoming Wise" series and the vision of the beloved community. She invites us to move beyond loving only when it is easy and instead embrace wholeheartedness - loving without exception, even those who perpetrate harm - recognizing that hurting people have lost sight of their divine nature and need our love most. Rev. Kristin reminds us that spiritual practice fortifies us to stay open and sensitive in a world that tries to desensitize, and that our wholehearted love serves as the "critical yeast" needed to co-create heaven on earth together.

2023-10-22 October 22, 2023 – Joy and Grace in the Body Rev. Johanna van Gelder Johanna Van Gelder explores the sacred wisdom of the body through the powerful story of Matthew Sanford, a paralyzed yoga practitioner who discovered that our bodies store what our minds cannot process, and she invites us to reconnect with our physical selves as divine expressions. Drawing on teachings from mindfulness meditation, trauma research, and her own experience with illness, Johanna Van Gelder reminds us that bringing awareness, breath, and compassion to our bodies allows energy to flow freely and healing to unfold. She emphasizes that inhabiting our bodies with love not only restores our personal wholeness but ripples outward, deepening our compassion and connection to the world around us.

2023-10-15 October 15, 2023 – Words, Poetic and Prophetic Rev. Kristin Powell Rev. Kristin explores the sacred power of words as part of the Becoming Wise series, drawing from Krista Tippett's work to illuminate how our language shapes reality, heals wounds, and co-creates the world we long to inhabit. She invites us to discover words that "shimmer" - words spoken from the heart that stop people in their tracks and reverberate with truth and beauty. Acknowledging the heartbreak of global conflict, Rev. Kristin calls each person to embrace their inner poet and prophet, using the power of their word to honor the sacredness of all life and meet one another in Rumi's field beyond wrongdoing and rightdoing - a field of love.

2023-10-08 October 8, 2023 – Listen and Walls Tumble Rev. Kristin Powell Rev. Kristin opens this inspiring message with a vivid personal story of visiting divided Berlin in 1986, using the contrast between East and West as a powerful metaphor for the walls we build - both collectively and individually - through ideology, fear, and limitation. She introduces Krista Tippett's book "Becoming Wise" as a guide for the community's fall study series, emphasizing that listening is the essential pathway to wisdom and the key ingredient within all peace work and productive conversation. Rev. Kristin invites us to recognize that we are living in a new "axial age" of spiritual awakening, encouraging generous listening as a practice that releases our spiritual genius and helps turn the world toward greater connection, compassion, and oneness.

2023-10-01 October 1, 2023 – Prospering and Healing Through Love Rev. Kristin Powell Rev. Kristin explores the transformative power of love through a remarkable true story of a father and son separated by fear and reunited through prayer at the Wailing Wall, illustrating how we can touch with love what we have previously touched with fear. She guides us to recognize that love is both a personal portal and an expansive divine force - that through our passionate commitment to the well-being of others, we access a universal love where all spiritual powers become available to us. As the final teaching in the 12 Powers series, Rev. Kristin reminds us that love is the bridge that overcomes every obstacle, heals every relationship, and carries us through any challenge life presents.

2023-09-24 September 24, 2023 – Prospering and Healing Through Wisdom Rev. Kristin Powell Rev. Kristin guides the community through an experiential exploration of wisdom as one of the 12 Powers, located in the solar plexus and represented by the color yellow. Through storytelling, humor, and an interactive body-awareness exercise, Rev. Kristin invites listeners to discover how their bodies communicate yes and no - revealing the "second brain" of gut intuition that connects us to divine guidance. Drawing on the Sufi tale of Nasruddin, the story of King Solomon, and her own memorable life lessons, Rev. Kristin reminds us that true wisdom arises when we slow down, trust our inner knowing, and act from that grounded, spirit-led place rather than from fear or impulse.

2023-09-17 September 17, 2023 – Prospering and Healing Through Order Rev. Kristin Powell Rev. Kristin explores the spiritual power of Order as part of the 12 Powers series, revealing how our very navels serve as reminders of our divine connection to source and our agreement to be born into this life. She weaves together chaos theory, sacred geometry, and personal stories to illustrate that beneath life's apparent messiness lies a divinely intelligent pattern moving all things toward ideal behavior. Rev. Kristin encourages us to remember that we chose to be here, that our contributions matter - even small butterfly-wing prayers can transform the world - and that ultimately, all is well within this beautifully orchestrated universe.

Unity of Walnut Creek - Messages