Empathy for What It’s Like to Be Outside Our Own Heads

Rev. Carmen Emerson
BBUUC Affiliated Community Minister, presents
“Empathy for What It’s Like to Be Outside Our Own Heads“
Kris Kines, Worship Leader
Eileen Morrison, Accompanist
Bill Cain, Guest Musician, Vibraphone

The sermon title is from a line from a wonderful book by Amanda Ripley echoes this sentiment from the well-known Peace Prayer of St. Francis, “O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek…to be understood as to understand…” When the core human value of belonging feels under such threat, how do we engage in active empathy “outside our own heads” and make understanding one another a default practice?
This sermon is a preview of the May 3, 2025 workshop to be offered by the Healthy Congregation Ministry, “UU Spiritual Practices for Transforming Conflict.”

About Our Speaker

Rev. Carmen Emerson, MDiv, is the Affiliated Community Minister for BBUUC. She earned a Master of Divinity from Andover Newton Theological School and a graduate certificate in conflict resolution from Lipscomb University’s Institute for Conflict Management. Rev. Carmen is in good standing with the UU Ministers Association and in full fellowship with the Unitarian Universalist Association. She is a Board Certified Chaplain and the Spiritual Support Services Coordinator for Baptist Health System in NE Florida. Rev. Emerson’s experience as a parish minister includes ten years of full-time service to our UU congregations in Albuquerque, NM (contract); Meadville, PA (called); and Nashville, TN (called).

About Our Guest Musician

Bill Caine is originally from the Philadelphia area, where he studied at Temple University. He was fortunate to study under Alan Able of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Bill has performed with many Symphony Orchestras in the Philadelphia/New York/Baltimore area as well as with TBA Big Band, the Straight Ahead Big Band, Doc Severinsen, Ray Charles, Roger Daltry, Amy Lee, Evanescence, Luciano Pavarotti, and many others. He has played for BBUUC several times as a  Swing and a Miss member, and this Sunday we will hear his solo vibraphone.