Sunday Service

Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Do not be afraid.

~ Frederick Buechner

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.

~ Ambrose Redmoon

When I dare to use my strength in the service of my vision, it becomes less and less and important whether I am afraid.

~ Audre Lorde

The hero is no braver than an ordinary person, but he or she is brave five minutes longer.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.

~ Raymond Lindquist

You can choose courage or you can choose comfort, but you cannot have both.

~ Brené Brown

Only one thing is more frightening than speaking your truth. And that is not speaking it.

~ Audre Lorde

If you possess enough courage to speak out what you are, you will find you are not alone.

~ Richard Wright

Courage, it turns out, isn't one dramatic leap. It's the daily, unglamorous decision to keep authoring your own life instead of accepting the draft everyone else already wrote for you.

~ Leena Wilde Ryan

It takes courage ... to endure the sharp pains of self-discovery rather than choose to take the dull pain of unconsciousness that would last the rest of our lives.

~ Marianne Williamson

Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow.

~ Mary Anne Radmacher 

(Curated and adapted for KUF from the 2026 Soul Matters materials on the theme ‘Courage')

This list of questions is an aid for deep reflection. How you answer them is often less important than the journey they take you on.

So, read through the list of questions 2-3 times until one question sticks out for you and captures your attention, or as some faith traditions say, until one of the questions “shimmers.” Or as we like to say, “Read over them until one of the questions picks you.”

Then reflect on that question using one or all of these questions:

• What is going on in my life right now that makes this question so pronounced for me?

• What might my inner wisdom be trying to say to me through this question?

• How might this question be trying to wake me up or get me to realize something through this question?

• How might Life or my inner wisdom be trying to offer me a word of comfort or challenge through this question?

1.  What fears did your family of origin pass on to you?

2. What is the greatest act of courage that you directly witnessed? And how did it change you?

3. What was your bravest moment of not running away? How are you being called to bravely not run away today?

4. What do you know now about courage that you didn’t know when you were younger?

5. How do you think your future self will look back on who you are today and rate your courage?

6. What fear takes up more space in your head and heart than you want?

7. How has your life partner made you braver?

8. What will it take to finally have that conversation that scares you so much?

9. Is it time to tell someone how scared you really are?

10. Is safely tiptoeing around “it” making you ill?

11. Where are you saying “yes” when you need to courageously say “no”?

12. Is comfort luring you away from courage?

13. What if the secret to feeling less fear is to stop trying to keep yourself safe?

14. Is fear making your world too small?

15. What’s your question? Your question may not be listed above. As always, if the above questions don't include what life is asking from you, spend the month listening to your days to find it.  

(Curated and adapted for KUF from the 2026 Soul Matters materials on the theme ‘Courage')

 “Courage doesn’t always roar.”

- Mary Anne Radmacher

Courageous people change the world. So many names fall easily from our lips: Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sojourner Truth, Harvey Milk, Marsha P. Johnson. The list goes on and on.

We rightly honor such giants. But the problem is most of us aren’t that tall.

Or are we?

Here’s what we have to help each other remember: In addition to the heroic acts that alter history, there are also the daily choices that prevent history from altering us! Bending the arc of the universe toward justice deserves praise, but so does the ordinary work of integrity and not allowing yourself to be bent.

We need to make room on the stage for these common acts of courage. The bravery of embracing your beauty even when it doesn’t fit the air-brushed images surrounding us. The courage of calling out microaggressions that occur daily for many of us. And what about resisting the persistent seduction of status and stuff? Simply put, the list is long: Turning down that drink one day at a time. Making yourself get out of bed when

depression tells you to stay. Holding your partner’s hand in public. Make no mistake, there are dozens of ordinary acts of bravery we embody every day!

Or maybe we should say there are dozens of ordinary acts of bravery we help each other embody every day. This we need to remember as well. Courage is not only noble; it’s contagious! The bravery that makes it into the history books may save the world, but it’s our ordinary courage that keeps each other going. Watching someone else make it through another day helps us endure. Witnessing someone else confront bigotry allows us to bravely be more open about who we are. They say that courage is found by digging deep, but most often it is passed on. It doesn’t arise from within as much as it arises from the connections between us.

So don’t worry so much if you haven’t changed the world yet. And certainly let’s stop comparing ourselves with those giants. Our work rests less in looking up to them and more in looking over at each other. And in remembering that others are also looking over at us.

(Curated and adapted for KUF from the 2026 Soul Matters materials on the theme ‘Courage')

Ask Them About Courage

One of the best ways to explore our monthly themes is to have conversations about them with people who are close to you. It’s also a great way to deepen our relationships! Below is a list of questions to guide your conversation. Be sure to let your conversation partner know in advance that this won’t be a typical conversation. Telling them a bit about Soul Matters will help set the stage.

Remember to also answer the questions yourself as they are meant to support a conversation, not just a time of quizzing them.

As always, keep a lookout for how your inner voice is trying to send you a message of comfort or challenge through these conversions with others.

Courage Questions:

• What fear took root in your younger years that continues to today?

• Who is the most courageous person you’ve met? How has their courage rubbed off on you?

• What was your bravest moment of not running away?

• Have you ever taken a “leap of faith”?

• Has courage gotten easier or harder as you’ve grown older?

• How do you think your future self will look back on who you are today and rate your courage?

• Can you tell me a story about bravely facing your “shadow side”?

• What seems more dangerous these days? Pessimism or optimism?

• In what way do you wish your generation had been more courageous?

(Curated and adapted for KUF from the 2026 Soul Matters materials on the theme ‘Courage')

Step Outside Your Comfort Zone

Often the enemy of courage is not fear but our comfort zones. Yes, those comfortable emotional spaces and regular routines support and structure our lives, but they can stifle and shrink them as well.

So this month, let’s bravely resist this seduction of routine. Your instructions are simple: Pick an activity that pulls you out of your comfort zone!

To help you on your way we’ve created a list of courageous, anti-comfort zone actions. Pick one from the list or use the list as inspiration to identify an anti-comfort zone activity of your own. Here’s the link to the list:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ck3iHDKpGiJm_m5E2GDSAsUpqr1IMcTlzIqOAp3bMHo/edit?usp=sharing

Once you are done, bring your experience with this exercise into conversation with how you’ve danced with risk and comfort throughout your life. How did your exercise experience shed light on your relationship with comfort zones?

(Curated and adapted for KUF from the 2026 Soul Matters materials on the theme ‘Courage')