UUFSM is pleased to welcome guest speaker Rev. Patricia Haresch, who brings us a service on Wounded Words.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” In introducing the notion of “wounded words,” the Rev. Barbara Wells ten Hove reminds us that “words can and do hurt, sometimes as much as a fist.” Her notion of “wounded words” refers to spiritual, theological, or religious words that carry stigma or baggage in one’s life experience. Perhaps they were once meaningful, but now they are avoided. What words do you struggle with? God, sin, Jesus, spirituality, grace? Might any of these words be restored or recovered? Transfused with new understanding of a word that had been corrupted over time?

The Rev. Patricia Guthmann Haresch is a lifelong UU raised in Minnesota, who has served UU congregations in New Hampshire, North Carolina, Virginia, Canada, and Pennsylvania. She also volunteered and provided consulting to UUs in the Philippines during her family’s stint there. Her family was posted in the Philippines, Colombia, then Canada when her partner worked for the U.S. State Department.