Rev. Scott takes time for photo booth fun between services.
Rev. Scott Sammler-Michael was borrn in Jacksonville, Florida, and grew up in Baltimore, MD. There, in 1983, Scott co-founded the Maryland chapter of the Nuclear Freeze Campaign. In 1994 Rev Scott helped organize the Southwest Baltimore “Tree-Mendous Maryland” initiative, bringing fresh, live plants and playgrounds to vacant city lots. He also worked as a labor organizer for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 24.
Scott holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from UMBC and a Masters in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College, Annapolis; he is also a licensed electrician and building inspector. Reverend Scott prepared for the ministry at Meadville Lombard Theological School. At Meadville, Rev. Scott received the Jenkin Lloyd Jones Scholarship, the Atherton Scholarship, and the Von Ogden Vogt Scholarship for liturgical studies. It was also at Meadville that he met his partner in life and ministry, Rev Anya.
In 2007 Scott founded TUUL-Belt Ministries, a practical ministry training people with construction experience to respond to natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina. In 2011 Scott recipient of the Outstanding Contribution by a Minister Award from the Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice. Scott served as a leader of Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement. V.O.I.C.E. is a congregation based community organization promoting immigration reform and economic justice for Northern Virginia’s middle and low income families.
Rev Scott and his wife Rev Anya Sammler-Michael have served as Senior Co-Ministers of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Montclair since August 1, 2017. Besides participating in various Justice and Arts initiatives in and around Montclair, Reverend Scott thrives outside the congregation as a musician and music producer, currently working on the second release of his Celtic Rock Fusion band, Dragons Head.
Sermons
Listening to the Cry for Peace
October 20, 2024"Listening to the Cry for Peace" — led by the Rev. Scott Sammler-Michael, co-senior minister. People seek religious community to be affirmed, to have their deepest desires for a life of peace and meaning acknowledged. Join us on United Nations Sunday as we explore all the challenges to peace in our world and in the upcoming election.
If It Sounds Good, It Is Good
October 6, 2024"If It Sounds Good, It Is Good" — led by the Rev. Scott Sammler-Michael, co-senior minister. Join Rev. Scott as we explore how we understand the world through sound. We hear with our whole bodies, our whole selves, really. And even those who may not hear well, or at all, can still "listen."
America’s Real Religion?
September 22, 2024"America's Real Religion?" — led by the Rev. Scott Sammler-Michael, co-senior minister. Referring to A. Powell Davies' book of the same name, the Rev Scott leads us on an exploration of how Unitarian Universalism's theology of truth-seeking and justice-making fall squarely into the best of our nation's history and promise.
A Holy Disruption
September 15, 2024"A Holy Disruption"— led by the Revs. Anya and Scott Sammler-Michael, co-senior ministers. No... this sermon title is not what Rev. Anya has secretly named Rev. Scott. It's an idea developed by Carl Jung that invites us to embrace the challenges, mistakes, and conundrums that upset our apple cart of a life - the disruptions that require us to find a new way.
What Deserves Our Attention?
August 25, 2024"What Deserves Our Attention?" — led by the Rev. Scott Sammler-Michael, co-senior minister. "When attention is depleted, there can be no heightened passion, no true friendship, no love. Without attention, we are not genuinely available to anyone at all– not to our children, not to our work associates, not to the strangers walking past us on the sidewalk." Join us as we explore the spiritual discipline of paying attention.
Ask Away! A Question Box Sunday
August 11, 2024“Ask Away!” A Question Box Sunday — led by the Revs. Anya and Scott Sammler-Michael, co-senior ministers. Once a year our congregation is invited to ask the ministers questions and the answers to these questions become the sermon. What are your most pressing questions? Do you wonder about God, salvation, faith, or hope? Do you ponder the history of our faith tradition? Do you have a hankering to know something about our congregation?
Celebrating Pluralism
June 16, 2024"Celebrating Pluralism (Music Sunday)" — led by the Rev. Scott Sammler-Michael, senior co-minister and Markus Hauck, music director. Join our orchestra, choir, director of music ministries, and ministers for a Music Sunday celebrating pluralism. We will have the blessing of a full cantata of choir music from the contemporary Unitarian Universalist composer Jason Shelton, and space to honor our theological diversity!
Prepare Ye the Way
June 2, 2024"Prepare Ye The Way"— led by the Revs. Anya and Scott Sammler-Michael, senior co-ministers. As we explore the nature of renewal, we will explore how we best prepare for the change that is always coming, as well as explore how best to retain what is of worth from our pasts.
Containing Multitudes, Courting Complexity
May 26, 2024"Containing Multitudes, Courting Complexity"— led by the Rev. Scott Sammler-Michael, senior co-minister. So many perceptions flood our minds, so many memories dance, vying for our attention. But what do we remember, and why? How do we discern the truth when confronted with seemingly opposite realities? Using, in part, the conflict in Gaza as an example of the power of remembering the wrong things, Rev Scott invites us to court complexity in our thinking and employ humility in our proclamations.
Diversity Strengthens All
May 19, 2024"Diversity Strengthens All"— led by the Rev. Scott Sammler-Michael, senior co-minister and the 2024 Coming of Age Class. Every year our Coming of Age class offers a worship service in which they declare their statements of belief, their convictions about who they are, and the world they are called to build. This is an incredible service and a chance to learn from our youth.
We All Have Something Worth Preaching
April 21, 2024"We All Have Something Worth Preaching" — led by the Rev. Scott Sammler-Michael, senior co-minister. During this week when we hosted "The Distillery: A UU Preaching Conference," we gathered and shared how each one of us are theologians, how each one of us has "Something Worth Preaching."
Resurrecting Hope
March 31, 2024"Resurrecting Hope"— led by the Rev. Scott Sammler-Michael, senior co-minister. Easter - the Rev. Scott and the team lead a multi-generational service focused on liberation and hope.
