Nathan Ryan

The Rev. Nathan Ryan looking pensively at the camera

Rev. Nathan Ryan (he/him/his) was called in November 2020 as the Senior Minister of the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge, where he had served as Associate Minister since 2012. A Louisiana native, Nathan makes a mean red beans & rice, and believes that good food goes a long way toward world peace.

From Nathan Ryan

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We have a holy obligation to bring about paradise on this earth; each generation helps us do that.

Reflection | By Nathan Ryan | June 15, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
Tagged as: Children, Father's Day, Fathers, Generations, Hope, Mothers, Parents, Purpose, Secular, Unitarian Universalism, Worship

Sometimes love is simply letting someone else like what they like.

Reflection | By Nathan Ryan | April 14, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Children, Connections, Direct Experience, Fathers, Generations, Joy, Love, Parents, Searching, Worship

I saw a woman surrounded by the pressures to conform to adulthood, being the adult she always wanted to be when she was a child. She was as God made her, not who everyone else wanted her to be.

Reflection | By Nathan Ryan | March 20, 2019 | From Braver/Wiser
Tagged as: Body, Children, Direct Experience, God, Self-Care, Self-Respect, Women

Be it real or metaphor, whatever is in your backpack, or your briefcase, or your purse that you’ve brought into this sanctuary that is weighing you down: leave it behind. Whatever you are carrying that is keeping you distracted, or caught up in shame, or guilt, or hopelessness: leave it behind....

Opening | By Nathan Ryan | August 28, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Backpack Blessing, Community, Hope, Humanism, Integrity, Letting Go, Presence, Purpose, Secular, Unitarian Universalism

Almost every person I told about my family's near-accident told me that it was God intervening. But that’s not fair to us, and it’s not fair to God.

Reflection | By Nathan Ryan | June 13, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
Tagged as: God, Gratitude

Last year for Lent, I decided to say yes to any request. I made it all the way to Easter without having to honor my decision.

Reflection | By Nathan Ryan | March 14, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Choice, Christianity, Direct Experience, Humanism, Lent, Power, Privilege, Relationships, Spiritual Practice, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism

We have an absurd amount to learn, or unlearn, about race in this country. America allowed slavery to exist by seeking out personal and regional salvation at the expense of universal salvation. Our country felt better about itself because with the South as the identified patient, it never had to...

Reflection | By Nathan Ryan | April 27, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), America, Anti-Oppression, History, Living Our Faith, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, Unitarianism, Universalism

The statement Black Lives Matter might be hard to hear because it floats. It is a bit of hyperbole. There is no counter point, no balancing narrative. This is something our culture is not accustomed to. We are used to having a good guy and a bad guy, a protagonist and an antagonist. We’ve seen...

Sermon | By Nathan Ryan | November 24, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Faith, Oppression, Pain, Race/Ethnicity, Redemption, Salvation, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb

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