A talk delivered at Harvard Divinity School under the somewhat misleading title “Zen and the Arts of Liberal Ministry.” It starts with a history of the encounter between Buddhism and Unitarianism and later Unitarian Universalism and continues with a personal confession of faith out of my journey as a “liberal Buddhist,” and concludes with some reflections on the possibilities within this emergent liberal Buddhism. Read more

It was today in 1943 when the Nazis began to arrest the members of the White Rose. This small group of German students and their professor had been posting leaflets denouncing the Nazi regime. They had succeeded in printing and posting six before they were arrested. Most of the participants would die by guillotine. While they were a mixed bag of intellectuals of various persuasions, one of their number Alexander Schmorell had become Orthodox. He would be canonized by the... Read more

another cover of Cohen’s classic, this one by the remarkable Willie Nelson. Read more

Noticing my almost obsessive interest in covers of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, a friend sent me this adaptation by Renee Ruchotzke. While I think it loses a bit of the sense of the tragic in the original, a knock, interestingly on liberal religion in general, I think as a didactic, neatly summarizing much of the best of contemporary Unitarian Universalism, it works nicely. I hope you enjoy it. And, if it leads you to dig further into the possibilities of contemporary... Read more

I appear to be collecting covers of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. There’s something in the song that haunts. A last moment sigh of gratitude in spite of it all in the face of it all… Here’s a new one by Micah Christian. And another by Bon Jovi. And, finally, here, Savannah Outen. Read more

I once was at a meeting of Zen teachers, where we were discussing what expectations we could have of each other as we began to authorize teachers on our own. One of the teachers began a fairly long list, and a pretty detailed one, at that. I opined we’re on the wrong track. I confessed to several of my abiding sins, among which, was my lack of interest in other people’s ideas of the minutia. Instead I always want to... Read more

On this day in 1633 Galileo returns to Rome, summoned by the Inquisition. It doesn’t go well. And, not to minimize his suffering in the slightest, on the advance of science, turns out it is just a hiccup along the way. For me the scientific method is among the greatest of our humanist discoveries. It ranks with fire. It ranks with the paths of opening our heart. In fact it is a facet of the same jewel, the way of... Read more

And thanks for the bananas… Read more

A Facebook friend posted a note about his regretting behaviors of a few years back. Comments followed. Among them a voice in defense of not regretting holding opinions that the writer saw as going against the tide, and nobly so. Sure. And… The defenses of ego are strong. And, absolutely, sometimes they defend true things. But, it was also said in context of someone expressing regret for past behaviors, and the writer’s friends seemed as likely as not to offer... Read more

On this day in 1554, Lady Jane Grey was executed. Her husband had been beheaded a few hours earlier. It was almost exactly a year after her nine days reign as Queen of England. She was sixteen at the time of her death. They played for keeps. No doubt… And interestingly for those of us who care about religion, with this a major turn in the events that would birth the Anglican church… Read more