I mentioned on Facebook how for Christmas I received a much needed new bath robe together with a couple of mystery novels, which were a timely item as I was nearly finished with the last from my bedside stack. Several friends expressed an interest in what authors I liked. An interesting assignment on this day after Christmas. Perhaps a small gift for someone. I was raised in a household awash in genre fiction. My father loved science fiction, my mother... Read more

It was a blast. The family service at five pm at First Unitarian had over a hundred kids and some three hundred adults. The nine o’clock was filled with nearly three hundred fifty adults and a couple of kids. Thanks to all who made it such a splendid time, with authentic respect for the tradition and framed appropriately for us as religious liberals of many differing theologies gathered within the comprehension of a radical post reformation (largely post) Christian rationalist... Read more

A lovely day… Read more

A MEDITATION AHEAD OF OUR ANNUAL FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH OF PROVIDENCE DO-IT-YOURSELF CHRISTMAS PAGEANT James Ishmael Ford 23 December 2012 First Unitarian Church Providence, Rhode Island At nine thirty in the morning this past Friday, in our church parking lot, I sat in my car with the windows rolled down, listening to our Paul Revere bell ringing out. Truthfully I missed the count. Twenty-six, maybe twenty-seven, perhaps twenty-eight times, each would have been right. At the time, the vibrations of... Read more

My old friend and Dharma brother Bill Krumbein has written an e-book, Twelve & Zen. Bill has given us a lovely gift in sharing his deeply personal account of how AA and Zen Buddhism have informed his life. There is an increasing interest in the meeting of the Twelve Steps and the Buddhadharma, and for good reason. Having done this Bill shows his heart and shows us a way. I recommend this book to anyone seeking a healing way for... Read more

Jan posted a clip of Patti Smith reciting Allen Ginsberg on Facebook this morning. I stopped to listen. It conveys the same spirit I find within Leonard Cohen’s hymn Hallelujah. The same moment countless people have found, mystics and crazed saints, and foolish men and women, in a moment… The same experience that bubbles up when we stop. And look. And listen. Open all our senses. Turning away from nothing. Just being naked to what is. And then, somehow, the... Read more

So, this morning as I picked up a coffee at my favorite coffee shop, the proprietor happened to be there, and after exchanging pleasantries, I asked, so what are you going to do to observe the end of the world tomorrow? There was a moment of confusion crossing his face, then he remembered the Maya apocalypse. It seems this one just isn’t generating the juice other end of the world prophecies have. But, he was game, and opined, well, what... Read more

Yesterday I walked into my favorite coffee shop, where one of the baristas, a young and attractive woman, who over the last couple of years I’ve come to like a fair bit without, of course, really knowing her, commented how she loved my hat. I opined how one of the nicer things about the winter is being able to drag out one’s hats. She agreed, and then added, “your hat is just like one my dad has.” Okay, a couple... Read more

For the interview, go here! Read more

I just love the rush of holy days that crowd up here toward the darkest part of the year. And with that wishes for a blessed Saturnalia to all my pagan, neo-pagan, wiccan, and miscellaneous Earth-centered friends! And, hey, fond wishes for the rest of us, too… Read more