A People of Promise

June 10, 2013 By Leave a Comment

We are all in this together, beloveds. All of creation is ultimately and intimately relational. Our faith is grounded in and continuously points us toward relationship. Covenants, promises about how we will be in relationship, cannot be made by one’s self. There are no solitary covenants – only communal ones. It may surprise a few [...]

Filed Under: Diversity, Environmental issues, Evangelism, Faith Development, Relationships, Social Justice, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Unitarian, Universalist, Values, World Community Leave a Comment

Compassion and Connection

May 19, 2013 By Leave a Comment

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has graced New Orleans with his presence this weekend. Prayer flags are fluttering from balconies more accustomed to Mardi Gras beads and brass bands are sharing the scene with throat singing… HH Dalai Lama arrived under the auspices of a conference called “Resilience: Strength Through Compassion and Connection.” Those familiar [...]

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Creating Life

May 11, 2013 By 1 Comment

Standing in the doorway between the ticket table and the concert last night, the music from the incredible jazz trio on the chancel washing over me, I was overwhelmed with gratitude. This is my life! Somewhere between scheduling the termite treatments and the ceiling repairs from a leaky roof, between taxes and budgets, between making [...]

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TODAY!

April 13, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Today I have to make sure that there is a port-a-potty for the tri-congregation Earth Day service in the park on Sunday. Today, I get to meet with community organizers at their monthly meeting to talk about a change to the city charter. Today I need to write an evaluation for a Monday meeting with [...]

Filed Under: Faith Development, Gratitude, Mortality, Relationships, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Worship Tagged With: Leave a Comment

The People’s Work

April 6, 2013 By Leave a Comment

In The Prophetic Imperative: Social Gospel in Theory and Practice, Rev. Richard Gilbert lays out a Unitarian Universalist interpretation of worship. He wrote: The church is a worshipping community, a religious community that deliberately and regularly gathers together to celebrate life in all its dimensions. Worship understood as the celebration of life is the most [...]

Filed Under: Class, Evangelism, Faith Development, Gratitude, Hospitality, LGBT Issues, Peace, Prayer, Relationships, Religion, Senior citizens, Sermons, Social Justice, Spirituality, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Unitarian, Universalist, Values, World Community, Worship Tagged With: , , , , Leave a Comment

Longing for the Weeds

March 24, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Hard to believe we’re turning towards April in Minnesota, where I live. Out my window, I only see snow and dead leaves on the plants still standing from last year’s garden. I pawed through the snow this morning to see if I might find anything living at all—often the first thing I find is an [...]

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Suprised by Joy: the Gift of Forgiveness

March 23, 2013 By 2 Comments

“Forgiveness can begin the moment we accept that the past cannot be changed.”  These words, copied by a friend from a radio show, name one of the biggest hurdles on the path to forgiveness of self and others. Playing past events over in my mind like bad movies, some of them horror shows, I find [...]

Filed Under: Faith Development, Grief, Healing, Parenting, Peace, Politics, Relationships, Social Justice, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Values, World Community Tagged With: 2 Comments

…born and re-born again

March 9, 2013 By Leave a Comment

“Love, yes, love your calling, for this holy and generous love will impart strength to you so as to enable you to surmount all obstacles.” ~St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier In the late 1820s, a “change in inner conviction” led the Rev. Dr. Theodore Clapp to begin preaching universalism in New Orleans. This change inspired the [...]

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Waiting for Snow in Carlisle

March 5, 2013 By 1 Comment

Today, I carpooled to a daylong meeting with several colleagues. As we rode back toward home, we heard weather forecasts calling for several inches of snow tonight and into the morning. Now, you should know that unlike much of the rest of the country, we have had little to no snow in Central and Eastern [...]

Filed Under: Healing, health care, simplicity, Spirituality, Sustainability Tagged With: 1 Comment

Being and Doing, Work and Spiritual Practice

March 3, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Last week I attended an interesting conference called Wisdom 2.0, about the convergence of technology and spirituality. To say it was interesting is an understatement: For this Midwesterner, listening to folks from the tech industry was fascinating, and the collection of spiritual teachers and industry leaders was artful. (You can watch what happened at Wisdom2summit.com.) [...]

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