The following is a compilation of my recent “Top 10” and “Best of” posts for 2012. Enjoy! Top 10 Best Books Read in 2012 Top 10 Best Albums Listened to in 2012 Top 10 “Netflix Instant” Streamed in 2012 Best Netflix DVDs Watched in 2012 Top 3 Blog Posts of 2012 Happy holidays to you and yours! The Rev. Dr. Carl Gregg is a trained spiritual director, a D.Min. graduate of San Francisco Theological Seminary, and the minister of the Unitarian Universalist... Read more
In my family mourning was not done publicly. Therefore, I, as a child, assumed it was not done at all. Both sets of grandparents died and I recall hidden tears, the quick turn away to look out a window, the closing of a door. This mysterious behavior seemed to commence with the announcement of death and end immediately after the funeral. Of course, if mourning is private, almost secretive as though shameful, there can be no comforting. Now I discover... Read more
I’m grateful to all of you who find value in my work. (I’m astounded to have had more than 37,000 unique vistors to this site in the past year alone.) The following are my top three most read posts since this time last year: Gold: my most viewed blog of this past year was “John 3:16 — The Rest of the Story“ Silver: second place goes to “A Thanksgiving Liturgy of Gratitude, Prayer, Song, and Feast.” Bronze: the final top contender was “Mitt... Read more
The following are the podcasts I’ve enjoyed listening to the most consistently since this time last year. This list is also in alphabetical order because agonizing over a precise order would take out all the fun: Buddhist Geeks – A short podcast, averaging only about 20 minutes: “after a few years, and well over a million downloads of the show, it became clear that Buddhist Geeks was something closer to a movement or community, rather than just a podcast.” In... Read more
This post is the fourth in a series of at least five posts on Unitarian Universalist history in preparation for a course I’m auditing in January on “Unitarian Universalist History & Polity” with The Rev. Dr. Nicole Kirk. For those following along as I seek formal fellowship with the Unitarian Universalist Association, you may be interested to see the full Ministerial Fellowship Committee “Required Reading List” and “Encouraged Reading List and Resources.” The following are some highlights from Spencer Lavan’s 1997 book Unitarians... Read more
“There are two ways for the heart to break: apart into many shards like a fragment grenade, or open into greater capacity so we can hold life’s inevitable tensions creatively, not destructively.” These words from educator and activist Parker Palmer point us toward a vision that he calls the “politics of the broken hearted.” Palmer continues: When we hold…tensions and we don’t know how to hold them, the heart explodes like a hand grenade. And we sometimes want to throw that hand... Read more
Can you feel the “Wheel of the Year” turning? In this season of each day growing incrementally shorter, can you sense our inexorable movement, here in the Northern Hemisphere, toward Winter Solstice, the darkest day of the year? It can be easy to feel caught up in the darkening of our days: disheartened, discarded, even depressed. At various times, I have experienced each of these responses to winter. As a way of navigating seasonal shifts, I have become increasingly interested... Read more
This list is not my favorite new releases of the year; instead, it is the best of the DVDs I’ve watched from Netflix since this time last year. This list is also in alphabetical order because agonizing over a precise order would take out all the fun. Another Earth – the 2011 feature film debut of director Mike Cahill: After a strange Earth-like planet is discovered, astrophysics student Rhoda accidentally slams her car into the vehicle of John, killing his family.... Read more
This list is not my favorite new releases of the year; instead, it is the best of the content I watched since this time last year. It also does not include films that I saw in the theater. In addition, this list is in alphabetical order because agonizing over a precise order would take out all the fun. After the Wedding – a 2006 Danish film, nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars: To save the failing orphanage... Read more
This post is the third in a series of at least five posts on Unitarian Universalist history in preparation for a course I’m auditing in January on “Unitarian Universalist History & Polity” with The Rev. Dr. Nicole Kirk. For those following along as I seek formal fellowship with the Unitarian Universalist Association, you may be interested to see the full Ministerial Fellowship Committee “Required Reading List” and “Encouraged Reading List and Resources.” If you are looking for more than a whirlwind tour... Read more
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