Today, the great American holiday the Fourth of July is somewhat dampened on the Eastern coast of the country. Hurricane Arthur is in the midst of its lumber north toward Canada. Here in Mansfield, roughly a third of the way up from Providence heading north to Boston it is overcast. The rains are due in a couple of hours… On Facebook one of my friends, and one I like to think of in a genuinely friendly way even though, as... Read more

One of the great time wasters is that little exercise called “what if.” I know. I’ve wasted more than my share of those precious minutes racing down the hour glass of my life pondering what if. Usually it is a deeply personal enterprise. What if I hadn’t done that? What if I had done that? What if? Then there are those big historical things. What if the Spanish armada had defeated the rag tag English fleet? And, then there’s one... Read more

Terasa Cooley & James Ford being interviewed about Unitarian Universalism, General Assembly, and Providence’s famous WaterFire. Read more

LOVE REACHES OUT A Meditation on the Small and Great Cycles of our Lives James Ishmael Ford 22 June 2014 First Unitarian Church Providence, Rhode Island I am deeply aware that starting the next time I stand in this pulpit, everything will be the last time I do it as the parish minister of this congregation. And, actually, the last time I do it as a parish minister. Water communion, Christmas, Amnesty International Letter Writing Day, Martin Luther King, Jr.,... Read more

As of six ten this morning we have crossed into Summer! And, for the humanist community a day of celebration for rationalism and naturalism. Looks like a very good match to me. In the Unitarian Universalist world there is a tension between the theists and the humanists. In past decades when the humanists were in the ascendancy as a group they weren’t always kind to the theists. Sadly, as the tables appear to have turned and theists appear to be... Read more

In my capacity as a Unitarian Universalist minister I have been resistant to the trend among my younger colleagues to wear cassock albs and other white robes when presiding over worship services. In part it is a tip of the hat to Theophilus Lindsey, who was born on this day in 1723. A Cambridge graduate Lindsey was ordained a priest in the Church of England. He was part of a movement within the Church that questioned the Trinity as unscriptural,... Read more

Here I am on the UUA‘s Church of the Larger Fellowship’s weekly live blog the VUU. Despite the encouragement of the regulars, I don’t completely disgrace myself, or, at least, not much more than usual… Read more

How time flies. A big part of the background of my younger days… Happy birthday, Paul! Read more

I understand it was on this day in 1631 that Mumtaz Mahal died during childbirth, a tragedy not uncommon in that time and place. What is uncommon was the reaction of her widower, Shah Jahan I. For the next seventeen years he poured his wealth into the creation of a monument to his love. It is easy to slip into a meditation on the excesses of princes. But, today I find myself more called to a reflection on love, even... Read more