A friend of a friend on Facebook posted a story from a United Church of Christ regional conference site, called the “Power of God.” The story goes like this. “There is a story of Marie, a devoted church member, who was told, by her doctors that she had a tumor which had to be removed as soon as possible because it presented a life-threatening situation. Marie had strong faith and believed in the power of prayer. She went home and... Read more

Having heard there might be a serious business opportunity in England for a bright and energetic young man, William (the Bastard) and a few friends make a capital investment in some boats and swords and set sail from the mouth of the Somme on this day in 1066. Capitalism without all those pesky regulations or regulators. Ah, the good old days… Read more

In the Anglican church calendar today is the feast of Our Lady of Walsingham, commemorating an apparition of Mary, Jesus’ mother, to an English noblewoman at the dawn of the eleventh century. Me, I’ve always liked appearances of Mary, who I’ve noted elsewhere is flat out my favorite goddess. This particular feast represents a significant revival of pilgrimage within the Anglican church, a spiritual practice I heartily approve of. (For those hoping for a small sign of approval…) This particular... Read more

On this day in 1949… Read more

PLUNGING INTO THE UNKNOWN How to be a Peacemaker in a World Torn by Strife 22 September 2013 James Ishmael Ford Senior Minister First Unitarian Church Providence, Rhode Island A Brief Meditation In the King James’ version of the Gospel According to Matthew we are told, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” In more modern translations the text is rendered more literally from the original Greek, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall... Read more

I have the privilege of serving, depending upon who is counting, as the sixteenth senior minister or maybe the seventeenth, of the First Unitarian Church of Providence. It was a delight to have it pointed out that one of my predecessors, the seventh, or, by some reckoning, the eighth minister of our congregation, the Reverend Arthur May Knapp led a, perhaps unique, missionary venture to Japan. First, the Unitarians were invited by the Japanese as what the Japanese seemed to... Read more

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Two blogs I regularly check out are Notes in Samsara and American (in England) Buddhist Perspective. Through them I also on occasion dip into the blog Speculative Non-Buddhism. At the moment there’s a bit of a brouhaha they’re all in varying degree caught up with. They’re all critical, again, in varying degree of Buddhist Geeks, which seems to me to be mostly young or younger Dharma practitioners from several different disciplines who have a web based presence as well as... Read more

A footnote to the terrible incident on the 16th of September when Aaron Alexis rampaged at his workplace at the Navy Yard shooting many people and killing a dozen before being shot and killed himself was that he was a professed Buddhist. I find myself thinking about this. Particularly within the context of our current times where so much of the violence that rages across the globe has a sectarian element to it. In particular much of the violence in... Read more

BEGINNING AGAIN, AGAIN A Meditation on the Why & How of Liberal Religion 15 September 2013 James Ishmael Ford Senior Minister First Unitarian Church Providence, Rhode Island Text We have seen Yitzhak Perlman Who walks the stage with braces on both legs, On two crutches. He takes his seat, unhinges the clasps of his legs, Tucking one leg back, extending the other, Laying down his crutches, placing the violin under his chin. On one occasion one of his violin strings... Read more