I find myself heartsick. Together with my Unitarian Universalist life, Zen sits at the center of everything that matters to me. The cascade of issues around sex and sexual misconduct are multiplying like those proverbial rabbits. I went back to look at what I had to say about Genpo Merzel, Eido Shimano and Joshu Sasaki in my 2006 Zen Master Who? A Guide to the People and Stories of Zen. It was of course pretty much all written a year... Read more

Spoiler alert! If you’ve not seen the film or read the book, there is a chance you don’t want to read this… I have seen the film Life of Pi, and my spouse has both read the book by Yann Martel and seen the film. We really liked the movie. It is a visual masterpiece. We saw the 3D version and I hope you did, too. And there was a fascinating question burned into the heart of the story. If... Read more

PENETRATING THE WHOLE MYSTERY OF LIFE; GIVING THANKS FOR EVERYTHING James Ishmael Ford 25 November 2012 First Unitarian Church Providence, Rhode Island Text There was an old Taoist who lived in a village in ancient China, named Master Hu. Hu loved God and God loved Hu, and whatever God did was fine with Hu, and whatever Hu did was fine with God. They were friends. They were such good friends that they kidded around. Hu would do stuff to God... Read more

In 1859 Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species was published, arguably ushering in the modern era. Worth a pause to notice and to contemplate. After all, if we don’t know ourselves, there’s no chance we can can grow, or, if you will, evolve… All this noted, allow me to be the first to wish you a fond and happy Evolution Day! Read more

The New England Church Project on Facebook has collected one hundred and twenty four pictures of the First Unitarian Church of Providence, which I have the enormous pleasure, honor and weight of serving as senior minister. Worth a visit. Read more

As our American Thanksgiving dawns, I find I have two thoughts. First. It is really important to recall that this holiday of thanksgiving as we celebrate it is for many of us problematic. That our holiday is tied to the story of the Pilgrim harvest feast of 1621, also ties this holiday into the fate of the First Nations peoples who were displaced, violently, terribly. Many, although not all, Native Americans would rather this become a day of mourning or,... Read more

Yesterday afternoon Jan and I took in the latest bio-pic about Abraham Lincoln. Produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and with a script by Tony Kushner based on parts of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s magisterial Team of Rivals: The Political Genuis of Abraham Lincoln. Daniel Day-Lewis breathes new life in a character that must be very difficult to re-imagine in useful and dramatic ways. He pulls it off. I read one review that called the performance “spellbinding.” Yep. And also his... Read more

A SONG OF INTERDEPENDENCE A Celebration of Communion for Unitarian Universalists Preface For nearly three hundred years it has been the continuous tradition of the First Unitarian Church of Providence to observe several times a year the ancient rite of Communion. A number of liturgies have been employed over the years. This Unitarian Universalist communion service was compiled and edited by the Reverend James Ishmael Ford, 17th minister of the congregation. The sources upon which this service is based are... Read more

An old friend offered up this little story about the remarkable Zen master, Layman P’ang, his equally awake wife, and their equally wakeful daughter (in Ruth Fuller Sasaki’s translation), each describing the same moment. Layman P’ang ‘was sitting in his thatched cottage one day. “Difficult, difficult, difficult,” he suddenly exclaimed, “like trying to scatter ten measures of sesame seed all over a tree!” “Easy, easy, easy,” returned Mrs P’ang, “just like touching your feet to the ground when you get... Read more

Today is Peter Cook’sbirthday. Wikipedia says of him “Cook is universally acknowledged as the main influence on British comedians who followed him from amateur dramatic clubs of British universities to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and then to the radio and television. On his death some critics choose to see Cook’s life as tragic, in so far as the brilliance of his youth had not been sustained in his later years. However, Cook himself always maintained that he had no ambitions... Read more