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I like to tell about my Homiletics class, that is preaching class, when I was in seminary, particularly that first day. The professor, the Reverend Doctor James Chuck, MDiv, ThD stood watching as we entered for our first class, a small seminar of about a dozen people. Neatly dressed in a pinstriped three-piece suit, he seemed to glare at us while idly fiddling with his Phi Beta Kappa key, which hung as a pocket watch fob. Once we were seated... Read more

Thanks, Barry, for the pointer! Read more

This past Sunday the congregation of the First Unitarian Church of Providence kicked off the new worship year. Looking forward to some serious work, investigating the fundamental matter of heart, and seeking the best ways we can manifest what we find in the world. It is going to be a very exciting year. Little doubt… all photographs by Richard Boober. Thank you, Richard! Read more

On this day in 1848 Phineas Gage, a railroad construction foreman was severely wounded in an accident. He survived a large iron rod thrust entirely through his head, although he suffered severe damage to his brain. The dramatic changes in his personality forced a reassessment of what could be considered the mind and its relationship to the brain. A process of evaluation that continues to this day. Here’s a great little video on Mr Gage. It doesn’t go into the... Read more

Our official church year kicks off this morning. We follow what has become more or less normative among Unitarian Universalist congregations in that the sermon is mostly replaced by what is called a water communion. It is not a communion in the Christian sense of eucharist, but rather a sharing, a bringing together. People bring some water, often from a tap at home, perhaps more often gathered on some summer jaunt, occasionally from someplace exotic, but increasingly more often from... Read more

In a few minutes I’m off to the Boston area to co-lead a one day Zen meditation retreat. As of this moment the pastor in Florida has not yet burned any Korans. Of course, if the intent was to inflame the majority Muslim populace from Lebanon to Afghanistan, the work has been done. In addition to that foment the great roil around the proposed Islamic center/mosque a couple of blocks from the site of the 9/11 attacks continues. Thanks to... Read more

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I’m a big fan of agnosticism as a spiritual path. But when pushed about the deity question, I generally admit to being a nontheist, which is, I guess, a sort of kinder and gentler atheist. While many of my friends are touched by some version of the argument from design, I personally am inclined to see that as a classic bit of projection. As Xenophanes’ wryly observed a very long time ago, “If cattle and horses and lions had hands…... Read more

Mary Oliver was born on this day in 1935… She is a treasure… Read more