Use your words today… Read more

RAGING AGAINST THE DYING OF THE LIGHT A Sermon by James Ishmael Ford & Cathy Seggel 27 December 2009 First Unitarian Church Providence, Rhode Island Text Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave and close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night. Good men,... Read more

After a lovely day filled with cooking and cleaning and then feeding and visiting we went to bed early. At three thirty this morning Jan & I were up, Jan finished the last of her packing, and I drove her to the airport. She’ll be spending the next week in Los Angeles with family leaving auntie, the cats, the fish and me to fend for ourselves… Okay for today, anyway. I have some errands to run and must finish tomorrow’s... Read more

The other day I received a note from a fellow Zen practitioner. For the tag line he used one of those jokes floating around the web. “Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.” As I read it I felt a flash of guilt. I recalled being contacted with an offer of a copy of a book to review. Actually the book has been sitting on my bedside for a while,... Read more

Lest we forget… Read more

I learned to read at my grandmother’s knee, she resting her large family King James Bible on her lap. As written words came to be mine other things happened, as well. She believed the big and well worn book told the sacred story of the world. She believed and so, so did I. Many, many years have passed. My world has become bigger, my vision of faith is informed by many perspectives. Among other things I draw upon the wisdoms... Read more

Robert Bly was born on this day in 1926. Not precisely my cup of tea, but genuinely an interesting guy who opened the way of the heart for lots of people, particularly men who might not have otherwise stumbled onto the path… Read more

“Everything I have ever been, I still am. although in transformed ways. At Christmas time all those images of Jesus from Christmases past come fully to life. I walk around with tears in my eyes. Tears of joy, tears of rage, tears of hope, tears of despair. Secular, humanist, Marxist, Quaker, Buddhist tears. Human tears. Complicated tears. Wonderful tears.” Richard Hayes Read more

One must have a mind of winterTo regard the frost and the boughsOf the pine-trees crusted with snow; And have been cold a long timeTo behold the junipers shagged with ice,The spruces rough in the distant glitter Of the January sun; and not to thinkOf any misery in the sound of the wind,In the sound of a few leaves, Which is the sound of the landFull of the same windThat is blowing in the same bare place For the listener,... Read more

On this day in 1833 Abner Kneeland published a letter which was published in both the Universalist journal, the Trumpet and the Boston Inquirer. In it he officially repudiated the Universalist orthodoxy, following his earlier voluntary leaving of the Universalist ministry. The letter was simple enough. It was addressed to Thomas Whittemore, editor of the Trumpet and read: Dear Sir: You observed to me the other day, that people still consider me a Universalist, and said to me “If you... Read more