DOING JUSTICE, LOVING MERCY & ENDEAVORING TO MAKE OUR FELLOW CREATURES HAPPY A Reflection on Social Justice as Spiritual Practice A Sermon byJames Ishmael Ford 15 March 2009First Unitarian ChurchProvidence, Rhode Island Text The quality of mercy is not strain’d,It droppeth as the gentle rain from heavenUpon the place beneath: it is twice blest;It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomesThe throned monarch better than his crown;His sceptre shows the force of temporal... Read more

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I was rummaging around the web researching for this Sunday’s sermon when I learned that Alan Lew died early this year. What a loss for us all. A long time Zen practitioner, one who really seemed to get it, but who on his own spiritual journey ended up as the rabbi of a Conservative congregation in San Francisco. Died while jogging. I’ll pass on thoughts about jogging for now. Rather, I’d like to draw your attention to this good man,... Read more

Happiness Because yesterday morningfrom the steamy window we saw a pair of red foxes across the creek eating the last windfall apples in the rain‹ they looked up at us with their green eyeslong enough to symbolize the wakefulness of living things and then went back to eating‹ and because this morningwhen she went into the gazebo with her black pen and yellow pad to coax an inquisitive soul from what she thinks of as the reluctance of matter,I drove... Read more

On the 21st of January, 1925, Representative John Washington Butler introduced a bill to the Tennessee legislature outlawing the teaching of evolution in the state’s schools. Specifically, it prohibited “any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals.” It passed the house and then on this day in 1925 it passed the state senate. A week later it... Read more

I loaned a copy of Dan Wakefield’s spiritual memoir Returning to a friend, who dropped it off at my office yesterday. I found myself looking at some of the dog ears I occasionally create as markers for quotes. (Always and only with paperbacks for those who care to know) And I saw this one. Sometimes what moved me once, doesn’t make near as much sense the next time I look. Here’s one that does… For any of us who return... Read more

Today is the anniversary of Mohandas Gandhi’s start on his historic march to the sea. The great heart continues to be an inspiration for me and as I was looking around Youtube seeking something suitable I ran across the clip below, part of a rather strange and in some compelling way beautiful project. If you’re not familiar with it, perhaps you’ll find it interesting… Read more

On the Eve of St Patrick’s Day it can be good to stop and think of some of those daughters and sons of the Old Sod… Read more

This past Sunday after a worship service which turned on Hungarian-speaking Unitarianism, I caught a little flack for all the god talk. In particular we used several hymns that sang of a God that intervenes in history. One person offered that line which is oft repeated of late but which is perhaps unique to Unitarian Universalist churches, “If we keep hearing all this god-talk in church, I may have stop coming.” Actually the speaker is someone I deeply admire for... Read more

March 10th Statement of H.H. the Dalai Lama Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the Tibetan people’s peaceful uprising against Communist China’s repression in Tibet. Since last March widespread peaceful protests have erupted across the whole of Tibet. Most of the participants were youths born and brought up after 1959, who have not seen or experienced a free Tibet. However, the fact that they were driven by a firm conviction to serve the cause of Tibet that has continued from... Read more