As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, a few months ago I announced my intention of leaving the First Unitarian Society in Newton at the end of this church year. These have been eight good years, and I expect I’ll write more about that as we move closer to the end of our time together. That happily acknowledged, it was also time to go. After closely considering the congregations available and interesting this year, my list reduced to four, two... Read more

(Here is an important update on the situation in Tibet from the AP. Also, I hope you will consider going to Avaaz and sign their petition…) Dalai Lama to Resign if Violence WorsensStory by Associated Press WriterGavin Rabinowitz From Associated PressMarch 18, 2008 7:30 AM EDT (Dateline Darmsala, India) The Dalai Lama threatened Tuesday to step down as leader of Tibet’s government-in-exile if violence committed by Tibetans in his homeland spirals out of control. The rioting prompted Premier Wen Jiabao... Read more

Perkins School for the Blind is among the oldest schools for the blind in the world. Its founding director Samuel Gridley Howe is generally credited with first establishing principals for teaching the deafblind which in large part continue to this day. Anne Sullivan was a graduate of the teaching program, and was famously sent to Helen Keller at the desperate request of her mother. Among the many programs established and supported by Perkins is the Samuel P. Hayes Research Library.... Read more

Today is the feast of St Patrick and so, perhaps naturally, I find my thoughts turning Irish. I think it worth noting how on this day in 1830 James Martineau and others formed the Irish Unitarian Association. A couple of years ago three couples, including Jan and me, all from the Newton congregation visited Ireland. During that visit I had the enormous pleasure and privilege of preaching at the Dublin Unitarian Church, where Martineau had served. Lovely people, easily recognizable... Read more

I recently stumbled upon the New Dharma Bums blog and found this by Robin Andrea: I was tagged to do the six-word autobiography. I don’t usually do memes, but this one only requires six little words. So here they are: Ten thousand sorrows, ten thousand joys. Ain’t it the truth for us all? Read more

thank you Danny Read more

As a youth I took quite an interest in that period of Roman history running up to Julius Caesar and the years following. The period could be thought of as sort of a cusp in the development of Western civilization. And that’s how I took it. With all the callowness that more or less defines youth I marked the Ides of March in the year 44 before the common era as the actual beginning of the common era, and gave... Read more

Following peaceful demonstrations of Buddhist monks yesterday, Tibetan nationals, now a minority in their own country, began to riot, burning shops and vehicles. The Chinese authorities reacted in the same spirit they always meet disruption of order, and particularly in their border regions; with tanks, guns and a bloody boot placed back quickly and firmly on the neck of the people. There appear to be at least a hundred dead at this writing. If you don’t recall the horrific suppression... Read more

According to my handy This Day in Unitarian Universalist History today is the sixty-third anniversary of the establishment of the Fellowship Movement, one of the signal events in the development of liberal religious communities in North America. The article reads on this day in 1945 “The American Unitarian Association voted to establish fellowships, or lay-led groups. The fellowship movement encouraged individualism and in many cases stressed social commitment. Although many fellowships grew into churches, many preferred their lay status and... Read more

This week has been a mad dash, starting with a return from a brief trip to California, and woven with the dying of a loved member of the congregation. Along the way I had to prepare for an evening conversation on Confucianism, which I was expected to know a little more about than the others present. I’m not sure I succeeded. But, I did find the subject rather more compelling than I thought I would. In particular I was taken... Read more