I write these words on a day marked by two significant American political events. One is how today has become our first defacto national primary election. When the dust settles it is likely the Republican Party will have its candidate, and it is possible the same will be true for the Democrats. The second event of significance is that Adlai Stevenson was born on this day one hundred and eight years ago. He was the last declared Unitarian (there has... Read more

As Jan & I drove home from Perkins School for the Blind (where she works as research librarian) we discussed the primary election tomorrow. We’ve both been with Senator Clinton for most of this ride. But, with much hesitation, and a little sadness, we’ve agreed that tomorrow we will cross over and both cast our votes for Senator Barack Obama. Personally, I’m driven by four issues. The first is health care. The second is the Supreme Court. Third is how... Read more

Today’s service at the First Unitarian Society in Newton was put together by our new music director Anne Watson Born. She asked me to do the “reading,” which I was happy to do. It was Denise Levertov’s “Misnomer.” They speak of the art of war,but the artsdraw their light from the soul’s well,and warfaredries up the soul and draws its powerfrom a dark and burning wasteland.When Leonardoset his genius to devisingmachines of destruction he was notacting in the service of... Read more

Elizabeth Blackwell was born on this day in 1821. After much struggle Blackwell became the first woman in America to receive a formal medical education (graduating first in her class in 1849) and practice medicine. A native of Great Britain, after spending much of her life in America she returned to England where she became a professor of gynecology at the London School of Medicine for Women which, with others, she founded. She was a prolific author. She was both... Read more

And, boy, do I need it. This time with our Zen sangha in Medford. Jan & I will have to leave a little early so I can prepare for our congregation’s Visitor’s Potluck gathering, a lovely event. But, even with such time constraints, there is little more lovely than a few hours of sustained quiet… Read more

I believe we must follow the example of our radical reformation cousins, the Quakers, and try to “speak truth to power.” Sometimes that means taking an unpopular stand. Sometimes, and this can be the most difficult thing, but also maybe the most important;, it means calling ourselves to account. I believe this commitment to truth-telling is a powerful and a dangerous commission given to us from the depths of our spiritual perspective. We must be willing to turn over the... Read more

My last few posts have been devoted to ruminations on the nature of liberal religion. Fair warning, it’ll continue for a few more days. I’ve worked up seven of these reflections and today posted the fourth of the series. I will continue posting them as I polish and feel them more or less ready, probably one or so a day ’till they’re all up. But today, I find myself thinking a lot about our American presidential elections. I’m so glad... Read more

(Education is) a political activity with pilgrims in time that deliberately and intentionally attends with people to our present, to the past heritage it embodies, and to the future possibility it holds for the total person and community. Thomas Groome Quite simply, I consider religious education one of the most important things we do in our churches. Possibly the most important thing we do. One of the better things I inherited from my Baptist background was the belief that when... Read more

One’s-Self I sing—a simple, separate Person; Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-masse. Of Physiology from top to toe I sing; Not Physiognomy alone, nor brain alone, is worthy for the muse—I say the Form complete is worthier far; The Female equally with the Male I sing. Of Life immense in passion, pulse, and power, Cheerful—for freest action form’d, under the laws divine, The Modern One I sing. Walt Whitman I. Me. How sweet the words. The movement of... Read more

The most visible activity in belonging to a religious society is our gathering together on Sunday mornings. In fact, many people think there is nothing more to belonging to a church than attending Sunday services. (How goes the old joke about ministers? Missing six days a week, incomprehensible on the seventh?) Of course, there is much more to our shared lives than that. What is true is the Sunday service is the visible focus of our religious lives. And, I... Read more