I find the many connections between people within our congregations and within our denomination create tendrils of affection and interest that intertwine and bind us tightly together. Our tradition honors two truths in particular. We profoundly honor the preciousness of the individual. This cannot be overstated. And our churches cultivate a broader engagement with the world informed by a profound intuition of our radical interdependence with each other and the world itself. Within this creative tension of knowing we are... Read more

I’ve just learned that the nominations for the Fourth Annual UU Blog Awards have been announced. I was pleased and honored to learn Monkey Mind has been nominated in several categories. Although, for the life of me, I don’t know why I received at least one of the nominations… Some friends dismiss projects like these awards as a bit too inward turned and self-congratulatory. I’m sure they’re right. But, having some readers and fellow bloggers thinking something I wrote worth... Read more

William Claude Dukenfield was born on this day in 1880. He is, of course, better known as W. C. Fields. He started out as a juggler and traveled internationally with a comic mime act. Returning to the states Fields’ quick wit became the basis for a monologue that accompanied his juggling. In 1915 he made his first short film. From there Fields began his famous career as a charming rogue and almost, but never quite buffoon. He was featured in... Read more

Well, after several false starts, Jan & auntie & I finally saw Atonement last night. Jan had already read the book. And she had warned us it has a sad ending. Then an hour or so before seeing the movie a friend suggested as I go in to the theater to recall that line from Truman Capote, which goes something along the lines of “The only unforgivable sin is betrayal.” Of course I delighted in such a layered saying, coming... Read more

Well, I guess this proves it is not good to have a little time on one’s hands. Thinking, wow, a free hour! I’d been meaning to reformat the blog a bit. And now, several hours later, I have. Hope you like it. In the process I lost all my blog links!. Never was very mechanically minded. As you might notice I’ve tried to restore them. In the process I’ve put a few up I’ve been meaning to for a while,... Read more

Off for a day long sit with our Zen sangha in Worcester. Probably all for the best, considering the old Zen saying “Once you open you mouth, already you’re wrong…” Of course that’s never slowed me down. So, more anon… Read more

This is K. D. Lang’s beautiful interpretation of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. (Thank you, Charlie!) For those who notice such things, this is the third version to grace this blog… And thanks to Ms Kitty, here are the words. “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen Now I’ve heard there was a secret chordThat David played, and it pleased the LordBut you don’t really care for music, do ya?It goes like this,The fourth, the fifth,The minor fall, the major liftThe baffled king composing HallelujahHallelujahHallelujahHallelujahHallelujah... Read more

The following letter was written by Thomas Schade, minister at the First Unitarian Church in Worcester, Massachusetts, and published on the Unitarian Universalist Minister’s chat. I found it very compelling and believed it should have a wider reading. So, with Tom’s permission, here it is. My Beloved Colleagues, When will we start correlating the theories that we espouse about the religious life and the condition in which we find our churches and congregations? On the one hand, our worship life... Read more

I guess, based upon how often I cite it, Thomas Merton’s little volume Wisdom of the Desert: Some Sayings of the Desert Fathers must be one of my most important spiritual books. Here’s another anecdote from ancient Egypt.It was said of one of the elders that he persevered in a fast of seventy weeks, eating only once a week. This elder asked God to reveal to him the meaning of a certain Scripture text, and God would not reveal it... Read more

As if god were an old manalways upstairs, sitting aboutin sleeveless undershirt, asleep,arms folded, stomach rumbling,his breath from open mouothstr4ident, presaging death… No, God’s in the wilderness next door– that huge tundra room, no walls and a sky roof –busy at the loom. Among the berry bushes,rain or shine, that loud clacking and whirring.irregular but continuous;God is absorbed in work, and hearsthe spacious hum of bees, not the din,and hears far-offour screams. Perhapslistens for prayers in that wild solitude.And hurries... Read more