2011-11-01T15:15:31-07:00

TRUE PEACE A Sermon byJames Ishmael Ford 23 September 2007First Unitarian SocietyWest Newton, Massachusetts Text The spirit of (this) time is woven about two books: the Torah and the legendary Book of Life. According to legend on Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, the Angel of Life writes each of our destinies for the year to come. During the ten days following, the Days of Awe, the Book of Life is kept open. If we then merely try to understand how... Read more

2011-11-01T15:15:31-07:00

My goodness! While wandering the web for something entirely different (how could I have been looking for this) I stumbled upon the site for Brother Jerome. “Brother Jerome is a chatbot – a conversational A.I. program, hosted on the Personality Forge website: he is a virtual entity designed to mimic human conversation. More specifically, he is a monk-bot who preaches the coming of fully sentient, conscious bots in the near future. But he also likes games and mathematics, and general... Read more

2011-11-01T15:15:31-07:00

An Open Letter from the Buddhist Peace Fellowship to the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China. September 9, 2007 His Excellency Hu Jintao President of The People’s Republic of China His Excellency Wen Jiabao Premier of the State Council The Honorable Ye Xiaowen SARA Bureau Director c/o Embassy of the People’s Republic of China 2300 Connecticut Ave., NW Washington, DC 20008 Dear Sirs, On July 13, 2007, the State Administration for Religious Affairs of the People’s Republic of China... Read more

2011-11-01T15:15:31-07:00

On this day in 1836 Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederick Henry Hedge (pictured to the right), Bronson Alcott, James Freeman Clarke and Convers Francis gathered at Sophia and George Ripley’s home in Concord in response to a letter from Hedge to Emerson calling for the creation of a “symposium” that could allow for a “free discussion of theological and moral subjects.” Among others the club would eventually include were Theodore Parker, Margaret Fuller, Orestes A. Brownson, Elizabeth and Sophia Peabody, Henry... Read more

2011-11-01T15:15:31-07:00

It’s with that curious but possibly uniquely human combination of joy and sorrow that I reflect on my recent announcement of my intention to leave as senior minister of the First Unitarian Society in Newton at the end of this church year. (For those readers not familiar with suchconventions, this means the 31st of August, upcoming…) First, and foremost, I want to say this. It has been a joy to serve the Society for what at my leaving will have... Read more

2011-11-01T15:15:31-07:00

I’m so stoked to learn that Doris Dorrie the maker of the delightful little film Enlightenment Guaranteed has a new film coming out in October, How to Cook Your Life. It is supposed to be a guide to Zen featuring the Zen teacher & cook Edward Espe Brown, author of such classics as the Tassajara Bread Book and Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings. I’m confident it will be all that is promised. (thanks to Danny Fisher for the pointer &... Read more

2011-11-01T15:15:31-07:00

MY GRANDMOTHER’S GOD,MY FATHER’S GOD,AND MY GOD A Unitarian Universalist Exploration of the Nature of the Divine A Sermon byJames Ishmael Ford 16 September 2007First Unitarian SocietyWest Newton, Massachusetts Text I was sent forth from the power, and I have come to those who long for me, I am found among those who seek after me. Look upon me, you who long, Listen deeply, hear me. You who are waiting for me, take me to yourselves. And do not banish... Read more

2011-11-01T15:15:32-07:00

https://youtube.com/watch?v=2nmFg7hZRv4 Read more

2011-11-01T15:15:32-07:00

I continue to not be able to figure out how to post the YouTube video with commentary. So… My previous post is a video including a reading of some of Thunder, Perfect Mind, a poem, a part of the collection of documents found at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in 1945. In my opinion this collection is vastly more important than the Dead Sea Scrolls, as important as they undoubtedly are. The poem is sometimes lost in the face of that other... Read more

2011-11-01T15:15:32-07:00

Theology is unapologetically prescriptive. It does not claim to be value-free or neutral. Theologians draw upon the beliefs of a particular tradition to suggest a course of action, an appropriate response, a way of life commensurate with what the faith teaches. Theology can be wrong; it cannot be non-commital. Harvey Cox Read more

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