Here we are. And in 2022, today, the 15th of April is Good Friday. (Not coincidentally, it’s also the first day of Passover) Within the Christian tradition, Maundy Thursday kicked off the events that led to today’s horror, tomorrow’s mystery, and then Easter. Not just because of the season, but certainly helped along by it, I’ve been thinking a lot about Christianity of late. And when I think about something it pops up on my blog or... Read more

        Today, the 12th of April, 1961, sixty-one years ago Yuri Gagarin flew the Vostok 1 in an orbit of the Earth. With this Yuri became the first human being to touch outer space. As the rocket was poised to launch ground control informed him they were about to lift off, and he replied, “Poyekhali!” Which translates as “Let’s go!” I understand what was then called the Eastern bloc, his excited call to go has become the... Read more

        It was on this day, the 10th of April, in 428, that Nestorius was enthroned as Patriarch of Constantinople. Three years later he would be deposed and driven into exile. This would lead to the first ongoing schism within the continuing Christian churches, which would in time create the great branches of Oriental Orthodox, Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and the many branched Protestants.   The Church of the East (for more see here and here), which... Read more

      I am so pleased to announce that I have offered denkai transmission to senior dharma teachers, the Reverend Janine Seitetsu Larsen, Tom Daimon Wardle, and Mo Myokan Weinhardt. And, that they have accepted. As Zen has taken shape in the West most communities have found a two-step transmission healthful. The first step is authorization to teach, to give talks, to guide students in meditation disciplines, and to lead communities. However, one also continues as a student, whose... Read more

      It was on this day, the 9th of April in 1945. The allies were closing in and it was just two weeks before the collapse of the Nazi regime. It was one day after a trial before an SS judge. At dawn, the Reverend Dietrich Bonhoeffer was stripped naked, marched to the place of execution, and hung. It is unclear whether he had been tortured before, but historians are increasingly of the opinion that he was. Possibly... Read more

      First wrote a version of this this a couple of years ago. It’s a small celebration of one of the founders of the American Unitarian movement. Today, on the two hundred and forty-second anniversary of his birth, it seems worth reprinting, slightly polished from that earlier version.   William Ellery Channing was born on this day, the 7th of April, 1780 in Newport, Rhode Island. He is one of the more important people in my own spiritual... Read more

    Richard Alpert was born in Newton, Massachusetts, today, the 6th of April, 1931. He entered Tufts University in 1948 (which I note is the year I was born), graduating with a degree in psychology, then taking a master’s at Wesleyan, and finally earning his doctorate at Stanford. After a year teaching at Stanford he began teaching at Harvard. In 1961 Alpert joined with another Harvard professor, Timothy Leary, in a study of the potential therapeutic possibilities in psychedelics.... Read more

      James Luther Adams is arguably the single most important theologian produced by Unitarian Universalism in the twentieth century. Through his years at Harvard and elsewhere his teaching spread the benefits of a liberal spiritual perspective as a leaven among those who would become the clergy of many denominations. He was a wise and good teacher. In his essay “The Indispensable Discipline of Social Responsibility,” he tells a story about himself that haunts me. “In 1927 in the... Read more

      VAINGLORY The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Pride James Ishmael Ford First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to be of a lowly spirit among the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud. Proverbs 16:18-19 When I saw this was going to be the Sunday closest to April 1st, I found myself thinking of foolish things. Quickly, it became thinking... Read more