Bomb Throwers, Navel Gazers, and Goin’ All Thoreau: Doing Justice

Last updated on: May 15, 2014 at 6:10 am By David Breeden

Let’s consider an extreme example, a stark instance of the decision between doing something and talking about it. The abolitionist John Brown, fed up with the endless wrangling and political maneuvering over slavery in the early Nineteenth Century, decided to take matters in his own hands. He led a group that attacked a US military arsenal with the intention of seizing the weapons—Sharps rifles, which were a state-of-the-art weapon of the time, and arming slaves. Brown was captured, and, in... Read more

We’ve Come This Far…

Last updated on: May 14, 2014 at 8:06 am By Rev. Deanna Vandiver

For her 75th birthday, my Granny talked my dad, her 4th born son, into driving her and my Great Aunt Dot out the see the Grand Canyon “before I die.” Once they had made the long journey from North Georgia to the Grand Canyon, Granny turned to my dad and said “you know what else I want to see before I die? The giant redwood trees! We’ve come this far. We might as well go.” What else could my dad... Read more

Those Who Came Before Us

Last updated on: May 12, 2014 at 9:40 pm By Rev. Heather Rion Starr

Life is busy as ever, one thing hurtling on into the next, and we are juggling so many different to-do lists at once. In the midst of that whirlwind, I experienced Mother’s Day this year as an opportunity to reflect, ever-so-momentarily, on lineage and the mystery of the past. I enjoyed seeing all the mother-daughter, aunt-niece, mentor-mentee, multi-generation photos that people posted on Facebook. And so I took just a few moments to scan this photo I had recently come... Read more

Salvation Hits the Couch

Last updated on: May 8, 2014 at 5:50 am By David Breeden

Buddhism had been known in the United States since the mid-Nineteenth Century, but really came into its own with the return of Pacific War vets who had spent some time in Japan. (The creation of Red China insured that Chinese Buddhism would not be generally available to the Western World for some time.) One of the aspects of Buddhism that attracted post-War interest is that it is based more in psychology than in theology. Buddhism—at least in the Zen form... Read more

Give me the heart

Last updated on: May 6, 2014 at 10:37 am By Rev. Deanna Vandiver

I have spent the past few days saturated in extraordinary music, delicious food, dear friends – and almost completely off of the grid, just checking in from time to time with the office and the work phone to keep disasters to a minimum. Today I return to the world of administration and e-mail, deadlines and accountability, pastoral care and organizing. Today I pray to the universe “give me the heart.” Give me the heart to love, the heart of compassion... Read more

Wonder

Last updated on: January 7, 2015 at 7:06 pm By meganlloydjoiner

Tonight I am thinking of how preciously fragile and how fragilely precious life is and how we (even those of us who know this from experience) walk down the street on a spring day with buds and birds and bright green leaves against a blue sky like it is not a miracle that our feet stick to the earth and our lungs draw air in and we are all spinning in space and that we get to be here, in... Read more

Too Much Noise

Last updated on: May 2, 2014 at 10:31 am By Christine Organ

The house is still and quiet. The only sounds are the low gurgle of the fish tank filter and my fingers tapping on the computer keys. The soft light of morning is just creeping over the pine trees out my back window and the streets are blanketed in just enough darkness that the cars outside my front window drive with their lights on. In a few minutes, the house will be a flurry of activity. The boys will stumble down... Read more

Carrots, Sticks, Paddles, and Autopilot

Last updated on: December 29, 2014 at 1:18 pm By David Breeden

Buddhist wisdom says there are three ways we naturally approach anything—desire, aversion, or indifference. For the sake of convenience, I call them, “yum!” “eeeeewwww” and “zzzzzz.” I see a slice of cheese cake. “Yum!” I love cheese cake. So, I desire the slice of cheese cake. I grab it. Five hundred calories down my gullet. I see a squirrel that’s been hit by a car. Eeeeeewwww! Aversion. I look away. Then there’s indifference: trees along the route to work, for... Read more

The Trouble with Donald Sterling

Last updated on: April 30, 2014 at 6:55 pm By Lynn Ungar

The trouble with Donald Sterling is that he’s an…well, for the sake of public consumption, let’s just say that he’s a jerk. A racist jerk who said appalling things. I hope his girlfriend dumps him. But the question is what his jerkiness means to those of us who have the good fortune not to be dating him. After all, he, like all the rest of us in the United States, is entitled to freedom of speech. If he wants to... Read more

Rest Easy

Last updated on: April 29, 2014 at 10:18 am By Rev. Deanna Vandiver

The high April winds blowing damage across the US this week also blew something into town that my lungs are treating as poison. This morning I face the day with more empathy and exhaustion than I have known in a while. To everyone who struggles with their own health through the quiet hours, may you feel the love and support of your community. To everyone who serves babies, elders, or the ill through the night, may you know that your... Read more