We often say in church that there’s a lot going on here at First Unitarian. And indeed there is—all you need to do is look at the weekly enews or … Continue reading First Connections

Few sermons have generated the level of engagement of last Sunday’s dialogue. Sofia Betancourt, who keynoted Seminary for a Day on Saturday, and I reflected on one of the shifts … Continue reading Lust for a Working Tomorrow

The poet Mary Oliver died today—Jan. 17—at the age of 83 in Florida. It was in a Unitarian Universalist church service when I first heard a poem by Oliver. I … Continue reading Remembering Mary Oliver

The gift giving and the gift finding season is hard upon us. The commercial culture that surrounds us is insistent on it. Even if we manage to resist the lure … Continue reading Yea-Sayers

As the winter solstice approaches, the longest dark of the year, the truth of the seasons and the cycles of life becomes so clear. We live in a culture that … Continue reading Life Goes On

It is the season of the long dark. From time out of mind, religious communities have found reason to gather and to light candles against the dark in this season. … Continue reading A Theology Adequate for the Night

I was in seminary, in the early 1990’s, when progressives began seriously questioning “Columbus Day” and the narrative of Manifest Destiny. That early response to the American Indian Movement was … Continue reading This Land Is Our Land

Wednesday morning, early, I passed a congregant at the gym. “Are you buoyed, Bill? Are you buoyed, at least a little?” Another friend used that term later in the morning: … Continue reading Are You Buoyed?

Halloween. All Saints Day. All Souls Day. This is the season when we humans have always sensed that the world of the spirit, or the spirits, is most closely aligned … Continue reading Day of the Dead