Hamas terrorists attacked Israeli civilians and awakened war once again. My heart is breaking. My guess is yours may be as well. Israel and Palestine are interlocked in a seemingly ceaseless war where the losers keep mounting over time. For those of us who are Jews and Muslims, and for those who are Unitarian Universalists with Jewish or Muslim identity, the unfolding of these events can be particularly painful.  Today, counting the losses of human life moves my spirit toward the practice of lamentation.   When O Lord* will the fighting cease? How many departed souls, How many injured,How many displaced and homeless…

Unitarian Universalists tend to be lifelong learners. We have a holy curiosity about us that begins as small children, and this yearning is never extinguished. It is a frequent trait among us. However, many of our religious education programs or exploration programs used to end after eighth grade or at the end of high school. We even called the ceremony at the end of either of those time periods “graduation,” as if our children were done with the big questions about the meaning of everything.  But the good news is that more and more of our communities are imagining and…

I had the privilege of attending a talk by David Brooks when he was in town this week. Brooks is a columnist for the New York Times and writes often about community and its importance in these fractured times. Brooks points to many indicators of how isolated so many of us are in this culture and how we have come to distrust not only institutions like a government that are supposed to help bring people together but also each other. All of this leads to further and further isolation. Brooks, in his talk, shared a number of examples of people…

Fall symbolizes change and transition. The shift from warm weather to cooler weather, the changing colors of the leaves, the rising to a new grade in school, the continuing emergence out of COVID, the turning of the year in the Jewish calendar, the turning of the wheel in the pagan calendar, and Homecoming this Sunday in our calendar.   This particular fall brings to our community a number of transitions on staff. It is a time of saying goodbye and thank you to two staff members a time of saying welcome to four new staff members.   It is a season of…

Hello good people. Happy summer. The Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly met last month in Pittsburgh, PA. The General Assembly is the annual gathering of our denomination. GA serves an important governance function in our movement—representatives from congregations vote on the major decisions that affect the life of our denomination. But it is also the “gathering of the tribe,” a time to renew bonds of connection as well as to form new bonds. A lot happened a this GA and Arthur Ungar, one of this congregation’s delegates graciously agreed to offer the following summary from GA: Report on General Assembly…

“The most moving look I ever saw from a child in the woods was on a mud bar by the footprints of a heron. We were on our knees, making handprints beside the footprints. You could feel the creek vibrating in the silt and sand. The sun beat down heavily on our hair. Our shoes were soaking wet. The look said: I did not know until now that I needed someone much older to confirm this, the feeling I have of life here. I can now grow older, knowing it need never be lost.”  –Barry Lopez (from the essay “Children…

I sat in on one of the Community Conversations yesterday and left feeling inspired about the church. If you haven’t signed up for one, I hope you will do so. There are still several times—in person and virtually—when you can attend. And if you haven’t heard about them, Rev. Alison is hosting a series of gatherings with congregants to make a space to hear not only about what brought people to the church and what keeps them here but also to hear people’s longings for our community. Every day these days I’m aware of how we are a church in…

As we launch our Community Conversations sessions this Sunday, I want to share some of the vision and direction we are headed in together. This is grounded in all you have shared with me so far this year and what I have learned as a minister over the years.   Please attend one of the eight sessions between this Sunday, May 21, and Sunday, June 11, and keep the information coming about what you find meaningful now and your hopes and dreams for the future of our community. Register at www.tinyURL.com/FUPConversations  1.)    I am hearing over and over stories of people who are…

This morning as I was reading the news my eyes paused over the headline that as of today the government is declaring the Covid public health emergency over. The story in the New York Times talked about the range of emotions that brings, especially for the families of people who have died of Covid. How the pandemic has impacted some people so much more than it has others. And my next question: so just what does it mean for this to be declared over? On Wednesday I took a walk downtown at lunch time. Something I haven’t done much at…

This month we are exploring the theme of transformation as one way into our annual spiritual theme of “Rooted in Relationship.” Being part of a covenanting spiritual community involves continuous change. First Unitarian is not the same as we were in the 1880s or the 1980s, or the early 2000s. We will not be the same in 2033 as we are today in 2023. While some things about us will remain constant, there will be shifts and movement all along the way.   Some changes are unwanted, such as the need to face a highly infectious pandemic that has led to…