Greetings, beloveds. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to see many of you, and since I’ve been in our First Unitarian pulpit (virtually or otherwise!). Yet, when I was invited to write a piece about Body Liberation for our Staying Connected reflections, I welcomed it, because it is something that deeply grounds my own ministry--and, I believe, is an integral part of our communal work for collective liberation, inherently connected to work for anti-racism, disability justice, and ending so many other forms of oppressions.  My particular ministry context is one deeply related to the reality of our bodies,…

What a blessing the rain has been this month. First the weekend before last and then again earlier this week. It seemed as if our long hot summer had taken an extraordinary toll all around us. Everywhere I’d look, the earth had just gotten kind of brittle. Maybe that’s why the rain feels so long overdue. And I think that my spirit has also needed the rain. Perhaps it has also felt a little parched. I notice that when it rains through the night I seem to sleep a little more soundly. Walking outside the next morning everything feels washed…

Henry David Thoreau Cabin Last week, I learned about this company that offers secluded rentals of tiny cabins, where you can escape from the bustle of city life for a nearly monastic retreat. Somewhat in the genre of Airbnb, the simple one-room properties even come with a box so that you can lock your phone away and experience the moment. The day after I first heard these mentioned, I was hooked. I want to escape my bustling city life for a week in the woods meditating, reading, writing, and communing with nature! Ah, space and quiet. But, after a day…

It felt good to “launch” a new church year last Sunday, even if it was, once again, at a distance. We were able to see our choir singing via video—not the same as in person but we were at least able to have an image of our singers there together in community. And it was felt good imagining all of you out there gathered on Sunday morning. That imagination has been one of the things that has sustained me in these months when we have not been together in person. In the spirit of reminding us of the blessing we have…

This coming Sunday, Unitarian Universalist churches around the country will be gathering to begin another church year, Homecoming Sunday.   Why call some Sunday in the early fall Homecoming, some of you may ask? Worship, pastoral care and programming continue through the summer. It has been a long time since Unitarian churches closed during July and August. Are we simply reflecting the school calendar, with students re-gathering in person this fall? For a community that values education so highly, following the schools would seem almost natural.  The truth is that the language of “Homecoming” is a residue of the time when…

If you are reading this, you are alive. Let’s celebrate that! Take a full breath. Let your face find the shape of a soft smile of contentment. Inhale another breath of celebration: “I am alive.” Exhale with gratitude. How does that feel? What possibilities does connecting through your breath open for you? Yesterday I began writing this Staying Connected piece about anxiety, about the constancy of collective stress, fear and struggle in these times that weighs on each of us, and about the anatomy of my own struggle with anxiety over my lifetime. I wrote about how “possibility” seems distant…

Diverse and Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multi-Cultural Ministries. DRUUMM for short. This national organization invites Unitarian Universalists who identify as African American or from other parts of the African Diaspora, Latinx, Asian and Pacific Islander, South Asian and Indian, Native American or from other Indigenous Cultures to come together for mutual support and collective spiritual growth. It is an organization for Unitarian Universalists who identify as other than white. DRUUMM is one of many organizations in our faith centered on particular identities. There is an active DRUUMM presence here in the Pacific Northwest and active DRUUMM participation at First Unitarian. But…

This weekend, my housemate got word of a neighbor in distress. Her yard, driveway, and sidewalk were being overtaken by great lavender bushes! So, we pulled together a rescue squad, armed with garden shears and cotton bags, to liberate as many of the little purple flowers as we could. Now I love lavender. Sitting there, gathering it into bouquets, the smell washing over me, I remembered so many sweet memories: of an old friend who made the best lavender shortbread, of similar moments surrounded by lovely people picking chamomile on a farm I lived on a few years ago. And,…

Dear Members and Friends, I think I have mentioned in one of these before that I am a natural risk-taker. I think I’ve also mentioned that I am not a particularly hopeful person, generally. I usually believe that hope breeds disappointment and nurtures complacency. In any case, whether I’ve mentioned these things or not, I would doubt that any of this is a surprise to most of you by now. And yet, as we approach September 1st - the day choir rehearsals are scheduled to begin for our in-person worship services that soon follow - I find that both of…

Dear Members and Friends, This week Senior Minister, Rev. Bill Sinkford, offers a reflection: A few evenings ago, stepping out my front door, I was surprised to find two deer at the top of my driveway. Both were young males with new antlers budding on their heads. They were “playing” with each other, butting each other, head-to-head, as if testing strength and testing what these new growths could do.  They looked toward me across the 40 or 50 feet that separated us and decided that my presence was not reason to stop their play. Their testing of one another reminded me so…