We are all works in process and remain works in process through all of our days. The new version of ourselves is always emerging. This is true at the molecular level, as billions of cells die and are born within us each day. It is also true of our experience of ourselves. What we are becoming is always being brought forth, drawn from all that we have been and been through, transformed somehow by the constant creation that is life.  Emergence is our spiritual theme for the month of May. It is a complex and layered theme that opens many avenues for…

It is Earth Day. I awoke mindful of needing to be present to this day and all that it requires. Present to the damage our species has done and to the danger that we may well not have the good sense to change. Present also to our belated but growing understanding of the danger and the possibilities that the forced slowdown of the pandemic have made possible. Re-opening offers us a chance to make new choices.  I awoke on this Earth Day mindful that I and we are at a juncture, a time of choice. And the choice, as it always seems to be, is between cursing and blessing…

Rev. Egbert Ethelred Brown  I want to thank the members of the First Unitarian community who reached out to me, as news of the latest murder in Minnesota spread and news coverage of it surpassed even that of the Chauvin trial.  There is no surprise in that news for me, and therefore little shock. ”Open Season” on Black and Brown bodies seems never to end in the land of the free.  Part of our religious calling is to tell that truth. The religious voice needs to speak for the world that can be, as faith’s contribution to bringing that possible world into being. The Beloved Community must be built and “ours are the only hands on earth.”  This morning…

Raquel Willis, Trans Activist Last week the Governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, vetoed state bill HB1570 which denied gender affirming health care to minors, even with parental permission. The legislature promptly overrode his veto and that law is now on the books in Arkansas. The Governor, who is a Republican, described the bill as a major over-reach of the state into the private lives and medical needs of Arkansas citizens. Gender affirming health care includes not just gender-affirming surgery, but also hormone and speech therapy, and primary and psychiatric care as well. The denial of health care is simply cruel.…

"Silver Communion Set - Donated by the Ladies Sewing Circle in 1866" It was the Passover. Jesus gathered his inner circle in an upper room somewhere in Jerusalem to celebrate. He blessed the wine and the bread, told his followers to drink and eat, that liberation was there for them as it had been for the Jews held in bondage.   It was not a promise of ease. Forty years in the wilderness followed that escape from bondage across the Sea of Reeds. The Jews were spared that last plague, but not the arduous journey to freedom.  For the community gathered in that upper…

More congregants are asking when we will be able to return to in-person worship. It is far from a flood of questions, at least yet, but the number of questions has increased.  The questions are natural. For the first time in over a year, there is positive news about the pandemic. There are now three vaccines approved and being distributed. “Have you gotten your shot?” is a question I hear a lot. Check-ins at church meetings often lead with reports of vaccinations. Personally, I got my second shot last Friday.   Thankfully, though the absolute numbers remain high, the number of infections, hospitalizations and deaths have declined sharply.  And the…

Covid 19 is not the only virus infecting our culture. The murders at the Atlanta spas earlier this week reveal another face of the dysfunction and danger of the culture we are committed to dismantling.  There is so much that needs saying.  The alleged killer “gave no indicators” that the murders were racially motivated. The County Sheriff suggested that the killer was “having a bad day” and then, with a straight face reported: “We asked him that specifically and the answer was no.” Vladimir Putin also denied that Russia had influenced the 2016 election.  Asian American leaders are clear that these were hate crimes, another vector of domestic…

I want to thank all of you who let me know that our service and my sermon last Sunday resonated with you. Living with the virus for a year felt like an important milestone to mark. We tried to make space for the complicated streams of meaning, the losses and the blessings, that are part of this last year.  We will continue that reflection this coming week, beginning to look to what possibilities and what challenges the future may hold.  But this week, I have been in a quiet space, trying simply to be present to the unusual bright sunlight,…

“Sincere congratulations on First Unitarian’s on-going commitment to LGBTQ+ welcome and inclusion.”  We received the UUA’s letter earlier this week, recognizing First Unitarian’s successful completion of the Five Practices of Welcome Renewal for 2020. This new version of the original Welcoming Congregation Program focuses attention and asks for commitment to deepening the welcome our congregation offers to individuals with the variety of gender identities/expressions and sexual orientations present within the broad LGBTQ+/TGQNB (Transgender/Queer/Non-Binary) community.   The Unitarian Universalist Association early in its life (1970), made our affirmation of gay, lesbian and bi-sexual persons public. That General Assembly Resolution was an important step. But many UUs realized that the experience of welcome in too many congregations was far from complete. …

Kintsugi is a Japanese approach to pottery repair in which cracks are filled with golden lacquer, highlighting the shapes of the cracks with the valuable material. The flowing shape of the flaws adds to the beauty of the piece.  The technique was developed accidentally when 15th-century shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa broke his favorite tea bowl. He sent it to China to be repaired and was disappointed that it came back stapled together.   “Local craftsmen came up with a solution—they filled the cracks with a golden lacquer, making the bowl more unique and valuable. The repair elevated the fallen bowl back to its place…