As energy builds to “re-open” the nation, the question for First Unitarian is when we might imagine “re-opening” the church. When can we return to worshipping in the sanctuary? When can we open our campus for programming and rentals, for rites of passage and community events? When can we get back to “normal?” Several weeks ago, we announced that Sunday worship would continue only on-line through the summer. We have just made the difficult decision that we should not plan to return to the sanctuary for worship in the fall. First Unitarian will plan for on-line only worship through the…

The Lord of the Flies offers a grim and pessimistic portrayal of human nature. The “darkness [of the human] heart,” to use the author’s phrase, is revealed when a group of boys from a British boarding school, shipwrecked without adults on a deserted island, descend into violence. Their “civilized” veneers are quickly peeled away and their violent human natures emerge. Three of them die before they are rescued. The book was published in 1951 and helped shape a generation (or more) that was struggling to sustain a positive, liberal view of progress and human nature despite the reality of Auschwitz,…

The Sweet Gum tree outside my kitchen has finally leafed. It is always a “late bloomer” and the leaves are still unfolding a bit, up here on the hill where I live. I love being present to the greening of that tree, though it makes me wait each year, and though I am already missing the stark outlines of the branches against the grey winter sky. For me, this is a time between. Though winter is so clearly over, whatever summer will bring is only beginning to emerge. But there are signs. The ferns along my front path, planted by…

“The Pandemic Will Pass. Our Grief Will Endure” by Eddie Glaude, Jr., Washington Post, April 7, 2020 I printed Prof. Glaude’s article more than three weeks ago and placed it on a small stack of books and papers at the left of my desk. To the right are the books with chapters I plan to use in coming sermons, the poems and paragraphs I will use as readings and openings, the files I must open to move our ministry ahead. The stack to the left, which is much smaller, holds things that will not let me go, though I don’t…

A good friend, a longtime activist, confronted with injustice, is fond of asking, “Where can I insert my crow-bar and push!” Her question asks where needs are greatest and where effort can be most effective. Six weeks into the Covid 19 world, many of us privileged folks are seeing clearly the ways we remain insulated while marginalized communities bear the brunt of the pain. Where is the virus most deadly? Communities of color, poor communities, immigrant communities, incarcerated communities. Covid is shining a spotlight on the inequalities built into the fragile prosperity that has blessed too few at the expense…

When will things get back to normal? When will we be able to worship in the sanctuary? When will the choirs be able to sing again? When will our children be able to have religious education classes? All these questions are natural. The problem is that there are not good answers to any of them. We don’t know. We are planning for virtual-only worship through the end of this church year. My personal forecast is that we will remain in virtual mode for longer than that. So many of you have praised our virtual worship. So many have spoken of…

Easter at First Unitarian is usually such a celebratory time. Big music. All the choirs. The Halleluiah hymns. Every seat filled. Some years, Standing Room Only. Every year, I ponder the power that Easter has for liberal religious folks…for us…and for me. The rejection of the Christian miracles was a central part of the creation of our Unitarian faith. Yet, in a normal year, more folks gather in our sanctuary on Easter morning than any other morning in the year. More than any other time…except Christmas Eve, of course. Every year, I conclude that there is simply a human need…

“All I can do is to LOVE bigger.” The young nurse being interviewed at home after her 12 hour shift at a New York hospital, exhaustion in her face, spoke to me with a needed reminder of what I know to be true. All we can do is to love bigger. I offer her words not because they provide an easy antidote to the grief and fear that so many of us feel. Nor an antidote to the weariness I am already feeling as the health crisis tries to crowd out every other concern and undercut so many joys. Being…

“I’m living with less sleep and more doom and gloom feelings. But I’m OK.” It was not an unusual message to start my day. The news feed on my phone regularly reports the death toll from the virus, the financial toll from the stock market, and now the skyrocketing of unemployment as our economy grinds toward a halt.  Mortality seems closer. Hope seems more distant. Doom and gloom, indeed.  As we settle in for a likely prolonged period when the word “normal” will shift its meaning, I find myself buoyed – held up – by unexpected gifts received from unexpected…

We are, many of us, living in that space after decisions have been made, when we begin to know what the ramifications of those decisions will surely be. The decisions needed to be made. There was no real choice. The danger of not making those decisions was too great. But no one spoke of all the results. The schools are closed. Those who can, work from home. Too many are not working at all and not being paid. Social distancing has become a way of life, bringing greater Isolation. Unemployment claims skyrocketing. The stock market crashing. We are beginning to…