Dear Members and Friends of First Unitarian, This morning, we made the decision NOT to hold in-person worship this Sunday. There will not be in-person worship at least through the end of this month. Live-stream worship will continue and we encourage everyone to sign on at 10:15 a.m. to view the service. Yesterday, we sent out a plan for much scaled back worship in response to the risks of the spreading virus. This plan included no Religious Education classes, no coffee or snacks, no orders of service, no passing of the collection baskets and a number of other steps to…

Our spiritual theme of “humility” is already prompting important reflection, at least based on questions I am receiving and conversations I’m having. Humility, if taken to extreme, can seem to ask that we pretend we have no talent or power. The belief that we have power to impact our lives and our world, “agency” in theological language, is central to liberal religious faith. But humility asks us to temper our “agency” with an understanding of our limitations, and our mistakes and failures. It requires balance, and keeping the power we do have in perspective. The Doctor’s Daughter On the way…

In a meeting with a group of congregants last week, I decided to share a poem about America for our centering. The past week I had blogged about the separation of church and state, and the dangers of our church becoming a political club. Yet our ministry together needs to make room for the hopes and the deeply felt fears for our national life. As I read the poem, it felt like the bottom dropped out of the emotional and spiritual space. I saw tears, pain and anger in the faces around the circle. But most I saw fear in…

Meet Delia, My Great Grandmother In this photo, taken about 1885, my great-grandmother, Delia Penland sits surrounded by her family. Her husband sits to her right, her eldest daughter, my grandmother, sits to her left. Delia was born a slave, owned by Robert Penland, who gave his name and his DNA to this branch of my family. Delia and her husband, William, managed somehow to send my grandmother from western North Carolina “across the mountain” to a Freedman’s Normal School in Tennessee where she was educated and taught before returning to Waynesville, NC to teach in the two room Black…

Unitarian Universalism knows the importance of the separation of church and state. Thomas Jefferson, who declared himself a Unitarian, articulated the original language of separation that we still draw on. The UUA has been clear in its support for that separation from its earliest days. We are founding members of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. We understand that separation to be both a protection for government from the influence of any one religious point of view AND a protection for religious institutions from the interference of government. As a faith community, our advocacy for marriage equality…

The burst of tears surprised me on Tuesday morning. I had been on edge since hearing President Trump’s unlawful order to assassinate the Iranian top general was carried through on Iraqi soil. So many questions swirled.  If there is retaliation and escalating strikes by the U.S., what will this mean for the people of Iraq already enduring decades of U.S. created war? What will this mean for the people of Iran--the children, the families, the elders, the civilians just like us--who will undoubtedly suffer the consequences of either a U.S. military response or more economic sanctions? What of the military…

Many of you spoke or wrote to me about the prayer I offered in worship last Sunday, just days before the turning of the year. As it spoke to those who spoke to me, I hope that it may speak to others as well.      - Bill Will you pray with me now? Spirit of Life and of Love, known by many names and by no name. Spirit of what has been and of what is to come. Spirit of this moment, which holds both memory and hope. We gather as the calendar points to the ending of another year…another year…

Tis the season when the world insists that gift giving take center stage in our lives. Though many of us resist the commercialism, generosity of spirit is certainly a spiritual value. The giving of gifts can be an expression of our love.   In this season, at First Unitarian, we collect gifts and hang gift cards on the Giving Trees outside the Sanctuary and in the Buchan Atrium. Those gifts go to Central City Concern (for those living with mental illness), for youth at Outside In, houseless pet owners through Paw Team and others. Our Social Justice Action Groups and Learning Community organize this gift giving.  But,…

Cornbread was on the menu last night at my evening meeting. The host had made the cornbread the “right way,” the cast iron skillet heated in the oven first so that the batter sizzled as it was spooned in. Baked in the skillet. Served with butter. The soup and the salad were excellent but it was the cornbread that filled my spirit. Made the way my mother and grandmother made it. The definition of comfort food for me. It may not be cornbread for you, but almost everyone has foods that take them back, foods that smell and look like…

Many of you know that I have been thinking about my retirement for some time. When the congregation called me in 2010, there was honest conversation about how long my ministry might last. I was 64 then and we all knew that a 20- or 30-year ministry was not in the realm of possibility. We agreed that up to 10 years seemed reasonable. This church year is my tenth. I have decided to serve through this church year and the next, retiring in June of 2021. I will be 75 and that feels like the right time to step down.…