This Thanksgiving I find myself reflecting on the absence of perfection. You have heard me preach about the problems of perfection as a standard, the way it encourages all of us to embrace definitions of the good that are culturally determined…and leaves us all perpetually unsatisfied with our performance and, sadly, with ourselves. Preaching against perfection does not diminish, however, the truth that we are so divided, nor that so much in our body politic is in disarray. I think of our deeply flawed political process and lament the fact that it seems more and more imperfect. Perfection would mean…

In his concluding statement during the Democratic Candidates Debate last night, Senator Corey Booker pointed out Rep. John Lewis sitting in the audience and began with the famous words of gratitude from Deuteronomy: “We drink from wells we did not dig.” He began with gratitude and the recognition that his life would not have been possible without the sacrifice and the suffering of those who have “brought us thus far on the way.” As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, my own spirit honors first those whose lives have made possible my own life, my genetic “family” of enslaved persons and slave…

Theologian and jazz great, Duke Ellington, got it right: “Come Sunday, oh, come Sunday, that’s the day.” We call it Celebration Sunday, this Sunday, when we try to transform our financial giving to support First Unitarian into a joyful expression of our gratitude for all the church means in our lives. My goal is to convince more of us to be in the sanctuary this Sunday. Because this Sunday will be different. The way we’ve done this in past years, Celebration Sunday has meant individuals (and families) bringing your pledges of financial support down front where the ministers and lead…

The first thing to say about our democracy is that it is not one. Our system of government is not a democracy. The “framers” of our system, those “founding fathers”, were deeply distrustful of democracy and what might happen if all the people had a voice in our political decision making. Unitarian Thomas Jefferson’s “all [men] are created equal” was never the embodied intention. Jefferson did not live it and none of the men who gathered in Philadelphia in 1787 believed they were creating a real democracy. They intended that all people would not participate, only the wealthy, white, male,…

Halloween. All Saints Day. All Souls. These traditions trace back to the Celtic “New Year” celebration of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). This transition time between summer and the cold, dark of winter was associated with human death. It was understood to be a time when the boundary between the worlds of the living and dead became porous, a time when the spirits of the dead returned to earth. Our spiritual theme for November is Death, one of the most important and resonant themes in religious life. We Unitarian Universalists refrain from claiming any collective certainty about what happens to us when…

Fall is a transitional season. The brightness of summer has dimmed, but the long dark of winter still lies ahead. This is a liminal season, a time between when the old reality still informs our longing even while the new truth holds our hopes. Liminal. A time between. An entrance. A threshold. A space in which both old and new are present, the boundary between them thins. “…the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” T.S. Eliot, cousin of our founding minister, knew the power of liminal…

The fall colors not only signal the change of season but begin to shift our attention toward the coming time of long dark. We anticipate the loss of light, and other losses are called to mind as well. Perhaps it is the news of the day that calls me into such a reflective and prayerful space. The death of Congressman Elijah Cummings last night has me grieving, though I never met him. The tributes are flooding in: “He was a good man...” That is how so many of the tributes begin. A good man who reached across the aisle in…

On this day, when Turkish troops attack the Kurds, our traditional allies, in Syria, encouraged by a US President whose business interests and leadership preferences bind him to the Turkish dictator and “strong men” around the globe… On this day, when that same President throws down what may be the final gauntlet and refuses all cooperation with the process of impeachment, called for in the Constitution he swore to defend… On this day, when immigration and asylum quotas are being slashed to make America white again and anything with our former Black President’s name associated with it is reversed or…

Courage is our spiritual theme for October. Most dictionary definitions suggest that courage involves fearlessness, somehow being able to hold fear at bay. If you Google “Courage is not the absence of fear,” the words of several famous individuals pop up: Courage is not the absence of fear, - “but the triumph over it.”  Nelson Mandela - “but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.” Franklin Roosevelt. - “but acting in spite of it.” Mark Twain. Let me add one more of my own: Courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to journey…

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Anais Nin Rev. Carol Cissel, our guest preacher last Sunday, spoke about the will it takes to visit our church, or any church. She spoke about getting up, getting dressed, checking the website, driving if we drive, parking, walking in…on time. “It is not an accident that our visitors are here.” Not an accident at all. There is all the effort required to get here on a Sunday morning, but beyond the effort, there is the uncertainty…