“Almost Biblical.” That is how one staff member at the church described this week. Between the flood in our own Buchan building and the fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, that description had me nodding my head in agreement. In this week when the tulips have finally opened at my house, when we look forward to Easter Sunday and singing “Hallelujah,” one temptation is to focus only on the miracle of rebirth around us and within us in this season. But religious life calls us also to hold disappointment and even the disasters of life. Religious life is…

I always get the words wrong. The hymn “We Would Be One” is a favorite of mine and of many of us: We would be one as now we join in singing Our hymn of love to pledge ourselves anew… My problem is that I learned different lyrics, because this was the official hymn of Liberal Religious Youth, the youth ministry of the newly consolidated Unitarian Universalist Association when I became a UU. “Our hymn of youth” is what we sang and what still is called up for me whenever the simple and stately chords of Finlandia (the tune) introduce…

This is the season when preachers and teachers in religious communities search within themselves and in the world to justify hope. The renewal in the earth around us stands in stark contrast to the failures in human community, also around us. Human failures are now compromising even the resiliency of earth. It is a challenge always to find an honest message in the spring, as we approach Easter. I had the privilege of leading a First Connections session last Sunday, the first one I have led. The topic was Theology 101. I recounted the Unitarian and the Universalist contributions to…

Opportunity rather than equality has shaped the American vision of Beloved Community, at least the dominant vision. Equality as a goal, in fact, has been broadly embraced only as equality of opportunity. The conversation about reparations, which I introduced again in my sermon last Sunday, calls for a more honest understanding of the impact of trauma and oppression. That understanding raises real questions about the adequacy of opportunity as a singular standard and a goal. Based on my inbox, looking at the way trauma is passed down provided a lens that resonated deeply for many of us. One way that…

The Gospel of Mark, the earliest in the Christian tradition, begins with the adult Jesus seeking baptism. The earliest Gospel begins with his yearning for cleansing and the hope of new life that John the Baptist promised. It was a very human yearning, I think, that drew Jesus to the Jordan. Immediately after his baptism, “the spirit drove him into the wilderness.” This is the season of Lent, in the Christian liturgical calendar, a time of preparation, of seeking and centering, modeled on the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness. Many of us know wilderness journeys in our own…

A number of congregants have spoken or written to me about the UU WORLD article on transgender issues that I discussed in my sermon last Sunday. Some expressed thanks that we are dealing with this controversy in an open and direct way. You have heard me say, more than once, that keeping questions and conversations about our identities “on top of the table” is the path to learning. There were also folks who told me that they had read the WORLD article and did not understand what the problem was. I am so thankful for those questions because they model…

“There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.” -Howard Thurman I have often wished that our liberal religious tradition included Mardi Gras…Carnival. Other cultures embrace that celebration with gusto but it was never been seen as part of our Puritan derived, more somber spirituality. Those Puritan religious ancestors did not even really approve of…

The United Methodist Church has just affirmed their “Traditional Plan,” which refuses to allow same sex marriage or the ordination of queer ministers. Extensive child sexual abuse was recently exposed in the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the world. Long patterns of abuse of nuns by Catholic priests have come to light. This has been another tough season for institutional religion. As Unitarian Universalists, how should we respond? How should we feel? How do we feel? As a denomination, we have been leaders in affirming and celebrating marriage equality. AND our support for trans and genderqueer UU’s…

Last Sunday, almost 60 congregants gathered in Eliot Chapel after the 11:15 Service for my quarterly Q&A. Given the snow on Saturday and travel difficulties for many, I was thrilled with the turnout. I always enjoy this format with its give and take and the chance for me to hear what is on the minds and in the hearts of a cross section of the congregation. The questions ranged widely: How is our denomination moving on the issues of institutional racism? What role does forgiveness play in our search for resilience? Can we find some way to maintain silence in…

Through January 30, total pledge dollars for 2019 are virtually identical to last year at this time. We budgeted for a 3% increase. We anticipate an income shortfall in the $50,000 range by fiscal year-end. We are not yet prepared to discuss how we will deal with that shortfall, although that plan must come soon. We have continued our conservative spending approach, and have (to date) not “brought in” any of the reserves budgeted in this FY. That will most certainly change. Read more here ...