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 ...

We often say in church that there’s a lot going on here at First Unitarian. And indeed there is—all you need to do is look at the weekly enews or pick up the Sunday Bulletin or look over the Path to Engagement publication to see the long list of things that the church offers. Everything from classes to retreats to small group experiences. Everything from choirs to social justice groups to many volunteer experiences. Indeed there are many opportunities, but paradoxically, all those options can feel a little overwhelming when you are new. Making connections in our large community can…

Rev. Bill Sinkford and Rev. Sophia Betancourt Few sermons have generated the level of engagement of last Sunday’s dialogue. Sofia Betancourt, who keynoted Seminary for a Day on Saturday, and I reflected on one of the shifts required to secure Unitarian Universalism as a liberating faith for the future…and the present. We spoke of concepts of freedom liberated from the constraints of power and privilege out of which our faith tradition grew. My conversations and my in-box reflect real engagement, not enthusiastic approval. Re-imagining central religious concepts, like “freedom,” is not done easily. Re-imagining involves a giving up of the…

The poet Mary Oliver died today—Jan. 17—at the age of 83 in Florida. It was in a Unitarian Universalist church service when I first heard a poem by Oliver. I can’t remember which one it was. But I do remember being taken by her work in a way that I had been with few other poems. Oliver’s work, so often invoking the natural world, is particularly accessible in a setting like worship. It can draw you in resonate with a kind of ease and grace. Perhaps her most memorial question is a good one no matter where we are on…

It is the 475th anniversary of the death of Mevlana Jalaluddin al-Rumi. A Sufi mystic, Rumi is quoted as often in UU congregations as almost any other poet. “Come, Come, Whoever You Are,” has become one of our most familiar hymns. What does it mean to sing “Come, Come, Whoever You Are” in a divided and divisive world? I met with one of the Wellspring groups at the church yesterday. We spoke of many things, among them how to reconcile our first Principle, “the inherent worth and dignity of all persons,” with those in our world whose actions are hard…

The gift giving and the gift finding season is hard upon us. The commercial culture that surrounds us is insistent on it. Even if we manage to resist the lure of the expensive “toys,” even if we bake or make our gifts, even if we donate to good causes in someone’s name, the need to find a wonderful gift is part of the challenge of this season for most of us. Rev. David Blanchard tells the story of an African boy who wanted to give a gift to his teacher, who was going home to England: “The child had no…

As the winter solstice approaches, the longest dark of the year, the truth of the seasons and the cycles of life becomes so clear. We live in a culture that praises linear movement toward goals and the “crossing things off our lists.” Earth-centered traditions from many cultures know the reality that “life goes on,” as one of Howard Thurman’s meditations puts it. During these turbulent times we must remind ourselves repeatedly that life goes on. This we are apt to forget. The wisdom of life transcends our wisdoms; the purpose of life outlasts our purposes; the process of life cushions…

It is the season of the long dark. From time out of mind, religious communities have found reason to gather and to light candles against the dark in this season. We moderns know the truth of the seasonal cycles. Some of us can even explain them coherently. The religious impulse to hold the dark at bay still calls us into the warmth and the light of community. We reflect on the spiritual theme of “Listening” this month. The long dark is a time of greater quiet, of more silence but it is also a time of listening. Perhaps this year…

I was in seminary, in the early 1990’s, when progressives began seriously questioning “Columbus Day” and the narrative of Manifest Destiny. That early response to the American Indian Movement was an attempt to correct the American story. To remind you, Columbus never set foot in what is now the United States. He stumbled on Cuba and the islands of the Caribbean when he misjudged the location of China by half a world. Not a discoverer, it would be more accurate to say that his mistake began the European theft of an entire continent and the genocide of millions of its…