It would be hard to miss the questions and conversations that are coming out of the movement-wide teach-in on white supremacy that the Unitarian Universalist Association invited its member communities to experience over the past two Sundays. Of course, as part of this community, I have felt the impact of the worship experiences of both of these past Sundays, I have heard the dialogs going on around the church, and I’ve seen some of the e-mail discussions taking place. Responses to our own teach-in experience have ranged from feelings of excitement for the deep work people feel called to…

Rev. Sinkford's Blog ... David Foster Wallace began a commencement address at Kenyon College several years ago with this story: “There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, ‘Morning, boys, how’s the water?’ The two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, ‘What the [heck] is water?’” Last Sunday and this coming Sunday, over 650 Unitarian Universalist congregations will engage in some form of a “White Supremacy” Teach-In. So…

The mission of First Unitarian Church calls us to promote “lifelong spiritual growth.” That happens in a lot of ways in what we do, I hope. But one way in particular is through the Wellspring program, which we’ve been offering for about five years. Wellspring comes out of the Unitarian Universalist congregation in Rochester, NY, and is now offered in many of our congregations. It is a curriculum designed to offer an opportunity to “go deeper” in a person’s understanding of Unitarian Universalism and spiritual practice. So what does that look like? In Wellspring you join a small group of…

I expect most of you have heard the news that Rev. Bill Sinkford has answered the call to be the interim president of the Unitarian Universalist Association from now until the end of June. A new president will be elected when the General Assembly meets then. In the meantime Bill, along with two co presidents, has been asked to step in and lead our association. The request for this above-and-beyond service was made to Bill and to the board of our church and both said yes. For more on the announcement, see the notes from Bill and from Randy Russell,…

  Rev. Sinkford's blog ... As some of you know, last Thursday UUA President, Peter Morales resigned amid controversy surrounding staff hiring and racial diversity. His decision followed reaction to a recent hire in which a white male minister was chosen over a Latina. It was the fifth white male minister to be hired to fill 5 new regional lead positions. As reported, both applicants for this position were acknowledged to be qualified, but the white male was judged to be a “better fit.” It was, given our commitments as a faith and our aspirations, simply a bad decision. Today…

Our spiritual theme for April is “Resurrection.” This comes as little surprise to most of us. We will celebrate the Easter holiday in just weeks. If the long established pattern holds, attendance on Easter Sunday will be larger than any other Sunday morning during the year. I think it may be simply habit or the perfectly natural desire to celebrate the coming of spring. But it does raise a question as to why the holiday most central to the Christian promise should be so popular in a community in which only a minority claim a Christian religious identity. I think…

  “Wow.” “Expansive.” “Heart Opening.” “Holy.” These are a few of the words that were used to describe the process of holding each other in prayer that we began during last week’s service. I want to thank all of you who took the time to write and describe your experience of requesting a prayer and responding to the prayer request you took from the sanctuary. Here are a few sentiments that you shared with me: “Writing down my prayer and knowing someone else interacted with it in some way … made me cry, which says I was getting in touch…

  Visiting southern Spain was a dream of mine for many years. I was drawn to the history of peaceful, or at least non-lethal, co-existence of Muslims, Jews and Christians in the 700 years before 1492. There is real controversy today about how that period should be viewed. It most certainly did not represent an image of the Beloved Community that any of us would affirm. Jews and Christians were clearly less than full citizens under Muslim rule. Perhaps that era looks positive only because we know what followed: the forced eviction or conversion of the Muslims and Jews, and…

“Devotion” is our spiritual theme for March, and there are few words as challenging for religious liberals. Our view of truth is contingent, our understanding of justice is always evolving, and even our theology is a work in process. Devotion seems to call for complete commitment. We reserve the right to change and grow. We all recognize the benefits of devotion in some parts of our lives. Few question the value of regular exercise (devotion to exercise) or even a regular devotional practice like prayer or Tai Chi. We respect those who have devoted themselves to a discipline or profession…

Rev. Bill Sinkford is away at a gathering of the Senior Ministers of large UU congregations this week and he invited me to write about what we are calling the Congregational Life Initiative. –Tom Disrud, Associate Minister Do you remember when you first came to First Unitarian? Was it easy getting connected? Was it a challenge? And what about your experience now? Have you found community here at the church? One of the consistent pieces of feedback that we receive is that finding community, getting connected, can be a challenge in a large church with a wide range of programs.…