Habits of the Heart is an idea from Parker J. Palmer as he talks about conditioning our hearts to break in the right way – which is to say, ‘break open.’ What kind of preparation is required of us if we are to be expected to respond with compassionate service and healing as opposed to … Continue reading Habits of the Heart
At a time when the U.S. was still a fledgling democracy and we were even more tenuous and fragile than we are today, Abraham Lincoln attempted to play a role in leading this democracy to a place where he asked us to appeal to ‘the better angels of our nature.’ What was he asking and … Continue reading The Politics of the Brokenhearted
This is part one of a 4 part sermon series on politics and democracy. This one speaks to Capitalism as a special element of democracy and how capitalism has positioned itself to be more important than almost everything else – including health and well being. The Zoom link and Order of Service will be provided … Continue reading Why the Right Get it Wrong and the Left Don’t Get it
Sometimes singing an unfamiliar hymn in church can be really painful. Enough so, we may find ourselves looking ahead at the hymns scheduled to decide if we should attend on Sunday. There is an old Dutch proverb which says that ‘Trust walks in on foot and rides out on a horse.’ It’s true enough in … Continue reading Death by Hymn
Our annual in-gathering service – the Water Communion – is a mainstay of many (if not most) UU Congregations. This year we will look back on where it came from, how it changed, and reflect on what might be some of the most important aspects of the service to honor. The Zoom link and Order … Continue reading Walking Upstream to the Original Water Communion
In 1968, Trappist Monk wrote Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander responding to some of the horrific events on the political landscape trying to examine what sense of accountability the good citizen had in failing to make a nation safe for its people. Today, we can look back 21 years and ask ourselves some of the … Continue reading Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
Because of the rapid proliferation of technology and communication, traumatic events and acute personal reminders have become much more commonplace experiences. We’ve become conscious of what previous generations could only imagine. These difficult new experiences can startle and trigger anxiety and alarm rather than empathy and compassion. This is a sermon about what recent events … Continue reading What Happened to You?
Each of us has probably experienced the feeling of being abandoned and betrayed. In moments that mattered, we have had to imagine facing the world unprotected and alone. It is a scary sequence of thoughts that come when we have to piece together our own survival rather than the creative imagination that comes when we … Continue reading Bird by Bird, Stone by Stone, Hand in Hand
Known to some as the country’s “second Independence Day,” Juneteenth celebrates freedom. Not just the freedom of folks who assumed they were free, but what it might feel like if ALL people were free. The news that enslaved people would be freed after the civil war, took a long time in reaching some communities – … Continue reading Juneteenth
Our annual Flower Communion service asks us to remember the courage and vision of Norbert Capek who presided over one of the largest Unitarian Congregations in Prague, Czechoslovakia in the years when the Nazi regime terrorized political dissidents for criticizing the Third Reich. Capek asked people to imagine the beautiful diversity in everything – from … Continue reading Flower Communion
