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  • All Are Called

    All Are Called

    I wrote a song. And instead of performing it for a few friends, or maybe a small congregation, I first performed it on a big stage, with thousands of people watching – and singing along. How am I feeling about it? Good. The Sunday afternoon reprise went better, partly because I knew folks were going… Continue reading

  • Overload

    Overload

    There is so much.. too much, really. Too much bad news, too much good news. Too much stimulation. Too many articles to read. Too many new ideas. Too much movement to respond to. Too much death. Too much hypocrisy. Too much change. Too much…too much… And yet as intelligent, thoughtful, awake people, we are called… Continue reading

  • Remembrances on Maundy Thursday

    Remembrances on Maundy Thursday

    “Take this bread, broken as my body is broken…eat this, in remembrance of me…” Eat this, in remembrance of Jesus, a teacher, a pastor, a radical, a beloved son whose body was broken by a system that could not bear his truths. Eat this, in remembrance of Sharon, the coworker whose body was broken one… Continue reading

  • Can I Get a Witness?

    Can I Get a Witness?

    You never know what a casual, off-handed comment will lead to. Three times on Saturday, I made a casual comment about who I am, where I work, and what I do, and three times, I found myself sharing the good news of Unitarian Universalism. The first was outside our congregation’s yard sale. I must have… Continue reading

  • Confessions of a Usually Sexual Being

    Confessions of a Usually Sexual Being

    For much of my adult life, I’ve been a consciously sexual being. I recognize in myself an enjoyment of the human body – mine and others – and have had a number of satisfying (and a few unsatisfying) sexual relationships. I love that part of our being human that makes us both sexual and aware of our sexuality.… Continue reading

  • Considering the Bucket List

    Considering the Bucket List

    Last Monday at our weekly Theology on Tap gathering, we discussed death. Cheery topic, I know, but we had a wonderful conversation about funerals, memorial services, preparing wills and other documents, and how we perceive our own impending deaths. Someone mentioned the idea of living each day as if it were your last, and another considered… Continue reading

  • Remembering

    Remembering

    My memory is a little messed up. In 2007-early 2008, I had severe back problems and was on pretty heavy pain meds for about 18 months. Within that year, I had three surgical procedures, each one requiring general anesthesia. As I came out of that time period feeling much better and reemerging into the world,… Continue reading

  • Out of Phase

    Out of Phase

    This past Sunday, Unitarian Universalist congregations all over the country celebrated Ingathering/Homecoming. It’s a old tradition from when our elite Boston forebears closed their doors for the summer in favor of cottages on the Cape. But while almost all of our congregations are year round now, we still take the time to welcome everyone back… Continue reading

  • I didn’t know what to say then.

    I didn’t know what to say then.

    This is a post I should have written a month ago, when Rev. Jennifer Slade took her life – a beautiful, brilliant, humanity-affirming life. Her death was shocking and jarring. But I didn’t write then, perhaps because while she was a colleague, I didn’t know her personally and didn’t know how to parse it. I didn’t know… Continue reading

  • The Dangers of DIY

    The Dangers of DIY

    Over at Quest for Meaning, David Breeden made the case for Unitarian Universalism being a Do It Yourself religion. He writes: We do well to draw a sharp line between the subjectivity of religious experience and the objectivity of a congregational, corporate life together. Where I get my personal religious jolt is up to me—Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism,… Continue reading

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Learn more about my ministry at The Art of Meaning

Read my thoughts about congregational life at Hold My Chalice

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