Notes from the Far Fringe

Hymns, Sermons, and Other Reflections

Sermons

  • Shifting the Narrative

    Shifting the Narrative

    Back in the mid 1980s, I moved to North Carolina. Now if you’ve ever lived in North Carolina, you know that the most important question is not “what’s your name” or “what do you do for a living” – it’s “What college basketball team do you support?” Because my friends were graduates of NC State… Continue reading

  • Holey, Holy, Wholly

    Holey, Holy, Wholly

    Click here to listen to this sermon as delivered in Nantucket on March 4, 2018. People find wisdom in a variety of places – folk tales, sacred texts, nature, the words of prophetic people, music. I add to that list popular culture – specifically, movies and tv shows – in particular, those I find well… Continue reading

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  • Scoundrels

    Scoundrels

    This is not the sermon I had planned to deliver today. My plan was much more light hearted – talking about some of our most prized notables in our Unitarian Universalist history and their scoundrel nature – the mean nurse, the secessionist senator, the huckster showman, the tattletale pastor, the murderous daughter, the philandering minister.… Continue reading

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  • At Sixes and Sevens

    At Sixes and Sevens

    I love words – I am always on the lookout for a particularly elegant word or turn of phrase, and I like being able to use words well. So it sets my teeth on edge when I am unable to find the right word for something. I search and search my brain, but the word… Continue reading

  • The Greatest Story Ever Told

    The Greatest Story Ever Told

    When I was a kid, along with A Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the TV lineup would include the movie The Greatest Story Ever Told. It wasn’t my favorite of these sweeping Hollywood Bible epics – I much preferred the big arms of Charlton Heston in the Ten Commandments or… Continue reading

  • What To Expect When You’re Expecting – An Advent Reflection in Four Movements

    What To Expect When You’re Expecting – An Advent Reflection in Four Movements

    First Movement: A Pregnant Pause O come, O come, Emmanuel, and with your captive children dwell. Give comfort to all exiles here, and to the aching heart bid cheer. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come within as Love to dwell. For many years, I was a volunteer at the local library, and each year we would… Continue reading

  • Thus Do We Covenant

    Thus Do We Covenant

    When I submitted the week’s topic last month, Covenant seemed like a good, fairly neutral way to explore our faith and our relationship to one another. It seemed like a good discussion to have as we embark on the new church year. And then last week, the bad news started pouring in. Another in a… Continue reading

  • A Mother’s Day for All of Us

    A Mother’s Day for All of Us

    Unitarian Universalists are great spin doctors. What I mean is that Unitarian Universalists are very good at redeeming holidays and holy days. On Christmas, religious educator Sophia Lyon Fahs reminds us that “each night a child is born is a holy night.” Easter becomes not just a celebration of Christ’s resurrection, but of the resurrection… Continue reading

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  • Nameless – The Chapel

    Nameless – The Chapel

    Below is the video and script for my thesis project, a 30-minutes chapel service called Nameless, held Monday, March 3, 2014. Juliana Bateman– Samson’s wife (Judges 14) Natalie Renee Perkins – Jephthah’s daughter (Judges 11:34-40) Ranwa Hammamy – Pharaoh’s daughter (Exodus 2:1-10) Ashley Birt – Lot’s wife (Genesis 19:15-26) Jessica Christy – Job’s wife (Job 2:1-10) Shamika Goddard – the… Continue reading

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  • With Childlike Wonder

    With Childlike Wonder

    Let’s imagine together. It is a cold night as you bundle up in a winter coat, or maybe a thick comforter, with layers of socks under your shoes, and mittens on your hands. You may be alone, or you may be with someone else; let’s imagine your favorite person is also bundling up like you… Continue reading

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