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 …
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 …
There is a moment In every undertaking There is a moment When everything is still… too still. There is a moment When nothing, nothing, NOTHING comes… When the mind is frozen. It is a scary moment It is a frustrating moment It is a moment where you doubt every part of yourself Why can’t I …
After the service Sunday, we had a small group conversation – what some congregations call a talkback but which Saratoga calls “church chat.” It was a lively discussion about the series of sermons I just wrapped up on God – over three weeks, I talked about the transcendent, the immanent, and the creating-creator aspects of the Divine …
I am pretty sure I was not the only person headed for a pulpit this morning who let out an extra moan after hearing the verdict in the Zimmerman trial. In the midst of weeping for the Martin family, for our young black men, and the failed justice system…and after a while weeping also for …
As I completed the manuscript for my sermon entitled “God and Democracy” I realized that I write and speak more passionately as a Universalist than as a Unitarian. While my Unitarianism compels thought, my Universalism compels action. I also know that my recent exposure to the Red Pill Brethren, as well as both Michael Tino’s …
There’s a lot of talk about freedom and liberty these days, and whenever I hear the word freedom, my mind instantly goes to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms and the beautiful interpretations by Normal Rockwell. In his 1941 state of the union address, FDR proposed people “everywhere in the world” ought to enjoy: Freedom of …
The following remarks were delivered at the Time of Remembrance and Renewal at the Round Lake Auditorium on the evening of September 11, 2011. We gather here today, in our community, among friends and neighbors, to mark perhaps the most momentous event in our collective memory. We gather to remember those who lost their lives, to …
One of the limits of WordPress, I have discovered, is that it hates too many iframes, and thus is unwieldy to edit. So I’ve instead put up this followup post… it includes a link to the audio from August 21, as well as the words of Rev. Linda Hoddy’s blessing. The audio – click here …
Sometimes it isn’t enough to just share the text of a sermon. Sometimes it’s important to hear the music and the other words that form the entire service. Thus (and in lieu of recordings that feature the actual musicians from my congregation), I have included links from YouTube and other mp3s. Please take the time …
Just a short note, as I am tired and District Assembly goes into full swing too early tomorrow. Rev Deane Perkins gave the Gould Discourse tonight…on “Becoming a Religion for our Time.” It was amazing… he outlined a perspective that he called “paradisical theology” – the idea that in Early Christianity, it was “Heaven on Earth” …