We are deep amidst the holidays of light. Hanukkah has just ended. The Season of Advent is upon us. This Sunday will be our annual Holiday Concert. In several weeks we will come to the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. Followed by Christmas, with our pageant at 4:00 PM and two candlelit […]

At our Thanksgiving table I recited The Gift, by Mary Oliver: Be still, my soul, and steadfast. Earth and heaven both are still watching though time is draining from the clock and your walk, that was confident and quick, has become slow. So, be slow if you must, but let the heart still play its […]

In my sermon last Sunday I asked us to reconsider Thanksgiving beyond the genocide that the mythic feast between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Nation. I really believe we can go beyond the myth to a greater reason to give thanks. To do so will require us to give thanks even for those who are […]

As we head into the holiday season, I hear from many of you how unprepared you feel. A serious case of “no, no, no” instead of “ho, ho, ho.” As we emerge from the pandemic (and like all pandemics we aren’t done quite yet) our nerves are a little more on edge, and change feels […]

As I follow the news in Glasgow, I remain hopeful for our future despite the empty promises which have been made before. As one commentator put it, “at least these industrialized countries are willing to put their past shortcoming up to the world’s spot light” and promise again to help save our world. I am […]

Around the country today people are going to the polls in this “off year” election cycle. Most contests are for statewide and municipal candidates. The Governor’s race in Virginia is seen as a bellwether for the direction our country is going. I find it remarkable that the news pundits are casting this election as a […]

Every year Francis and I have a discussion about what to do for Halloween. We are both big fans of the Holiday. When we were younger we would hold a fair for the church and the neighborhood we called “Ghost Town” on the Saturday closest to Halloween. These were very elaborate affairs each with its […]

This coming Sunday I will be speaking about “The Wider Self.” What I have come to believe is that we are so much more complicated than any one theory about human nature. We “contain multitudes” as Walt Whitman observed, and within those multitudes is the very essence of what makes any of us a person. […]

I have been so impressed of late with how we find the families we need even if they are not the families we are born into. This is especially true for those who identify outside our gender binary categories. Some among us have been largely ostracized for being LGBTQ and have had to create family […]

We are in the midst of a Great Turning. We didn’t call it the Protestant Reformation until many centuries later. We are part of the next great reformation. Even though we don’t see evidence of positive change all around us, the change is happening. How do you see change around you? I would like to […]