Dear Friends, His name is Alexander Hall Hildreth, otherwise known as ‘the graduate.’ I resisted taking him aside at the party we had in his honor and whispering, “Plastics,” in his ear! I simply hugged him close and whispered, “Nice going,” and he smiled that sweet, spontaneous Alex smile.

Dear Friends; Jonathan and Rosie are getting married. They’ve been together for about sixteen years. When Jon and I had lunch a few weeks ago, and he told me about their decision, I looked across the table and said, “So, what’s the hurry?”

Dear Friends; Margie Allen is our new Associate Minister.  I couldn’t be more pleased or enthused.

Dear Friends, We celebrated Earth Day by focusing on trees.

Dear Friends, Gail Pesyna, our spirited canvass chair, reported very good news on Sunday: our members and friends are stepping up to the financial challenge. Pledges are coming in with significant increases.

Dear Friends, When my daughter Susan told me she was going to have a hysterectomy – the tumor had grown and needed to be removed, along with her uterus – she was suddenly six, again, not the 42 year old woman with grown children she had become.

Dear Friends, One Sunday, several years ago, one of the children knocked on my office door just before the start of the second service and said, with great excitement, “Superman is here!”  He had seen Christopher Reeve negotiating the handicap ramp after wheeling himself out of his van.

Dear Friends, It was good to have David Vita, our Social Justice Director, stand in the pulpit last Sunday and tell us about himself – about the journey that brought him to us – and about his work.

Dear Friends, Bill Rice, one of my mentors in ministry, said, “Never cancel worship.”  During his 25-year ministry in Wellesley Hills he said he cancelled only once, and someone showed up and demanded to know why he wasn’t there, since he lived in a parsonage just across the street.

Dear Friends, There’s something intriguing and important about the controversy surrounding James Frey’s book, A Million Little Pieces.  I’m not sure why that is, exactly, but I’m sure that it is important.  Well, it’s important to me.  By trying to tell you why it’s important to me, maybe  I’ll gain a better understanding of it.  […]