Reading: From Emerson’s Essay “Self-Reliance“ Prayer is the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view… As soon as (we feel) at one with God, we will not beg. We will then see prayer in all action. The prayer of the farmer kneeling in his field to weed it, the prayer […]

During the 1940’s, before television, my brothers and I listened to the radio. We had our favorite programs, of course, one of which was The Shadow. It began: “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?” And the answer came in a deep, mysterious voice, ‘The Shadow Knows!’ The radio show ran from […]

Readings John Haynes Holmes, former minister of Community Church, New York City, put it this way: But when I say ‘God,’ it is poetry and not theology. Nothing that any theologian ever wrote about God has helped me much, but everything that the poets have written about flowers, and birds, and skies, and seas, and […]

Christmas Eve: Opening We have gathered from our separate homes to this common home, this place made sacred by our thoughts, our hopes, our promises one to another. We welcome our guests-those who are visiting family, those who are in search of a place to touch the holy, if only for this evening. There’s room […]

I want to suggest something theological, so I begin with a question, which is the source of all good theology: What distinguishes us as persons? That is to say, what distinguishes one person from another? How do we assess the quality or success of an individual’s life? The other part of this theological question is: […]

I am honored that Barbara asked me to offer the sermon on this special occasion. I’ve walked through the process with Barbara for more than ten years, since she began thinking about ministry. The transition didn’t happen over night. She moved slowly, and carefully, balance her family life with professional goals. The change came slowly, […]

This is my annual every-member canvass sermon and it is unapologetically about money. Did you hear about the two guys on the desert island? As soon as they were stranded one of them began to gather food and materials to build a hut, preparing for the long haul. The other took a swim, laid back […]

I want to continue to dig into our roots. This involves a discussion of our Unitarian Universalist beginnings in America, our heritage in Transylvania, and other historical roots, but it necessarily includes a look into the roots of our faith system from a philosophical and/or theological point of view. Whitman, in his signature piece, Song […]

Opening Words Joseph Campbell told a story about a time he was in Japan for an international conference on religion. He overheard another American delegate, a social philosopher from New York, say to a Shinto priest, “We’ve been now to a good many ceremonies and have seen quite a few of your shrines. But I […]

Reading from: Jew vs. Jew: The Struggle for the Soul of American Jewry, by Samuel G. Freedman The Destruction of the Second Temple In the first century of the Common Era, as the Roman Empire reigned over Judea, the tiny nation rose in revolt. For several years Jewish revolutionaries drove mighty Rome into retreat, seating […]