Many of us were shocked and saddened by the unexpected outcome of this last election. The fear and anger we are feeling is real. As I have sat with many of you over the last several weeks, I have felt your anguish and your worry not only for those we know and love but for […]
From Your Senior Minister: Facing Grace – November 26, 2016
Dear Friends, It has been a busy time for our church this fall. We have enjoyed brilliant fall days and a warm Indian summer. Our church has welcomed our new Intern Minister Lara Fuchs in with open arms. With the broadcast of the PBS film “The Sharps War: Defying the Nazis” many in our wider […]
From Your Senior Minister: Facing Grace – September 28, 2016
Like many of you, I have been deeply troubled by the rhetoric, hatred and outright lies that have been paraded before us this election season. It seems that all decency and hope for a civil society has given way to a reality television show peddled by our media. Indeed, with the concern for refugees growing […]
From Your Senior Minister: Facing Grace – August 31, 2016
Its been a busy summer for many of us including your senior minister. After attending a powerful General Assembly in Columbus, OH in June (more about that this fall), Francis and I spent several weeks in Maine where I wrote and recharged. I was back in early August with a few other shorter trips between […]
From Your Senior Minister: Facing Grace – June 22, 2016
Dear Friends: Last week about thirty of your fellow congregants attended an Inter-faith Vigil for those slain in Orlando on the steps of Norwalk City Hall. This beautiful event was attended by over 400 members of our larger community and featured speakers who were both religious and secular. Our own David Vita played a large […]
From Your Senior Minister: Facing Grace – May 25, 2016
My colleague Galen Guengerich, the esteemed Senior Minister of All Souls Unitarian Church in New York, shared this quote recently in one of his daily meditations: “One must live in the middle of contradiction because if all contradictions were eliminated at once life would collapse. There are simply no answers to some of the great […]
From Your Senior Minister: Facing Grace – May 2016
Our spiritual theme for May is “Blessings”. We are afforded blessings every day. Most of what we call life is a struggle punctuated by moments of brilliant blessing. The secret is to hear the blessings for what they are and welcome them into our lives. Blessings are rendered unto us all the time. The angels […]
From Your Senior Minister: Facing Grace – March 31, 2016
This is an exciting time to be a part of our congregation. After several years of transition from the distinguished and long tenure of Frank Hall through the interim ministry of Roberta Finklestein to calling me as your new senior minister this congregation is rightfully relieved to be “happily moving on” as one leader put […]
From Your Senior Minister: Facing Grace – March 2, 2016
Dear Friends: Thanks to a generous gift from Ken and Jerusha Vogel to Meadville/Lombard Theological School in Chicago I am pleased to announce our first ministerial intern in many years starting in September this year. Lara Fuchs is in her final year of seminary and is highly regarded for her worship arts skill and her […]
From Your Senior Minister: Generosity of Desire – February 3, 2016
Several weeks ago over thirty of us traveled to Newtown, CT to participate in the Newtown Action Alliance rally in front of the National Sport Shooting Foundation against gun violence. This event is held every year on eve of SHOT; the largest gun convention in Las Vegas. We arrived to find the roadside in front […]