Paul Villard titled his story:  Information, Please  “When I was quite young, we had one of the first telephones in our neighborhood. I remember well the polished, old case fastened to the wall. The shiny receiver hung on the side of the box. I was too little to reach the telephone, but used to listen […]

Bertrand Russell’s comment from his autobiography provide a way into the sermon – he said, “Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.” Bertrand Russell’s search for knowledge is well known; his longing for love balanced his […]

Opening Words: Every Day, Caroline Joy Adams Every day We are given a thousand waking moments A thousand opportunities to learn, to grow, to choose Thus, in as many of those moments as you can, Choose Wisely. Choose understanding and calmness rather than anger… Gratitude rather than envy…. Compassion rather than judgment…. Awareness rather than […]

Reading at Opening of service:  Winter, Frank Hall Suddenly, or so it seems, Snow, or the threat of a storm — Winter sleep… Then waking to see the new snow Fresh, clean, marveling at the whitewashed world; the snow Covering everything, painting bare brown branches Evergreens etched in white Earth, with a soft, silent winter […]

Opening Words by Lucille Clifton i am running into a new year and the old years blow back like a wind that i catch in my hair like strong fingers like all my old promises and it will be hard to let go of what I said to myself about myself when i was sixteen […]

We live in two worlds – the down-to-earth, day-to-day world, with events reported in the NY Times, that says, ‘all the news that’s fit to print.’ And now it’s website says, ‘all the news that’s fit to click.’ Much of the world-wide news hardly fits that prescription, but print and click we must. There’s nothing […]

Spielberg’s Lincoln is a stunning, captivating story of the four most important months in Lincoln’s presidency and, perhaps, in our nation’s history. In his first inaugural Lincoln was holding out hope that the war between the states could still be avoided, so he addressed those who had seceded, saying: “We are not enemies, but friends. […]

Thoreau famously said, “Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify, simplify! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail.” Thoreau, who was born in 1817 and died 44 years […]

Opening Words:  From Windy City, Carl Sandburg Put the city up; tear the city down; put it up again; let us find a city. Let us remember the little violet-eyed man who gave all, praying, “Dig and dream, dream and hammer, till your city comes.” Every day the people sleep and the city dies; every […]

Miller Williams wrote a short poem-like piece about civility – you might consider committing it to memory, if you haven’t already done so: “Have compassion for everyone you meet, even if they don’t want it. What appears bad manners, an ill temper or cynicism is always a sign of things no ears have heard, no […]