Rev. Frank Hall Services Archive

Opening Words:   Today we are a nation in mourning.  We mourn the loss of life in Iraq and Kuwait.  We mourn the loss of peace.  Once again we are at war, but this time it is different.  Diplomacy failed.  Raw and rampant power pervades.  As the bombs blast away at Baghdad and families flee for […]

A preacher put this question to a class of children: ‘If all the good people in the world were red and all the bad people were green, what color would you be?’ Little Linda Jean thought mightily for a moment. Then her face brightened and she replied, “Reverend, I’d be streaky.” We would all be […]

Opening Words From Howard Thurman who served as chaplain at Boston University for many years and was mentor to M.L.K. Jr. when he was a student there. The concern I lay bare before God today is my need for courage: I need courage to be honest: honest in my use of words; honest in accepting […]

Some time ago–in a different era–one of the basic, most essential courses in our Unitarian church schools was called, ‘Jesus the Carpenter’s Son.’ (The new curriculum that has come out of the UUA is called: Jesus, Kingdom of Equals). The title of the old course, which was the title of a book by Sophia Lyon […]

We often talk about life as a journey, and we talk about the freedom to decide which road to take, as in Robert Frost’s well-known and well-worn lines about the road not taken. The poem begins, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler, long […]

While the purpose of this pulpit is to ‘to seek the truth in love,’ as our affirmation says, the bottom line of every sermon must include something about hope…some kind of hope. Hope is the ability to look at difficult aspects of life, to look at the truth about life, and to see some possibility […]

The opening line from Dickens A Tale of Two Cities is usually quoted only in partyou’ll recognize it, but I’ll include the rest of the sentence; and he did write it all as a single opening sentence: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, […]

We marvel at the miracle of the babe-in-the-manger story, and marvel we must, because it touches something deep within us; it stirs the spirit and wakes the soul. It’s beyond rational thought; beyond, but not apart from rational thought. It touches something tender and sweet, without that tenderness, what are we; without that tenderness, who […]

Minister’s comments to children (of all ages) on Hanukkah Many Jewish holidays commemorate events invested with a combination of history and religion. Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after its desecration by foreign forces. The word Hanukkah literally means “dedication.” The temple or synagogue is a Jewish house worship. So the rededication […]

Opening Words We begin with words from Miller Williams who reminds us about that aspect of life we call compassion, which some suggest is a synonym for God, or for the aspect of God about which we actually know something, or as much as we need to know in this life: Miller Williams wrote: Have […]