t’s hard to find a higher standard of commitment than those who have given their lives to their country, but this really isn’t a sermon on Memorial Day per se–but it is a very good Sunday to look at this powerful instinct –it is hard to imagine anything good coming to life or fruition without, … Continue reading Memorial Day Weekend -Commitment
James Taylor’s song, The Secret of Life, says it pretty clearly–it’s “Enjoying the passage of time.” And he adds, thank goodness, “that any fool can do it.” That should pretty much include us all. If I have any insight into this Secret, I suspect I learned it from my mother, and also a vast cloud of witnesses … Continue reading The Secret of Life
Loneliness is one of the hot topics right now, and for good reason–study after study shows that we Americans are more isolated, less befriended than ever before. This is a real and painful problem, and I won’t solve it in 20 minutes. But I will be able to “soften” the subject with a look at other modes … Continue reading Solitude and Other Realities
Life is designed to stretch us all pretty thin, asking much (too much?) from us. In this pastoral sermon, I’ll be taking a look at the ways, some elegant, some clumsy, some truthful and utterly necessary, that we “excuse” ourselves from our lapses, faults, and honest short-comings. This is a sermon designed for imperfect people…Led by … Continue reading “Life’s Greatest Excuses”
People are always talking about the shrinking of organized religion, and even Unitarian Universalism is feeling the pinch–but I’m not actually talking about how congregations and denominations are doing (though I have strong feelings!). Instead, I want to take a step back and really look at the higher purpose of this enterprise–does the world need … Continue reading “The End of Religion”
I’ll be sharing what I learned in writing my book on King (with son Paul as co-author): Nine Days: The Race to Save MLK’s Life and Win the 1960 Election (FSG, 2021). And part of that is that we have to look beyond King to find the people who change history–ourselves, the obscure, the humble, you and me. ~ … Continue reading A Point of Leverage
A service to usher in the New Year–and the paradox of dealing with society’s persistent invitation to totally transform yourself in the guise of 2024, and the more likely persistence (and likely, importance) of the old you that you are likely to remain…Special music and readings of reflection as well–a quiet way to turn the … Continue reading “New Year, Old You”
with USNH’s tradition of Orchestral arrangements of favorite carols. The sharing of traditional readings and new reflections on the theme of “Opening Christmas,” We gather as dusk descends to celebrate the feelings of Christmas past and present–but nostalgia is not the primary note we strike in this evening service, but the radical idea of innocence … Continue reading Christmas Eve- Evening Candlelight Celebration
As long as human beings have surveyed the heavens and survived the cold of winter, they have faced, and celebrated, the time of Solstice and the shortest day of the year. So, too, this long tradition at USNH–with music, story, meditation and reverie, this is a service that helps us navigate the challenges, and beauty, of … Continue reading An Impermanent Firmament- A Multi-generational Solstice Service
It is a great paradox in the spiritual life that one of our greatest responsibilities and duties lies in the realm of (and you’re right, this is a great time of year to remember and to celebrate it): to Make Merry. Yes, life is serious business, and we are constantly surrounded with daunting and towering … Continue reading The Lords of Misrule
