Springtime is beautiful, and it’s inherently dangerous. Inside each bud that blooms, inside the beating heart of every salamander, inside each human being, there is a thrust to fully express our life. Except for all of us: the flower, the salamander, all of us, this expression is never completely straight forward. For every moment of … Continue reading 04-03-22
I’ve never been much of a morning person. I wonder if that’s partly because often the things I had to wake up to were not things I looked forward to. Sometimes I even dreaded what laid before me. School in the public school system never agreed with me. I would wake up and know I … Continue reading 04-10-22
“You can pray until you faint, but if you don’t get up and try to do something, God is not going to put it in your lap.” Fannie Lou Hamer spoke these words to a group of activists in Mississippi who were willing to put their lives on the line to exercise their right to … Continue reading 02-20-22
It was about two years, nearly exactly, that we first experienced the pandemic as a church. I remember when it was Tim Raridon and I in the sanctuary, and the entire world including all of you on computers. In fact all of you are and always have been in the sanctuary. That is true now, … Continue reading 03-20-22
Today is our Newcomer’s Circle facilitated by Karen Lapidus, and I wanted to share my hopes for you as new friends of our church, and in truth my hope for all of us, including myself. I’m becoming increasingly convinced that it is very important to live a life of peace. To live a life of … Continue reading 03-06-22
We learn to place our confidence not in who we think we should be but in who we are: the vast sky, the dust whose nature is to rise, the person who dares to wonder who they are.
I had a nice phone conversation recently with Ms. Selma Sparks. Ms. Selma Sparks was the only female journalist to interview Malcolm X while he was alive. Ms. Sparks was born and lived most of her life in New York City, and when I spoke with her, she still had a recognizable Brooklyn accent. We … Continue reading o2-13-22
That is what I find special about a church like this. Without the overlay of creeds and a singular belief about God that we have to adhere to, there’s a great simplicity to our path, to this place, to our tradition. It’s a joy worth celebrating.
Driving across state lines, I was struck by the state motto of both Ohio and Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania’s state motto is “Pursue Your Happiness,” and Ohio’s is “Find It Here.” It made me think of the relationship between pursuing and finding. The feeling of pursuing something which we may or may not understand, something like happiness, … Continue reading 07-24-22
I now understand the old hagiographic story of Martin Luther: What he would do if he was told the world will end tomorrow? His answer according to legend is: He would plant a tree. He would sow hope. That’s a spiritual response.
