...someone wrote it to say, "I'm sorry, but you look like Betty Butterfield,"and having investigated the matter, I have to say that I DO!(PB and BB= Separated at Birth)I can totally be Betty Butterfield for Halloween, so thank you to whoever it was that wrote in anonymously to tell me about my rat-haired red-headed doppelganger out in cyberspace... I had never heard of "her" 'til today:http://

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4Ek8JCRAxA

Yo!Christian peeps in the Fairfield County area, this is for you.An old college buddy with a lovely wife and two kids and a great sense of humor, loads of creative talent and a liberal sensibility is looking for a church home.I don't think they're sect-specific so much as ISO a loving and vital congregation.Write in if you can hook my boo up.Love,PeaceBang, all lamely hip-hop for some reason

MotherBang and SisterBang and I saw "Grey Gardens" on Broadway last week and loved it, but now I can't stop talking like Edie Beale.Here's the legendary Christine Ebersole doing a number at the Drama Desk Awards,http://www.entertainment-link.com/broadway/musicals/grey-gardens.asp?gclid=CM38-_WHgosCFQhDUAodiWtAHgWe saw her marvelous understudy, Maureen Moore, and were all freely weeping at the end

This morning I decided to take a whole day of Sabbath, where I would actually do no work at all.It's 5:40 pm now and I am doing pretty well at it.I did do some dishes but I have refrained from putting away the laundry or cleaning up my desk or answering any church e-mail.I have been reading, and lazing, and sleeping. I have been staring out the window and thinking. I have been petting the cat.

It had to have been seven or eight years ago, when I was the minister of a UU church in Maryland. I did a lot of weddings back then: our congregation didn't have a building of its own, so I got a lot of cold calls out of the book from people wanting to get married at home, or at country clubs, or at mansions-for-rent, or at beautiful little inns. I have all their names in my book of records,

The annual banjo festival is here again and I can't believe that I can really actually play the BANJO. Last year when I went, I could only watch in stupidly grinning admiration as these guys, the coolest ever, strummed away:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdm9u9Nc0tkThey sound a million times better in person. The video sound is all wangly.This year I will bring my own BANJO to the festival and

I got to see my "Nightline" segment again last night with the Search Committee who brought me to my congregation in 2002. We have a reunion dinner every year and this was our fifth anniversary, which none of us can quite believe.One of them brought over a DVD produced by her husband, who took all the promo spots and edited them together with the 3-minute segment. We watched it over appetizers and

I am just about to prepare a chicken recipe for a dinner party this evening, which is why this article is making me laugh in a particularly wicked way:http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/opinion/16shaw.html?th&emc=thYa gotta love a guy who defends the presence of RATS in restaurants.As far as my own kitchen safety at home goes, honey, I'm about to put on some disposable surgical gloves and get that

In the past week I've seen Scorcese's celebrated film "The Departed" and David Fincher's just-released serial killer crime drama "Zodiac.""The Departed" was entertaining, but I'm so sorry Scorcese didn't win the Oscar for "Goodfellas," which is by far a superior film. I don't know what to say about "The Departed." Jack Nicholson works hard for his paycheck, Matt Damon is typically earnest and

Scott lovingly wails on me here:http://boyinthebands.com/archives/the-healthy-sustainable-diet/And it's great, because he totally knows what he's talking about.::::stomp, stomp, stomp, SLAM::::Just kiddin'. I'm going to make some tofu and veggie buffalo wings (really) and to watch "The Departed."

I tried to go to sleep early last night, but I thought it very possible that my segment would air on "Nightline" so I gave up around 11:00 and turned the light back on.I saw immediately that I wouldn't be on, as they were featuring some scandal about Rick Warren called "The Purpose-Driven STRIFE" (cue ominous music).This story gave me such a bad fit of the giggles I almost threw out my back.

I'm just wondering this honestly, and with no sense of judgment (quelle surprise!), but honestly, as middle and upper-class Americans are running around trying to eat organic everything and grass-fed beef (if they eat beef) and full-moon harvested herbs and drinking biodynamic wine, isn't it true that most of the people in our country are still eating mostly crap?Shouldn't we be working on

Reverend Mother http://reverendmom.blogspot.com/ is blogging about a lot of the things I would be blogging about here if I wasn't trying to take a hiatus for Lent.And I don't mean the recent post about my beauty tips blog, I mean the entries about "The Secret" (a pop spirituality phenomenon that seems to me to be recycled Shakti Gawain), the theological underpinnings of UU memorial services, and

This strikes me as a particularly Lenten scandal:http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/02/27/cherished_music_wasnt_hers/It's not about money, it's not about sex.It's about the deep human desire for beauty and transcendence through art.It's about the mystery of creative talent and the sin of trying to steal someone else's when you feel you haven't got enough of your own.It's about

Remember when Adrien Brody won the Oscar for Best Actor a few years ago for "The Piano?" And when he got to the stage he grabbed presenter Halle Berry and swept her into this amazingly inappropriate back-breaking, long kiss? When Jennifer Hudson won last night for Best Supporting Actress, I thought it would have been great if she had done the same thing to presenter George Clooney. That would

Well, bless their hearts. http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2007/02/24/theyre_dancing_in_the_street/

Hola, amigos,Given all the attention that Beauty Tips For Ministers is getting these days, I will be taking a little break from this blog.If anything totally inspiring comes to mind, I'll be sure to share it.I'm off to church for a midday service to get smeared on the forehead and reminded that I'm mortal but that I get to spend my eternity with God.It's one of my favorite holy days.Peace.Bang.

I suppose once you've made the cover of the Sunday paper as a blogger, your anonymity is pretty much totally over:http://www.boston.com/yourlife/fashion/articles/2007/02/18/preaching_fashion/Now, I know that the vast majority of you who read this blog know who I am.That's fine and that has always been fine.Since I began this blog well over two years ago, I have always been happy to tell any

You must realize that I have a personal affection for Psalm 118 that comes from the fact that my church choir sang its lyrics at my candidating Sunday and again at my Installation.This is the day the LORD hath madeLet us rejoice and be glad!!So I was perhaps more deflated than usual to read of one Unitarian Universalist minister's translation of the psalm as,This is the day we are given,let us

As someone who freezes in terror whenever a microphone or camera is pointed at her, I am beside myself with admiration over this interview on a local cable channel featuring Unitarian Universalist minister, the Rev. Parisa Parsa:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmT9eRyZUzMShe speaks comfortably and with great poise and intelligence about ministry and about Unitarian Universalism.Seminarians, watch

dords snowOriginally uploaded by Peacebang. And in the interest of inter-species harmony and fairness, I must add a Friday Dog Blog to the mix.This is my nephew, Gordon, who lives with SisterBang in Connecticut.This photo makes me cry. It's the tenderest thing I ever saw. Our beloved old gentleman with his white face against the white snow.Dogs are the most special beings.

AnnieOriginally uploaded by Peacebang. This isn't my cat, but it's a very adorable cat. PeaceBangers, meet Annie. She was apparently on her way outside but never made it, choosing to crash by the warm stove instead.She's no dummy! Have you SEEN it out there? All kinds of ice! She has to have The Warm Paws!

Folks, there have been some more bloggers weighing in on the James Luther Adam quote that was the focus of this month's Carnival.Here, Earthbound Spirit muses about the accusation of atheism being thrown at all kinds of reformers and infidels through the ages:http://earthbound-spirit.blogspot.com/2007/02/uu-carnival-is-atheism-non-belief.htmlThe original conversation is here:http://

Here's an article from the Boston Globe suggesting that napping in the afternoon may be beneficial to heart health:http://tinyurl.com/2dkllrBut speaking of heart health (!), what really infuriates me is that once again, we don't know if the results apply to women because so few women were included in the study.Heart disease kills far, far more women every year than breast and skin cancer combined

You know how you send out e-mails to people with several points about pastoral news and/or committee work? And then someone sends you back your e-mail with their own replies in bold or in another color font?I just got one this morning and where I signed, "In faith, hope and love," he had added in blue font, "Totally," as his own sign-off.It's going to keep me grinning all day. Good old "totally."

Wesley Morris writes this about Eddie Murphy's latest fat-woman-bashing flick, "Norbit:"http://tinyurl.com/2tg4xlIt's funny, it's effective. Right on, Wesley. Thanks from over here.I did see Mo'nique's fat-girl-finds-romance film "Phat Girlz" and found it to be embarrassingly bad but also guiltily refreshing. Mo'nique's take on the tale is that African men just love heavy women and will

Since I'm planning to preach soon on the integrity of atheism, I was tickled to see that the UU Carnival topic this month was prophetic atheism, based on some remarks made by our great theologian, James Luther Adams:http://uucarnival.wordpress.com/2007/02/05/seventh-uu-carnival-topic-atheist-prophets/We'd love it if you submitted your take on the subject.Here, Ms. Kitty takes us through the

I'm supposed to be working on a sermon on communal grief and the cost of repressing it, but I can't stop thinking about Peter Jackson's "King Kong" starring Naomi Watts, Jack Black and Adrien Brody. It was on HBO last night and although I had intended to go to bed early, I wound up watching the whole thing until 11pm.Some of you may recall that I originally inquired about the meaning of "KK"

ANNA NICOLE SMITH IS DEAD. You hadn't HEARD, right? Because you don't follow celebrity gossip like PeaceBang does, and you were watching the SERIOUS news all day, where they didn't mention it.(sarcastic cough)I have to admit that when I heard the news I definitely had an emotional reaction. Which is strange, but just a testament to how effective the whole Rupert Murdoch We Own Your Brain

On February 8, 1997, I went before the Ministerial Fellowship Committee with fear and trembling for the interview that would determine whether or not I would welcomed into the ministerial fellowship by my colleagues.I had been through a terrible breakup with a thoroughly odious human being that winter and was walking around all wounded and weepy until about mid-January when my mother said to me,

Just skimming the headlines I could barely finish reading this on the death of 4 year old Rebecca Riley, who lived very near to me:http://tinyurl.com/2z2xmsHow do you diagnose a TWO AND A HALF YEAR OLD as having attention deficit disorder?? Or bi-polar disorder? Isn't being squirrelly and difficult the job description for a two year old? Isn't that we call them the Terrible Twos? This kid never

As you will recall from this post,http://peacebang.blogspot.com/2005/07/i-used-to-love-jane-siberry.htmland this one,http://peacebang.blogspot.com/2007/02/call-me-issa.htmlI purchased a sweet little silver ring in France several years ago that just happened to have the same spiral symbol on it that showed up as the motif in Jane Siberry's Philadelphia concert I attended days after my return from

Remember a year or so ago, when it seemed incomprehensible that we would consider war with Iran? And now, some neo-cons are making noise like it's a fait accompli?A friend sent me this:http://www.lucasgray.com/video/peacetrain.html

I would like to report to all of you that I have officially upgraded my status on the BANJO from"Simply Atrocious With No Hope" to "Still Really Bad But There's Hope."Now I'm going to practice!

Reading the Christian Century today, I found myself caught and held by the words of Fred Craddock. Here is the item from their Centurymarks column:MORALITY TALEWhen asked to reflect on why pastors like Ted Haggard fall morally, preaching guru Fred Craddock said that it stems from the fact that many pastors never learn to deal with favorable attention. 'Never at home or in seminary did anyone

Does anyone have experience with this Bible study curriculum?A Methodist pastor friend is using it and likes it a lot. http://www.thewiredword.com/I would welcome your thoughts and comments.

Notes On A Scandal Originally uploaded by Peacebang. Miguelito and I went to see "Notes On A Scandal" last night and found it howling good fun.It was far more "Whatever Happened To Baby Jane" meets "Fatal Attraction" than I expected, but the performances by Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett are a delight, and the score by Philip Glass keeps your adrenaline rushing.This is very high pedigree

As long-time readers of this blog may remember, I was mightily miffed when, several years back, I attended a Jane Siberry concert and noticed that the visual motif of her concert tour was the exact same symbol I was wearing on a ring on my finger. I had just purchased the ring in France, and when I spoke to Jane after the concert, I made her a gift of the ring. She said to me, in a very

I know it's sexist of me to say this, and I shouldn't even notice it, but I happen to get a huge kick out of the fact that when we have a big church dinner or luncheon, it's more often than not a team of men in the kitchen.They even wear aprons. And when it's not men in the Lead Cook position, they're always in there helping. Often in those aprons.It kills me.So last night we had this very

Pirate Cat Originally uploaded by Peacebang. Just when I thought Ermengarde was doing so well, I noticed a few days ago that she seemed to be squinting her right eye a bit. The squinting was pretty bad today, and the eye is a bit teary. So I come home tonight from a lovely church event and she's like a little pirate cat, "aaargh, matey!" Looks like the white is pink on that side. I got

This year's UU Blog Awards were very dramatic and exciting! Thanks UU Updater, for getting the party started!View the results here: http://uupdates.net/uublogawards/winners/2007I'm VERY sorry that I didn't nominate anyone, and I'm glad others didn't slack off the way I did.Thanks to whoever nominated me. I don't really know what the categories all mean (what "class" am I "best" of?), but this was

I just learned that Molly Ivins died at 62.This obit will make you laugh out loud. What a great writer. She will be sorely missed by this reader:http://tinyurl.com/2at8s3My favorite tidbit:"There are two kinds of humor," she told People magazine. One was the kind "that makes us chuckle about our foibles and our shared humanity," she said. "The other kind holds people up to public contempt and

Sweet GirlOriginally uploaded by Peacebang. It looks like this little sweetie is going to be okay. Her lungs are still cloudy but much, much better.She's going to stay on prednisone for the forseeable future.Thank you so much for being lovely and supportive during the entire crisis. The doctors made such dire predictions early on that I think I was needlessly traumatized.I could look at that face

winged victoryOriginally uploaded by Peacebang. OOh, so close!As I said the other day,"I'm up for Best Religious Writing, Best Anecdote or Narrative, Best UU Themed Blog, Best Minister's Blog and something else."You can vote here:http://uupdates.net/uublogawards/Thanks for your support. You're warming ye cockles of my heart.

Oh Lordy.Yesterday I heard on the news that there were "suspicious devices" found all over Boston. I got nervous. I forgot about it. Today, I learned all about it:http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/us/01boston.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=sloginSeems that a clever viral campaign for the Cartoon Network was to blame.We were terrorized by modified Lite Brites. Welcome to the new millennium.

It was a crisp, sunny day today and I thought for the millionth time that if I'm going to make it through to April without resembling and feeling like a mobile piece of fungus, I need to get out in the fresh air and take walks.Except this: I kind of have a walk phobia.Seriously, you say. PeaceBang, that is too neurotic even for you.It's true, though. I don't know what it comes from, but it takes

Alert Unitarian Universalists who like to try to observe every major holiday might want to know that Feb. 3rd is Tu B'Shevat, or "Jewish Arbor Day." It might be tough to incorporate it into the same weekend you've already got your pagan group doing Imbolc and your Christian group doing Candlemas (which I'm not sure is official, and I must admit that I don't know what it is), and then there's

Gee, folks, thanks to whoever it was that nominated this blog for all those awards!I'm up for Best Religious Writing, Best Anecdote or Narrative, Best UU Themed Blog, Best Minister's Blog and something else. You can vote here:http://uupdates.net/uublogawards/If I win Best Religious Writing (which would be particularly meaningful to me, I must admit), do you think I can raise my fees? ;-)If you

When we first arrived in Antigua, we stayed at Palacio de Dona Beatriz at the outskirts of town. Lovely place with a great concierge named Rudy.I saw that they offered an hour massage for $35 -- who could resist? -- so I ordered one up.Jorge showed up right on time and set up his massage table in the chapel next to our room:He had no sheet to cover me with. Imagine the flurry of flustered

Most people, when they go on an exciting trip, will focus on the great stories and minimize any mishaps. Me, I like to maximize the mishaps because, let's face it, they're often more interesting and dramatic than the usual "wow-it-was-beautiful" stuff. So indulge me, if you will, my stream-of-consciousness narrative of my last few days in Guatemala. And then, I promise you, I'll tell more happy

Hola, PeaceBangers!I attended church today in Santiago de Atitlan in the Guatemalan highlands. Very, very emotional. From what I understood, the priest preached on the body of Christ. There were tons of people of all ages and the music was sung and chanted mostly by children's choir and guitar. Heavenly music.I'm in the restaurant of our very lovely accomodations and don't have time to blog,

It looks like while I'm away on vacation, ya'll will have an opportunity to vote on your favorite UU blogs.I think I was voted second in a few categories last year. This year, baby, let's go for the gold!Here are a few reasons you might consider giving PeaceBang your vote. This is by way of reminding you that I don't write about my cat ALL the time...!!Religious Writing or Theological

In the continuing scintillating and thrilling week of PeaceBang, I wrote a sermon, wrote about 100 e-mails, thought two or three deep thoughts and about six thousand useless ones, planned some church programming, had a half dozen nice meetings, cared about a lot of people, outright worried about a few more, cracked the Bible and prayed exactly once in the past week, and pinched a nerve in my

SOMEONE brought me a (toy) mouse this morning! She's hunting!!And has been jumping brightly on the bed at dawn with a cheerful, "Mrow?"And has been talking about many cat things while I am in the kitchen, and she even whines! (which is how she earned her name in the first place: Ermengarde is the crying, whining character in "Hello, Dolly!")And has been eating beef briscuit and roast beef out of

I feel a kind of dread.The image I get is of Bush throwing bodies into the maw of an enormous beast... just throwing bodies into a fiery pit with an enormous monstrous mouth.Can Congress do anything? Can they start impeachment proceedings?

The old English major in me really appreciated this article by Gary Kimya for Salon:http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2007/01/09/revenge/index.htmlI wasn't overly impressed by his"Old Testament God = vengeance/New Testament God= forgiveness" false dichotomy (cripes, dude, ever read the Gospel of Matthew?), but he's obviously a literary type, not a religious scholar.It's good stuff.I am not even

Faithful America.org has a list of protests all over the country. Here are the Boston-area ones, and I'm proud to see that Unitarian Universalist congregations feature prominently in the offerings:http://tinyurl.com/yj92g5I will be driving down to Providence becuase I have an appointment I can't cancel at 4pm and won't get into Boston in time. But Fausto, there's one on the Common from 4-6.

So I told you over at Beauty Tips that Erm hasn't been eating, so I'll nonchalantly follow her around with stinky cat food in my hand, like, "Oh, I just happened to have this Tuna Delight on the end of my finger, could I interest you in this?" And she'll stop and smell it and lick it in tiny bites off the end of my finger as I praise her for each bite.It's been slow work. I'm keeping a close eye

Lizard Eater is a wonderful blogger who manages to write about terribly painful realities with the kind of grace and humor that invites you into her experience rather than holds it over you like a crown of thorns. She writes here that her church may be dying, and about a pastor's idea (not her pastor) to give out purple bracelets that say SPIRIT on them to his own congregants, as a visual cue to

12:00 AMCat asleep in the crook of woman's arm.1:00 AMWoman: What are you doing? Are you grooming yourself? How's your breathing? Are you breathing okay?Cat: (lick, lick)2:00 AMWoman: What are you doing? Are you still grooming? Come here. Let me listen to you breathe.Cat: (purr)Woman: Sweetie, don't lick me on my mouth. Yuck.4:00 AMWoman: I just had a nightmare. How's your breathing? Are you

One of the things I'm learning in ministry is that you can occasionally reveal your own distress to your congregants. Not too much -- not in a way that "dumps" -- and certainly from the pulpit there should be a careful management of the revelation of personal pain so that it's ultimately for them and not about you -- but they need to know that you're human and you don't always have superhero

I received a review copy of this latest little book by philosopher Jacob Needleman in the mail yesterday. I had to smile in a wry fashion having very recently experienced the end of a relationship that I thought might actually have some legs to it -- but just reading the back of the book filled me with appreciation and clarity, as in "YES! That's what I want to be able to do with someone!"Here's

I get to bring her home today. At 6:30 AM the doctor called me -- o, my heart she was a-poundin' when the phone rang! -- and said, "Ermengarde is doing much better. She's breathing well and eating and you can come pick her up any time after 1:00 today."She'll be on steroids for another 10 days and on an antibiotic for two weeks. This should give me enough time to get a second opinion about the

I was at the morning worship service for the Inauguration Day of Deval Patrick, governor of Massachusetts, at Old South Meetinghouse. My favorite religion reporter, Michael "Max" Paulson,* blogged it here, http://www.boston.com/news/local/politics/blog/2007/01/the_view_from_u.htmlIt was exciting and wonderful, and Deval Patrick cried as we sang "Laying Down My Only Burden," an original

erm the brave patient Originally uploaded by Peacebang. I'm so sorry to be carrying on like this about this insignificant little animal.I do know that there are more important losses and traumas in the world. I'm such a cliche of the privileged, neurotic, middle-aged spinster with her cat!But I do love this critter dearly.I brought her home the first week I moved to this new church, and

Ermengarde Christmas 2006 015Originally uploaded by Peacebang. My darling striped baby, my comforter and honey, is desperately sick and spending the night in the hospital in an oxygen bed.She has acute pneumonia.I have no idea how this happened. All I know is that she was sneezing a lot a few weeks ago, and then a few days ago started picking at her food. Still, she was energetic and snuggly and

I just received a note from a fellow blogger from Nashville extending a bit of southern hospitality for the Festival of Homiletics in May ('cause you're buying the margaritas, right, John?) -- leading me to wonder what other blogger/PeaceBangers are in the city and would like to meet for tapas one night. Or for barbecue and line dancing at the Crazy Horse (where PeaceBang likes to sit and watch

celebration Originally uploaded by Peacebang. Lord have mercy, I just submitted by take-home exam to my professors. I e-mailed off my last ten-page paper last night. The last trauma of the Great Hard Drive Crash of 2006 is GONE!!I am so relieved I can hardly even stand it, or realize it.I'm going to keep soldiering on with the Order of Service for this week so I can get out and make

Happy 2007, PeaceBangers!Here's a kind of fun article on why new year's resolutions are no good for many of us, written last year for the UU World online magazine by a Close and Personal Friend of PeaceBang's:http://www.uuworld.org/spirit/articles/2489.shtml?pHealth and wisdom and love be yours in the new year.

ThirstOriginally uploaded by Peacebang. Can you believe that I'm a Unitarian Universalist minister who loves the poetry of Mary Oliver?Why, that's about as shocking as being a gay man who loves the music of Judy Garland or Barbra Streisand!!I know, I know -- it's a cliche, but I discovered Mary Oliver before I even went to seminary courtesy of my dear friend, the poet Sophie Wadsworth. My first

OH MAN, I am jubilant!I registered to attend the Festival of Homiletics in Nashville from May 21-25th and even though I'm teaching later that month, I just HAD to go.Listen to the names of some of the people I'll be hearing preach and lecture:Barbara Brown TaylorFred CraddockJim WallisJames ForbesWalter BrueggemannWilliam WillimonAnna Carter FlorenceCan you STAND it?The theme is Prophetic

I was asked to bless about 150 baby caps knit by four women in my congregation as part of the Caps to the Capital project of Save the Chidren.http://www.savethechildren.org/campaigns/caps-to-the-capital/malawi-and-bangladesh.htmlHow am I going to keep from crying? Did you see that photo of that tiny baby?

SaddamOriginally uploaded by Peacebang. Prez Bush said that the execution of Saddam was "bringing him to justice."How does that work, exactly, in Bush's Christian scheme of things?Would it not be more accurate to say, "Saddam needed to be wacked because he was a super-dangerous sociopath with lots and lots of power. It's not the Christian thing to do, but I'm the leader of the most powerful

two years oldOriginally uploaded by Peacebang. PeaceBang turns two years old today or tomorrow.It all began when I had dinner with my pals, two of whom were expecting their first child any minute. She (my preganant pal) told me that they had a blog for the baby and that I would be able to see photos on the blog.I wanted to know what a blog was. I was vaguely aware that my friends Chris (

There are many things about the holiday services at my church that touch my heart, but one thing in particular really got to me this year: intergenerational musical moments.During our Children's Holiday Service (where each Sunday School class shares -- in a thematic holiday-oriented way -- what they've been studying), we had an anthem with a small children's choir. Pretty standard stuff, but what

christmas morning Originally uploaded by Peacebang.

Down Came An Angel Originally uploaded by Peacebang. This CD features pianist Jacqueline Schwab playing a beautiful variety of Christmas and holiday tunes, including the enigmatic "Cheery Tree Carol," wherein Mary asks Joseph to pick her some cherries, and he replies, "Let the father of your BABY get you some cherries" and she goes, "Whoa, that was so rude -- I totally TOLD you that I am

I just had the pleasure of flipping through the new book by Stephanie Spellers called Radical Welcome: Embracing God, the Other and the Spirit of Transformation:http://www.allbookstores.com/author/Stephanie_Spellers.htmlStephanie is an Episcopal priest who has written about flinging open the doors of our hearts and our churches the way God would have us do, and why we don't always manage that in

I went to get stamps at the post office yesterday and was happy to see that they had little snowflake-designed ones that match my Christmas letter paper.After I purchased two books and paused to put stamps on my cards, a man turned to the woman next to him and said, "Politically correct Christmas stamps." He said it nicely, if ruefully.She said, "I kind of like them, because you can use them

I'm making final decisions on our big Christmas Eve production. It's really fun, and it's really stressful. You want to make the night magical and beautiful and really, that's going to happen courtesy of our beautiful New England meetinghouse and lit candles and "Silent Night," and anything I do or don't do probably won't count for much.Still, you want to touch hearts. You want to squeeze the

Happiness is having the guy from Geek Choice retrieve 100% of my lost data!!And happiness is this new blog, written by a 93-year old Canadian man who will become your very favorite elder blogger in a moment:http://dontoearth.blogspot.com/I went out and bought a 1 gig harddrive at Office Max today. I am going to name it Fred. Fred and I will hold hands and whisper sweet nothings in each other's

When The Heck Is Santa Getting Here? Originally uploaded by Peacebang.

We do a Burning Bowl ceremony every new year at my church, and I preach a sermon called "The News of the Year in Religion."I used to call it "The Good News of the Year in Religion," but sometimes I forget to collect heartwarming stories of interfaith good will and harmony, and some years are just too full of scandals and failures on a grand scale that beg for some reflection.This year I am

The UU Enforcer has a hilarious post up lambasting our current hymnal's pathetic mangling of traditional Chritmas carols, and providing ridiculously unsingable ones ("Duermete, Lindo" anyone?).Check it out at http://www.UUEnforcer.blogspot.com.

I had a rapturous day yesterday when a wonderful guy came from the Geek Squad and recovered a whole bunch of my old hard drive, including my i-Tunes folder.Gloom and doom returned this morning when I sat down to do some work and realized that we are still missing the most important set of files of all -- the worship files. Augh! I will call him back for another visit and keep my fingers crossed

I woke up early this morning and started making a mental list of all the work I had lost. Worst of all is the tremendous amount of work I had done compiling quotes and stories by theme for my Worship files. My chest aches just thinking about it. Hours and hours of organizing, cutting and pasting. Worship will take a lot longer to prepare now, as I've also lost my Offering stories (I had a rich

Hi friends,My hard drive is under warranty, so Dell's sending out a new one.No word yet as to whether there will be any kind of resurrection experience of old data from the dead drive. Hey, but Sunday is St. Lazarus' Day -- maybe I should have my PC doc try it THEN? Is it too late in the week to start a novena cycle?P.S. Dell tells me that I have a super Burn You Up battery in my computer that

PeaceBang's computer died the death this morning.The hard drive seems to be gone.PeaceBang has had a rocky relationship with her Dell Inspiron since the beginning. She is thinking she run back into the arms of Mac.Mac doesn't have so many viruses and problems, and is generally snazzier and more fun.This is pretty terrible. Everything is backed up except for the exam and paper due in the morning

Today in class we did a wonderful thing as part of a Communion Service.Our professors asked us all to bring a short Scripture passage and to prepare about 45 seconds of explanation as to why it is important to us.In lieu of a homily, people jumped in as the Spirit moved them and read their selections. It was just great. We had Micah and Jeremiah, and Corinthians, Ephesians, Romans. Matthew,

My heart is heavy today with the news that Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley has passed from this life.Her husband Clyde shares the news here,http://justworld.typepad.com/perspectives/I always thought that Marjorie was beautiful and smart and faithful and fierce. She intimidated me -- and I'm not easily intimidated -- because she was just such a cool kid. But she was also warm and encouraging, and she

Listen up, yo!SWEET THE SOUND will be blessing your ears with fine bluegrass stylings of many cool Christmas season tunes.(Is that hip and cool enough to get your attention?)We will be at OLD SOUTH CHURCH in Copley Square at 2 pm, Dec. 16th.Our fiddler, bassist, guitarist and pianist are the finest in the land. Along with some popular faves, we sing a few super fabulous original songs by founder

I am not happy with my preaching thus far at church this year. This is not self-abasement, just honesty. I am able to evaluate my work and be unthrilled with it without spinning out into self-hatred. I assume my congregants notice, and I am left to conclude that they're forebearing enough to accept the lack of greatness.* This is what it means to settle somewhere. You abide together in covenant

You may be totally offended. I was.You may be a bit frightened. I was.You may seriously consider the totally screwy theology contained therein and become depressed when you realize that there are people who think this way for real. I was.You may laugh your head off. I didn't. Except for one startled outburst.You may find the animation rather impressive. I did.Oh, boy. Oh boy.http://

I have a sore throat.I handed in a 25 page paper on Tuesday.I have mostly planned Christmas Eve for church. But the tree here isn't decorated yet and I'm not sure when it will be.I cannot stand thinking about the 17th century for another few days, even though I have another paper due any minute now on covenant and the Puritans.I am whining.So last evening, with an hour to spare before leading

My oldest nephew was born on the winter solstice. He will be three years old on Dec. 21st. He is a bright light in my life. He was actually born on a Sunday morning, making his appearance into life while we were having a Friendly Beasts Sunday School worship service. A woman in the church knitted him a tiny little elephant sweater in honor of the occasion. I like to get him animal-oriented gifts

Philocrites and commenters have brought about a beautiful memory for me:http://www.philocrites.com/archives/001473.htmlA few years ago, in early Advent, I mentioned in a sermon that it just isn't Christmas for me until I hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's album, "White Christmas." It has the most beautiful song called "Baby, What You Gonna Be?" and a gorgeous lullaby on it, and my all-time

Someone I knew only briefly but was very fond of, died suddenly the other day.He actually dropped dead, as the old expression goes. I just found out.I felt he was kind of a kindred spirit and can easily picture his face and voice in my mind as I think of him.We met this summer and bonded immediately over having been treated extremely shabbily by the same man. He had been the man's lover. I had

Do you ever get those e-mail forwards from friends or family containing some little slice-of-life story so sweet it gives you immediate cavities? And it often has some little sentimental motto tacked on the end, something about God and angels, and as you delete it you're simultaneously wiping away a tear and rolling your eyes?As a minister, I get them all the time. I read them all, too. I think