Artist Unknown This is the text of the reflections I offered on Sunday, October 7, 2018 at the congregation I serve in Charlottesville, Virginia. There's a joke I've always loved, but always have to look up to make sure I get it right.  When I looked it up (again) this week I discovered that in a 2005 poll in the UK it had been voted the funniest religious joke: I was walking across a

This is the text of the reflections I offered on September 30, 2018 at the Unitarian Universalist congregation I serve in Charlottesville, VA TV writer Aaron Fullerton photoshopped an image from inside the room in the U.S. Capitol,next to a dystopian government meeting in the show on Twitter As I listened on Thursday to the testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, I knew that what I'd

This is the text of the reflections I offered to the congregation I serve on Sunday, September 23, 2018. The various traditions and lineages of Buddhism disagree with one another as much as the different branches of Christianity do (or, for that matter, people who understand Unitarian Universalism differently).  These various traditions and lineages do share many common teachings, of course.

This is the text of the reflections I offered on Sunday, September 16, 2018 at the Unitarian Universalist congregation I serve in Charlottesville, Virginia. This morning I'd like us to explore two ideas:  marginalized community, and beloved community.  We hear both of these terms a fair bit, yet with one of them we have all too many examples to look to, and the other nowhere near far

This is this text of the reflections I offered on September 2, 2018, at the congregation I serve in Charlottesville, Virginia. Water is pretty awesome. 50% - 60% of the human body is made up of water.  Did you know that?  50% - 60%.  And some 75% -- ¾ -- of the earth's surface is covered in water.  (Some people say we shouldn't call our planet "Earth;" we should have called it, "Water.") 

Elwyn Brooks White, better known as E. B. White, may be best known as the author of Charlotte'sWeb and Stuart Little, or, by people of a certain age, the co-author of a little volume often called Strunk & White or, more accurately The Elements of Style.  (Some people shudder at the memory of it; others delight in its clarity and decisiveness.  Most are surprised to know that it was written by

Her marriage had imploded, leaving her a divorced, single mother, dependent on welfare to get her from day-to-day.  She was severely depressed, and things felt so bad to her that she considered suicide.  To make matters worse, perhaps, she also was an aspiring author.  She said ever since she had learned what a writer was, she wanted to be one.  So she would take her baby and a number

Today is the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan 73 years ago.  At the time of the bombing the city's population was approximately 340,00 - 350,000 people.  It is estimated that the bomb directly killed 70,000 people, including 20,000 Japanese combatants and 2,000 Korean slave laborers. By the end of the year, injury and radiation brought the total number of deaths to 90,000–

This is the text of the reflections I offered to the congregation I serve on Sunday, August 5th, 2018. It was 7:00 am on August 7th, 44 year's ago. A young man, one week shy of his 25th birthday,  stood with one foot on the edge of a building, and the other foot on a steel cable ¾ of an inch in diameter. The man was French wire walker Philippe Petit; the building was the south tower

This is the text of the reflections I offered to the congregation I serve on July 29, 2018.  I have also included the Opening and Closing words, and hope UUA President Susan Frederick-Gray will understand their importance to the whole. Opening Words: As a people—a people of faith—that say we are committed to justice, compassion, and equity. As a faith that says we are committed to the

This past Sunday, July 22nd, I facilitated the "Questions & Responses" service we have annually in the congregation I serve.  Congregants write questions on index cards, which are then collected, and to which I offer my in-the-moment responses.  Over the next several weeks I plan to devote this page to attempts to offer written responses.  If you'd like to see the entire list of questions asked,

This past Sunday, July 22nd, I facilitated the "Questions & Responses" service we have annually in the congregation I serve.  Congregants write questions on index cards, which are then collected, and to which I offer my in-the-moment responses.  Over the next several weeks I plan to devote this page to attempts to offer written responses.  If you'd like to see the entire list of questions asked

This past Sunday, July 22nd, I facilitated the "Questions & Responses" service we have annually in the congregation I serve.  Congregants write questions on index cards, which are then collected, and to which I offer my in-the-moment responses.  Over the next several weeks I plan to devote this page to attempts to offer written responses.  If you'd like to see the entire list of questions asked

These are the Opening and Closing words I offered for the "Questions & Responses" service at the congregation I serve in Charlottesville, Virginia on July 22, 2018.  I responded to as many of the questions as I could, as best I could in the moment.  This post also includes all of the questions to come out of the congregation. Opening Words: It is common in a great many Unitarian

This is the text of the reflections I offered at the congregation I serve on Sunday, July 15, 2018. In the late 80s, early 90s, Sam, Diane, and, of course, Norm, were household names.   They were part of the TV "family" that gathered in a fictional Boston bar, and whose various ups and downs and absurdities formed the content of each episode.  The heart of the show, though, was the idea

This is the text of my reflections (and the readings) from the service this past Sunday, July 8, 2018, at the congregation I serve here in Charlottesville.  This was a multigenerational service which was not just about play, but was, itself, a time of play. Opening Words: The German wildlife photographer Norbert Rosing has a particular affinity for polar bears.  His work has been

This is the text of the reflections I offered at the congregation I serve here in Charlottesville, Virginia on Sunday, July 1, 2018.  I wanted the second half to be less consciously conceptual and more a free flowing of spirit, so this is a reconstruction of what those who were here heard. Opening Words: The abbot of a provincial monastery was in something of a tizzy, because the abbot of

This is the text of the reflection I offered at the congregation I serve on Sunday, June 17, 2018. Once there was a man, walking along in the countryside, when he chanced upon a woman hard at work doing something which seemed kind of strange.  By the time the man got there, she had already stretched out two long ropes in parallel, staking the ends on either side.  Now she was in the process of

This is the text of the reflections I offered to the congregation I serve on Sunday, June 3rd, 2018.  This was our annual "Bridging" service, at which we honor our graduating seniors and recognize that they have made the transition from "youth" to "young adult." I want to tell you something absolutely amazing this morning.  Or, to be more precise, I want to tell you about something absolutely

This is the text of the reflections I offered to the Unitarian Universalist congregation I serve here in Charlottesville, Virginia on Sunday, May 27, 2018 -- Memorial Day. The 21st Colored Infantry along with the 54th Massachusetts and the 34th and 104th United States Colored Troops held a celebration on May 1, 1865, the first "Decoration Day,"  which later became Memorial Day In

It's no secret that I love comic books -- the Batman, especially, and other DC characters, but Marvel heroes as well.  I've collected a pretty large number of them now, but I'm not one of those collectors who seal them away in plastic and never take them out unless wearing gloves so as not to leave any oil on them.  Well, I mean, I do have them in plastic, but I open them up all the time and

This is the text of my reflections on Sunday, May 13, 2018 -- Mother's Day -- at the Unitarian Universalist congregation I serve in Charlottesville, Virginia. Like so many things, there are deep roots to Mother's Day (and yes, the placement of that apostrophe after the "r" and before the "s" is important to story).  During the 19th century, there have been several attempts by women's peace

This is the text of the reflection I offered at the congregation I serve in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Sunday, April 29, 2018.   This service was a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the formal founding of the congregation.                                                Looking Back; Looking Forward It was the early 1940s, and a woman named Carrie Baker moved to Charlottesville from

This is the text of the reflection I offered at the congregation I serve in Charlottesville, Virginia on Sunday, April 22nd 2018.  It being Earth Day, this was the perfect Sunday to celebrate Flower Communion.  Especially in light of the discontent and disquiet current being felt in the congregation, it was the right time to remember the beauty of our community and how each of us contributes to

This is the text of the reflection I offered to the congregation I serve on Sunday, April 25th, 2018.  (If you prefer, you can listen to it.)  I want to thank those of you – both here and not here this morning – who have taken the step of formalizing your membership in this community.  The two things I like to say to new members are:  congratulations (because you've joined a wonderful