This sermon is a bit out there. I went out on a limb and gave a sermon as a guised archetype…guising is a form of mystical trance where you draw down a character. I wrote and delivered the sermon as Li Tei Quai, a Taoism immortal of Chinese kung-fu legend.…
Emma the Dog: Hey People…please be kind and excellent.
I have a brief story to tell. Last night some kids in our neighborhood found a beautiful little chihuahua wandering the streets…they actually founds its owner. The owner didn’t want it because of a new lease, left her door open, and when the animal got out, decided not to look…
Extreme Welcoming Sermon
Last month in January, I had the good fortune to “inherit” a service because our consulting minister was called out of town unexpectedly (well, kind-of unexpectedly). The title was already set and the topic already published; Extreme Welcoming. I got into thinking about what makes up the idea of welcoming,…
RLLS: Heading Home
Last morning at RLLS was full of a sense of deep connection. Though most were clearly eager to return home to their loved ones, there was also a sadness. In worship, we reflected upon how we had successfully built a beloved community together, and took time to think about the…
RLLS: Our Mission and Vision
“Claiming our Mission” Day 2, Day 3 of Classes. “A church that is not growing has a mission problem.” – Robert Latham Mission is simply a bit misty and hard to nail down unless you are working on one. It seems, from the coursework, and my thought, that our mission…
RLLS: Our Covenantal Faith
Covered an amazing amount of ground today; covenantal faith, mission, vision, Universalist history, Unitarian history and small group discussion. Literally some 14 hours of dialog, music and worship. What stood out the most? Even though today was about mission, the importance of our covenants to our faith was what stuck…
RLLS: Gathering
First night at RLLS (Russell Lockwood Leadership School) tonight; we met, did introductions, an ice-breaker name game where everyone added an adjective to their name (there are almost 40 participants so that took a while and was much, much harder than it sounds), broke down into Covenant Groups then back…
Pioneers of Freedom
I read an interesting quote today about Prop 8 from its proponents, Protect Marriage (actually their counsel said this): “For our opponents to say, as they have repeatedly, that there is no rational reason for limiting marriage to a man and a woman except for animus and bigotry is to…
Is Everything Possible?
One of my favorite songs is “Everything Possible” by Fred Small. Of course, we cannot be certain what an artist means by the lyrics of a song, I think that is part of the magic; a good song speaks to each of us as individuals. This past June, I had…
Roses and Dust
I haven’t posted for a week because last week was a very interesting week. The world lost a capable, beautiful young kung-fu student, and I was best man in my dear friends wedding. Interesting contrasts that made me think deeply. I wanted to post, but it took until now to…