Dear America, How Ya Been? is a sermon delivered at South Valley Unitarian Universalist Society December 2018 about my love for the dream of liberty, welcome and respect of individuality that I find at the heart of America and having the hard political conversations to cross the divides we have…
Once there was a dream called America…
July 4…Independence Day…for me today is a day when I remember the dream of America, take stock of where we are in realizing that dream, mourn our shortcomings and hope that in the years to come, we will do more to realize the dream. Once there was a dream…
Encountering Change: A Chaplain’s Perspective
How do we encounter the Other? Can we adapt and bridge in this time of challenging political division and change? What happens when a Chaplain encounters something different, strange or challenging? Watch this sermon online at the South Valley Unitarian Universalist YouTube Download a PDF of Encountering Change: A Chaplain’s…
“Fiercely Protect our Diversity”
I was sitting in flower communion (a UU ceremony started in 1923 by Rev. Norbert Capek in Prague) listening to Rev. Patty Willis talk about the diversity of the flowers, and how they are made more beautiful by their differences. It is the bright, luminous, array of colors of flowers that make…
When is an apology not an apology?
When you clearly don’t intend to do anything to make amends: HTTP://WWW.DAILYKOS.COM/STORY/2012/02/03/1061450/-LAZY-MEDIA-REPORTS-KOMEN-FOUNDATION-DECISION-AS-REVERSAL-IT-ISNT?VIA=BLOG_1 Hey world. When you “apologize” it is supposed to mean that you feel remorse, and that you would like to make amends. Not that you’re scared people are angry and you want them to stop being angry. *sigh*
5: The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
I am going to take today’s news to reflect on this principle, because news today demonstrates why we live with such commitment to this principle. Yes, it is hard to organize our congregations democratically. It can be hard for individual members of our communities to remain educated and informed enough…
Reflections on Elie Wiesel’s Night
Listening to Elie Wiesel’s Night has rocked me deeply…I think for the first time in my life listening to such horror, such pain, my mind imagined it in a personal way…the experience has been profoundly painful. Just as a listener, I am humbled to think anyone endured such an experience.…
Hey Mom! Peace on Earth…?
Hey mom! Happy Mother’s Day! Would you like some controversial thought today? Because that’s what I got you… I dedicate this blog post to you mom, with a shout-out to Rev. Lora Brandis, Consulting Minister at South Valley Unitarian Universalist (SVUUS) and Pocatello Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (PUUF), another mom who…
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,…
1: The inherent worth and dignity of every person
Our first principle “The inherent worth and dignity of every person” seems obvious. Of course people have worth and deserve dignity, right? Things are not always as obvious as they seem. A while ago, in my little liberal church in Salt Lake City, Utah, I gave a sermon about Everything…