This Sunday, we’ll be doing two of the rituals of community. The first is our membership ceremony. This we do fairly regularly, as a way to welcome in new members, to share our enthusiasm that these members are now committed parts of our community, and to ritualize the change that...
This year, the annual gathering of Unitarian Universalist called General Assembly is entirely online, June 20-23. You can attend workshops, participate in worship services, and watch this year’s Ware Lecturer, Julia Watts Belser. Most importantly, you can take part in the business of the General Assembly. As a democratic organization,...
Most religions have some type of ceremony to mark the arrival of a baby or child and express the commitment a community gives to the child and their parents – baptism, Bris, etc. For Unitarian Universalists, we have a dedication ceremony, usually done during a regular worship service. This ceremony...
In 2016, my colleague, the Reverend Nancy McDonald Ladd, delivered a sermon at that year’s UU General Assembly, where she explained that she was tapping out (what wrestlers do when they are having a fake fight but it’s getting too close to real injury) of fake fights. Let me immediately...
I was in Houston after Hurricane Katrina, when over 200,000 evacuees from Louisiana poured into the city, many of them sheltering in the Astrodome. They were traumatized from all that they had experienced and seen. Counselors, clergy, and other volunteers were coached that what was most needed was for the...
The show Northern Exposure is now streaming on Amazon, (with original music, fans!) and last night, I watched the episode, First Snow. In it, the residents of Cicely, Alaska, are preparing for the long, hard winter. This ranges from eating heavy meals to try and gain weight, fixing up their...
In case you haven’t heard, there will be a second vote this June at the UU General Assembly about whether to change Article II of our Unitarian Universalist Association bylaws. Currently, Article II contains what we often refer to as our Principles and Sources. It is required that we examine...
Last week, I was invited with other clergy to tour and bless the new Texas Children’s Hospital North Austin Campus. The Senior Vice-President of the facility, Russ Williams, talked about how they didn’t just want to be inclusive, they wanted families to feel they belonged. Hence having clergy people there,...
In case you haven’t heard, a total eclipse is coming to Central Texas on Monday, April 8. We’ll be having our own event, Eclipse on the Labyrinth. (If you have any ideas about making this a blast and would like to help make it happen, send me an email and...
This past Sunday, I shared a little about my experience at the Sikh Langar at this year’s Parliament of the World’s Religions. There, the Sikhs provided lunch every day for hundreds of the Parliament participants, because feeding all, and complete equality of all people, are core to their faith. This...
