Please Lord…Kumbaya…Come By Here. Be with us today as we wrestle with the urgency of the heart-breaking reality of now. I sat with a client this week who has been experiencing many life challenges…many, what she called a heart-breaking reality. She told me that as she experienced this heartbreak on so many levels, she realized that she was accessing a different part of herself… and she was responding to the world around her with more and more empathy or compassion. She said

Lord, I will lift Mine eyes to the hills Knowing my help Is coming from You Your peace you give me In time of the storm You are the source of my strength You are the strength of my life I lift my hands in total praise to You Amen The opening recording from Trinity United Church of Christ was Dr. Dorsey Blake’s favorite song. We played this song at his memorial service last year. I chose to share this recording because it is so inspiring. It seems to inspire us to come toget

In my trials – Lord walk with me. In my trials – Lord walk with me. When my heart is almost breaking Lord walk with me… SWEET is the virgin honey, though the wild bee store it in a reed; And bright the jewelled band that circleth an Ethiop's arm; Pure are the grains of gold in the turbid stream of the Ganges; And fair the living flowers that spring from the dull cold sod. Wherefore, thou gentle student, bend thine ear to my speech, For I also am as thou art; our hearts can

There is an uncreated element in the soul of the individual…a given element. This is God. The opening music was sung by our congregation last week. It is a question many ask themselves and helps to describe what it actually feels like to be free. Speaking with a member of the congregation, they said that singing those words…how sweet it would be if I found I could fly…gave them a sensation of flying…in the moment…with the community that was gathered. Freedom, says Howard Th

Freedom is… the ability to deal with the realities of one’s situation so as not to be overcome by them. The opening words from Dr. Howard Thurman resonated with me as I have been considering the idea of freedom. He spoke these words in a meditation entitled, The Strength to be Free on July 1, 1960. This sense of freedom…the Strength of Freedom has been seen throughout history and in the context of this 4th of July during which we are experiencing the awful stink of evil goi

At the center of our being is a point of nothingness…, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God… It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody…I have no program for [seeing this]. It is only given. But the gate of heaven is every-where. The opening words come from Thomas Merton in his book, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander. It is a book that was handed to me when I was a teenager by a close friend an

(I dedicate my message to my friend, Michael Sharpe who is fearless in facing this Naked Truth, with unbridled enthusiasm, with love, with dignity and with hope. Thank you, Michael.) Unwavering sincerity says that [a person] should always recognize the fact that [one] lives always in the presence of God, always under the divine scrutiny, and that there is no really significant living for [a person], whatever may be his/her status, until he/she has turned and faced the divin

Dear friends… Our country appears to be descending into deeper and deeper polarization, and just about every day it feels like I can’t listen to a podcast or the news without being outraged or feel defeated, or dumbstruck by the Orwellian “reality” that we now live in. Our news and our social media create and deepen the narratives that pervade our minds and hearts… social narratives that we absorb and are shaped by, and that fuel this circus of polarization. Who controls the

There's a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place, And I know that it's the Spirit of the Lord; There are sweet expressions on each face, And I know they feel the presence of the Lord. Refrain: Sweet Holy Spirit, Sweet heavenly Dove, Stay right here with us, filling us with Your love. And for these blessings we lift our hearts in praise; Without a doubt we'll know that we have been revived, When we shall leave this place. The opening lyrics to the song, Sweet, Sweet Spirit. It

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of this terrible swift sword; His truth is marching on. Refrain: Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on. I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps; They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; I can read the righte

May 15 Nakba Day 1948 Anniversary of Palestinian dispossession Of land Of homes Of bank accounts Of all savings All assets Dispossessed of Everything by colonialist Israel Never to be returned Along with the bodies of children Bodies of friends and families Murdered if not Herded Into Gaza Lebanon Jordan West Bank Stripped of their ancestry Reaching back thousands of years Nakba of forever grief Anniversary of forever mourning Anniversary Israel would like all To forget And i

…against that failure something wars, always pushing, always making its claim felt. It is the claim of the building blocks, the built-in demand of the mind, the insistence of the organism, the upward push of the racial memory… I was drawn to this quote today, as usual, mysteriously…intuitively. It is from Dr. Howard Thurman (but possibly influenced by Loren Eisely). We are in a time of apparent failure…the failure of our species to achieve peace, equality and justice in our

The opening music from Rev. Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick and Jimmy Collier was an anthem in the civil rights movement. This is a recording from 1969, a year after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Actually, the song was written right before King’s assassination and was recorded soon afterwards. Did you notice the man in the background carrying a garbage can? I was drawn to this song today as I was examining some historical documents from this church. One such d

I want Jesus to walk with me. All along my pilgrim’s journey I want Jesus to walk with me. When I’m in trouble, walk with me. When my heart is almost breaking I want Jesus to comma walkin’ with me. In my trials, walk with me. When my head is bowed in sorrow, I want Jesus to walk with me. In this Easter season, I continue to contemplate the meaning of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. I shared a few of the Stations of the Cross painted by my son when he was a child. This was Je

This so-called war with Iran is unfortunate, to say the least. It doesn’t take much to envision angels watching the judgement day replays, and continuing to rewind to the awe-striking moment when God stops everything to ask the Christian Nationalist leaders, “Wait. Before you go, explain to me one more time why and how you as mature, grown adults felt it necessary to attack the same things that you do—when others do them—because others use a different metaphorical structure?”

I’m a-gonna tell you ‘bout the comin’ of the judgement, Fare thee well, fare thee well. I’m a-gonna tell you ‘bout the comin’ of the judgement, Fare thee well, fare thee well. In that great getting’ up morning, Fare thee well, fare thee well. There’s a better day a-comin’, fare thee well, fare thee well. There’s a better day a-comin’, fare thee well, fare thee well. This song was going through my head and I just couldn’t shake it. On this Easter Sunday I want to get up

Not long ago I visited the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco I made peonies out of colored paper Pink colored paper Such a gentle thing to do In a world full of aggression and war Divisiveness and chaos I cut pink paper To make pink flowers Peonies To set under an oil painting I have at home A Chinese painting Of peonies And then to give to my grandsons Thich Nhat Hanh once wrote: In the garden of my heart the flowers of peace Bloom beautifully There is a rather lovely story

Sound over all wa­ters, reach out from all lands, The chor­us of voic­es, the clasp­ing of hands; Sing hymns that were sung by the stars of the morn, Sing songs of the an­gels when Je­sus was born. Blow, bu­gles of bat­tle, the march­es of peace; East, west, north, and south, let the strong quar­rel cease; Sing songs of great joy that the an­gels be­gan, Of glo­ry to God and of good will to man! With glad ju­bi­la­tions, bring hope to the na­tions, The dark night is end­ing,

*Title from book by Milan Kundera Dear Friends, Just when we think things can’t get any worse, another week goes by and guess what? IT GOT WORSE! To me it feels like some kind of absurd whack-a-mole game where no matter how much you do to respond or cope, another one pops up that you have to knock down …with no rest in sight. We are emotional beings and whether we are letting ourselves feel things or not, we are absorbing chaos, grief, outrage and a gamut of other emoti

*Title of book by Marimba Ani, published in 1969 I was standing by my window On a cold and cloudy day When I saw the hearse come rolling For to carry my mother away Will the circle be unbroken? By and by, Lord, by and by There's a better home awaiting In the sky, Lord, in the sky These words, written by Ada R. Habershon in 1907, highlight for me today the profound loss of Dr. Dorsey Blake who died a year ago tomorrow. The words seem to pick up on the grief that we still exp