“I want to die easy when I die.” This is a line from an old song which belonged to another period and another age. There is no gruesome note here, not a single morbid or depressing overtone. We are not face to face with something that is grim and foreboding. But we are faced with a grand conception of death that gathers in its sweep all the little fears and anxieties that condition the personal view and the private contemplation of the end of life. It is the Trumpet Call to h

October began with Gandhi’s birthday on the 2nd. He became a symbol of so much we long for: non-violence, an end to all wars, and the patience to remain positive and work for peace. Gandhi’s words still ring true: Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behaviors. Keep your behaviors positive because your behaviors become your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your

The other day I was thinking of Christian nationalism and the president of the United States. Tears came to my eyes and I actually choked on the catch in my throat. I was thinking, “Don’t give the boy Jesus.” My emotional reaction was centuries too late, though. So this sermon is not about the president of the United States. It’s about you and me. This weekend is when people observe Columbus Day, more recently observed as Indigenous Peoples’ Day in memory of the i

The opening music, an African American Spiritual has the following lyrics, in part: Keep your lamps trimmed and burning, Keep your lamps trimmed and burning, Keep your lamps trimmed and burning, The time is drawing nigh. Children, don't get weary, Children, don't get weary, Children, don't get weary, 'Til your work is done. Keep your lamps trimmed and burning Keep your lamps trimmed and burning Keep your lamps trimmed and burning The time is drawing nigh. In a Christian c

Jesu, joy of our desiring, Holy wisdom, love most bright; Drawn by Thee, our souls aspiring Soar to uncreated light. Word of God, our flesh that fashioned, With the fire of life impassioned, Striving still to truth unknown, Soaring, dying round Thy throne. Through the way where hope is guiding, Hark, what peaceful music rings; Where the flock, in Thee confiding, Drink of joy from deathless springs. Theirs is beauty's fairest pleasure; Theirs is wisdom's holiest treasure. Thou

Go d…to see timid people rise to their feet, affirming, rejecting, questioning; to watch bold people sit quietly with a newly earned respect for another’s opinion – this was for me an exhilarating experience. Out of the vast fog of conversation slowly emerged the significant peaks. Among those peaks was the first draft of the Commitment…the one that we recite together at each worship service. Today’s version begins like this: I affirm my need for a growing understanding o

The English language translation of an Akan proverb below is about the intersection between a river and a path. Ethnomusicologist Michael Bakan wrote, The river crosses the path, the path crosses the river, who is elder? The path was cut to meet the river, the river is of old, the river comes from “Odomankoma” the Creator. This translated passage from an ancient proverb of the Akan people of Ghana, West Africa…. The proverb begins in the form of a riddle: which

I see God in every scented rose I see God in everything that grows I see God in gentle falling rain In the snow that falls up on the plain I see God at sunrise everyday In the smile of children as they play High above like the birds up on the wing And I see God, oh, God is everything I see God at starlight evening skies In the love that fills a mother's eyes Standing by to help when trouble falls And I see God, I know that God is all The opening music from Mahalia Jackson str

For a breathless moment in time, a little group of diverse peoples was caught up in a dream as old as life and as new as a hope that just emerges on the horizon of becoming human. It is perhaps with the opening quote that I would like to begin my consideration of Howard Thurman and the founding of The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples. I am in the midst of writing a presentation to deliver at Harvard Divinity School next month. I am in the swirling mix of my consider

I was asked by a couple of people to give a little background on the seven-directions prayers that I love to say. So, I looked into it and there’s a lot—a sermon’s worth and more. So here it is. The seven-directions prayer begins with a prayer to the four directions. According to a prayer and description blog at the “waymarkers” web site—waymarkers reside on the unceded ancestral land of the Duwamish people in Seattle, WA, “The Blessing to the Four Directions has

In July of last year, I had a conversation with my sister after her and my brother-in-law’s trip to Frenchville, Pennsylvania. Frenchville is home to a non-profit organization, Young People Who Care (YPWC). YPWC is a Christian volunteer service community with a retreat center led by the Catholic sisters of the Community of Anawim. YPWC ministers to the needs of people in Central Appalachia Pennsylvania. Volunteers help with home repairs, cleaning, yard work, transportation to

Dear friends… Today, Sunday August 9, marks the 81st anniversary of the dropping of the second atomic bomb over the people of Nagasaki, Japan. August 6, 1945 was the day that the first atomic bomb was dropped by the United States – this one on the citizens of Hiroshima. Today we take a moment to remember that this happened. But wait - maybe we clench ourselves a little in preparation to hear the stories again, perhaps we even want to turn away. Especially with so much other

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