A candle is a small thing. But one candle can light another. And as it gives its flame to the other, see how its own light…increases!   YOU ARE SUCH A LIGHT. Light is the power to dispel darkness. You have this power to move back the darkness in yourself and in others – with the birth of light created when one mind illuminates another, when one heart kindles another, when one person strengthens another. And its flame also enlarges within you as you pass it on.   The opening q

If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.   The opening quote is from Meister Eckhart, 13 th  century mystic. Highlighting this quote in a recent post, Gianluigi Gugliermetto cautions:    But let’s not trivialize his sentence. He meant that the essence of prayer is welcoming reality, living it not begrudgingly but fully. There is no need for elaborate petitions to God if one is present, attentive, and accepting. That is the only good ground for a true p

Deep River, my home is over Jordan, Deep River, Lord, I want to cross over into camp ground…   According to a monograph by Miles Fisher: QUAKERS in North Carolina bought numerous slaves and, through their Manumission Society, which was established on July 19, 1816, sent them to other countries. The North Carolina Yearly Meeting, co-operating in this work, reported on June 9, 1825, that their agents endeavored “collectively to confer with the people of color under Friends’ car

I got shoes, you got shoes, All of God's children got shoes! When I get to Heaven gonna put on my shoes; I'm gonna walk all over God's Heaven, Heaven, Heaven. Everybody talkin' 'bout Heaven ain't goin' there, Heaven, Heaven; Gonna walk all over God's Heaven! I got a robe, you got a robe, All of God's children got a robe! When I get to Heaven gonna put on my robe; I'm gonna shout all over God's Heaven, Heaven, Heaven. Everybody talkin' 'bout Heaven ain't goin' there, Heaven, H

Speak the truth, without fear and without exception, and see everyone whose work is related to your purpose. You are in God’s work, so you need not fear man’s scorn. If they listen to your requests and grant them, you will be satisfied. If they reject them, then you must make their rejection your strength.     The opening words come from Mohandas Gandhi. In a letter to Muriel Lester, Gandhi was giving her advice on how to move forward in the struggle. I found these words in H

People ask me, “Why celebrate the Day of the Dead/Samhain  if you’re not Mexican or Celtic?” Because this time of year is not owned by one culture....it is a universal threshold, a moment when the veil between worlds grows thin and we are invited to remember that we, too, are part of the great web of life and death. Honoring the ancestors is an ancient practice found in every lineage on Earth. It reminds us that life moves in cycles, that endings are sacred, and that we a

But there is another and vaster possibility which has made itself manifest here and there during this fateful time: a deep spiritual awareness that one’s life is in vital touch with the Source of Being that holds and makes secure against all that destroys and lays waste.   The opening words are from Dr. Howard Thurman in his book, The Luminous Darkness. He is discussing what was happening during the Civil Rights Movement when people joined with others for protests and demonst

Imagine opening a series of Russian babushka or “grandmother” dolls, in which each successive doll emerges much larger than all of the...

The opening music comes from the African American experience…   Well mother don't you stop prayin' Father keep right on prayin' Don't you...

First published on January 5, 2025 From Rev. Dr. Benton: I was moved to share this sermon from Dr. Dorsey Blake today, because I was...

The Door of No Return  Renamed: The Door of Return in Ghana    This has been a week…a month…a year. A year of pain and horror…of...

Between 165 and 300 years ago, there was a Genesis. About 100 years ago, there was an Exodus. About 65 years ago there was a Gospel....

This is the great disclosure: that there is at the heart of life a Heart. When such an insight is possessed by the human spirit and...

Hey! Lean to hear my feeble voice. At the center of the sacred hoop You have said that I should make the tree to bloom. With tears...

This week's message is from the archives of sermons and reflections by the late Rev. Dr. Dorsey Blake, originally published July 16,...

The opening video was filmed at an event I attended in Los Angeles last year. An audience member confronted Gabor Maté about his...

I affirm my need for a growing understanding of all people as children of God, and I seek after a vital experience of God as revealed in...

(possible translation from the Hungarian)   Lughnasadh, oh Lughnasadh, rock-rocking Lughnasadh, oh Lughnasadh, popper Wheat gold seed,...

On July 4 th , 2025, on our national holiday celebration of Independence, a tragic flood occurred in Camp Mystic, Texas as a result of...

Lord, I will lift my 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...

Dear beloved Fellowship community, today I would like to explore with you about the root causes of the climate crisis that we are living...

In life, the issue is not control, but dynamic connectedness.   The opening words are from Erich Jantsch, Austrian system-theorist,...

Our opening music, written by James Weldon Johnson and his brother Rosamund, highlights the profound struggle of the African American...

“We have met the enemy and he is us.” — Pogo, 1971   According to a 1947 Fellowship Church newsletter:   Most of us and our neighbors are...

After the last time we were together, at the ordination of Rev. Jones-Bey, I was reminded of my own ordination at Fellowship Church 21...

Life Holy spirit, making life alive, moving in all things, root of all created being, cleansing the cosmos of every impurity, effacing...

The title on the order of service may cause you to wonder. If not it should. I have so much grey hair, and also with tremors in my hand...

What are we as a church community?  What are we as any community?  We have all been deeply saddened by the loss of our beloved shepherd,...

The opening clip is from a teacher of mine, Luisah Teish. Some of you know her. Others may have seen her at Fellowship Church on the...

Holy mother where are you? Tonight I feel broken in two I've seen the stars fall from the sky Holy mother, can't keep from crying Oh I...

Holy Mother Earth She who guides those who live upon Her, She whose laws the people of the Igbo follow, living in the honesty and...

Having come through this Earth Day week, we have hopefully been reminded that in the midst of our national turmoil and threat to...

Were you there when they nailed him to the tree? Were you there when they nailed him to the tree? Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble,...

As described last month, Howard Thurman wrote concerning the spiritual “Wade in the Water”,   [T]his man with the incurable disease…...

Done made my vow to the Lord, And I never will turn back, Oh I will go, I shall go to see what the end will be. Done opened my mouth to...

We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.   The title of our time together comes from South African author, Olive Schreiner,...

Howard Thurman describes the spiritual “Deep River” as “a happy blending of majestic rhythm and poignant yearning”. In analyzing this...

I was drawn to the opening music after we sung it at our last service…the day that Dr. Dorsey Blake died. I was struck by a profound...

Dear friends, this was the sermon I was to have offered last Sunday, the day our beloved Rev. Dr. Dorsey Blake died and our world...

If there were moments of deep despair in those years, there was also the sustaining knowledge that the quest for human dignity is part of...

There is a profound scripture that states if the present place is too small for you, carve out a place in the high country and journey...

Hello dear church, dear Beloved Community, dear friends who are connecting from faraway places. Until just recent months, I too had been...

I don't feel no ways tired I've come too far from where I've started from Nobody told me that the road would be easy And I don't believe...

This coming Wednesday is the lunar new year. Lunar calendars and new years mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people....

There must always remain in every person’s life Some place for the singing of angels, Some place for that which in itself is breathlessly...

The year 2024 is over. It was a good year in many ways. We enjoyed camaraderie and common ground with friends and strangers. There were...

Radical self-love is a term I encountered very recently in a book entitled, The Body is not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love by...

We are approaching the end of the Advent season, the birth of a child whom many of us see as the “light of the world”. I would like to...

The opening music entitled, Gliese 581c was written and performed in honor of the planet in a neighboring solar system that was...

You have been invited to meet The Friend. No one can resist a Divine Invitation. That narrows down all our choices To just two: We can...