Unitarian Universalists have always been innovators.  We are all familiar with the stories of our Unitarian ancestors who began to see God as one, instead of three.  Equally ...

When we think about life, we usually mean “my life” – a few decades of personal history, a particular circle of family and friends, within a certain culture. We don&rs...

There is a fable about a traveler who meets an angel on the road. The angel is carrying a flaming torch in one hand, and a bucket of water in the other. The traveler inquires as to wher...

The Bhagavad Gita, one of the sacred texts of Hinduism, begins with a story about a prince whose army is arrayed on the battlefield against an opposing force. His opponents include membe...

Last week, Mary began our exploration of the Great Traditions by meditating on the core ideas of Resurrection and Incarnation in the Christian tradition. She suggested that the common th...

Christianity began with the resurrection story. In the presence of an empty tomb, the suspicion that Jesus was divine was affirmed by the belief that he had risen from the dead. Prior...

Every Sunday we say, “None of us all free until all of us are free.” And yet very often when we talk about larger societal problems, even we, who have good intentions, and mo...

When my mom died, I doubted the existence of an after-life like I never had to this point in life.  Though it is something I’ll never be certain about until I experience death...

Last week at the seminary one of my student’s expressed through her required weekly ministry reflection report her anger and resentment at having to take an interc...

There is something about the correlation of life to a jigsaw puzzle that I find enlightening. There must have been a time when you entered a room and met someone and after a while you un...

THE POND

The theme for this month has been knowledge and Gnosticism. I’d like to continue with that conversation by sharing some ideas about how we come to that...

Ann O’Hara’s Story: 

Ann, in her simplicity, gave words to what mystics have been trying to convey for centuries – namely that we are wholly and...

Induced by our Gathering themes for January and reflecting on what has made the difference for me in terms of not just surviving the winter times of life, but living through them awake, ...

Star Trek…Space.  The final frontier.  These are the voyages of starship Enterprise whose continuing mission is to explore strange worlds, to seek out new life and new c...

The story of the two wolves is a short but good illustration of why we need to do some spiritual Self-cleansing from time to time.  We can become so bogged down by life that we don&...

Though we may not consider ourselves Magi or astrologers, per se, we like they, are seekers and it is that which makes us seek that gathers us here tonig...

Tikkun Olam – Mending the World!

This sphere represents our world, this reality and it is said that the shards of light that resulted from the shattering of the ...

All the energy of the Tree, manifest in various degrees as different emanations, flow into Yesod and there they are synthesized, refined and purified so they can flow as one into creatio...

The word “intention” is bantered around a lot these days in spiritual circles.  It has been adopted as a root-word by those who preach a prosperity gospel and cloaked in...

The Buddha said, “Generosity brings happiness at every stage of its expression.  We experience joy in forming the intention to be generous.  We experience joy in the actu...

Netzah on the Tree is associated with our natural instincts and the ability to persevere.  It reminds us that love endures all things.  I associate this section of the Tree wit...

The emergence of beauty often comes from discovering unity between two seemingly separate or incompatible things or people.  While beauty cannot be defined or its parameters agreed ...

Discovering a source of unity between two seemingly separate things/people is discovery of beauty.  While beauty cannot be defined or its parameters agreed upon, is there any among ...

BOTH CELEBRATION AND SADNESS – BECAUSE LIFE IS BOTH…ALWAYS BOTH

DAY OF DEAD CELEBRATION IS AN INVITATION TO “KEEP DEATH CLOSE” – ALWAYS ...

Yesterday Amanda reminded me as I was getting increasingly nervous about all the details for today’s service to take a deep breath and remember today is all about celebration. ...

Gerald May writes in his book, From Cruelty to Compassion: The Crucible of Personal Transformation, "A single sentence has haunted me for over a decade. It is the first line of the Dalai...

Humans invest a great deal of time and energy trying to define and determine who we are.  We pay money to take personality tests like the Myers-Briggs and the Enneagram to learn abo...

Every major religious tradition speaks of some kind of enlightenment, or ultimate freedom as the goal of the spiritual journey.  To the Christian this comes through union with Chris...

John Lennon once said, “We've got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can't just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it's going to get on by ...

When I was in NYC this past February I spent several days at the Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  While at the Museum of Natural History I visited the ...

More than a year ago Dan and Laurie hosted a “possibilities” meeting at their house regarding the creation of a new liberal church in Dayton.  Bonnie and I were invited ...

Who are we becoming?  Who do we want to be? From the beginning, a spirit of openness to multiple perspectives and diverse people and approaches to ...

Soul growth or spiritual growth doesn’t usually occur because we choose it, but when life, with its harsh need to change us, forces us to bring forth or develop the qualities of ch...

I thought it might be good at this first gathering of TLCUU to share a brief explanation of the Tree of Life.  Through out the ages Tree of Life symbology has been depicted in vario...

One of the biggest lessons of my life came at the end of relationship when I was dumped.  I’d never considered leaving the relationship so when I got dumped I was devastated. ...

All life begins in darkness.  Under ground.  In subterranean passages.  Meister Eckhart instructs, “To enter this darkness put away all voices and ...