As the words from: “The Earth Charter” state, we “stand at a critical moment in Earth’s history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great promise.” A future of great peril and great promise is a paradox, but [...]
Join me please for a brief look back at the not so distant Christmas history. In England, law forbade Christmas celebrations in 1644. And, did you know that Christmas celebrations were religiously and legally suppressed in Puritan New England from 1620–1850? Celebrations of Christmas in New England were nearly non-existent then. Why you might wonder [...]
A funny thing happened to me Wednesday. I had set aside that day to prepare my sermon for today. I had to go down to our basement first thing, only to discover that our sump pump had failed. There was 5 inches of water covering the basement floor and rising. I called the Union Fire [...]
It was wonderful that Sonia shared with us a bit of her family tradition of celebrating Diwali and the story about Prince Rama and Sita his wife that comes from the epic Ramayana. The couple was banished from the comfort of their royal home to the dark forest. If that was not bad enough, Sita [...]
Not only are the trees changing from green to red, yellow, gold and brown but many have already lost their leaves. The seasons are changing and this weekend even the time has changed. This time of year has long been a season that has motivated people to reflect on life and living but also on [...]
It really “don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got that swing.” Its true for religion. Religion needs some swing along with a melody to make it come alive. Spirituality needs rhythm so that we will be attracted, moved and inspired. What would it be like for you, if we did not have music? Fortunately, [...]
I was excited to hear Karen Armstrong speak as our annual General Aassembly Ware Lecturer last June. Each year we have a renowned speaker present the Ware Lecture. In past years, I have heard May Sarton, Kurt Vonnegut, Van Jones, Julian Bond and others. After Karen Armstrong was introduced and then after thunderous applause, she [...]
Working on today’s sermon, “Excellence In Our Shared Ministry,” I realized that early in my ministry I practiced shared ministry. As a newly Ordained Minister in 1973, I recruited and trained members to help in worship. As Lutherans, these lay leaders wore a robe, like the one I have on today, without the symbolism painted [...]
Inspired by Paul Gilding’s book by that name Paul Gilding is steady and relentless in stating the reality of our human story during the last 50-60 years. He points out, “If you cut down more trees than you grow, you run out of trees. If you put additional nitrogen into a water system, you change [...]
I ran across another interesting question recently, “If you built a rectangular house with all sides facing south and a bear walked past the house, what color is the bear?” The answer is white, because if all four sides face south, the house is at the North Pole. In that region, the only bears are [...]
