as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, October 13, 2024 Next Sunday, you will be holding a special meeting to call me as First Unitarian Universalist’s settled Senior Minister. If the vote goes ahead as I hope it will, I will be the eighth person in the congregation’s history to hold that role. This morning and next, I want to spend our time together reflecting on our...
The second sermon in the series "Future Visions, Future Selves" explores relationship between religious freedom and Unitarian Universalism.
The ninth sermon in the series Lives of the Spirit focuses on the Detroit based activist Grace Lee Boggs.
The third sermon in the series "Lives of the Spirit" was delivered by the Rev. D. Scott Cooper. It focuses on the life and philosophy of the founder of the Catholic Worker movement, Dorothy Day.
My 2023 sermon reflecting on the art and philosophy of the composer John Cage as a resource for deepening our spirituality.
as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, April 30, 2023 I have been in Houston almost five years. I have gotten to know the city pretty well, the congregation better, and the state of Texas somewhat. In that time, I have come to appreciate the role that Unitarian Universalism and Unitarian Universalist communities can play in a state governed by what I sometimes name the...
as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, April 9, 2023 When I was in my early twenties, I used to take part in a lot of mass mobilizations. It was an era of giant puppets and papier-mâché. On the streets of Seattle, Chicago, or, say, Washington, DC, it was not uncommon to find massive figurines–sometimes requiring a whole team to transport and...
as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, November 6, 2022 We are in the midst of one of liberal democracy’s great civic rituals: the country’s biennial elections. Their stakes seem to be much higher than usual. In the past weeks, I have talked with more than few of you who have reported losing sleep about their possible outcomes. Pundits, politicians, scholars, and a...
as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, November 13, 2022 This past summer, I had the opportunity to hear the Commoners Choir in concert. The show was part of their Hope & Anger tour. They are a British folk choir that sings all original compositions. Our choir sang one of their pieces, “Hope,” earlier in the service as today’s special music. It was the song’s North...
as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, October 23, 2022 Listen more often to things than to beings,‘tis the Ancestor’s breathwhen the fire’s voice is heard,‘tis the Ancestor’s breathin the voice of the waters. The words come from the Senegalese poet Birago Diop. The music is from Ysaye Barnwell. She is the renowned singer and former member of the well-known a cappella...