My sermon celebrating Juneteenth, 2023.
Juneteenth
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100 Years of the Flower Communion
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Reflections on the 100th anniversary of the flower communion, and the ritual's connection to anti-fascism.
Joy
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A sermon about joy and the Unitarian Universalist tradition.
A Day of Mourning
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A sermon calling for the end to gun violence.
Ordinary/Extraordinary; an ordination sermon for J Sylvan
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as preached February 26, 2023 at Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church, Houston, Texas There is much in the ordinary life of a religious professional that more secular people find extraordinary. A friend recently reminded of this over dinner. A word about my friend, he is a well-known writer and war correspondent. Most of us would probably describe his life as extraordinary. He has reported from...
The Ground of Being
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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...
Act Upon Hope
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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...
Being a Descendant, Becoming an Ancestor
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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...
The Sacred and the secular
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A sermon about the nature of the sacred and the secular offered during the Jewish High Holidays.
Seeds
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A sermon reflecting on the nature of religious dissent in the 21st century United States.