TagCOVID-19

Christmas Eve 2022

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as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, December 24, 2022 Joy to the world! Can you feel it? Bright lights against the unanticipated cold. Festive songs, flickering candles, cider, cookies, stories of miracles and poems that attend to “[t]he starry form of love”… Christmas and the winter holidays are here. Joy to the world! Christmas and the winter holidays are a...

Roots and Branches

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as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, September 11, 2022 It is good to be back in the pulpit. It is good to share this morning with you. It is a special morning for me. It is my first Sunday back from sabbatical. And it is my first time preaching to you or anyone else since we held our flower communion back in June. I am glad to be with you, to see longtime members of...

Arriving in England

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Though Monday was officially the start of my sabbatical, I arrived in London on Friday. I have mixed feelings about being here. I am grateful for and excited about starting my sabbatical. At the same time, it seems that in the last week a number of folks in the church have come down with COVID. And I am worried about them and the congregation. But part of the point of being on sabbatical is that...

Building the Legacy of Tomorrow

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as preached April 3, 2022 at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston It is good to be back in the pulpit. It feels like I have been away for a long time. I have missed you. The last time I was supposed to offer you a sermon I came down with COVID. It was a mild breakthrough case. I completely lost my voice for a couple of days and needed a lot of extra sleep for about a week. But I...

Reimaging Care

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as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, February 5, 2022 It is good to be back in the pulpit. I miss you when I am gone. Not that I particularly went anywhere. I spent most of the last month holed up in my home office working on finishing the manuscript for the book I have been writing on populism and religion. I am grateful to have had the support of this congregation...

Books Read in 2021

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This past year I read around the same number of books that I read the year prior. I mention this only because it indicative of the way that the pandemic has impacted my time and ability to focus. These last two years I have read far less than at almost any other point in my life. I am hoping that will shift this year. I have a sabbatical planned for June through August and the pandemic has...

Most Read Blog Posts of 2021

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In January, I try to make two blog posts: one compiling the list of books I read over the previous year and the other listing my most popular blog posts. I usually start with the list of most popular blog posts. Here it is: Most Read Blog Posts of 2021 A Prayer for DemocracyThe Senate Should Expel Senators Cruz and HawleyJoe Manchin Might be a Senator from West Virginia but He’s Paid for by...

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