The sermon to launch the 2021-2022 stewardship campaign.
Truth and Lies
We are arguably living through the great age of propaganda. The rise of social media and its resulting social fractures and competing claims of truths led to a dynamic that played out in the recent presidential election and its aftermath.
How can we find the truth at such a time? And how can direct experience of awe and wonder help us to discover it?
Sermon: The Resurrection of the Living
as preached for the January 24, 2021 online service of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston Something rather momentous occurred since I was last with you. The United States has a new President and a new Vice President. A man with almost five decades of experience in government is now the country’s chief executive. A woman is now in the nation’s second highest office. The new cabinet...
Most Popular Blog Posts of 2020
At the start of many years, as a kind of house keeping, I make two blog posts. I compile a list of the most read blog posts of the last year and I share the list of books that I read in the previous year. The chaos of recent events and the demands of my schedule during this time of pandemic have put me a little behind with both of these posts. So, today, I am sharing the most read blog posts and...
Pre-inauguration Prayer
A prayer prior to the Inauguration of President Joe Biden.
1876, 1968, and Today: The Need for a Radical King
In this sermon, I reflect on how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. combined the prophetic with the pastoral in his effort to dismantle white supremacy. He taught that our efforts towards a more spiritual life for ourselves and more just society for all can only be pursued together.
COVID, the Environment and Justice
On Sunday, January 10, 2021, I participated in a panel organized by the Interfaith Environmental Network of Houston. The other participants were Dr. Harish Chandra (Acharya, Arya Samaj Greater Houston), Rabbi Sarah Fort (Assistant Rabbi, Congregation Beth Yeshurun), Stephanie Thomas, PhD (Buddhist Chaplain), and Rev. Karen Tudor (Senior Associate Minister, Unity of Houston). Here are my remarks:...
Stirring the Embers
Fire, like our connection to the divine, needs to be nurtured, needs to be maintained, if it is to continue. This is a helpful lesson to remember during these difficult days. For it prompts the question: In these times when it can feel like the fires of our spirits flag, what shall we do to maintain them?
Truth and Reconciliation: An Open Letter to President-Elect Joe Biden
The United States needs to establish a National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation if it is to ever address systematic racism, rural poverty, and white supremacy.