A sermon on the tension between Unitarian and Universalist visions of salvation.
Being, Becoming
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The Blessed Fool
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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...
Our Covenant
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A sermon considering the proposed covenant of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston.
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...
To Give, To Receive
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as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, October 16, 2022 The Unitarian Universalist theologian Rebecca Parker has always been clear eyed about the purpose of our religious communion. In essay after essay, in book after book, writing alone or with a collaborator, she has told us that we gather in “hope for the recognition and realization of paradise on earth, rather than...
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...
Rambling Through Oxford
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Oxford is a quintessential walking city. It is made for foot traffic and bicycles, not cars or even public transit. My morning commute to Harris Manchester College consists of a thirty minute walk through a series of meadows. Along the way, I am passed by numerous bicyclists. There’s a playground, manicured lawns and gardens, several small bridges going across creeks, and so many fields of wild...
Troubling the Truth (Easter 2022)
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In my Easter sermon for 2022 I challenge us to go beyond the idea that there is such a singular thing as the truth.
Christmas Eve Homily 2021
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as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, December 24, 2021 “For there exists a great realm and a boundlessness whose measure no angelic race has comprehended.” I start my annual Christmas homily with words you have probably never heard before. They come from a text that I suspect is equally unfamiliar, the second century Gospel of Judas. The words and the text are...
Struggling with Revolutionary Love
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In this sermon in honor of MLK's birthday, I consider where we might find revolutionary love today.