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...
as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, February 18, 2023 He drew a circle that shut me out–Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.But Love and I had the wit to win:We drew a circle that took him in! Those words might be familiar. They have long been popular in Unitarian Universalist circles. They come from the poet and lifelong Universalist Edwin Markham. Active in the...
We went to Big Bend National Park over the winter holidays. Here's my account of the trip.
A sermon reflecting on the exhibition "Libuše Jarcovjáková: The Photographer as Dissident."
A sermon reflecting on the nature of religious dissent in the 21st century United States.
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...
We are Sitges. We got here last week and we’ll be here for another eleven days or so. We are using it as a homebase while I write and we take a variety of day trips around Catalonia. Sitges is one of those places that’s been described as “the crown jewel of the Mediterranean.” It is a beautiful beach town about 40 minutes South of the center of Barcelona by train (the train leaves every 15...
After I left Oxford, I spent the weekend in Prague. Like my time in Oxford, the trip was primarily work related. I was there visiting the Czech photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková. Her show at FotoFest 2022 will be held at First Houston. My father and I are curating it and the objective of the visit was to work with her to make the final selection of images for the exhibition. I think it is going to...
In my Easter sermon for 2022 I challenge us to go beyond the idea that there is such a singular thing as the truth.
as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, February 20, 2022 “Did you ever talk to Brother Malcolm? Did you ever touch him or have him smile at you? Did you ever really listen to him?,” I begin my sermon with these words from Ossie Davis for a simple reason. Tomorrow marks the fifty-seventh anniversary of the assassination of el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, best known as Malcolm...