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...
as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, February 27, 2022 My sermon this morning is inspired by the person who won the right to “Name the Sermon” in last year’s auction. When I asked them what they would like me to preach about their answer was both simple and capacious: self-help. I responded with a desire for a bit more specificity. What about self-help? The...
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...
as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, December 12, 2021 This is my second sermon on the theme of reimagining possibilities. Last week, at the end of my first sermon on the series, I invited you to attend to the world and share with me something beautifully unanticipated that you encountered: an exquisite movement, an inspiring sound, or a wondrous object. Several of...
Homilía del 2 de octubre para la Primera Iglesia Unitaria Universalista de Houston Es un gran placer estar con ustedes en nuestro primer servicio en español en persona. Gracias también porque nos acompañan en línea. Nos alegra que estén con nosotros. Espero que si están participando en línea se comuniquen con nosotros por email o que le den un «like» en Facebook o YouTube. Queremos darles una...
We imagine and co-create the world together. We can imagine a different one than we have now.
My 2021 Easter sermon.
Over the years, I have tried to follow the injunction, attributed to Karl Barth but probably apocryphal, to preach with “the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.” Not being a Christian, I have never taken the injunction literally. Rather I have understood it to mean, root yourself in your tradition, ground yourself in the goodness of the Earth, and from that foundation offer up what...