Many a year ago I interned at People’s Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. People’s Church had been a fierce bastion of Unitarian Universalist Humanism through much of the 20th century. A series of strictly Humanist Ministers eschewed pulpit robes or any kind of “God-talk.” They had not preached “sermons,” they had delivered “discourses.” Even while I was […]
Little Celebrations #3: Liturgical Quotables
We humbly gather, gaining in mutuality a level of strength and compassion we did not possess as individuals. We gather to support and affirm one another even as we challenge and are challenged by one another. We gather to learn ways to actually keep the faith we proclaim. We gather to seek the […]
I Could Be Darren Wilson
Institutional racism harms everyone it touches: even the privileged, from brilliant Thomas Jefferson to rather average me. It is a rot which eats away at our common humanity. I feel a lot of compassion for Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson. He could have been me. There are differences, of course. Darren Wilson is a […]
How To Become a Racist Laughingstock
Last November, KSTP TV in Minneapolis made themselves a laughingstock. They ran a news segment claiming that Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges had “flashed a gang sign” with an unidentified, faceless, African American man. The “gang sign?” She and voting rights activist Navell Gordon had posed together, pointing at one another! Politicians and everyone else point […]
Little Celebrations #2: Liturgical Quotables
“Alone we are tiny before the hugeness of the world, brief sparks against time’s immensity, lost before the unfathomable depth of the universe. United in courage and faithfulness, we reach beyond personal limitations. Intimate in spirit, we become greater in strength, deeper in joy, broader in wisdom. United as a living communion, we finally reach […]