“It’s not that we forgot God or the martyrs or the Prophet’s holy word—quite the opposite, in fact, we were boys built to love what was in front of our faces: my brother and I on the floor draped across each other, laughing tears into our prayer rugs.” I had never heard of Kaveh Akbar, our poet today, until a few short months ago. One of my favorite things to do is to listen to Padraig O’ Tuoma’s podcast Poetry Unbound. Do any of you know it? Padraig O’ Tuoma is a stunning poet himself who...
Sermons
“Widening the Circle” – February 6th, 2022
Our theme this month is Widening the Circle. This is not a theme that your worship committee, or I, or staff, cooked up, but rather takes its name from the 2020 report of the UUA Commission on Institutional Change. They titled it: Widening the Circle of Concern. I have mentioned it before, and we will continue talking about it. It has certainly put a fire under our 8th Principle work. This formidable commission–a group of eight, back in 2017 were given a charge by the UUA board of trustees:...
“The Beauty of the Thing” – January 16th, 2022
Thank you First Parish Band! Beautiful. Those words that Rev. King offered, closed his ‘I’ve Been to the Mountaintop’ speech, given on April 3, 1968 at the Church of God in Christ headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee. The mountaintop that King drew from came from the Hebrew Bible in Deuteronomy. Moses, the great prophetic liberator of the oppressed Israelites, leads his people through the desert, urging them to follow him, follow him for life and freedom waits in the Promised Land of Canaan. But...
“The Holding Place” – January 2nd, 2022
My mom used to always say that entrances and exits are the hardest of things. The first time I remember her saying this to me I was leaving my most loved elementary school, a place I went to from 2nd-5th grade, a place that felt like home–I was leaving it to begin a new middle and high school. A much bigger place with new routines and unfamiliar people. And what my mom meant by the entrances and exits being the hardest of things wasn’t so much about the grief of goodbye and the discomforts of...
“Love Beyond Belief” – January 9th, 2022
“We are a people who normally would not mix. But there exists among us a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding which is indescribably wonderful. We are like the passengers of a great liner the moment after rescue from shipwreck when camaraderie, joyousness and democracy pervade the vessel from steerage to Captain’s table.” Some of you might find these words familiar. Many, unfamiliar. Some of you might know them as one would their bible verses–they are etched in your hearts, recited...
“Let Broken-Heartedness Abound” – December 12th, 2021
Can we just take a minute to extend praise and thanks to Jean Gauthier? For her beautiful version of Joni Mitchell’s Blue? And thank you to Joni Mitchell–one of the greatest musicians of our time. A true prophet–carrying messages from beyond. Right? I was introduced to her album Blue in high school. And I wore that cassette tape out. Remember cassette tapes? Forwarding and rewinding–wasn’t it the best when you stopped precisely between songs? A small victory, right? I digress. There wasn’t...
“That Which is Essential” – November 21st, 2021
On November 12th, the US travel ban was lifted for incoming international flights. Did you know this? It kind of fluttered over me amid all the other news to keep up with, but it didn’t sink in until a colleague recently told me about his experience at Logan International Airport. This past week, for an entry price of $8.00, which is now what the parking rate is at Logan, he and his wife arrived at Terminal E to pick up her parents who had flown in from England. He had been bracing himself on...
“We Wait” – December 5th, 2021
Last month I spent a good two hours organizing myself for this season at church. I marked my calendar, took notes, considered the arc of worship this month, noted questions for our worship planning team and committee. I made a list of things needed for rituals: Christmas Eve candles and their holders, blue Christmas ribbons for next week, poems for the upcoming vespers service…and Advent Candles for our advent wreath. Oh the joy–Opening to Joy is our theme this month by the way–oh the JOY, for...
“Our Soul’s Address” – November 14th 2021
I am so proud to be a part of this church. What a vibrant, big-loving, truth-telling people you are. I hope you hear that this morning. Part of our commitment to being a Welcoming Congregation, for that is what this the First Parish of Watertown is, means considering what it means to truly belong in this place. And we can do this in a myriad of ways. Being a place of welcome can mean a lot of things. But at its core, and underneath all the different ways that we express and live welcome, is...
“Roots Hold Me Close” – November 7th, 2021
today I will rebuild, writes our poet… a living root bridge that lasts five hundred years I encourage you to look up root bridges at some point today and take in the magnificence of these structures. They offer a powerful image– living bridges, stretched roots, laid with stones so that we humans might cross chasms and riverways. This week, knowing that I would be Holding History with you, the image of the root bridge came knocking through Jonina Kerton’s beautiful poem “Reconciliation”. A poem...