Sermons

Thank you, Lynn, for that reading. Ross Gay is one of my favorites. And that short, lyrical piece “Sharing a Bag” is one of 102 essays published in his 2019 compilation entitled “The Book of Delights.” Gay spent a year writing them, recording everywhere he went, the small joys, shared bonds, often overlooked delights that swim around us humans all day. In an interview he said that, “in the course of writing this…I became acutely aware [of]…the simple and subtle and almost accidental…kindnesses...

“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...

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:...

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...

“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...

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...