A congregation is a voluntary organization; that is the employed staff function to facilitate the work of the organization, yet most of the activity and functions are performed by member volunteers. Ideally the members and staff are guided by a common mission and vision. In the middle of the last century there were more members
Read More →A great many more than just one person has shared recently with me how disturbed they are by larger world events and how hard it is even to watch the news. Some of you tell me that the state of our larger shared world is making it difficult even to function at times, let alone
Read More →If we were to get our ideas from Hallmark Greeting Cards, we might think Love was a sentiment, something we could have and to hold. But Unitarian Universalists have taught us that “Love” is something we do. And we get better at it by doing it. We love by remembering we must be peacemakers as
Read More →Unitarian Universalists often ask me, “How can we celebrate Christmas when we’re not Christians?” Or for those who went to catechism, “How can we commemorate the birth of God’s Son when we doubt the Holy Trinity?” Last year I preached a sermon called Have a Merry UU Christmas in which we explored the contemporary meaning
Read More →The holidays often can bring a range of mixed feelings for an equally broad range of reasons. This quote, attributed to a female author named Francis Ward Weller, floated through Facebook recently and struck a chord with me: “The work of the mature person is to carry grief in one hand and gratitude in the
Read More →Every year we Unitarian Universalists designate a book as our Common Read. In a Common Read, individuals and book reading groups read that book over the course of the year. This allows for conversation and the hearing of different points of view, which is the best way to learn new ideas. Here is some information
Read More →You’ll notice sometimes I begin my column with the word “prophetic” and sometimes, as today, with the word “pastoral.” This is because care of self and others and our capacity to engage in social justice in our larger world are intertwined – and sometimes we need to lead with the pastoral and sometimes with the
Read More →At the August leadership retreat, the Parish Committee had some very good discussions about Mission and Vision. These discussions built on and deepened the discussions we had last year. What is vision? What is a mission? Vision is what the congregation wants to be in the future. The visioning exercise helps the congregation’s leaders articulate
Read More →We have very high aspirations as Unitarian Universalists, and these are reflected in our values and principles. It’s what makes our faith tradition so powerful and draws so many of us to it out of disappointing experiences with other traditions or keeps us connected to it if we were lucky enough to grow up within
Read More →I was recently asked at coffee hour why a discussion of Article Two of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) bylaws was relevant to members of First Parish. What is the relevance to us meeting in Canton? Why should we care? First, I should confess something about myself. I have either gone to Sunday school, belonged
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