The Power of Love

The Power of Love

Long, long ago, in 1996, I went to my first General Assembly, the annual continental gathering of Unitarian Universalists, which that year was held in Indianapolis. I got there via an epic two day road trip with four other seminarians from Harvard Divinity School, and 

Impossible Things & Wonderful Possibilities

Impossible Things & Wonderful Possibilities

There’s something about this time of year that always feels like it is full of possibilities. I know not everyone feels this way, but I am naturally oriented (through years of practice) towards thinking of September as a time of new beginnings. And thus, it 

Tending One’s Spirit

Tending One’s Spirit

For me, there’s something about gazing at the water out into the horizon. I don’t really understand it fully, but I can feel it somewhere in my soul or spirit—somewhere deep down, anyway—that there’s something that nourishes me and renews me in that view. I 

Big Feelings

Big Feelings

It was a few years into parenthood when I first heard the term “big feelings”. I loved it right away because it captures the way that sometimes little bodies and hearts and minds are filled with emotion, and kids don’t usually have the words or 

The Antidote to Despair is Action

The Antidote to Despair is Action

For the past six years, our son has attended the elementary school around the corner from our house. He started when he was  tiny pipsqueak of five and a half and now, at eleven, in his last days there, he is taller than me. Every 

Worth the Risk

Worth the Risk

I met my Irish friend Eibhlin (pronounced Ev-leen) Walsh in 2012. She was at Drew University as a Fulbright scholar who taught Irish language (Gaelic) to students. That was the year that hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast. Because students and staff needed to evacuate 

Feel From Every Direction

Feel From Every Direction

When I think back a couple of years ago to the beginning of the pandemic, as we were getting started in a new way of doing worship services, I had to re-think how I did messages for all ages. So many of those early weeks 

The Middle of Our Epic

The Middle of Our Epic

During my Ph. D. studies (no, I didn’t finish) I studied the origins of the English novel. My advisor, a brilliant man, published a book while I worked with him. It showed how the structure of the great epics –The Iliad, The Odyssey, Paradise Lost,