There are moments in church life when the language of “strategy” exposes the cracks in our soul. Recently, Unity leadership offered such a moment that chilled me to the bone and broke my heart. In explaining why Unity World Headquarters and Unity Worldwide Ministries are merging into a single organization under a new Movement Model, [...]
I don’t often hear people use the word “outraged” let alone “rage.” I will hear words like anger, frustrated, mad, irritated - but not rage. I think we have an allergy to it because it makes the body and mind feel out of control, at least it does for me. Often being outraged assumes [...]
How many times have you found yourself interacting with a person you find challenging, and thinking how hard that person is to love? Have you ever wondered if you’ve been hard to love? I know I have been. Sometimes I’m just prickly, aware that I am angry, tired, lonely or confused. Some days I [...]
Don't be distracted my friends. Take a deep breath and remember your inherent goodness. I have seen many on social media envisioning 2021 would be better than 2020, and maybe this is a sign of a final breath. It’s not a final breath. This is a blatant, extremely excellent, horrific demonstration of white privilege. What [...]
There will be a time when one will have come such a long way over the high way of God, that the valleys would cease to appear… just the hilltops would appear to us. After we have passed through these valleys which may seem less desirable than the hills, we may look back over the [...]
Meister Eckhart was a medieval philosopher, theologian and one of the great Christian mystics. His writings and teachings created quite a stir, and eventually he was accused of heresy by the church. Yet, like all good boat rockers, he has lived on - and with greater influence today than when he lived 700 years ago. [...]
It is Charles Fillmore’s birthday today, he would have been 165 years old. So I offer this essay about “the Silence.” His meditation practice was referred to as Practicing the Silence, and then there is the Silence itself, a state of consciousness. It was a gift given to us from the co-founder of Unity 120 [...]
About 600 years before the writers of the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke penned Jesus’ Parable of the Mustard Seed, Buddha told a parable of a mustard seed. It revolves around a woman, Kisa Gotami, who lived during the time of Buddha. Kisa’s only child had died, and unwilling to accept his death, she [...]
It’s official. We have entered the holiday season - even though I saw Christmas decorations at Target this past July… but let’s not go there. The bell has rung, and we are out of the gate - starting on Thanksgiving, running into Black Friday, zipping through Small Business Saturday, leaping over Sunday (there must [...]
Say these words out loud - I AM BLESSED. Now say it again with a pause in between each word. I. AM. BLESSED. Now one more time with a longer pause, and with your most powerful voice - I… AM… BLESSED. Even as I write the words, a smile emerges slowly across my face, my [...]
Christmas holds a special place in my heart because it was my dad’s favorite holiday, and because it’s a time of year for many family traditions and rituals to be played out. Every family has their own sacred, quirky, idiosyncratic rituals that frustrate and delight. Traditions that only need to make sense to the family [...]
It seems as though we preachers are challenged to come up with new sermons every Sunday, and this can be especially tricky during the holidays. How many ways can we find to talk about Easter, Christmas, and Advent? I had a minister for many years who used to joke with me that he basically had [...]
It might sound strange, but Muppets are necessary for me at this time in my life, because they remind me there is hope. You see, there are places in my mind and heart - doorways really - full of such sorrow that I do not want to enter. Yet these doors get blown open over [...]
As an anthropologist and minister, I am always intrigued by animal and human behavior. I think it must be in my DNA because I am unconsciously and eternally fascinated, drawn in and left wondering what is next to unfold as I watch creatures go about their day. I just can’t seem to get enough. [...]
We seem to be deluged with never-ending newspaper and TV coverage about the Syrian/Iraqi refugee crisis and the threat of extremist violence. Each time it shows up in my newsfeed on Facebook, cuts into a TV show I am enjoying, or I hear people in a coffee shop talking about it frantically, I am bombarded [...]
