May your life preach more loudly than your lips. –William Ellery Channing
It takes the actual encounter of sabbatical to truly understand the need for one. It took me a good two or three weeks to slow down enough to be able to see what was going on around me. … [Read the rest]
The children and youth of this congregation inspire me. They began the worship service that they offered last month began and ended with beautiful piano pieces by Lily Carrall. The service began with the song “Imagine” and ended it with the song “Metamorphosis.” I believe that these words are apt. … [Read the rest]
When that April with his showers sweet
The drought of March hath pierced to the root
And bathed every vine in such liquor
Of which virtue engendered is the flower….
Opening lines of The Canterbury Tales
by Geoffrey Chaucer
Greetings. As has become my wont in composing these notes to … [Read the rest]
“I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”
Wm. Wordsworth
Greetings, and welcome to March. It’s time to welcome … [Read the rest]
Nathaniel Branden said, “The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.” Last month the children in the religious exploration program were gardeners, they cultivated flowers and their humanity. They considered how peace, justice and compassion grow when we plant seeds of kindness, fairness and love. This … [Read the rest]
If you come into the area where the children get together for Religious Exploration, you’ll oodles of pots contains flower bulbs just wakening in anticipation of Spring. The children planted these enormous flower seeds in order to watch them sprout, grow and ultimately erupt into flowers perhaps as large as … [Read the rest]
February greetings! I always enjoy February, a rather whimsical month of Aquarians and Pisceans that is leaping this year to a 29th day. February celebrates the mysterious prognostication of the Groundhog, the sturdy virtues of Presidents Lincoln and Washington, the romantic (if historically unattested) honoring of St. Valentine. February is … [Read the rest]
Greetings! Welcome to 2012. I love January’s quieter calendar, blander foods and relative lack of retail exhortation. I enjoy January’s refreshing regularity. Holiday expectations are a done deal; they were met, or they were unmet.
Personally, I don’t make resolutions, so my January regimen is not cluttered with seasonal attempts … [Read the rest]
At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.
- Albert Schweitzer
This time of year I gather boxes of small votive candles, a … [Read the rest]
I love December with all of its full-blown complexity. Besides entering into a real change of seasons, December contains more than the usual share of holidays. These festivities honor varying religious traditions, all of them meaningful, valid and relevant to particular members of the community. Hanukkah occurs sometime in December, … [Read the rest]
22577 Bayview Avenue, Hayward, CA 94541