Words of Joy Interim Minister’s Column As the Ministerial Search Committee collects information, through focus groups, the survey and one-to-one conversations, about the kind of leader the congregation wants for its next settled minister, an old reading about the search for a new minister popped into my head. I can’t resist sharing it. So here … Continue reading Words of Joy – October 2015
As I write these words, I am l on vacation but am anticipating a return to the office next week, and the start of a new church year among you. My summer leave was a quiet one, with a few short trips and house projects to occupy my time. I just returned from a trip … Continue reading Words of Joy – September 2015
Fare forward, travellers! not escaping from the past Into different lives, or into any future; You are not the same people who left that station Or will arrive at any terminus, While the narrowing rails slide together behind you; And on the deck of the drumming liner Watching the furrows widen behind you…. … Continue reading Words of Joy – Interim Minister’s Column, August 2015
In just a few days as of this writing. several of us from Starr King Church will make our way to Portland, Oregon for the annual General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Because this congregation pays its “fare share” to support the UUA, which costs close to $100 for each of our 142 … Continue reading Words of Joy – July 2015
Words of Joy Interim Minister’s Column I wish to begin my summer well; to do something in it worthy of it and me; to transcend my daily routine…to have my immortality now…in the quality of my daily life!” –Henry David Thoreau As this transitional “church year” comes to a close and the summer approaches, … Continue reading Words of Joy – June 2015
There is evidence that even as we multiply our contacts on Facebook and other internet venues, people in our modern society are generally becoming more socially isolated. One study found that while in 1985 nearly three quarters of people reported having a friend in whom they could confide anything, two decades later only half said … Continue reading Words of Joy – Welcoming the Stranger: On Religious Hospitality
I refuse to be intimidated by reality anymore. After all, what is reality anyway? Nothin’ but a collective hunch. My space chums think reality was once a primitive method of crowd control. I made some studies, and reality is the leading cause of stress among those in touch with it. I can take it in … Continue reading Words of Joy – Season of Laughter
Words of Joy If we could distill our liberal religious tradition down into one word, one likely candidate would be the word “freedom.” In this congregation, we offer freedom from creeds and dogma, so that we can be individually free to make up our own minds about religious questions. We also want … Continue reading Words of Joy – March 2015
On the Martin Luther King holiday, many of us from SKUUC, adults and children, gathered with other people from the Hayward community and from other faith traditions to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King’s life and legacy. As we marched, one of the signs our group carried proclaimed “Black Lives Matter.” Since this phrase has become … Continue reading Words of Joy – Interim Minister Blog – February 2015
Happy New Year! We begin another year, mindful of the time passing with surprising swiftness, aware of the tasks and goals we have yet to accomplish, aware as well of the nagging opportunity, as each page of the calendar turns, to create resolutions we may all too soon feel guilty about breaking. Instead of … Continue reading Words of Joy – January 2015
