Who are the saints in your life? Your church? Who keeps you going? Who holds out a hand to help you walk the steep and treacherous path to justice and God’s kin-dom? Who are the sung and unsung saints you and your congregation wish to honor on All Saints Day… Read More »All Saints Day
What do we say when there are no words? Where do we find a solid center when the world is going crazy around us? Out of the depths we cry to you, O Lord! —from A Ritual of Lament and Promise Colorado, where I live, had yet another mass… Read More »A Ritual of Lament and Promise
This is a poem that will probably need constant revision – not for poetry’s sake, but because there is repeatedly one damn killing after another. So the list will grow longer, and people of color, and LBGT folks, will make up the majority of this list. Unless “things change.” Unless… Read More »Say Their Names
Our church really knows how to sing the original of this song (“In The Midst of New Dimensions”, by Julian Rush) – with gusto and energy – because we used to sing it all the time. When this is sung by the attendees in any denominational gathering, you can tell… Read More »Stewardship Song
Whether your favorite image is the Circle of Creation or the Web of Life, or another similar image, the whole point is: we are all connected to each other – we are not alone – what I do affects you and vice versa. As the playwright and father of Chicano… Read More »Keep the Circle Whole for All
It looks like a disconnect here, when you look at the starting words and then sing them to the tune I have chosen. The tune is upbeat and lively, and the words lament the Web of Life that is slipping away. Huh? But let’s embody the hope and promise of… Read More »Hope and Promise
My church has not just one, but two (count ‘em, two!) Annual Meetings. Actually, one is called the Semi-Annual Meeting, but it’s the same thing. Lest you think we’re gluttons for punishment, rest assured we do have a good time. At one of the meetings, we hand out awards, often… Read More »Annual Meeting Song
In our congregation, the “Sacred Readings” section in the service makes use of readings not only from the Bible, but from other sources as well – poetry, song, essays, etc. This response is sung following the readings, and was co-authored by myself and our Music Director, Eric McEuen, a local… Read More »Living God, Touch Our Hearts
When we get serious about the healing of creation, we stop living smoothly in the world. We become rough edges: We snag on Conventional Wisdom and Business as Usual We do not just gently slip by. We become raggedy church. This is a liturgy exploring what it… Read More »Raggedy Church
With each species going extinct, a light is extinguished. With each glacier disappearing, a light is extinguished. With each child stunted by lead poisoning, a light is extinguished. With each transgender and Native American woman murdered and missing, a light is extinguished. With each river run dry, a light is… Read More »Tenebrae for Creation