To say we are all connected is a real understatement. The “we” and “all” and “connected” are grander and more vast than we can begin to imagine! We – people, critters, rocks, air, earth, fire, water – are connected to each other on this precious planet. And we are connected… Read More »Call to Gathering
We are in this together. We are in this together. We are a community, a beloved community, earth community. The goodness of Creation is real, the holy is in our midst, we are in this together, and together we move through the seasons of our times – the upheaval, the… Read More »Affirmation of Faith During These Times
This responsive reading was originally written for an Interfaith Service of Prayer and Healing following the 2020 election. It was a Zoom event planned and led by my home church (Washington Park UCC, Denver), and First Congregational UCC and Temple Beth Shalom, both of Ocala, Florida. It was inspired, in… Read More »Imagine! A Prayer for Community
I have a pair of earrings carved from the found antlers of a moose in Alaska. Thinking about these delicate pieces of jewelry inspired this poem. And, as always, it seems my thoughts turn back to community, and the need to carve out hope together. And that we all have… Read More »Carve Out Hope
Church has always had such powerful images for connectedness – Body of Christ, people of the table, covenant, communion of saints, for example. They transcend both time and space. They’re who we are. This reading celebrates and affirms our connectedness to all creation, and offers another image for our reflection… Read More »For Comfort and Calling
This Call to Worship explains just why we gather as a community of faith. It talks about work, and healing, and community, and what we are to be about. Together. We are part of something so much greater than ourselves, but we each have gifts and roles to play in… Read More »Called Together
Trust the science! I was never much good at science, but here goes: Quantum physics somewhere along the line has discovered that the “building blocks” of matter (discreet, separate) are not really blocks anymore. They’re waves or fields, connected, not discrete and separate. Several years ago I read two books… Read More »Proclamation and Confession of Faith
We love in the face of deathIf we can do that, we can do anything During the early days of COVID, there were stories abounding about how we could hear the birds again, since traffic noise was down. How clean the streets were. How the water was clearer. I wrote… Read More »This Is What We Do
As Christians, we are ordinary people living in not so ordinary times. And as always, we are called to extraordinary action. Voting is one such action, particularly when there are many obstacles to voting intentionally placed in the paths of many people, especially people of color. This brief ritual is… Read More »Blessing of the Ballots
There is something of life in beloved communities of hope and hard work. They help us recognize life still real beneath parched, empty grasses, even as we stand in the wind-kicked barren dust, the dirt blowing over bare hills. “Beloved Community” is a term that has become dangerously close… Read More »Beloved Community