As I begin the start of my nineteenth year at Unity Temple, I feel an unusual amount of enthusiasm about my role as Music Director and conductor of the Unity Temple Choir. Arranging music for every Sunday of the year at first seemed daunting, but as I continue …
As it often is around Unity Temple in the summer, it’s been quiet. Or rather, quieter than it sometimes is, maybe. We still have full and wonderful worship services going on and plenty of opportunities for learning and connection. We’ve had lots of visitors come …
I had a great Saturday night listening. It was at Unity Temple, where I already do a lot o f listening, but this time it was the Spring Music Festival—one of my favorite events of the year. I got to soak in song after song, …
Religion is the way you live your life, my (later) childhood minister the Rev. Paul Beattie used to say. This was a helpful way for me to think about what it meant to be a Unitarian Universalist, particularly in those days, when so many of …
Last week, at the Stronghold Camp and Retreat Center, the Central Midwest Chapter of Unitarian Universalist Ministers’ held our retreat. We had shared meals, worship, workshops and lots of unstructured connecting time in the gorgeously autumnal woods in a spot above the Rock River. Some …
Long, long ago, in 1996, I went to my first General Assembly, the annual continental gathering of Unitarian Universalists, which that year was held in Indianapolis. I got there via an epic two day road trip with four other seminarians from Harvard Divinity School, and …
My time as your interim minister is rapidly coming to an end. My last day will be Sunday, June 11. I hope you can join us that day for a special goodbye service which will undoubtedly contain laughter and tears. It will be a chance …
I said it on Sunday, but It bears repeating that one of my favorite places is to be is behind the pulpit at Unity Temple looking out at the wonderful people of our gathered beloved community. It felt great to back there with so many …
There’s something about this time of year that always feels like it is full of possibilities. I know not everyone feels this way, but I am naturally oriented (through years of practice) towards thinking of September as a time of new beginnings. And thus, it …
For me, there’s something about gazing at the water out into the horizon. I don’t really understand it fully, but I can feel it somewhere in my soul or spirit—somewhere deep down, anyway—that there’s something that nourishes me and renews me in that view. I …
In our recent history, summer has been both a quieter time and a time of change for Unity Temple. Quieter because worship attendance tends to slow down, we shift to all-ages programming for our young people, and there are fewer regular meetings. Last summer, we weathered lots …
It’s gotten so I’m not sure what I would do without the morning (dog) walk to ground me and get me ready for the day. The quiet (or sometimes the podcasts) help me wake up to the world and myself. I read once somewhere, and …
I feel so much sorrow. Between what is happening in the world right now, combined with the UTUUC staffing changes and financial situation, there is just so much to be sad about. And to be scared about. I am guessing that many of you feel …
It was a few years into parenthood when I first heard the term “big feelings”. I loved it right away because it captures the way that sometimes little bodies and hearts and minds are filled with emotion, and kids don’t usually have the words or …
For the past six years, our son has attended the elementary school around the corner from our house. He started when he was tiny pipsqueak of five and a half and now, at eleven, in his last days there, he is taller than me. Every …
I met my Irish friend Eibhlin (pronounced Ev-leen) Walsh in 2012. She was at Drew University as a Fulbright scholar who taught Irish language (Gaelic) to students. That was the year that hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast. Because students and staff needed to evacuate …
