"There is only one day left, always starting over: it is given to us at dawn and taken away from us at dusk." Jean-Paul Sartre

So I was working on my sermon about starting with a Clean Slate- that I hope to preach this week and I stumbled across this program in Portland, Oregon called Clean Slate. I may or may not talk about it on Sunday but I saw this You Tube video about it and it made me cry. What do you think prohibits innovation like this happening in every city? Having lived in countless locations in our great country I have been aware how different cities handle something as simple as Library fines. In some places Library fines pile up until the fines themselves are more expensive than the books that were taken out and people start to avoid the library and never check out books again. In other towns the library fines accrue until the once monthly library fine free day when if you bring in your books your library fines are erased. It seems to me it might behoove our government both local and state to configure ways to help people honor their commitments by making the steps to a clean slate doable and reasonable instead of simply overwhelming individuals with unreasonable penalties.

"Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom." - Soren Kierkegaard

The other day I watched a rerun of this year's Kennedy Center awards where Harry Connick Jr honored Mel Brooks with his rendition of "High Anxiety"- and it got me thinking that our society does seem to be in a hyper anxious state. So many people rely on everything from yoga to anti axiety medication to ground our spirits and I wonder what generations before us depended on to feel safe. In the midst of this economic downturn I wonder what tools we might borrow from the great depression to protect our spirits from the roller coaster of life. I imagine the time it takes to make homemade ice cream- or make clothes or grow our own food and how those past times might have also had the added benefit of lifting spirits. It seems to me that sometimes the most anxiety comes when we have everything we need.

“Man can believe the impossible, but can never believe the improbable” -Oscar Wilde

I have been trying to make a list of resolutions. Some years this task is easier than others. I think the task boils down to what is possible, what is impossible and what is improbable. Every year I put on my list -loose twenty pounds. And while I never accomplish it--- that is possible. Sometimes I put - I will have more fun. And while this is possible unless I can figure out what constitutes fun for me this is an improbable task at best. There are times that I put on my list things that are downright impossible- travel to Alaska, Master Santa Baby on my Saxophone mostly because I don't have the spare time or money to make those things happen. In the end I am not sure if it is better to make long lists of things so that I can accomplish just a few or make a short list of pragmatic resolutions I am assured of. Either way looking back at last year's list I am pretty sure I would be better off picking one thing and sticking to it... so this year I resolve to write every day and hopefully you will see the fruits of this right here.

"We are driven by five genetic needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun."- William Glasser

I have spent this Thanksgiving Day away from my family. I ate my turkey dinner in a restaurant, had three bites of the most bland apple pie I have ever tasted, and went to see a Movie. I did this all with a friend. It seems to me that holidays are a complicated attempt to balance all of our five genetic needs. And maybe the hardest to find any season is that sense of belonging. I am pretty sure all of the food we eat at thanksgiving takes care of our survival needs. I hope this Thanksgiving you feel that you belong where you are and find the perfect balance between power, freedom, love, belonging and fun.

Sepetember 23, 2009

“The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react.”
-George Bernard Shaw

It is so easy to get stuck in a mode of responding to crisis instead of planning. We do it without even thinking about it. Then the tide of things to react to often become endless and impossible to see around.

I wish for you (and myself too) enough time and space to step back and reflect and observe for it is in the objective view of things that infinite possibilities lie.

September 21, 2009

"Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams - they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do - they all contain truths." - Muhammad Ali

It has been a while since I posted here. But thought I would start again. And what better beginning than to begin again in water. Each year many of our Unitarian Universalist Churches begin with a water communion. Each person brings their water forward to the chancel and shares where it came from. It is a beautiful part of our beginning again each church year. This year we offered some slides of the places where our water came from. I offer those pictures to you below. It is interesting to think about how much of our lives are surrounded by water, enveloped by water, controlled by water, and blessed by water. Water can be either a blessing or a curse. Floods and droughts- ice and storm- river and waterfall. Even our bodies are made up of 90% water. We are born from the water of our mother's womb. I invite you today to reflect upon your own relationship with water and thank the creator for the nourishment it provides.
Blessings

Love

"Life without love is meaningless and goodness without love is impossible."

- Greg Jurkiewicz, "The Neo-Reconstructionist Manifesto

I believe there is a great deal of misunderstanding in our culture about love. At the very least romantic love and physical love take precidence over the deeper more agape love. The love and salvation that comes from spiritual sister or brother. Because of this we often forget to lift up others in a loving way. In our hurried lives we forget the small kindnesses, the gentle words the precious gifts that don't cost a penny that lift us out of our dreary existence to the beauty of true family which we all need to be fully alive.