It’s that magical time of year- resolution season! My birthday is New Year’s Eve, which makes me a Capricorn. What are we known for? Planning! Goal setting! And moving with goat-like sturdy stubbornness towards achieving our goals. As such, this makes New Year’s Eve is doubly special for me — celebrate my birthday AND I … Continue reading Personal Stewardship
Lucille Clifton wrote: i am running into a new yearand the old years blow backlike a windthat i catch in my hairlike strong fingers likeall my old promises Full poem here. If you’re like me, you’ve been ruminating about all the usual things that come up as the year slips from one to the next. … Continue reading Running Into the New Year
There’s a often told story about a beach that was covered with dying starfish that had been swept ashore by a storm. One person was walking along and spotted another person who seemed busy at a task among the creatures filling the beach. As the walker got closer they saw that the other person was … Continue reading Throwing Stars
Christmas was my mother’s favorite holiday. She delighted in a decorated tree and decorated it with care, rearranging the slapdash ornament placement that characterized my brother’s and my placement. Back in the days when we would lay strands of tinsel over the branches, she would stay up to the wee hours to get each strand perfectly … Continue reading Finding Enough in a Time of Too Much
At the Interfaith Thanksgiving service held on Tuesday night, I shared this brief reflection on gratitude, the theme of the service. May you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! As the autumn deepens, winter is on its way, we prepare to gather with family and friends for a festive meal, and be thankful. And yet, my … Continue reading When Gratitude Comes Hard
At the Ministers Professional Days I attended this last week, our conversations and our worship were filled with exclamations of exhaustion and the wish for words of hope and reassurance for us to offer to the folks in our congregations. To be honest, most of us wanted those words for ourselves, for our broken hearts … Continue reading Our Chance
Several years ago, I participated in a “Diversity Event” at work. It was a celebration of the many different cultures represented by the staff in our agency. Many of my co-workers were immigrants or first-generation Americans, hired, in part, because they were bilingual and could more effectively serve our non-English speaking clients. For the event, … Continue reading Meeting My Ancestors
Reflections on the Recent Past In August the Board of Trustees took our annual retreat. The concept of a day(s) long retreat is nothing new for organizations. The stated goal is usually to take an extended period of time away to reflect, plan and grow together as a team. The time together as a board … Continue reading President’s Blog September 2018
My dear friends, I believe in the strength of power of love. I believe in the tenacity and strength of our hearts. And I know that at this moment, there is too much broken-heartedness in the world. I have spent the last week struggling as the Kavanaugh nomination, hearing, and subsequent limited investigation have played … Continue reading Our Beautiful and Fragile Hearts
We are about to begin our new year in the Children’s Religious Exploration (RE) Program and this year we are trying something new. Our RE program will be using curriculum built around the Soul Matters themes used by the entire congregation. The decision to use the Soul Matters themes came out of a brainstorm by … Continue reading Soul Matters and the Children of Tahoma UU Congregation
