Opening Words Reflecting on the need to honor our planet on Earth Day and in our daily lives, the Rev. William G. Sinkford, UUA President said, “This earth is a creation which we have been given. Our Unitarian Universalist theology helps us know that our role is not to exercise dominion or control over the earth but to stand as stewards of…

Some years ago, I was invited to gave a talk on Business Ethics to a small Texas town Chamber of Commerce outside of San Antonio at the invitation to one of our members who was mayor there. I began with the obvious leading sentence: There are some who say the term, business ethics is an oxymoron. Sometimes those two words do seem…

A man told his grandson: “A terrible fight is going on inside me — a fight between two wolves. One is evil, and represents hate, anger, arrogance, intolerance, and superiority . The other is good, and represents joy, peace, love, tolerance, understanding, humility, kindness, empathy, generosity, and compassion. This same fight is going on inside you, inside every other person too.” The…

There was once a Unitarian Universalist minister who decided to check on how much the 1st grade Sunday school class knew about Easter, so she asked them who new what Easter meant. One little girl raised her hand and asked if that was when you had the turkey dinner, and the minister replied that, no, that was Thanksgiving. A boy raised his…

A Rare Book A collector of rare books ran into an acquaintance who told him he had just thrown away an old Bible that he found in a dusty, old box. He happened to mention that Guten-somebody-or-other had printed it.“Not Gutenberg?” Gasped the collector.“Yes, that was it!”“You idiot! You’ve thrown away one of the first books ever printed. A copy recently sold…

Isaac Asimov, the renowned scientist, author, and humanist, has written a wonderful book called Isaac Asimov’s Guide to the Bible, an excellent resource for liberal thinkers. He describes a cartoon, showing a globe, blue, and green, poised in the middle of space. On the globe is portrayed a prominent tree, a bright red apple and around the trunk of this tree is…

A very rich and wicked old miser was dying. He seemed so worried that his family asked the pastor to come and comfort him.I wouldn’t mind dying so much, the old man said, if I could take my money with me and keep it safe.Don’t worry about that, the preacher came back. It would  all be burned up anyway. In Texas some…

Happy New Year; may it be better than last year! Indeed maybe we should just ask fir it to be different than last year! Here’s a word about medical progress PROGRESS! 2000 B.C. – Here, eat this root1000 A.D. – That root is heathen. Here, say this prayer.1850 A.D. – That prayer is superstition. Here, drink this potion.1940 A.D. – That potion…

Opening WordsChristmas Childrenby Edward Frost I suspect that the Christmas Spirit is Memory–Personal, yet universal,Shared collections of shards of other daysPieced together in this season by common consent,making the otherwise commercial venture religious,Communal,making it Holy as,by Memory we are re-created,Born again.So the bittersweet of this time,Since Memory and that recalled are, at best,Mixed blessings.I sit before our Christmas treeWith years of former…

Second reading:  “O Simplicitas” by Madeleine L’Engle; hymn — “What Child Is This” An angel came to meAnd I was unpreparedTo be what God was using.Mother was I to be.A moment I despaired,Thought briefly of refusing.The angel knew I heard.According to God’s WordI bowed to this strange choosing. A palace should have beenThe birthplace of a king(I had no way of knowing).We…