Over the course of this first year with you, I have delivered sermons on a broad variety of topics. I mentioned in the beginning that my basic approach to life is that of a spiritual journeyer, and so my sermons have tended to focus on those themes. Lots of you have expressed appreciation for that, a couple of you have expressed a…

Welcome to the first of this three part series entitled “Life on the J-Curve” based on Dr. Richard Swenson’s two books entitled Margin and The Overload Syndrome. I want to say up front that much of what you will hear in this series is NOT my original work. These books are so compelling, and Swenson says it so well that much of what I have done…

If you have never seen the movie, “A Beautiful Mind,” I would highly recommend it. It is a biographical drama about a brilliant mathematician, John Nash, who has schizophrenia. The movie does an amazing job of capturing the long, slow process by which Mr. Nash finally comes to understand that his hallucinations, which are as real to him as this is to…

This is the third in what was to have been a three part series on Buddhism. But since I had no specific preaching plans for next week, and since the content has burgeoned beyond what I anticipated, I will be adding a fourth part next week. By way of summary, we had a basic introduction including the Four Noble Truths the first…

First Reading: The thought manifests the word The thought manifests the word; The word manifests the deed;The deed develops into habit; And habit hardens into character;So watch the thought and its ways with care,And let them spring forth from loveBorn out of compassion for all beings.As the shadow follows the body, as we think, so we become.” ― Juan Mascarov Second Reading From…

Reading 1 The greatest achievement is selflessness.The greatest worth is self-mastery.The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.The greatest precept is continual awareness.The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.The greatest action is not conforming with the world’s ways.The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.The greatest generosity is non-attachment.The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.The greatest patience is humility.The greatest effort is…

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” (Lao Tzu) OK, so I know Lao Tzu is right, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I’ll admit it, when it comes to change, I tend to be a…

I decided to take on the topics of grief and loss at this time because I am always acutely aware, during the holiday season, of those in our communities who are in the midst of pain and struggle. Being in those “desert places” is hard at any time, but can be especially so when everyone around you seems to be in the…

This morning, a couple of thoughts on gratitude: First, I have learned recently that far from being just a cliché or a sentimental topic left over from quaint yesteryear, gratitude has become the stuff of modern science and psychology. The University of California at Berkley, for example, is in the midst of a multimillion dollar study on the science of gratitude, looking…

Reading “to love life, to love it even when you have no stomach for it,and everything you’ve held dearcrumbles like burnt paper in your hands,your throat filled with the silt of it.When grief sits with you, its tropical heatthickening the air, heavy as watermore fit for gills than lungs;when grief weights you like your own fleshonly more of it, an obesity of…