Centering Thought: “Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to ‘jump at the sun.’ We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground.” – Zora Neale Hurston Flower Communion, Halcyon Domanski Czechoslovakian Norbert (CHApek) Capek was studying in the United States to be a Baptist minister. It was the 1920’s, and while studying here, he…
Personal Reflection “Breathing in a Huge World” Diana Packer Save the world. Are you kidding me? That concept is huge. Just hearing myself say those three words out loud makes me feel completely overwhelmed. How am I supposed to save the world? Well, I figured out that the first thing I need to do is reduce the size of the world. I…
Reflection “Letting Go,” Rev Denis Paul When I was little, my siblings and I didn’t get candy for Easter. Oh, we got an Easter basket, complete with plastic grass and even some dyed hardboiled eggs, but no candy. The basket was mostly filled with little toys, things like Silly Putty, yo-yos, magnetic board games for long car rides, that kind of thing.…
Story “Sodom and Gomorrah” (Rev Denis) Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all trace their origins back to many common characters in their stories, but chief among them is Abraham. Abraham had a special bond with God. I mean, there was that time when God told Abraham to go to the land of Moriah and sacrifice his son, Isaac, as a burnt offering. Abraham…
Time for All Ages (Rev Denis) A Rose Window is a like a kaleidoscope frozen in time. I know this because I studied architecture in College, and I know this because Rev. Joe told me. Do you know who Rev Joe is? About 20 years ago, he first started going to church at the First Unitarian Society of Chicago. It looks very…
Centering Thought: Prayer irrigates the earth and heart. – St. Francis of Assisi First Reading “The Seal’s Skin,” traditional Icelandic tale A traditional Icelandic folktale, retold by Jane Yolen in Favorite Folktales from Around the World There was once a man from Myrdal in eastern Iceland who went walking among the rocks by the sea one morning before anyone else was up.…
Personal Reflection “Hen and Charis,” John Bernardini The two most common words translated as grace in the Bible are “hen” (hane) or “chen” (kane) in the Hebrew Scriptures and “Charis” (haar-is) in the Greek New Testament. In the Hebrew scriptures, what Christians call the Old Testament, the word grace is used 66 times and in all but a few instances means “to…
Reading A poem by James Wright entitled “A Blessing.” Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.And the eyes of those two Indian poniesDarken with kindness.They have come gladly out of the willowsTo welcome my friend and me.We step over the barbed wire into the pastureWhere they have been grazing all day, alone.They ripple tensely, they can…
Call to Worship and Chalice Lighting Rev. Denis In times of darkness, people have always kindled light – to remove the gloom of ignorance, to chase away clouds of doubt, and to overcome the fear of oppression. We, too, come together to kindle light: the symbol of our prayers for peace, for hope, for freedom, and for blessings for ourselves and the…
Personal Reflection “Vetting the Neighbors” John Bernardini When my wife and I started looking for a house, we knew that we would be pretty limited by our budget. We would not be building the house of our dreams or residing in any new and trendy neighborhood. The most we hoped for was a solid fixer-upper with a good roof, dry basement, and…