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…

I believe in all that has never yet been spoken.I want to free what waits within meso that what no one has dared to wish formay for once spring clearwithout my contriving.If this is arrogant, God, forgive me,but this is what I need to say.May what I do flow from me like a river,no forcing and no holding back,the way it is…

This past Wednesday was the Jewish High Holiday of Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. Yom Kippur marks the end of ten days of repentance which begins with, Rosh Hashanah, also known as Jewish New Year. And this ten day period follows a month of introspection where the main task is to reflect on…

I want to say from the outset this morning that this “getting to know you” sermon will be the first and last sermon where I talk as much about myself as I am about to do. That’s not to say I won’t include personal experiences in sermons at times, but not in this same way. And I do so today with a…