An old church story from Ohio, supposedly true: ‘A participant in a communion service in a United Church of Christ congregation in Middletown, Ohio, realized they were serving real wine rather than the customary grape juice. She leaned over to her son and warned in a whisper, “This is the real thing.” Wide-eyed, he responded, “You mean, Blood?” True Believers are less…

In the Christian Bible, the Gospel of Matthew has Jesus, the great spiritual teacher and Prophet say this well-known passage which has always resounded with me as one of the most important parts of his teachings about Christianity: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger, and…

What will YOU do with your new year? Your brand new shiny, never used, year. Go ahead; do ANYTHING you want with it! The sky’s the limit. Money’s no object. Imagine. You have an entire new year in from of you! What will you do with it? New years are a chance for a beginningEven when there hasn’t been an end.Wheels turn…

You know how Xmas Pageants are- ‘Kids will say the darndest things”-I had hoped they would mess up tonight and I could use a great blooper! Well, unfortunately everyone did a great job! BUT at another such pageant with the three Wise Guys, I mean Wise Men and the first one didn’t get it quite right when he announced, ‘We are the…

This is supposedly a true story; the names have been changed to protest the not so innocent. After some last minute Christmas shopping, Clara Smith was rushing her grandkids into the car. As she was closing the door, four-year-old Jason said, ‘Grandma, Susie has something in her pocket.’ He reached into Susie’s pocket and pulled out a new red barrette. They decided…

There is a joke about us that says: ‘Ahh, it is December, the time when all Unitarian Universalists become Christians.’ And Garrison Keillor told another one about us: “A sign at the Unitarian church said: ‘Bible study at 7:00. Bring your Bible and a pair of scissors.” In 1822, comes from a New York theology professor named Dr. Clement Clarke Moore, a…

THE RABBI’S GIFT The Different Drum Versionby Dr. M. Scott Peck The story concerns a monastery that had fallen upon hard times. Once a great order, as a result of waves of antimonastic persecution in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the rise of secularism in the nineteenth, all its branch houses were lost and it had become decimated to the extent…

My favorite Thanksgiving joke? A lady was picking through the frozen turkeys at the grocery store, but couldn’t find one big enough for her family. She asked the stock boy, “Do these turkeys get any bigger?” The stock boy answered, “No ma’am, they’re dead.” At any given time, we’re busy with our cakes and ale and turkey feathers. It’s only later, looking…

Opening Reading: ‘The Invitation’ by Oriah Mountain It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.I want to know what you ache for,and if you dare dream of meeting your heart’s longing. It doesn’t interest me how old you are.I want to know if you will risk looking the fool for love,for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive. It…

A pastor was talking with a hard working woman who was a devoted member, present at all services. He expressed his thanks for seeing her so attentive every Sunday. ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘It is such a rest after a long, hard week’s work to come to church, to sit down on the soft cushions, and not think about anything.’ From a Catholic…