Kindness, Respect and Pervasive Division

What do you see as you walk down the boardwalk? Do you turn left, go straight or take a right into the woods? Does turning left or right, or staying in the middle, make you better or less than the next person to come through? Are we supposed to see life through the same lens or be the diverse and free-thinking people that started with two humans, a snake and an apple? In the story of Babel, the Holy TrinityRead more

#SoCS: Twenty Years Later

Where were you? What was going through your mind? How did you feel? If you were an adult on November 22, 1973, or 1983, you might have been answering these questions in regard to John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, as part of a ten or twenty year anniversary. This murderous act was part of twentieth century history that shocked many in the United States and around the world. As a child, I remember watching the black and white funeralRead more

All of Us…

“None of us are free until all of us are free.” -Emma Lazarus (1800’s) (variation) -Fannie Lou Hamer and Martin Luther King Jr. (1960’s) -Janelle Monae (2017) -Kamala Harris (2020) This would be the preferred motto of democracy. That all people are free, not held in chains, not held back by law or public opinion. Acceptance and love of all. No judgments, no grudges, no feuds, no wars. Acceptance and love. Honoring. Respectful. Viewing humanity in color, but treating everyoneRead more

We should look…

  “Sometimes we don’t look. We don’t much look.” ~ Buck Cannon, The High Chaparral TV Series ~ Buck was referring to the positive things he had recently learned about the American Indian, aside from the conflicts of the time. If we judge other humans based on ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, political differences, general appearances, disabilities, or some other illegitimate reason, then we are not looking much. Instead, we make assumptions, succumb to fear or rumors, join the unenlightenedRead more

Equally Vulnerable and Wonderful

“Let us remember how small our differences are in the face of this shared threat.”  “In the final analysis, we are not partisan combatants — we are human beings, equally vulnerable and equally wonderful in the sight of God. We rise or fall together and we are determined to rise. God bless you all.” ~George W. Bush~ I did not vote for former President Bush while he was in the White House, but I have much admiration and respect forRead more

“Gee, that was stupid!”

“The words we use for ourselves and others have weight.” So said one of the worship team members a couple of Sundays ago. It’s a call for us to respect ourselves and others in what comes out of our mouth. To not call ourselves, spouses, friends, or family bad names. To grant peace to our neighbors and our negative thoughts. To verbalize love and acceptance to self and the human community. Overcoming religious, political, economic and ethnic differences when weRead more

Letting Go of 40 Years

What would you do if a friend of 40 years suddenly stopped talking? Radio silence. No phone calls, no letters, no explanation, no nothing. It will be three years in December since I last talked to my friend. I’ve been alternately sad, hurt and angry at various times, but Thursday was the worst. Perhaps it was the mutual acquaintance I ran into the day before who shared that he had seen my friend a month ago, had lunch with her,Read more

Fifty-Five Years Later

He had a dream. “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” Here we are, fifty-five years later. While there have been advancements in civil rights since Martin Luther King Jr’s famous speech in 1963, our country remains embroiled in the bigotry of non-acceptance. Not by all of its people and I sincerely pray notRead more

A Letter to Humanity

Dear Humanity, This is not what our Gods, our spiritual being, our conscience have taught us. We were not born this way. To hate. To espouse bigotry. To injure and maim. To kill and start wars. To pound our fists on the table. We have done this to ourselves and to others. We have not learned to truly love our sisters and brothers, our mothers and fathers, our friends and relatives. And those we see as different. We don’t acceptRead more