Recent Stories
Holy family
A family holy enough to merit the highest forms of reverence.
Jesus, peasant revolutionary
A paradoxical power is revealed in people the world despises, in people the world deems weak.
What do you need a potion for?
Maybe I went too far mixing V8 and Pop Rocks, but life isn't always sweet.
Cricket's song shows life's fragility
There is a cricket playing the violin in my bathroom.
A spark of understanding
My first encounter with Unitarianism.
From mother to gypsy
Saying goodbye to the home where I raised my children.
Growing up in a UU family
People probably thought my parents were hippies because we were out-of-the-closet Unitarian Universalists.
Prayer for the people of Iran
An Iranian-American holds her breath as hundreds of thousands march for democracy in Iran.
Finding relief in the storm
The complexity of asking for, and offering, help.
Lessons from an elephant sage
Speak from a place of distraction, and the elephant will not move.
Graduation day
Parenthood makes life serious and challenges you to push past limitations you have accepted too easily. But those issues don't go away when you decide not to have children.
The love truck
The Karma Fairy is laughing her head off at the SUV in my driveway.
Serving Dionysus
I worshiped the gods of comedy and tragedy long before I worshiped Jesus's God.
Reclaiming my space in the sisterhood
The International Convocation of Unitarian Universalist Women revived me.
An African pilgrimage
Coming face to face and heart to heart with the reality of slavery.
Flat tire and a beating heart
A heartbeat is one thing you want to do like everyone else.
That elusive more
What do Unitarian Universalists need to go deeper?
It's all about family
There's no better context than a family reunion to get over your fears.
The church and the unicorn
One of them is a mythical creature worth believing in.
How it feels to be 80
The only really upsetting thing about being old is realizing that I'm not going to see how everything comes out.
Love can't fix everything
I knew the gunman who killed two in a Knoxville church, but I can't fathom his choice.
Biggest coffee hour imaginable
First impressions of a first-time General Assembly goer.
PostSecret Project reveals our common humanity
People keep secrets for all kinds of reasons.
The call of self
Finding my path when the choices I made in my twenties didn't work out.
Letter to a new parent
Your heart will be worn and joyous, wise and beat up, and full of sorrow and amazement.
Love and death
Facing cancer with lessons learned from my parishioners.
The daffodil rescue mission
People say, ‘Bloom where you’re planted,’ but things happen.
Universal love
'And what church did you say you attend?'
Do you feel loved?
On alternating days, a resolution to stop beating myself up.
One thing I am sure of
A chaplain's counsel to a grieving brother.
Rekindling the flame
Tickets to the Keith Urban concert weren't just a gift. They were a miracle.
The floating life
Going with the flow sounds nice, until the river tries to kill you.
Confessions of a prodigal volunteer
Life after burning out at church.
Once and for all
Watching a loved one fade into dementia.
The death of li'l Anthrax
A more vicious little creature you could hardly imagine.
Fireworks at the wedding
Fireworks and church may not seem to go together, but in my family they do.
How Jesus claimed me
One Unitarian Universalist's religious journey.
Great art and the gods
Five-year-olds in a fine art museum.
From fear to eternity
Learning to walk backward down a cliff.
Religious reality in a virtual world
Second Life, the much-hyped online virtual reality world, is home to a growing Unitarian Universalist congregation.
Finding a talisman
A gift brings healing and unexpected loss.
Mayhem and the manger
Why didn't you warn me about Christmas pageants?
Can Unitarian Universalists talk about failure?
Original Sin isn't a good idea. Expecting perfection isn't, either.
Miracle flowers
The persistence of beauty in New Orleans.
From Islam to Unitarian Universalism
One woman's religious odyssey.
Military chaplain's tribute for Memorial Day
A Unitarian Universalist military chaplain can’t fight but honors those who do.
Of hummingbirds and immigrants
'Hummingbirds migrate north and south just like we do.'
What's spiritual about parenting young children?
A passage from Bless This Child.
Three ways husbands express love
A new book surveys men in heterosexual marriages.
Repression of the sublime
To realize your potential you must recognize your gifts.
Spiritual lessons from running
Ten spiritual lessons that running has taught me.
Why I go to General Assembly
Denominational diversity in all its splendor.
Ric Masten, dancing through life
A poet responds to cancer the way he knows best.
Was Thomas Jefferson really a Unitarian?
What makes someone 'one of us'?
Jesus and the modern seeker
It may take an act of great will to see past the relics of tradition to something new.
The middle of everywhere
How Lincoln, Nebraska, came to be the picture of America's multicultural future.
'His rightful place'
The Rev. W.H.G. Carter's great-granddaughter shares a family's living tradition.
In praise of the imperfect life
Spring enlivens us, yet from our human vantage not all resurrections are equally welcome.
9-11 postcard from Brooklyn
One minister describes a day of shock and mourning.
Unfinished houses
Life as a work in progress.
Bearing witness to human diversity
A visit to Auschwitz.
Memoir of King's eulogy for James Reeb
A witness's diary captures the torment and magic of James Reeb’s eulogy.
Witness to Reeb's death looks back
A witness to Selma's tragedies revisits the path of tears and learns to dry his own.
What do sons really need from their dads?
What losing a father teaches men about fatherhood.
Living at the edge
By living in the present moment, we can find ourselves at the gateway to eternity.
