Reconciling Ourselves

( presented in Worship at Horizon Unitarian Universalist Church – Sun, Sept. 1, 2008 )

Call To Worship

From Hymns of the Spirit with Services – Beacon Press, copyright 1937

from the Fifth Order of Service

From the cares that fret, the burdens that weary, the voices that disrupt us, we turn aside to the quiet of this house of worship. Here the noises of the outer world are hushed, and our thoughts are lifted to contemplate the ways of mystery beyond naming.

We rejoice this day, in the unquenchable and eternal light that lights every person in this world. In that light we are ashamed of those greeds within us that have darkened our own souls, and those selfish customs among us that have shadowed the lives and spirits of others. We seek the illumination of wisdom in all of our doings, until every child is brought out of darkness into this marvelous light of life.

The Gospel of the Grateful Dead

A Worship Service conceived and offered at Horizon Unitarian Universalist Church – June 22nd, 2008

Gathering Hymn:

Birdsong by Jerry Garcia & Robert Hunter

Call to Worship:
Lemme hear you say: PRAISE THE SPIRIT!

Today we are gonna talk about all kinds of spirit.

We’re gonna talk about wandering and grateful spirits.

We’re gonna talk about the spirit of music! (One special kind of music!)

And we’re gonna talk about our holiest spirit: the Spirit of this Life!

Can I hear you say: PRAISE THE SPIRIT?

You are alive!

In this place.

On this day.

The Sun is shining. The solstice has (rather belatedly, to us in North Texas) trumpeted the arrival of summer.

Come: Let us share this morning, this music, this spirit, with grateful and open hearts.

Come: Let us worship together!

The Procession and the Power Under

[Presented on Palm Sunday 2008, in UU Christian Worship at Horizon Unitarian Universalist Church.]

My journey back to the ancestral birthplace of my Christianity has been guided by many signposts. Many of today’s thoughts are from the teachings of John Dominic Crossan and the other fellows of the Jesus Seminar, who continue to seek the truth, we can ascertain, about the Jesus who lived on this earth.

I’d like you to close your eyes and imagine for a moment.

The Gospel [Matthew 21:1-11] this morning teaches us that there was a spectacular procession on a morning like this almost 2000 years ago. But history teaches us there would have been another procession that week, maybe even that day.

With banners and golden eagles.

With Cavalry.

With hundreds of feet falling in unison.

The smell of men, and animals, and leather, and the clank of armor, and swords.

What’s a nice UU like you doing in a Lenten place like this?

(Another in a list of random sermons presented in UU Christian worship.)

Brothers and Sisters in Christ: Is it just me or does being a UU Christian sometimes feel a little preposterous? What passes for UU conventional wisdom sometimes sends the message that I oughta be a “real” UU and embrace a “big tent” sort of Neapolitan-flavored spirituality, and this “Jesus-fetish” seems just a liiiittle suspect.

 “You’re not one of ‘those’ are you?”

My mainline Christian brothers, on the other hand, say “What are you doing hanging around with those flaky UUs?”

What can I say – we get no respect coming or going!

Pilgrimages figure highly in the scripture passages I’m going to share.

The Winding UU Christian Path

[Another in a series of infrequent sermons/meditations. Presented to the Horizon UU Christian Fellowship at their inaugural worship service 10-21-07]

First off, a word of caution: I don’t tiptoe (well I don’t do it much) so we’re gonna say a bunch of those hot button words today that make some folks crazy.

I’ll state up front that banning words from the range of religious expression doesn’t help further the conversation. I think our UU path and our covenant calls us to wrestle with these words and find the definitions that work for each of us. And when we disagree, we respect each other enough to allow ourselves to disagree, and we don’t feel compelled to “fix” the other person.

So, what the heck is a UU Christian?

Seems like a simple enough question.

Who are you people?

To the Brotherhood of Men…

Brothers,

If you see Charles Foster Wineboy on the street, smack the smug little smirk off his face.

He’s a gender traitor!

He’s been seen sweeping his babe-alicious young wife off to a “secret romantic getaway.” This kind of behavior makes all the rest of the Brethren look like cr@p. This must not stand! Stop him before he kills again. The life you save may be your own…

I love Pappas Pizza…

… but my Agni just cannot handle it without Essential Enzymes (of which we are currently out…) Which is why I am blogging at this ridiculous hour.

Don’t leave home without ‘em…

All Roads Lead to…

the Belief-O-Matic!

“Swimmin’ In A Sea of It” assumes no responsibility for the state of your psyche after participating in the Belief-O-Matic…

Gimme That Ol’ Time Religion

[a Sermon delivered to Horizon Unitarian Universalist Church on Sept. 10th, 2006]

MY BROTHERS & SISTERS!

Everything I am about to tell you is TRUE!

At least I think so.

Most days…

One of the most extraordinary, invigorating, maddening, frustrating blessings of being a Unitarian Universalist is: the diversity of worship and sermons a congregant is exposed to and today we are going to see how diverse it can get.

A couple of weeks ago we were treated to a wonderful sermon about eschewing mystical mumbo jumbo, the Bible, and all that “malarkey,” and embracing “rational naturalism” to give our faith meaning. Today, in true contrarian UU fashion, we’ve been celebrating a lovely Biblical service, we’ve been talking about Jesus & God, and if you don’t storm out before we get to it, we’re going to take communion.

Is that life’s rich pageant or what?

I got ordained last week.
Didn’t want to do it.
Felt I had to do it.

Got this cool official ID card (and if you hold it juuust right, you can see a liiiittle hologram in there!)

I wanted you to know you were in professional hands.

What’s for dinner? Saturday, September 16th, 2006

A delightful meal with Clan Weintraub and Uncle Ron. After our enjoyable visit to the Weintraubs a few weeks back, we vowed to try to get on a more regular schedule for enjoying each other’s company. Jen said that she loved Cochinita Pibil, so we told her we would share Robert Rodriguez’ Pibil to Get Whacked For. Cochinita Pibil from his “10-Minute Cooking School” on the Once Upon A Time In Mexico DVD.

We had Pibil, Cook’s Country Corn & Zucchini with herbs, the venerable Avocado/Onion Salad with vinegar. Saffron Rice (Diana says: “Can’t get that saffron to bloom.” To which Jen advised: roast it folded into a newspaper bindle over the stove. Gonna have to try that one…) Chuck provided a delicious Kabinett riesling from the Guerrero’s new wine messiah, Dr. Pauly. Even Dr. Uncle Ron was impressed. We also taste-tested a Laetitia 2004 estate Syrah. A very nice soft red, though it was best with the terrific chocolate mousselets that the Weintraubs brought. Not a pairing for that acidic orange/vinegar pibil (although we knew that going in!) but great with the chocolate.

Capped it off with a siplet of the venerable sicilian amaro, Averno, which Jen pronounced “Undrinkable!” LOL! Admittedly, it’s pretty firey and weirdly herbal medicinal. Uncle Ron had his 2nd liquor of the evening, and Gil has now gone to the dark-side superstition that it helps his digestion. Uh, huh…

As usual, a terrific time, terrific food, and terrific family at table. We’re trying to figure out how to get the three kids to zonk out so the grownups can enjoy a nice cult-showing of Zappa’s “200 Motels” or “Babette’s Feast” without an 8:00ish curfew. Only time will tell…

Water is prescribed for all to fend off Sunday’s morning headache.