On the first day of the first class I took in seminary,
Maria Harris, the professor walked into the room. She
opened her briefcase and carefully took out a little golden
orb and placed it on the front of the podium, one of those
small, table top models so often used in classrooms and
meeting rooms. She said to us,
"I was taught never to teach with my back to the world."
The orb was a small globe. At the start of every class that she taught, the same ritual would be performed. The orb would be carefully placed on the front of whatever podium she stood behind. Maria was without doubt one of the best teachers I ever had.
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I
am a Unitarian Universalist minister. After serving several
congregations in transition as an Accredited Interim
Minister, I have finally accepted a call to serve a
congregation that seems to want a minister like me—an
activist, an organizer, an enthusiastic worker for faith
and justice. For many years I have been blessed to serve
congregations that have been supportive of my "outside"
work. I am actively helping in the efforts of the Roots
Project, an online effort to bring activists together state
by state to work for a more progressive political
environment. What I write on this site is in no way
connected to the work I do in my church as I am a firm
believer in the separation of church and state.
In
the tradition of my faith I give you this from John Murray
(1741-1815):
Go out into the highways and byways of America, your new country. Give the people, blanketed with a decaying and crumbling Calvinism, something of your new vision. You may possess only a small light but uncover it, let it shine, use it in order to bring more light and understanding to the hearts and minds of men [and women]. Give them, not hell, but hope and courage. Do not push them deeper into their theological despair, but preach the kindness and everlasting love of God.
This is a virtual repository for issues large and small that touch the heart and mind outside the doors of the church. It is about values that lie deep in the heart and soul that may or may not find a place within the institutional religious community, but are a reflection of a faith that is held close and acted upon whenever and wherever possible.
The Blog will also have occasional posts recalling the
alternative parallel universe that many true patriots
preferred over the past seven years, Aaron Sorkin's the
West Wing. After Sorkin departed (years 5-7) the quality
was not as consistent, but the characters and issues remain
relevant even today. Very few weeks filled with political
news go by without some issue or some story causing me to
pause and remember how it was handled by the Bartlet
administration.