There is a Universal Love that has never broken faith with us and never will.

Give up the fight For some other moment Some other life Than here, and now Give up the longing for some other world The wishing for other choices to make other songs to sing other bodies, other ages, other countries, other stakes Purge the past; forgive the future— for each come too soon.

O Maker of Order and Shaper of Beauty, we are grateful for the world in which we live. Instill in us that sense of awe, that we may walk with humble hearts, open to the beauty of all that surrounds us....

Good morning everyone and welcome to [congregation's name]. My name is {name} and I feel blessed to serve this healing and holy congregation. I'm so glad to see all of you here today on this brand new morning in this brand new world as we gather together in peace. Thank you for joining us: we who...

In the midst of the whirling day, In the hectic rush to be doing, In the frantic pace of life, Pause here for a moment. Catch your breath; Relax your body; Loosen your grip on life....

For just as the body without the spirit is dead, faith without works is also dead. —James 2:26 Why are we still talking about inclusivity and diversity when we have done so little to make them real? Why are we still looking pained about the lack of diversity in the denomination?...

I sit alone, planning the rest of the day. Last night, I was joking and smoking, in broken Pashto, with the resident contingent of the AUP.* I introduced them to the beauty of Dominican tobacco, hand-rolled and perfectly aged. They all seemed to enjoy this symbol of Western democratic values, the...

“You sargin or commandant?” a young Afghan lieutenant asks as he points to the cross on my chest. I try to explain what a chaplain is. In the end, he suggests Army mullah, and I agree. Not the most accurate description, but the most meaningful for him. Chaplain has little meaning for him.

It’s hard to believe it is finished. She was so full of life and fun until just before the end— keeping track of people, enjoying the outdoors, caring for family, all of it. Something came for her. She did not want to go. She denied the summons, fighting this final truth of her life. We did not...

As the rain has washed our land this season, may we enter this morning with hearts washed clean of complaints or bitterness. May we begin this morning by intentionally relaxing the tensions we carry, the strains of those things we cannot abandon, the responsibilities of our lives. As the sun has...

We give thanks for the animals Who live close to nature, Who remind us of the sanctities of birth and death, Who do not trouble their lives with foreboding or grief, Who let go each moment as it passes, And accept each new one as it comes With serenity and grace....

It was in Alaska, right before the first Gulf War, that I first realized how music can “teach us how to hear the world differently,” as jazz critic Jed Rasula once said. I was in the Air Force “Gateway to the West” jazz band and my unit was temporarily deployed to Alaska, waiting anxiously...

When we say, "Go now in peace," we mean the peace that asks us to stop grasping after power over and the peace that demands that we live fully, that we love with a fierce love, that we hope with a bold hope, that we pray and sing and struggle....