BEING IN THE STATE OF “NOT-YET” Many scriptures and proscriptive self-help books tell us what a perfect world would look like.  But no matter how hard we work for justice, we live in a time far from perfect, and life throws us curve balls that sometimes put us in dread. ...

BAD GIRLS OF THE BIBLE OR WELL BEHAVED WOMEN SELDOM MAKE HISTORY PART II Most people assume that the women in the Bible were good Jewish girls: obedient, courteous and docile.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  Willful and wise, trampled and triumphant, they used sex, subterfuge, chicanery and...

NO ONE RIGHT ANSWER The need to be right about something is a powerful impulse. But is there ever just one right answer to any of life’s big questions? If what we call facts can be disputed–as they have been and can be–what about ethical, moral, and spiritual values? We liberals are...

TIME OFF OF PURGATORY or How a Nice Catholic Boy like Me Ended Up in a Place like This About this sermon Tony says: “I often (jokingly) tell people they’ll get ‘time off of purgatory’ for doing something beyond the call of duty. But truly, I was raised in a religion...

AN HISTORIAN’S CRITIQUE OF SUSTAINABILITY Sustainability can mean different (and sometimes competing) things to different people. The most common word-based image of sustainability is a balanced three-way relationship between the environment, society and the economy. The idea is that if you consider all three equally you will have a sustainable...

MOVING TOWARD A MORE SPACIOUS AND PEACEFUL LIFE How can we create a more spacious and peaceful state for ourselves, for others, and for those whom we do not even know?  From a somatic perspective, we are suffering from sensory motor amnesia – that is, we have forgotten what it...

WHO AM I? / WHO WAS I? Self-reflection and/or Meditation Religion often challenges us to question the life we have lived–to meditate on what we have done with our life, and consider whether we need to be “born again.”  This can lead some in their later years to feel depressed...

JOAN OF ARC: IS SHE A SAINT? Joan of Arc is one of the most important figures in all of French history. She defeated the British in the Hundred Years’ War. She was admired for centuries as an inspirational heroine. She was canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church...

CELEBRATING THE BIRTHRIGHT OF MUSIC We are all musical beings. Music defines our humanness.  Embracing our musical, creative selves can be a magnificent spiritual awakening. Leila Pertl is a groundbreaking music educator who has designed an elementary school music program where every child has music every day. There are no...

YES, YOU DO SPEAK LATIN! We all believe that Latin is a dead language; that no one speaks it anymore, and that no one even teaches it anymore. This is wrong. As I hope to show, we all speak Latin even as we talk English. I am not referring to...