In many ways we live in a broken world, a world of binaries that create “inside” and “outside” groups, groups that are weighted with destructive power. What does it mean when who you are, at your core, is rejected? What does it mean not to belong? And what can we do to initiate change?
From where does the unexpected come? Some speculate that novelty is divine, that unanticipated beauty is derived from the sacred. Rev. Dawn Fortune writes that divinity is “irrational, unexpected, and beautiful.” The future is full of holy unknowns, found in what we do not or cannot expect.By Reverend Jane Smith at Channing Memorial Church, Unitarian…
Just as inevitable as dawn after nightfall and the rhythm of the tides, the times of grief and pain will ultimately pass. Cycles are inherent to nature, although so often the flowers of spring seem unattainable after the frost of winter. Join us today as we honor, and come to expect, the cycles of life.
Often we navigate this world seeing what we expect to see, not seeing what is. When we see a skunk, we may see nuisance and not a beautiful creature. We may bypass the suffering with fear and judgment. How can we find the poetry in the mundane, and beauty in the scorned?
Many African American communities in the inner cities have come to resemble reservations. Ironically, it began in the sixties as the Civil Rights Movement celebrated its breakthrough legislative achievements. Buckle your seat belts and observe the realization of Manifest Destiny. (By Mel Currie, member of Channing Memorial Church) My previous sermons on Labor Day weekend: Talking to the Person in the Room,…