[download id="252"]         I have thought much in recent weeks about two very different emotions, about compassion and about hate. Into that mix of emotions add a helping each of fear and sorrow and a slice of hope. Sounds like a recipe for a troubled heart and it...

"Crazy with Gratitude" It is the beginning of June and in a few weeks the “regular church year” will be over.  The choir will take a well-deserved break, we move into summer services, some of you will be preaching.  I can feel my time here with you drawing to a...

“What’s To Be Gained?” Some of you may have read a book released a few years ago that includes some of the more amusing corrections that The New York Times has had to make in its long history. The book is entitled Kill Duck Before Serving: Red Faces at The New York...

Henry Thoreau states:” Time: It is not enough if you are busy.  The question is, what are you busy about?”  Simplicity or Living a Simple Life is not a new concept. This topic can be traced back to many classic ancient scripts, teaching or spiritual traditions such as...

I look around and think how lucky we are to be in this beautiful space worshiping together. We are surrounded by our own history, by the impressive works of those who came before us.  Let me tell you that there is nothing impressive about the looks of Murray Grove....

Just about five years ago I gave a sermon in this church on the topic of race and my personal experience of learning what racial identity is all about. Recently Charles Nazarian asked me if I would like to give that sermon again with perhaps some new thoughts and...

The church had been a meeting place for leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. and others seeking to end segregation and register African-Americans to vote in Birmingham. No American of conscience who remembers those days can forget the horrible poison of pure hate it...

"Just as long as I have breath I must answer Yes to life." Saying yes to life requires the ability to face our regrets and angers and then to let them go. Some people slog through their lives encumbered by old wounds, grudges, and regrets. They reach old age with a...

This talk was given on December 29, 2013 by Gordon Baird. Those words were written by me on a day when this church had thoroughly recharged my batteries.  I am grateful still.  What can I mean? Ever come to church in an agitated state of mind or in a bad mood or in a...

This sermon was preached on Sunday, November 24, 2013 by Rev. Rankin. It has been a week of iconic photographs and iconic words.  A week of anniversaries—John Kennedy’s assassination, the Gettysburg Address. For me, this week has been filled with images— How many...

This is my church – what can I pay This is where I come to love, honor and pray Why do I care?  Why do I give? These are the questions that hit me where I live!     [download id="175"]

Most fairy tales begin with the phrase “Once upon a time…” and take you to a special place in the imagination.  We sit in a very special place right here every Sunday surrounded by wonders of the tall church tower, ringing of the Paul Revere bell, sonorous beauty of...