Spiritual Resistance © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church April 2, 2023     Introduction   Typically when we think of the word ‘resistance’, it’s not at all in a spiritual context. Resistance usually implies an active response – pushing back at something or...

The Key of Longing © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church March 26, 2023     “Bring your broken hallelujah here... We all bring some broken things, songs and dreams, and long lost hopes…”   There was a civil war, in the 1990’s, in Bosnia, in Eastern Europe. The...

The Privilege of Vulnerability © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church March 12, 2023     They haven’t caught the vandal or vandals that spray-painted hate messages on 16 businesses and the local synagogue in Portsmouth, New Hampshire late in February. But the...

To Be Alive is to Be Vulnerable © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church March 5, 2023     We have learned a lot these past three years. We’ve learned some science, and some medicine. We’ve learned a lot about our economy, and how dependent we are on the global...

General Assembly, 1969 Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church February 19, 2023     “I’m not saying that a demonstration is going to solve the problems…It’s going to take something much more than a demonstration, but at least the demonstration calls attention to...

To Call Yourself Beloved Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church February 14, 2023     “And did you get whatyou wanted from this life, even so?I did.And what did you want?To call myself beloved, to feel myselfbeloved on the earth.”                       ~~ Raymond...

The Crucible © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church February 5, 2023     I took time yesterday to stand and watch the sea smoke rising and blowing. At times it was so thick that the water was completely covered with a layer of swirling white. Huge puffy clouds...

Those in the Shadows © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church January 15, 2023     Those “honor-driven activists.” We ‘find memory beneath their doors, and taste the blessings of their midwifery.’  (Sonia Sanchez, “Progress Report”)   Today we pause and look...

A Dual Hunger © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church January 8, 2023     There is a moment, when we are watching the swinging of a pendulum, when there’s a slowing, a pause, before the pendulum begins to move back in the other direction. Picture this with me...

We Are the Dwelling Place © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church December 24, 2022   The photo was posted on social media, among many photos of the flooding and the angry surf over the past two days. The photographer, Jay Albert, managed to capture the moment...

Who Makes Much of a Miracle? © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church December 4, 2022   “As for me, I know of nothing else but miracles,” wrote Walt Whitman.   We have entered the season of miracles, of enduring stories, tales of events that we cannot explain,...

Living Free From Hunger © Reverend Janet Parsons Gloucester UU Church November 20, 2022   You can tell when Thanksgiving is approaching in my extended family. Conversation on the family WhatsApp group starts to heat up, with queries about the head count, and food...