I [do not] mean to present myself as some kind of bodhisattva of compassion. However, in my better moments—at least in my more conscious moments—while I’m eating, I do try to imagine the lives and even the deaths of the creatures who nourish me. I try to think of the freedom and exhilaration...

So reads the doormat of conditional welcome: Here will pass the en-abled, blessed be their less complicated bodies. They will be able to hustle up a flight of stairs, decipher the PA, endure fluorescent lights, and follow long, thick, complicated words....

What you risk telling your story: You will bore them. Your voice will break, your ink spill and stain your coat. No one will understand, their eyes become fences. You will park yourself forever on the outside, your differentness once and for all revealed, dangerous. The names you give to yourself...

In moonlit shadows, At the edge of night-darkened oak trees I see it. Across sunny pathways, In the buzzing of insects, amongst the flowering forest greenery, I hear it. From the touch of ones loved, The embraces of those gone before me, I feel it....

For years now, my conservative friends have asked me, “Do you really want to live in a welfare state?” I’ve thought about it and I’ve decided: Yes, I do. I want to live in a welfare state! If we define “welfare” in the original meaning of the word, “the condition of being or getting...

For those who came before us, may our gratitude be long and lasting. For those who come after us, may we be the strong stewards of our commitments. May each of us know the immortality of the larger frame revealed through community....

Happy Winter Solstice! Today is the morning after the longest night and shortest day of the year. Today is the beginning of the Waxing Half of the year, from now until the Summer Solstice the day will lengthen and night will shorten....

As we gather here together May we be attentive one to another. May we listen carefully, may we freely speak. May we be respectful of one another. May we be serious, yet not somber. May we be light of heart And full of good cheer. As we gather here together May we work toward common goals....

I. THE CYNIC I was the town cynic whose life was choked out By a hidden disease of the heart That I knew was there in my chest But never told. And I carried it around with me And quoted verses to the people I met About the vanity and absurdity of it all And made them weep. If only they could have...

Every year, the same conundrum: How do we find our way into Easter when, for us, the most important part about Jesus of Nazareth is his teachings, rather than his death? Like many traditional holidays, it must have some meaning to us beyond its commercial trappings. But what is that meaning,...

From "The Young People in the Church," September 20, 1902 What is our idea of a church? Are we simply a mutual admiration society, meeting from Sunday to Sunday to congratulate ourselves that we are not so bigoted as other people, and sigh because they are not emancipated?...

I believe in One God: That is, the heaven we make on earth. And in all the prophets and saviors, the begotten children of all people, Born under every banner and tribe, nation and state, parcel and plot, Whose suffering, struggles, and wisdom free me from injustice, And lift me up so that I, too,...

They need to light a candle, and have a quiet moment to enjoy its mystery. They need to sing a song, to hear their own voice and other voices joined together, and to feel the feelings that are stirred by music....

We give thanks for the needs of our community that remind us of our common humanity. We give thanks for the needs of humanity that help us grow into the compassion of the Buddha, the love of Jesus, and the charity of Mohammed....

Am I a guest here. Here in this House. Are you? Are we guests here. Here in this House. And, whose House do we inhabit? In the small world of our lives the borders between us: easements, fences, gates, hedges—serve to delineate, to separate us. To remind us of where my property begins and ends.

Because there have been times when shame has crushed our ability to be wholehearted We let go of who we ought to be and embrace who we are. Because we have not always had the courage to be imperfect We let go of who we ought to be and embrace who we are....

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether our baptism be of water or of tears! Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies, "Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. "Our sons shall not be...

As we gather to celebrate In this time of beginnings In the season of birth and rebirth, We hear the heart beat of Mother Earth With the spring time comes the blossoming of the plants A time of exploration and creation And the emerging patterns of life We hear the heart beat of Mother Earth Let u...

Every third Tuesday, I am a Buddhist I empty my mind and lighten my heart And try to let go of attachments Every other Friday, I am a Christian. I look for the least of these And try to love God and my neighbor The full moon of the month finds me Wiccan; I honor the dual nature of God And find my...

The tale I am about to tell is a based on a true story. It is a tale woven from the stories of those who remember. It is a tale of wayward travels, a tale of the stranded tourist. Some of the people who recounted the events described it as a Happy Accident....