November 16, 2016 "Well, the only chains we can stand / Are the chains between hand and hand Keep your eyes on the prize / Hold on" —Adapted lyrics to “Gospel Plow,”* attributed to Alice Wine Holding on does not come easy to me. As a teenager who left home and bounced around, I am talented at...

Those of us with some privilege in this empire may be tempted to seek refuge in it, as if privilege was ever going to save us. But who’s to say whether you’ve come to this place and position for a time such as this?

Help us to live in peace together and serve one another and to see the holy light in everyone, even when those holy lights are especially hard to see.

October 26, 2016 "God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars." —attributed to Martin Luther I have begun to pray recently. This may sound odd coming from a minister, but as much as I adore leading prayer in front of a congregation, on...

October 19, 2016 “White people have the luxury of not having to think about race. That is a benefit of being white, of being part of the dominant group…The system works for you, and you don't have to think about it.” —john a. powell Last Saturday, I strolled past a yard sale. Browsing a...

October 12, 2016 "Blessed are the faithful, for they shall be called dogs." —Rev. Gary Kowalski He was, I am told, just a dog. But who was it that, fresh from the litter, climbed onto my chest, licked my face, and rubbed his pink baby nose against my cheek? Who chewed the edges of my only antique...

October 5, 2016 "The heart was made to be broken." ― Oscar Wilde I'm sitting here broken-hearted. I could try to convince you that it’s about the state of the world with its tragedies, suffering, and seeming lack of compassion, but it’s not. I’m broken-hearted because a relationship that had...

It took me 37 years to recognize that I had been cloistered off from the beauty, the richness, and the heartbreaking complexity of other people’s experiences.

Our whole life is a series of signs. Any slight action: a dim semaphore. Our redemption, if it happens, will mean somebody tried.

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." —Rumi ...

Braver/Wiser is a weekly message of courage and compassion for life as it is. Every Wednesday, you'll receive an original written reflection and brief prayer, grounded in Unitarian Universalism, straight to your inbox.

What sustains a ministry or a marriage or a friendship or a membership in a congregation are things like respect, patience, forbearance, generosity, flexibility, forgiveness, a sense of humor, and, when all else fails, sheer will power.

I'm on my way to a job where I am the only black person in my office. I work with people who either don’t know or don’t care about Alton Sterling or Philando Castile. They are going to ask me “How are you this morning?” and the simple truth is that I can’t be honest. I can’t say that...

I am painfully aware that this year, more than any since the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting in 2012, it has been challenging to believe in the possibility of “Peace on Earth and Goodwill to All.” We are bombarded by stories of civil war, refugees fleeing their homes, terrorism and...

Black lives matter, because you do not have to be ‘good enough’ to deserve basic human rights.