Leader: Whether you have come here with heart full or heart empty, with spirits high or low, rested or tired, hopeful or despairing, Congregation: Whether we have come here out of habit, conviction, loneliness, or curiosity, Leader: You belong here because you are here, and all that you have and ...

The Persian poet Rumi challenges us: "Come, come, whoever you are: wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving: Ours is no caravan of despair, come, yet again come." And we come, from rich heritages of liturgy and pomp; We come, from burning legacies of angry gods and threats of hell-fire....

It was Spring. At long last there was no hint of snow on the ground. It was even warm, sort of. Birds and bugs had, at last, returned to Milwaukee. And so in the great flush of Spring madness, Jan and I decided it was time to barbecue....

It was in Alaska, right before the first Gulf War, that I first realized how music can “teach us how to hear the world differently,” as jazz critic Jed Rasula once said. I was in the Air Force “Gateway to the West” jazz band and my unit was temporarily deployed to Alaska, waiting anxiously...

We have a calling in this world: We are called to honor diversity, To respect differences with dignity, And to challenge those who would forbid it. We are people of a wide path. Let us be wide in affection And go our way in peace. Amen.

We extinguish the chalice here that it might glow gently in our hearts. May it light your path as you leave this place. May it guide your way until we are together again.

My father asked if I am gay I asked Does it matter? He said, No not really I said, Yes. He said get out of my life. I guess it mattered. My friend asked why I talk about race so much? I asked, Does it matter? He said, No not really I told him, Yes. He said, You need to get that chip off your...

Once upon a time there was a girl named Wendy. She loved grass. What can I say? She loved grass—she loved the feel of it between her toes; she loved the smell of it when it was freshly mown; she loved its bright green color. Wendy loved grass more than just about anything. One day her family...

If you are who you were, and if the person next to you is who he or she was, if none of us has changed since the day we came in here— we have failed. The purpose of this community— of any church, temple, zendo, mosque— is to help its people grow. We do this through encounters with the...

Father, Mother God, here we are together—rich and poor; educated and not so well educated; gay and straight; democrats and republicans; some of us with light skin, some of us with darker; some of us walking, some of us unable to walk: none of us as whole as we would like to be—help us to know...

Someone told me once that Einstein thought time is a variable. That is to say that time is not a constant. Are you following this? I think Einstein was right. When I was a child, a year was a YEAR! Now a year is a week....

We arrive together here Travellers on life's journey Seekers of meaning, of love, of healing, of justice, of truth The journey is long, and joy and woe accompany us at every step None is born that does not die None feels pleasure that does not also feel pain....

Mindful of our highest aspirations, Bound by common faith and purpose, And, yet, beginning with ourselves as we are, Let us take one more step, together, in our unending quest for dignity, justice and love. Amen.

May we go forth from this place thankful for the life that sustains and renews us, and open to the grace that surrounds and surprises us. May we go forth from this place with openness and with thanksgiving.

If we would but allow the majesty of creation to be, it would bless us. If we would incorporate the myriad aspects of creation instead of trying to incarcerate them, the war would end. If we could accept ourselves, maybe then we would accept others. If all these questions add up to confusion, all...