Christmas and Hanukah once upon a time were about struggle, hope, and freedom. Both stories are exile stories pointing out how even a glimmer of light can provide a lasting hope for the triumph of all that is good. While we haven’t altogether lost these themes in our modern interpretations, we...

Do not think we are finished— oh no we will never be finished never just done until the light of justice is lit behind every eye. Do not think we will be silent— no there will not be silence until the world has sung the names of the dead with full throats and still we will sing on. Do not think...

This is adapted from a litany by Gail Forsyth-Vail, who suggests the following to maximize the reading's power: Identify seventeen people who will come forward to represent the generations of African Americans in the British colonies and in the United States. As you name the first generation,...

This reading requires seventeen people who are able to come forward and represent the generations of African Americans in the British colonies and in the United States. As you name the first generation, indicate to a person that they should stand. Each time you call a new generation, you indicate...

“The Miseducation of Justice-Making” excerpted from Nathan C. Walker (2014) Exorcising Preaching: Crafting Intellectually Honest Worship. St. Louis: Chalice Press. What does justice-making look like, feel like, when we receive hostile communication? Are we hostile in return? Or is something else...

“Beyond the Zero-Sum Game” excerpted from Nathan C. Walker (2014) Exorcising Preaching: Crafting Intellectually Honest Worship. St. Louis: Chalice Press. For centuries, insiders have been democratizing their religions. Incremental moments of institutional reform have led to a new era of...

“This Ain’t No Country Club” excerpted from Nathan C. Walker (2014) Exorcising Preaching: Crafting Intellectually Honest Worship. St. Louis: Chalice Press. There is no time to be spinning around ourselves saying, “We’re so small. We’re a minority religion.” As if “minority” is...

“Personal Spiritual Trainers” excerpted from Nathan C. Walker (2014) Exorcising Preaching: Crafting Intellectually Honest Worship. St. Louis: Chalice Press. When you come to me, come not with the expectation to have some passive clergyperson coddle you into complacency. No. Come to me as your...

Waiting to be born, again, into the morning, onto the day, from dark warm comfort, of my bed full of sleep and blankets, back into bright spring-scented air with all its life and branches....

Asked if he was lonesome in his hut on Walden Pond, our neighbor Henry Thoreau famously replied, “How could I be lonely? Don’t I live in the Milky Way?” Thoreau doubtless would have been encouraged by the recent discovery of Kepler-22, a planet just 600 light years from earth right in the...

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....