The most unusual wedding I ever performed was of a woman to herself.  On the shore of Lake Michigan I pronounced this lovely, creative creature One, adding, “What God hath joined together, let no one rent asunder.”  Of course, this was a spiritual ceremony, not a legal contract, though the marriage issue could be stretched to consider calling such a union a marriage.  Or should it?  Just what is a marriage, who qualifies, and who …

To be liberal means being generous, open minded, innovative, and kind.  It is the force of the new, the progressive.  It is inclusive and visionary, seeking freedom and progress for the whole of society.   It does not war against conservative forces, but uses them to stabilize a system while innovating within it.  Conservative and liberal are dynamics of nature — structure, experimentation, and new birth.
 
It is a sign of how regressive an era we live …

“My Goddess Gave Birth to Your God” reads the bumper sticker.  The growing notion that God is not just and only male is well known in our UU churches and in other niches in society.  Feminism has grown with us for decades and centuries.  Gradually, it spreads around the world, bringing women status, freedoms, compensation, and rights in societies where patriarchy has ruled unquestioned for millennia.  We need the Divine Mother, not just Our …

Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian group, teaches that “the foundation of society for the family is marriage of a man and a woman for life.”  “One man, one woman, one life” is deemed to be God’s plan and instruction.  This group is largely against homosexual marriage, but it also rails against no-fault divorce, pre-marital and extra-marital sex, group marriage, and other variations of their ideal scheme.  They cite decent research showing the benefits …

Between the Lincoln Memorial and the White House is a statue of Christopher Columbus.  It is a grand image, inspiring, but perverse for the lie it perpetuates.  His horse rears.  His breastplate makes him look muscular and Roman.  He is bringing European sensibilities to the sub-human savages of the New World.  Of course, it’s all grandiose posturing, ego writ larger than life, as if that’s good.  We still celebrate Columbus with a holiday even though …

It is not just the Unitarian Universalists who hold democracy as scared duty and hope; much of humanity honors mutual self rule.  We no longer believe a king or pope has the right to rule us, for the divine hierarchy isn’t top down, it’s inner out, both individualistic and communal.  This isn’t a passive putting up with bossy rulers; it is protecting, perfecting, and promoting humanity’s rising to be itself.
 
By democracy I don’t merely mean …

What has become of civility in our society?  Civility is inherent in civilization.  To civilize is to instruct on the arts of life, to enlighten and refine them, to bring our society out of a state of barbarism.  However, a wave of incivility has us headed back to barbarism, diverting us from any sensible dialog or progress, especially as we consider health care reform.  My concern here is not just for health care.
 
Our health care …

Welcome to this church service where “Citizens Speak to Would-be Presidents.” I thank you for your attention and invite you to add to what I will say. As you can see, I have arranged for some video cameras and a microphone to be present. Not only will we partake of this exercise, others will be able to see and hear what we did. I hope and trust the cameras will not detract from our service. …

I confess I’m obsessed with this depressing recession.  It results from, and brings out, some of the worst aspects of our people and society.  And yet, it is an opportunity to see and actualize some of the best.
When I was born in 1945 a single man could support his whole family on his average income of $2,400 while living in a house that cost about twice that.  Mom, like most moms then, stayed home as …

Speaking to the young graduates of Harvard’s Divinity School in 1838, Emerson said this of Jesus: “One man was true to what is in you and me.”  However, he also lamented that because Jesus was seen as the Christ, one of the three persons of the Trinity, his portrait grew to be as “the vulgar draw it.”  He wanted the young graduates to themselves come alive fully as persons.  “Always the seer is a sayer,” …