This final blog post is now three days overdue and I’m having trouble pushing “send”. It’s the same way with that final part of the sermon for tomorrow that wakes me at 2 in the morning and sets me scribbling with yet more things I want to say and not enough time to say it … Continue reading Setting Sail

The forest is emptying itself Releasing a brown canopy Leaving bare stems pointing To a dark sky. We do not come easily as the forest to such a time Putting down, letting be, And dying to what has been So what may be will come in its time Which is not yet.   We fuss, … Continue reading Emptying

I was told if you ever hear God’s voice calling you, you should first check it out with some trusted friends. I’d heard a call that I didn’t know if I wanted to follow – a call to leave my beloved kindred, place and home – and go to where God was showing me.  And … Continue reading Go

It feels like dying.  Or I imagine this is what dying might feel like.  The impossibility of saying goodbye to people you have loved and for a long time.  The impossibility of anyone else really understanding what it's like as they go about the work that we must do among the living - filling the … Continue reading The Good Death

Turn back, he said, it’s all fogged in,  you can’t see a thing up top - We waited half an hour,  he went on -  pressing his frustration on us, then gave up. We paused listening wondering if we should go with his experience or make our own wondering if this weather report was relevant … Continue reading No Turning Back

I posted this last summer and am re-posting it now as Glennon Doyle is coming to University Congregational Church on Friday night September 14 - and you definitely want to come if you can!  Like me - she might surprise you! Here's my post from right after our General Synod Gathering of the United Church … Continue reading Love Warrior

The destruction of the planet, the extinction of humanity, the sell-out of organized religion and our collective imagination to the concerns and agendas of the economic bottom line and the control of mega-corporations…..In it all - Will God forgive us? I mean, forgive us for what we have done and what we have left undone … Continue reading Will God Forgive Us?

In January I had my first swimming lesson in 45 years. As I panted by the edge of the pool after doing a few laps, my swim teacher kneeled down beside me, “Actually sir, that’s not too bad.” I took this as high praise.  Whatever good and bad swim habits I had remembered from my … Continue reading Learning to Swim

Bruce and Julia are moving to Canada.  Rose sold her home in Seattle of 53 years and now lives with her daughter and her husband, their dog and a cat on a farm in “the far north”.  Anna left her job to pick up two new jobs in order to provide space and energy to … Continue reading Migrating

"I simply believe that no matter how hard I work at not being racist, I still am."  Stephanie Wildman I’m standing on the curb Waiting for the Bolt Bus back to Seattle When he staggers down the street The bent over black man Sunken cheeks, fingering coins Do you have a dollar?  I need a … Continue reading Dear White People