Category Archive

I’ve been under a lot of stress lately, I don’t know about y’all, but perhaps you can relate.  I’m stressed out by the world.  The oil spill at Huntington Beach in our hood of the country is depressing, to say the least.  And early this week we learned of a travesty that unfolded September 30 in Dayton, OH.  Over last … Read More

The UUCSC Gun Violence Prevention Promise (GVPP) group will host a “teach-in” presenting a wide-lens view of the gun violence issue, what’s going on across the country in response to it, and what we as individuals and communities can do to address it.  We will show how tied together are the various problems we face today. While not a happy … Read More

Hello friends!  It’s a whirlwind week!  You may have heard, this weekend is the annual Women’s March, there are marches and events in cities across America.  This year, due to the egregious dispensing of human rights by the state legislature in TX, essentially turning abortion into a criminal enterprise, many of these Women’s Marches are lifting up reproductive rights, and … Read More

A year ago today the World Health Organization proclaimed the pandemic. Perhaps March 11 will become like September 11, a date that will go down in infamy. I write this as I await President Biden’s speech, to occur in a half hour. I do not envy him. I am disheartened to hear how bad things are at our southern border, … Read More

Last Sunday, toward the end of my sermon, I said that President Biden is no knight in shining armor. But he shone bright this past week with the most pastoral speech I have heard from an American president in my lifetime. I had turned on the radio mid-afternoon when he had just begun to speak; I could tell it was … Read More

I am not Christian, but I love the teachings of Jesus and Christianity. My favorite (and sometimes most dreaded) time of year is Advent, these weeks leading up to said birth of Jesus. No one really knows when the man was born, or even has proof he ever existed – these things don’t really matter, however, because the example of … Read More

Last Sunday I assured the congregation that for THIS Sunday, we would not give lip service to secular matters (aka the election) but instead focus on the sacred and the spiritual in our observance of the Mexican holiday, Day of the Dead. Not to be confused with Halloween. Or Samhain. Indeed, we’ll review the distinctions of these different holidays that … Read More

That’s the title of a Fred Rogers song. Fred Rogers, of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, never shied away from difficult emotions – he said, don’t avoid them, embrace them. This is how we learn who we are and how we can become mature adults, and loving parents. It’s in that spirit that we continue our “What Is Really Going On?” inter-generational … Read More

I’m excited that I have a new podcast co-host, Ellen Snortland, who has been an award-winning Pasadena Weekly Columnist for many years. When I was guffawing about the presidential debate on Wednesday morning, she stopped me and said, “That was not a debate. That cannot be considered an actual debate. In fact,” she went on to say, “this country has … Read More

What a week.  Another inexcusable police shooting of a black person, this time in Kenosha, WI. And major sports teams opting out of playing their games in protest.  Police tossing water bottles to armed white “militias” saying, “thanks guys, we really appreciate you,” as if they’re on the same team.  Could we be steps away from civil war? When the … Read More