Last Sunday, I talked about people who are operating under a mental model of “fear as motivation.” I think we can see right in our own geographical community people whose core values are shaped by a fear of going to hell. No surprise, then, that when they attempt to motivate...
Halloween has become one of the best opportunities for gaining intercultural competence. But it has often included a steep learning curve, especially if you grew up – as I did – when conversations about misappropriation were not common. As a child, it was not uncommon to see other kids dressed...
When I was a kid, we had a cat named Sam. Like most cats, he spent most of his days snoozing in sunbeams. But on the morning the first Autumn cool front hit, Sam would go racing out the back door, across the yard, and up a tall oak tree....
We are rebuilding, as a church. On March 16, 2020, we closed our doors and began doing church in a completely different way, with computer screens and occasional drive-thru events taking the place of all the other ways we were accustomed to connecting. More than two years later, it should...
While I was on sabbatical, I played around with the app “TikTok,” an entertainment and educational app especially popular with younger generations. (I quite enjoy it, and have found it to be a wealth of knowledge, especially around social issues. If you have any interest in learning how to use...
With celebrating our 30th anniversary this Saturday, I have naturally been thinking about the beginnings of Live Oak. I am so grateful to those brave souls who planted this church! The early days of Live Oak meant a lot of being “always in beta” as they figured out how to...
So, a fun thing happened this week in our social media world. I uploaded a short video to Facebook, and it’s been shared over 200 times: In terms of history, this is actually sort of a big deal, in that it represents a change in Unitarian Universalist culture. For a...
What if we suddenly got an influx of visitors to Live Oak, people curious to see what this liberal religious community was all about? This is a question I sometimes ponder, but especially this week. See, our musically gifted accompanist, Darja, skillfully wove a piece of music that is currently...
Most religions have some type of ceremony to mark the arrival of a baby or child and express the commitment a community gives to the child and their parents – baptism, Bris, etc. For Unitarian Universalists, we have a dedication ceremony, usually done during a regular worship service. This ceremony welcomes the child into our faith (and, especially...
How’ve you been? My sabbatical is over and I’m grateful for that time to find rest and renewal. Thank you so much for it. I did some reading, a little traveling, and loads of hiking. Mostly, I got the chance to think deeply about all sorts of things. And I...
