The show Northern Exposure is now streaming on Amazon, (with original music, fans!) and last night, I watched the episode, First Snow. In it, the residents of Cicely, Alaska, are preparing for the long, hard winter. This ranges from eating heavy meals to try and gain weight, fixing up their...
- Feb2024
How Would We Celebrate Summer?
February 20, 2024
LOVE NOTES to Live Oak
February 20, 2024
Love Notes to Live Oak Identify a place on the Live Oak campus Why is that place special to you? Any place outside I am an outside person, so I always enjoy being out in the open, and we do have an attractive property. But most important is the fact...
Principles and Values
February 14, 2024
In case you haven’t heard, there will be a second vote this June at the UU General Assembly about whether to change Article II of our Unitarian Universalist Association bylaws. Currently, Article II contains what we often refer to as our Principles and Sources. It is required that we examine...
Beyond Inclusion: Belonging
February 7, 2024
Last week, I was invited with other clergy to tour and bless the new Texas Children’s Hospital North Austin Campus. The Senior Vice-President of the facility, Russ Williams, talked about how they didn’t just want to be inclusive, they wanted families to feel they belonged. Hence having clergy people there,...
- Jan2024
The Eclipse is Coming! – I Need Your Ideas!
January 31, 2024
In case you haven’t heard, a total eclipse is coming to Central Texas on Monday, April 8. We’ll be having our own event, Eclipse on the Labyrinth. (If you have any ideas about making this a blast and would like to help make it happen, send me an email and...
What’s Cooking? Red Bench January 30 6:30-8:30 pm
January 23, 2024
This past Sunday, I shared a little about my experience at the Sikh Langar at this year’s Parliament of the World’s Religions. There, the Sikhs provided lunch every day for hundreds of the Parliament participants, because feeding all, and complete equality of all people, are core to their faith. This...
Looking Ahead at 2024
January 17, 2024
I don’t want to bum you out, but there is a fact that I think we all need to face: this is a presidential election year. The Iowa caucus made it a little more real, didn’t it? You may have, and I say this utterly sincerity, some post-traumatic stress from...
Enriching Connections or “Come Join the Party!”
January 10, 2024
This past Sunday, we had our quarterly “Fed & Informed” potluck. Great food and great information was shared by all. And it was great to just have the chance to be together, you know? To eat together, chat, and catch up. We want to make more opportunities for connecting with...
Resolution: Be More You
January 3, 2024
“Be true to your own act, and congratulate yourself if you have done something strange and extravagant.” — Unitarian minister, Ralph Waldo Emerson “Find out who you are and do it on purpose.” — Dolly Parton It’s that time of year for fresh starts, making resolutions, and daydreaming about doing...
- Dec2023
Christmas Eve and the Ghost of Christmas Past
December 20, 2023
It was the “Candlelighting” video that broke me. Since we’re not going to have a morning worship service this Sunday (our Christmas Eve service will be that evening at 6:00 pm), I put together an online “best of Live Oak Christmas” videos from the past few years. Just a little...