Category: Minister’s Blog

Joy and other Emotions

Have you seen the 2015 animated film “Inside Out” or the sequel that came out last year? It’s a journey into the mind of an adolescent child, Riley. The main characters are Riley’s emotions: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear (plus a few new ones as … read more.

Collective Storytelling

As some of you know, I love playing games. I am especially fond of games that involve group storytelling. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, I put out a call to my clergy colleagues to see if others might be interested in forming a weekly “Dungeons … read more.

Interdependence, our April theme

If you ask a handful of Unitarian Universalists about the seven principles that have guided our Association of Congregations since 1985, I suspect many wouldn’t be able to list all of them.  But I’m certain that you’d hear these two:

1st Principle
We affirm and promote the inherent … read more.

September brings a sabbatical

Dear Church, 

August is here and autumn is around the corner. At St. John’s, fall often comes with an upsurge in energy around church programs and activities. Our yearly in-gathering service of water communion is coming up on August 21st. From there we nearly tumble into … read more.

Another level of war atrocities

Trigger warning: sexual assault is mentioned

Dear Church,

After service today (April 3), I arrived home to a news reports of rape as a war crime in Ukraine. The horror of war is real and few escape being wounded or scarred in some way. For the civilians … read more.

Read along with Rev. Mitra

Dear St. John’s,

As you may know, I have enrolled in a Doctorate in Ministry program at Lexington Theological Seminary. In August, I will be taking a class called Building Capacity for Transformative Ministries. I just ordered the books for that class and thought I … read more.