Expecting to Fly: Farewell Dear Victoria
Neil Young’s deeply beautiful song from the mid-60s, “Expecting to Fly” begins with the lyrics: “There you stood on the edge of your feather, expecting to fly…” And later, he sings, “All the years we spent with feeling, ended with a cry, babe, ended with a cry, babe,...
STAND UP! – Existential terror and keeping our hearts open to everyone
Recently, I woke up in the middle of the night and felt stabs of existential terror, that I was no longer safe in my own country, the United States. It had been a couple of weeks since Trump was inaugurated and began exercising raw overwhelming power that no one seems...
Ukraine: “I pray that this dark hour will give way to a rosy morning.”
From my Ukrainian friend: Please donate to provide humanitarian aide to the people of Ukraine. One good organization to support, among many, is “Nova Ukraine” Go to www.novaukraine.org Today we continue to mourn the suffering, death and destruction...
Build and Enhance Your Marriage – Counseling Sessions to Empower Couples
With Valentine's Day approaching, it is a great time for couples to reflect on their marriage, on what is working well and what could perhaps be improved. Hopefully, your marriage is abundant with love and joy. Sometimes though, life -and our own selves - bring us...
The Flower and the Donkey: Russian Cupid’s Arrow Leads to Marriage
A few days ago, I had the great pleasure of officiating the wedding of Luc and Galina, my first wedding of 2017. The couple’s story is somewhat unique. Luc is French-Canadian, from Montreal, and Galina is Russian, from Moscow. On a whim, Luc decided to check out an...
Winter Solstice: Walking Toward the Dawn
Today, December 21, here in the northern hemisphere, is the beginning of winter, when the sun is at its farthest southern point, making tonight the longest night of the year. Now, when cold and darkness abound, it is a time when we are invited to go within, to reflect...
Free of Earthly Chains – Commending the Soul of a Caring Man into God’s Hands
Earlier this week, I led a funeral service for a beloved man in New Hampshire, who lived his whole life in the local area. The essence of this person was CARING. He cared a huge amount for his family, but perhaps most amazing was the abundance of care he gave to those...
Four Questions Toward Bridging the Divides
The key to beginning to bridge the huge social and political divides that the election results brought out so starkly is to engage and build relationships with each other rather than continue to attack and defeat each other. To do that, it is essential that we first...
The Power of Listening
“I suspect that the most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention. … When people are talking, there’s no need to do anything but receive them. … Listen to...
The Marriage of a Family – Roots Intertwining and Fusing into One
These days, for two people getting married, it is not at all unusual that one or both of them have been married before and have children. So, oftentimes now, it is not just the couple joining their lives together in marriage, but also it’s a joining of their families,...
A Safe and Caring Place to Hold and Nurture Each Other Right Now
This past Sunday a colleague and I facilitated a post-election gathering for over 2 hours at my local Unitarian Universalist Church, near Hartland Vermont, to talk about what’s going on for each of us in the aftermath of the presidential election and to look at some...
Solitude and Community
“… we need solitude and community simultaneously: what we learn in one mode can check and balance what we learn in the other. Together, they make us whole, like breathing in and breathing out. … Solitude does not necessarily mean living apart from others; rather, it...
“No News is Good News”
My Dad was generally a man of few words, but one of his favorite expressions was “No News is Good News”. This is usually taken to mean that if you don’t hear from somebody or about something, then you can assume all is okay, because if something was wrong you’d hear...
For Courage
At this dark post-election time, when fear, division, and uncertainty abound in our country, there is a natural tendency to either lash out in protective reactive mode or else retreat and hide in helpless and overwhelm mode. But there is another choice – to stop and...
The Blessings of Darkness – Finding Our Way Forward After the Election
I went to bed on Election night very uneasy, as the dark political forces of fear, division, and “othering” that have been building for many months now seemed on the verge of winning. In and out of sleep, I continued to pray for a miracle that they wouldn’t. But when...
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