Much has been made lately of the economic frustrations of white working class folks, but truly questions of economic justice are as old as humanity itself. Jesus, Muhammad, and Buddha are all said to have spoken about poverty and “the poor.” In his last work, Where Do We Go from Here?, Martin Luther King, Jr. […]
Celebrating Janus, the Roman god of transitions, seems almost anti-climactic in the context of the year that just ended. We are all changed, some more than others. In this service of sharing, let’s celebrate not only who we are, but who, and what, we may become. Bob MacDicken and his wife, artist Eileen Ross, are former […]
We want to be special. We say we want to make it special, whatever it is. Our cultural messages focus on the extraordinary and the more. Dissatisfaction with ourselves can be chronic. It can keep us from being engaged actors for good. But wait. This is life, the gift of life! Brought forward in a […]
In our Holiday Multigenerational Worship Service, we recreate the ancient story of the birth of Jesus through the lens of our own understanding. It’s an old and powerful story with resonance for the new world in which we find ourselves. It’s a no-rehearsal Christmas pageant. Members of the audience get to play the parts (or […]
Our minds and schedules get so full in December that we often find it difficult to be present. Some of us may be ready for the month to be over before it ever begins. Yet the underlying power of December is presence, with ourselves, our family, our spirituality; who we are and how we love. […]
Despite your political identification, two weeks later and we are still reeling from the national election, as well as the news reports of cabinet appointees and advisors. We are reeling not because of the customary swing of the pendulum from Democratic to Republican leadership. Those of us old enough to vote understand that that it […]
Rev. Heyward will reflect on where we are as a nation, local communities, and individuals in the wake of the election. Rev. Heyward is a NC native who spent her childhood in Hendersonville. One of the first women priests in the Episcopal Church, she was ordained in a controversial service prior to the church’s approval […]
We can all sing loudly. Pat Humphries in “Never Turning Back,” a simple anthem of encouragement, possibility and persistence, insists that we are “gonna keep on walking proudly [and] singing loudly” whatever happens. The elections will be over and, however they turn out, our lives go on and our work continues. What better way to […]
Pre-election worry and angst is high and going to be higher. This month’s Soul Matters theme helps us, not by guaranteeing a result but by reminding us to hold up the narratives we are listening to and telling ourselves. “Our lives are not just made up of stories; they are also made by stories.” What are […]
We live in the tension between head and heart, doing and being. The holidays of All Souls, Halloween, Samhain and Dia de los Muertos are each observed as some form of liminal time where the veil between the living and the dead is thinnest. Wisdom traditions understand the thinness not just as literally between life and death, but […]