Some people are peacemakers and some people are homemakers. There are taste makers, king makers, rain makers, and matchmakers. But I, my friends, am a list maker, and proud of it.

Anyone else here a list maker? How many of you have a list on you right now? Than maybe you can relate when I say that lists are the primary tool that enables me to function in this world.

If it’s not on the list, it doesn’t get done, so much so that if I do something that wasn’t on the list, I add it to the list after the fact just to be sure. That doesn’t make sense does it? Not even grammatically. But that’s what I do.

I typically have multiple lists running on my phone at any given time: laundry lists, grocery lists, short lists, bucket lists, to-do lists, packing lists. You name it, I can list it.

I actually need to keep lists of ....

I love that the first Sunday of Advent always begins with lighting the candle of hope followed by the most apocalyptic reading we can find in Matthew, Mark, or Luke.

I love the raw honesty of it, because it is a stark reminder that our faith, to paraphrase James Finely, “protects us from nothing even as it sustains us in all things.”

Beyond these doors, every retailer from Saks 5th Avenue to your local Cumberland farms would like you to tune out reality and tune into the idea that this is the hap-happiest time of the year; the better to sell you something like a triple mocha peppermint latte with extra whip and a cherry on top so red it could rival Rudolph’s nose.

But not here in the church. Here in the church, as we move through these four Sundays before Christmas, we will hear from Jesus and John the Baptist, Mary and Elizabeth, sages and angels: prophets one and all who show up and tell us the truth about ourselves and our world:

The truth that how....

Today's service is full of beautiful music and centers around a conversation Sarah has with the Rev. Dr. Diane Johnson... a conversation about how we navigate this moment we find ourselves in. How do we lovingly hold the profound contradictions that exist between us right now? Diane shares her antidotes for worry, her thoughts about the opportunity this moment holds for us as progressive Christians, and her deep belief that our job right now is to stay connected and shine bright. May her words give you the encouragement you need to navigate the holy days ahead.

A Zen master once received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen. The professor arrived, full of knowledge and opinions, eager to impress the master with his understanding of Zen Buddhism.

As they sat together, the master offered him tea. He poured the professor’s cup full and then kept pouring and pouring. The tea spilled over the cup and onto the table, but the master continued pouring.“Stop! The cup is full!” the professor exclaimed.“Exactly,” the master replied. “You are like this cup—full of your own ideas and preconceptions.

How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”

(Thanks to Cameron Trimble for sharing this story in her Piloting faith newsletter this week. Click here to read and subscribe https://mailchi.mp/4168c1935e45/wcyrz8ckz9-11194444?e=4f5c74eca4 ).

Friends, I don’t know about you, but I’m not very zen these days. My cup is pretty full on a good day, but I confess that these last days have left me overflowing with...

God, hear our cry and help us. Hear our pain and mourn with us. Hear our rage and fight with us. And through it all, speak to us the truths we need to hear. Amen.

Here we are again, friends. Here we are again, as in, the man who became our president in 2016, who brought chaos and fear and dealt devastating blows to human rights, is about to be president again. And also, here we are again, as in, a man with ambitions of tyranny gains power with the support of people who believe that a tyrannical leader is a strong leader. This is not a new story. This is a story as old as human civilization, played out in various ways across the span of history. And on the one hand, that makes me sad, because, damnit, we _have history books, can't we learn anything? And on the other hand, it gives me a kind of reassurance. People have been where we are. People have fought and survived what we are facing. And there isn't one, set script that we are destined to follow. We still have agency, and power, no matter what anyone else says....

I woke up Wednesday morning, turned to Andrew, and said: “we’re now less than a week from the election; it feels like the countdown to Christmas except not as much fun.”

You all know what I mean? It’s like the same level of stressful waiting and wondering with none of the joyful anticipation. I don’t know what we are going to get but it’s not new shoes.

As I stand here now, we are just two days away, and it’s hard to think about anything else. Given that today is All Saints Day, we are gathered here to remember the ones we have loved and lost, and I don’t want to lose sight of the holiness of this moment.

But I also know that we are only human, and that even as we sit here in all of our grief and gratitude, we are also juggling feelings of fear and uncertainty, faith and hope, loathing and love.

The truth is that we have no idea what is coming. We have no way of knowing what will happen on Tuesday or if we will even know anything on Tuesday. This may well be the closest election in the history of our nation, which means that all we really know is that whatever happens, roughly 49% of registered voters will be disappointed or worse when the results are made known.

Now we could spend our precious time this morning lamenting how we got to this place of deep division, but given that we are looking at the book of Revelation this morning, what I’d really like to focus on is where we’re going.

I don’t know the future, but I know that whatever the future brings, all of the people who vote one way or the other on Tuesday will still be with us on Wednesday, we need to figure out how we are going to live together,
and I don’t just mean for the next 4 years...

A few weeks ago, in an attempt to reach more voters, Kamala Harris appeared on every talk show, radio program, and podcast in America. She spoke with everyone from Charlemagne tha God to Stephen Colbert, Howard Stern to the ladies on The View, Bill Whitaker on 60 Minutes to Alex Cooper on the podcast, “Call Her Daddy.”

I think my grandmother, who died back in 2003, is the only one who still watches 60 Minutes. (Am I Right?) And I’d never even heard of “Call Her Daddy,” which is apparently the most popular podcast for young women in America… meaning I am no longer a young woman in America. I will be processing that on my own time.

For our purposes today, I simply want to highlight the fact that Kamala is doing everything in her power to expand her demographic.

But something she said on that podcast I’ve never heard of gained a tremendous amount of media attention. And it really stuck out to me because even though it gave me a little thrill to hear her say it...

This past Tuesday, I was sitting in my office just trying to stay on top of e-mail when Elliott popped their head in the door and asked if I had time to go to the bank with our treasurer, Kathy. Turns out that everything was lined up to finally pay off our mortgage and Kathy just needed to sign the paper work.

Huh, I probably should be there for that, I thought. Maybe even take a picture or two for posterity. But honestly, it wasn’t until we started walking over that the significance of the moment really started to hit me.

Kathy and I were both filled with nervous excitement as we walked, you know, the way you feel when things are going so well you’re afraid you might do something to jinx it. And yet, as we walked and talked ...

In this Sunday’s sermon, guest preacher Emily Carle acknowledges how unbearably hard life feels right now. If you’re wondering where God is in the mess or if you even believe in God at all because of the mess, your uncertainty and doubt may be a more faithful response than you realize. The sermon begins at the 23 minute mark or you can read it below.

A common perception of the pastor is that we are to be beacons of hope, unrelenting optimism, at all times. And I will say, that is part of our higher calling as spiritual leaders for a community. We are called to tap into the truths that Christianity provides and root ourselves to the Good News of Jesus. But often, this perception that pastors need to always inspire, always preach the happy go lucky message even when the world is on fire can at its best, feel inauthentic, and at its worst, do damage.

There is a concept called spiritual bypassing which is when we ...

More than anything, Vivian Silver believed in peace. In 2000 she helped create the Arab-Jewish Center for Equality, Empowerment, and Cooperation and in 2014 she founded a movement co- led by Israeli and Palestinian women called “Women Wage Peace.”

Vivian had faith that a two state solution was possible and wanted peace and prosperity for her Palestinian neighbors as much as for her Israeli ones. She believed that, “[I]f more Jews could understand the distress of their Arab neighbors, the next generation would be more willing to exchange land for peace.”

Vivian is remembered as a woman who built bridges with people on the other side. She crossed the border regularly to work with friends and activists, wept openly at the destruction of Arab homes by the Israeli government, and drove sick Gazan children to the hospital herself so they could receive medical care. She was so committed to the cause that she was still arguing for a peace deal in an interview with a local public broadcaster from the safe room in her home, where she took shelter on October 7. According to the New York Times:

  she was frustrated (after the interview). On the phone with her son, Yonatan, she recounted how the interviewer had dismissed her (vision for peace, even while) in the background, (Yonantan) could hear gunfire and militants shouting. It sounded like his petite, 74-year-old mother was standing on a battlefield….“Do you want to continue speaking, or should we say goodbye?” he asked her.

      “Let’s say goodbye,” Vivian told him.

She then texted a little while later to tell him that men were inside the house.

  “I’m afraid to breathe,” she wrote.

“I’m with you,” texted Yonatan.

“I feel you,” Vivian replied.

“Are you safe now?” he texted. “Mom?”

There was no response...

Two weeks ago, a handful of us here at the church attended a justice summit run by the U.C.C.. After a keynote address on, “The Politics of Jesus,” Craig and I went to a Braver Angels session on depolarization.
And I have to confess to you that in spite of the fact that the title for the workshop was literally, “Depolarizing Ourselves," I went to that workshop thinking I was going to learn some techniques for depolarizing others. I did.
I went in the hopes of getting people on the other side to act more reasonably, listen more openly, and maybe even vote more - dare I say - rationally. I did not sign up with any intention of doing my own work because I didn’t think I was part of the problem. I mean I’m already reasonable, open minded, and rational…right? At least I thought I was.
But unfortunately, the first thing they did was give us a quiz to determine how polarized we actually are, and friends, let’s just say I did not pass with flying colors. It’s short, so I’m going to walk you through it and you can see if you do any better. Ok? Question #1...

Todays' worship featured beautiful music from our choir and a dynamic sermon by the Rev. Dr. Diane Johnson. Diane is one of our newer members and a powerhouse. She is a nationally recognized change management consultant, innovative leader, U.C.C. pastor, spiritual director, executive coach, author, and speaker with passion and expertise in social transformation. She is the CEO/Founder of her national firm, Mmapeu Consulting which specializes is innovative solutions to intractable problems… and boy are we grappling here and around the world right now with intractable problems, so we hope you are inspired by what she had to say to us this morning. It was an honor and a blessing to have her with us.