I remember swimming out a bit too far when I was an older elementary kid playing off the Jersey shore and having my whole goal to get to the point where the waves would help me in. I struggled pretty hard so by the time I got there, I was glad to let the power…

The study’s conclusion was stark.  The Harvard Study of Adult Development, one of the longest-running studies on happiness, reveals that relationships help people feel fulfillment in life.  This study, now ongoing for 90+ years, found achievement and money had less to do with satisfaction with life than being connected. This conclusion, in a world where…

Sometimes it feels as if the world is crying. Or if it is not, that it should be. Images of violence in our nation and around the world, much of it done using the resources of this nation, while many among us face increased struggles to be safe, warm, and fed. Within that frame, the…

When I first moved to California, the patterns of rain perplexed me. First, it only rained in one season of the year and was, even then, a place is dry as any place I had ever lived before.  And I was left in wonderment about how when the rains came, somehow the world changed. The…

2025—a year to remember, indeed.  As we end this year, I am making room in my heart for gratitude. I say that because for all the times this year when we have seen humanity at its worst, we have also seen it at its the best again and again and again. People living out their…

Last summer, while I was in Ohio visiting my uncle, I walked about the campus at Oberlin College. A large oak tree spread its arms over a scenic pond with a sign saying that they have been there for more than 200 years. I thought about all that tree had seen. I wonder if it…

As I continue to reflect on the learnings from my recent travels in Japan, I was thinking about the kinds of things for which we hope. At the shrines, people often prayed for good fortune and for prosperity, luck at relationships and other basic components of a full and happy life. In a practice which…

How are you staying grounded? This is the question of our times. Being scattered, unmoored and discombobulated is easy enough. I am noticing that without conscious effort, we just fly all over the place. Do you have those days? I know I do.  Where do we start to figure out how we will keep our…

In last week’s service, we talked about how being openhearted might be a good alternative to attempting to build one’s “self-esteem,” a concept very linked into a system of rewards and punishments, according to some researchers. And this week, we see more of those rewards and punishments and when we do, we see patterns which…

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.Then they came for me—and…