Leslie's Blog
Gifts for Us All
Last week while I was working on my sermon I listened to an intriguing discussion between Buddhist leaders Tara Brach and Rev. Angel Kyodo Williams in which they mentioned that as Buddhism came to the west it shifted from a focus on societal enlightenment to a focus on individual progress. That got my attention because…
Read More New Views on an Ending Year
Last weekend, I took a little break and took a bike ride. It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and many of my neighbors were out putting up holiday decorations. While I have seen this many times passing in my car, the perspective of the bike was much enhanced. I was able to hear things that…
Read More An Invocation for the Poston Incarceration Survivors
As mentioned in last week’s sermon, I am sharing the invocation I was honored to deliver last month at the gathering of Poston Camp incarceration survivors. My gratitude to the organizers of that event:* “God of many names whose highest name is love. Spirit of life that is found in the present of the Kami…
Read More These Darker Nights
These darker nights are a time for us to feel the animal weariness of our bodies. I often wonder what it is about human creatures that we have decided to counter this with festivities and extra busyness! Celebrations and gatherings do make our times together better and help us cope with this time when some…
Read More Meet anxiety with action
Are you noticing it I certainly am. People are feeling just a little bit more anxious as the fall goes on.To begin with, our economy doesn’t seem to be doing the things we wish an economy would do and the predicted surge of the Covid virus… oh, and the election. All of these things seem…
Read More Of Roots and Stars…
As we move closer to November and deeper into fall, life seems to be picking up speed and a little chaos. This week at our Friday meditation, we focused on how we can remember that we are held as part of a larger whole, even when the world is swirling fast and we are afraid…
Read More Autumnal equinox
This week saw the marking of the autumnal equinox, the point in the turning of the year when the days are as long as the nights. I have been watching the approach of this with heightened interest this year because, like many of us, my time in the natural world tends to be at the…
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