I recently officiated a memorial service for someone who died by suicide. I was moved by this family’s decision to be transparent that their loved one died by suicide – in the obituary and in the service. With the permission of the family, I am publishing an excerpt from the eulogy that speaks to choosing …
First Unitarian Universalist Society Burlington August 27, 2023 When I entered into Unitarian Universalism, having grown up in a fiercely atheist household, surrounded by rural fundamentalist Christians who had a strong sense of mission and a poor sense of boundaries, this need was beginning to take shape in me. It was in Unitarian Universalism, when …
Today is a gift. It is my day off from my job (which I love already). And since my job (which I already love) is new ~ like, really new, like I started four days ago ~ the timing is great because my brain needed a rest from all the new, NEW, NEW that has …
Originally titled, TBD – to be determined – this wasn’t exactly false – it did get determined before the title was formally announced in the monthly news. In the writing of last week’s sermon, which was ending up clocking in at close to a half hour, it became clear that this morning’s sermon would need …
March 12, 2023 The Unitarian Society, East Brunswick, NJ Reverend Karen G. Johnston When Tony, my partner, wrote and published his first novel, he fantasized about who would play the lead should it ever become a movie. In his mind, it was the British actor, Clive Owen. Here is a photo of Clive from that …
The Unitarian Society – East Brunswick, NJ January 30, 2022 Reverend Karen G. Johnston What makes a good life? While we changed and grew during the pandemic, and there were good things that came out of it, I am guessing that pandemic is not top on our list. It just does not roll off the …
The Unitarian Society, East Brunswick, NJ December 5, 2021 Reverend Karen G. Johnston This video contains the spoken version of this sermon. Part I If you die before you die, then you won’t die when you die. This is an inscription over a door at a monastery on Mt. Athos in Greece. I’m asking you …
Opening to Joy: Psychedelics, Ancient Medicine & New Science (sermon) Read More »
Let us choose to be like the lover of Skeleton Woman, perhaps afraid at first, but willing, in time, to embrace mortality, that life might be sweeter, fuller, fleshlier.
Part I I have some challenging questions for us, which I pose with love for you, for us, and for this aching world. I cannot promise you hope in this sermon, but as a good modern Universalist, I can promise you love. If this morning is a morning when you just cannot bear a heavy …
The Life and Death of Lee Hawkins First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque July 14, 2019 A quarter century ago, I asked the coordinator of my grandmother’s hospice care, how my grandmother was doing – not medically, but spiritually. She said simply, respecting both my grandmother’s confidentiality and my grief-as-curiosity, “As we live, so we die.” …