PeaceBang

Why STILL No Worship Services Listed On the Boston Pride Web Site?

It really bothers me that I have to do so much sleuth work to try to find information on the inter-faith Pride worship services that I know are being hosted by at least one Boston congregation tomorrow. (Arlington Street [Unitarian Universalist] Church, 11 AM)

I have written to the Pride webmasters about this but they still neglect to include the information. I don’t understand why. I understand that the GLBT community and the institutional Church don’t have a good relationship in general, but wouldn’t that be more reason to highlight the fact that some venerable Boston churches are out and proud as welcoming congregations?

This Just In

There is an item of gossip floating around a Boston-area UUMA chapter that one of our East Coast colleagues has just come out of the closet as a gay man.

That colleague happens to be a good friend of mine and he has expressed great surprise and good-humored curiosity over this rumor.

I wondered where it could have come from myself. He has a terrible wardrobe, is definitely in need of SPF skin care products and a good hair stylist, has the interior design sense of an aardvark (I do not exaggerate : he has STAR WARS pillow cases. “They were on sale,” he protested when I expressed my horror), has the sensitivity of a toilet seat when it comes to giving romantic advice, and flirts shamelessly with pretty waitresses half his age, causing this writer to throw her napkin across the table at him, and threaten to douse him with her glass of ice water.

So whomever paid him the compliment of thinking that he’s gay, wow. What an undeserved honor.*

*Some of you will undoubtedly chastise me for generalizing gay men in this fashion, but since I could organize a small Gay Pride Festival out of my address book alone, I feel qualified to make a few, all in good fun. And speaking of Pride, I think it’s next next weekend!

Darth Vader Would Like To Light A Candle of Concern

So we can conclude a few things from this article.

One, it’s never a good idea to drink that much boxed wine.

Two, there were way more people in Britian in 2001 who identified their religion as Jedi than there are Unitarian Universalists on membership rolls right now in congregations in the entire world.

May the Force be with you.

Why I Publish Sermons On the Internet

This just made my day:

Hi Rev. Weinsten,

My name is [D.W.] and I am emailing you from ____, Idaho. I just wanted to let you know that you were an absolute lifesaver last week at the ______ Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, and I’m sure you aren’t even aware of it I serve on the Sunday Services Committee, and we were holding our annual Stewardship Pledge Drive. Our minister, [name here], is currently on Sabbatical, and we had a local speaker scheduled to present on Sunday. Unfortunately, he was forced to leave town late Saturday evening to tend to a family emergency. In a panic, I searched the UU website for a worthwhile sermon that I could read that would speak about our Stewardship theme. That is when I found your wonderful sermon “They Need to Give”!! So, long story short, I read your sermon last Sunday (giving all of the credit to you, of course!) and it was a HUGE hit!! I can’t thank you enough for crafting such a beautiful sermon. Your wonderful message saved the day in [Our City, Idaho] and gave peace to one very stressed out service coordinator who needed to find a sermon at the very, very last minute

Thank you again! You can delight in the knowledge that an entire Fellowship clear across the country heard and loved your beautiful sermon!

- D.W.

I don’t know what UU website this lovely man is referencing [This just in! It turns out that the sermon in question given at the opening worship of a district meeting a few years ago, was a Sermon For the Day at the UUA website! Heck if I knew! - PB] , but I’m glad to have been of help to one of our congregations without having had to lift a finger to do so. For that I thank our church secretary and our webmistress for publishing my sermons so they can be read by anyone who cares to, used (with attribution, of course) by my colleagues who find merit in them, and save the day for a super stressed-out layman in Idaho. COOL! Yay for the internets!

Syllabus Shock

Holy Doctor of Ministry, Batman!

I just got a gander of my May intensive course on congregational discernment (”Grounded in God”) and broke out in a cold sweat at the number of books and papers assigned, including one due THIS WEDNESDAY AT NOON. And here I was thinking I had all the time in the world to ease into class and to write the 20-page paper I have due for the class that is just finishing up tomorrow!!

Good thing we’re all stocked up in the pantry and I’m catching up on laundry and I hope I’ve prepared SweetieBang for ten days of me with my face stuck in a book or at the computer every waking hour, commencing May 7th. Holy cannoli. Wish me luck, everyone.

See you at the Festival of Homiletics, if not here beforehand.

Kiss of peace, PB

Welcome, Beauty Tips Readers, and Sorry!

Dear BTFM powder pigeons,

Many of you have written in a panic to inform me that the BTFM site keeps kicking you over here. Not to worry, my master internets guru will have the kinks worked out in no time! Meanwhile, browse the PeaceBang blog and see you soon back at Beauty Tips…

xoxo PB

PeaceBang Is 42 Years Old Today

… and she has 42 little nuggets of wisdom that may or may not interest you over here.

P.S. On #42, I don’t actually hate birthday cake. I just don’t love it as much as I love crunchy, salty, fried things. It was just an example.

Gordon, R.I.P.

Gordon, Gorgonzola, Dr. Smoothenstein, Dordy, who died today at noon, we will always love you.

(Halloween 2006. “Pleashe remove this ridiuloush hat as shoon as poshible. Itsh not a good shtyle for me at all.”)

Thank you for the being the best, the handsomest, the sweetest, the most velvety-eared, most loyal, precious dog in the world. Thank you for being my sister’s canine familiar, therapist, beloved companion, wing man, and best four-legged friend for over a decade. Thanks for being there at all times and in all seasons. We thank God for you.

I’m so grateful that you won’t suffer any more, but we sure will miss you. Say hello to Dukey and Pippin and Henry and Trilby and Buster for us. Great spirits, all. Dearly beloved and sorely missed.

Big hugs to Aunt Kiki. As Lucas said just now to me (as I sit here typing and crying) with that special tilt of his head and in his typically dulcet toddler tones, “DON’T BE SA-AD!”

Happy Thanksgiving

Before

After. And that’s what it’s all about. For one day, at least.

Hey, Southern Cali!

I just met with my student minister and we were talking about my favorite quote, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31) I’m so fascinated by the way moderns have domesticated God, taking the grey-haired old man thing quite seriously (by that I mean that when people reject God-concepts, it’s usually the grey-haired old man — either the doddering and impotent or raging and vengeful version — that they reject). I rarely hear any one talk about God as pure spirit, undomesticated, glorious, in-breaking and dreadfully inconvenient. I remember actually getting on my knees in prayer during my seminary years and sobbing, “Please stop burning in me so hard.” I felt like the proverbial work horse, “rid hard and put away wet,” all foamy on the flanks at the end of the day, definitely on the edge of breaking, starting to feel for that famous bush from the Book of Exodus. Scripture tells us that the bush burned but was not consumed, but I started to get the idea that it still wasn’t a lot of fun to be that bush.

All this reflection on God as fire led me to wonder insane and hellish it must feel out in Southern California right now, where people are fleeing real flames, not spiritual ones. All these apocalyptic natural disasters over the past years; are there more than usual or is it just that I’m getting older and the world smaller and I’m paying closer attention?

How are you, California readers? Please comment and tell us what’s going on for you. Are you evacuated or providing shelter for someone else who has evacuated? Do tell, and know that we’re praying for you here in PeaceBangland.