A liminal time, this… when the veil between life and death grows thin, when....
Missing Mudita: On Collegiality and Sympathetic Joy
I was looking for the missing brahmavihara. Walking around the beautiful....
Adieu Enlivened Stardust
The enlivened stardust called Otis these past twelve years has been returned to the earth. We knew it was coming. Thought it still yet days away, but the night just past harder than any soul should have to bear, so we made the needful trip to the....
On the Resurrection of Beloved Dogs (poem)
“Everything is mortal. It dies. But its parts don’t die. Its parts become....
Pastoral Prayer: Possible Angels and Miracles
(This prayer was inspired by a poem from Mary Oliver, "The World I Live In," a....
Everything Possible: On the Fluidity of Humanity (sermon)
First Parish Church of Groton October 11, 2015 Karen G. Johnston, Candidate for the Unitarian Universalist Ministry audio version: click here When my little ones were little, I would sing them songs as part of our bedtime routine. Songs from my....
Water Ingathering at First Parish
At the start of the new UU church year – typically the Sunday after Labor Day....
On Keeping (Ig)Noble Silence
[caption id="attachment_3812" align="alignleft" width="169"] meditation hall at....
Tonglen: Enough. For Now.
I met Doris* as she lay in a bed on the pulmonary unit to which I had been assigned as a hospital chaplain intern. At the moment when we met, she her breathing was “good enough” – not well enough to be home, but none of the machines attached to her....
My Yum of Communion: Sorry If It's Your Yuck
This morning – my last free Sunday morning before I am happily spoken for by....