When I Breathe In, I Breathe in Peace

Toyota and Faith

2010-02-25T08:27:00.000-08:00

My goodness we are obsessed with covering the Toyota recall. Why? we have had lots of recalls in our lives. General Motors, children's cribs, toys...why so much interest in Toyota? Maybe it has to do with where we place our trust...and faith. My dad was a body and fender man. He worked on a lot of American made cars. He was comfortable with them. Then our country started filling up with Toyotas and Hondas. Why? we believed in them. We knew they got better gas mileage, and they were of very high quality. Consumer reports (another of our generation's inventions) proved it!

This was a generational thing. We took a risk to break away from our parent's generation in our choice of foreign made (or foreign owned and made on American soil as it is now). To have such a massive recall is to shake our faith in our trusted idol. My fear is that Honda will be next...I always trusted Honda first, Toyota next. So I can handle this recall, as my top idol is still standing...but what if it too falls?

It happened to me when I realized the faults in the Catholic church dogma. For a while I wandered around without any focus for my faith, until a friend introduced me to Unitarian Unviersalism. It is not a perfect faith, we stumble now and then, but we have built into us a tradition of heresy, to keep us getting better and to keep us current with new wisdom. Heresy is a good thing. New wisdom starts as a minority opinion. Heresy only exists in a faith that is alive and well. So if some fracture happens in UU, my faith won't be shaken, I'll just know that we are changing as we should, and "All will be well." I hope Toyota finds the same thing, as they have served us well. But I hope Honda is making a list and checking it twice.

UU Association of Uganda "Standing on the Side of Love"

2010-02-14T22:36:00.000-08:00

Many of us have no idea that Unitarian Universalists have congregations in Africa. Today there was a courageous protest and advocacy by the UUs in Uganda. They had a conference to protest the proposed Unganda government's "Anti-homosexuality Bill of 2009" which is introduced into the Ugandan parliament. This bill would criminalize homosexuality with punishments including life in prison and capital punishment. The bill would also threaten GLBT allies.

I am enormously proud of the Ugandan UUs, and for our UUA President Rev. Peter Morales, for lending them his support and encouragement.

2010-02-02T04:45:00.001-08:00

It's Ground Hog Day! What is it that sustains the seasons of the earth and of our lives? What is this amazing force that operates with cyclical rhythms? Perhaps Lynn Unger has found the critter:

Ground Hog Day

Celebrate this unlikely oracle,
this ball of fat and fur.
whom we so mysteriously endow
with the power to predict spring.
Let's hear it for the improbable heros who,
frightened at their own shadows
nonetheless unwittingly work miracles.
Why shouldn't we believe this pecular rodent
holds power over sun and seasons in his stubby paw?
Who says that God is all grandeur and glory?

Unnoticed in the earth, worms
are busily, brainlessly tilling the soil.
Field mice, all unthinking, have scattered
seeds that will take root and grow.
Grape hyacyths, against all reason
have been holding up green shoots against the snow.

How do you think spring arrives?
There is nothing quieter, nothing
more secret, miraculous, mundane.
Do you want to play your part
in bringing it to birth?
Nothing simpler.
Find a spot
not too far from the ground.
And wait.

Lynn Ungar "Blessing the Bread"

Branding or Just Obvious Naming?

2009-07-21T09:06:00.000-07:00

Senior Pastor Emeritus Jan Hettinga of Northshore Baptist who is against gay marriage thinks that gay rights supporters were smart in "strategy" for branding the disagreement over same-sex marriage as "hated and bigotry". (Seattle Times July 21, 2009) That statement makes me stop for a moment. How would you describe a philosophy and activism that tries to intrude on people's bedrooms, tries to keep loved ones from being able to be at the bedside of their dyng life partner, tries to make the children of gays and lesbians feel demeaned....how would you name those beliefs and attempts to limit someone's civil rights, if not as hatred and bigotry? Strategy? or just naming what is? Perhaps Pastor Hettinga gives us too much credit in a subconscious attempt to not reflect on how far from the love of Jesus that such religious right activists have strayed.

Give 'em hope, not Hell

2009-07-21T08:35:00.000-07:00

As a Unitarian UNIVERSALIST minister, I was pretty surprised to read in the Seattle Times today about a local "religious right" pastor saying things like: "God is not coercive, the idea that people ought to be free to live their life and live the way they want to--I don't object to that." That's Pastor Joseph Fuiten of Bothell. Sounds like something I'd say, not something that a pastor who has provided leadership to try to defeat gay rights in our state. But Fuiten isn't backing Referendum 71, the attempt to block our state's domestic partnership act.

Why? Well he is saying that maybe it's because he is getting older; maybe it has something to do with perspective thrust upon him after his 2004 heart attack and his current prostate cancer. I don't know. I'd like to think the spirit of love is moving in him, calling him to a transformation. He says he doesn't want the church to be seen as oppressive...well, good, but well duh...it takes a transformation of your theology to believe that each person's right to love whomever they will is good in the eyes of whatever powers operate in this universe.

Fuiten says people need to hear about hope, not hell. I wonder if he has ever read our UU spiritual ancestor, the Universalist John Murray who said, "Give 'em Hope, Not Hell." Indeed, he may be a becoming a Universalist without knowing it. Maybe I'll invite him to church. We believe in universal salvation, don't we? Even of born agains?

Enjoy the beautiful day, 88 degrees!

Praying in the Name of Jesus

2009-01-26T08:33:00.000-08:00

I often end my prayers "in the name of all that is holy." What I mean by that is that the expression of my prayer is in service to and hopefully in alignment to the most sacred that we know. Prayer itself, I believe, is human expression, whether silent or spoken, of our deepest most authentic longings, gratitudes, fears and joys.

Of course many Christians end their prayers, "in Jesus name, Amen." Which is just fine for a Christian setting. But what about when a Christian minister is praying in public, for a diverse crowd of humanists, atheistics, agnostics, Muslems, and Jews and Christians and others too numerous to mention? I don't know what those ministers are thinking when they speak in their own language solely. Do they know that what they are saying leaves many out? If the purpose of public prayer is to express as much as possible what the whole group is longing for, and what they are feeling deeply about; if the purpose is to have a moment when all are together spiritually in the hopes and aspirations, then why use language which leaves some people, many people, feeling left out? Why use language that is exclusive and at best requires translation?

If prayer is a deeply and commonly human experience of expression of our longings and feelings, hopes and aspirations, then it does not require dogmatic language to be so. So when inaugural prayers are strickly Christian I don't think it serves us well. As a Unitarian Universalist I am called to go deep enough to the bedrock of common humanity. I would hope that those chosen to do public prayers could learn how to do that too, or else say "no thank you." In a sense it is what is required of all hospital chaplains...they must be able to pray with everyone, without their particular dogma, but rather first exploring what religious heritage comforts the patient. Unitarian Universalist chaplains in hospitals pray in Jesus name for Christian patients, in the name of all that is holy for spiritual humanists. Offering prayers for others, you see, is not about us, but about those for whom we are leading prayer.

Enough said.

Bishop Gene Robinson's Inaugaral Prayer

2009-01-19T09:09:00.002-08:00

There were problems in the sound system during Bishop Gene Robinson's prayer at the Lincoln Memorial Concert yesterday; I've heard of microphone or speaker troubles. And it was not included in the original HBO coverage. Some wonder if that was intentional, given that the Bishop is gay. I don't know. But when unfortunate things happen, I think we ought to make good out of it, so let's plaster this most moving, brave and couragous prayer all over the place...here it is! Blessings all, Peg

+Gene Robinson's Prayer for President-elect Barack Obama
A Prayer for the Nation and Our Next President, Barack Obama
By The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire
Opening Inaugural EventLincoln Memorial, Washington, DCJanuary 18, 2009
Welcome to Washington! The fun is about to begin, but first, please join me in pausing for a moment, to ask God’s blessing upon our nation and our next president.
O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…
Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.
Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
Bless us with discomfort – at the easy, simplistic “answers” we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.
Bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be “fixed” anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.
Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.
Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.
Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.
And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.
Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people.
Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.
Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.
Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.
Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.
Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.
And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking FAR too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.
AMEN.

Obama's Service for Grandmother at UU

2008-12-26T10:16:00.001-08:00

It is not too often that a very famous person brings the Unitarian Universalist faith into public view. President Elect Obama's mother used to attend East Shore Unitarian in Bellevue WA, where I did my internship. They elected to have her mother's memorial at the Unitarian Church in Hawaii--Honolulu. Here is a U tube video of it, showing the building...

http://www.kitv.com/video/18350671/index.html

Being Snowed In

2008-12-23T09:28:00.000-08:00

I admit it, I love being snowed in. The spiritual question I often ponder about myself is, "do I have to be busy?" for the works of a minister are never done. Do I like always having more good works to do? Am I dependent upon such a life style? So when the snow falls, and services get cancelled, as they did all over King County last Sunday, it was a chance to test my spiritual needs.

I love the continual fire in the fireplace, watching snowflakes fall. I love good music and good reading, and finally really watching the Netflix movie that has been on the coffee table...this is our sixth day of being snowed in...the slower pace is delightful. I even made chocolate chip cookies yesterday...imagine taking time for that...and now my puppy is joyfully entertaining us by throwing around her toys and chasing them. What a delight she is.

I love my ministry and my congregation, but a little mini sabbatical is a good thing. How about you?

Can the Pope Become More Irrelevant?

2008-12-23T09:03:00.000-08:00

The headlines of an English newspaper implied that the Pope in an address for Christmas to his staff, perhaps a pep talk to them for the new year, said: "'Saving' humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour is just as important as saving the rainforests." My immediate response was doesn't he have anything more relevant to say at Christmas? Now I investigate further and find out that the paper largely exaggerated what was said. He actually said "marriage is another aspect of the planet that needs saving." Well ok, he could be saying a lot of things with that...stop living together without a ceremony, have more babies, or...stop finding someone of same sex to love....

I guess I still have to say...isn't there something more important to worry about? Wouldn't it be better to explore more deeply the needs people have for intimacy, and the beauty of the diversity for how we experience it? More affirmation, less condemnation? Seems like he is continuing to be irrelevant with so much poverty, global environment, and war in our midst.

He already has urged his Catholic followers to simplify their lives, become less materialistic....can't he see the irony here? Wouldn't he have to sell the Vatican riches and give the proceeds to the poor before anyone could possibly take him seriously?

If I ever wondered if I made the right decision to leave the Roman Catholic Church, I don't now. (Actually I never have second guessed that decision.) It seems to me that these kinds of pronouncements are keeping people from God, not taking them closer...for God, or ultimate wisdom, Truth with a capital T is about recognizing our common ground, not creating distance between us...it's about our oneness, not our fear of difference. It's about the joy and beauty of the bouquet of humanity, the different colors, cultures and orientations...what is to fear in that? Unless you are insecure, need control, need others to think as you do...

--well ok, we all are insecure, need control and need others to agree with us, but when you are the Pope, or any other kind of clergy you have a spiritual, ethical obligation to keep those amigdular needs under control so that you help god continue to reveal beauty and truth through the lives of all people, particularly those in minority groups.

I know, I just live in a different paradigm...

The Warren Invocation

2008-12-22T14:53:00.000-08:00

Obama's appointments to cabinet posts have been fabulous, with record numbers of racial minority appointments, and a 1/3 women...

And I really respect the idea of not cutting communication with people who are not on the same side of issues...that's going to be important both domestically and internationally...so the fact that he went looking for an evangelical person to do an invocation is ok by me, though I think a rabbi would have been a good choice too...but given an evangelical, he could have chosen one who has no respect for the environment and who only is hell bent for "rapture." But instead he chose a person who is working hard to make this place on earth a healthier place. Warren's environmental, HIV, and other charitable leadership is admirable.

But Warren is a segregationist. I doubt Obama would have considered a minister who had on their website that Black people need not come to his church. And yet he has offered this big honor to someone who excludes "unrepentant" gay people from his church. I really wonder if Obama realized this was any deeper than just a disagreement about attitudes about gay marriage? I'd like to think Obama was ignorant, because I would be despondent to think Obama would have made this move knowing what Warran's fuller attitudes on GLBT are.

What I dislike about Warran the most is how he is so ignorant and stereotyping of gay people, referring to bestiality and assuming multiple partners. Heck, I hardly know any gay people who aren't monogamous, though I know a whole lot of straight people who have multiple partners. I recognize Warren is doing some good things in his life with regard to charities, but offering this honor to Warran is a real kick in the teeth to gay and lesbian people.

I'm sure Obama has heard about this by now...I just wish he had invited an evangelical flute choir to march in the parade and had an invocation by a rabbi or a UCC minister...I know he couldn't have invited a Unitarian Universalist--that would have been just too inclusive...

I hope this is the last time Obama is rude to my dear gay friends.

Local Community Radio

2008-09-25T08:42:00.000-07:00

It seems like it is a constant theme, the big corporations fearing the little guys...do they really have to be so greedy? Well, I guess that isn't the question, but come on! This time it is a subject close to my heart and to the heart of democracy...the actions of the FCC and how it roles over for the large media conglomerates that are afraid little local radio stations will interfere with their airwaves. Congress delayed approving local radio stations, deciding instead to order the FCC to have independent researchers test the interference of local radio. Bingo, no problem!

Now Congress needs to pass the Local Community Radio Act--which will increase local voices and choices, and will enhance our democracy. Our democracy depends upon diverse opinions being shared and discussed. It is diminished when free press is pressured to slant news or not cover news...all in service to the bottom line, worshipping the dollar.

So let's go Congress; I know you are busy trying to"fix" the other money grubbing financial mess, but this one is easy to fix...

Racism, Language and Progress

2008-09-24T10:30:00.001-07:00

Whenever we are clearly making progress on social dynamics such as racism, we can always expect to get some ugly behavior popping up. When Georgia Republican Lynn Westmoreland called the Obamas "uppidy" he was using the good ol' south racist meaning of the word, applied to Blacks who have the odacity to do well for themselves, in this case have Harvard degrees, get elected to the Senate, have lovely family values. Being uppidy used to be cause for getting killed, lynched, or at least severely beaten up.

Republicans aren't the only ones nervous about a "Black" who could become our President. Demos can be just as racist...but my heart goes out to Obama who has to walk a fine line between being articulate and wise, and being "too" articulate and wise. Kinda like Margaret Fuller, one of our UU Transcendentalists in the 1800's who felt the cultural pressure to dumb down her intelligence if she wanted to get a man in her life. She didn't dumb down, and ended up being one of our nation's first women foreign correspondents, and falling in love with an Italian revolutionary. Good for her.

And thank you Senator Obama for being such a wonderful role model for all children, white and black...yellow....brown...and mixed, as you are.

"Privatizing Gains, Socializing Losses"

2008-09-24T09:20:00.000-07:00

I heard a good phrase today...about the terrible economic mess we are in...it described the mess as a process of "privatizing gains, socializing losses." Doesn't that just about say it all? Big oil ships dump their oil, we the public and the marine life take the losses; Enron declares bankruptcy amidst criminal charges, and it's employees lose their retirement; we go to war on false pretenses, Halburton gets rich, the American public bankrupts its children; banks act stupid, executives make lots of money, and now we bail them out. Privatizing gains, socializing losses.

can the American public get that? Or are we indeed a nation of (sorry Garrison Keillor) really below average people?

I'm practicing breathing in and breathing out...

He's Clear...and Arrogant

2008-07-03T09:49:00.001-07:00

Rush Limbaugh just landed a huge contract renewal of $400 million dollars to continue his radio talk. Wonder what he does with his money. Has he set up any charitable foundations to help children's health or young people get an education? If anyone knows what he does with his money, let me know.

In the meantime, Rush says he'll keep being the voice of conservatives: "I'm not retiring until every American agrees with me." Well that's clear...and arrogant, and devoid of any respect for others' opinions, and blind of the dynamic and beauty of when diverse opinions are shared and understood, a higher wisdom is possible. So many conservatives protesteth too mucheth...with their statements of surity, and then we find out their undercover life of prescription drugs and prostitutes. We'll see what the next chapter of Rush's life reveals.

Perhaps we need Rush Limbaughs, who voice what some think...who put it out there for us to evaluate, for us to define our values, in contrast, more sharply. And to see if there is any meeting ground. Meeting ground is tough to find when he dismisses other people's reality and truth as simply wrong...and so I am challenged to not do the same to him.

What must it be like to be Rush? His very statement separates himself from others. What would it take to have him become part of the rest of us, related to the rest of us, humble in our awareness that we all strive and stumble, and pick ourselves up with the help of our friends. Humble in knowing that we don't know it all, and also grateful that we don't for to "know it all" would create an isolation from others, a not needing of others except maybe to use them, which for me would be a spiritual death. What must it be like to see yourself as the All Knowing One?

The Loss of Tim Russert

2008-06-23T12:48:00.000-07:00

I am deeply moved by the effects of the death of Tim Russert. It seems that everyone he interacted with was touched by his compassionate way of being. I put together a chalice lighting with his words to his son,good wisdom to share with any teenager:

Remember, son, you are always loved, but also remember that you are never entitled.
The world doesn't owe you a favor, you owe the world to live a giving and meaningful life.
The best experience of the human heart is to reach down and help someone up.
Work Hard.
Laugh Often.
Keep Your Honor.

Thank you Tim.

Vatican Excommunication of Ordained Women

2008-05-31T09:24:00.000-07:00

We all have questions about where we belong, but sometimes it gets easy. Yesterday's Vatican edict of excommunication of any bishop ordaining a woman, or of any woman being ordained makes it clear that they don't want women to share sacred leadership. Of course we have known that forever, but it is always fascinating to watch the dynamics between Rome and its people. Such edicts makes the Roman church's identity clear, and helps its leadership, both men and women, to discern where they really belong.

The question I was faced with in the late 1960's was whether I would stay with the church and try to reform it, or leave. I am so grateful that I was able to cut loose of that church in my early 20's.

How good it is that my current faith tradition, Unitarian Universalism (UU), put that matter of ordination of women to rest in the mid 1800's. We have so many needs in this world, to assure the world's very survival, that it is refreshing to belong to a faith that I don't have to apologize for--it is so great to have as our first UU principle the worth and dignity of all people. We can concentrate on deepening our understanding of what that means in our daily life, discovering our current blinders, rather than putting up barriers to the dignity of woman. Below, the press release about the Vatican:

Vatican, May. 30, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican has announced that
any Catholic bishop who attempts the ordination of a woman to the
priesthood, and any woman who participates in such a ceremony, is
subject to automatic excommunication.
The decree from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,
published in the May 30 issue of L'Osservatore Romano, takes effect
immediately and applies throughout the universal Church. The document
was signed by Cardinal William Levada and Archbishop Angelo Amato,
the prefect and secretary, respectively, of the Congregation.
"Both the one who attempts to confer a sacred order on a woman, and
the woman who attempts to receive a sacred order, incurs
excommunication latae sententiae."

Rev. Wright, Obama, and Freedom of the Pew

2008-03-24T09:30:00.000-07:00

This is a message I delivered on Easter Sunday after a week of hullabulu regarding pastors and presidential candidates--

Before I preach today, I was wondering…do any of you plan to run for President? (chuckles and laughter)

Without in any way implying who is the best candidate for President,

I’d like to shed some light on the controversy about Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his parishioner Barak Obama…because it has implications for us and we need to understand our covenant together….

You see, some religious people believe that what the pastor says confines the minds of those in the pews…a belief that could be because they have not known anything different…

Clergy do attempt to define the beliefs and values of the pew in certain orthodox/hierarchical faiths where edicts are read to the faithful on a Sunday morning, even to the extent of implying how to vote on certain political initiatives…

but that is not true of those faith communities whose authority structure is congregational…each congregation being independent of any higher authority…Rev. Wright is a United Church of Christ Congregational minister…Obama doesn’t have to agree with his minister—which is called freedom of the pew! and his pastor has freedom of the pulpit…that is the way with their denomination, and it is the way with ours, and some Baptist congregations—in fact Mike Huckabee, who is a Baptist minister did explain this because he understands it and has lived it.

The secular world does not understand the relationship of the free pulpit and free pew, formed by a sacred agreement, a covenant, that creates a spiritual entity, a congregation, out of a simple grouping of individuals. It is an issue deeper and wider than political free speech.

The controversy that arose this week is a result of several factors: 1) ignorance of this covenant or that it even exists, 2) a lack of knowledge about the cultural depth and meaning of African American prophetic preaching style 3) an assumption that dogmatic preaching is the only way, 4) a conscious attack upon our liberal religious protestant way, 5) not to mention the obvious political motivations.

I never in my right mind thought that all of you would ever all agree with any one of my sermon points! That’s just not very Unitarian Universalist.

Any minister who takes some risks with their sermons would be vulnerable to quotes taken out of context. I would not expect you to ever have to defend me or renounce me or leave the congregation if you didn’t agree with me!

What I do hope is that I give you something to think and feel about that is relevant in your life…that helps you to continue to know yourself more deeply whether because you agree or you disagree, and that you will hear something that motivates you to share our commonly held values of working for more understanding, love and justice in our world.

That said, let me know if you are planning to run for office!

Warmly, Peg

Empty Cathedrals and Mitt Romney

2007-12-06T10:33:00.000-08:00

I have gazed up into the beautiful, massive cathedrals in Europe, touched by their history and their amazing gothic and Romanesque architecture. I have felt stirred by the centuries of people who have come to offer their allegiance to the only image of God that they knew--having not thought to question the religious stories and dogma. And I have been struck by the fact that hardly anyone actually worships in these cathedrals anymore, a fact that Mitt Romney despairs about.

Today in his Texas based speech the Presidential candidate said: "I have visited many of the magnificent cathedrals in Europe. They are so inspired ... so grand ... so empty," he said. "So many of the cathedrals now stand as the postcard backdrop to societies just too busy or too 'enlightened' to venture inside and kneel in prayer."

It has not occurred to Mr. Romney that in the spiritual evolution of human beings, many in modern day generations have moved beyond the mythic religions of old. It has not occurred to Mr. Romney that we can be very spiritual without buying the Christology mythos. That we can pray, expressing our deepest human longings, gratitudes, and wonder, without praying to a decider God. Today many thoughtful people ponder different conceptions of the power in this universe, the power and forces that support life and at times strike life dead. Many people have put aside the anthropomorphic, ego filled controlling bitchy God, for a more complex and mysterious wonder about it all.

No Mr. Romney, it is not about being too busy...it's about having a different life experience and perception than you. And that's ok, we don't have to agree, as long as you don't become President and make this country a theocracy--taking us back to the middle ages.

Washington State Pharmacy ruling

2007-12-04T12:17:00.000-08:00

The Washington State Pharmacy Board made a ruling a few months ago, that a pharmacist could refuse to fill a prescription if it offended his/her religious convicitions, providing another pharmacist on site could fill it. This most often involves prescriptions for birth control, emergency contraception, and AIDS medicines.

Last month a federal district judge issued a temporary injunction against the ruling following litigation brought by a small number of pharmacists who objected to the rule based on the right of religious refusal. Many of us in the faith communities of our state believe that to be a bad decision, and will be speaking out against the injunction. If you become a pharmacist, your profession is all about following carefully doctors' orders. You have no right to usurp those orders with your need to control other people's values and behaviors. Not in my mind, anyway. We'll see how this goes...the hearings that led up the Pharmacy Board's ruling clearly showed that the majority of citizens expected pharmacists to do their job and not try to play God, or M.D.iety, or whatever they are trying to play--autocrat, dictator...this is exactly why we must support a spiritually liberal religion so that the institutions of spiritually liberal religion can be strong and vital, and have a voice to counter those who would make this country a theocracy.

But I don't have any strong feelings about this....watch for my name on a newspaper ad full of names of interfaith clergy speaking out for the rights of people to get their prescriptions filled, for God's sake!

Chimps Are Champs!

2007-12-04T12:03:00.000-08:00

Today Japanese researchers reported that the commonly held belief that humans are smarter than other animals may not be true. Actually, I haven't thought it was true for a long time. There are many kinds of "smart" and humans are lower on many of them. Most animals and other life forms take only what they need to survive. Most animals do not kill except to breed and eat and keep enough territory to live. What do we do? We kill because others don't agree with our mythic stories, and the rules we have created from them. We kill and invade other countries for our selfish economic needs, or I should say, the economic needs of the people who benefit from the military industrial complex...people like our Vice President and his Haliburton buddies. But I digress....

Tesuro Matsuzawa of Kyoto University has been studying the mental abilites of chimps. Five year old chimps competed with college students in a task of seeing and memorizing numbers flashed on a screen. The conclusion, as the time of the flashing of the numbers decreased to four-tenths or two-tenths of a second, the chimp was the champ. The chimp was better at taking in the whole pattern of numbers at a glance.

Humans may be better at language, but we are also arrogant. So many animals are high in intelligence--emotional intelligence, community building intelligence, cross species intelligence. It is time for us to leave our tribal consciousness and consider the needs of the other species, to consider how our dumbness is affecting their survival, and to consider what we can learn from them. How about it?

"How to be Idle and Blessed"

2007-07-05T11:04:00.000-07:00

Here is the reflection I did for the Unitarian Universalist Association's Pacific Northwest District's web site:

"How to be Idle and Blessed"Rev. Peg Boyle Morgan, Minister, West Seattle Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

"I don’t know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed." Mary Oliver from "Summer Day"

Mary Oliver’s poem is always a challenge to me. She says she knows how to be idle. I don't do idle very well. But my little poodle Angie is teaching me. Angie has balance. She loves to go out in our backyard and tear around as if she were a race car in the hottest competition of her life. Her motor revs audibly as she repeats laps around the yard, dashing through the tall yellow Siberian irises, darting around the proud white calla lilies, threading herself through the yellow daisies, leaping over the deep green ferns and onto the deck, touching her nose to my hand and then relaying off again for another lap, and another, and another until, finally spent, she brakes for a pit stop at a little bubbling fountain, and a rest on the Irish moss in front of a statue of Qwan Yin.
Many of us involved in the life of our congregations may be feeling a similar experience, since we have just sped through another year of heightened energy dedicated to flowering of new service projects, growing our organizational processes, blossoming of celebratory worship, exploring in our RE classes, and experiencing precious caring ministries. Summer is the time that congregational life takes on a slower pace, primarily because so many of us take vacations during July or August. It's harder to get people to meetings and into classes. And that is a really good thing, for like Angie, it is important to know that we need to give ourselves a little respite—we need to turn aside from all the exciting work we love, and take a rest… and be idle.
Being idle is a spiritual and sacred experience, for it allows us to notice life within and to delight in the beauty of life around us. Being amidst the movement and cycles of other life somehow stirs our souls in a way that reminds us that we are a part of something so much bigger than our human lives alone.
So I’m going to try to learn balance from Angie. I’m going to take some rest breaks this summer, outside, with other living parts of this amazing blue green earth. And I encourage all of our dedicated lay leaders and ministers to take similar time over these next few weeks ….to be idle …and blessed. May it be so!

SICKO

2007-07-05T10:45:00.000-07:00

I was ambivalent about seeing SICKO, Michael Moore's documentary, full length film on the health care system in the United States. Maybe I thought there wouldn't be anything I didn't know, or maybe I just didn't want to be depressed. But friends chose the movie, and I tagged along. I'm glad I did. It was not boring. It moved right along. It was touching, tear provoking, anger stimulating, disgust generating...especially when a woman talked about having three jobs (to pay all her bills) and President Bush looked at her with his signature grin and said "Oh, three jobs, why that's so American!" not having a clue about what it means to work for a living, and get small compensation for it.

The bottom line is that our system is set up to fuel the bank accounts of the rich and the medical and pharmaceutical companies, not to serve the medical needs of our citizens. That's the immorality of it all. The woman who Kaiser put in a cab and sent 16 miles to be pushed out onto the sidewalk in front of a shelter, a woman who needed medical care. The man who only had one finger tip put back on because he couldn't afford both decapitated fingers to be fixed (the middle finger would cost $60,000). The woman whose cab ride to the hospital after a car accident in which she was unconscious, was not reimbursed because she did not call ahead to get it approved first....the little baby who died because their insurance was only good at another hospital...

What was striking was how the cultures of France, Britain, Canada and Cuba have set up their system to adequately compensate their medical personnel, and provide excellent care to all for free.

The bottom line was that our system in America keeps us in fear and demoralized so that we don't rise up to change it. It is a democracy, don't you know, but demoralization keeps each individual depressed and lacking in any hope. All we need to do (a big ALL) is realize our power as individuals to vote, and select a candidate that understands moral priorities of basic life needs for our people, not the siphoning of the corporations now given personhood by the courts.

I did not come out of the movie depressed. I came out grateful that here is a man (Michael Moore) who risks his life to state the truth. He is powerful, and his values are all in the right direction. I came out knowing that there is hope, if we can get enough people to feel their power. Go see the movie. You'll be glad you did.

Be well (don't get sick!)
Peg

God, who are you?

2007-06-28T22:32:00.000-07:00

What is God? Nikos Kazantzakis said that "God changes appearances every second. Blessed is the man who can recognize him in all his disguises. One moment he is a glass of fresh water, the next, your son bouncing on your knees or an enchanting woman, or perhaps merely a morning walk."Walking through my garden today, God was the brilliant red and yellow cactus dahlia, and my puppy Angie running across the lawn with her ears flopping in her wind, and the pair of sleek great blue herons flying across my home in the close sky, and one of my husband's bright juicy red tomatoes picked from our garden, now lying sliced next to my poached eggs. God is the beauty and sensuousness all around us. Let us not be afraid to take it all in. May we be open to seeing, and holding and tasting God. What a marvelous life.Be well today, Peg
posted by Rev. Peg

Being Perfect

2007-06-28T22:30:00.000-07:00

I have always struggled with perfectionism. It is definitely a spiritual malady. Who's to say that any one of us were not made good enough? Alice Walker speaks to this as she says:"I have learned other things: One is the futility of expecting anyone, including ourselves to be perfect. People who go about seeking to change the world, to diminish suffering, to demonstrate any kind of enlightenment, are often as flawed as anybody else. Sometimes more so. But it is the awareness of having faults, I think, and the knowledge that this links us to everyone on Earth, that opens us to courage and compassion. It occurs to me that often many of those I deeply love are flawed. They might actually have said or done some of the mean things I’ve felt, heard, read about, or feared. But it is the struggle with the flaw, surprisingly endearing, and the going on anyhow, that is what I cherish about them. Sometimes our stones are, to us, misshapen, odd. Their color seems off. Their singing … comical and strange. Presenting them, we perceive our own imperfect nakedness, but also, paradoxically, the wholeness, the rightness, of it. In the collective vulnerability of presence, we learn not to be afraid."May your struggles with your "flaws" be a source of grace, courage and compassion.In faith, Rev. Peg

Chanting

2007-06-28T21:37:00.000-07:00

This Sunday the service at our congregation is going to be all about chanting. I'm looking forward to it. Our new Unitarian Universalist hymnal supplement has a wonderful chant set to music whose words are "When I breathe in, I breathe in Peace, When I breathe out, I breathe out Love." Whenever I am feeling tense, if I'm lucky I'll remember this chant, and begin singing it. Then is when I know that "all will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of things will be well" (Julian of Norwich, 15th century mystic). So when I was figuring out what to call this blog, I decided to name it after my favorite, soothing mantra. Be well my friends.