Three Village Interfaith Clergy Association

Iona, Scotland, 2013 On All Saints Day in my tradition, and many Christian traditions, we remember those people who have passed from this world. We pause to recall the ways people who have died have touched our lives and who, even in their death, continue to touch our lives. We tell stories, light candles, and remember that we are connected with all who have gone before. On Sunday evening at Setauket Presbyterian we will gather to remember members of our community who have passed. Last Sunday our children decorated cards for the families who are grieving. These cards are colorful, bright, and a reminder that love is not ended by death. My grandmother used to tell me that this time of year is when the veil between heaven and earth is at its thinnest. She is someone who, even though she died in 2000, continues to impact my life - I like to think that veil is always somewhat thin.  In 2013 I spend a few months living on the small Scottish island of Iona. The founder of the ...

It is common practice for Unitarian Universalist ministers and their congregations to include in our Letter of Agreement (contract) provision for a sabbatical every five to seven years, accrued at a rate of one month per year, for up to six months. I’m in my ninth year of service with the UU Fellowship at Stony Brook and last year, finally, I felt the time was right to take a sabbatical. So last winter, January through March, I left my congregation to it’s own good governance, with guest coverage for every service I would have led, and emergency pastoral care coverage by various other UU ministers on our island through an exchange program we formed just for that purpose. I had two aims for the use of my time: a combo solo (with spouse) and group-tour trek down the National and State(s) Civil Rights Trail in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama, and a deep immersion into Jewish studies.  In my pursuit of the dive into Judaism, I joined North Shore Jewish Center’s (NSJC) sixteen ...

This Sunday in our congregation, we begin a new year of Confirmation Class, when 8th and 9th graders explore their own faith--not the faith of their parents, or of their Sunday School teachers, or of their pastor, but their own. The hope is that they really dive in to their questions and wrestling and come out on the other side with a desire to keep asking questions and keep wrestling for the rest of their lives.  I came across a poem by Mary Oliver, and it made me think about how we share faith with young people. I'm wondering whether any such endeavor might begin with Mary Oliver's words: "I have a lot of edges called Perhaps and almost nothing you can call Certainty." "Angels" by Mary Oliver You might see an angel anytime and anywhere. Of course you have to open your eyes to a kind of second level, but it’s not really hard. The whole business of what’s reality and what isn’t has never been solved and probably never will be. So I don’t care to be t...