August 31st marks the end of my twelve-month ministerial internship at Westside. With that life flashing before us, I desperately try to slow down the spinning orb in order to spend more time in grace and gratitude. Time to take inventory of all we have learned together. In this holy
Continue reading(*if you can see them) We have had to endure the terrible air quality conditions this week in the Seattle area. Smoke from fires north and east and down south in Oregon and California have totally obscured the mountains, the Sound and Seattle itself from here in West Seattle. No
Continue readingHello Westside! Summer is both hot and not hot. How innovative! Tonight the moon was saffron and the sky was a deep periwinkle. Very pleasing and complimentary colors but caused by smog and haze from fires in the north and south I know. I send so many prayers to those
Continue readingWhat a summer it’s been. Heatwaves everywhere, tragic fires in Greece, Siberia, California and many more locations. Climatologists say that we are in a radically unstable and changing time for weather and climate. That’s an example of liminality. Thanks to your generosity with my professional expenses this year, I am
Continue readingGreetings Westside! And Happy Seattle Summer! If you’re spending your summer at home, or in the area at least, you already know that Seattle finally hit its summer stride in the past two weeks. The other day Tony said, “How is it already my birthday (July 20th) this week ?!”
Continue readingThe Truth-telling Age We are living in an era where the marginalized and the oppressed feel more empowered to share their stories and speak their truth. We who don’t experience apparent marginalization or oppression can find ourselves off balance and confused when others speak their truths about painful and tragic
Continue readingThe Poor People’s Campaign This Memorial Day I chose to leave my relaxing, sunny yard and drive for sixty miles to our state capital in Olympia to participate in week three of “The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival” public witness. Each week of the six “moral Mondays” has
Continue readingThis service will feature several members of the congregation reading poems of their choosing (written by them or another author), related to the overall theme of “Resilience.” RESILIENCE: Latin, resilīre – to spring back, rebound 1) the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties or adversity; toughness; buoyancy 2) the power or ability
Continue reading4-5th graders did a wonderful, moving podcast about protecting wildlife last week in class! You can listen to their ideas and concerns about protecting wildlife below!
Continue readingOne of my favorite lines from the Chinese wisdom book The Tao te Ching (ca. 3rd century before common era) by Lao Tzu is “The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.” (verse 64). It’s very familiar to many people here in the Western world. The words seem straightforward. The
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