Archive for the 'Ministerial practice' Category

Universalist prayerbook PeaceBang mentioned

Friday, June 1st, 2007

The Rev. Victoria Weinstein (PeaceBang) wrote today about a funeral she performed yesterday and the risks for not having your liturgical elements prepared. She did not have her copy of the 1894 Universalist prayerbook at hand and discovered the canonical text of Psalm 90 isn’t the same used in the funeral service. Both her anecdote […]

The ministers’ consipiracy

Friday, June 1st, 2007

I think Ms. Kitty (Ms. Kitty’s Saloon and Road Show) is wrong about criticizing ministerial colleagues, as I demonstrate here. Public, civil criticism is usually the prelude to meaningful debate, redress of harm and change. As a ministerial college, we’ve gone too long without decent public dispute and that’s allowed some vicious habits to take […]

NYT: Questions for couples

Tuesday, December 19th, 2006

The Gray Lady has a list of questions members of a couple should ask each other before marriage. It reminds me of the list I use with couples I marry . . . but this one is better.

“Questions Couples Should Ask (Or Wish They Had) Before Marrying” (New York Times 17 December 2006)

Accidential clericalism

Tuesday, December 6th, 2005

There’s a curious Unitarian Universalist practice where a good number of ministers use the writings of other Unitarian Universalist ministers “as a reading” for the pulpit, elevating to the defacto level of scripture. Much of what follows also applies to the endless references to popular writers and poets I heard used in Unitarian Universalist […]