By Clint NicelySeptember 17, 2025“Art is not a thing, it is a way.”—Elbert HubbardAge 6, Christmas: I received a Paint by Number art kit. I was experienced with crayons, and I colored outside the lines sometimes. But Paint by Number presented a more serious challenge, and I made an extra effort to r
By Samara PowersSeptember 10, 2025“Becoming ourselves is a collective journey.”—Alok Vaid-MenonI was on a phone call with a friend who’s trans, listening to her dread and sorrow about the political developments here in the U.S. She paused for a moment, reflecting on my cis-passing privilege and my w
By Audrey McCannSeptember 3, 2025“Feelings are just your body talking to you about how you’re doing in the moment. Even if you’ve gotten used to ignoring them, they’re still talking to you.”—Allyson Dinneen, Notes from Your TherapistOne Sunday morning, I was co-teaching a children’s religious educat
By Norman AllenJune 25, 2025“Consecrating art and song, holy book and pilgrim way,quelling floods of tyrant wrong,widening freedom’s sacred sway.”—“Life of Ages,” by Samuel JohnsonOnly one of Rev. Samuel Johnson’s many hymns can be found in Singing the Living Tradition and Sing Out Love, but his lif
By Norman AllenJune 18, 2025“Now on land and sea descending,brings the night its peace profound;let our vesper hymn be blendingwith the holy calm around.”—“Now on Land and Sea Descending,” by Samuel LongfellowI’m forever grateful for the quiet gifts of Rev. Samuel Longfellow, who introduced the prac
By Jolie RockeJune 11, 2025“Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.” —Rabindranath TagoreEvery Sunday as I enter the sanctuary, I welcome another opportunity to greet congregants with an eclectic tapestry of sound: a blend of piano melodies, choir harmonies, and the strum
By Sarah DuttonJune 4, 2025“…the wren from Carolina buzzedthrough the neighbor’s hedgea line of grace notes I couldn’t even write downmuch less sing.”—Mary Oliver, “The Wren from Carolina”The first time I encountered a grace note was a Johann Strauss waltz in my John W. Schaum piano book. Grace note
By Karishma GottfriedMay 28, 2025“Queer… not as being about who you’re having sex with (that can be a dimension of it), but queer as being about the self that is at odds with everything around it and has to invent it and create and find a place to speak and to thrive and to live.”—bell hooks, 2014I
By Zeb GreenMay 21, 2025“I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”–Gospel of Matthew 25:35When I lived in Texas between 2018 and 2023, I frequently went into Mexico to help people who had been deported from the U.S. I
By Takiyah Nur AminMay 14, 2025“Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends…”–The BeatlesSo many people I know want to do better, be different, quit smoking, what have you. I always wonder what kind of community they have to help them. For example, maybe you want to be a different mama than the
