with John DiLeo

No recording this week

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John DiLeo © 2 January 2022

Since I mentioned it at the beginning of our time together, let me start my musings with a bit more background on my hospital stay. As I mentioned when I last led our service, in October, I’ve found myself during this lockdown eating less well, gaining back weight I’d thought I was long rid of, and becoming more and more sedentary. My workdays have gotten really long, resulting in my spending as much as 15 hours a day sitting in this very chair.

with Rev. Clay Nelson

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Clay Nelson © 12 December 2021

In a recent opinion piece that engaged me, Kevin Norquay wrote in Stuff,

with Rev. Clay Nelson

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Clay Nelson © 5 December 2021

Buddha told a parable: A man was travelling across a field when he encountered a tiger. He began to run, and the tiger chased after him. Coming to a precipice, he slipped and was able to catch hold of the root of a wild strawberry bush, hanging in the air. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down only to find that another tiger was waiting to eat him. He thought the bush could sustain him for a while, until he saw two mice gnawing away the vine. A tiger above, a tiger below. The man saw a ripe strawberry near him. Grabbing the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other, and ate it. How sweet and delicious.

with Rev. Clay Nelson

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Clay Nelson © 28 November 2021

We are hearing a lot about freedom these days. Brian Tamaki holding “freedom” rallies in the Domain, violating his bail conditions in the name of personal freedom. Protestors marching down Queen Street in Auckland and gathering on the steps around Parliament in Wellington, angry about lockdowns and vaccine mandates. Farmers clogging motorways from Auckland to Dunedin with their tractors “howling” their objections to the government’s electric vehicle rebate policy. And that is just in New Zealand. Major protests throughout Europe against the reintroduction of restrictions in response to another wave of Covid. Even in the “Land of the free,” Trump encouraged insurrection against Congress in the name of “freedom.” Then there is the debate over whether people have the freedom to spread misinformation about Covid and vaccines on social media.

with Rev. Clay Nelson

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Clay Nelson © 21 November 2021

As your minister one of the riskier things I do is to offer choosing a sermon title to bid on at the Service Auction. Perhaps one of the more challenging ones I have been given was concocted by Paul Henriques. He wants me to muse on “Unitarian Universalism and Philanthropy: Past, Present and Future.” I confess I would never have come up with this topic on my own. Even if it had crossed my mind I would have quickly discovered very little has been written about it, and what has been written is in scholarly articles I am unable to access without enrolling in an academic institution. So thanks Paul for a mission impossible.