Tending to Heart & Soul

Author:	PastorPhil	Created:	5/14/2009 6:34 PM
Here you will find the most recent messages from our minister. We appreciate your responses and participation. Our intent is to foster thinking, caring and support to matters of our religious community.

Testimony Sought from Nick Page fans

By PastorPhil on 8/17/2010 3:43 PM

On Thursday I will present a proposal to the Houston Metro Strategic Planning Group to bring Nick Page to Houston to offer some programs, because he will do wonders for our spirit. If you were at SWUUSI, you know what I mean. IF so, please write a one sentence or one paragraph testimony. If I have them by Thursday, I'll bring them to the meeting.

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Vulnerable beginnings of New Life

By PastorPhil on 8/13/2010 1:03 PM

breaking and shaking news re: NWCUUC"S fledgling YRUU program

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Service for Healing the Gulf of Mexico

By PastorPhil on 8/10/2010 12:23 AM

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Looking in the Mirror Of Our Teens

By PastorPhil on 6/6/2010 4:18 PM

wrtten 5/19/10 OOps wrote this in May, never published it.

Last month I met with several of the teenagers who attend our church. They expressed excitement about their group, that they enjoy "hanging out" together. They also told me that they had received complaints from adults that their talking had been disruptive during worship service. My sense is that their main hope for attending is to connect with each other. With limited alternative means for meeting this need, the service is probably experienced as getting in the way of their primary task.

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Called To Serve

By PastorPhil on 6/6/2010 1:05 AM

If your girlfriend or buddy from church calls you and tells of some troubling event in their life, you probably don't see this a religious task, as part of the work of the church. You simply do what a friend does. And if you are one of the many UU religious skeptics, you may conclude that church exists to provide opportunities to make friends, be friends, and hang out with friends.

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Worship, Learning, Fun and Socializing at the same time?

By PastorPhil on 4/29/2010 6:15 PM

Greetings Lovers and Leaders of Lifespan Faith Development,

I have some very tentative proposals, and would appreciate your feedback.

Last month, I offered a "Rainbow Shabbat Celebration." It was a real experiment. I was wondering if the group would be interested and willing to help me "translate" the Jewish Shabbat tradition that has been so meaningful to me, into a format that would speak, nurture and inspire this UU congregation. My experience of Shabbat has been a warm and wonderful time of singing and praying in Hebrew in celebration of the marvel of creation and of having a day of rest. My guess was that some of it would translate, but not all. My guess was that although the form would be entirely foreign to most UUs, that the spirit would resonate. I also hoped that people could find ways to maintain this spirit and express it in ways that would be personally meaningful.

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Greetings from SWUUC!

By PastorPhil on 4/26/2010 12:17 PM

Greetings from SWUUC!

I'm writing from the SWUU Conference and annual spring meeting, this year held in Plano. I wish to send out some of the good stuff that's in the air here. No, I'm definitely not talking about pollen. I'm talking about the beautiful things that happen whenever our congregations get together.

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Esprit De Corps at NWCUUC

By PastorPhil on 4/18/2010 8:22 PM

I have completed one year of service with NWCUUC, and I'd like to share what I've observed and concluded. It is my hope that this "report" will help some of you come to a greater awareness of the meaningful work that is underway within your congregation.

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Learning from Mothers and Motherhood

By PastorPhil on 4/18/2010 5:29 PM

I hope you will consider participating in the creation of our upcoming Mother's Day Service. You can help by answering one or both of the two following questions

1- What did you learn from your mother?

2- (If you are a mother) What has your experiences raising a child/children taught you?

Feel free to answer the questions as a comment to my blog. Or if you would prefer to have privacy in your response, send it directly to my email: khesed at g mail dot com (no spaces and use the at sign)

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Transition is the stuff life is made of

By PastorPhil on 4/5/2010 9:24 PM

There has been much in my life that has been in flux lately. Can you relate? ... I'm celebrating some recent spiritual growth, celebrating having reached a "place" where I realize that transition isn't something to get through, it's what's life is all about. I haven't quite reached nirvanna, but am amazed and grateful for relatively new found abilities to stay in faith through the process. ...

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