- 2 days ago
The drama of President Biden’s retirement is so sad. He is a very good man. In retrospect we all have a clearer understanding of how he could have done things better. He should have announced in November 2022 that he would not run for a second term.
His story raised in my own mind the question of when to stop, when to retire. My Dad retired when he was 60. For many years I planned to retire when I turned 65, which would have been in January of 2016. However, things were going well in my ministry in Sarasota in 2016. I stayed another four years, stopping when I was 69.
In retirement over two years, I cleaned and renovated the basement of our home in Maryland and took several enjoyable road trips. In 2022 there was a shortage of Unitarian Universalist Ministers, and I decided to help by taking an interim ministry in Media,Pennsylvania, 130 miles north of our home in Maryland. (Media’s slogan is “Everybody’s Hometown.”) After one year in Media, I retired again.
A year passed. We did more traveling to Canada, Arizona, Virginia, Kentucky, Vermont (to see the solar eclipse), California and Scotland. In June 2024 the Unitarian Universalist Association said there was still a shortage of ministers and one place that was looking was Prescott (slogan, “Everybody’s Hometown”). “You do not want to spend your life watching Netflix,” said my partner, Leslie Westbrook. I think this was an exaggeration, but she had a point.
I really love serving as your interim minister. I feel useful. However, living here reminds me that my dad died at the Prescott hospital in 2002 at age 82. I will be 82 in eight years. I am guessing that (with luck) I am good for about eight more years. I am going to give retirement another try, starting August 1. I will enter this new chapter in my life with very, very positive feelings, because of my wonderful year with all of you. Thank you.
- Apr 28
Unlike some of you who moved around when you were growing up, I spent my childhood in the same house, a tract home in Phoenix on 22nd Avenue between Bethany Home Rd and Camelback Rd. My younger brother bought the house from my stepmother and lives with
his wife in the home where I grew up.
The area is not a tourist attraction, although 300 Bowl (now called Bowlero Christown) with its triangular roofs is an example of mid-century modern architecture. “It’s about stepping into a time capsule” says one review of the bowling alley. Also, Frank's Market and Deli (according to Yelp) is the best sandwich shop in the state. When I was growing up it was called Casa Blanca Market and was the place where I bought jaw breaker candy.
My elementary school, where I spent eight years of my life, is just north of Frank's Market. When I attended the school, it was named R.E. Simpson in honor of a School Superintendent. Today it is called Choice Learning Academy.
A half a mile west of the house I grew up in is Christown Mall. When I was ten in 1961, I rode my bike over and watched the grand opening. Chris Harris had the last farm in the area and refused for years to sell to developers until they agreed to name the mall after him.
When I stop by the Phoenix house what I find most emotionally satisfying is the view – to the east is Camelback Mountain and Piestewa Peak. The profiles of these mountains have not changed, and I find that comforting.
I have the same feeling of comfort looking at Thumb Butte – it looks the same as it did when I visited Prescott as a child with my family to escape the heat of Phoenix. I suggest the town change its motto from “Prescott: Everybody's Hometown,” to “Prescott: Not as Hot as Phoenix.”
It is wonderful to travel, to explore the world, to meet people from different cultures, to learn and experience different smells and tastes. Still, during my childhood certain places were imprinted in my brain. I enjoy seeing them again.
Of course, it is a mistake to live primarily in the past when there is so much beauty, creativity and love all around us in the present. Nevertheless, the past is part of who we are, a powerful force inside us. It is good to look ahead, and to plan. But as we travel into the
future, it helps to bring some baggage from the past, or else we might be too light to land.
- Mar 28
In addition to the great news of a new minister coming this August, the exciting work of building a
new worship space is well under way.
Unitarian Universalists have many famous buildings. The oldest church in continuous use of any denomination in the United States is the Unitarian Universalist church in Hingham, Massachusetts, the Old Ship Meetinghouse. Built in 1681, it is the only remaining 17th century Puritan meetinghouse in America. Inside the plain, unadorned walls of the meetinghouse the ceiling, made of great oak beams, looks
like the inverted frame of a ship. It is a National Historic Landmark.
Less than a hundred years later Kings Chapel was built in what is now downtown Boston. The stone building, made of Quincy granite, was opened in 1754. A bell forged in England was hung in 1772. It cracked in 1814. Paul Revere recast and rehung it in 1816. Revere said it was “the sweetest bell I ever made.” It still rings every Sunday morning to summon parishioners to service. Kings Chapel became
Unitarian in 1785. They use the book of common prayer, with all the references to the Trinity removed. It is a National Historic Landmark, well worth visiting.
The most expensive Unitarian building is in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Working for Standard Oil Company, Henry Huttleston Rogers earned a personal wealth of over half a billion dollars. His mother was dedicated to her Unitarian church, so Henry used his enormous wealth to build a church to honor the memory of his mother. The church copies the style of a15th century English Gothic Cathedral. The outside is of granite and limestone. The interior woodwork consists of rare English bog oak, shipped from England and carved by wood carvers brought over from Germany. Beautiful stain glass windows cover the walls. In 1904 it cost forty million dollars to build. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.
The two most famous Unitarian Churches are both by Frank Lloyd Wright. Unity Temple is in Oak Park Illinois. Completed in 1908, it was Wright’s first public building. A square room, no one is more than forty-five feet from the pulpit and the congregation can see each other. Unity Temple is a National Historic Landmark and on the UNESCO World Heritage List. If you are in Chicago, I encourage you to visit it.
The second Frank Lloyd Wright Unitarian Universalist Church is the Unitarian Meeting House in Madison, Wisconsin. It was completed in 1951 and is also a National Historic Landmark.
I love grand buildings, but I also love simple religious buildings. We make a space sacred by saying this place, of all the places on earth, is where I will stand and say the vows when I join in union with another person. This is where I will stand and say for all the community to hear the name of my newborn child. This where I will come with a gathered community to remember and celebrate the lives of my friends and my relatives after they have died. Having been the space for these important events in our lives, each time we enter this sacred space it touches our emotions; it gives us a feeling of safety. It gives us inspiration; it lifts our spirits. You are creating such a space.