Cleaning out a basement during one of the work days at First Unitarian. Love to get my hands dirty, build connections and community, and take care of the physical space.
Wearing a prop for a service I led calling us to live as if the world we dream of really is ours to build.
Inside the organ at First Unitarian Chicago. I’m not really that handy, but I like to know the building inside and out!
A prop for a time for all ages: a helium-filled, remote-controlled fish swimming through the sanctuary! I always want to think creatively about how to play with the worship space available.
Teri and I at our graduation from Harvard Divinity School in 2006.
Teri and I at our wedding in 2001 at Follen Church Society-Unitarian Universalist, in Lexington, MA — the church I grew up in.
At an interfaith vigil we organized at hosted at First Unitarian in 2014 after Michael Brown’s killer was not indicted.
For the service on Christmas Day 2016, I led an informal gathering of mostly pajama-wearing folks (I had my Cookie Monster PJs on under the robe). Each element of the service (hymns, readings, stores…) was wrapped inside a big gift box. The kids unwrapped them, and we did the service in whatever order they happened to come out.
I started the tradition of an all-church photo each year at First Unitarian: to show the church back to itself — multiracial and multi-age, longtime members joyfully mixed with new folks.
Telling a story for the kids on Easter morning at the White Bear UU Church, my internship congregation.
It’s relatively rare that Teri and I truly plan and do a whole service together — usually one of us takes the lead and assigns the other a component or two. When we do collaborate on the whole thing top to bottom, it’s a lot of work, and rewarding.
From a Marriage Equality rally in Springfield in 2013, with a crew from First Unitarian.
Free-building my own Lego creations has been a serious hobby for the last few years. This was inspired by the treasury in the ancient city of Petra and Seleucid Empire architecture.
The high pulpit at First Unitarian is a different feel from my childhood church, or my internship, or my home church in Minneapolis. For me, the key is to match the worship style to the space.
A “selfie” from a Thanksgiving Dinner Service. It’s a joyful evening service centered around a communal Thanksgiving meal. The service weaves themes of gratitude with an honest account of the early colonists in Plymouth and how the aspirations they had but never realized still claim us today.
Officiating the wedding of Joan and Bette — two longtime pillars at First Unitarian.
Preaching outdoors during pandemic at Beverly Unitarian Church in Fall of 2020.
Pilot the dog, a two and a half year old Saint Bernard, came to us as a 2-month old 20-pound little ball of fluff. Today he’s a 8.5 foot long 175 pound ball of fluff. A big sweetheart.
For several years I have been the adjunct professor of preaching at Meadville Lombard Theological School, one of our two UU seminaries. Here I am joined by my students from winter of 2019.
For an intergenerational Earth Day service, we retold “The Lorax,” complete with this big fuzzy Tuffula tree.
The capital campaign at First Unitarian Chicago raised about $1.2 million dollars, in part to replace and redo aging windows from the1960s.
Leading worship at Beverly Unitarian Church.
The day before lockdown began in Illinois, I had the pleasure to marry two members of Beverly Unitarian who pushed the service up at the last minute so they wouldn’t have to outwait Covid!
The Beverly Unitarian capital campaign raised nearly $1.2 million to restore their historic 1870s mansion home.
Pilot the Dog in his Halloween costume as David the Minister.
Exploring the wilds on a family vacation a couple of years ago.
I created this fabric installation at First Unitarian for the annual water ingathering service — a river flowing through the gothic sanctuary.