Weekly Messages
Revisiting: Sin Is Not That Big A Deal (3)
It's not a big deal (listen to the last two lessons), but it's a deal. It's a "ruin-our-lives" kind of deal. So we need to deal with it. When we tell ourselves one story about what sin is, we deal with it one way. Another story. Another way. In the 5th century, Rome...
Revisiting: Sin Is Not That Big A Deal (2)
We saw last time, it's counter-intuitive, but when we make sin a bigger deal than it is, we don't deal with it as effectively as we could. In today's lesson, we lay some term-defining groundwork that will help us figure out how to deal with it effectively. Have a...
Revisiting: Sin Is Not That Big A Deal (1)
Counter-intuitively, when we make sin a bigger deal than it is, we don't deal with it as effectively as we could. Getting sin out of our lives is not the point of the spiritual journey, it's the by-product. Have a listen, Doug
Easter 2016
As we do each year, in this lesson we highlight a dimension of our ancient story, and how it impacts our daily lives. This year we focus on the spiritual principle of oneness -- how it is rooted in Easter, and how it affects the lives we live. Have a listen, Doug...
Our Three Faces – Robin Camu
by Robin Camu
Revisiting: We’re Made of the Same Stuff God Is
We say God is good, we are safe. Really? That's hogwash...Unless we broaden our framework of the most fundamental things about being human. Have a listen, Doug
Revisiting: Yin and Yang, Freedom and Responsibility
As we begin this new season of our community life together, we are going over some of the significant lessons that have shaped our life together. Our history informs our future. Today, we talk about two important truths that grant us both freedom and responsibility....
Hospitality — and Conflict
Here is Doug’s message for Feb 21, 2016 Have a listen.
Radical Inclusion of “The Other”
To talk about this radical version of hospitality—without also talking about the transformative spiritual journey… Well, that’s just a non-starter. We can’t do – what we can’t do. And we can’t do it – unless we first awaken to a reservoir deep within us – that most...
A Seminal Tale: Abraham and "The Other"
Have a listen, Doug
One of Our Important Tribal Myths
We Christians would have become just another sectarian religious group -- if it hadn't been for a really important thing on a really important day. It's one of our most important stories. Have a listen, Doug
Yeah! Not As Easy As It Sounds (Hospitality)
If hospitality is about tea cozies and finger sandwiches, it'd just be a matter of tidying up the house and having people over. But in the spiritual tradition, hospitality is a much more demanding proposition. It means "radical inclusion of the other, the outsider,...
Jesus and the Knuckleheads: A Study in Un-Gentleness
"The Prince of Peace..." That's one of the things our tradition calls Jesus. Which is certainly an apt description... Unless your religious posture was to out-group others... In which case, he had some rather choice words. Have a listen, Doug...
Radical Inclusion: The Three Magi
The Twelve Days of Christmas doesn't mean much any more. But back in the day, each of the days celebrated an important story -- the last day, the story of the three magi. It is a story about God abolishing sectarianism. What? Yep. It's a story about Divine Life,...
A New Year Reflection
. Janus. The Roman god of transitions.
Advent 3: The Art of Encouragement (Mary and Elizabeth)
Advent 2 – Robin Camu
by Robin Camu
Thanksgiving 2015
The Prayer of This Next Breath: Practical Pointers
Today we conclude a long series of lessons on the prayers of detaching. And we conclude the last in this series of lessons - "the prayer of detaching from the power of time," or . . . "the prayer of this next breath; this next step." Have a listen, Doug
The "S" Word
We don't use the word "sin" very often at NRCC because it has gotten kind of encrusted with toxic meanings over the centuries. However, it is an important spiritual concept. In this lesson we look at the double nature we tend to carry inside ourselves -- we don't want...
Community Meeting (a pretty important one)
A lot has happened to our community recently. Our minister (me) got the boot from the denomination we were part of. Our community voted to keep the minister (again, me), which meant our vote was to both leave the denomination, and since the denomination owns the...
Our Brains: A Blessing . . . And A Curse (2)
Last week, we saw how our brains have a built-in motivation system to get us up, out of bed, eating, drinking, procreating, and doing the things we need to further our lives and the species. The whole system is a real blessing. But it's also a curse. It sucks us into...
Our Brains: A Blessing . . . And a Curse (1)
There are some chemicals in our brains that create a motivation cycle which really helps us. These chemicals get us out of bed, and motivate us to eat, and work, and make babies -- all the stuff we need to do to sustain life. What a relief! When something goes wrong...
But Surely, Not In Our Painful Moments! : Prayers of Detachment (10)
This lesson is about staying engaged in the present moment. It is about not borrowing regrets from the past -- or anxiety from the future. But sometimes we don't borrow regret or anxiety -- we borrow relief, or respite. In our painful moments, it is much easier NOT to...