Yesterday, I delivered my first sermon in an actual house of worship.

It was an exciting and bizarre moment for me, and turned out to be quite beautiful.

Exciting because I see myself as a priest, and giving a sermon is a very priestly honor.

Bizarre because I never thought I’d ever write a sentence like that last one!

I’ve been marrying people for the last eighteen years. My first chaplaincy assignment was fifteen years ago. I’ve done plenty of conflict and relationship coaching over the past twenty years. I’ve even given away around 10,000 loaves of bread over the past decade. And yet, it’s only recently that I’ve come to see myself as a priest.

(growing up, it was always wizard!)

One of my projects is to rescue the community-oriented elements of religion from the trash heap where they ended up, with the rest of the religious junk we discarded. To pick up the “baby” of caring and food and togetherness from the “bathwater” of dogma, rigidity, and us vs. them.
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My other project is to preach the gospel of ahimsa (unconditional love) at every scale, and explain both the pragmatic and spiritual benefits of doing so.
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Today’s sermon represents a major milestone in my own understanding of that journey, and therefore, my ability to conspire with my fellow humans to make it happen.

(For the video version, go here: https://www.youtube.com/@tenthousandheroes)

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Earlier this week I spoke with renowned mediator Ken Cloke.

Ken is a living breathing apostle of the philosophy of practical nonviolence that Gandhi and MLK took to such a high level.

Because we were on a call with a group of professional mediators, I asked Ken what the recent US election might mean for mediators in the US. I'm sharing his answer more publicly because I see the philosophy behind mediation as being appropriate to anyone involved in human relationships.

The mediation mindset is what happens when you look at human relationship as a spiritual path.

I encourage you to listen to Ken with the following question in mind: What is the essence of non-violence?

He says the word "nonviolence" explicitly only once, near the end of the episode, but everything he is saying about doubling down on our values and rising above hatred is, in my mind, the core of Gandhian teachings.

Other important tidbits are Ken's definition of an enemy, which is a really kick in the stomach, and his architecture of hatred -- the three essential elements to creating political hatred.

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Happy USA Election Day 2024, denizens of the world.

May it be, in fact, happy and harmless.

I have an election-day message for you.

We Too Must Grow.

It's a combination of my thoughts on the opportunities the election presents us with "It's Worse Than You Think" and my explication of a song that I think is INCREDIBLY RELEVANT to this moment.

The song is called "We Too Must Grow". It was written and recorded by my friend Joe Bridge.

Here's a link if you want to listen to a version without my comments:
We Too Must Grow - Joe Bridge

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