Occasionally, the world hands you the perfect sermon material. When the world failed to end on May 21st, it was the perfect lead-in to our annual Flower Communion in Los Alamos.
Rev. John Cullinan
Author: John Cullinan
A note for my fellow Los Alamos residents: Otowi Station now has copies of Your Life Is a Gospel available.
delivered at the Unitarian Church of Los Alamos, 13 March 2011
Marquette University to offer domestic partner benefits
My jaw hit the floor when I read this today. As a Marquette student twenty years ago, I was profoundly saddened by our failed attempts to have sexual orientation added to the university’s non-discrimination policy. It was a defining moment in my life, the beginning of my shift in religious identity.
Back then, I was disturbed by the disconnect between Marquette’s motto, cura personalis (“care for each person”), and the demonstrable lack of care for the person shown in the administration’s decision. Twenty years on, not only is the university listening to the voices of its student and faculty, but it admits that the idea of cura personalis applies to the dignity of the LGBTQ community within its metaphorical walls. What a difference twenty years makes. Kudos to Fr. Wild and the Marquette administration for taking the university another step in the direction of living its values.
delivered to the Unitarian Church of Los Alamos, 9 January 2011
Occasionally, the times demand I go back to the “greatest hits” file.
It’s here!!
Your Life Is a Gospel is finished, and ready for order. You can order the book here.
Through January 31, 2011 you will receive a $5 discount on orders with the coupon code 5KGPH7TL.
What We Talk About When We Talk About God
delivered at the Unitarian Church of Los Alamos, 12 December 2010
(With apologies to Raymond Carver for the title.)
This sermon owes much to the work of sociologists Paul Froese and Christopher Bader, two of the primary researchers behind the Baylor Survey of Religion and their book, America’s Four Gods: What We Say about God–and What That Says about Us
The notion of being stuck in the “apple system” comes from a brief comment by James Martin, SJ, in his book The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life
delivered at the Unitarian Church of Los Alamos, 5 December 2010
I feel my powers of title-fu failed me on this one, but I’ll take that if the message is strong. Here in Los Alamos, we’re facing a crisis in charitable giving. The National Laboratory has altered its annual giving drive in such a way that more and more money is leaving not just our community but also the state of New Mexico. Our local United Way, which has administered the funds to local agencies in the past, is expecting a fifth (or less) of what they’ve received for local use in the past. Self Help, Inc. — our congregation’s longest-lived outreach partner — is just one agency that is looking at severely reduced funding for the coming year, which means severely reduced assistance to some of our people who are most in need.
While I advocate for local giving in the sermon, I would also ask anyone reading to consider a charitable gift to Self Help this season. Thank you.
Interior and cover files were uploaded to CreateSpace last night. We’re just waiting on a proof copy to give final approval, and then the book should be available for order.
Self-publishing has been a steep learning curve. The result of the delay, however, has been a coherent book that looks great. I need to give a lot of thanks to my wife, Jess, for contributing her talents to what’s going to be a very polished final product.
Final files are headed to CreateSpace this week. After the proof copy has been approved, the book will be available on Amazon most likely within the next two weeks, and available to bookstores and libraries not long after.
After the new year, I’ll be working on the Kindle edition.