PlainSpeech Messages | Find YOUR way to GRACE.
I recently read a message I’d given in 1984 and felt a mixture of embarrassment and surprise. Embarrassed because it seems inadequate now, and surprised by how much my worldview has changed. Twenty-five years from now, I might read these messages and have a similar reaction. I offer no guarantee that my work or words will endure the eroding effects of time. I can only assure you these thoughts have been helpful to me, and perhaps a few others, today. With that qualification, I offer them to you.
~ Philip
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Stuff I Want to Do: A Geezer’s Manifesto (4)
VIEW VIDEO In preparation for this week’s message, I was reading a list put out by the Recording Industry Association of America called The Songs of the Century, and noticed, perched at #5, Don McLlean’s song "American Pie," which debuted in 1971 when I was 10 years...
Stuff I Want to Do: A Geezer’s Manifesto (3)
VIEW VIDEO Growing up, my family observed an odd little custom concerning Christmas and birthdays. Because we could sit on Santa’s lap and tell Santa what we wanted for Christmas, my parents, within reason, would give us what we asked for at Christmastime, provided...
Stuff I Want to Do: A Geezer’s Manifesto (2)
VIEW VIDEO If you were here last week, you’ll know I came out of the closet. For most all my life, I’ve been trying to convince people I’m young and hip, but last week, after scrutinizing my birth certificate and hairline, I owned up to being a geezer. Several of you...
Stuff I Want to Do: A Geezer’s Manifesto
VIEW VIDEO We’ve had quite the little kerfuffle in Danville this past week. Some teenage boys in our town have adorned their cars with loud mufflers and have been racing up and down the streets of our town, agitating the populace. Sociologists have labelled today’s...
A Detour from Humanism, Albeit Brief
VIEW VIDEO These past few years, since her husband became disabled, I’ve been doing the upkeep on my sister’s home. It’s a well-built home, built in the 1960s of Bedford limestone, but was nearly ruined by the previous owner who fancied himself an expert on home...
You Might Be a Humanist If… (6)
VIEW VIDEO We are citizens of the universe…– Paul Kurtz of Free Inquiry I’ve been thinking about our new grandson, Miles Henry Gulley, now 26 days old. If he had been born in China, he would be almost 10 months old, since infants born there are dated from the date of...
You Might Be a Humanist If… (5)
We deplore efforts to denigrate human intelligence. – Paul Kurtz Sometimes I’ll ask a child their favorite day of the year. Number one is always Christmas. Always. Number two is their birthday. And number three is almost always the last day of school. I feel so sorry...
You Might Be a Humanist If… (4)
VIEW VIDEO “We affirm humanism as a realistic alternative to theologies of despair and ideologies of violence and as a source of rich personal significance and genuine satisfaction in the service to others.” – Paul Kurtz of Free Inquiry Whenever we go to the farm, we...
You Might Be a Humanist If… (3)
VIEW VIDEO It is good to be back among you after my gallbladder surgery. I’m indebted to Mark for bringing last Sunday’s message, in which he urged us to ignore the Ten Commandments, at least that’s what I gathered from listening to his message on Zoom. Where was...
You Might Be a Humanist If…(2)
VIEW VIDEO The interesting thing about living in the same town you grew up in is the almost daily reminders not only of your best moments, but also your worst. Every street, sometimes every house, is a picture album, eliciting a memory, good or bad. In between our...