In response to the outpouring of concern, the UUA shares the most up to date information on how UUs in this country and around the world are responding and amplify the ways that we can all help. Continue reading "Supporting Those Impacted by the Crisis in Ukraine"

In this week's Pagan Community Notes: International Women's Day, Stevie Nicks, Announcements and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of March 7, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

A Q&A with Jonathan Rosenblum | I’m really excited to be in this discussion with Canadian comrades about what’s going on here in the States and the prospects for organizing in the period ahead. I actually started out many decades ago as a rank-and-file union member in the newspaper industry, as a member of the International Typographical Union, which now I think is part of the Teamsters.

    I find the great gift of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition is expressed within the four seals of existence, the two truths, and the three bodies of the buddha. While I am wary of dogmas, I find these the most helpful pointers to the structures of the human heart of any I’ve encountered in […]

I would encourage each All Souls member to step out beyond the Church and select one of the social justice teams to volunteer. Your experience will broaden your engagement in the larger community and you will make a difference that will make you feel so good about what you are doing. The post Centennial Awards: Nancy McDonald appeared first on BeyondBelief.

For as long as I can remember I’ve misspelled interdependence as “interdependance”. Recently I’ve reflected that “-dance” is actually a better way of looking at it since interdependence relies on all of us leading and following one another. Sometimes we know where we are going and need others to follow and other times we are … Continue reading Dance

I went to lie down for a while between dinner and family game night last night and slept right through until morning. That’s the first time I’ve missed a drawing day since beginning the leaves on January 1. I’m particularly sorry to have missed out on Sushi-Go with the family. So I’m back to it […]

Inside and outside of Ukraine, crafters are creating projects to show solidarity with the Ukrainian people as they defend their country against the current Russian invasion. Continue reading Crafting for the Ukrainian Cause at The Wild Hunt.

Sometimes a usually easy trail can be very difficult. After spending most of the week in a virtual UURMaPA (Unitarian Universalist Retired Ministers and Partners Association) conference, we were eager for a long hike. We have hiked the Estero trail several other times out to Sunset beach and back, and usually the only issue is […]

Due to the recent COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic and the  restrictions limiting us from having worship in face-to-face settings, we need to find another ways to keep everything happening at All Souls. If you want to donate to All Souls, you can click on the link provided to our secure donations server. On this site, there … Continue reading "Online and Offline Giving Options During COVID-19 Pandemic — Updated 6 March 2022"

Faith. A noun and a verb at the same time. A state of being that requires us to be simultaneously future-focused and grounded in the here and now. Before we renew faith, we need to remember how we got here in the first place.

                                             Elizabeth Barrett Browning from the front plate of her Poems. It may have been the most famous—and wildly romantic—elopement since Romeo and Juliette .  The bride was a lovely but disabled spinster who happened to be perhaps the most famous living English poet at the time.  Her dashing beau was six years younger, of an inferior social class and just establishing himself as a poet of note in his own right.  They courted in secret—he contrived to visit her in the sick room to which she was mostly confined—and on September 12, 1846 ran off to be wed at St. Marylebone Parish Church in London then fled to sunny Italy in imitation of two of their mutual heroes

      I’ve been thinking a lot about the word freedom, and what it means. Over the past several years we’ve been presented with a number of views on the subject focusing on one’s right not to cooperate in a public health crisis.  Then, abruptly, we’ve found ourselves confronted with a nation being invaded […]

Our seventh principle (respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part) has long been my favorite one. I have a vivid memory of learning about how ecosystems work in 9th grade biology class and having a light bulb moment of, “Oh! This is exactly what we talk about in … Continue reading Faith

A Christian blogger suggests “bringing God on vacation with you.” His post brought back some old trauma from my childhood. But it raises a fair question: when you do you need to maintain your spiritual practice and when do you need a break?

Spirit of Life and Love,which moves Human hearts,minds, and handsto care for our Neighborsand our Mother Earthfill our spirits with your Peace.Empower us to know our own strengthTo do JusticeTo love MercyTo walk Humbly.May we remember old ways,and create new ways,to be people of Peace in the world.And with blessing,transform the World’s painbefore it can … Continue reading Prayer for Peace in Ukraine

Please join us on Sunday (6 March 2022) at 11:00 AM for “Heart of the Storm:  Living Into the Answers” by. Rev. Barbara Jarrell Please join us in the sanctuary at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA  71106 if you are able to do so. Our service will also be livestreamed on … Continue reading "Online All-Ages Worship (6 March 2022)"

Please join us on Sunday (6 March 2022) at 9:00 AM for our adult religious education class via Zoom. This Sunday’s topic is Anti-Racism Within Islam. In a sermon now known as the Farewell Address, the Prophet Muhammad said: “There is no superiority of an Arab over a non-Arab, or of a non-Arab over an … Continue reading "Online Adult Religious Education — 6 March 2022"

We will continue to watch the local COVID numbers and we feel encouraged by the dropping COVID case rates. Religious education classes for children and youth will resume on 13 March 2022. As before, the children and youth will join us in the sanctuary for the first 15-20 minutes of the worship service and then … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education Updates"

Melissa Lewis will be at the church parking lot this Sunday afternoon (6 March 2022) from 2:00 to 4:00 PM to collect food and other items for the Noel United Methodist Church Food Pantry. Items requested this month are Jiffy cornbread mix, canned soups (any brand), and cereal (any brand).

"Yet, when the world's events, like the weather, paint a picture that appears to be without hope, I wonder where or how - or even when - Ma'at's scales will balance." Continue reading Opinion: Scales of Justice in a Time of Trauma at The Wild Hunt.

Our give-away-the-plate recipient for March 2022 is The Power Coalition for Equity and Justice. Each month we dedicate all of our non-pledge income to an organization doing the work that best embodies our Unitarian Universalist principles and values. For the month of March 2022, we selected the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice — an … Continue reading "The Power Coalition for Equity and Justice — March 2022 Give-Away-The-Plate Recipient"

Please join us next Tuesday (8 March 2022) at 12 noon for our weekly Zoom lunch. Bring your lunch and meet up with your All Souls friends, have lunch, and just catch up.

Wiccan priestess and hundreds of faith leaders participate in Global Prayers for Ukraine at a Multi-faith Service for Peace. Continue reading Multi-faith service for Ukraine held at the U.N. church center at The Wild Hunt.

                                                               F redi Washington could have passed for White but wouldn't. Fredi Washington wowed audiences in the first version of Imitation of Life released in 1934 by Universal Pictures.   Starring Claudette Colbert, Louise Beavers, Warren William, and Rochelle Hudson, Washington didn’t make the cut in movie postersreleased for most theaters and was billed sixth despite playing a pivotal role.   Adapted from Fannie Hurst’s bestselling novel the film was a melodrama about the plight of working and single mothers during the Depression, deep friendship between a White widow and a Black mother, and the harsh realities of race in segregated America....

I have just read through what seems to me to be a very important article by Volodymyr Artiukh for Open Democracy called “The Western Left doesn’t understand Putin – or the world outside the US”: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/russia-ukraine-western-left-doesnt-understand-putin-or-the-world-outside-the-us/ As someone from the Western Left I take what Artiukh says very seriously indeed and I ask you to do likewise.  A friend of mine wrote to me yesterday asking me what I thought about this article and, for what it is worth, I paste below a few sections from my reply: As you know, I've been involved in left politics all my life in one way or another, and Artiukh's words resonate very strongly with me because many of my Britis...

“Love as a religious practice extends our compassion, solidarity, and care beyond the personal to seeking the liberation and wholeness of every person. It reminds us of our fundamental interdependence with all of life.” – Rev Susan Frederick-Gray, UUA President How can you practice love today?

They are tight, ovoid cones in the trees, but when they fall to the ground they often look like tiny, wizened roses.

Please join us on Saturday (5 March 2022) at 10:30 AM for our weekly meditation group with Larry Androes. This is a sitting Buddhist meditation including a brief introduction to mindfulness meditation, 20 minutes of sitting, and followed by a weekly teaching. The group is free and open to all. For more information, contact Larry … Continue reading "Meditation with Larry Androes (5 March 2022)"

Then, almost all of a sudden, the convulsions become overwhelming and a nurse helps place my wife in a sitting position, before telling her to push. It is all fused in my memory as a short and intense blurb, but it actually took a good half an hour before, from under my wife, a small, mostly hairless mammal appeared. The nurse grabbed it, showed it to me, shouted “it’s a girl!” before depositing it onto my wife’s chest. We had just become parents. I had just become a dad. What the actual f--k? Continue reading Column: In Praise of Child-Rearing at The Wild Hunt.

Now more than ever it is important for UUs to live their values by supporting the trans community.

A short  “ thought for the day” offered to the Cambridge Unitarian Church as part of the Sunday Service of Mindful   Meditation  (Click on this link to hear a recorded version of the following piece) —o0o— I begin by reading the poem “Past and Present” by the Slovenian poet, Boris A. Novak. The past is ever changing.  Only the future stays the same.  No one’s. It’s blank and strange,  mysterious, an empty chamber.  Whose portrait is this? Whose steps are these?  Amidst the leaves, whose names on graves?  After the leaves fall, rulers rend memories,  to brush them away.  The past is ever changing,  shaded in by memory’s brush,  but future’s sky is clear.  It can’t be rearranged.  Completely mine and ...

Sunday, March 6, 10:30 a.m. Stories of Awakening Faith An in-person Multigenerational Storytelling Service with Rev. Alice Anacheka-Nasemann and Cynthia Menard   Our theme for March is Awakening Faith. Who or what are we awakening our faith in? Ourselves? Community? God? How can that faith sustain us in difficult times? Join us this Sunday, March 6,   [ … ] The post Sunday, March 6 ~ Stories of Awakening Faith ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

      Faustus Socinus, also known as Faust Paolo Sozzini and sometimes as Faust Socyn died on this day, the 4th of March, in 1604. It’s fair to identify him with a naturalistic current within the Christian tradition, with Socinus focusing on the pure humanity of Jesus, and a religion that arises with that […]

I have an interview today with Kyle Kellams from Ozarks-at-Large, a radio program with our local NPR affiliate station. It will be aired sometime closer to the release date of my new book, and the interview will be held at the Eureka Springs School of the Arts, giving Kyle a chance to visit the ESSA campus. Then later in the afternoon I'll participate in a zoom call podcast with WoodworkingNetwork.com. The site, woodworkingNetwork.com is one that will certainly interest other woodworkers as it has useful features and reports including  a remembrance of Garry Knox Bennett in the current edition.  https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/remembering-garry-knox-bennett The annual Spring Fling fundraiser for the Cl...

                                   Frances Perkins--Madam Secretary. On March 4, 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt, the day of his first inauguration, nominated Frances Perkins as Secretary of Labor.  She was the first woman elevated to cabinet rank.  If anyone was expecting a docile figurehead, they were in for a big surprise.  Not only was she a key player in the New Deal and a key backer of a wide range of labor reforms, she held down the job for twelve years through FDR’s first three terms despite efforts to unseat her. Born into a respectable Republican and Congregationalist New England family in 1880, she was radicalized by exposure to the yawning class dividewhile attending Mt. Holyoke Collegewhere she read Jaco...

I have an interview today with Kyle Kellams from Ozarks-at-Large, a radio program with our local NPR affiliate station. It will be aired sometime closer to the release date of my new book, and the interview will be held at the Eureka Springs School of the Arts, giving Kyle a chance to visit the ESSA campus. Then later in the afternoon I'll participate in a zoom call podcast with WoodworkingNetwork.com. The site, woodworkingNetwork.com is one that will certainly interest other woodworkers as it has useful features and reports including  a remembrance of Garry Knox Bennett in the current edition.  https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/remembering-garry-knox-bennett The annual Spring Fling fundraiser for the Cl...

“If one tree fruits, they all fruit—there are no soloists. Not one tree in a grove, but the whole grove; not one grove in the forest, but every grove; all across the county and all across the state. The trees act not as individuals, but somehow as a collective. Exactly how they do this, we … Continue reading Flourishing

Maybe tomorrow I’ll depart from the leaf-a-day plan long enough to draw the cone of a deodar, because I love them. But tonight, the leaves.

I was restless after work and needed exercise. Before I knew it, I was walking the mile or more to the Ukrainian embassy in Georgetown. As I am sure with many of you, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has worried and upset me deeply. But I am also emboldened to see the people of Kyiv, … Continue reading "Visiting the Ukrainian embassy"

What a beautiful dawn the other day, all the branches coated with light snowy adornment! I’ve been feeling grateful these days. In particular, I’ve been thinking about how lucky I have been to study the Passamaquoddy language with Roger Paul during the last 3 1/2 years. I recently saw an article published a few years […]

While the immediate health impacts of the pandemic appear to be waning, the protective single-use gear presents a longer term issue in dealing with the waste. Continue reading Problems posed by the PPE pandemic litter at The Wild Hunt.

Pagan, Heathen, Witch, and polytheist organizations and individuals have been releasing statements on the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. This is a current list of statements that will be continuously updated. Continue reading Pagan responses to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine (Continuous Updates)

Jeff Milchen We often miss how far we’ve progressed unless we stop to look back and count our blessings.

The stunning program cover for the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession in Washington. The giant Women’s March on Washingtonand sister marches across the country that greeted Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2017 and they-said-it-couldn’t-be-done even larger marches a year later were seismic events that brought a broad, united, new intersessional feminism to the forefront of American social and political life after years on the defense as hard-fought gains once thought secure were under attack atevery level. Mass demonstrations no matter how large, critics maintained, had lost their power as the media lost interest in them and the public became bored.  Huge anti-war demonstrations that broke all records were barely covered by the ...

Yesterday my Rainbow group (kindergarten) finished work with gluing blocks. They loved it and were proud of the various things they made. Later we installed bluebird houses on campus where they can be monitored and maintained.  Of greatest excitement for the students was finding an old wheel barrow tire and rim buried in the muck in the ditch that separates our hands-on learning center from the field where the birdhouses have gone up.  The students dug the wheel and tire out of the dirt (a thing that took some effort and strategy), and decided it should also become an instrument for their study of birds. It is now being converted to a bird feeder. This tells the story of how a bit of youthful imagination (and allowance for it) can faci...

I have often thought how many musicians playing together highlights woven melodies and harmonies, creating a magical experience of interdependent voices. An ensemble of words can do the same. -Beth Murray (CLF) When have you experienced multiple voices together creating a stronger message?

Not a native. The names say it all: Atlas cedar, from the Atlas mountain range in Algeria and Morocco, and Cedrus atlanticus for the same reason. But it has been planted along the Pacific coast of the US. It is said that we have a Mediterranean climate, so maybe the Atlas cedars planted as ornamentals […]

Dayton gathering will call for Biden Administration to shut down detention centers, end deportations, and release all people in immigration detention.

Martha Kirby Capo shared her thoughts and experiences from her recent visit to New Orleans during Mardi Gras. Continue reading Capo in New Orleans: Thoughts on Mardi Gras at The Wild Hunt.

By Keisha N. Blain | In 1957, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a speech on the power of voting. King argued that access to the ballot would allow Black Americans to remake society without having to wait for federal support. He argued that voting was a solution for the many challenges Black Americans faced. King’s speech also addressed the 1954 Brown Decision. In the aftermath of Brown, local school districts and politicians continued to resist the attempts to desegregate schools nationwide.

Note— Back in 2012 by calendar happenstance George Washington’s Birthday and Ash Wednesday coincided.   As regular denizens of this refuge for flying electrons knows that sort of thing often inexplicably moves me to commit poetry.   This year his birthday has passed, but today is Ash Wednesday—close enough for hand grenades, horseshoes, and Patrick poetry I say. Since the entirely spurious story of the Vision at Valley Forge was reportedly made in 1859 reminiscences by 99-year-old Anthony Sherman, who was supposedly present with Continental Army at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777 and overheard Washington tell an officer that an angel had revealed a prophetic vision of America to him.   There is no other confirmation of th...

Quinn Gormley Happy kids are safer kids, because happy kids have adults they can ask for help. Continue reading "Asking for Help"

Today, throughout the world, Christians celebrate Ash Wednesday. With the blessing of ashes upon their foreheads, they are reminded of human mortality and the need for reconciliation and repentance. And yet, the notion that we all come from dust and will one day return to it is also a profound statement of interdependence: our origins … Continue reading Dust to Dust

The search for a good photo of subalpine larch needles led me to this article by Michael Kauffmann, an ecologist whose CV reveals a body of research on conifers of the western North American continent. These particular needles are so short that I thought I was looking at newly emerged leaves–baby needles–but Kauffmann says something […]

The President’s speech had its uplifting moments—but we need bold follow-through to advance human rights.

This month we explore polarities, two things that are both needed, and that exist in tension with one another, such as activity and rest, or an inhale and an exhale. We can’t really choose just one. A paradox is a statement that seems absurd at ... read more . The post March Theme – Paradoxes and Polarities appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

This month, as we explore March’s theme of polarities and paradoxes, we recognize that congregations need both tradition and innovation. We need the comfort and familiarity that comes with rituals of tradition and we need to be able to respond to an ever-changing world with creativity and ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – March 1st appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Upcoming RE Classes: K-6 Experiences with the Web of Life: These nature lovers will meet again Sunday morning, 3/6, from 9:30-10:15. A couple of activities for the children to do before our 3/6 class were emailed last week and will also be included in this week’s parent email. ... read more . The post RE This Week – March 1st appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

BIPOC Book Discussion – Monday, March 28, at 6:30pm Read on with us in the next book — The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw — and join the book discussion led by Tom Comparin on Monday, March 28, at 6:30 pm. A book of short ... read more . The post March book discussion: The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, by Deesha Philyaw appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Sponsored by Schenectady Clergy Against Hate, the Trinity Presbyterian Church in Scotia, & Congregation Agudat Achim in Niskayuna. Thursday, April 7th, 5:15 – 8:30pm on Zoom For more information, to register, the link and to order food, CLICK HERE The post Interfaith Seder – Save the date: April 7th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

A new global magical working designed to end Putin's reign of terror and protect the Ukrainian people is set to take place tomorrow. Continue reading Occult practitioners prepare for global ritual to aid Ukraine at The Wild Hunt.

American society has acculturated us to ideas about how our bodies should look and function. Continue reading "Sermon of the Month March 2022"

CUC Statement on A Call for Peace and Compassion – March 1st, 2022 – As Canadian Unitarian Universalists (UUs), we are deeply concerned about the state of unrest, aggression, and violence in the world. “It is understandable to feel saddened, outraged, or helpless as we read or watch the news,” says Anne Barker, President of […] The post CUC Releases Statement On A Call for Peace and Compassion appeared first on Canadian Unitarian Council Conseil unitarien du Canada.

        One of my favorite not exactly religious holidays is upon us! Today, Tuesday, is the day before my liturgically minded Christian friends observe Ash Wednesday, and launch into their long “fast.” (Scare quotes because, hey, its not really a fast, is it?) Fat Tuesday, I gather, in French is Mardi Gras. […]

Bruce Knotts If Russia abstained—as Article 27 of the UN Charter requires—the resolution would have passed.

Note— In 2020 Mardis Gras went on in New Orleans just as the Coronavirus pandemic was picking up steam.   The predictable outcome was a massive outbreak which also spread the disease to the communities from which reveling tourists returned.   Last year the Big Easy like most Carnival celebrating cities, was a virtual ghost town.   This year it is pretty much back to businessas usual and the pent-up energy might make things wilder than usual. Revelers are crowding the French Quarter again in New Orleans. There are a downsidesto having been raised vaguely Protestant and residing in sometimes inhospitable northern climes.  Perhaps the biggest is regardingwith wistful envy the liberating extravagance of Carnival and Mardi Gras.   It i...

“We covenant to affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web of existence of which we are a part.” (UUA Seventh Principle) What does interdependence mean to you?

Too many people look for religious and spiritual authenticity in the past. There are reasons why they do that, but in the end, either we will find our authenticity in the present, or we will not find it at all.

Wikipedia summarizes a few points this way: “With its thick bark, nonflammable foliage and protective cones, the species is very fire resistant. In the late 20th century, after wildfires had been suppressed for almost a century, larches at Seeley Lake and Glacier National Park were endangered by major fires enabled by fuel ladder; normally smaller […]

Carol is a local bike activist, and she’s been working with MoveSanMateo to promote bike lanes in North Central, our old neighborhood in San Mateo (which we got priced out of when our landlord sold the building we lived in). So when she heard that bo2focused was organizing a bike ride in North Central, the … Continue reading "Carol encounters Bike life"

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, more groups respond to the Russian attack on Ukraine, Cherry Hill announcements, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of February 28, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

Jessi Sadaka Today we grieve for disabled people who have been murdered by the same people who should have loved and supported them: their family members. For me, a broader pain accompanies this grief, about how strong ableism is and how deeply it is engrained throughout our society. Continue reading "A Disability Day of Mourning Reflection: March 1 is Disability Day of Mourning"

Although we would be staying at a renewal center in the middle of the desert, those of us who enrolled at the Hesychia School of Spiritual Direction were advised to pack our laptop computers, since we had some assignments to … Continue reading →

My involvement is but one way to spread the All Souls love and community family spirit. It has given me the desire to share this marvelous community to a wider audience searching for a home where you don’t have to leave your sense of reason in the parking lot. The post Centennial Awards: Rick Gardner appeared first on BeyondBelief.

                         Matthew Henson, Polar explorer in his warm Inuit furs in1910. Matthew Henson at age 21 in 1887 was hired by U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Second Lieutenant Robert E. Peary as a personal valet.   But from the beginning the young Black manwas much more than a servant who laid out his master’s clothesin the morning and polished his shoes.   He quickly became an all-around aideand eventually a virtual partner in polar explorations that spanned 23 years.   Henson was born on August 8, 1866 on his parents farm east of the Potomac River in Charles County, Maryland.   They had been free people of colorbefore the Civil War. The family were victims of attacksby the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist g...

My new book, "the Wisdom of Our Hands," has received a glowing review on WoodworkingNetwork.com   https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/opinion/book-review-wisdom-our-hands  It is an incredibly thoughtful review written by editor, Will Sampson. Woodworkers in general have a deep appreciation of what the hands provide to learning. Perhaps we can lead the way to a renewal of American education. Thanks, Bob, for alerting me to the publication of the review. Make, fix and create...

Still a needle-leaved conifer, you understand. But it sheds its needles all at once, the way most broadleaved trees do. I love those little starbursts of needles.

“I have learned to trust those who are witnesses rather than gurus, those who express their confusion as well as their knowledge, and those who share their suffering along with their joy.” -David Rankin Practice being a whole, authentic person with someone you trust.

TWH continues its coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We speak with Yuliia Ivanytska, a Ukrainian craftswoman, about the war's impact on her life and business, and with a Witch in nearby Romania about the refugee situation. More statements from Pagan organizations, including Circle Sanctuary, Cherry Hill Seminary, and Pagan Police UK, are also included. Continue reading “Oh, this is a real war”: reports from Ukraine and Romania, Pagan orgs send support at The Wild Hunt.

The consent of the governed is a phrase that I remember from my old political science classes. According to Wikipedia, it's defined as follows:  In political philosophy, the phrase consent of the governed refers to the idea that a government's legitimacy and moral right to use state power is justified and lawful only when consented to by the people or society over which that political power is exercised. This theory of consent is historically contrasted to the divine right of kings and had often been invoked against the legitimacy of colonialism. Article 21 of the United Nations' 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government". We can compare and contrast ...

We did a 12 miler this week, with a 1824 elevation gain. It was mainly on the Sky trail at Point Reyes. It WAS a workout and my feet and body were tired afterward, but it was so beautiful. What was particularly awe-inspiring is that the area had been almost completely burned two years ago. […]

as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, February 27, 2022 My sermon this morning is inspired by the person who won the right to “Name the Sermon” in last year’s auction. When I asked them what they would like me to preach about their answer was both simple and capacious: self-help. I […]

Perhaps in a perfect world power would be so evenly distributed that it could neither be abused nor corrupt anyone. But we do not live in such a world. Someone has to exercise power – why not you?

On radical compassion, and how it can traverse even the deepest divides.

Ten years ago this morning south Floridians woke to a news story about an unarmed Black youth who was shot and killed by someone claiming to be involved in a neighborhood watch in Sanford, Florida the night before.   The story could easily have endedthere.   Many similar tales from around the country barely made that level of notice. But in the next few days evidencearose that Trayvon Martin might have been stalked and virtually executed by wannabe hero George Zimmerman.   Despite this local police and prosecutors accepted Zimmerman’s claimsto have acted in self-defense.   Although it was never officially invoked, newspaperarticles cited Florida’s recently enacted and controversial Stand Your Ground Law as justification for the s...

I've decided to write down the principles of the work that I do in Cardiff. These are not necessarily in order of importance but simply the order that they have occurred to me. The work, that I feel called by God to do in Cardiff, is a kind of pioneer ministry, community ministry, spirit-led activism. It works by a number of practices and principles that I have developed, borrowed from others,

      The Anglican tradition marks today as a feast for the poet and Anglican priest George Herbert. He was born on the 3rd of April, 1593 to a prominent family in Montgomery, Wales. His mother was a friend of and patron to John Donne, as well as other writers, poets, and artists. He […]

“A smile shared and savored A child’s squeal of delight as she dances in the daisies and daffodils The quiet joy of gathered community This, this is the spirit of life and love that we call forth now… May this spirit infuse our hearts, fill our souls, and carry us forward like a wave on … Continue reading Like a Wave

"In sports, music, and martial arts, the unbinding of the mind as it focuses upon a specific task is paired with a shutting down of other mental faculties. Senses are simply turned off in a subjectively very real way. Linear thinking evaporates as the Odinnic moment expands. "Rather than mindfulness, this is a process of unmindfulness." Continue reading Column: In Defense of Unmindfulness at The Wild Hunt.

  Special U.N. envoy Ralph Bunche receives his Nobel Prize for brokering a peace between Israel and its neighboring Arab states. Note—The invasion of Ukraine by Russia—the first mass cross-border war in Europe in nearly 80 years—make one wonder if the impossible diplomat who brokered peace between intractable enemies Israel and its Arab neighbors and other thorny conflicts could somehow have helped head off this one. On September 22, 1950 the world was surprised when an American diplomat on loan to the United Nations was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.   It was not that his achievement was unworthy—brokering the thorny negotiations that led to an armistice agreement between Israel and the Arab States ending a bloody war that beg...

Please join us on Sunday (27 February 2022) at 11:00 AM for “Resonance ” with Rev. Barbara Jarrell along with friends Barbara Deger, Jennifer Russell, Susan Caldwell, and more. Please join us in the sanctuary at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA  71106 if you are able to do so. Our service … Continue reading "Online All-Ages Worship (27 February 2022)"

Please join us on Sunday (27 February 2022) at 9:00 AM for our adult religious education class via Zoom. This Sunday’s topic is “Faith and Reason:  Pema Chödrön Talks with Bill Moyers.” Last Sunday (20 February 2022), we watched Part 1 of a Bill Moyers interview with American Buddhist nun Pema Chödrön (author of The … Continue reading "Online Adult Religious Education — 27 February 2022"