“Thinking about memory suddenly became important when my husband, Sky, was diagnosed with dementia in 2016….  As we processed this devastating news, Sky said he assumed he would eventually forget his family, but he was mostly afraid that he would forget his Self.” -Jane Dwinell, in this month’s Quest What are you most afraid of … Continue reading Fear of Forgetting

                                   Achy Obejas--Cuban and American, refugee, feminist and lesbian, Catholic and Sephardic Jew. Achy Obejas is an example of the wide diversityof voices and perspectives that often get lumped togetheras Latinx. I first took note of her as a contributor to the local Logan Square community weekly newspaper.  I was active in the Logan Square Neighborhood Association in the early ‘80’s and her journalismwas an important contribution to the community.  Later I watched as her star rose as a writer for the Chicago Tribune and as a literary figure. Achy Obejas with her Cuban refugee family in Chicago. Obejas was born in Cuba in 1956 into a family with Sephardic Jewish roots..  In ’63 h...

Usually I draw a bunch, especially with these scale-like leaves, each so tiny. But here is a single leaf of alligator juniper. Each exudes resin, which appears white. The common name comes from the bark’s resemblance to alligator hide.

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, Coalition of Visionary Resources announces nominees, grandmother accused of 'whit witchery.' protest music, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of April 11, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

Russia’s complicity in Burma’s own violence shows the nation is a bad actor on many fronts.

  THE GOD QUESTION (a sermon in several parts) by Rev. Kit Ketcham, Apr. 10, 2022   SYMPOSIUM by Joe Rush, member of Boulder UU Fellowship, 1935 “God,” said the theologian, “Is a triune entity Of Holy Spirit, Father, Son, Yet One for all eternity.” A workman dropped his pick, and spat, As he frowned and scratched his head. “Why, God”--he labored with the thought-- “God saves our souls when we are dead.” “God is a myth!” the atheist spoke With an air of studied scorn. “Chance rules; and man, stern nature’s joke, Once dead, might never have been born.” A tired old lady, bent and gray, Closed the Book and met my eyes: “For years I’ve trusted Him; one day He’ll call me home beyond the skies.” “God loves ...

My students at ESSA finished 24 boxes  (3 apiece) in our three day class. In the photo I'm the old guy on the left.  It was a very good class with all the students helping each other,  and for me, it is a rewarding and invigorating experience. Folks, noticing that I teach both adults and  kids, ask "what's the difference between the two?" Learning at its best is always a matter of play.  That's why Kindergarten is important, even today. It utilized the natural interest and engagement of the kids, doing real things and could serve as a model for the reinvigoration of all schooling.   At ESSA. The tools are real, the materials are real. All the senses are engaged, and compare that to public school classrooms where kids are watching t...

The Shel Silverstein Forever Stamp  unveiled at a ceremony at Darwin Elementary in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. Last week the United States Postal Service unveiled a new First Class Forever Stamp honoring beloved children’s poet Shel Silverstein at the Chicago elementary school he attended as child.  My friend Mike Gold, former Chicago Seed staffer, pop culture commentator, and comic book maven described the event as “Honoring the most subversive folkie I’ve known” adding, “this is stupidly cool, but I do not believe these folks did their vetting.”  That was especially true of the earnest school official who also unveiled a mural honoring the alumnusand spoke in the kind of uplifting platitudes that Shel would mock...

¿Por qué no recordamos los primeros días de nuestras vidas? I am learning Spanish on Duolingo and this phrase keeps returning to my lessons: Why don’t we remember the first days of our lives? My earliest memory is at my brother’s first birthday party–I was one. It is a memory of a day with my … Continue reading Earliest Memories

Since 2020, I’ve been filming stories-for-all-ages in a puppet studio I put together in the nursery at the Palo Alto church. We’re about to resume infant and toddler care, so it’s only a matter of time before I have to remove the puppet studio from the nursery. But I managed to take some behind-the-scenes photos … Continue reading "Behind the scenes"

  Story There are a number of illuminating stories, fables, and myths in the world.   This is but one: A Crow, half-dead with thirst, came upon a Pitcher which had once been full of water; but when the Crow put its beak into the mouth of the Pitcher, he found that only very little water was left in it, and that he could not reach far enough down to get at it. He tried, and he tried, but at last had to give up in despair. Then a thought came to him, and he took a pebble and dropped it into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped it into the Pitcher. And then he did it again. And he did that a few more times, and then, just for good measure, he dropped in a few more pebbles.   At last, at last, he saw the water had risen cl...

In part two of AWAKENING, we talk about spiritual practice and learning to interact with creation with renewed senses.

I have started to take short walks in the neighborhood–just 10-15 minutes each morning. It feels good to be moving again and hopefully building my strength. I especially get energy from the birds singing so exuberantly. There are cardinals all over the neighborhood. This morning, from our backyard I saw several cardinals chasing each other […]

Some people think that long trails with significant elevation changes are harder than shorter, flatter trails. It isn’t true. We did an 8 + miler this week with almost 1100 feet of elevation. But it was really pretty easy. The trail was well built and maintained with long gentle switchbacks. There were very few roots […]

        It was on this day, the 10th of April, in 428, that Nestorius was enthroned as Patriarch of Constantinople. Three years later he would be deposed and driven into exile. This would lead to the first ongoing schism within the continuing Christian churches, which would in time create the great branches […]

Sometimes, we light a candle to remember someone important. As it burns lower, its flickering light reminds us to bring them into our hearts, minds, and prayers. Light a candle of remembrance today.

Wild magic strips away the masks, costumes, and programming of the modern world and helps us remember who and what we truly are. That helps us understand what we really want, and how we can go about getting it – or being it.

      I am so pleased to announce that I have offered denkai transmission to senior dharma teachers, the Reverend Janine Seitetsu Larsen, Tom Daimon Wardle, and Mo Myokan Weinhardt. And, that they have accepted. As Zen has taken shape in the West most communities have found a two-step transmission healthful. The first step […]

Dorienne Laux. I admit to kind of falling in love with the work of Dorienne Laux despite our differences in gender, and many life experiences.  But we share an experience, as we shall see, her in her youth and me at a much older age and also a heart-on-the-sleeve love of poetry itself. Laux was born January 10, 1952 in Augusta, Maine in a family of French Canadian ancestry.  She worked as a sanatorium cook, a gas station manager, and a maid before receiving a B.A. in Englishfrom Mills College in Oakland, California in1988.  She taught at the University of Oregon and is now a professor at North Carolina State University’s creative writing program, and the MFA in Writing Programat Pacific University.  She is also a contributing edito...

Like the other trees I’ve been drawing for the past couple of weeks, the Western juniper has tight, scale-like mature leaves. But when the leaves (and seedlings) are young, they are more needlelike. This is the case of most if not all of these trees, but I haven’t always found photos of that juvenile stage. […]

UK occultists and scholars gathered at the end of March to celebrate the life and work of Gareth Knight. Continue reading UK: first Gareth Knight Conference takes place in Glastonbury at The Wild Hunt.

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— A few weeks ago I received a wholly unexpected telephone call from an elderly man I knew who was in a hospital many miles from Cambridge having just been told that he had, at most, a week to live. With no warning whatsoever I found myself fully immersed in a vitally important, existentially charged conversation with someone about something that, as Paul Tillich (1886-1965) called it, was of “ultimate concern.” As Tillich writes: “Man, like every living being, is concerned about many things, above all about those whic...

Yesterday my students in the wood shop at ESSA began making two boxes. A third box will be started today. The photo show cutting finger joints using a dedicated ringer joint router set up. I have 8 students and the class is going well! Make, fix and create...

A pile of old photographs brings back memories of people who have gone before us, like the cloud of ancestors at your back. Who are the ancestors behind you today?

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— Today is Palm Sunday, the day when Christian churches retell the story found in all four gospels about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem shortly before his arrest, trial and execution. In the gospel of Mark the basic event is briefly described as follows: “And many persons spread their cloaks in the road, but others stalks of straw, cutting them from the fields. And both those going ahead and those following after cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one coming in the name of the Lord; Blessed is the coming kingdom of our fa...

      It was on this day, the 9th of April in 1945. The allies were closing in and just two weeks before the collapse of the Nazi regime. One day after a trial before an SS judge, at dawn, the Reverend Dietrich Bonhoeffer was stripped naked, marched to the place of execution, and […]

  Maxine Kumin--a poet in her prime at her desk. Maxine Kumin was born Maxine Winokur on June 6, 1925 in Philadelphia, the daughterof Jewish parents but attended a Catholic kindergarten and primary school. She received her B.A. in 1946 and her M.A.in 1948 from Radcliffe. In June 1946 she married Victor Kumin, an engineering consultant.   They had three children, two daughters and a son. In 1957, she studied poetry with John Holmes at the Boston Center for Adult Education. There she met Anne Sexton, with whom she started a friendshipthat continued until Sexton’s suicide in 1974.   Kumin taught English from 1958 to 1961 and 1965 to 1968 at Tufts University and from 1961 to 1963 she was a scholarat the Radcliffe Institute for Independe...

I have not been keeping to my posting schedule! So I will post the last three drawings now.

It’s public now. I’ll be resigning from the UU Church of Palo Alto as of July 31. I’ll post my resignation letter below the fold. The congregation that hired me hasn’t posted this on its website yet — when they do, I’ll post that info here. Dear friends, After more than 12 years at UUCPA, … Continue reading "News"

Please join us on Sunday (10 April 2022) at 11:00 AM for “Alive in the World” with Rev. Barbara Jarrell and friends. We will be meeting outdoors on the church grounds for this worship service.  Please join us in person at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA  71106 if you are able … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (10 April 2022)"

Please join us on Easter Sunday (17 April 2022) after our worship service for our Easter Potluck Lunch. In honor of spring and all things green this is a salad potluck. Bring your favorite salad to share.  Or bring your favorite interpretation of salad to share. Join us to dine indoors or out and celebrate … Continue reading "Easter Potluck Lunch (17 April 2022)"

Please join us on Sunday (10 April 2022) at 9:00 AM for our adult religious education class via Zoom. This Sunday we begin our work through the book Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad. As the author says, “This is not a book you read, this is a book you do” and we … Continue reading "Online Adult Religious Education — 10 April 2022"

On this Sunday (10 April 2022), children and youth religious education classes will resume in person and will happen during our 11:00 AM worship service. We will resume our pre-COVID practice where the children and youth will join us in the sanctuary for the first 15-20 minutes and then we will sing them out to … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education (10 April 2022)"

Please join us on Saturday (9 April 2022) from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM for our monthly building and grounds work day.Nearly all of the work maintaining our physical space is done by our members and friends who show up on the second Saturday of each month and do what needs to be done. On … Continue reading "Building and Grounds Work Day (9 April 2022)"

Clio Ajana describes her experiences at the 2022 Paganicon festival. Continue reading Column: Wait a Little While at The Wild Hunt.

      In the Japanese calendar today, the 8th of April is Hanamatsuri. It’s becomes a flower festival honoring the birth of Gautama Siddhartha. The Buddha’s birthday is celebrated at other times in other Buddhist countries. Most of Asia likes May. With that, a wealth of possibilities to choose from. Of course that’s because […]

Today I have 8 students for a three day box making class at the Eureka Springs School of the Arts. I'll attempt to take a few photos during my very busy days. Yesterday I arrived on the Clear Spring School campus to find our giant Froebel blocks, sets 3 and 4 arranged as a stage complete with seating and a cut up tractor tire for good measure. Every small school in the country should have such cool blocks on their playgrounds. Even without administrators understanding Froebel or the true value of Kindergarten students would know how to learn from the blocks. The blocks and benches were made in the Clear Spring School wood shop. Make, fix and create...

William Wordsworth is often considered the godfather of English romantic poets.  Older than the rest of the pack, he was born on April 7, 1770 in Cockermouth, Cumberland.  He was not dashing like John Keats or heroic like Lord Byron.  He was a writing partner, mentor, and benefactor to Samuel Coleridge but did not share his enthusiasmfor the epic and esoteric. Instead, often enthusedabout nature and the beautiful Lake District where he lived and tramped on foot.  This identification with nature deeply influenced American Ralph Waldo Emerson who visited him on his Grand Tour of Europe.  He was raised to Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom and served from 1843 until his death on April 23, 1850.  He remains widely anthologizedand admi...

So many times, I find myself lying awake in bed, replaying situations I wish I had handled better. Sometimes memories of the mistakes of years ago will come back to me when I need my mind to be empty the most. It is a constant effort to remind myself to be gentle with past me … Continue reading Lying Awake

We’ve been teaching Ecojustice Class — a hands-on environmental justice curriculum for gr. 6-8 — since 2014. But much to the frustration of the teachers, there has never been a written curriculum for the class — until now. Here’s the general curriculum plan for Ecojustice Class. There should be enough material there to fill approximately … Continue reading "Ecojustice Class curriculum now online (finally)"

Earth Month is here and we’ve been busy getting ready. Lots of planning and advocacy… Enjoying warmer weather (or not) with walks, hikes, bike rides, marches and rallies. Looking ahead to more of these, and the events listed below, which we hope to share with you all. Sunday, April ... read more . The post Earth Month Activities with the UUSS Green Sanctuary Team appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

The next book in the BIPOC Book Group is a memoir by local civil rights activist Dr. Alice Green of the Center for Law & Justice in Albany — We Who Believe in Freedom: Activism and the Struggle for Social Justice. Join the book discussion ... read more . The post Read & Discuss We Who Believe in Freedom: Activism and the Struggle for Social Justice. appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

UPCOMING RE CLASSES: K/1st/2nd Grade OWL (Our Whole Lives sexuality education): Mandatory Parent-Child Orientation scheduled for Sunday, 4/10, beginning at 10:30 am, in the Waters House library. This in-person curriculum supports parents in educating children about birth, babies, bodies, and families. The sessions will engage children with stories, songs, ... read more . The post RE This Week appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

UUA President Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray responds with moral outrage to recent anti-trans legislation in Alabama and offers unequivocal support all the trans and non-binary people. Continue reading "Alabama’s Anti-Trans Legislation is Dangerous and Dehumanizing"

TWH's newest correspondent, Eligiah Thornton explores the Georgia Guidestones amd their history in Georgia. Continue reading Meet Me at the Guidestones at The Wild Hunt.

The UUA celebrates the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court because her experience and credentials give us hope for the future of this country. Continue reading "The UUA Celebrates Confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson to U.S. Supreme Court"

Hours before the close of the 2022 legislative session, the Alabama state senate introduced some of the most harmful, comprehensive anti-trans legislation that has been proposed anywhere in the nation. If AL SB184 passes today, it will include a “Don’t Say Gay/Trans” provision, forced outing of LGBTQIA+ students, a bathroom ban, and the most extreme healthcare ban in the US, which could send doctors who provide gender-affirming healthcare to trans youth to prison for 10 years.  Let us be clear: our faith unequivocally, fiercely, and unapologetically affirms that trans people are a divine and a beloved part of the human family. There is no law, no political rhetoric, that can diminish the inherent worth and dignity of trans and non...

Hosted in March 2022, this training featured Sam Ames, Director of Advocacy & Government Affairs for The Trevor Project as well as Side With Love staff Rev. Ashley Horan, Rev. Ranwa Hammamy, and Adrian Ballou. Webinar recording with video (80 minutes) Audio only (.m4a) Chat transcript View our earlier webinar, Combatting Anti-Trans Legislation 101  with the Trevor Project Other Links: Trans Lifeline for any trans/nonbinary+ person in need of support: US (877) 565-8860 Canada (877) 330-6366 Trevor Project Hotline/Chat Line/Text Line (For LGBTQIA+ youth ages 13-24):  Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a Crisis Counselor The Network/La Red Hotline (for LGBTQIA+ people experiencing partner violence): 800-832-1901 Gende...

Announcement of upcoming opportunities to participate in decisions that will shape the future of Unitarian Universalism: General Assembly, presidential search, and Article II review. Continue reading "Showing Up For Our UU Living Tradition"

      First wrote a version of this this a couple of years ago. It’s a small celebration of one of the founders of the American Unitarian movement. Today, on the two hundred and forty-second anniversary of his birth, it seems worth reprinting, slightly polished from that earlier version.   William Ellery Channing was […]

Our Boston Pilgrimage was especially poignant this year because we had to cancel our annual trip in 2020 and 2021. So, we dubbed this year BACK TO BOSTON because we took 3 classes with us on our adventure. The post Back to Boston appeared first on BeyondBelief.

I was at two different protests recently. Both were in the middle of Cardiff, and both at points were on exactly the same routes. One was a protests, organised by the Cardiff People's Assembly, protesting the cost of living crisis. The other was a procession between two Anglican churches in Cardiff as an act of witness to pray for peace in Ukraine.Now of course those issues are very different,

I struggle with short term memory and have excellent long term memory. I can describe to you everything I did the day my brother was born 18 years ago, and all the words to my favorite song when I was 13, but I cannot remember where I last had my glasses, or what today’s Wordle … Continue reading Frustration

No one person has polytheist monasticism all figured out yet. But because these writers have shared their experiences and their practices, the rest of us have a place to start, and a map for taking our own practices further.

Some of the things that pop up regularly on my Facebook page are posted from Big Think which popularizes advanced scientific research and speculation for the reasonably literate lay person.   Most often I glance at the summary but delve into the articles from time to time.   Frankly, most sail over my head.   Sometimes articles contradict each other as scientists advance different hypotheses.   An awful lot sails right over my head. I am no scientist, philosopher, or theologian—some of the most speculative stuff seems to demand that, too.   I am a humanities major who dropped out of college and spent most of my working life as a blue collar worker, janitor, and gas station clerk—manifestly incompetent to understandmuch of what I...

We had a very nice book signing at the Crescent Hotel last weekend and this week I've been back to work in the wood shop at the Clear Spring School. Today, my Kindergarten class began making sets of wooden Froebel blocks. When the blocks are finished and sanded, we'll make boxes to hold them so they can be kept and shared with the younger children in their families. Last night I did a zoom presentation for the Northwest Corner Woodworker's Association and I was telling them of the joy that's to be found in teaching woodworking, particularly to the younger kids who show such enthusiasm for the work. At this point I've done about all that I can do to promote my new book without being obnoxious. I hope others will take up the cause and assi...

The U.S. Senate passes a resolution making April National Native Plant Month to bring awareness to the value of native species, and help to ensure their survival. Continue reading Happy Native Plant Month at The Wild Hunt.

Sunday, April 10, 10:30 a.m. Awakening Moments Worship Service led by Rev. Stephen Shick   Sometimes moments in our lives reveal truth hidden under the surface of all our doing and concerns. Instantly, it seems, we see more clearly who we are and what we are called by life to do. Today, however, as our minds   [ … ] The post Sunday, April 10 ~ Awakening Moments ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

By Lennard Davis | Like many Children of Deaf Adults [CODAs], I was heartened to see that the film “CODA” had won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It is very exciting that Troy Kotsur, who plays the Deaf father of the hearing child in the film, was the first Deaf male actor won for Best Supporting Male Performance. It is also encouraging to see a movie in which all the roles of the Deaf characters were actually played by Deaf actors. Hurray! All a major step forward in the fight against audism. But as a CODA, I should step back from the cheering crowds of appreciative hearing and Deaf fans to express some serious regrets.

    Richard Alpert was born in Newton, Massachusetts, today, the 6th of April, 1931. He entered Tufts University in 1948 (which I note is the year I was born), graduating with a degree in psychology, then taking a master’s at Wesleyan, and finally earning his doctorate at Stanford. After a year teaching at Stanford […]

Molly Housh Gordon You can crush Love down, bury it, cover it over, but it will rise. Continue reading "We Keep Rising in Love"

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are escorted by Federal Marshals to their trial on March 21, 1950.  On April 5, both were sentenced to die. On April 5, 1951 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death for nuclear espionage.  There was never much doubt that Julius, an electrical engineer, had been a Soviet agent since at least 1942 when he was in the Army Signal Corps at the Engineering Laboratories at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.  During that time, he passed on secret research on electronics, communications, radar, and guided missile controls to the Soviets, then American Allies against the Nazis.  Julius was fired in 1945 when his pre-war membership in the Communist Party surfaced but remained an intelligence agent charged with buil...

I fell asleep at 9:30 last night. Lovely. So I didn’t draw, and have made up for it with two trees today. Baker cypress–sigh. I’m getting a little tired of these cypresses. No, they aren’t all alike, but still. I’m ready for something completely different. But the Tecate cypress! Its range is limited almost entirely […]

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” -George Santayana What is a time your memory helped you avoid repeating a mistake?

As water levels of Colorado River continue decrease as demand increases, new solutions are being sought for much of the Western U.S. Continue reading Drought continues to impact Colorado River Basin at The Wild Hunt.

      James Luther Adams is arguably the single most important theologian produced by Unitarian Universalism in the twentieth century. Through his years at Harvard and elsewhere his teaching spread the benefits of a liberal spiritual perspective as a leaven among those who would become the clergy of many denominations. He was a wise […]

The older I get, the more forgetful I have become. Where did I leave my keys? Did I pay that bill? This memory loss is also a time when I receive grace and good humor from my close friends as we navigate aging together. -Beth Murray (CLF) When has forgetting something brought a smile to … Continue reading Forgetful

                                   An old man not dead yet. Maybe it’s the panting after a trip to the grocery store, the pain in my knee and various other body parts, or strapping a breathing gizmo to my face when I go to bed, but I feel more like the Old Man every day.  Without being morose I feel my mortality slipping away day by day.  Not that I plan to check out any time soon.  At least a couple of doctors recently assured me that I will be around and annoying for the foreseeable future with just a few lifestyle adjustments—cutting out sugar and the kind of moderate exercise I can actually do. But like a lot of geezers past whatever landmarks are meaningful to them, I have been thinking a lot lately about...

In this week's Pagan Community Notes: Circle Sanctuary holds a peace vigil, news from Indigenous communities, rights of nature case, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of April 4, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

Writing in a sweet little chocolate shop on the shores of the Mississippi in Wabasha, Minnesota! This week I've been spending time detoxing from pandemic stress and finding joy in exploring locales near home, exquisite self care and writing outside of my home.

In the wake of Helene Atwan’s retirement announcement, Beacon Press is delighted to share that Gayatri Patnaik, who has been with the press for two decades, has been appointed as the next Director, effective July 30, 2022.

Elaine McArdle Association’s next chief executive and spiritual leader to be elected at General Assembly 2023

 

We bear witness to difficult things so that they are not forgotten by the collective memory. Bear witness to something important to remember today.

From the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center. 1968was fifty four years ago.   Let that sink in.   For me, personally and for much of my generation it was the pivot in time when everything changed utterly.   Things happened that year that shaped me from amorphous clayinto what I became.   Anniversaries from that year come fast and furious—this record album dropped, that movie opened, a giant anti-war march or two or three, a snowy primary and a President demurred , assassinations, riots-o-rama , a convention , an election , a man on the Moon.   It can make your head swim.   But no single moment is etched so firmly in my memory that the moment I heard the Martin Luther King was shot down. That moment at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. Ra...

The Justice Revival is a great event to meet people at All Souls, especially those interested in justice work! This interactive event is sure to inspire, connect, and REVIVE your call to justice! The Justice Revival is in person at All Souls, 9 to noon, on Saturdays, April 9 & 23! Please RSVP at allsouls.me/justice. Hear from All Souls Justice Team members and our keynote speakers: Afghan Refugee Resettlement with Aliye Shimi, Executive Director of Tulsa Metropolitan Ministries, on April 9.Raising Funds for Justice with Cynthia Jasso, Program Officer, Vibrant & Inclusive Tulsa, on April 23. The Justice Revival is […] The post Justice Revival kicks off Saturday appeared first on BeyondBelief.

      VAINGLORY The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Pride James Ishmael Ford First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to be of a lowly spirit among the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud. Proverbs 16:18-19 […]

Maybe it’s a northern California thing, but every so often we run across and altar on a trail. It could be set a hollow in a tree, or in a rock crevice. People leave small objects there, things that have some significance for them. It is a form of prayer I think. In any case, […]

Lyonel attends a Kvelertak and compares it to magic and ritual. Continue reading Berserk Bachannal at The Wild Hunt.

In the first of two parts on AWAKENING, Rev. John shares thoughts on the subject of presence .

I am writing this outside on the back porch, listening to cardinal songs from the trees at the edges of our yard both right and left. It’s cooler today than yesterday, partly cloudy, but spring feels like it’s waking everything up, including me. I was delighted yesterday to look out the back windows and see […]

At 9 AM Central Time the local NPR Affiliate KUAF will broadcast a longer version of my radio interview with Kyle Kellams on "Ozarks-atLarge." Then this afternoon I have my book signing at the Crescent Hotel from 2-4 PM. I'll do a short talk, a short reading and be available for questions as well as signing copies of my new book, "The Wisdom of Our Hands: Crafting, A Life." You can listen to the KUAF broadcast on any smart-speaker devise. Ask Alexa or Google to "play KUAF radio" at 9 AM if you are in the central time zone. Make, fix and create...

Poet Barbara Hamby. Born in New Orleans and raised in Hawaii , Barbara Hamby earned an MA at Florida State University . She is the author of several poetry collections , including Delirium which won the Vassar Miller Prize , the Kate Tufts Discovery Award , and the Poetry Society of America’s Norma Farber First Book Award in 1995; Babel which won the Association of Writers & Writing Programs’ Donald Hall Prize in 2004; and All-Night Lingo Tango in 2009. Her short story collection , Lester Higata’s 20th Century in 2010 won the Iowa Short Fiction Prize/John Simmons Award . With her husband , poet and musician David Kirby , she coedited the anthology Seriously Funny in 2010. Hamby’s poetry has been featured in numerous anthologies, ...

Memories can be wonderful things–like remembering the favorite aunt who left this world at age 94 1/2 (yes she still counted the halfs).  She loved me like a daughter and cherished my visits and phone calls.  We all need that kind of special and unconditional love in our lives.  The memory of her and what … Continue reading Memories of Love

It’s good to examine the rational benefits of religion. The problem comes when we assume anything “rational” must be materialistic and non-theistic. Our religious experiences are unquestionably real. They’re why religion persists, and why it will always persist.

With an early-rising morning of travel behind me and a big service ahead of me, I’m too tired to do more than make a quick sketch and note that like yesterday’s tree, the Mac Nab or Shasta cypress is endemic to California, which means it is found only here. Glad to meet you, neighbor.

Lyonel Perabo reviews a recent Kvelertak concert and finds great ritual as well as great music. Continue reading Berserk Bachannal at The Wild Hunt.

    Of Doubt and Faith and Energy a dharma talk by James Ishmael Ford Empty Moon Zen   “The opposite of faith is not doubt; it is certainty. It is madness. You can tell you have created God in your image when it turns out that he or she hates all the same people […]

Compassion for Campers shelves at Willow Crystal Lake for the next Empower Shower Event are nearly bare of most basic equipment.  Help us restock them before our next distribution on Friday, April 15! On Friday, April 1 Compassion for Campers, the program which provides camping gear, equipment, and supplies to McHenry County’s unhoused population, set up in a new room at the Community Power Shower Event at Willow Crystal Lake, 100 South Main Street with plenty of nice shelving space.   Unfortunately, due to a drastic shortage of funds we were only able to purchase less than half of the usual order of the most basic equipment—tents, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, tarps, camp stoves, and propane fuel tanks.   By the end of the four h...

  In most of the Islamic world Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim Calendar, and will begin today at sundown. The date is calculated by the first sighting of the crescentafter the New Moon.   Since this can vary in different parts of the world, so can the marked beginning of the month.   In the United States the western calendar date is April. Ramadan was the month in which the first versesof the  In most of the Islamic world Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim Calendar , and will begin today at sundown. The date is calculated by the first sighting of the crescent after the New Moon .   Since this can vary in different parts of the world , so can the marked beginning of the month.   In the United States the western calendar d...

There are many ways that autism presents itself in people. This month, we dedicate ourselves to understanding the ways in which autistic people want to be witnessed in all of their fullness and to making sure that autistic people have a say in decisions made that affect them.  For more information, visit Autistic Advocacy. Take … Continue reading Autism Awareness

This Californian, found mostly on the Monterey Peninsula in only two natural stands, is threatened due to the encroachment of invasive non-natives, and habitat destruction–the latter mostly carried out by humans clearing land for new houses, recreation spaces, and businesses. One problem is that where we humans build, we suppress fire, and Gowen (a.k.a. California) […]