My readers will find this article from Forbes to be interesting, and perhaps this quote also from Louis Pasteur, leading it, "that chance favors the prepared mind."  https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidburkus/2013/09/25/are-you-wasting-your-10000-hours/ At the gym on Saturday, my weight lifting partners were discussing K. Anders Erickson's 10,000 hour rule, and that so many hours are expended by all of us in frivolous fashion. An example is that by the time a student graduates from high school, well in excess of 10,000 hours will have been spent in dispassionate time, sitting at desks, when in an alternate approach they might have become fully engaged in pursuit of passional interests. What does it take as far as a general investment of t...

Compassion for ourselves is a key component of our mental health. It is too easy to fall into a cycle of self-criticism and perfectionism. It is important to learn to forgive ourselves, to treat ourselves as we would want to have our loved ones treated. How do you stop the cycle of self-criticism?

Join us for our first ever indoor/outdoor service. We'll begin in the Sanctuary with our end-of-year celebrations, acknowledging our volunteers and this year's class of high school seniors. Then, the service moves outdoors for our annual flower communion ceremony. Afterwards, stick around and bring your picnic lunch as we tailgate, socialize, and celebrate the blooming flowers and our own reemergence.

I was in the Sierras last week so skipped writing that week of “Weekly” bread. It was a great trip, we took a hike on every one of the seven days we were there. No really long ones, mainly just 5-6 miles each, but then again we didn’t take any recovery days. We also walked […]

        American politician, San Francisco City Supervisor, and civil rights activist, Harvey Milk was born on this day, the 22nd of May, in 1930. I note this nearly every year. It’s important. In a more just world he would have been ninety-two today. However, in 1978 he was assassinated together with San […]

The S,S, Savannah coming into port under steam power in 1819. To get a handle on the audacityof the designers and owners of the SS Savannah , the first ship equipped with steam powerto cross the Atlantic Ocean, just thirteen years earlier in 1806 Robert Fulton had inaugurated passenger packet service on the Hudson River between New York City and Albany.   Despite the enduring American myth, Fulton had not invented the steamboat—a French inventor had demonstrated one briefly on the Seine as early as 1783 and by 1785 American John Fitch of Philadelphia and William Symington of Dumfries, Scotland had built successful prototypes.   But Fulton—a student of Fitch—was the first to build a successful commercial vessel. In the intervening...

On World Goth Day, Goths and adjacent folks celebrate who and what we are. We find beauty and meaning in what others find bizarre and disturbing. And we remember that sometimes, if they’re determined and careful and a little lucky, the monsters can win.

I don’t want to stop spending time with this leaf, so I’ll continue tomorrow.

At my wife's suggestion in 2006, I launched the Wisdom of the Hands blog with this blog post:   Independent schools like Clear Spring serve an important role in education. https://wisdomofhands.blogspot.com/2006/09/independent-schools-like-clear-spring.html Since then there have been over 2.5 million page views recorded reflecting an unknowable number of first time and returning visitors. My wife thought that by doing the log I would not need to write the Wisdom of Our Hands book, and that the one would take the place of the other. But the blog became my way of sifting and recording and practicing getting better at sharing the ideas inherent in the philosophy. The blog also helped me to be connected with like minds all over the world. I...

I call the queer ancestors the Rainbow Dead. This term specifies their special place in our collective histories as well as in our spiritual practices. Ancestors need not be of our blood in order to be potent allies in our lives and work. It just takes us getting to know them, and a recognition of the work that they did to lay a foundation upon which we today may walk. Continue reading Column: Becoming the Queer Ancestors at The Wild Hunt.

Learning to love myself fully means learning to love my body, even with its limitations. It means overcoming the internalized messages of ableism taught to me over and over by a society that values “productivity” above inherent worth and dignity. -Michael Tino (CLF) What messages have you had to overcome in order to love yourself?

The grand and glorious New York Public Library in a hand-tinted linen post card from the early 1930's . There may be taller buildings.   There may even be more beautiful buildings. There are certainly more profitable usesfor prime Manhattan real estate .   But maybe no building in New York City is more justifiably admired and beloved than the Main Branch of the New York Public Library which opened its doors for the first time on this date in 1911 at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street. It was recently named the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building in honor of the billionaire banker who pledged $100 million to restoration and repair of the structure.   It hardly put a dent in his personal fortune.   Schwarzman made headlines in 2012 when he compared...

Derek Parker, a friend and minister, responded to my request for what I might write for this blog. This is a list I drew up over lunch, in no particular order. What would you add? Training manuals and spreadsheets for volunteer treasurers Resources for accompanying hymn singing without a trained musician Self-directed spiritual development resources … Continue reading "10 resources for very small churches"

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— As some of you may know, between last Christmas and the New Year, a recently arrived, homeless asylum seeker from Hong Kong knocked on the manse door to ask for help having seen a Cambridge City of Sanctuary sign on our noticeboard saying we welcome refugees and asylum seekers (see photo to the right). After paying for J. (not his real name)  to spend a week in the local youth hostel many of you, very kindly, then donated what has now amounted to nearly two thousand pounds to a fund to help me continue to help, in a very m...

We went for a hike in Henry W. Coe State Park today. There were still quite a few flowers in bloom, of which my favorite was the Butterfly Mariposa Lily: The terrain was the usual steep hillsides of the Coastal Ranges: The weather was ideal: 65-75 degrees, with a steady northerly breeze. We walked about … Continue reading "Field trip"

Please join us on Sunday (22 May 2022) at 11:00 AM for “You Say the Sun Isn’t Shining” by  Rev. Barbara Jarrell. We will be meeting in the sanctuary 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 to do … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (22 May 2022)"

Mark Your Calendar — the North Louisiana Interfaith Regional Assembly of Congregations and Citizen Organizations will be meeting on Tuesday (14 June 2022) from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM (Brown Chapel – Centenary College of Louisiana). Imagine if all our organizations worked together to build a way for ordinary people to take action to solve … Continue reading "North Louisiana Interfaith Regional Assembly of Congregations and Citizen Organizations (14 June 2022)"

Please join us on Sunday (22 May 2022) at 9:00 AM for our adult religious education class via Zoom. This Sunday we continue 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 — 22 May 2022"

On this Sunday (22 May 2022), children and youth religious education classes will continue to meet in person during our 11:00 AM worship service. We have resumed 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 their … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education (22 May 2022)"

Please join us next Tuesday (24 May 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.

Please join us on Saturday (21 May 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 each month and do what needs to be done. There are tasks for all … Continue reading "Building and Grounds Work Day (21 May 2022)"

I was noodling around some British Unitarian websites and noticed the Unitarian Christian Association has worship at 6pm Sundays on Zoom … perfect as a Sunday morning service for much of North America, or at 1pm on the east coast. They invite you to show up a few minutes early and get settled in. Information … Continue reading "Unitarian Christian worship online"

Por más que lo intentaron, los demás animales no supieron usar el fuego como el rey, pero el hombre sí. Desde entonces el colibrí, la perdiz, y el pájaro bobo se convirtieron en guardianes de la humanidad por su regalo. Continue reading Columna: El Dueño del Fuego – Ingenio, curiosidad, y risa at The Wild Hunt.

"No matter how hard they tried, the other animals did not know how to use fire like the king, but man did. Since then the hummingbird, the partridge, and the booby bird have become guardians of humanity for their gift." Continue reading Column: The Owner of Fire at The Wild Hunt.

The love for self is philautia. It is the opposite of selfishness; rather, it is the love that teaches us to value our own worth and needs. As the song goes “learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all.” How have you learned to love yourself?

        Antoinette Louisa Brown was born, today, the 20th of May, 1825, in Henrietta, New York. She was the youngest of Abby & Jospeh Brown’s seven children. Her extraordinary intellectual capacity was noted by the time she turned three. She was also deeply religious, offering prayers and occasion children’s sermons in her […]

On May 17th, Side With Love hosted the National Network of Abortion Funds for a political education webinar for Unitarian Universalists and other people of faith and conscience to support abortion and take action in a post-Roe world. We’re especially grateful to Amanda Pretlow and Adaku Utah for their expertise, love, and invitational challenge at this event. View the webinar View the presentation We heard about the importance of strengthening our muscles to have deep, connective conversations with people in our communities about abortion (and other issues!). NNAF’s Heart-to-Heart framework is an incredible resource to use for both relational organizing (1:1 values-based conversations with people in our own networks) and community or...

"Let the youth once learn to take a straight shaving off a plank, or draw a fine curve without faltering, or lay a brick level in its mortar, and he has learned a multitude of other matters which no lips of man could ever teach him." --John Ruskin, "Time and Tide", 1883 So what are those things that no lips of man could ever teach? Let's start with geometry, and the concepts straight and level. Without seeing or feeling by hand, concepts of math fall beyond the realm that words alone can convey. They are derived from the experience of the real world, shown to us by exercise and example. Then, beyond that, what does one learn from what Ruskin suggests? I could make a list. Some has to do with the mechanics of our own body and our movemen...

  Not only are abortion rights under attack but women's control over their own bodies is being criminalized. Note —A version this first appeared on my blog back in its relative infancy in 2007. And I have re-run it when the simple right of meaningful reproductive choice has seemed particularly threatened.   The post was drafted in response to an appeal from NARAL Pro-Choice America for stories about life before Roe V. Wade for use in a new campaign in defense of women’s right to choose, which back then unexpectedly seemed under attack again.   Back in 2007 we were in shock that rightsconsidered firmly and irrevocably won were once again under attack.   Fifteen years later that attack has become a tsunami.   Numerous attempts to ...

Creator of Diversity, Lover of Life that is Weird, Funky, Astounding, Surprising, Laughable, and Stunningly Wonderful, welcome us to our whole selves, the difficult and the delightful, the cherished and the disliked. Teach us to love ourselves and each other in our varied genders and expressing them, to love ourselves...

Here’s the gray oak leaf I started yesterday, but I decided I wasn’t going to continue with the little white dots. Instead, I drew this (same species, different reference photo). The gray oak, a.k.a. shin oak or scrub oak, is a Southwestern desert-dweller, not seen up in our rainier, cooler region.

UU rituals and practices: every day for every age. “…ritual is less about profound transitions and more about daily practices…They organize our emotional lives, prompt us to count our blessings along with our grievances, remind us to look up and out more often… They offer a sort of gentle time outside of time.” -Courtney E. Martin on the onBeing blog from September 4, 2015 Creating “gentle time...

In parts one and two of this three-part series, UUSC examined the impacts of its partners in Kiribati, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and New York in addressing the COVID crisis. In part three, we visit a partner in Fiji to learn about their efforts to support communities facing high COVID rates.  After the COVID-19 pandemic hit […]

Eligiah explores the legend of Judaculla Rock, the oldest petroglyphs on the East Coast. Continue reading Judaculla Rock and Cherokee spirituality at The Wild Hunt.

A friend I met over two decades ago once said, “There is a difference between falling in love and being in love.” After experiencing both, I know now that if you continually chase after the feelings of the former, you will miss out on the rich landscape of the latter. -Lori Stone (CLF) What pearls … Continue reading Being in Love

      Happy are they who know good and do good.Their love for the good feeds them continually.They are like trees planted near the river,whose roots go deep and wide. They thrive, bear fruit in season, andweather drought without wilting.Those who are not so groundedwill blow around like dry leaves in the wind.Root yourself […]

By Kyle T. Mays | I have read “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” every summer since I was sixteen; it is my favorite book. During a particularly difficult time in my life, my Advanced Placement US history teacher, Mr. K., gave me a copy of the book after trying to get me to talk to him about my situation. For reasons I don’t remember, I did not want to hear from this white man! He pulled out of his bag an original copy of “The Autobiography.”

I got an interesting email from a reader noting  the value of my new book to his newest passion, playing semi-pro football at the age of 58. He was introduced to my writing by a football coach and former shop teacher who was providing insight into the hand/brain/body connections essential to success in athletics. It fascinates me as I watch my students learning to saw with a hand saw, that developing a smooth motion with the saw involves developing smooth motion in the underlying infrastructure. A friend with whom I work out regularly described a coaching tip from a golfing companion, who suggested having watched his swing, that when his arms were pulled back, he would cock his wrists slightly, giving extra force to the swing, but inter...

                                      A late 19th Century official Post Office post card with decorative images. Over the vigorous objections of the United States Post Office on May 19, 1898 Congress passed the Private Mailing Card Act allowing private printing companies to produce postcards.    Privately printed cards first appeared in 1861 under an earlier act and the first card bearing images were copyrighted the same year. The Post Office had been printing and selling official post cards since 1877 for a penny apiece, less than half of the postage for a first class letter.   They had rapidly become popular with the poor and those who had quick messages and no desire or expectation of privacy. One wag called t...

I am drawing a gray oak leaf (Quercus grisea) and loving the white fuzz on it. Actually drawing it, on the other hand . . . I have to look at how people draw textures like this, because drawing in a zillion little dots is going to drive me around the bend. Of course, I […]

UUSC partners continue to provide life-saving resources for their communities.

After a hiatus due to the pandemic, the Welsh Occult Conference held a successful event this year with a number of featured presenters. Continue reading UK: Welsh Occult Conference at The Wild Hunt.

  Three years ago we planted these lilac bushes on the Murfin Estate. This is the first year they have come fully into bloom. In twenty or thirty years--long after we are dust and assuming no one tears them out, they will form an arch over the sidewalk leading from Ridge Avenue.  To paraphraseWalt Whitman without the mournful reference to Lincoln’s assassination, this is when Lilacs bloom in the dooryard.  Or in the case of the Murfin Estate, flanking the sidewalk from Ridge Avenue in Crystal Lake.  This is the first time since Kathy and I planted them in 2018 that they have fully bloomed—an occasion of much joy at the homestead.  That recalls old Murfin Verse. One early poem from my high school days in Skokie, Illinois has appa...

In response to the tragic shooting in Buffalo, NY, the UUA reaffirms its commitment to anti-racism and calls on the United States to confront its racist history and dismantle white supremacy. Continue reading "From the UUA: We Must Confront And Dismantle White Supremacy"

Love is excitement—fireworks and trumpets and chocolates and roses.  But it is also companionable quiet as you sit with someone you love and watch the snow fall or the birds fly by or the wind rustle the trees. -Judy DiCristofaro (CLF) How have you experienced the love of companionable quiet?

Five more copyright-free hymns added to this Google Drive folder. Full info about these newly added hymns below the fold. There are now 91 copyright-free hymns in the Google Drive folder. 66 of these are copyright-free versions (tune, text, and arrangement) of hymns from one of the two current Unitarian Universalist hymnals. For the hymns not in … Continue reading "Still more copyright-free hymns"

Sunday, May 22, 10:30 a.m. The Ordinary Miraculous Worship Service led by Rev. Alice Anacheka-Nasemann   Hans Christian Andersen said, “The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them we call them ordinary things.” Join us this Sunday, May 22, as Rev. Alice reflects on the everyday miracles that abound.    Join us   [ … ] The post Sunday, May 22 ~ The Ordinary Miraculous ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

Elaine McArdle The UUA wants the multiplatform General Assembly to be an equitable experience for all, including the voting process.

    This year Promise the Children will be raising funds to help address our nation’s child care crisis and to fund after-school programs for children in Lynn, Massachusetts. Start bidding today!     Join Promise the Children for our third virtual online auction! This year we will be raising funds to help address our nation’s child care crisis and to fund after-school programs for children in Lynn, Massachusetts. We are proud to have recently partnered with and supported Building read more... The post Bid for Good! Promise the Children’s Third Annual Online Auction appeared first on Promise the Children.

Susan Maginn None of us are mission-making machines. Continue reading "A Way in the Wilderness"

Physicist and astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson tried to throw cold water on those excited about last Sunday’s lunar eclipse. If you’re so scientifically snobbish you can’t appreciate an ordinary-but-beautiful event, just let people enjoy things.

Trees don’t pay any mind to human boundaries, and this species of oak lives along either side of the border in Arizona and New Mexico, USA, and Sonora and Chihuahua, México.

UUSC played a pivotal role in helping several of its partners address the impacts of the pandemic.

        I am in the midst of a project reflecting on the Biblical Psalms. While searching for possible Buddhist comments on them I stumbled upon S. Yamabe & L. Adams Beck’s translation of the Buddhist Psalms of Shinran Shonin. Not the psalms I was looking for. But… While I’m a Zen person, […]

In place of our colloquy, we share this powerful message from the Side With Love organizing team: “On Saturday, an 18-year-old white supremacist carried out a premeditated fatal attack on a Black community in Buffalo, killing ten and injuring many more. Today, we mourn the ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – May 17th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

OWL UPDATE (Our Whole Lives sexuality education): With the 8/9 OWL class, which wrapped up last month, and our current K/1/2, 5/6/7, and 11/12 OWL classes, we’ve had a total of 44 kids participating in OWL this year! During a pandemic! I couldn’t be more grateful to our ... read more . The post RE This Week – May 17th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Green Sanctuary invites you to join us for our annual celebration of the beauty of Mother Earth as she puts on her festive celebration of the coming of summer at Woods Hollow on the north edge of Ballston Spa. WHEN: Saturday, June 11, 3:00-5:00pm WHAT TO BRING: Comfy shoes (may ... read more . The post Spring Into Summer Hike, with the Green Sanctuary Team appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

UU Wellspring is a series of 10-month long spiritual deepening courses. Group members experience deep listening and spiritual reflection in small groups of about ten, inspiring personal and community transformation. Participants read, view and respond to pre-session assignments that are focused on spiritual topics and ... read more . The post Registration is Now Open for UU Wellspring 2022-2023 appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

The Ecological Spiritualities Conference held a panel that discussed eco-fascism and featured Deja Newton who spoke on “The History of Eco-Fascism and Its Spirituality." The recent mass shooting in Buffalo reflects this type of harmful ideology. Continue reading Eco-fascism and mass killings at The Wild Hunt.

The love that lasts through the years is pragma. It is the love one has for those people you know you can count on, the people you don’t even have to say something to in order for them to know what’s on your mind. It is the love of partnership–romantic and otherwise. What does it … Continue reading Pragma (Enduring Love)

Here’s yet another example of a hymn in a current UU hymnal, with an ambiguous copyright status. The lyrics to “This Old World Is Full of Sorrow” — no. 315 in Singing the Living Tradition — apparently first appeared in print in 1983 in New American Songster, ed. Charles W. Darling (Univ. Press, 1983). Darling … Continue reading "More ambiguous copyright status"

A Q&A with Eboo Patel | Always remember: the goal is not a more ferocious revolution; the goal is a more beautiful social order. Those of us in advocacy have signed up to be the architects of a better society, not just tell other people what they are doing wrong. We need to defeat the things we do not love by building the things we do. What does a better school look like? What does a working grocery store in a food desert look like?

We've been making a series of small boxes in wood shop at the Clear Spring School and the photo shows but one example. This one is made to display student made tops. You show a student a box and the student says, "I want to make one."  Students will be finishing another type of box today. The second photo shows boxes of a higher standard made by Ray Taylor's older students in NWACC's Construction Technology program. More photos of Ray's student boxes can be found on instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CdW6pbpI_9p/ Making beautiful and useful things should be a part of  every student's school experience. Make, fix and create.

  Barbara Brown and her mother in front of the Supreme Court building. On May 17, 1954 a unanimous decision by the United States Supreme Court overturned legal precedent and established custom to rule in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”   The ruling sent shock waves across the nation, and it took more than a decade of turmoil and violence before this precedent was enforced across the land.   Before this ruling school segregationflourished not only in the Deep South but across much of the rest of the nation under the protection of the 1896 court decision in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson which ruled that “separate but equal” public accommodations we...

Manzanita doesn’t grow on the East Coast, where I grew up. Now when I see it during a hike–which is more often than not–I am delighted. I love the dark red bark, whose traces you can see here in the pink stem of the leaf. Arctostaphylos manzanita has two common names: “common manzanita” and “whiteleaf […]

Every mass shooting is followed by disinformation when it comes to holding others accountable for their actions.

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, the Department of the Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs release a joint report on boarding schools, a new Earth-based spirituality team, blood moon video, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of May 16, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

On Saturday, an 18 year old white supremacist carried out a premeditated fatal attack on a Black community in Buffalo, killing ten and injuring many more. Today, we mourn the loss of these ten precious people and grieve with the Buffalo community as they reel from this violence and collective trauma. Tops is more than a grocery store - it is a space that the community created to meet essential needs. The shooter’s plan was specifically designed to target the beating heart of the Black community, taking aim at a nexus of community care, resources, and resiliency. This is the essence of white supremacist ideology - the annihilation of not just BIPOC people as individuals, but entire communities and cultures. Given how many times white su...

I was recently in a conversation with colleagues about how great it would be if the UUA would help with some of our church processes we struggle with, specifically payroll. It reminded me of this article I wrote for the no longer available blog "The Lively Tradition" run by Tom Shade. Much of this article is dated, but the final point remains. "A Relentlessly Useful UUA" Published August 16, 2004 It was just announced that the UUA newsletter "Interconnections" is ending.  In June, the UUA announced a budget shortfall of 1.3 million, and this is one result of that deficit.  Donald Skinner, who edited Interconnections for 15 years, says Tom Sites, former UU World Editor, wanted the newsletter to be “relentlessly useful." As a minister,...

Love can bring out the best in all of us. Ever notice when you are falling in love, whether it be with romantic love or family love or friendship love, we lift up the person we are newly in love with. Everything that they do is wonderful and exciting. We encourage them and support them. … Continue reading Falling in Love

Susan Frederick-Gray Living into Beloved Community is spiritual work.

As we reach the millionth U.S. COVID death, how can we prevent such overwhelming numbers from demoralizing us and instead reach people in ways that inspire work to build the more equitable and compassionate system?

                                     Pharmacist, teetotaler, and entrepreneur Charles Elmer Hires. Note —The blog is back.   I have still not been able to restore my Facebook but now have over 150 friends on my new page—about 10% of my old one—and still have not been able to get in several of the interest groups where I routinely posted links to entries.   If you are a fan of this hodge-podge you can help by sharing links widely and inviting me to join groups where you have seen posts before.   Thanks for the sympathy, encouragement, and support many have lent me and this little pop stand at the far end of the cul de sac. Root beer is fadingfast.   Once one of America’s favorite soft drinks it is in dan...

        Elizabeth Palmer Peabody was born on this day, the 16th of May, in 1804. The litany of her accomplishments is long. Widely read and cultivated, after starting and running two schools, and would eventually open the first kindergarten in the United States. Elizabeth served as William Ellery Channing’s private secretary for […]

Archeologists have published an initial study of a carving found in southern-eastern Turkey that depicts a procession of deities in a mixture of Assyrian and Aramaic styles. Continue reading Assyrian deity carvings found in secret Turkish tunnel at The Wild Hunt.

Clearing a backlog of copyright-free hymns from my music files. I’ve just uploaded PDFs of 6 more copyright-free hymns to this Google Drive folder: “The Growing Light,” “A Hundred Years Hence,” “Peace, the Perfect Word,” “Prayer for This House,” “There Are Numerous Strings in Your Lute,” and “Turn Back.” Most of these hymns have appeared … Continue reading "Six more copyright free hymns"

All people are sexual beings, but not all people express or receive physical pleasure in the same ways. The intimacy of healthy relationships allows us to express with partners how it is that we feel pleasure, and what it is that we desire physically and emotionally. Talk with someone about a sensitive topic today.

This afternoon I took the Pashley Guvnor out for a 30-mile spin, heading back into Cambridge via Toft, a small village lying 6 miles to the west of Cambridge. It’s a village I have often cycled through and many, many times I’ve stopped in the churchyard to drink a flask of tea and read a few pages of whatever book/piece it is I happen to be reading at the moment — on this occasion, it was T. S. Eliot’s 1922 poem, “The Wasteland” following up on my recent visit to Margate. Alas, pre-COVID-19, the church was always locked on my visits but, today, I was very pleased to find it open and so I took the opportunity to go in, look around and take a few photos before quietly saying the Lord’s Prayer and then stepping out to a bench ...

We explore "Nurturing Beauty" this month, with reflections on the intrusive, insistent nature of beauty and the paths it opens to reunion with the "all-that-is."

      A while back BBC produced a wonderful six-part History of Christianity written and presented by the scholar Diarmaid MacCulloch. I recommend it. In the first episode Professor MacCulloch talked, briefly, about the Oriental Orthodox churches.  He interviewed a professor from a seminary of the Syriac Orthodox Church, which is a monophysite church […]

I bumped Jason Miller’s new book “Consorting with Spirits” to the top of my to-be-read pile and I started writing this review as soon as I finished it. If you’re at all interested in spirits and working with them, you’ll find this book quite helpful.

Please join us on Sunday (15 May 2022) at 11:00 AM for “Practical Reason, Practical Faith” by  Rev. Barbara Jarrell. We will be meeting in the sanctuary 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 to do so. Our … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (15 May 2022)"

Notice of Congregational Meeting Date / Time — Sunday, 29 May 2022, at 12:15 PM (immediately following the 11:00 AM service) Location — In the All Souls sanctuary or via Zoom here: Agenda — We will vote on the following Board members: Vice President – Susan Yellott Secretary – Rovena Windsor Member at-Large Deborah Warren … Continue reading "Notice of Congregational Meeting (29 May 2022)"

Please join us on Sunday (15 May 2022) at 9:00 AM for our adult religious education class via Zoom. This Sunday we continue 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 — 15 May 2022"

On this Sunday (15 May 2022), children and youth religious education classes will continue to meet in person during our 11:00 AM worship service. We have resumed 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 their … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education (15 May 2022)"

Please join us next Tuesday (17 May 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.

The folks I know who work with Odin, after a certain age, have remarkably similar medical histories. Eye trauma features heavily: cataracts, glaucoma, the sorts of illness that require long periods with eye patches or new, glass eyes to fill out empty sockets. The day my partner looked at me and held up their hand, covering one eye and nodding as if something made more sense, sits with me still on some nights. Continue reading Column: Old One-Eye at The Wild Hunt.

Romantic love is eros. It is the love that bonds partners together. It is the stuff of hearts and flowers and is often (but not always) accompanied by physical intimacy. What does “romance” mean to you?

      It was on this day, May 14th, 1878. that the last trial on a charge of witchcraft was initiated in an American court. Somewhat awkwardly for all concerned, the case was heard in Salem, Massachusetts. It was brief. But it had an interesting backstory. Lucretia Brown of Ipswich, Massachusetts was a life […]

The free weekly MailChimp newsletter link did not post to Facebook or Twitter for this weekend (14-15 May 2022). Here is the email newsletter for this weekend. You can use this link to sign up for our free weekly email newsletters.    

The Shreveport March for Reproductive Rights will be happening on Saturday (14 May 2022) from 10:45 AM to 11:30 AM. Use this link to RSVP in you are planning to attend. The march will begin at the Shreveport Police Department (1234 Texas Avenue) and proceed to the Caddo Parish Courthouse (501 Texas Street). The All … Continue reading "Shreveport March for Reproductive Rights (14 May 2022)"

In 2003 we finished the construction of Fanshaw's dwelling and invited Arkansas author Donald Harington to visit it. Students from our middle school and high school attended. In addition to being one of Arkansas' most prolific and acclaimed novelists, Harington taught Art History for over 22 years at the University of Arkansas. His presentation might have been over the heads of the students gathered at his feet and at the feet also of two towering pine trees, that for Harington served to illustrate duality in nature and in art. The two young men sitting at Harington's seem to not be paying attention. After the event was over, I noticed that they had taken notes, recreating with small stones and pine needles a forest scene complete with ...