So, there I was minding my own business poking through Youtube’s algorithmic determined offerings, when up popped up a delightfully funny, and informative, clip from “Lutheran Satire.” The clip, “St Patrick’s Bad Analogies,” is a worthy romp through the deal of the Christian trinity, while making mild fun of the […]

Please join us on Saturday (11 June 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 (11 June 2022)"

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— Last week a member of the congregation, Jerry, chose to read for us chapter 8 of the Book of Amos. As he intimated, progressive, liberal religious traditions have inherited some important ideas from Amos, such as the belief that religious sacrifices could never atone for bad deeds, and that the only genuine service of God was not to be found, not in public displays of religion, but only in acts of justice and righteousness. This basic stance was, of course, something shared by the other 8th-century prophetic writers, Isaia...

This is yesterday’s. A lovely habit has developed in which I draw at night, in my room, while my daughter reads to me. By the time the drawing is done and she’s too tired to read any more, I don’t want to disturb the peaceful feeling by getting my phone and taking the picture. So […]

In the 1930s, when “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” was released, children learned of a jolly bearded gift-bearing man who “knows when you are sleeping and knows when you’re awake. He knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!” If integrity is what you do when you think no … Continue reading Be Good For Goodness Sake

Here is what I know about Robin Goodfellow, the Puck, the mythic figure that influenced Shakespeare’s work. He’s old - old enough that records in the 1500s talk about working with him as a practice that was already fading, only remembered by grandmothers. He’s famous - famous enough that, in one old text, some of the good folk in England are referred to as plural, "robingoodfellowes." He’s complicated. He’s a household name. All of this is true - and yet  I have only found a handful of Pagans practicing today who work with him. Continue reading Column: Merry Wanderer at The Wild Hunt.

During General Assembly 2022 — the annual gathering of the Unitarian Universalist Association — Side With Love will have a range of programming and activities for participants in person in Portland, OR as well as online! Unless otherwise noted, all events and activities are open to the public. Side With Love Networking Room Join us in-person in Portland at our networking space in the Willamette 1 at the Hyatt Regency (across the street from the convention center). The space will be open to anyone registered for GA during these times: Wednesday: 12pm - 1:30pm PT Thursday - Sunday: 9am - 1:30pm PT Come by to get your #JusticeBingo card, find spiritual respite at our altar space, make signs for Friday’s public witness, write letters t...

      Dr Robert Smith took his last drink today, the 10th of June, in 1935. Alcoholics Anonymous, which was organized by Dr Bob and Bill Wilson, dates its creation from this moment. So, happy Eighty-seventh birthday, AA! Using principles first adapted from the Oxford Group and over time evolved into its own thing, […]

Elizabeth J. Andrew Words come alive when we claim what is sacred.

The streets call activists and lovers of justice and inclusion this weekend in McHenry County.  On Saturday there will be a local opportunity to participate in nation-wide March for Our Lives demonstrations.  All weekend Woodstock Pride has a full schedule of events culminating with the Pride Fest and the Pride Parade in Woodstock. Hundreds crowded Woodstock Square for the first local March for Our Lives event following the mass school shooting in Parkland Florida.  It was a raw March day in 2018.  Seen above is part of the the Tree of Life U.U. Congregation contingent.  March for Our Lives, the student-led gun control advocacy group founded by Parkland school shooting survivors, is planning nationwide protests on Saturday June 11 i...

Cambridge Unitarian Church contingent at OccupyLSX 2011 Recently I joined and subscribed to something called “The Radical Theology Seminar” (you can take a peek at this excellent project at this link). I recommend it highly.  Anyway, in a very insightful piece on the place of the riot in Radical Theology, Justin Leavitt Pearl noted that there was an overlap with the day of Pentecost and in connection with this thought he cited some words spoken by the philosopher Slavoj Žižek whilst addressing Occupy Wall Street protesters at Zuccotti Park in 2011 which I’d like to reproduce here, along with an additional, connected, quote from a 2007 lecture called “A Meditation on Michelangelo’s Christ on the Cross.” The reason for doing...

ILLUSION NUMBER ONE, PART ONE:Report from Planet Three©Dr. Chris Schriner 2022 I have not been on this site for a while, but I now may have time to begin posting occasionally – perhaps even regularly. Here is a talk I … Continue reading →

Prayer for the Week of June 12, 2022 Heart of Love grant us all the beauty bestowed to those who are tender-hearted, who are kind past easy and compassionate past bravery. Let us all be so beautiful. Heart of Love grant us all the beauty bestowed to those who speak...

I fell in adolescent lust for Judy Garland in her post-War Technicolor MGM musicals like Meet Me in St. Louis and never got over it. In the 1996 flick My Fellow Americans —which by the way seems downright prescient—two former Presidents and bitter political enemies were forced to go on the lam together when they were framed for the attempted assassination of the current occupant of the Oval Office.  James Garner channeled Bill Clinton and Jack Lemon stood in for George Bush the elder.  As they tried to uncover a sinister plot against Democracy in the heart of the White House they found themselves marching in a Gay Pride Parade to ditch the FBI agents tracking them down.  Naturally they ended up in a contingent of cross-dressing Ju...

“Let the life I live speak for me.” -African-American Spiritual, as made famous by Sullivan and Iola Pugh (The Consolers) What does your life say to others?

The remains of a stone circle dating to between 3,000 and 2,500 BCE has been discovered in Cornwall, England. Continue reading Stone circle site discovered in Cornwall at The Wild Hunt.

By Christian Coleman | Take a breath. The end of May and the start of June have been brutal. Ten Black citizens died in the white supremacist mass shooting in Buffalo, New York. Nineteen children and two teachers died in the Uvalde, Texas, elementary mass shooting. And despite the pandemic that has become a smoldering backdrop, the shootings have not stopped. We are already up to 233 this year. It’s . . . a lot. So much grief.

On Sunday, May 22, I shared my thoughts after reading Susan Cain’s book, Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make us Whole. You can view the sermon here (fast forward to 1:11:23–sermon is really on 16 minutes or so), but it may be easier to read it so the text is below. Please note this was … Continue reading Bittersweet: A sermon inspired by Susan Cain’s Book on Melancholy

If I’d known how to identify this tree, I probably would have done so many times during our recent trip to southwestern Utah. It is found there and around the Grand Canyon, as well as central California. My daughter expressed a hope that I would become a mom who can identify lots of trees when […]

  The Rev. Sean Parker Dennison, then minister of the Tree of Life Unitarian Universalist Congregation in McHenry, introducing the marriage ceremony to a packed sanctuary. Note — Not only is it LGBTQ Pride Month which is observed here in McHenry County by Woodstock Pride Fest, but it also marks an Illinois milestone victory for Marriage Equality and a joyful, pioneering wedding ceremony at Tree of Life Unitarian Universalist Congregation in McHenry.   We dip into the blog archives for this report posted the day after the big event. Triumphant.   It can be a word with unpleasant overtones.   Kind of an I-win-you-lose-stick-it-where-the-sun-don’t-shine gloat.   But I don’t mean it that way.   I don’t want to stick my thumb in...

UUSC visits Pacific islands to develop new ways of addressing the climate crisis

When I think of integrity, there is another word that closely flows behind which is accountability. If a process, a person or an object has integrity, we believe there is a solid foundation, a reliability that can be rested upon.  Do the spaces in which we move have integrity? -Lecretia Williams (CLF) How do you … Continue reading Accountability

Remember when I described the beauty of seeing a goldfinch climb over a dandelion stem to get the seeds? But I didn’t get a picture then? A little magic happened again, and this time I was able to get this photo from our deck. The more wild and plant-filled our yard has been, the more […]

The initial finds of the excavations of the ancient Mitanni Empire city of Zakhiku that was revealed due to the drought in Iraq in 2021. Continue reading Mitanni City emerges from the Mosul Reservoir at The Wild Hunt.

One of the loudest voices against any Unitarian Universalist attempt to overcome embedded White supremacy culture is a group calling itself the Unitarian Universalist Multiracial Unity Action Council, usually shortened to UUMUAC. UUMUAC was founded several years ago by one Finley Campbell a member of Chicago’s First Unitarian Church. He was long its mainspokesman, and […] The post What Does the UUMUAC Believe? appeared first on Dennis McCarty.

From Ursula K. LeGuin, from her science fiction novel The Left Hand of Darkness: “To be an atheist is to maintain God. His [sic] existence or his non-existence, it amounts to much the same, on the plane of proof. Thus ‘proof’ is a word not often used among the Handarata, who have chosen not to … Continue reading "Quoted without comment"

Mathew P. Taylor Guided by faith that this too will pass / We can survive this because our ancestors survived

Laura Solomon To be queer is to know the ways of holding all that shimmers to the light. Continue reading "All That Shimmers"

                                                       The suitably lurid American mass market paperback edition. On June 8, 1949 George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel of totalitarianism triumphant Nineteen Eighty- — usually called simply 1984 —  published in London . Eric Arthur Blair a/k/a Orwell was at the time a 45 year old English writer who had been born to a civil servant in India.  After a largely unhappy public school education back home—a private, residential academy to Americans—he returned to the orient as a policeman in Burma.  He was an outsider among his British colleagues there, preferring to explore the country, learn the language and culture.  He was soon sympathetic to t...

I wish I could say things will be better after an election or two, but I can’t. What I can say is that as oppression increases, so does witchcraft. We will cast better spells. We will tell better stories. And we will make them true.

An invisible singleleaf ash leaf, because I hate the way it came out: stiff and amateurish, to my eye. But I drew. Drawing is good. Process over product.

Integrity: Firm adherence. When I look at the words firm adherence, I think of my Dad, whose life was filled with FIRM adherence. When the cashier gave Dad too much change after a transaction, Dad would turn it into a math lesson, and explain that they had given him too much, and he would return … Continue reading Firm Adherence

Taken with a Fujifilm X100F Just click on the photo to enlarge it   One of my favourite short trips out of Cambridge is to Fleam Dyke via Fulbourn Fen. I generally cycle to the Fen, lock the bicycle up, then walk through the woods, up onto the Anglo-Saxon dyke and then on to the bronze-age burial mound on Mutlow Hill where I’ll stop for a sandwich and a flask of tea. I generally take a book with me too and, in summer anyway, I can easily while away a couple of pleasant hours in the shade of the large beech tree which stands hard by the barrow. Liminal places like this, where there is a powerful, living connection between ancient and modern peoples, landscapes and worlds, endlessly draw me to them. The dyke is very upstanding for much ...

Our world's oceans are our most precious resource.

Save the Date: Summer Stars! K-6 Summer Religious Education will be led by some of our favorite stars! We’ll meet in Waters House, 10:30-11:30, Sundays: 7/10, 7/17, 7/24 & 7/31! Want to help out? Contact Dir. of Lifespan Religious Education Robin Ahearn at dlre@uuschenectady.org K/1st/2nd Grade OWL had their final meeting ... read more . The post RE News appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

We follow up on yesterday's story. Last week, English Heritage projected images of the Queen onto some of the stones at Stonehenge. Pagans in the U.K. and others shared their opinions on the spectacle. Continue reading Pagans react to the projection of the Queen’s image at Stonehenge at The Wild Hunt.

Join in a discussion of Imbolo Mbue’s book How Beautiful We Were. Whether you have participated in the BIPOC Authors discussion group before, or this is your first time, you are welcome! The discussion will be held on Zoom on Tuesday evening, June 28th, beginning ... read more . The post June Book Discussion: How Beautiful We Were, by Imbolo Mbue appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

By Philip C. Winslow | Shortly after a teenage gunman murdered seventeen people and wounded seventeen others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, I thought back over some American history and my own familiarity with guns, and wrote here on Beacon Broadside that “In 1970, historian Richard Hofstadter popularized the term ‘gun culture’ in writing about how Americans’ resolute possession of firearms dated back to colonial days, when farmer-settlers lived on a wild frontier . . .

“Schenectady’s Leading Ladies: A Tour with the Schenectady County Historical Society”—June 16, 5pm (followed by a “bring your own bag supper and chair” behind the Historical Society building) Tour: “Through the first three centuries of Schenectady’s past, gender roles often hid women from historical memory. However, a ... read more . The post Evening Branch of the Women’s Alliance June Program (in person) appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

                  In 2017 Jan and I had the pleasure of spending a couple of days in Manhattan. We took advantage of proximity to have breakfast at the Algonquin, sitting not far from the round table itself, under a portrait of Dorothy Parker and many of the rest […]

As the church year begins to conclude, we are reflecting on what has transpired both in and beyond the congregation. We are noticing just how weary so many people are and are wondering how we might create a global sabbath or a ‘call in well’ ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – June 7th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

The summer weather is here, blossoms are on trees and in gardens, in parks and at weddings and graduations. What is blooming in you? What could bloom if you gave it a little water, sun, nourishment? The post Monthly Theme for June – Blooming appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

After the worship service this Sunday, June 12, let’s enjoy this season’s opportunity to socialize outdoors together! Bring a picnic lunch for yourself/your household and hang out in the UUSS backyard gardens, in front by the fountains, or at the brand new picnic tables on ... read more . The post Socialize after the Sunday Service at the BYOP! appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Last month, I had the great privilege of delivering the baccalaureate address for the class of 2022 at Amherst College.  This was such an honor and I am incredibly grateful to Harrison Blum and the whole office of Religious and Spiritual Life for their support in making this happen. You can find audio of the […]

Photo by Harold Rail. My good friend Harold Rail, photographer and videographer extraordinary, posted the image above on his Facebook page in June 2017.   I was stunned.   Not only was it in some sad ways reminiscent of Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks , but it spoke loudly to me about the world we now live in. Many Chicagoans will recognize the scene—the glassed-in waiting area on the platform of the Metra commuter station serving the North and Northwest suburbs.   That platform and the train sheds are all that is left of what was once the Chicago & Northwestern Station .   The rest of the once imposing limestone structure was razed in 1984 and replaced with the glass-and-steel 42-story Citicorp Center completed there in 1987.   The ...

A fundamental understanding of freedom in this society includes the idea of bodily integrity for each person: the right to personal autonomy, self-ownership, and self-determination. Even though this would seem self-evident, there are people who do not yet enjoy this freedom and those who face the possibility of losing it. -Lori Stone (CLF) Let us … Continue reading Bodily Integrity

In this week's Pagan Community Pagans many were surprised and at times appalled by the Queen's image on Stonehenge, Wicked Spirits fundraiser, The Venice Biennial of Art, Announcements, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of June 6, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

Isn’t that what Wavyleaf Silktassel sounds like? A resident of the Shire? It is in fact a large shrub that grows all along the coast of Oregon and California, doing well in serpentine and clay soils. I know far less about geology than I do about botany, which is saying something, and as far as […]

At All Souls, we continue to be a place of healing, refuge, resilience and resistance; we honor all people who have been lost, both near and far, to senseless gun violence. The post A Message to the Congregation appeared first on BeyondBelief.

Kimberly Quinn Johnson  I call it Black Joy, but I want to offer it—to the extent that it is mine to offer—to this faith.

    Prayer as Spiritual Practice: Random Notes from my Dreams James Ishmael Ford I’ve been meeting with an old colleague twice a month for a while now. He suffered from a swarm of strokes that has left him severely disabled, mostly physically, but also to some degree cognitively. Talking is extremely difficult for him. […]

Note:  Ever relevant as we face domestic Nazis, Fascists, and White Supremacists at home and the Russian invasion of Ukraine reminds us that naked aggression and war crimes are no longer unthinkable in Europe today.  We revisit this annual reminder. When it comes to World War II, certain dates are etched indelibly into the American consciousness, even occasionally piercing the historical unawareness of young people now generations removed from the events.  December 7, Pearl Harbor Day is one.  August 6 when the U.S. dropped the first Atomic Bomb making the end of the war with Japan inevitable is another. So is June 6, known without further explanation as D-Day.   American troops pinned down on Omaha Beach, June 6, 1944. On June 6, 1...

I am loving this practice, and . . . it means I’m spending zero time on any other art, and I’m feeling itchy about that. My spiritual director put good words to it: this process is more externally focused and the more abstract, less representational, more playful pieces are more internally focused. I think a […]

    FLOWERS FOR OUR FATHERS Rev. Kit Ketcham, June 15, 2022             On Fathers’ Day and Mothers’ Day, we honor the parents who gave us life, whether those parents are our kin by blood, by adoption, by marriage, by affinity, such as a favored teacher, or by preference for a beloved adult.             When my son was a toddler, he received child care from a family in our church, Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden, Colorado.  Bruce and Judy Douglass had a little boy about Mike’s age and a baby girl on the way, so Mike had a playmate in their son Scott and a baby on the horizon.              We weren’t sure what Mike should call these friends who took such a prominent role in his young l...

“We’ll find out what we’re made of When we are called to help our friends in need You can count on me like one, two, three I’ll be there And I know when I need it, I can count on you like four, three, two And you’ll be there ‘Cause that’s what friends are supposed … Continue reading Count on Me

自由女神, zìyóu nǚshén, the "Goddess of Democracy," was a symbol of the 1989 Tienanmen Square protests in China. The Chinese government has attempted to suppress the goddess's image, but activists are keeping her in the public eye despite the risk of prison. Continue reading “Finding Manneoi” – the “Goddess of Democracy” surges on Hong Kong campus at The Wild Hunt.

Some thoughts on American gun culture and its place in the Beloved Community.

First it is mangoes, then a mango margarita, and then who knows where it will stop? Slippery slopes, tripping over your own feet, and it really isn’t the fault of the mango – or even the tequila. It is paying attention that matters. It is important to stop and think if you really want those […]

        NO THERE THERE A Dharma Talk Edward Sanshin Oberholtzer Joseph Priestley Zen Sangha Empty Moon Zen Drive north from Oakland to the  city of Berkeley along Adeline Street and just where BART, the Bay Area commuter line, dives back underground you’ll find one of those sculptures that Berkeley has commissioned to […]

Although no authentic image of Joseph Jordan is known to exist, he began his climb to success as a teen-age Black oysterman like these men.  He successively worked in Confederate war industry, as a grocer, a house carpenter, and a builder/developer before retiring comfortably enough to dedicate his life to preaching. You would think that the Universalists, religious folk so radically inclusive that their Heaven excluded no souls, would welcome Black worshipers with open arms.  And some did, especially in the North.  But the denomination which was governed mostly by state and local conventions often reflected local racial attitudes and customs.  Many Southern Universalists might have been willing to share eternity with Blacks, probabl...

An old proverb says “a wise person learns from their mistakes – a very wise person learns from other peoples’ mistakes.” Abuse is bad – covering it up just makes things worse. The rest of us need to learn from the Southern Baptists’ mistakes.

I spent two days on this one, really wanting to get the light right. My daughter says I have, so I thought I’d better stop now. It’s hard to know sometimes.

Please join us on Sunday (5 June 2022) at 11:00 AM for “Accentuate the Positive” by Rev. Joy Walker.  Rev. Walker is the former minister for Unity Church of Shreveport and Unity Church of Southeast Texas. We will be meeting in the sanctuary for this worship service.  Please join us in person at All Souls … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (5 June 2022)"

Please join us on Sunday (5 June 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 — 5 June 2022"

This Sunday an All Souls summer tradition returns — Tie-Dye in the Religious Education Wing. Children are asked to bring a 100% cotton t-shirt or other cotton garment to tie-dye for themselves or for any special grownups in their lives. We will have a few extra shirts, bandanas, and mini tote bags on hand — … Continue reading "Tie-Dye Sunday (5 June 2022)"

Please join us next Tuesday (7 June 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.

Our give-away-the-plate recipient for June 2022 is Louisiana Trans Advocates. 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. Louisiana Trans Advocates is a statewide organization advocating for the rights of trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people in Louisiana. The local … Continue reading "Louisiana Trans Advocates — June 2022 Give-Away-The-Plate Recipient"

Integrity is like the old saying “if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear, does it make a sound.”  I think , of course there was a sound.  Same with integrity.  A person should always act with integrity–decent, respectful, honorable, trustworthy–whether there are witnesses to their behavior or not. … Continue reading Tree

"Our clergy, our priests and priestesses who lead our small circles, covens, kindreds, groves, and groups, perform a fantastic job of helping to keep our traditions balanced. We share the reality that clergy of all faiths have during these turbulent times of mass shootings, the slow  disintegration of privacy rights, and the overall pandemic: we are needed more than ever." Continue reading Column: Having a Voice – Ordination for Our Communities at The Wild Hunt.

(Note: this is a guest post by Rev. Dr. Cynthia L. Landrum.) The UUA has two candidates running by petition against the UUA Nominating Committee’s candidates for UUA Board of Trustees this year, as well as a protest happening outside the General Assembly, as announced by the Fifth Principle Project. The Fifth Principle Project is […] The post The Gadfly Molehill appeared first on Dennis McCarty.

I have been marveling at the beauty of our front esplanade–formerly known as the hell strip. I planted it four years ago, with help from donated plants, and some donated labor too. Right now it is a stunning palette of white, blue/purple, and yellow, over green leaves: Blue/purple Siberian irises, yellow turkish rocket flowers, purple […]

Yesterday I was honored at a retirement party at the home of Sally and LeRoy Gorrell. I'm retiring this year from teaching at the Clear Spring School after 20 years teaching kids in the Clear Spring School wood shop.  My wife, Jean, had arranged with the Eureka Springs Mayor to proclaim June 4th as "Doug Stowe Day," so this is my day. I want to thank all those who celebrated with me yesterday, and all those who supported my work over these years. And thanks, Jean and our mayor for making this my day. On this special "Doug Stowe" day, I'll be gardening a bit, playing with Rosie, and getting ready for a five day box making class at ESSA that starts on Monday. Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning likewise.

Roquefort cheese and bread--a fine French lunch. Comment voulez-vous gouverner un pays qui a deux cent quarante-six variétés de fromage? — How can you govern a country which has two hundred and forty-six varieties of cheese? So said an exasperated Charles de Galle, a man who preferred his orders obeyed—and promptly.  He was right both ways.  The Frenchare apparently ungovernable, for which we should all be grateful, and they do love their cheese.  And none of that country’s many cheeses have a more storied or distinguished linage than Roquefort. King Charles VI, the Beloved and/or the Mad, King of France an benefactor of the cheese makers of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. On June 4, 1411 Charles VI—previously known as Charles the Be...

    It was on this day, the 4th of June in 1411, that King Charles VI granted a monopoly for the ripening of Roquefort cheese to the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. Today the European Union recognizes this in law dictating only those cheeses aged in the Combalou caves of Roqueort-sur-Soulzon may bear the name Roquefort. As it should be… […]

Click on this link to hear a recorded version of the following piece   “And, when the day arrived that completed the fifty after Passover, [Matthias and the eleven Apostles] were all gathered together in one place; And suddenly there came a noise like a turbulent wind borne out of the sky, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting, And there appeared before them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest, one each upon each one of them, And they were all filled with a Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them to utter” (Acts 2:1-5, trans. David Bentley Hart). So begins chapter two of Acts. It tells a story which, within Christian communities anyway, has become understood as des...

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— In this blogpost/podcast, I simply wish to offer you two readings as reminders that, despite seemingly being a mythical, supernatural event with no contemporary, this-worldly significance at all, when looked at in a certain light, the Pentecost story can in fact be taken as the origin story of the modern, egalitarian, cosmopolitan, democratic state. At a time when  democracy seems utterly to have lost its way and is under real threat, it may prove helpful to look again at the Pentecost story, or at least as it was understo...

Please join us on Saturday (4 June 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 (4 June 2022)"

One way of experiencing integrity is as a match between the values we hold and the values we express through our actions. What are your most important values? How do you express them in your actions?

Holy Spirit of many namesand of no name,Source of Life and Love, Create in us a sparkto move beyond thoughts and prayersinto discernment and action. Help us find courageous waysto turn away from violence,and beat our swords into plowshares. Bless our hearts, minds and handsin bringing healing to the sick and hurting. And may we … Continue reading A Prayer for National Gun Violence Awareness Day

In the wake of the leaked draft of a U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn the constitutional right to abortion, Lyonel Perabo lays out the historical evidence for abortion rights as part of Heathen belief and practice. Continue reading Opinion: The Heathen Case for Abortion Rights at The Wild Hunt.

      I see today is the anniversary of the death of Pope John XXIII. He was the pope of my childhood. He was the pope Protestants liked in an era where that didn’t happen. He was known as the Good Pope and Good Pope John. He’s actually the second person to use that […]

Elaine McArdle The UUA's 2022 gathering will offer onsite and online attendees a more equitable experience than ever.

The timing of this Q&A is a nice bookend, as I joined Beacon last June! I saw this specific job retweeted by either POC in Publishing or Latinx in Publishing. I’ve been in publishing/the world of books in some way ever since I graduated college back in the aughts. After moving around a bit, I really found a sweet spot in working on progressive books, and publicity and marketing really suit my preference of crafting the messaging and helping to put out projects into the world that the author has spent so much time working on.

Now more than ever, communities around the world are in need of the radical love and nourishment of UUs.

Susan Frederick-Gray Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray shares key details and highlights for this year's annual conference of Unitarian Universalists, General Assembly. GA will be a multiplatform experience, taking place in Portland, OR and online from June 22 - 26, 2022. Continue reading "From the UUA President: Let's Meet the Moment at GA 2022"

Week of June 5, 2022 Glorious and Gracious Lover of Life, the one who blows the dandelion, milkweed, and maple seeds spinning off into new tender adventures, help us savor this life in the small moments, the breath, the wish wending from one heart to the fertile earth of another....

Jack Jouett's ride. Jack Jouett was asleep when a commotion startled him awake.  His Excellency, the Governor would later recall that it was at the plantation home of his father, John Jouett,Sr. in Luisa County.  But most accounts have him stretched out on the lawn of the Cuckoo Tavern about eight miles away and halfway between Richmond and Charlottesville.  In either case, breathless word arrived that the White Coats were riding.  That could mean only one thing—the troopers of the infamous Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton—and only one mission—to swoop down upon the undefended legislature and Governor Thomas Jefferson who had fled to Charlottesville after the fall of Richmond. In the summer of 1781 the Revolutionary War had...

June is Pride month for LGBTQIA+ people in many places. For many, this is a celebration of the privilege of being able to live with integrity with regard to who and how we love. How do you love others with integrity?

By Brittany Wallace | I remember when I first heard about “Breaking Bread.” Contrary to what movies would have you think, the publishing process takes at least a year, sometimes two or three. When I started at Beacon in September 2021, we were already abuzz about our summer 2022 list—publishing speak for “forthcoming books.” Our director and the book’s in-house editor, Helene Atwan, brought “Breaking Bread” up in an all-staff meeting. She talked about how two years-long friends, Debra Spark and Deborah Joy Corey, gathered up to seventy essays from renowned and beloved food writers for the collection.

Pagans, particularly those prominent in the community, are experiencing an increase in copycat profiles that undermine their brand and teachings. Continue reading Copycat accounts affecting many Pagans at The Wild Hunt.

      Out in the social media realms, the American Rinzai priest Meido Moore shared the great Thirteenth century Eihei Dogen’s advice for dying. It had been awhile since I’d read it. And, the re-read touched me. So, I thought appropriate to share it here together with a few words of reflection. First the […]

  I woke up about 3 to go to the bathroom this morning and when I went back to bed, I was beset by the worry that someday I might die at home at night and that nobody would notice that I hadn’t left the house and would not come to check on me.   Not only would I be dead, but Lily would be frantic with hunger and thirst and anxiety and would have no way of signaling for help. I couldn’t go back to sleep and kept struggling with this worry, devising possible scenarios which would prevent or remedy the situation.   I couldn’t think of anything that would save Lily’s life, if I weren’t found for several days.   She might yowl loudly, but could she be heard from her back bedroom?   Not likely. So I got up, just to give myself ...

Yesterday I went by the Clear Spring School as students were camping in our field. They had insisted they wanted to whittle, so Dustin Griffith had gone to the woodshop to get a few sloyd knives out for them to use. More and more students wanted to join in, so the number of whittlers grew and I brought out the whole set. Using the sloyd knives and pocket knives brought from home, many sharp sticks were made. One of my students, Gabe, told me that he whittles nearly every day at home, and I can assure you that whittling is a meditative process that leads to a sharpened point, both in the wood and in the mind of the whittler. To whittle is not the simple minded activity one might assume. To whittle requires one to observe, hypothesize, and...

  Ojibwe tribesmen playing a rowdy ball and stick game similar to lacrosse suddenly rushed the open gates of Fort Micjilimackinac massacring  the small garrison  and English inhabitants.  It was the westernmost attack in a continent spanning uprising against English rule led Pontiac in 1763.    It must have been an exciting game.   Certainly, June 2, 1763 was a perfect day for it.   Springhad finally come to Fort Michilimackinac, the ice was clearing from Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.   The sun was shining.   The men of the fort, and some of their women, too, spilled out of the palisaded walls to watch the excitement.   Others went about their businessinside.   The semi-permanent Ojibwe trading village outside the walls was ...