There are some rituals that often move us to tears including weddings, child dedications, ordinations, and installations. All of these ceremonies include covenants: promises that people make to one another, to themselves, and sometimes to the Holy about who and how they want to be. ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Sept. 20th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

RE classes begin this Sunday, 9/25!  To register your child(ren), click HERE : K-3 Wonderful Welcome: begins this Sunday, 9/25! K-3rd Children will begin in the Great Hall with their families and stay through the Story for All Ages, when they will join their ... read more . The post Religious Education – Sept. 20th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

The Adult Faith Development Team is proud to announce the exhibit, Creativity in Quarantine: UUSS Art and Craftwork from the COVID 19 Pandemic. The exhibit opens Sunday, September 25th, following worship service. Nearly 20 members of the congregation will share their artwork, photography, textiles and wood ... read more . The post Creativity in Quarantine: UUSS Art and Craftwork from the COVID 19 Pandemic appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Join us every Sunday after service from now until election day! Together, we’ll write letters and postcards to help Get out the Vote. You can design your own voting button. Sign up to be a poll worker. Ask about opportunities for text-banking, phone-banking, and voter ... read more . The post #UUtheVote Countdown to Election Day! appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Albany, Montgomery, and Fulton Counties are in medium while Schenectady County is holding steady in low. This is good news as school has started and so far, even with a bit of a bump in cases, it hasn’t been huge. May this continue for all ... read more . The post COVID 19 Update – Sept. 20th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

The arrival of the September Equinox brings celebrations of gratitude and harvest for the northern hemisphere, and the blush of spring for the southern hemisphere. Continue reading Happy September Equinox! at The Wild Hunt.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) issued a draft recommendation statement on Tuesday, suggesting that everyone under age 65 might benefit from screening for anxiety disorder. Before you jump to conclusions, you need to know a few things. First, this is still a draft statement. The USPSTF has released this draft for public comment. … Continue reading "Anxiety screening"

        Eihei Dogen died on this day, the 22nd of September, 1253, in Kyoto. He was fifty-three. And. Oh, my. What he accomplished in those fifty-three years… In his magisterial study, Dogen’s Manuals of Zen Meditation, Carl Bielefeldt begins by telling us “The Zen school is the Meditation school, and the character […]

Mobile soup kitchen, Germany, 1920 In Berlin, sometime between 1910 and 1929, the German philosopher Ernst Bloch wrote a micro-story that eventually appeared in his 1930 book,  Traces. I cannot get this story out of my head at the moment because it is speaking ever more powerfully of, and directly to, the present situation in the UK where under this new breed of Conservatives (although they are no longer Conservatives but full-blown, radical neoliberal ideologues) the policy is clearly to make the poor work for the rich even as they are forced into cold and hungry inaction and increasing isolation.        “What are you doing? I asked. I ’ m conserving light, said the poor woman. She sat in the dark kitchen, a long time alread...

There are times that you belong to a group but you won’t admit it . You spend most of your adult life denying it. Well, that was indeed me.  I would hear a name and memories would flood my mind. … Continue reading →

 The doomed boxelder tree and it hale neighbor, the five-trunk silver maple. It’s the Autumnal Equinox.  A year ago in the grey dawn I went out to retrieve the newspaper from the drivewayI was inspired. Equinox Eve Morn September 21, 2021 Murfin Estate Crystal Lake   The first few leaves flutter down             from the old, slowly dying boxelder             in the breaking grey light of dawn,             most of the thinning leaves not yet turned.   The vigorous five-trunk silver maple             whose crown enlaces it             has not even begun to turn             nor have any of the other trees             on our small lot.   A wind from the far-...

       —Lindsa Vallee

Click here for magpie song (12s)

“Whenever you find tears in your eyes, especially unexpected tears, it is well to pay the closest attention. They are not only telling you something about the secret of who you are, but more often than not, God is speaking to you through them of the mystery of where you have come from and is … Continue reading Tears

A report released earlier this year by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations hopes to improve awareness about the sourcing and ethical harvesting of some wild plants, three of which are frequently used by magical practitioners. Continue reading Dangers in the trade of wild herbs and plants at The Wild Hunt.

By Pamela D. Toler | In the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, the kingdom of Dahomey in West Africa, in what is now the Republic of Benin, employed troops of trained full-time women soldiers who fought alongside their male counterparts. The Europeans who encountered them in the eighteenth century dubbed the Dahomean soldiers “black Amazons.” The Dahomeans called them abosi (the king’s wives) or minos (our mothers).

What is a sacred story? Sacred stories are stories that we find compelling. Stories that we lean into.  Stories that we find meaningful. Stories that we can listen to, read, watch or tell over and over again. Stories that evoke … Continue reading →

Sunday, September 25, 10:30 a.m. We Belong To Love Why is the so-called “heresy” of universalism so compelling that it continues to emerge in conservative Christian contexts? Join us this Sunday, September 25, as Rev. Alice explores the Universalist message of profound belonging and Love. We are pleased to welcome one and all in our beautiful,   [ … ] The post Sunday, September 25 ~ We Belong To Love ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

    My father James William Ford was born in New Jersey today, the 21st of September, in 1919. I don’t know all that much about his life before he married my mother. Some years ago my spouse Jan and I took genetic tests as Christmas presents for each other. One of the interesting things […]

Shaya French We don’t need to understand why someone sets a boundary to respect it. Continue reading "Some Kinds of Help"

On the International Day of Peace, let us recommit ourselves to the work of justice and equity.

Today we have four questions: on worship, practice in difficult situations, spirits from pop culture, and comparing different Pagan traditions.

This is another one of the calendar poems inspired by random , or not so random, coincidences of dates , usually discovered as I am in a mad scramble for a blog entry topic.   It first appeared in 2013 when two events fell on the same day.   Today, like most years, the astronomical event falls a day ahead to a proclaimed one but the calendar serendipity is still close enough. Tomorrow is the Autumnal Equinox and the first day of Fall in the Northern Hemisphere.  Here in McHenry County, we are riding out a nearly ideal string of late Summer weather with brilliant blue skies and the landscape still verdant.  As if on cue tomorrow the wind will swing around from the northand daytime temps will fall into the low 60s.  Today is the Autum...

It turns out private equity firms are buying up hospice providers. And it turns out the for-profit hospices do not, in general, provide as much care for dying patients as the nonprofit hospices, according to Kaiser Heath News: “Patients in nonprofits had more nursing, social worker, and therapy visits. For-profit hospices, the report found, had … Continue reading "Why you should seek out a nonprofit hospice provider"

When I was 8 or 9 years old, I used to write short stories. I imagined a collection of stories called, “The Adventures of Judy.” However, as a kid, I thought the sound of cooing parents (“Ahhhhh…”) was spelled “Awe.”  When Judy’s baby brother took his first steps, the family exclaimed, “Awe…!”  When Judy made … Continue reading Delightful Reverence

JB, a friend from high school, has been living in London for a number of years. His essay titled “The Mood in London” published by nonprofit news organization Who What Why helps explain to us Yanks what it’s like to be in England right now.

While this year's list for Banned Books Week is dominated by books that contain LGBTQ+ subject matter, the list also includes titles that involve Witchcraft. Continue reading Banned books include regular list of Witchcraft titles at The Wild Hunt.

Super editor Maxwell Perkins. In American letters there have been figures who nurtured the writers who became the voices of their generations.  There was the Sage of Concord, Ralph Waldo Emerson himself and his circle of acolytes and admirers.  William Dean Howells presided at The Atlantic and hobnobbed with Mark Twain and fostered the realist novelists who lifted the genre from genteel diversions for ladies and epic adventure yarns to a mirror of American life.  Ezra Pound in London and Paris and Harriet Monroe in Chicago nurtured a brood of modern poets.  These folks were writers themselves who mentored and encouraged other writers, most often through periodicals that they edited or controlled. But the man who revolutionized the Am...

When I write the word awesome, I always want to accentuate the letters “awe.” When I experience something as ‘awesome,’ what I am feeling first and foremost is the awe and wonder of whatever I am engaging with. When I hear a song that touches my heart and reminds me of a powerful memory, it … Continue reading AWEsome

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, White House religious conferences fails to include Pagans or Pagan-adjacent faith, 5K run changes story to prevent misunderstanding of Wicca, the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions took place in Astana, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of September 19, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

      I find myself recalling the American Zen Master Kyogen Carlson, who died eight years ago, yesterday. Kyogen was one of the senior Zen teachers in North America, respected and loved across the continent. He was also my friend. My history of Zen in the West, Zen Master Who? contains the bare outline […]

President James A. Garfield being treated by doctors at the White House after being shot.  The wound was serious, but should not have been fatal.  Attempts to probe for the bullet--often with unwashed hands and fingers, widened the wound, caused more bleeding, pierced his liver, and ultimately led to a deadly and painful infection. On September 19, 1881 President James A. Garfield died in agony on the Jersey Shore 78 days after being shot in the back by a disappointed office seeker in a Washington train station.  He had only been in office a total of 199 days, almost half that time incapacitatedby his injury.  One of the bullets fired the morning of July 2 by Charles J. Gateau grazed the President’s arm.  The other lodged in his b...

I never belonged to any group during my childhood. My mom is Puerto Rican. My father is a first generation Mexican-American. You would think that I would have a rich Latin heritage, but I don’t.  My mother decided not to … Continue reading →

We're beginning our fall semester in style with music from King Cabbage, billed as Oklahoma's only brass band, and a Louisiana-inspired boil for dinner. We'll have activities for the whole family, so bring the kids and come prepared for a great time. The post Wednesday Connections Kicks Off This Week appeared first on BeyondBelief.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services. This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats. For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook … Continue reading "7 August 2022 Worship Livestreaming Video"

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services. This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats. For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook … Continue reading "31 July 2022 Worship Livestreaming Video"

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services. This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats. For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook … Continue reading "24 July 2022 Worship Livestreaming Video"

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services. This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats. For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook … Continue reading "17 July 2022 Worship Livestreaming Video"

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services. This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats. For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook … Continue reading "10 July 2022 Worship Livestreaming Video"

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services. This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats. For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook … Continue reading "3 July 2022 Worship Livestreaming Video"

For I am a creature of the Universe, small but infinite A momentary body in the sea of life, and also the sea itself I am a gathered bit of energy, and one who gathers A creation and a creator Let me not hold too tightly to one form and lose the other -from “Imperfectly … Continue reading Both

The critics unleashed their hate on Bailey playing the little mermaid because they claim Disney has violated the integrity of the source material. No. It’s because they're racists. Continue reading Editorial: The Little Mermaid and the racists at The Wild Hunt.

A sermon reflecting on the nature of religious dissent in the 21st century United States.

A men’s group, aimed at learning about feminism, was composed of five men who all tend to be a bit geeky and who wanted to identify how misogyny had surreptitiously infiltrated our attitudes, communications, and actions.

It was cooler this week – we even got drizzled on during one hike! Not enough to pull out the poncho I didn’t have, but enough to have to dry off my glasses. We did two 5 milers and one 12. 12 is a bit much for me, although I love the trail we hiked […]

        In some ways this blog is where I process my inner life. A lot of it turns on expressing the depths of my gratitude for the Zen way while at the same time seeking to clarify precisely what it is within Zen that has been so transformative for me. Another part […]

New York City embarked on a plan to plant 20,000 new trees a year and already the addition of trees is having its effects on neighborhoods. While I'm grateful to live in a forest, even a single tree in an urban environment can make a difference, as reported in the New York Times.  On one block in East New York, a line of trees, planted in 2009, has grown into a canopy. Neighbors gather for cards, dominoes and barbecue. “When they first came, I could touch the tops of the trees,” Jaytee Spurgeon, 55, recalls. “It makes the neighborhood better.” When it comes to human effects on climate, scientists speculate on a "tipping point" at which the effects of CO2 become irreversible and begin accelerating out of control. If we assume tha...

Nathaniel Bacon leads his interracial forces on Jamestown and burns the Capital in the romanticized illustration by Howard Pyle in in  Harper's Encyclopaedia of United States History: from 458 A.D. to 1905. The episode named Bacon’s Rebellion is a mere footnote in American Colonial history, yet some historians have claimed to divine the early stirrings of the spirit of liberty.   More have placed the blame on the ego clash between a stubborn and out of touch Royal Governor and a reckless upstart schemer.   While the latter is more likely, the fact was that despite the manifest defects of the rebellion’s leader, his cause united the genuinely discontented from all parts and levels of Virginia society from a disgruntled planter eli...

Gods have people. In the past, those people were likely to be from a single culture, or from related cultures. In some cases they still are. But in others, Gods are calling people from a wide variety of backgrounds to worship and work with Them.

"Looking back at that boy who didn’t feel he could ever fit in Venezuela, the young man who was in danger and resented all of Venezuela, I came to think about a healing exercise: healing with the flag of that same country." Continue reading Opinión: Sanando con la Bandera de Venezuela at The Wild Hunt.

"Looking back at that boy who didn’t feel he could ever fit in Venezuela, the young man who was in danger and resented all of Venezuela, I came to think about a healing exercise: healing with the flag of that same country." Continue reading Opinion: Healing with the Venezuelan Flag at The Wild Hunt.

Everything begins on the verge of awareness. The dawn is not and then is. Sleep is and then is not. In between is the awakening. The passage of thin light, between, breaks open the day. The passage of thin sound, between, flows into the day. Too soon the numbing rumble of traffic swells, the day … Continue reading On The Verge

I went quiet when I finished my six months of daily leaves and got COVID the same week. It took me a while to get my energy back, and a while longer to settle into my new practice. It has finally taken its form for the rest of the year: to do art first thing […]

Please join us this Sunday (18 September 2022) at 11:00 AM for our annual Homecoming Service with Rev. Barbara Jarrell. We will recognize member milestones and include a memorial tribute to those we’ve lost since our last in-person homecoming. We will also have a blessing of the backpacks for all ages.  Kids and grownups — … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (18 September 2022)"

Please join us on Sunday (18 September 2022) at 9:00 AM for “WhUU Dat (yeah, we did that . . . join us anyway)” via Zoom and facilitated by Susan Caldwell and Barbara Deger. This Sunday we will continue our exploration of Unitarian Universalist theology and take a look back to the early Christian Church to … Continue reading "Online Adult Religious Education — 18 September 2022"

As the church year begins, our classes will be meeting separately for activities and discussion around our Unitarian Universalist principles and how they fit into our history and our daily lives. For most weeks, they will be joining together for part of the hour to continue work on the updated mural in the middle and … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education for 18 September 2022"

Please join us next Tuesday (20 September 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 (17 September 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 (17 September 2022)"

                                   Charles Lewis Tiffany as a young man. 185 years ago today, September 18, 1837, Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B.Young opened a new establishment, a “stationery and fancy goods emporium.” That covered a lot of possibilities but was a sign that the merchants were aiming squarely for the deep pockets of the carriage trade.  They set up shop in Lower Manhattan and after some initial struggles were soon doing very well, thank you.  After picking up another partner were operating successfully as Tiffany, Young and Ellis and expanded their line to include such luxury items as Bohemian glass and porcelain, fine clocks, cutlery, and, oh, Jewelry. Charles Tiffany was born on February 12...

      A monk said to Dasui, “When the thousands of universes are altogether and utterly destroyed in the kalpa fire — I wonder whether this perishes or not.” “This perishes,” said Dasui. “If so,” persisted the monk, “does it follow the other?” “It follows the other,” said Dasui. Blue Cliff Record, Case 29 […]

Loving intra-actions between humans, a dog, and some fish swimming in the River Cam    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, I had reason to cite Jesus’ so-called “new commandment” found in the Gospel of John (13:34) that we “love one another.” Whilst I have never had an issue with the commandment itself — indeed, it remains absolutely central to my own religious faith, phenomenally hard though it always is to fulfil — I was, for many years, baffled, put-off even, by the claim made, perhaps by the gospel’s author rather than by Jesu...

The times I have found myself experiencing awe are when I witness people coming to the aid of other people without hesitation. Back when I spent my summers working at a boat launch, an intense storm hit the lake, and suddenly every boat was trying to exit the water at once, creating traffic and mayhem. … Continue reading Helping

Storm Faerywolf reviews books by Ivo Dominguez Jr., Mhara Starling, anf Vincent Higginbotham. Continue reading Three books on my nightstand: Ivo Dominguez Jr, Mhara Starling, Vincent Higginbotham at The Wild Hunt.

Sunday, September 18, 10:30 a.m. The Values of the Newport Folk Festival   The Newport Folk Festival’s unofficial motto is “Be Present. Be Kind. Be Open. Be Together”. These are words we live by for a weekend while enjoying incredible music in beautiful Fort Adams, RI and words we should carry with us the rest of   [ … ] The post Sunday, September 18 ~ The Values of the Newport Folk Festival ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

When our daughter, Amy, died in an automobile accident, I became a lifelong member of a group no one wants to be a part of, grieving parents. For months, I attended meetings of The Compassionate Friends, where membership consisted of … Continue reading →

Mattie Bergström warned that those who's hands are left untrained will be left "values damaged," and what he meant by that is that they will be left without the full and normal range of human values, and incapable of perceiving the deeper meaning of things. Values like care for the natural environment, historic preservation, art, craftsmanship and real love for each other will ring hollow for those who've been sequestered from engagement in life though failure to develop skills hands-on.  I am reminded of the Bonwit-Teller Building in New York, that was torn down to build the Trump Tower. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4XWoirFToYn John Baron (really Donald Trump with his voice disguised) claimed that the Art Deco sculptures Donald Tr...

Prayer for Week of September 19, 2022 - Prayer for Peace Lover of Peace teach us to grow out of inequity into greater equity, to move from co-creating injustice to co-creating justice, to shine boldly with gladness to be together and to cultivate the trust that underlies that. Lover of...

      The 16th of September, 1885, is the birthday of the noted Neo-Freudian psychoanalyst Karen Horney. I’ve noted this a few times over the years and taken advantage of the moment to reflect a bit on her and her connections to Zen Buddhism. It’s been a couple of years and I thought I’d […]

Back in 2015 Lisa Haderlein, the McHenry County environmental maven, preserver and restorer of wild places, and currently a Democratic candidate for Congress in the Illinois 16th Congressional District posted the accompanying photo on Facebook.  It was taken outside the Starline Gallery in Harvard.  It got me to thinking and I posted this seven years ago on this date. The Lovely Corpse Monarchs, they say, are a dying breed. Not the superfluous Royals of Windsor             or oil rich Arabs. They will disappear, too, in their own good time but are not our business here today.   I am talking about those golden orange and black             zephyr riding marvels that by the millions             us...

Rev. James Ishmael Ford returns to the First Unitarian Church in Los Angeles in a big way for the 2022-23 church year with Second Thursdays with James starting tonight at 7pm PDT!  This season he’ll be exploring practical spirituality and covering a wide spectrum of spiritual topics. His first topic “Finding the Spiritual In and […]

Awe is the result of seeing the beauty in the average. We exist in a space of consuming so many things, but when we take a moment to really take in something as simple as a leaf, we can appreciate all that it takes to create it. -JeKaren Olaoya (CLF) Notice the beauty in something … Continue reading Beauty

The South African Pagan Rights Alliance raises concerns regarding the Witchcraft Suppression Act which has been under legal review since 2010. Continue reading The Witchcraft Suppression Act at The Wild Hunt.

The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU) is now defunct, another victim of COVID. According to Inga Brandes, ICUU President in 2021, “With the Covid Pandemic, the climate Emergency, and underlying funding issues, ICUU is facing major problems of sustainability and impact.” And so we now have the International U/U Collaboration. This is sad, … Continue reading "Global chalice lightings"

Goddess,May the air I breathe be touched by magicMay I be filled with loving kindnessMay I be of service to myself and othersMay I choose my thoughts and words with intentionMay I cultivate inner peaceMay I be a loving and present partner, parent, and friendMay I forgive myself for being humanMay I offer others the […]

“There is a place where the sidewalk ends, and before the street begins.” ~ Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends (p.64) Belonging is a hard theme to grasp. Welcoming, even harder.  There are people I need to welcome and show … Continue reading →

On the International Day of Democracy, U.S. must get out of the way of the Haitian people’s struggle for a free and inclusive government

Revolution and religion mix in this homage to Padre  Miguel Hidalgo with the banner of the Virgen de Guadalupe and an angel bending to kiss his brow. Note:   Versions of this have run previously in this blog, I’m posting it again as a public service.  Mexico has a real history and tradition that is deeper than a taco and tequila festival favored by Gringos.  Quick, what’s Mexican Independence Day?  If you answered Cinco de Mayo, you’d be wrong.  That is a minor provincial holiday in Mexico that has become a celebration of Mexican pride in the United States.  It celebrates the victory of the Mexican Army over the French Empire at the Battle of Pueblain 1862, during the French invasion of Mexico.   The correct answer is Diez ...

Robust and meaningful theology is never the product of any one person. It’s always the product of a group of people in conversation with each other. Contemporary polytheism needs dialogue among its practitioners and thinkers.

      I’ve been thinking about ministry of late. In the Christian tradition there are two general views of ministry, the technical terms are ontological and functional. The ontological view is the high view, it is seen as a shift in the nature of a person conferred by ancient rites. The functional view is […]

The U.K.'s Ministry of Defence and archaeologists are working together to learn as much as they can from Flower’s Barrow hillfort before the site is lost to the sea. And many residents and visitors to some of the U.K.'s historical and notable sites relate their unearthly experiences. Continue reading Flower’s Barrow and spectral legions at The Wild Hunt.

How does one address a mystery? Reverently—let us go with a sense of awe, a feeling of approaching the powerful holy whose lightning slashes the sky, whose persistence splits concrete with green sprouts, whose miracles are present in every place and moment. -Excerpted from “How Does One Address a Mystery,” by Gordon B. McKeeman How … Continue reading Reverence

Glen Thomas Rideout I rise on the shoulders of ancestors whose names I can not know. Continue reading "Retracing My Steps"

Adolf Diesterweg was a 19th century German educator and friend of Friedrich Frobel. I was reminded of him as I was perusing my recently published book Holtzwerken mit Kindern, translated from English and in which only a few words from all that German are decipherable by me.  Diesterweg was responsible for a part of the theory Otto Salomon's Theory of Educational Sloyd in its recognition that learning must move from the known to the unknown, from the easy to more difficult, from the simple to the complex and from the concrete to the abstract. What he was describing would later become known as "scaffolding." In building knowledge in this manner, it would be essential for the teacher to understand the needs and interests of the child. And ...

We had an appointment with a professional who was helping us do some estate planning. They sent us an email the day before reminding us of the appointment and included a helpful message: give yourself some extra time.  Our building … Continue reading →

A Butterfield Overland Stage departing San Francisco in 1858. On September 15, 1858 two new Concord Coaches, one in Saint Louis,Missouri and one in San Francisco,California set off in opposite directions two cross more than 2/3s of the continent.  They were inaugurating a new contract with the Post Office for transcontinental mail service operated by the Butterfield Overland Mail.  It would take 23 days for the California service to arrive at its eastern terminal—two whole days before its projected time.  The west bound routewould make similar time.  Both traveled the indirect Ox bow route that dipped south to cross Indian Territory and kitty-angle across Texas before heading west along the Rio Grande River and through the rugged m...

    In the broad middle of the Twentieth century there were a number of writers exploring a synthesis of Eastern and Western approaches to the spiritual life. I would hazard the best known of these was Alan Watts. For good and ill have to count him among my teachers, if some of that was […]

Abigail Eliot was a member of the Unitarian Universalist church I grew up in. I have only vague memories of her, but somehow knew she was someone important. I didn’t realize just how important she was until I read No Silent Witness: The Eliot Parsonage Women and Their Unitarian World by Cynthia Grant Tucker. It … Continue reading "Thinking about Abigail Eliot"

We did not have an in-person worship service on Sunday, 26 June 2022. Since church staff and church members were attending the 2022 Unitarian Universalist General Assembly (GA) in Portland, Oregon, we had an all-ages potluck and watched the livestream video of the Sunday GA worship from Portland instead. You can watch the GA worship … Continue reading "26 June 2022 UUA General Assembly Sunday Worship"

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services. This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats. For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook … Continue reading "19 June 2022 Worship Livestreaming Video"

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services. This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats. For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook … Continue reading "12 June 2022 Worship Livestreaming Video"