Ndidi Achebe My vet said, “She's telling you thank you for letting her go.” Continue reading "Letting Go in Love"

Reserve your spot for the Trunk or Treat today!

Elaine McArdle Wrapped in a simple linen shroud, the outline of her body obvious to family gathered at the cemetery, the Rev. Judy Welles was placed on a pine board, gently lowered into a hole in the ground, and covered with straw and soil. No casket, no embalming, no cement vault. Just the natural return of her body to the earth at River View Cemetery in Portland, Oregon, which—like a growing number of cemeteries around the United States—is offering the option of “green” burials.

I resumed my weekly  Kindergarten classes this morning and we made tops. I started the lesson with teaching the difference between clockwise and counter-clockwise, a bit of information essential to understanding the use of a hand crank drill for decorating the tops with colored pencil and markers. Turn the crank clockwise while holding the  chuck and the chuck tightens to hold the stem of the top. Turn the crank counter-clockwise while holding the chuck and the chuck loosens so the stem of the top can be removed.  Is that too advanced a concept for Kindergarten students to understand? Not when it's called to their attention and they can observe it for themselves. If the concept is over their heads at this point in time, they'll have a...

The many-colored transformations of autumn plants remind me of the beauty in the spiritual practice of letting go. As the leaves let go of their green chlorophyl, so their deep colors are revealed. When I feel encumbered by heavy memories, mistakes, failures. When I feel regret for things undone, unsung, I pray in this way. […]

The Pathway of Courage Bob Patrick October 2022 The Courage of Relationships Relation is the essence of everything that exists.  Meister Ekhart Individualism is embedded in the American psyche. We want our own space, our own time, our hamburgers our … Continue reading →

The Navy's super carrier  USS Kitty Hawk  at sea in the early '70's. Note —It seems like Navy week here at the blog. Fifty years ago on October 12, 1972 less than two days after the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk sailed from the U.S. Naval Base at Subic Bay in the Philippines and just hours before the ship was set to launch air operations against North Vietnam as part of Operation Linebacker, a race riot broke out on board the ship.  As many as half of the Black sailors on board rampagedthrough parts of the ship assaulting White shipmates after a confrontation with on board Marine Corps guards.  The disturbance died down by morning after the personal intervention of Captain Marland Townsend and Executive Officer (XO) Commander Ben...

A new report from Pew says that in 50 years, the religiously unaffiliated may outnumber Christians in the United States. What does that mean for us as Pagans, now and in the future?

        Edith Louisa Cavell was a British nurse. When the First World War began she already had an illustrious career and a nurse and educator, principally working in Belgium. At that time she was matron of a hospital in Saint-Gilles. She served all without regard to their nationality or status. But Cavell […]

During October, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, aromantic (LGBTQIAA+) communities celebrate Pride Month. On October 11, we specifically celebrate Coming Out Day as a way to honor those who are able to be true to themselves, their families, friends, and co-workers about who they are and whom they love. -Lori Stone (CLF) Today, … Continue reading Coming Out

Keeping Heart on Pine Ridge by Vic Glover (Native Voices, 2004) is one of the best American spiritual memoirs I’ve read. In a series of linked essays, Glover talks about what it’s like to live on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, covering everything from commodity foods to reservations roads to the cars … Continue reading "Reading list: Keeping Heart on Pine Ridge"

  Taken with a Fujifilm X-T2 Just click on the photo to enlarge it   This photo was taken in August during this year’s crazily hot summer. It shows the spire of the now redundant  All Saints’ Church on Jesus Lane in Cambridge. The church is a remarkable building that was built in the 1860s according to the plans of George Frederick Bodley (1827-1907), and the excellent Churches Conservation Trust website describes it, rightly I think, as being “a triumph of Victorian art and design.” For those interested, you can read a pdf copy of the guidebook at this link. Whenever I see such a fine religious building as this no longer in use it does set me wondering once again about the future of formal forms of the Christian religion in ...

This morning we put a pack of postcards in the mail to voters in Georgia. We know that some of you have written letters and postcards, too… hundreds, maybe thousands of them. One of the powerful things about #UUtheVote is that there are lots of ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Oct 11th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Options for reducing the impact of holidays and seasonal celebrations requires a bit of thought and planning but a variety options exist. Continue reading Greening Halloween at The Wild Hunt.

K-3 Wonderful Welcome: will meet on Sunday, 10/16! K-3rd grade Children will begin in the Great Hall with their families and stay through the Story for All Ages, when they will join their teachers and head to their classroom in the church hallway, next to ... read more . The post Religious Education – Oct 11th 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 the worship service. Nearly 20 members of the congregation will share their artwork, photography, textiles and ... read more . The post Creativity in Quarantine: UUSS Art and Craftwork from the COVID 19 Pandemic appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

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I was born in 1964. I’m the last of the baby boomers. Times were different back then. There was no such thing as being woke. No one was politically correct. Man hadn’t even walked on the moon yet and there … Continue reading →

      Death and I are old friends. Okay, maybe not friends. Or, only in our contemporary sense that has become so attenuated that it has little practical meaning. We’re more acquaintances, a sturdy term, for that much larger circle of people we know, but aren’t friends in the increasingly intimate sense that word […]

Two autumn views of  Cambridge Both taken with a Fuji X100V and are straight out of camera using the  C201   recipe by Marcel Fraij  Just click on a photo to enlarge Christ’s Pieces Midsummer Common

U.S.S. Constitution  in 1803 and the wars against the Barbary Pirates. Note —From the better late than never file…<p> As of October 6, 2015 the U.S.S. Constitution became the only commissioned war ship in the U.S. Navy ever to have sunk an enemy craftin combat.  That’s right, the 228 year old 44 gun, square rigged frigate is the only member of the fleet with such a distinction. The Constitution actually did it twice during the War of 1812.  In addition to taking other British warships and merchantmen as prizes she engaged and sank the H.M.S. Guerriere in a famous engagement on August 19, 1812.  In that engagement the two ships’ riggingbecame ensnared as they exchanged fire at point blank range.  The Guerriere was demasted an...

It was February 1990, when the South African president Frederick Willem de Klerk made a shocking announcement: he would be releasing Nelson Mandela after 27 years in prison, and he would legalize Mandela’s political party and all other opposition parties for … Continue reading →

We celebrate indigenous people today in order to reject a worldview that centers and normalizes the European colonization of much of the world. And yet, most of us cannot escape a life deeply rooted in that colonization. Even as we seek to decolonize our minds and our lives, many of us live on stolen lands. … Continue reading Colonization

By request — and for the 15th year! — I am renewing the Sunday-only calendar, useful for church planning. Get it, and the background, at the original post from 2008.

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, Indigenous People's Day in the US, a statue of Éiriu destroyed in Ireland, Moai damaged on Rapa Nui and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of October 10, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

An early autumn walk along the River Cam from Cambridge  through Ditton Meadows to Fen Ditton All photos taken with a Fuji X100V and are straight out of camera (except for the occasional crop) using the C202  and Acros Dark recipes by Marcel Fraij  Just click on a photo to enlarge   And one photo taken on Stourbridge Common on the way back home

In honor of Indigenous Peoples' Day, UUSC reflects on how climate change loss and damage perpetuates the colonial campaign to erase Indigenous communities.

Temple Grandin has an article in the Atlantic in which she challenges educators to spend far less time on Algebra and far more time making things. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/10/against-algebra/671643/ The essay is adapted from her new book, Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions. Folks rationalize teaching algebra in that it is considered useful in development of higher thinking skills. The hauntingly abstract equal sign in which formulas on one side are to "equal" formulas on the other need, for which kids see no direct application needs to be preceded by the concrete application of a thing I'm calling "material symmetry. "One side of an object frames its opposit...

  The cultural, ethnic, and moral tug of warbetween the official American holiday Columbus Day and an insurgent Indigenous Peoples Day has taken over new dimensions in the years of Black Lives Matter protests which widened to include other persecuted and endangered minorities and then the stifling, isolating Coronavirus pandemic.   The Indigenous celebrations continued to gather momentum as more municipalities , school districts , states, and other jurisdictions dropped the old holiday for the new observance .   In 2020 as BLM activists began pulling down Confederate monuments, Native Americans and their allieswere inspired to do the same to the arch symbol of colonialist oppression , the alleged Great Navigator .   Several monuments...

What I love so much about this short video entitled, “How Wolves Save Rivers” is how the release of these ‘predators’ absolutely changes a dying wilderness into a green, growing, thriving with life kind of place that seems to embrace … Continue reading →

We are not always in a position to give our all. But there are moments when we know what we can offer is exactly what is needed for a particular moment in time. -JeKaren Olaoya (CLF) What gift can you offer to your community?

Pietas, the Religio Romana organization, has built a new temple to Apollo in Taranto, Italy. Continue reading Pietas builds a new temple to Apollo in Italy at The Wild Hunt.

Yes, our Human Race will somehow have to learn to live sustainably on the planet. Only the How?, and How Many?, and Who?, and at what cost? are up in the air. And also the attitudes and resiliances with which we are going to approach whatever comes.

Maybe it’s because Halloween is coming, but I have hiked this trail scores of times and never noticed this terrified looking tree. Is it pointing the way to safety from the goblins that are behind us? Or is it warning me not to go ahead because there will be monsters lurking around the next bend? […]

Bruce Catton in front of the Michigan home where he was born. You know you have stumbled on to the blog of a history geek when you find not just antiquarian trivia but posts about historians—notorious drudgeswhose personal biographies do not typically make gripping reading.  Over the several years I have been committing these posts, I have made entries on one English historian, Edward Gibbon of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire fame—“Another fat, square book, eh, Mr. Gibbon?  Scribble, Scribble. Scribble!” said King George III.  But mostly I have taken note of American historians of the American experience.  Among them have been Frances Parkman, the virtual founder of serious American history; Henry Adams, detailed chr...

There have been over 200 portrayals of Dracula in movies and TV. I don’t know how many of them I’ve seen, but it’s a lot. I’ve seen good Draculas, bad Draculas, and everything in between. Four of them stand out above all the rest.

Theologians Rebecca Parker and Rita Nakashima Brock examine the harm done by the Christian theology of redemptive suffering in their book Proverbs of Ashes.  Many Christian theologies are based in a particular view of redemptive suffering—that the suffering of Christ on the cross was mandated by God to atone for the sins of humanity. This understanding … Continue reading Sacrificial Atonement

At the end of August, “The Ongoing History of Protest Music” website had a blog post titled “A Month of Protest.” The first song they featured was “Black AF,” by Crystal Axis, an Afropunk band from Kenya. (Before you crank up the sound be aware that, like a lot of punk rock, “Black AF” is … Continue reading "Protest songs"

Now, everyone knows a Jack tale. There’s the one about the beanstalk, sure, and most have heard a story or two about him in one of his many run-ins with the devil. The details change, but the man is the same. Continue reading Column: Jack of the Lantern at The Wild Hunt.

Please join us this Sunday (9 October 2022) at 11:00 AM for “Hidden Wholeness” with Rev. Barbara Jarrell and Barbara Deger. As we reflect on the past year, the service will include a ritual to release the things which no longer serve. You will have an opportunity to write these things on paper and release … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (9 October 2022)"

Some of the original Broadway cast of Cats. When Cats opened on Broadway Forty years ago on October 8, 1982 at the Winter Garden Theatre it was already a sensation in London ’ s West End.   It opened during an era when the creative energy seemed drained from American musical theater, and a string of grand spectacle British productions, many with operatic overtones, was establishing domination on the Great White Way. It opened with high expectations, but no one expected that it would run for 7,493 performances—then a record and still the fourth longest run in Broadway history.   It lasted so long that the show originally lauded as ground-breaking and fresh, became the butt of David Letterman jokes and required sophisticated New York...

There will be no adult religious education class this Sunday (9 October 2022) or next Sunday (16 October 2022). We will return at 9:00 AM on Sunday, 23 October 2022 continuing our WhUU Dat? series by exploring and discussing readings from the Unitarian Universalist Pocket Guide.

For 9 October 2022, both classes will have a brief lesson in their separate classrooms before joining together to continue work on the mural in the Middle and High School classroom.

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— Jesus’ teaching — a teaching deeply rooted, remember, in the 8th-century Jewish prophetic tradition of Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and Micah — centres on the left-behind poor of his own time. Despite evidence to the contrary, he was able to proclaim, and live and die, by the belief that: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh” (Luke 6:20-21). Alas, since Jesus’ day, evidence to the contra...

Caregivers showing up is an exceptional example of love. They could be a parent, guardian, child, or stranger. They commit to giving their time and energy to the care of another person, often with minimal thanks and acknowledgment. They are heroes who aid in the survival of others. -JeKaren Olaoya (CLF) Thank a caregiver today.

Lyonel Perabo reviews the newly released volume of The Troth's mammoth work, Our Troth, 3rd Edition, which focuses on Heathen living. Continue reading Review: Our Troth Vol. 3 is a hefty toolbox to forge the faith at The Wild Hunt.

I was stretched out, lying in the hammock, with my feet up, listening to an audio version of “Olive, Again.” Suddenly a chickadee landed on my black sneaker, and started pecking inquisitively around the seams. I wish I could have snapped a photo, but he was gone again in just a minute. I guess I […]

Earlier this month, Side With Love Congregational Justice Organizer Rev. Ranwa Hammamy wrote: “When our congregations are truly rooted in our Unitarian Universalist values, the work of collective liberation naturally follows. We know that as spiritual leaders and ministers within our congregations, you are shaping communities that, each and every day, strive to deepen their commitment to our faith’s values and calls.” This ministry has never been more crucial, and we are grateful to be partners with you in this work. In service of justice and liberation, we share some upcoming events we hope will fortify, inspire, and encourage you and your community to live into the hope and courage of our faith. UPLIFT Action Launch Party: Every ...

The cancer clinic is a place where courage is in abundance. There is one area in the clinic where courage is a part of every patient. That is the infusion area. It’s where the chemotherapy is administered.  On most of … Continue reading →

God, I am tired.The days grow shorter and colder,But God, they are still so long,and so full.The hungry ghosts who liveIn the space between tasksNever stop wailing –They are never satisfied. God, let me be satisfied.Let me feel confidentThat I am enough,My efforts are enough,And Grace residesIn the space between breaths – May I rememberTo […]

  Workers load granite blocks on to the highly specialized car of the Granite Railway in the 1830's . I’ll take the category of Firstsfor $800, Ken . The answer is the First American Railroad . What was the Baltimore & Ohio ? I’m sorry that incorrect.   (Dumb struck look on contestant’s face, a scattering of boos from the audience convinced a mistakehas been made. Pause and slightly supercilious smirk from Ken.)   The question we were looking for was what was the Granite Railway. (Rioting erupts) But it is the truth, albeit obscure and accompanied by a couple of asterisks.   The Baltimore & Ohio was chartered on February 28, 1827 and famously launched passenger service in 1830 on 13 miles of track.   Passengers rode in open ca...

Prayer for Indigenous People's Day (US) - Week of October 10, 2022 Lover of the Earth, may we learn to live with greater reverence and understanding of the earth wherever we are, and of the indigenous peoples who have the longest continuous relationship with that part of the earth. May...

Prayer for Tenderness and Thanksgiving, Week of October 10, 2022 Lover of Tenderness, may we remember we are most fully human in relationship, with one another, with the lands where we live, with all of being. May we cherish those relationships, grow wiser in living with generosity and grace, in...

More than a year later, justice is still denied for the Haitian asylum-seekers brutalized by U.S. officers on horseback.

“For so many acts both evident and subtle which have fueled the illusion of separateness, I forgive myself. I forgive you. We begin again in love.” -from Litany of Atonement, by Robert Eller-Isaacs How can you forgive yourself today?

Three TWH contributors share their thoughts on the new Disney+ film, Hocus Pocus 2. Continue reading A bit of Hocus Pocus at The Wild Hunt.

The popular image of the Captain comes from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's  The Courtship of Miles Standish.   In this 19th Century illustration of the narrative poem the disappointed suitor/soldier escorts the wedding procession of John Alden and Pricilla Mullins. Thanks to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow he is one of the few original settlers of Plymouth Plantation who most people know by name.  The Courtship of Miles Standish , Longfellow’s long poem, was among the most beloved verses of the 19th Century and snatches of it were recited by school children who learned it by rote.  While seldom read these days many still know the central story of how a shy, tongue-tied soldierasked his best friend John Alden to speak to the object of his...

    A Meditation on Prayer Evelyn Underhill (I’m enormously fond of Evelyn Underhill. So, I was pleased as punch to stumble upon this excerpt from a book titled Devotional Classics edited by Richard J. Foster & James Bryan Smith. They collected it from Underhill’s The Essentials of Mysticism. This little excerpt seems to be […]

Beloved, today may I take space for the sacred pause. May I remember that the checkmarks on my to do list Hold little value in the great scheme of existence. Move my soul, mind, and body towards that which sustains them And help me release that which does not. Let me rest in the peace […]

Watching 60 Minutes honoring the firefighters and other first responders from 9-11-2001, my chest heaves and tears fall at their willing sacrifice for others! Some are wired to seek out opportunities for this kind of bravery but most of us … Continue reading →

To me, courage starts first in the heart maybe because of its Latin root, cor or heart; maybe it’s because courage seems different from its synonymous twin, bravery. Bravery looks more like heroic deeds on or off the battlefields of … Continue reading →

On this holiest day in the Jewish year, our kindred atone for the ways in which they have harmed others in the past year. Yom Kippur is a day of prayer, of introspection, and of fasting. The fasting is a sacrifice that helps focus the individual on the task at hand–atonement. How can you atone … Continue reading Atonement

Please join us next Tuesday (11 October 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 (8 October 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 (8 October 2022)"

Please join us on Saturday (8 October 2022) from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM for our monthly building and grounds work day. There will be taasks for all ages and abilities — indoors and out. The weather’s getting so nice — the high is only 78°F on Saturday and the low is 54°F. There is … Continue reading "Building and Grounds Work Day (8 October 2022)"

The administration’s back-and-forth on the dangerous expulsion policy does nothing but cause harm and violate basic human rights.

Fine Woodworking has published a brief on-line article about making adjustable miter gauge runners. Their advantage is that you can adjust them to a perfect fit, even when there are stark changes in humidity in your wood shop. https://www.finewoodworking.com/2022/10/05/adjustable-sled-runners I'm now testing negative for covid-19 and when my energy returns I'll be happy to go back to normal life. Make, fix and create... Assist others in learning likewise.

Sunday, October 9, 10:30 a.m. Are You a UU Mystic? With Rev. Stephen Shick Are you a UU Mystic and don’t know it? This worship service will help you explore and answer this question. UU Transcendentalists boldly answered “yes.” They, as many contemporary UU mystics, found being open to life’s mystery did not contradict science and   [ … ] The post appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

  Tree of Life Unitarian Universalist Congregation and Live4Lali will be provide free Narcan kits and training at the church, 5603 West Bull Valley Road in McHenry this Saturday afternoon October 8 at 2 pm.   Live4Lali is the organization that works to reduce stigma and prevent substance use disorder among individuals, families, and communities, and to minimize the overall health, legal, and social harms associated with substance use. “The opioid crisis continues to needlessly claim lives in McHenry County and around the country.   But we all can save lives by learning to useemergency Narcan kits which administer a life-saving jolt to revivethose in overdose crisis,” said Patrick Murfin, Tree of Life Social Justice Team Chair, “...

Meg Barnhouse Dying is scary, but we are brave, and we can talk about it together. Continue reading "How We Die"

Britain was a bleak place in the early '60s and young men like these faced dim prospects of unemployment and life on the Doll. Looking back on it October 5, 1962 was an exceptionally good day for our cousins across the Pond.   And they really needed it .   Things had been going downhill there for a long time.   Two World Wars had killed off huge swaths of two generations.   London, and to a lesser extent, other cities were still trying to rise from the rubble of bombs dropped more than two decades before.   British industrial infrastructure was largely ageing and obsolete.   The supremacy it once enjoyed was being challenged , largely by modern facilities and high levels of engineering from a Europerebuilt on the American Marshall ...

I can’t tell you everything is going to be OK, because it’s not. But we can make things better for the world and better for ourselves. We can find joy and happiness, and we can live so as to be worthy of the honor of those who come after us.

          In Japanese Zen today, the 5th of October is reserved as a holiday in remembrance of Bodhidharma, the mostly mythical founder of Chinese Zen. As Issho Fujita writes, “The accounts of his life are largely legendary (see Comics “Bodhidharma” 1-12 at Sotozen-net International website) but according to Denkoroku (The Record of Transmitting […]

“Now is the time for turning. The leaves are beginning to turn from green to red and orange…. God, help us to turn–from callousness to sensitivity, from hostility to love, from pettiness to purpose, from envy to contentment, from carelessness to discipline, from fear to faith.” -Jack Riemer What do you need to turn towards in … Continue reading Turning

We have a post box for our mail, so sometimes we receive mail sent to previous holders of that box number. Today we received the October issue of “Decision” magazine, published by the Billy Graham Evangelical Association. The editor-in-chief, Franklin Graham, wrote the lead article in this issue, titled “We Can Still Turn Back.” Franklin … Continue reading "What Franklin Graham says"

Taken with a Fujifilm X-T2 Just click on the photo to enlarge it   This summer I visited my parents on the Tendring Peninsular where I grew up (in a village called Kirby-le-Soken). They now live in an even smaller village called Wrabness by the Stour Estuary. Given that I do not own a car thankfully it has a station (really a wayside halt) on the rather lovely branch line (now known as the Mayflower Line) that runs between Manningtree and Harwich. On boarding the train at Manningtree Station the photo here presented itself to me which I gratefully took. 

The Lithuanian parliament rejects the Romuva petition for recognition as an official religion again, even after the European Court of Human Rights ruled against Lithuania in favor of the Romuva. Continue reading Lithuanian Parliament rejects Romuva again despite ECHR decision at The Wild Hunt.

Gordon Sumner, aka Sting, said to a live audience recently, “Democracy is under attack. It’s under attack in every country in the world. It’s in grave danger of being lost unless we defend it. The alternative to democracy is a nightmare, a prison of the ... read more . The post October Theme: Democracy & Interdependence appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

This past weekend we had the honor of offering the Charge to the Congregation at the installation service for the Plattsburgh congregation and the Rev. Nicoline Guerrier. They have worked together for four years and finally decided to take a leap of faith and commit ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – October 4th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Children in grades K-6 are invited to join us for some Children’s Chapel fun on Sunday, 10/9, in Waters House beginning at 10:30. K-3 Wonderful Welcome: will meet next on Sunday, 10/16! K-3rd grade Children will begin in the Great Hall with their families and stay ... read more . The post Religious Education News – Oct. 4th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Join us on Sunday, Oct. 9 to help register voters! We are partnering with Progressive Schenectady on a voter registration event, tabling at the weekly Sunday Street Soldiers gathering in Schenectady (Zion Lutheran Church parking lot).  Donations Accepted at UUSS Sunday, Oct. 9 We are also collecting ... read more . The post #UUtheVote Voter Registration & Donation Drive appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

The Long Strange Trip UU history course will be offered in multiplatform mode (in person or Zoom) starting Thursday, October 20 for six weeks (skipping Thanksgiving) ending December 1st. Learn about the inspirational stories of 500 years of courageous and prophetic UU ancestors who devoted their ... read more . The post Long Strange Trip UU History Course – Starts October 20th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

          Not a big fan of royalty. I take no hankering to kings and queens on thrones or in decks of cards.           Let’s admit that when we left the Empire we didn’t entirely: Hollywood is our re-creation of royalty, with its unending Red Carpets—as is the world of athletics. In all, we pay obeisance […]

I asked my spouse To stop buying me flowers – “Buy me a houseplant instead, So I don’t have to watch them die.” So now my “Sorry you got assaulted” cactus Sits on the mantle Next to Uncle Frank and the “Congratulations on 6 months sober!” cactus And the one I picked up For her […]

Courage is a tricky one to find. Sometimes, I just cannot find it. Today may be one of those days.  I am recovering from very severe health problems. The treatments changed my life in every way. One important way it … Continue reading →

          Today, the 4th of October, is the feast of St Francis. The Sufis speak of Madzubs. The Western Sufi teacher Wali Ali Meyer once described a madzub as “a human being who has an immediate and intimate relationship with the God reality, and who often is absorbed in that realm […]

  This poem has appeared on this blogat least ten times for Yom Kippur.   I guess that this makes it an official tradition. It was inspired not only by my genuine admiration for the Holy Day, but by an ongoing controversy in my own Unitarian Universalist faith.  For many years UUs have gone blithely on incorporating snatches of prayers, ritual, and traditionfrom other religions into our own worship.  We do it mostly in good faith claiming “The Living Tradition which we share draws from many sources…” But lately we have taken grieffrom Native Americans for adopting willy-nilly rituals and prayers which we don’t fully understand and take out of context, many of which, frankly, turned out to be New Age touchy-feely faux traditio...

Some photos from the attic of the 1747 Meeting House in Cohasset: This image shows the joint in the middle of the second truss from the north end. The ends of the trunnels (treenails) are clearly visible, as are the adze marks. This photo shows an unusual joint between a beam and a post. This … Continue reading "Posts and beams"

Sacrifice can also be harmful to us, causing injury (physical, emotional, psychological, or spiritual). How have you faced the possibility of harmful sacrifice?

In this week's Pagan Community Notes: Supreme Court cases, Earth-based Spirituality Action Team, a call for Ancestor Altars, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of October 3, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

Thank you so much for signing up for the first webinar of our “Climate Resilience through Disaster Response & Community Care” series at Side With Love. Whether you were able to attend in real-time or plan to watch the recording later, we are grateful for your commitment to building communities of care in the face of climate disasters.  Resources & Materials from Session 1 Linked below are materials & resources from our September 27 session on “Assessing Climate Impacts & Making Connections.” Please note that most of these can be found in the UUA Climate Disaster Prep Google Drive Folder , in both PDF & Google Doc formats. Climate Disaster Preparedness Guide for UUs   Climate Disaster Response for UUs Materials & Resources Clima...