Join us at All Souls Church on Monday, July 17, 2023 at 6 pm for a free screening of the documentary, Plan C. Shot over the past four years by award-winning filmmaker Tracy Droz Tragos, Plan C is a documentary capturing the work of Plan C (the abortion pill access campaign of the same name) as well as the work of many activists and providers fighting to improve access to abortion pills in the face of crumbling reproductive rights & access across the US. “In the tough sociopolitical climate we are currently experiencing, this film comes in as a sign […] The post Roe Fund Oklahoma and ASRJ Present Plan C appeared first on BeyondBelief.

  There were a lot of firsts involved when Telstar 1 was launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral , Florida on July 10, 1962. It was the first active telecommunications satellite, capable of relaying television broadcasts, bundled telephone calls, and fax images. Echo I , launched by NASA in 1960 had been a glorified weather balloon—a Mylar inflated sphere off which microwave signals could be bounced from one Earth station to another.   Although millions of Americans, me included, spent hours watching darkened skies for the passage of the gleaming object in orbit, Echo’s usefulness as a communications device was more symbolic than real. Echo 1 sits fully inflated at a Navy hangar in Weeksville, North Carolina.  T...

Munchkin and I are at the Louvre. I communed with one of Michelangelo’s “Captives” while she went in search of more recent European sculpture. I was lukewarm about returning to the Louvre, and came mostly to accompany M, but this time spent drawing made it more than worth the price of admission, and the wait.

“Today, transcending boundaries is hard work. For one thing, I’ve created more of them since I was young, and I’ve built them higher and stronger than they once were. For another thing, I’m much more self-righteous and much less humble than I was then. Sometimes, when I am at my best, I remember that the … Continue reading Boundaries

                                          God. A word that calls forth pain and joy. Hope and fear. And loss, so much loss. People die for that word. People die because of that word. God. And, what is God? What […]

Liz Williams reviews Channel 4's new series "The Change," a story of a menopausal woman's journey into the Forest of Dean with notable Pagan themes. Continue reading Review: “The Change” at The Wild Hunt.

SERVICE PARTICIPANTS Rev. John Cullinan, Pastor Yelena Mealy, staff accompanist Mike Begnaud, Patrick Webb, Renae Mitchell, Galen Gisler, and Rick Bolton, AV techs WELCOME! New to our church community?  Sign our guestbook and let us know if you’d like to get more connected. If you would like to submit a joy or sorrow to be …<p> Learnings and Musings From General Assembly Read More »

We went to the Marin County Fair this week. I hadn’t been in years. We used to take the kids every year, putting a blanket down on the lawn for the music and then later the fireworks. Randomly we went on the day that was the designated “Out at the Fair Day” so there were […]

  The record breaking string hottest days ever was not even over when ABC TV showed this frightening graphic this week . Scientists tell up that the Earth reached the highest temperatures ever recorded on four consecutive days this week —an unprecedented occurrence .   Worse, even higher temperatures are expected in this month and August as El Niño strengthens.   Canadian wildfires —this time mostly in northern Quebec and eastern provinces continue to burn out of control repeatedly blanketing much of the American Midwest and Northeast with foul and dangerous smoke .   Melting of the Antarctic and Artic ice caps is accelerating.   Climate change , the egg heads tell us, is accelerating even faster than predicted despite half-hea...

“The concern which I lay bare before God today is my need to be better: I want to be better than I am in my most ordinary day-by-day contacts: With my friends— With my family— With my casual contacts— With my business relations— With my associates in work and play. I want to be better … Continue reading Better

  Reading Some time ago, somewhere, I am not sure where exactly, there lived an old woman.   She served as the Wisewoman for a small village.   One day a friend of hers, a writer from a far-a-way Western country, came for a visit.   Each time the friend visited, the Village Wisewoman would teach him a new way of looking at the world.   The Village Wisewoman told her friend, “Most of western society thinks that we should believe only what we see.   However, in reality the mind works the other way around, meaning we see only what we believe.”   The writer asked, “But how can this be?”   The Village Wisewoman said “I will show you shortly.”   Soon two villagers came to the Village Wisewoman at different times, to ask he...

  You heard the story of a young Albert Schweitzer.   Did you know that later in his life he coined the term “reverence for life” and used that concept as a foundation for how he chose to live in the world?   Schweitzer wrote: “…Reverence for life contains within itself the rationale of the commandment to love, and it calls for compassion for all … life.”   He goes on: “I must interpret the life [around] me as I interpret the life that is my own.   My life is full of meaning to me.   The life around me must be full of significance to itself.   If I am to expect others to respect my life, then I must respect the other life I see, however strange it may be to mine.   And not only other human life, but all kinds of lif...

  Mohandas Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule. He inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. Ghandi wrote:   “I learnt the lesson of nonviolence from my wife, when I tried to bend her to my will. Her determined resistance to my will, on the one hand, and her quiet submission to suffering my stupidity…., on the other, ultimately made me ashamed of myself and cured me of my stupidity in thinking that I was born to rule over her and, in the end, she became my teacher in nonviolence.”         Even Ghandi, one of the many spiritual teachers of nonviolence...

  I grew up in a home with a father who had alcoholism.   I think at least in part, I became a counselor for people with alcoholism, drug addiction and eating disorders in order to cope with my own family history, to not look within to deal with my pain, but to let my need for healing and pain relief come out sideways by helping others heal and feel relief from their pain.   Early in my life I was unwilling to open the Pandora’s box of pain that was resting unopened in my shadow.   That’s not to say I didn’t know it was there and that I wasn’t curious about it, but most of all I was afraid that if I opened it, its contents would come flying out, uncontrollable, destructive, and in the end, I would become incapacitated by them...

  How many have heard the phrase “Fake it til you make it”?   I can’t tell you how many people—usually professors, colleagues, co-workers-- said that to me when I started out as a psychotherapist and as a minister.   Putting myself out there in front of people as an expert, a professional, someone who knows what the heck they are doing, when in fact they are brand new, not yet experienced, winging it the best they can is tough.   Being vulnerable in front of someone who has expectations of you is tough.   It is easy to experience “Imposter Syndrome.”   Feeling like you are an imposter because you don’t know enough, are not experienced enough, not smart enough, just not enough to be what you are expected to be or do wh...

Agape. Love.  Unmerited Love.  Unmerited acceptance.  Everyone’s worth and dignity seen and respected.  Grace.  Feeling loved.  Feeling accepted.  By a divinity, by another person, by humanity.  Regardless of who you are, how you look, where you are from, who you love, how you embody your gender.  Regardless of what you do or don’t do.  Regardless.  Just for existing.  At every moment, you are beloved.         Have you ever felt loved and accepted just for existing?  Not because of something you have done.  Perhaps someone has treated you that way.  Perhaps you helped a stranger.  Perhaps you felt a wash of unmerited grace and love when something worked out in your life when you didn’t earn it or deserve it.

  Reading   This story is about a particular era and reflects some of the viewpoints of that time, but it also offers some insight.  This Swahili story is set on the sultry coast of medieval East Africa.  It is called “The Meat of the Tongue.”    Once upon a time a sultan and a sultana lived on the coast of Africa. The sultan loved to lavish his sultana with beautiful gifts.    But the sultana was suffering. Her once rosy cheeks became pale, and she started to wither away to nothing but bone.    The sultan called all his royal advisors and doctors to the palace, but they couldn’t find a cure. However, they had heard about a poor fisherman in their village whose wife was thriving. So they sought him out, cornered him in a ...

Please join us on Sunday (9 July 2023) at 11:00 AM for “The Power to Choose” by Rev. Barbara Jarrell. We will be meeting in the sanctuary for this worship service.  Please join us in person at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA  71106 if you are able to do so. Our … Continue reading "All Ages Worship (9 July 2023)"

During the summer, our children and youth participate in various fun artistic and creative activities. On this Sunday (9 July 2023), the brilliantly creative Maggie Molisee is back with a new painting project. Kids should wear clothing that can risk getting some paint on them — this is a good practice for many of our … Continue reading "Painting Project — Summer Activities for Children and Youth (9 July 2023)"

Please join us on Sunday (9 July 2023) for our adult religious education class at 9:00 AM. Our adult religious education class is now a dual-platform class — meeting in person in the church social hall and also on Zoom. For that week, we will continue our discussion of Patrice Cullor’s An Abolitionist’s Handbook.  We … Continue reading "Online and In-Person Adult Religious Education — 9 July 2023"

Please join us next Tuesday (11 July 2023) at 12 noon for our weekly Zoom lunch. Our weekly Zoom lunch is going dual-platform — join us from home using Zoom or in person in the social hall. Bring your lunch and meet up with your All Souls friends, have lunch, and just catch up.

Rogan josh curry (source) A short  “ thought for the day” offered to the Cambridge Unitarian Church as part of the Sunday Service of Mindful   Meditation. A pdf of the revised order of service in which this address was given, and about which it speaks, can be found at this link.   (Click on this link to hear a recorded version of the following piece)   —o0o— For the past year, it has been a privilege to help prepare the funeral service of a still living friend of mine who has a stage four cancer. We meet every few weeks, catch up with the medical news — or, as the old gag puts it, he performs for me an organ recital — and then we eat and shoot the breeze about life and death, music and films, politics, philosophy, religi...

Polish star Anna Held toasts her husband, producer Florenz Ziegfeld in 1905 two years before she advised him to introduce an American version of the Folies Bergère at his new venue. Showman Florenz Ziegfeld had the good sense to listen to his wife.  He had been named manager of the former Roof Garden Theater in New York City, an intimate venue on the top of Oscar Hamerstein’s Olympic Theater.  The new owners needed a hit to fill the seats and Ziegfeld needed a new idea for a show to open the room which had been rechristened the Jardin de Paris.  The showman’s wife was the Polish born curvaceous and highly successful stage performer Anna Held who Ziegfeld had wed in Europe.  She was a huge star in her own right in this country si...

Two more drawings in my 4×6 sketchbook. Clouds in Geneva, making me wish that I had colored pencils with me. And something inspired by Paul Klee, who was unafraid to incorporate signs such as arrows, numerals and letters, even stick figures if they served the vision. I would normally be cowed out of using arrows […]

“We light this flame For the art of sacred unknowing. Humbled by all that we cannot fathom in this time, We come into the presence of what we do know, Perhaps the only thing we can ever know: That Love is now and forever The only answer to everything And everyone In every moment.” -A … Continue reading Sacred Unknowing

Our monthly building and grounds work day will happen on Saturday, 8 July 2023 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. We will have tasks available for all ages and abilities — inside and out. This is a great way to get to know others in your All Souls community while working side by side.  Please … Continue reading "Building and Grounds Work Day (Saturday, 8 July 2023)"

Please join us on Saturday (8 July 2023) 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. Please note that this group is still meeting via Zoom.  You will need … Continue reading "Meditation with Larry Androes (8 July 2023)"

Lyonel Perabo interviews Victoria Svarga, a jeweler, social media marketer, and Ukrainian Pagan, about her faith in the face of the ongoing Russian invasion of her country. Continue reading Faith Reborn through Fire: an interview with Ukrainian Pagan Victoria Svarga at The Wild Hunt.

 I learned from Taunton Press that some of my books will be featured on their annual Prime Day sale, July 11 and 12. Special prices will be offered on  Taunton's Complete Illustrated Guide Box Making ,  Beautiful Boxes  and  Tiny Boxes .  These titles will appear in the “Best Deals” in the “Books for Hobbies" category. I've not heard from my other publishers whether special pricing will be offered on any of my other books, but if you've wanted any of my books "Prime Day" may be an  excellent  time to buy. 

Our New England summer is off to an overcast, monsoony start, but that’s not going to stop us from vibing with our seasonal reads and binges. Here’s what our staff has been enjoying.

The Biden Administration’s efforts to secure the border have only caused more hardship for people seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.

I started writing this during my outing three days ago, on Tuesday, so I’m going to stick with the present tense, as if it were all written on that day. —— I’m on a side quest of my own today. No one else has a powerful hankering to go to the Zentrum Paul Klee, so […]

(Reposted from September 4, 2023) What is it that renews you?  I don’t care how long the renewal lasts.  What renews you, for a moment, for an hour, for a day? How long since you last bent over a sink … Continue reading →

U.S. Marines from the Navy's Pacific Squadron under Commodore John Drake Sloat conduct a bloodless amphibious operation to seize the Alta California provincial capital, Monterrey.  Other men get most of the credit for the annexation of Alta California during the Mexican War of 1846-’48.   But Commodore John Drake Sloat, commander of the U . S . Navy Pacific Squadron, sailed into the harbor at Monterrey , the provincial capital, and after a bloodless skirmish with a small force of Mexican Coast Guard and silencing shore batteries with a few well-placed salvos, landed with a complement of sailors and Marines. Sloat raised the flag over the Customs House on July 7, 1846 and issued an edict annexing Alta California to the United States. ...

A Prayer for Respect - Week of July 10, 2023 Should I pray to Mercy or to Wisdom? To the Beloved to be beloved or to the Honey in the Rock, starting from that place of surprising possibilities amid difficult times? Mystery and Wonder, I don’t know where to start...

In my childhood, humility meant not just not asking questions, but also being meek and surrendering to ultimate authority, God. I now have a healthy humility that attempts to grasp what is knowable and submits to the source’s mystery. -Lecretia Williams (CLF) What are you okay with not totally understanding?

Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work, which is mostly standing still and learning to be Astonished. ~ Mary Oliver (Photo by Dakota Roos on Unsplash) Sunday, July 9 ~ 10:00-11:30 a.m. Soul Matters Summer Sharing Circle: The Gift of Stillness The Unitarian Church of Marlborough & Hudson invites you   [ … ] The post Sunday, July 9 ~ “The Gift of Stillness” ~ Soul Matters Summer Sharing Circle ~ 10:00-11:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

Women’s Red Tent: “Pausing to Pathfind” Saturday afternoon July 15, 1-5pm Hudson, MA Women’s Red Tent Gatherings: Celebrating over a decade of Sharing Our Stories and Creating Community! **PLEASE NOTE THESE EXCITING DEVELOPMENTS: THIS TENT TRAVELS! We will be gathering at 19 CARTER Community Place in BERLIN, MA for this event! TENT-BUILDING! Our time together will   [ … ] The post Saturday, July 15 ~ Women’s Red Tent: “Pausing to Pathfind” ~ 1:00-5:00 p.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

New research hypothesizes that the Stonehenge builders may have died from plague. We ask experts about the new conjecture. Continue reading Did the builders of Stonehenge die from plague? at The Wild Hunt.

More later. For now, I’m just posting this picture from outside the Montmartre apartment we’ll be staying in for the next two weeks. Everything is very French, and we are very happy.

There is a debate technique called the "Gish Gallop" named after Duane Gish who used the technique to argue against the facts of evolution. The way the Gish Gallop works is that you make up BS faster than folks can counter it with fact based reality. An expert in the technique can make things up on the fly faster  than experts interested in the truth dispute.  If you want to see it in action, attend a Donald J. Trump rally. After folks grow weary from the efforts of fact checking, some folks will allow you to get away with anything and believe whatever nonsense is offered by those "on your side." On the internet we find folks making things up faster than anyone can refute. Add artificial intelligence into the situation and things becom...

Yet another news article about a religious group taking a public stand that homosexuality is sinful: the Christian Reformed Church in North America did so in its national meeting last month. Because of this stance, several open and affirming Christian Reformed Churches have to decide what to do. Do they disaffiliate, or kick out their … Continue reading "Religion isn’t separate from human society"

(Reposted from September 1, 2013) As I write this, it is raining, again.  We have had more rain this summer than in many years’ memory. We have complained about it, but the reality is that the earth has never been … Continue reading →

Patrons flee the Big Top in panic as it goes up in flames in Hartford. When the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus band suddenly struck up The Stars and Stripes Forever in the middle of a matinee performance by the Flying Wallendas on July 6, 1944 in Hartford , Connecticut circus folk knew that something was wrong.   The song was a traditional signal of trouble.   And there was big trouble.   Band leader Merle Evans may have been the first person to see smoke or flames from a corner of the Big Top tent.   As the band continued playing Ring Master Fred Bradna urged the crowd , estimated to be about 8,000, to remain calm and make an orderly evacuation by the marked exits.   But the fire seemed to go from a small blaze to a r...

For some, humility is seen as a passive act: to be humble, meek, bashful, or timid. Sometimes, it has to be bold or courageous.-Beth Murray (CLF) When has your humility shown itself as a courageous, bold, or active act?

Correspondent Elyse Wells covers the recent honoring of land spirits in Greece. Continue reading Stoixeia: The Greek Land Spirits at The Wild Hunt.

    Fifty-four years ago today, the 5th of July in 1969, I was ordained an unsui, a novice Soto Zen Buddhist priest. The English word “ordain” comes from Latin by way of French and means “put in order, arrange, dispose, appoint.” Ordination is the formal rite dedicating someone to sacred work. It is common […]

(Reposted from September 10, 2013) Buddhist teachings say that there is no separate self, and I find that difficult to embrace all the time.  I think most Westerners do.  I don’t know that it matters whether it always makes sense … Continue reading →

July 4th is the 30th anniversary of Margy and I being together as lovers! We have many different anniversaries actually–for example, it was six years before we moved into a household together, when we moved from Boston to Cape Cod in 1999. Perhaps that was our first truly big commitment, buying a house together in […]

Summer Stars Sessions of RE start this week. This is programming geared for children in kindergarten through 6th grade; older children and youth are welcome to come help out. Bring your children to the room next to the dining room before the worship service to ... read more . The post Religious Education on July Sundays appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

UUSS Paddles! occurs in the evenings on the second and fourth Tuesdays during the months of June, July and August. Join UUSS members as we honor the interconnected web of life, while enjoying fellowship on local waters. All kayakers, canoeists and paddlers welcome. (If you don’t own watercraft ... read more . The post UUSS Paddles! appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

If you’ve been attending worship at UUSS for a while and are ready to deepen your knowledge of and connections to Unitarian Universalism, plan to attend the “Getting To Know UU” program held after the services on Sundays 10/22, 10/29, and 11/5. In that 3-session ... read more . The post Get To Know UUSS better This Fall! appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Green Sanctuary would like you to know the Nature Bus is back this year! ‍ECOS: the Environmental Clearinghouse and the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy have teamed up with the CDTA to bring a limited Nature Bus trolley service to Schenectady! During a weekend in July ... read more . The post Take the Nature Bus this summer! appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

The struggle to win youth voting rights was rooted in Vietnam War protests. On July 5, 1971 the 26th Amendment which guaranteed 18 to 21 year old citizens the right to vote in all elections was officially added to the U . S . Constitution .   A Joint Congressional Resolution proposing the amendment had cleared both houses by March 23.   On July 1 North Carolina became the 38th state to ratify the amendment—the necessary three quarters of the states.   No other Constitutional amendment has come close to the speed at which the 26th Amendment was ratified—just 69 days.   On July 5 President Richard Nixon signed official certification of the amendment. The idea of reducing the voting age had been kicked around since West Virginia Dem...

In our worship, we recognize that sometimes we arrive in community with joys bursting forth from us. We celebrate those joys so that we are all lifted up by them. We celebrate those joys to remember that life can be more than it is in this moment. -Michael Tino (CLF) What joys are bursting forth … Continue reading Bursting Forth

Taken with a Fuji X100V using Justin Gould’s Daido Moriyama film recipe Just click on the photo to enlarge it

The inclination to create beautiful and useful things is a human universal. It can be found in every culture. It is rooted in relationship. We do good work because we are trained to expect it of ourselves, that we may be seen by others as caring. On the other hand, you can tell folks a thing or two, and lay verbal claim to your moral superiority, with it being revealed at some point as total bull.   Now with  artificial intelligence to supplement the ridiculousness of what folks can make up, we'll have launched ourselves further off the deep end. Imagine someone wants to create an image of Donald J. Trump wearing a tutu and on point. AI will do it in seconds and folks will believe it to be true. I lay the problem's source on our educa...

According to tradition, Rev. John Brown, the minister in Cohasset during the Revolutionary War period, gave a stirring reading of the Declaration of Independence from the pulpit of the meeting house to the gathered townspeople not long after July 4, 1776. I haven’t been able to find out the exact date when Brown read the … Continue reading "Declaration of Independence reading"

                                        Sometime in March of 1845, Henry David Thoreau’s friend the poet Ellery Channing famously advised him, “Go out upon that, build yourself a hut, & there begin the grand process of devouring yourself alive. I […]

                                               Uncle Sam Dozing by  J.C. Leyendecker .  

  This weekend, millions of Americans will enjoy the fireworks, but others will take a knee on Independence Day.  Why celebrate?  In her Pulitzer Prize-winning 1619 Project,  Nikole Hannah-Jones argued that the primary purpose of the American Revolution was to promote and preserve slavery.  But it’s important to get the history right.   In 1775, Virginia’s English Governor, Lord Dunmore, proclaimed that slaves who deserted their American masters would be welcomed into the British army as free citizens.  Multitudes did so, and soon Dunmore had a black regiment at his command to quell unrest in the colonies.  It was only then, Hannah-Jones’ argument goes, with the prospect of losing their enslaved property, that delegates in...

  A single blue whale can weigh 400,000 pounds.  But suppose you could put every kind of mammal on your bathroom scale, not as individual organisms but as a species. Cattle would physically weigh the most, according to a new study by the Wiezman Institute of Science.  In a paper titled “The Global Biomass of Wild Mammals,,” published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science last March, researchers determined that dogs–our family pets–collectively weigh about as much as all 4,805 wild species of mammals combined.  Cats tip the scales at double the tonnage of savannah elephants.   Watching Nature on PBS, with its migrating wildebeests, foraging bears and wallowing hippos gives a seriously distorted impression tha...

(Reposted from July 4, 2014–despite that this was 9 years ago, this post speaks poignantly to where we are currently) Today, in the United States, we celebrate the birth of our nation.  The Declaration of Independence, drafted, signed, and ratified … Continue reading →

  Congress Voting Independence by Edward Savage circa 1800. Note —This essay was first posted two years ago but remains on point. Today is the great patriotic holiday of the United States.   We call it the Fourth of July, or just the Fourth.   But that is just a date.   The official Federal holiday is called Independence Day in celebration of the adoption of the document that proclaimed separation from England, its King, and Parliament.   The Fourth was the date that wrangling over the wording of the document was completed and the final draft was dispatched to the printer.   The actual vote to approve independence had been cast by the Continental Congress two days earlier, July 2 , 1776 and John Adams, the prime mover of the reso...

The act of kneeling, in some cultures and for those who are able to do so, can be part of a spiritual practice of humility that asks us to recognize something larger than ourselves. What do you recognize as larger than you are that is worth a practice of humility before?

This child has always climbed everything she could. It should have come as no surprise when she wanted to join a climbing gym last year. After an afternoon of taking in art at the Zurich Kunsthaus, she was literally ready to climb the walls. This one was outside a very expensive-looking gated estate with sculpture […]

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, Rev. Selena Fox and Circle Sanctuary help resist attacks on LGBTQI+ rights including an event tonight, July's supermoon, dolphin baby talk (what more do you want?), upcoming events and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of July 3, 2023 at The Wild Hunt.

                                  Today, the 3rd of July, the Roman church marks out as the feast of St Thomas, called the Doubter. The Orthodox tend to prefer October 6th. The Episcopal church marks his feast on the 21st of December, and […]

Staff Writer In this excerpted version of his now-classic 1852 oration, Frederick Douglass casts Fourth of July celebrations as an offense to the enslaved population of the United States, and all who yearn for true freedom.

(Reposted from September 6, 2013) In bullfighting, the place in the ring where a wounded bull retreats from the matador to regain his strength and prepare to return to the fight is known as “querencia”.  The matador fears the time … Continue reading →

Spirit of Life and Love,In this time of uncertaintyOf fear and angstOur nation holds its collective breath In this timeWhen rhetoric blusters aboutAnd words are used as weaponsOur nation clenches its fistsTightens its shouldersEyes squeezed shutSome are preparing for a fight May we remember we are a people of resilienceWe have faced uncertainty beforeWe have weathered stormsWe have been consumed by flamesWe have risen like the phoenix from the ashesAnd we will againWe the people May we remember our shared humanityOur universal kinship; our interdependenceAs we unclench our fists and breathe togetherBreathing in love and breathing out peaceMay we recognize […] The post Seeking That Which Unites Us appeared first on BeyondBelief.

This fanciful depiction of the arrival of Samuel de Champlain at the site of the future Quebec City was painted in 1808 by George Agnew Reid.  The local Algonquian tribes did not adorn themselves in plains Indian war bonnets and were not known to have dispatched such a welcoming committee. On July 3, 1608 French explorer Samuel de Champlain founded Ville de Québec—Quebec City— at the site of Stadacona, a long abandoned St. Lawrence Iroquoian settlement.   It was the first permanent settlement in North America built outside of Spanish possessions.   The town was built in an easily fortified position on the top of bluffs on the north side of the St. Lawrence River where it narrows considerably.   It is surrounded by a low plain—...

  [Hello from July 2, 2023. This one sat in my drafts for a long time and I just saw it tonight. I am eminently more “okay” today than I was when I wrote it. We aren’t post-pandemic but I just went to the crowded Market Basket today and while I was masked, I wasn’t … Continue reading "(How Are You?) Are You Okay?"

I get bristly around the topic of humility because all my life I’ve been told to humble myself by making myself smaller, being quiet, not making waves. I’ve spent many long years (and many therapist $$) to unlearn that type of false humility and learn honest humility. A humility which loves questions and embraces change.  … Continue reading Waves

Carol and I went for walks in two wildlife sanctuaries today: the Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary and the North River Wildlife Sanctuary, both in Marshfield, Mass. Usually when we walk in wildlife sanctuaries I spend most of my time looking at plants, especially flowering plants. But today, without trying at all, we wound up seeing … Continue reading "Encounters"

"Am I seeking, or am I being sought?" Meg Elison reviews J. Lee Thompson's EYE OF THE DEVIL (1966), a classic of pagan horror that revolves around the myth of the Sacred King. Continue reading Classics of Pagan Cinema: Eye of the Devil at The Wild Hunt.

We spent 3 nights in Tahoe Vista this week, on the north shore of Lake Tahoe. And of course we hiked. My favorite hike near there is Spooner Lake to beautiful Marlette Lake. It is the third time we have done that hike and I love it. It was 12.6 miles with a 1632 elevation, […]

                                        When the Heart of Compassion walked through the gate of Wisdom, she looked into the body of the world and each of us, seeing that each of us and the world itself is boundless. And […]

Cecil, the majestic and photogenic lion in happier days with one of his harem and as a victim of a feckless dentist with a bow. Note— This recycled post would ordinarily not see the light of day again as it was pegged to specific news articles.   I rediscovered it, however, and thought that most readers would remember the news stories cited.   Besides, I like the message.   As predicted the original post did rouse some apoplexy and I was un-friended on Facebook by some seething animal lovers.   Hyper-sensitive White guys were also not happy.   One commentator on the original post took pains to complain that Black Lives Matter “only when they are shot by police” and not when Blacks murder each other—a patented accusation that...

Today we took over space at the Eureka Springs Community Center for the launch of the Museum of Eureka Springs Art. Eureka Springs has long been known as an art center. Our downtown has a number of art galleries, and we have more artists per capita than most small communities in the US. For many years our artists have participated in art and craft shows throughout the US, spreading the word about this wonderful place. Years ago local artist Louis Freund had proposed a major expansion of our historic museum to accommodate the arts, and while that never worked out, we are paying homage to the artists of our past and present by building a collection that will be exhibited in our newly acquired space. One of the reasons I've worked toward th...

As I sit at the midpoint of my human life, in the sacred year of 40, amid many transitions, a spiritual truth is emerging: I’m not so important or unique, AND Life is infinitely miraculous and precious. As many have noted, I am made of stardust, and to that dust I shall return – and … Continue reading Humility

On Juneteenth of this year, my wife and I finished watching the fine documentary “Summer of Soul”. I loved it. I felt inspired with both wonder and happiness. The film does a perfect job of summarizing a quintessential and positive moment in the history of our nation. My heart lifted to hear music and names […]

Weekend Editor Eric O. Scott reviews this season's U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Continue reading Editorial: SCOTUS conjures conservative rulings out of thin air at The Wild Hunt.

Please join us on Sunday (2 July 2023) at 11:00 AM for “Know-How and Imagination” by Rev. Barbara Jarrell. Join us as we welcome Rev. Barbara back to the pulpit and hear a special performance from the All Souls Choir. We will be meeting in the sanctuary for this worship service.  Please join us in … Continue reading "All Ages Worship (2 July 2023)"

During the summer, our children and youth participate in various fun artistic and creative activities. On this Sunday (2 July 2023), we are bringing back origami for the first time in many years with teachers Noah Jarrell-Wagstaff and Ash McLain. Children and youth will learn to make a crane and other folds from this ancient … Continue reading "Origami — Summer Activities for Children and Youth (2 July 2023)"

  A short  “ thought for the day” offered to the Cambridge Unitarian Church as part of the Sunday Service of Mindful   Meditation. A pdf of the revised order of service in which this address was given, and about which it speaks, can be found at this link.   (Click on this link to hear a recorded version of the following piece)   —o0o— One Sunday morning in Tokyo, sometime in 1973, at a meeting of his small, free religious community, Kiitsu Kyokai , Imaoka Shin’ichirō gave a brief talk on the subject of “Religion in No Religion” (see pictures at the end of this post for the Japanese version of the text of which a solid English translation has not yet been made). I thought it would be interesting to bring to your atten...

There will be no adult religious education class this Sunday (2 July 2023). Please join us next Sunday (9 July 2023) for our adult religious education class at 9:00 AM.  We are taking a break for the Fourth of July holiday weekend — please have a safe and fun holiday weekend. Our adult religious education … Continue reading "No Online and In-Person Adult Religious Education This Sunday — 2 July 2023"

We are not having Zoom lunch this Tuesday (4 July 2023) — our next Zoom lunch will be on Tuesday, 11 July 2023, at 12 noon. Please have a safe and fun Fourth of July holiday. Our weekly Zoom lunch is going dual-platform — join us from home using Zoom or in person in the … Continue reading "No Zoom Lunch This Tuesday (4 July 2023) — Zoom Lunch Returns on 11 July 2023"

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. For the month of July 2023, we choose North Louisiana Interfaith (a community organization of institutions of which All Souls is a member). Interfaith allows our congregation to accomplish many things … Continue reading "North Louisiana Interfaith — July 2023 Give-Away-The-Plate Recipient"

                                Last night we arrived at mom’s in Tujunga in Los Angeles, which for all practical purposes means we are home. This morning after our Empty Moon Zen sitting we’ll return the rental car. It was a lovely ride down […]

I need to begin photographing boxes for the cover of my new book, so I'm applying finish. As usual, I've made more boxes than is needed, so I'll have some to sell when the book is completed. I think readers will enjoy making these boxes.  Make, fix and create... Assist others in learning likewise.

This Landmark book for young adults and a Classic Comic Book both fired my boyhood hero worship of Theodore Roosevelt.  The cover illustration turned out to be inaccurate.  Roosevelt was wearing his blue field shirt not his khaki officer's tunic and completed the charge on foot after he lost his horse.  But it did show one Black trooper in the lower right of the picture--more credit than Buffalo Soldiers usually got. When I was a kid, Theodore Roosevelt was my hero.   I know, incredibly dorky.   But Teddy had been a fat, bookish kid with glasses, sort of like me, who grew up to have an exciting life.   For a couple of years or so in my pre-teens I took to pinning the brim of my cowboy hat to the crown on one side with a U . S . Arm...

Please join us on Saturday (1 July 2023) 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. Please note that this group is still meeting via Zoom.  You will need … Continue reading "Meditation with Larry Androes (1 July 2023)"

Today, we celebrate the end of LGBTQIA+ Pride Month with “Proud,” by Heather Smalls. Click the link and have yourself a dance party, beloved! “I step out of the ordinary I can feel my soul ascending I’m on my way, can’t stop me now You can do the same, yeah.” -Heather Smalls What have you … Continue reading Proud

Today TWH presents three science stories from around the world, including the banning of cruel animal traps in Wales, new images of Saturn from the James Webb space telescope, and new research into octopus sleep habits. Continue reading Unleash the Hounds Science Edition – Snare bans, Saturn, and octopus dreams at The Wild Hunt.

The UUA Board has provided a statement, Post-GA 2023, regarding the divestment reparations. Continue reading "UUA Board Statement, Post-General Assembly 2023, Regarding Divestment Reparations"