Please join us on Saturday (12 August 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 (12 August 2023)"

                                    It’s true. I’m pretty relentlessly a fan of the scientific method as it has evolved over the years. I really like what can be found in double blind testing. Certainly by testing claims about what presents, decisions […]

The testimony about UFO activity before a congressional subcommittee signals a change in American culture that is more open to challenging ideas. A recent study by the Pew Research Group found that 65% of Americans now believe that there is intelligent life on other planets and only 12% view UFOs as a security threat.  Continue reading The Aliens are Here – or Maybe They’re Elves? at The Wild Hunt.

Children often believe strange things – I was no exception to this rule. There some things I look back on with amusement and other things I look back on with dismay and regret. But there are some things I believed as a small child that I still believe today.

Excitement in the yard this morning! I woke to see out my window a juvenile hawk standing in the grass between the bird feeder and the elderberry bush. I went outside to take a photo, and they seemed undisturbed by my presence–I got within 4 yards of them. At one point they turned in my […]

I hear this over and over and over again. It’s tied in closely with my other career, sexuality education. People find out someone is pregnant and their first question is, “Are you having a girl or boy?” or “Do you hope it’s a girl or a boy?” And the (progressive?) answer that so many parents-to-be …</p> The post “All I want is for the baby to be healthy!” first appeared on For Parents of Children w/Chronic Illness.

Reposted from June 5, 2014 It was Sunday morning.  I was skipping out of Church at UUCG because of the nasty cold I had. The sneezing, coughing and unending use of tissues made me think better of being in close … Continue reading →

Play can mean endless possibilities. No two moments of play need be alike. No two people play in exactly the same ways. Let go of what you expect and something incredible might happen. Embrace the possibility of today.

I first experienced the island of Maui as many people in the mainland US have…through the lens of tourism.  I was the First Assistant Cruise Director on the Radiance of the Seas cruise ship in 2004 and we had an overnight in Lahaina as part of our repositioning from Alaska to the Caribbean.  Friends of […]

From George Takei's graphic memoir They Called Us Enemy. On August 10, 1988, more than 45 years after the start of internment, the United States government authorized reparations payments to Japanese-Americans detained during World War II . President Ronald Reagan signing the bill apologizing for World War II internment of Japanese-Americans and authorizing largely symbolic reparations. Ten weeks after the December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D . Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, ordering 120,000 people of Japanese descent—including 75,000 American citizens—into internment camps. The announced purpose was to protect the West Coast from sabotage and collusion with the enemy, but the perceived threat w...

A Prayer forJoy Amid Complexity - Week of August 14, 2023 Lover of Joy, you steady us when we are crumbling apart, and help us shake with rejuvenating laughter when it would be easier to do anything but. You do not deny that life can be painful, or grief-full, or...

“My Amended Creed of Life” (August 1973) & his earlier “My Creed of Life” (February 1965) Imaoka Shin’ichirō —o0o— [Editorial note: In the following, amended version of his “Creed of Life,” I have highlighted in bold type the changes/amendations made by Imaoka Shin’ichirō to his earlier version, which I reproduce at the end of this post.]   I believe in myself. I recognize my own subjectivity and creativity and feel the worth of living in life (生きがい ikigai). Subjectivity and creativity can be rephrased as personality, divinity, and Buddha-nature. I believe in my neighbour. The neighbour is oneself as a neighbour. If I believe in myself, I inevitably believe in my neighbour. I believe in a communal society. ...

I’ve been doing a deep dive into the question: What is religion, anyway? It’s pretty clear that “religion,” as we use it today, is a concept that really arises fairly recently in human history, during the European Enlightenment. From what I can see, the concept of “religion” arose from more than one source. On the … Continue reading "What is religion, anyway?"

Over two years of excavation, the discovery of a Roman villa on Malta expands our understanding of Roman residential life. Continue reading The Discovery of a Roman Villa in Malta Changes Archaeology at The Wild Hunt.

Taken with a Fuji X-T2 (with a Super-Multi-Coated Takumar C Pentax-M 1:3.5 135mm lens) Just click on the photo to enlarge it

Reflections on our 24 hours in Florence, Italy, with some itinerary recommendations. The post 24 Hours in Florence appeared first on Colin Bossen.

A repost from June 13, 2014 We all know of the importance of getting enough sleep, yet so many of us are challenged to do so. It’s so difficult for us to let go of the feeling of forward motion … Continue reading →

“Our family says the same prayer every night before we eat dinner as a way of collecting ourselves after a busy day. We say it together, and we always end with ‘Amen.’ Or rather, we used to end it that way. “You see, for reasons known only to four-year-olds, my oldest son was obsessed with … Continue reading mouths of babes

Looking at art in museums, and also making a drawing of a building in SketchbookX, where I can’t make very precise marks, I noticed how little it takes to show light and shadow. So when we say by this patio at Palacio Viana, Córdoba, I tried to put in just enough to show the light. […]

Norm Siegel, The Old Man, Dave Drayer, Andy Cohen, Cheryl Niemo, and Andy Andrick  lead the audience of the mini-folk festival Jest Plain Folk--Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things in singing Woody Guthrie's This Land is Your Land. Eleven years ago, it poured rain here in McHenry County.   It came down in buckets in what was a very soggy month.   That put a crimp in plans for an evening mini folk festival we planned for the grounds of what was then called the Tree of Life Unitarian Universalist Congregation in McHenry and is now known as Tree of Life UU Congregation.   Undeterred, we moved the program into the sanctuary and a little more than 50 folk slogged through the storm anyway . The program, grandiosely named Just Plain F...

New research takes a fresh look at existing data and busts the hunter-gatherer sex roles myth. Continue reading The male hunter debunked: New research ends myth about hunter-gatherer sex roles at The Wild Hunt.

For generations, Black farmers in the United States have faced harsh treatment from the federal government. Now’s the time for change.

A sermon reflecting on pilgrimage as a spiritual practice, inspired by a backpacking trip in the Gila National Wilderness. The post The Successful Pilgrim appeared first on Colin Bossen.

Sometimes, play gets serious. Sometimes, it gets too serious. A little competition can be healthy to instill excitement, and too much makes us lose sight of our compassion. When have you experienced healthy competition?

My father never wanted a Purple Heart and dodged attempts to pin one on him.   W . M . Murfin served as an Army Medical Corps officer in the Pacific during World War II.   That service included three amphibious landings under fire and front-line service with forward battalion aid stations .   While never seriously wounded he was injured three times including being cut up crawling over barbed wire and scrapes and abrasions rescuing seriously wounded soldiers under fire.   On one day of such rescues when his unit was cut off by the Japanese on Leyte in the Philippines he dragged several men to safety under machine gun fire.   That earned him the Bronze Star .   He was glad to receive that medal and after the War kept it in its presen...

A repost from June 14, 2014 There is an ancient fragment of pre-Christian Irish poetry called the Cauldron of Poesy which I have spent many hours over many years studying. Like most things we call wisdom literature, it continues to … Continue reading →

“I think…that one-sided views are the easiest to express pointedly and with rhetorical effectiveness and that a pervasive human temptation is to content oneself with striking half-truths rather than to seek the balanced whole truth with the persistence and energy needed for success.” — Charles Hartshorne, Insights and Oversights of Great Thinkers: An Evaluation of … Continue reading "Noted, with embarrassment"

We celebrate International Cat Day! Continue reading Celebrating fabulous felines and International Cat Day at The Wild Hunt.

We are delighted to have been collaborating with several of our UU neighbors this summer for shared worship services. For the last worship service of the “Summer Worship On The Road” series, this Sunday, August 13, we will join our friends at First Parish Church in Berlin. Service begins at 10:00 a.m. (Photo credit: Facebook   [ … ] The post Sunday, August 13 ~ Summer Worship On The Road Concludes ~ 10:00 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

  It is difficult to know if my articles about Soyd in Woodwork Magazine and my blog Wisdomofhands.blogspot.com have had any effect on developments like this: https://www.sloydexperience.org In any case, it is true that woodworking can have profound effects on child development. And it is truly time for all schools to recognize it. Sloyd, until a few years ago when I began writing about it, was a forgotten movement in American education. My writing about it, has, I think, had some effect. If you want to know more, please go to the Wikipedia Educational Sloyd article that I wrote or use Educational Sloyd as your search term in the box at upper left. Several of my articles can be found here: http://wisdomofhands.blogspot.com/2010/05/links...

  I had a dream the other night. I was walking down the street and past a bum sitting on the street. I’m guessing a bum. Lots of reasons for lots of people to be sitting on the street. He seemed to be nodding off, probably drunk. Maybe. If I didn’t note, hard to say […]

Caught in the rain–it can be a disaster, or a moment of unexpected joy and laughter. The kind of laughter that bubbles up from deep inside of us and helps us simply enjoy the present moment. When have you had a moment of unexpected joy and laughter recently?

Folk singer will Norm Siegel will bring his diverse repertoire to the Compassion for Campers benefit at Crystal Lake Brewing.  Compassion for Campers (C4C), the program that provides essential gear and equipment to the unhoused and underhoused population of McHenry County, has scheduled a special benefit program.   Compassion for Campers is Counting On You will be held at Crystal Lake Brewing, 190 North Main Street, Crystal Lake on Wednesday, August 30 from 6 to 9 pm. According to C4C coordinator and spokesperson Patrick Murfin, the program which distributes its supplies at the Community Services Days at Willow Friendship Center, 100 South Main Street in Crystal Lake on the first and third Fridays of every month is in dire need of oper...

Reposted from June 15, 2014 We take our first breath the moment we are born, and not until our last breath at the moment we die do we cease to depend on the air that surrounds us.  Although most of … Continue reading →

In this week's Pagan Community Notes: The Parliament of the World’s Religions convenes next week with more Pagan presence than ever, and more Deeds, Triumphs, Elevations, Events, and even wooden robots! Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of August 6, 2023 at The Wild Hunt.

Since the time human beings became conscious of their existence, of the reality that they will die, and of the awareness that birth creates new life, they have wondered where they came from, why they were there and what happened to them when they died. They regarded these happenings with awe and with fear, and in that awe and fear they worshipped the powers of the natural world. They came to believe that supernatural beings controlled the sky, the earth, and their lives. In the circles around the hearth fires of their caves they began to create stories of how […] The post A Theology of Evolution (Excerpt) appeared first on BeyondBelief.

The bus yesterday showed us the temperature and time all the way from Sevilla, Spain, to Faro, Portugal. This ain’t Fahrenheit, folks. The bus was air-conditioned, but shortly after the temperature hit 42°C (107.6°F), we made a pit stop and could experience it for ourselves. Whoof. It was a 15 1/2 hour day of travel […]

Voted best looking picket line of 1919--Actors' Equity on strike.  The militancy of women actors was a major factor in the success of the strike. Note — The current epic SAG-AFTRA and Writer’s Guild strikes against motion picture, television, and streaming service producers is in its second month with no end in sight.   This post recalls the roots of the theatrical labor movement in the U.S. The current SAG-AFTRA strike is built on roots tracing back to the formation of Actors' Equity in the early 20th Century. Two long time interests of this blog—labor history and the performing arts in America—intersect today.   On August 7, 1919 the Actors ’ Equity Association launched a bitter 30 day nationwide strike for recognition and...

“May your helmets stay clipped for protection of your magnificent mind. May your tires stay full and may your spirits be filled with hope and love today. May you feel the freedom of the bike, the freedom to journey together, and the freedom in connecting to your deeper self.” -from “Blessing of the Bikes,” by … Continue reading bikes

Over Memorial Day weekend, we stayed at a guesthouse in Leicester, NC.  The house was solar powered, completely off the grid.  Its water came from a spring-fed creek, delivered by gravity.  With a propane stove and refrigerator, all our needs … Continue reading →

The Community Unitarian Universalist Church of Plano, Texas, posted the following statement on its Facebook page on July 23 (a similar statement appears on its website): “Firebomb Attack on July 23, 2023 at Community Unitarian Universalist Church of Plano “On Sunday, July 23, 2023, between 12:00 am and 12:30 am, a firebomb attack took place … Continue reading "UU congregation in Texas firebombed"

Carol and I are still investigating natural dyes. At the moment, we’re looking for dyes that (a) we can use with kids, (b) will work well for tie-dyeing cotton t-shirts, (c) are in season right now and can be easily collected by kids, and finally (d) are plentiful (i.e., we’re not going to collect endangered … Continue reading "Natural dyes, continued"

In Terry Pratchett’s book Monstrous Regiment, there’s a deity known as the Duchess. She was once a real, live Duchess for a tiny country called Borogrovia. But at some point she became deified, in large part because Nuggan, the actual god of Borogrovia, made so many things taboo — or, in the terms of the … Continue reading "Unwanted deification"

Sprocket Wagner reviews "The Just Kitchen: Invitations to Sustainability, Cooking, Connection, and Celebration" by Derrick Watson and Anna Woofenden, a cookbook that combines recipes with thoughts on faith and justice. Continue reading Review: Just Kitchen at The Wild Hunt.

                                          (A few years back I shared a retelling of case two in the Wumenguan, the Gateless Gate. It turns on the master Baizhang’s encounter with a fox. I’ve polished it a bit, and here’s […]

My homily from the 2022 Flower Communion service on gun violence and the rise totalitarianism. The post Flower Celebration 2022 appeared first on Colin Bossen.

We hiked to a labyrinth in the Marin Headlands this week. Which is sort of redundant when you think about it. Both are walking meditations. Hiking clearly is meditative for me. It isn’t a race, although I would feel like the tortoise if it were one. I am not fast. I am usually careful how […]

In the excitement of the fledgling robins, I didn’t post about our Lammas harvest. The photo is of our fruit and veggie harvest of August 1st. It has been a great year for blueberries! We have also harvested some kale–there is more that wants to be cut today– some zucchini, some raspberries, and more cucumbers. […]

Sit with some blocks, or some art supplies. A blank paper and a pencil. A lump of clay, maybe. Let your creativity play. Let go of an attachment to a particular outcome, and just create. Let your creativity play today.

Oppenheimer may be eye opening for generations for whom nuclear catastrophe seemed a distant possibility.  Note— The recent release of the highly praised film Oppenheimer must be a thunderbolt for the two, maybe three generations who grew up without the daily dread of imminent nuclear annihilation.   This blog post, first appearing in 2012, looks back at growing up expecting to die in a nuclear war. August 6 is always, inevitably, the day a city full of human beings was obliterated by the first use of an atomic weapon.   No matter what else happened on this date, it is always Hiroshima Day .   I don’t think my daughters ’ generation, or my grandchildren have any idea how we were shaped and warped by the long shadow of that mush...

Desde aquí, se puede ver el vuelo de las palomas desde arriba. Un perspectivo muy raro y bonito, lo cual desafortunadamente mis videos no expresraran. Sin embargo, los mosaicos romanos son bellísimos. Y los jardines son llenos de fuentes.

It is hard to ignore a crying baby. Likewise, while the climate change and global warming deniers still exist, it is hard to ignore repeated environmental issues, such as the impact of widespread smoke from Canadian fires on air quality in the United States. Continue reading Opinion: Gaia is using her safe word. Will we listen? at The Wild Hunt.

Please join us on Sunday (6 August 2023) at 11:00 AM for “I’ll Go Anyhow . . . Saviors, Shepherds, and Mountain Goats” 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 … Continue reading "All Ages Worship (6 August 2023)"

During the summer, our children and youth participate in various fun artistic and creative activities. On this Sunday (6 August 2023), our children and youth will create cards of support for Community Unitarian Universalist Church of Plano TX with Ash McLain and Noah Wagstatff. Two weeks ago this Sunday, the church building of Community Unitarian … Continue reading "Cards for Community — Summer Activities for Children and Youth (30 July 2023)"

Please join us next Tuesday (8 August 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.

Our weekly adult religious education class will continue their two-week break on Sunday (6 August 2023). Please join us when we resume our adult religious education class on 13 August 2023 at 9:00 AM. This dual-platform class meets on most Sundays at 9:00 AM in person in the Social Hall and via Zoom.

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 August 2023, we choose the OUTNorthLa Film Festival (formerly known as the North Louisiana Gay and Lesbian Film Festival). The OUTNorthLA Film Festival returns to the Robinson … Continue reading "OUTNorthLa Film Festival — August 2023 Give-Away-The-Plate Recipient"

Sometimes play comes with rules, designed to make things safer or fairer. Sometimes rules are healthy boundaries, sometimes rigid injunctions. What are the rules associated with your playfulness?

Lincoln's Income Tax proposal was bitterly opposed by Democrats and mocked in the press.  Here he is not only depicted as a court fool, but his exaggerated nose is meant to suggest that he was a "greedy Jew." Nobody , and I mean nobody—not even liberals—likes paying taxes.   Especially income taxes.   We are aware of the need to fund the essential work of government, and may even support wider spending for public benefit, but when the tax bite falls on us personally, it hurts.   On August 5, 1861 President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the first American income tax.   It was a provision of the Revenue Act of 1861 .   The new tax was   3% on all income above $800 to be,   “…levied, collected, and paid, upon the annual in...

          So here we are, hanging by a thread whilst hopes are endangered by a cultish frame of mind. How did we get here?           Go back to 2009 and the notorious Town Hall meetings where folks inexplicably shouted at their elected reps and old goats wrestled the way old goats do—shoving and falling on […]

“What is this?” I ask the receptionist. “Oh," she replies, "we just opened the exhibit earlier today. It is the world’s oldest runestone.” Continue reading Returning to Mythical Times in Ringerike at The Wild Hunt.

          One of my favorite bands begins each performance with the national anthem and a tribute to all military, living and dead, who have protected our country.           Well and good. This time, at tribute’s end the lead singer added that while all may not be perfect America, honoring those willing to risk life to […]

In college, someone told me to think about the things I loved when I was younger, because those things would bring the most joy in my career. Books meant everything to me as a kid. Beacon was a great fit because of my political science degree and nonprofit internships in college. Also, I mostly read nonfiction.

Years ago I'd purchased some tiny shaker knobs from a major supplier. I found them again on Ebay. To accentuate the black lines formed in the spalted sycamore, I stained them black with a magic marker. Just a bit of design fun. Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning lifewise.

When I was a child, my Italian-American elders taught me the games of our culture–bocce on the lawn, pinochle at the card table. Those memories are special to me as an adult. -Michael Tino (CLF) What are the games you associate with your cultural heritage?

On the one hand, Córdoba in August wasn’t the most strategic choice, even before our visit coincided with a heat wave. On the other hand, this light. This  light.

  A mob of recently discharged soldiers armed and organized by local employers and authorities raid the Vancouver Labor Temple injuring the Labour Council Secretary, a female employee, and a longshoreman.  Other labor leaders were hunted down and arrested and/or simply kidnapped.  The rank and file of the striking unions, however, continued to conduct the one day General Strike as planned. O n August 2, 1918 Canada saw its first General Strike, a well-planned and highly effective one day protest in Vancouver , British Columbia over the suspected murder of labor activist and draft opponent Albert “Ginger” Goodwin.   It came during a war year punctuated by several strikes and labor unrest in the key industries in western Canada inc...

 It's not a good thing when your lawyers claim that they need to delay the case in order to review the tremendous amount of evidence they have against you.

Drawn yesterday during lunch at the Mercado Victoria.

A Prayer for Loving These Curves and Angles Beloved, here, let my flesh settle, lean back against this tree, against your body, against this couch, my curves and angles meeting and adjusting against the curves and angles of this world as they meet and adjust with me, us, together, connecting...

A repost from April 8, 2014 Recent years have seen a proliferation of books, movies and weekly television shows involving vampires, werewolves, witches and ghosts.  I “enjoy” one of these shows.  Being Human, originally a British series, is about a … Continue reading →

Please join us on Saturday (5 August 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 (5 August 2023)"

Usually I ignore whatever employment advice LinkedIn sends me in their periodic emails. They usually notify me of religion jobs for which I’m wholly unqualified: pastor at an evangelical Christian church, priest at a Roman Catholic church, etc. I guess their job-matching algorithm can’t figure out what a Unitarian Universalist is. But today, I saw … Continue reading "Job alternatives for ministers"

New research suggests that the common ancestor of languages like Spanish, English and Hindu emerged about 8,000 years ago, resolving differences in two competing theories about the origin of Indo-European languages. Continue reading Study hints at when a common ancestor of Indo-European languages emerged at The Wild Hunt.

I’ve been researching natural dyes for textiles, and got interested in the possibility of using invasive species to make dyes. After all, if you’re going to pull up the plants anyway, why not do something with them? Here’s a list of invasive plants in Massachusetts, and also a list of plants likely to be invasive. … Continue reading "Natural dyes from invasives"

My 2023 sermon reflecting on the art and philosophy of the composer John Cage as a resource for deepening our spirituality. The post The Buddha Should be as useful as a can appeared first on Colin Bossen.

I’m struggling a bit at the moment. This shows up time and time again in early August – it’s almost like there’s something about this time of year that doesn’t agree with me. August is the worst month.

A repost from April 5, 2014 Everything has its music. Everything has the genes of God inside. Hafiz From time to time I become deluded into thinking that I am a permanent, fixed, unchanging being who always thinks a certain … Continue reading →

So far August hasn’t been too bad in the northwest boonies of your greater Chicago metroplex .   We escaped most of the devastating heat waves that have baked much of the U . S . although smoke from Canadian wildfires gave us the worst air quality on several days.   There was a severe drought in June, but a succession of thunderstorms and some soaking rain have greened things up considerably.   Those thunderstorms produced the most tornados , albeit mostly small EF0s and EF2s in the country this year, far north of the usual tornado alley .   This week has been pleasant and mostly dry with daytime temperatures in the 80s. Wildfire smoke from Canada obscured the sky at this McHenry County Metra commuter line crossing. So why am I not...

Have you ever had the experience of free time to fill with play? With adventure, with fun, with exploration, with laughter, with friendship? Time in which the cares of the world and of your life were secondary to just enjoying yourself? What would you do if you had a day of “free time?”

This is a walnut rocking chair I made about 30+ years ago for my daughter Lucy, who is expecting our first grandchild in early October. I retrieved it from the attic and gave it a fresh coat of Danish oil. Good as new and ready for another 30+ years. On the news today they were telling that some of the local landfills are overflowing. When something is made of wood...  is useful and lovely,  it won't become part of that problem.  Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning likewise.

Our correspondent, Liz Williams, unleashed the hounds ion the Salisbury Plain while we weren't looking! Continue reading England Round Up: Stonehenge, Salisbury, and White Horse at The Wild Hunt.

By Christian Coleman | Come on, Barbie! Let’s go party . . . in your library! You’re about to become Bookworm Barbie and read the days and nights away. Don’t worry about Ken. He’ll be fine because he’s just Ken. Now that you’re in your self-discovery era, you’ll have lots of questions. Like why you’re in a blockbuster summer movie and how the film industry works. We got you. And everything you want to know about empowerment for women and girls, beauty (and health) standards, life in plastic in the real world, the patriarchy, and all the badassery in women’s history is in these books from our catalog. Each sold separately!

Our Lammas harvest festival blessing was being able to watch the fledging of the robins’ third brood of three chicks. (That makes nine chicks all together!) They had been getting active the last couple days so we were expecting it. But what a nice surprise to look out the window and see the first fledgling […]

My review of Marc Loustau's Hungarian Catholic intellectuals in contemporary Romania: reforming Apostles has just been published in Politics, Religion, and Ideology. The post Hungarian Catholic intellectuals in contemporary Romania appeared first on Colin Bossen.

UUSC partner provides life-saving support and services for those facing oppression, violence, and injustice because of their migratory status.

When I ask my piano students to do something whimsical on the keys, they typically play staccato, high pitched notes, at a fast speed. -Beth Murray (CLF) What sounds do you associate with being playful?

This month, we will explore how to reconnect with and reinvigorate the spiritual practices of play and playfulness. So often in our serious world we lose sight of the importance of play. What are your favorite ways to play?

A repost from April 16, 2014 When the time comes for a newly-transformed butterfly to emerge from the darkness of its cocoon, it faces a tremendous physical struggle.  There are stories of well-meaning people, by attempting to assist butterflies in … Continue reading →

Compassion for Campers (C4C), the program that provides essential gear and equipment to the unhoused and underhoused population of McHenry County, has scheduled a special benefit program.   Compassion for Campers is Counting On You will be held at Crystal Lake Brewing, 190 North Main Street in Crystal Lake on Wednesday, August 30 from 6 to 9 pm. Crystal Lake Brewing will the the venue for Compassion for Campers is Counting On You According to C4C coordinator and spokesperson Patrick Murfin, the program which distributes its supplies at the Community Services Days at Willow Friendship Center, 100 South Main Street in Crystal Lake on the first and third Fridays of every month is in dire need of operating funds.   Warm weather and soaring...

The next BIPOC Book Group Discussion will be held on Zoom on Monday, August 28th at 6:00pm. We’ll discuss the 2003 modern classic The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, as we explore Mexican-American culture and themes of social class, race, sexuality, identity, and ... read more . The post Discussion of The House on Mango St. appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Summer Stars sessions run through Sunday August 27th. Summer Stars 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 ... read more . The post Summer Stars K-6 activities For August! appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Sunday, July 30 at 10:00 a.m. Summer Worship On The Road:  20th Joint Summer Service Led by Rev. Dr. Cynthia Landrum at Stow/Acton UU Church All are invited to celebrate the 20th anniversary Joint Summer Service of neighboring UU churches hosted this year by First Parish Church of Stow and Acton. The service will be on   [ … ] The post Sunday, August 6 ~ 20th Joint Summer Service at Stow/Acton UU Church ~ 10:00 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

“The Conversation” website has an excellent piece titled “How Sport Became the New Religion,” by Hugh McLeod, professor emeritus at the Univ. of Birmingham (U.K.). McLeod traces the history of the rise of sport, and the concurrent decline of religion, over the past two centuries. From his perspective as a U.K. historian, he identifies several … Continue reading "“How sport became the new religion”"

…when I’m as old as this man, to enjoy life as he does. You can just feel the sun on your own skin. Right now I am working toward this life goal by spending hours in a museum, drawing and writing and marveling at art; and, at this exact moment, by making the most of […]

 I'm interested in setting up a regular contemplation group in Cardiff. Not necessarily for people who go to church, but for anyone who is interested in the deeper practices of contemplation/meditation that opens the heart directly to the reality of the love of God. This would be a radically inclusive space, trying to be guided by love not judgement. I already run monthly Contemplative Prayer and