Attached media: https://www.sundaystreamspodcasts.com/podcasts3/3342_467532_PODCAST.mp3
Day 14 view from church windows today... time #inktober #inktober2018 @ Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Harford County https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo7QMXQFoi46leTfV8CX4v-iBZWLTKnzAkmkoA0/?utm_source=ig_twitter_share&igshid=9f62uvru8p1t …
The Healing Focus for Heart of Business this week is about Visibility. It is about allowing ourselves to be seen as who we are and as having the gifts we bring. The challenge after the Remembrance (a kind of Sufi meditation Heart of Business folks often share) was to write about our gifts and strengths in a larger audience than only telling them to ourselves or to one other person.
Just as we share Beloved Selfies in The Way of the River Facebook group, sharing our gifts “out loud,” as it were, helps us see ourselves as the Divine sees us: Beloved, beloved, beloved, cherished with grace, mercy, compassion, and so much impossible love. Certainly, we are flawed, often struggling, and (I hope) trying to do better by the kind with whom we share this tiny, vulnerable planet.
Flawed, yes, and also able to be great shining lights in the sky of the murk of the world’s need… also able to be express our own deep joy.
And so that, expressing deep joy, is where I begin.
One of my strengths is that I have disabilities–among them mental illness, especially bipolar illness and attention deficit disorder (which I think needs a new name, but that’s another story). How do these afflictions constitute strength, when they so clearly are also weaknesses?
For one thing, they make me who I am, and I am beloved upon Earth.
But that’s true of all our strengths, weaknesses, and problems. So what makes these different.
For one thing, as Carrie Fisher said (may her memory be a blessing, as my Jewish friends say), every moment, every day that we live with this disease (bipolar illness) is a triumph. It takes courage to claim life and face the world, and somehow I’ve done it 100% of the time so far. How that is possible, I don’t know. I really don’t know. Divine grace and native stubbornness, I suppose?
Another gift that has emerged from having these conditions, and further, from being a sexual assault survivor, and from being fat, is that I have a great deal of empathy for people who’ve had a hard hand dealt to them in life.
I can listen to people very different from me, people with different life experiences, and help them know that their feelings about the world are valid, that they are not only beloved but needed, and ultimately that they are incredibly gifted.
Not only that, but something that people have told me over the years, something I didn’t really know about myself, is that I have a great capacity for that deep joy I mentioned above. Sometimes what looks like joy can tumble over into “taking up all the air in the room,” and so I have to be mindful of that, especially in pastoral situations. Even joyful enthusiasm can be tedious if not minded carefully.
But joy also both stems from and creates gratitude. And gratitude is a great grounding force. There are so many reasons people in Twelve Step programs are encouraged to make gratitude lists or to attend gratitude-focused meetings. And one of them is that hearing about other people’s gratitude reminds us of our own and brings us our own joy.
Which brings me to the last of the gifts I have to share and which I would be remiss in not mentioning. I am a fat femme. Not just a femme, not just a queer woman who likes makeup (though I am that, for certain!). But a fat femme, and a really fat one at that. Why does this identity, this so-called strength, matter?
For a few reasons. One, my very being as a fat cis-woman, and as a chunky girl before that, called into question the possibility of femininity in my life. I was sort of neutered, in high school. “One of the boys.” And I was in some ways most accepted by queer men in college. So any feminine identity besides “Earth mama” (which, to be fair, has its own strength) felt beyond my reach.
But at heart, I am femme. I am femme with my fat, lumpy, unshaven legs. And I am femme with my passion for lipstick. I am femme with my nails cut short for the piano I’m getting. And I am femme with those nails painted. I am femme with my unbelievably epic ass. And I am femme with my turquoise, blue, and violet hair.
I push the boundaries of what people expect femme to be. I’m not thin, I don’t wear high heels, and I love my hair to be a crazy mess. I’m lumpy and bumpy, and at the moment I have a mad case of hives. I walk with a cane and I can’t get enough of flowers.
And femme is about joy for me, the “joy of self-expression,” as Belleruth Naperstek says. The joy of making my insides match my outsides. And yes, thanks to the trans, non-binary/gender-nonconforming people, and drag queens I have known for teaching me how to do it! How to claim that inside-outside match. Because in some ways, I think that is the beginning of wisdom: know thyself and then find brave places within yourself and out in the world where that self can be witnessed with love.
So that, dear comrades, is my answer to the Heart of Business challenge for the week.
Can you take it up, this challenge? Can you pick up a piece of yourself, a gift, warm and smooth and just fitted to the shape of you, perhaps something you’ve held close for years, an ember you blow on to keep alive? Can you open a space and let us see? Can you encourage us by encouraging yourself?
I welcome to The Way of the River Facebook group, or to the comments below. What is a gift of yours that blesses the world? How, as Rev. Rebecca Parker admonishes us, do you bless the world?
The post A Challenge: Let’s Share Our Gifts! appeared first on The Way of the River.
Unitarian Universalist Association http://www.uua.org/
Celebrating Sunday services with the Unitarian Universalist Church — at Klamath Unitarian-Universalist https://www.facebook.com/100005034708298/posts/1172440106267135/ …
Recorded live Sunday, October 14, 2018 , Illegal: Reflections of an Undocumented Immigrant, by José Ángel N, guest speaker.
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John Adams and John Quincy Adams are interned at an Unitarian/Universalist Church ... I drive by it everyday, they have a giant rainbow flag flying.
General meeting tonight at Boone Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 7 PM. This one's important, folks! We're about to start organizing full-time and there's lots to discuss. Please come if you're in town.
Hello, world of reddit!
Just a little background. I was a lifelong Baptist until about 10 years ago, including Bible College, Seminary, and professional ministry for 20+ years.
I became disillusioned with that denomination for several reasons. I visited around several other mainstream Christian denominations for the next 10 years, but always felt like an outsider for a number of reasons, but the biggest one was the lack of inclusiveness.
A few weeks ago, I was introduced to the local UU church by a co worker of my wife. We've visited a few times, and I must say I am quite impressed. Good folks doing good things, and they seem to relish questions instead of avoiding them.
But, I have to say---I struggle a bit from time to time with my background. Having drummed into my head from the time I was born that the UU church was akin to satanism, I fully expected to burst into flames the first time I walked in. I smelled smoke a time or two, but I've come through OK. :)
So, any recommended reading, especially for someone who comes from a very mainstream, conservative, legalistic background?
Thanks in Advance! (Indianapolis here, BTW)
Crow is back, and she’s worried about her new friend’s safety.
Attached media: https://web.archive.org/web/20211109030832/https://www.ascboston.org/downloads/podcast/181014.mp3
Unitarian Universalist Association http://www.uua.org/
Today at 2 PM after church service at the Unitarian Universalist Church, the Town Clock will ring 91 times in honor of Libby Oldham who died this year at 91. Libby was responsible for repairing the town clock back in 2001. pic.twitter.com/ML4yWBbrmt
When you're a librarian and suggest resources and a book list for church #mentalhealthawareness @ First Church in Jamaica Plain Unitarian Universalist https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo6xHGHHL_c/?utm_source=ig_twitter_share&igshid=bi8maiwpumk8 …
by Reverend Peter Newport and
Marty Blachly-Cross
Worship Associate
Loss of identity, not knowing who you are, is part of white supremacy culture—for white people, anyway. A personal look, this morning, from where one white person came from; some of the confusions that arose along the way; and the story of John Wampus.
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I'm at Unitarian Universalist Church Of Chattanooga in Chattanooga, TN https://www.swarmapp.com/c/9tKTkdSPDOE
Actual exchange during church school this morning. Me: “Is this Unitarian Universalist behavior?” Kids: “APPARENTLY.” (They continue to throw things.)
Unitarian Universalist Association http://www.uua.org/
Just drove past a Unitarian Universalist Church and the parking lot was full?? Is this 1830??
19:48 – Selections from our Sunday Morning Worship Service at The Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair by UUCM Member Ghana Hylton.
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SERMON
“Holding On, Letting Go”
by UUCM Member Ghana Hylton
Please note: All sermons are copyrighted by the author.
For more information about The Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair, please visit us at uumontclair.org.
Attached media: https://archive.org/download/UUCMService101418HoldingOnLettingGo/UUCM Service 10-14-18 - Holding On Letting Go.mp3
You might be a Unitarian Universalist if the opening words to your service are from Tool’s “Schism”. #UUSunday
Unitarian Universalist Association http://www.uua.org/
Attached media: https://www.dublinunitarianchurch.org/podcasts/141018-sermon.mp3
The classic philosophy question asks what happens when an immovable object meets an irresistible force? The evidence of rock and water suggests that the irresistible force will win, but not on any time scale that you can comprehend. Sheer determination may lose in the end, but it should hold you for a couple of million years.
What are you determined to stick out, even if you will lose in the end?
The Daily Compass offers words and images to inspire spiritual reflection and encourage the creation of a more loving, inclusive and just world. Produced by The Church of the Larger Fellowship, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation with no geographical boundary. Please support the publishing of The Daily Compass by making a $10 or $25 contribution (more if you can, less if you can't)! Thank you for your support!
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Unitarian Universalist Association http://www.uua.org/
Unitarian Universalist Association http://www.uua.org/
LOURDES will be shown at the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Ann Arbor on Nov. 16 and at the Ann Arbor downtown library on Nov. 29, and on campus at the University of Michigan, North Quad, on Jan. 17. https://youtu.be/R3q0MaRQAmw
mystical magic macabre @ Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Huntington (UUFH) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo5FWcDHZ8J/?utm_source=ig_twitter_share&igshid=ctsa4uw3xfty …
Tajing a break feom our homework/workout at Manatee Unitarian Universalist fellowship in Bradenton. Eunice and I would love to have you join us. pic.twitter.com/tNpnERVEMf
Might be my favorite Fox Farm IPA - Drinking a Verdant by @foxfarmbeer @ Unitarian Universalist Society — http://untp.beer/s/c663546909
#iris #flower #stainedglass #colorful #pasadena #neighborhoodchurch @ Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo43BzeBWyh/?utm_source=ig_twitter_share&igshid=bocgwv8mgivq …
It was easy for me to find a Church. There is a Unitarian Universalist church near me and it has an Atheist Lesbian pastor so I'm all set. I'm what you could call not a fan of the Church myself. Too unintellectual and unengaging for me
So, if I walk into a Unitarian Universalist Church and feel loved and welcomed then that's cool with you?
Enjoying PTMAN meeting at Dupage Universalist Unitarian Church in Naperville. Beautiful day and beautiful people. #OneProviso #EVERYStudentEVERYDay #WeNeedYoupic.twitter.com/P0ZXCe64BI
Will you recording this so we can watch or listen later?