Please join us this Sunday (31 July 2022) at 11:00 AM for “Easy Living” by Rev. Joy Walker. 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 service will … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (31 July 2022)"

Please join us on Sunday (31 July 2022) at 9:00 AM for our adult religious education class via Zoom. We will continue our discussion about the Ware Lecture from the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly 2022 featuring Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. We will also talk more about where we go from here.  We welcome your ideas … Continue reading "Online Adult Religious Education — 31 July 2022"

Summer religious education is more art and activity-based. All children and youth are with us in the service for the first 20 minutes or so and then are dismissed to their activities. This Sunday, the middle school / high school classroom mural is ready for painters. We are inviting the younger class to help the … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education for 31 July 2022"

Please join us next Tuesday (2 August 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.

The idea of shedding their skin, as if reinventing themselves, going through a bit of pain to be reborn as something else, something better, to be more protected, was something I wanted to do as well. Snakes are not afraid of pain if it means they’ll have a better chance at surviving. Continue reading Column: Wearing the Dead at The Wild Hunt.

The only constant is change. This is true with everything that we do in life. The Rev. Anya Sammler-Michael, senior co-minister at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair, NJ reminded me of that. She wrote in our summer gazette about the way things in the congregation are changing, partly due to the pandemic. One example […] The post Change happens — let it roll — go with the ebb and flow appeared first on Nature's Sacred Journey.

A  new Catholic college is opening next year in Ohio that aims at equipping students for careers in the trades while also providing a four year degree in Catholic Studies. Makes sense to me.  As Rousseau had noted, when putting young persons in a wood shop, their hands will work to the benefit of their brains. They will become philosophers while thinking themselves only craftsmen.  Such a scheme would offer both intelligence and humility, with the latter being too often lacking in the divide between academics and the trades.  Judgement stands as a barrier between social classes. A point I attempted to make in my book Wisdom of Our Hands, is that we each have direct responsibilities to encourage the growth of hand skills, for they are...

The tabby has been hanging out in our orchard the last few days, in stalking position under the cherry tree. I had just been writing recently about how our orchard is a bird haven. The cat decided to make it a hunting ground. Every time I saw it there I chased it away. Yesterday, I […]

The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), the U.S. denomination of U.S. Unitarian Universalists, holds its business meetings every year. There’s no need to hold business meetings this frequently. And in fact, holding business meetings this frequently wastes resources. I’m going to go over the reasons why we don’t need to have General Assembly every year, and … Continue reading "Why UUA General Assembly can’t be reformed"

The commission studying the living principles of our Unitarian Universalist Association asked individual UUs to name the values they wanted our principles to uphold. They made a word cloud from the responses. Notice how big “love” and “compassion” are. What would a religion that truly centered love and compassion be like?

The River Cam flowing beside Grantchester Meadows last week  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— We find ourselves living in an age when we are coming to know ever more clearly that everything moves and that what it is to be anything at all is to be something in motion.  Although this realisation feels very modern, the idea that movement is a fundamental or foundational aspect of the nature of things was first proposed some two-thousand-five-hundred years ago by Heraclitus of Ephesus who insisted that “everything flows” ( panta rhei ), that all things a...

Please join us on Saturday (30 July 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 (30 July 2022)"

That sorrow began to diminish when, a few nights after he died in October of 1974, I saw my Grampa LaPorte for what I thought would be the last time. I was 8 years old, and his was the first ghost I saw that I realized in the moment actually was a ghost. Continue reading Column: Things That Go Bump at The Wild Hunt.

Back in 1832, a Massachusetts physician named Charles Knowlton published a pamphlet on sexuality education, including instructions for contraception. Titled The Fruits of Philosophy: The Private Companion of Young Married People, Knowlton wrote his pamphlet for young married couples. He printed it privately (and anonymously), and distributed it to his patients. Knowlton, a freethinker who … Continue reading "Charles Knowlton, sexuality education pioneer"

Mark your calendars for our Annual Fall Auction beginning Saturday, October 29.

We finally made it to the ocean on Wednesday! Between Margy’s knee surgery and physical therapy, and my general fatigue, we just couldn’t do it before, despite it being our favorite summer outing. But Wednesday afternoon, we drove to Kettle Cove. We stopped for ice cream at the nearby stand first, coffee ice cream with […]

Too often, people use the word “we” in a way that leaves some people out. Part of the journey of compassion is working on eliminating the barriers between “us” and “them,” but this also requires us to be honest about who we mean when we say “we” and working towards meaning everyone. Who do you … Continue reading We

The photo shows me standing in the doorway of a replica of Thoreau's cabin, taken by my wife, Jean. If you want to know more, there are links to many of Thoreau's published works on the Wikipedia website.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau All  worth thinking about, as how many of us might benefit from taking a more direct view of the complexities in which we've become embroiled? Make, fix and create...  

A Prayer for Travelers, Week of August 1, 2022 Beloved, may the way ahead open and be easy. May we meet welcome at each stop along the way. May we encounter kindness and generosity and share curiosity and generous joy in return. May we travel with respect for the people...

Members of the Scottish Parliament continue to move closer to granting pardons for all of the people accused, convicted, vilified or executed under the Witchcraft Act of 1563 for practicing "witchcraft." Continue reading Scottish apologies for the witch trials at The Wild Hunt.

By Jonathan Rosenblum | Surrounded by the vistas of western Montana, the generals of the war against Starbucks baristas will gather on August 3 at a swanky Rocky Mountain resort for three days of discussing labor-management relations. Big Sky Resort is hosting the confab, and when attendees aren’t meeting, they can avail themselves of golf, guided trout fishing, luxurious dining, and spa treatments before retiring to their $600-a-night hotel suites.

Today  my wife, my daughter Lucy and I visited Walden Pond. I know Thoreau would be surprised to see as much activity on the lake he loved but even then there were changes afoot. Today there were bathers on the beaches, and paddle boards at both ends of the lake. But it is still, and never-the-less, a place of great beauty. Even in Thoreau's time trains would pass by at one end of the lake, and there was one today as we walked the trail to his cabin site and around the circumference of the place.  By the replica of his cabin, a bronze statue of Thoreau appears to contemplate his hand held in front. I urge you to do the same. In these complex times, we're still human beings and given a chance are very much like the man who built a cabin...

“If you have come here to help me you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” -Lilla Watson How do you understand our work for collective liberation?

“All I ask is no hate.  I’m on the path to be a minister and I’m living a life that is dedicated to love.  Although I draw much of my own personal theology from Christian teaching, I recognize that my way is not the only way.  Every faith base has something to offer to the […]

      As some of my friends know, I’m visiting an old colleague and friend who identifies as a Unitarian Universalist Christian.  Suffering from a mass of strokes he can’t really communicate much. So, we’ve ended up reading the Psalms together. For those interested, I’ve fulled about fifty-two from various recommendations of what might […]

  Note— We pick up the story of the American Vice Presidency today with a non-entity that surprised himself by discovering never suspected integrity and run through more than a 150 head spinning years of our national second bananas.   With Reconstruction in force across the South, the Republicans were now in power and essentially unbeatable for the foreseeable future when Ulysses S. Grant was elected in 1868.   While personally honest, his administration was marked by corruptionand repeated scandals .   He was followed by a parade of bearded former generals, most of them men of modest talents.   The possible exception was Ohioan James Garfield, an outspoken reformer, advocate for continued Federal protection for Blacks in the Sout...

In these monthly sessions we will reflect, reset, and take action on our FUUN practices related to including and welcoming Black, Indigenous, people of color, and other marginalized groups and identify strategies to develop more multi-cultural competency as we live into our 8th Principle.

Paula Cole Jones will lead our workshop on Saturday, August 27. Click through to learn more and sign up!

Unitarian Universalists claim that one of our central principles is democratic process. As our United States democracy seems on the verge of failing, maybe it’s time to look for new ideas in alternative forms of democracy. A recent paper by Stephen C. Angle titled “Confucian Leadership Meets Confucian Democracy” explores one such alternative democracy (Journal … Continue reading "Alternative democracies"

While not Pagan, the passing of Dr. James Ephraim Lovelock and his body of work had a definite impact on Pagan thought through Gaianism Continue reading Remembering Dr. James Lovelock at The Wild Hunt.

By Jon Hale | News of the projected 30,000-student enrollment drop in New York reveals, yet again, that public schools are suffering from long-term effects of the pandemic. Beyond this, however, insidious politics are at play. Dramatic student disenrollment also illustrates that privatization efforts through charters and homeschooling have benefitted from the pandemic.

Arthur Hirsch Attendees discussed the future of the UUA's Principles, Purposes, and Sources.

Taken with a Fujifilm X100F Just click on the photo to enlarge it     This was taken on 28th May 2020, just a week and a half after the ending of the first lockdown here in the UK. There were still hardly any people around as I walked through Cambridge but, as I stood looking over to King’s College Chapel from The Backs ready to take a photo without the usual crush of tourists, whoosh, one mother and daughter stopped to look at the view and a family of four walked into shot from the left along with a jogger. Typical! After a minute or so the view was clear of people again so I duly took the shot I wanted to in the first place. However, when I came to look at the two shots this one won out, not least of all because it displayed the fi...

  Note:   Despite his avowed decision to run for re-election, two years before the 2024 election many folks—myself included—doubt Joe Biden will actually be the Democratic candidate.   Despite a strong start and some real achievements the Coronavirus pandemic, the raging inflation, and the failure of the White House and Congressional Democrats to be able to deliver on key promises have put the incumbent significantly under water in popularity and lagging behind any generic Republican in the polls.   His age is catching up to him and he seems increasingly fragile.   If he does withdraw or become unable to run again his Vice President Kamala Harris would be a likely choice for the top of the ticket.   But she has her negatives, t...

“May we savor the beauty of our abundance and diversity, always cherishing one another and our earth. May we remember to inhale the lushness in life knowing that we are a people of beauty.” -Kimberlee Tomczak Carlson How do you honor the beauty in diversity?

Since my purpose in visiting London was to conduct research, it only seems reasonable that I offer a blog post about the city’s libraries. I spent time at only a fraction of them. There’s probably well over a half dozen libraries that I could have made use of if I had had more time. But, […]

The Norse God Loki delivered three messages in a recent Seiðr ritual, messages that were meant not just for those in the ritual, but for all of us.

      A friend just alluded to the view that Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco were more “International cities” than “American.” I would read “San Francisco” as “San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area.” Now, I’m rolling the idea around. Cities are almost always more, well, cosmopolitan. These days with a trending inward and […]

A Roman sanctuary temple complex found in the Netherlands contains inscriptions to the Jumones, a plural female divinity. Continue reading Well-preserved Roman Temples with female deities found in Gelderland at The Wild Hunt.

Shaw in 1909 at the peak of his creative powers. On July 26, 1856 the only man ever to win a Nobel Prize and an Academy Award—Al Gore doesn’t count because his movie won the Oscar, but he personally did not—was born in Dublin , Ireland to a minor civil servant and an aspiring singer.   George Bernard Shaw was also a major influence on my young life when I was type cast in another blowhard character part as Alfred E. Doolittle in a high school production of Pygmalion .     Just as a role in Inherit the Wind led me to the treasure trove of Clarence Darrow, American radicalism, and the labor movement, this role introduced me to the wonders of Shavian wit and wisdom and to socialism.   For several months, until I actual started dow...

At some point, each of us has had an encounter with difference. At some point, we have learned that we are not exactly the same as other people. For some of us, that encounter came tied to messages about power, superiority and inferiority–messages that have proven toxic to us later in life. How was it … Continue reading Learning About Difference

The UUA Presidential Search Committee (PSC) has reached a key milestone in its process for electing a new president. In April, the PSC opened applications in which interested individuals could apply through an online portal, which is now closed. Continue reading "UUA Reaches Key Milestone in Search Process for New President: Next President Will Assume Role in Summer 2023"

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, Pope Francis offers an apology to Indigenous community in Canada, Scholar discusses research on Paganism at Cherry hill Seminary, NPS names a new Superintendent of Denali National Park and Preserve, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of July 25, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

Our members serve the church and the wider community in countless ways, and on Sunday, August 7 we'll celebrate our volunteers with two special services devoted to recognizing these contributions. The post Words from Our Volunteers appeared first on BeyondBelief.

The NPR revival of Edward R. Murrow's early 1950s radio series inspired a new edition of the printed essays in 2009. Yesterday’s summer service at the Tree of Life Unitarian Universalist Congregation in McHenry, Illinois was lay led by the church’s Poetry Group.   The topic was This I Believe inspired by Edward R. Murrow five minute radio program on CBS that ran from 1951-1955.   Murrow solicited short mini-essays—no longer than 3½ minutes—in which the famous and ordinary people explained their person core beliefs.   The series was non-religious and one of the first to identify itself a spiritual and personal.   It was enormously popular and spun off book collections and a widely circulated syndicated newspaper column.   It...

“When I am frightened, will you reassure me? When I’m uncertain, will you hold my hand? Will you be strong for me?” -Shelley Jackson Denham When has your compassion touched someone else in a time of fear?

Our members serve the church and the wider community in countless ways, and on Sunday, August 7 we'll celebrate our volunteers with two special services devoted to recognizing these contributions. The post appeared first on BeyondBelief.

      WHO AM I?The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi Translation byT.M.P.Mahadevan INTRODUCTION “Who am I?” is the title given to a set of questions and answers bearing on Self-enquiry. The questions were put to Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi by one Sri M. Sivaprakasam Pillai about the year 1902. Sri Pillai, a graduate […]

Beauty is a curious thing. I took this picture wanting to capture the damage of a recent grass fire near one of my favorite hiking trails. But even though the fire damage takes up most of the image, my eye focuses on the lake, the green trees, and Mount Tamalpais. Somehow they look even more […]

Alan D. D. reseña el nuevo libro "Endymion or The State of Entropy: A Lyrical Drama" escrito por Kurt R. Ward e ilustrado por Rebecca Yanovskaya. Esta fantasía ilustrada evoca un mundo en el que personajes arquetípicos de la mitología griega luchan por el dominio, mientras Endymion, el personaje principal, intenta despertarse de un sueño interminable. Continue reading Reseña: Endymion or The State of Entropy at The Wild Hunt.

Alan D.D. reviews the new book "Endymion or The State of Entropy: A Lyrical Drama" written by Kurt R. Ward and illustrated by Rebecca Yanovskaya. This illustrated fantasy conjures a world in which archetypal characters from Greek mythology battle for dominance, as Endymion, the main character, attempts to wake himself from an endless sleep. Continue reading Review: Endymion or the State of Entropy – A Lyrical Drama at The Wild Hunt.

Today’s Sunday service at the Denton UU Fellowship: the story of how Lugh led his people to victory over their oppressors, and what that story means for us here and now.

What does it mean for faith to be forged in fire? What does it mean for faith to be forged in flow? How do two conflicting elements lead to more faith-filled transformations and faith forward actions?

INTRARELIGIOUS REALIZATION Ruminations of an American Zen Buddhist Robert Aitken (Me, I’m fascinated by the meeting of religions and the inevitability of syncretisms and synthesis of various sorts. On the other hand there are numerous problems. The wonderful Zen teacher Robert Aitken offers a view which is important to consider…) I threw up my hands […]

Right now the garden is happy with berries: the raspberries are loaded with fruit, and this is the first year for a blueberry harvest. We planted these blueberry bushes in 2017. This year, I put up some fence posts and draped the berry bushes with gauzy fabric after the berries started to form. (Tried it […]

Back in my old hometown of Cheyenne , Wyoming the annual rodeo completion cum bacchanal known as Cheyenne Frontier Days is underway again for the 125th edition of what has usually been held annually. World Wars and the Coronavirus caused some cancelations, but organizers are hoping it will attract the 200 thousand that generally attended the Daddy of ‘em All pre-pandemic.   The big event is held over the ten days around the last full week in July virtually swamping the Wyoming capitol city’s 64,000 residents.   It is both the longest continuously held cowboy competitionin the world and by far the largestoutdoor competition of its kind.   Although there has been a National Finals Rodeo since 1956 to crown individual champions in ea...

Conflict can be healthy if engaged honestly, directly, and compassionately. Healthy conflict involves patience, humility, and a concern for the other. How do you engage in healthy conflict behaviors?

Please join us this Sunday (24 July 2022) at 11:00 AM for “There’s Nothing Like Waiting” 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 (24 July 2022)"

Please join us on Sunday (24 July 2022) at 9:00 AM for our adult religious education class via Zoom. We will view and discuss the second half of the Ware Lecture from the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly 2022 featuring Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. Please join us.

Summer religious education is more art and activity-based. All children and youth are with us in the service for the first 20 minutes or so and then are dismissed to their activities. This Sunday, the middle school / high school classroom mural is ready for painters. We are inviting the younger class to help the … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education for 24 July 2022"

Please join us next Tuesday (26 July 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.

We, the people, are down here under the massive roots of the World Tree. In this vision, we are not at the center of creation. We are not even at the center of attention. Continue reading Opinion: The World Tree and the State of Affairs at The Wild Hunt.

Paul Krassner was unrepentant and defiant to the end of his long life. The icons and influencers of my youth are dropping like flies.   Paul Krassner died on Sunday July 21, 2019 in Desert Hot Springs, California after a long period of declining health.   He was 87 years old.   Always an iconoclast and avowed humanisthe would have laughed at suggestions in some Facebook posts I saw soon after that he had gone to a better place or would somehow be reunited with former pals and co-conspirators.   Dead is dead period he would have insisted—kick the useless corpseaside and move on.   But he might have had an eye-rolling chuckle at the hippiesque announcement that “Paul Krasner has left the planet.” Most mainstream press obituaries...

“The place to begin is at home—that is, with ourselves. Notice what is life-denying and resist it—just say ‘no’ for your sake and your children’s sake. Live with the moral authority that comes from compassion and non-violence. Form communities of people who will sustain you in living as you wish to live….” -Marilyn Sewell Whose … Continue reading Non-Violence

      I’m always happy when there’s a new posting from Andrew Henry’s wonderful wonderful Youtube channel, Religion for Breakfast. If you’re not familiar with it and you care at all for a scholarly approach to the matters of religion, you are in for a treat. You’re welcome. On the 18th of this month, […]

We drive up to the Cumberland County Fairgrounds in Maine to sing shape note music. We tried to check into the campground on the fairgrounds, but there was no one to check in with. We called the number of the man who supposedly oversees the campground. He sort of grunted at us over the phone, … Continue reading "Westport, Mass., to Cumberland Center, Me."

Maybe it was a Kodachrome red, white, and blue history that never really existed, but I believed it. I do not care what was hidden behind the lessons because what I believed matters more. I believed in hope. I believed in an intelligent, reasoned love of country. I believed in the ideal of good and right prevailing. I believed in freedom for all. Continue reading Opinion: This is My America at The Wild Hunt.

When we think of climate disasters, we usually think about wildfires, floods, or hurricanes. Extreme heat may not be the first thing to come to mind, but it is one of the most dangerous of all climate impacts, especially with urban heat islands common in historically segregated communities . Extreme heat kills hundreds of Americans each year and causes many more to be seriously ill. Image 1: Parent and child swimming in a public pool. Image 2: Two first responders loading a patient into an ambulance. Text: "What Media Shows. Reality." News of record-breaking heat is everywhere right now–you may be feeling the effects in your hometown. While the media says, “everyone loves the summer heat!” with fun pictures of children playing in p...

The struggle for climate justice continues in the wake of a devastating Supreme Court ruling on greenhouse gas emissions.

      The Xinxin Ming Attributed to Sengcan Xinxin Ming (alternate spellings Xin Xin Ming or Xinxinming) (Chinese: 信心銘; Pīnyīn: Xìnxīn Míng; Wade–Giles: Hsin Hsin Ming; Romanji: Shinjinmei), meaning “Faith in Mind”, is a poem attributed to the Third Chinese Chán Patriarch Jianzhi Sengcan (Chinese: 鑑智僧璨; Pīnyīn: Jiànzhì Sēngcàn; Wade–Giles: Chien-chih Seng-ts’an; Romaji: Kanchi Sōsan) and one of the earliest Chinese Chan expressions of the Buddhist mind training practice. The Zen teacher Dosho Port suggests “If […]

Please join us on Saturday (23 July 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 (23 July 2022)"

Unlike much of the country during the Great Railway Strike of 1877, under a declared Commune and strike committee, closing the rail yards and warehouses was orderly and spread into the first General Strike in America. It was great moment in American labor history that has been strippedfrom our collective memories.   If it is noted at all it is a mere a footnote to the Great Railway Strike of 1877, that explosion of pent up working class wrath that rolled violently across the nation and scared the bejesus out of the oligarchsof a rapidly industrializing nation.   But it deserves more attention.   Much more. The Railway Strike erupted on July 14 in Martinsburg, West Virginia.   Amid the lingering depression set off by the Panic of 1873...

“An Angel Leading a Soul into Hell”—a follower of Hieronymus Bosch (c.1450–1516)  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— Although I realise it’s very different for many other people, the fear of hell played little part in my own liberal Protestant upbringing. But this week I found myself very much in hell thanks to the truly distressing but, this time at least, mercifully brief, extreme heatwave we have just gone through in the UK. The experience served to remind me of Christianity’s idea of in what consists hell and how and why this idea has help...

Our religious pluralism asks us to let go of certainty in how we experience the sacred, and instead embrace the understanding that many different ways of experiencing it are equally valid. Sometimes, this is a challenge. How have you been challenged by practicing pluralism?

      In pretty much all sacramental Christian churches today, the 22nd of July, is marked out as a feast for Mary Magdalene. Over the years I’ve paused to reflect on this most remarkable and in some ways mysterious woman. Each time I do I find a need to tweak and often to add […]

When I got up at about six this morning, there was fairly heavy fog. I went for a walk, but my glasses soon fogged up and I couldn’t see very well. So I listened for birds. A Lesser Yellowlegs remained unseen, but I could hear it calling tu — tu — tu as if flew … Continue reading "Fog"

Today an important announcement was made about the formation of the Museum of Eureka Springs Art, MESA. We have a board, non-profit status and a place for the museum to exist for a few years while we get it off its feet. Founding a museum to celebrate our art has long been a dream among many here, so this is an important step. From the press release: The recently formed Museum of Eureka Springs Art group has secured a space at the Eureka Springs Community Center in what has long been known as the Highlander Room. (Highlanders, you remember it as your old cafeteria!) The museum will not occupy the space until renovations on the community center’s former band room. Grants have written to transform the former band room into usable space f...

The work to restore Boleskine House continues with significant progress underway this summer. Continue reading The restoration of Boleskine House continues at The Wild Hunt.

Nobody wanted long COVID on our collective pandemic Bingo card, but there it is. In her “The Daily Show” interview, OG disability rights badass Judy Heumann told Trevor Noah that the likelihood of his acquiring a disability, temporary or permanent, was statistically high. He took her statement as a threat in jest, but there’s truth in that for us.

“I needed this more than I realized.” That was my first and strongest thought as I left Mystic South last Sunday.

My daughter, when she is frustrated, often asks me to have “a conversation.” By this, she means that I should listen to her and agree with everything she says. Slowly, she is learning that real conversation is two ways. We both speak. We both listen. We both are challenged to experience the other fully. -Rev. … Continue reading Dialogue

        Carlos Duarte Costa was born in Rio de Janeiro on this day, the 21st of July, in 1888. He became a prominent Brazilian Roman Catholic clergyman, eventually Bishop of Botucatu. The bishop denounced the corruption of the civil authorities. And was a central figure in the the Constitutionalist Revolution. He also denounced […]

Cheyenne's 16th Street a/k/a Lincolnway/U.S. Highway 30.  My destination most Saturdays when I had money to spend.  That Army surplus store on the corner was a favorite. It is a hot by dry week and here in McHenry County, Illinois—a short streak of picture perfect summer weather with brilliant skies.   The Old Man’s mind to wanders to other summers long ago and far away. Take those in Cheyenne, Wyoming almost 60 years ago.  Which one to pick?  Each was a little different as I drifted from childhood into my early teens.  Let’s pick, say, 1963 for no good reason other than it popped into my head first.  I would have been 14 years old, between years at Cary Junior High. We lived, as we had since a traumatic move in second grade...

Elaine McArdle Former UUA President William G. Sinkford recognized for decades of distinguished service to the faith.

TWH spoke with several Pagans who voiced their concerns and considerations on reproductive health decisions in a post-Roe world Continue reading Pagans Reflect on a Post-Roe Nation at The Wild Hunt.

Sunday, July 24 ~ 10:30 – Noon sUUmmer sUUnday Spirit Circle   “Walk tall as the trees, live strong as the mountains, be gentle as the spring winds, keep the warmth of the summer sun in your heart, and the great spirit will always be with you.” – First Nations Blessing   The Unitarian Church of   [ … ] The post appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

On July 18, Interfaith Immigration Coalition, Side With Love, & the UU Service Committee offered "Heal Not Harm: Restore Asylum Now" webinar and teach-in. As shared by our speakers who offered their lived experiences, Title 42 is an inhumane and racist policy that violates the inherent worth and dignity of asylum seekers attempting to find safety within the borders of the United States. From blatant anti-blackness, to shackled dehumanization in front of their families, their stories remind us that what is happening is not theoretical but happening every day to real people. And their call to end the atrocities they and others have faced is one we cannot ignore. As people of faith we must not only listen to and learn from the real people w...

As Buddhist teacher Thanissaro Bhikkhu explains, “Right speech, explained in negative terms, means avoiding four types of harmful speech: lies (words spoken with the intent of misrepresenting the truth); divisive speech (spoken with the intent of creating rifts between people); harsh speech (spoken with the intent of hurting another person’s feelings); and idle chatter (spoken … Continue reading Right Speech

        The story of St Wilgefortis is simple enough. Born noble as a teenager in Galicia, she is promised in marriage to a Muslim (or some other kind of pagan) king. Having secretly taken a vow of perpetual virginity she prayed to be made repulsive to the king. The answer to her […]

The world was transfixed by the grainy video from a camera attached to the Lunar Module as Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon. As Americans and countless others around the world stayed glued to theirtelevisions, Astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the face of the Moonon July 20, 1969, 53 years ago today. Armstrong, the commander of the Apollo 11mission climbed down a ladderfrom the Lunar Module Eagle to the surface in the Sea of Tranquility at 10:56 P.M. Eastern Day Light Time.   As he climbed down he repeated a carefully constructed statement on what he knew would be a historic occasion.   Viewers at home heard him say, “That’s one small step for man, one giant step for mankind.”   Armstrong would late...

I took a walk after dinner, past the crowd waiting at Bayside Restaurant, across the street to Allens Pond. In the field within sight of the road, a man was talking to a twelve year old boy who had earbuds dangling around his neck. “There are probably foxes in here,” he said, gesturing to a … Continue reading "Allens Pond at sundown"

Taken with a Fujifilm X100F Just click on the photo to enlarge it During my summer leave in August 2021, my wife, Susanna, and I took a gentle stroll out of Cambridge along the River Cam to Fen Ditton. We spent a very pleasant hour or so on a bench in the little cemetery there eating our sandwiches and drinking tea whilst this game of cricket pleasantly unfolded across the adjacent playing field. The greatest pleasures of life are nearly always this simple . . . Here on our native soil, we breathe once more. The cock that crows, the smoke that curls, the sound Of bells – those boys that in yon meadow ground In white-sleeve shirts are playing…</i> “Composed In The Valley Near Dover, On The Day Of Landing” (1802)  William Wordsworth

Our ministerial search process is unwieldy and downright crazy. The UUA Director of Settlement, Rev. Keith Kron, and I have had conversations over the years about how much time and energy it takes our congregations to settle a parish minister. Anyone who is paying attention to this issue is well aware that the enormity of … Continue reading "The UU Search And Call Process"