Mobilizing UUs in solidarity with Indigenous front-line communities is a critical part of our climate justice work. Communities where Black, Indigenous, and People of Color live are hit first and worst by the impacts of climate change and the pollution that causes it. Our climate advocacy must center the lived experiences and knowledge of these frontline communities. UUs Beth Ogilvie with Starr King Unitarian Universalist Church and Colleen Cabot with First Unitarian Church of San Jose reached out to Side With Love to share an important call to action put forward by the Protect Juristac Advocacy Partners Coalition. Please read their update, take the actions they share, and consider what climate justice looks like in your community? Wh...

Who’s your favorite people’s historian, and why is it Howard Zinn? He’s ours, too, and today, August 24, he would have turned one hundred. He wore many hats: social activist, professor, author, and playwright. He meant so much to us here at Beacon Press. Going through the books we published of his, including his memoir, “You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train,” we get a little misty eyed. To celebrate his hundredth birthday, we pulled some beloved quotes that showcase his life’s worth of wisdom and insights on hope, the politics of writing history, the power of social movements, nonviolence, class, race, education, and much more.

A few years ago my wife, daughter and I visited Jim Thorpe, PA, a small tourist town in the Poconos.  It is a delightful small town that got the idea that they could capitalize on the fame of the World's Greatest Athlete with whom the town had no prior connection. There's a new biography of Jim Thorpe reviewed in the New York Times, "PATH LIT BY LIGHTNING: The Life of Jim Thorpe," by David Maraniss.     In the meantime, I'm working on an Arkansas Governor's Award base for the Arkansas Quality Awards commission and planning for a veteran's class next week. Make, fix and create...

Remember eternityWhere the forest growsDies, rots, burnsFrom ashes to canopyTowering shadows,Coolness even on aJuly day blazing Footfalls silentBouncing gently on the mossPast lichen-drenched logsIn the cycle towards oblivionMystery aboundsSpiritual and sacredAt dusk the fairies danceLeaving their circles toThe other sideCuriosity comes, chided by senseThat their realm is not ours Remember eternityWhere the forest grows

                                    Rev. Theodore Parker in 1855. Theodore Parker was born on August 24, 1810 inLexington, Massachusetts.  His large family had deep roots in New England.  His grandfather was the Captain Parker who commandedthe militia on Lexington Greenin the opening skirmish of the American Revolution. He was scholarly and devout but lost both parents and his seven of his nine siblings by the time he was 27, mostly to that scourge of the era consumption (tuberculosis.)  The losses confirmed his rejection of Calvinist orthodoxy. As a youth he was unable to afford tuition at Harvard, so he read the entire curriculum on his own.  He dallied as a school masterand toyed with the idea of becoming a la...

    Blood, that wears treason in his face, Villain complete in parson’s gown, How much he is at court in grace For stealing Ormond and the crown! Since loyalty does no man good, Let’s steal the King, and outdo Blood! John Wilmot, History of Insipids Thomas Blood died on this day, the 24th of […]

In pain we are onethat which cannot healfull and completecracked not brokenpottery beautiful when the piecescome together throughsweat and toil the raw heart hurtswhen touchedbeating remindingeach of us we are still alivein pain we are one risesoarknow that each timewe take flightthe ground will never be the sameupon our returnlet us love our cracks“that whatever … Continue reading "Raw heart"

Research suggests that drought may have been an instigator in the shift to Islam as a religious practice within the Arabian peninsula. Continue reading Extreme Drought may have created conditions for Islam to emerge at The Wild Hunt.

Our Co-ministers Rev. Wendy Bartel and Rev. Lynn Gardner are on study leave this week focused on faith development, spiritual deepening, continuing education, worship research and writing, and many, many administrative tasks in preparation for the coming church year. The post Co-Ministers Colloquy – August 23rd appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

RE classes will resume Sunday, 9/25! To register your child(ren), click HERE : Below is a list of this year’s awesome RE offerings. Please note that this is a tentative schedule while we’re inviting folks to teach, facilitate, and advise. A final schedule will ... read more . The post Religious Education News – August 23rd appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

I suspect we could all make a long list of the major problems facing us today—from threats to democracy at home, to global climate change, and so much more. As the author and activist Grace Lee Boggs used to say, “Another world is necessary.” But she didn’t stop there. She would add, “Another world is […]

  Bartolomeo Vanzetti (left) and Nicola Sacco being escorted to their trial. Left wing organizations —what was left of them—were forced to go on the defensivein the wake of the mass suppression and repression of the Red Scare following World War I.   For much of the following decade a lot of their organizational effort went into raising money and consciousness for the legal defense of scores of martyrs and for the support of the families of jailed militants.   The same pattern happened after the McCarthyite suppression of the 1950’s and in the backlash against student radicals, the anti-war movement, and militant Blacks and other minority movements in the early ’70’s.   But no case in any of these three eras attracted as mu...

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, author Rachel Pollack hospitalized, megalithic stones on the Iberian peninsula, zodiac drinks and food, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of August 22, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

Mobilizing UUs in solidarity with Indigenous front-line communities is a critical part of our climate justice work. Communities where Black, Indigenous, and People of Color live are hit first and worst by the impacts of climate change and the pollution that causes it. Our climate advocacy must center the lived experiences and knowledge of these frontline communities. UUs Beth Ogilvie with Starr King Unitarian Universalist Church and Colleen Cabot with First Unitarian Church of San Jose reached out to Side With Love to share an important call to action put forward by the Protect Juristac Advocacy Partners Coalition. Please read their update, take the actions they share, and consider what climate justice looks like in your community? Wh...

During the peak of the pandemic I fell woefully behind on both posting the texts of my sermons and keeping my sermon index up to date. One of my sabbatical projects is to work to rectify that situation. This morning, I finished updating my sermon index. It now is complete from 2006 to the present […]

    “Make of yourself a light”said the Buddha,before he died.I think of this every morningas the east beginsto tear off its many cloudsof darkness, to send up the first signal-a white fanstreaked with pink and violet,even green.An old man, he lay downbetween two sala trees,and he might have said anything,knowing it was his final […]

A fanciful European version of the Pueblo uprising. On August 21, 1680 the embattled Spanish at Santa Fe , Nuevo México broke a week-long siege by members of several Pueblos and fled south to El Paso del Norteabandoning the northern province of New Spain to the native residents.  Despite repeated efforts the Spanish were not able to retake control of the district for twelve years.  It was the first successful expulsion of Europeans by a native peoplein North America and only one of a handful of instances it was ever accomplishedeven briefly. Spanish settlement of New Mexico dated to 1598 when several hundred Europeans established the settlement of San Gabriel across the Rio Grande from San Juan Pueblo. About 1608, they moved their cap...

Deborah Castellano’s new book Magic For Troubled Times is the closest thing you can get to apprenticing under an experienced witch without actually going to the witch’s cottage and stirring her cauldron while she explains the spells you’re helping her cast.

With great anticipation, we invite you to UU Wellspring! UU Wellspring is a year-long Unitarian Universalist program of spiritual deepening and connection. The post UU Wellspring appeared first on BeyondBelief.

LREDA and UUMA Colleagues may use this video for worship, etc. free of charge. Please be sure to use my correct pronouns – they/them – when giving attribution. Click here to support my work. “This I Know” – A Blessing for the Ministries of the Rev. Misha Dawn Sanders and Northwest Unitarian Universalist CongregationWritten by HP […]

Netflix's The Sandman hits on magical themes and considered the degrees to which all beings - even deities- can transcend their origins. Continue reading The Sandman: where nightmares and fantasies strive for agency at The Wild Hunt.

Sundays – June 5, July 17, August 21 @ 1-2:30 pm Join us in making Seed Balls! We will be distributing the seed balls to communities that have been affected by the NM fires. Event is for kids and adults of all ages! Everyone welcome! LA Seed Library Project & The Unitarian Church of Los …<p> Seed Ball Sundays Read More »

    The Dark Soil of GodA Zen Meditation on the Psalms James Ishmael Ford The earth belongs to the Divineand everything on it.For the Divine wove it out of the emptiness of space and breathed life into every corner,bringing forth all life,and all of it precious. Who is fit to care for thisand worthy to act […]

A faith journey is never a smooth road - the landscape changes, as well as our vantage point; sometimes our wanderlust gets the better of us; sometimes the place we've settled no longer fits. How do we navigate the path? What's the destination? Or is the journey the whole point?

Even when you have hiked a particular trail many times, there can still be surprises. We saw both a gopher snake and a bobcat this week, rare sightings on familiar trails. Of course, they live here and were likely right there behind the bushes and in the grass all the other times we trundled by […]

We only saw two Fringe shows our last two days in Edinburgh. Tuesday we went to “Are We All in a Cult?” by an obscure comedian whose stage name is Mowten and about whom I can find precious little information on the internet. And Wednesday we went to Dana Alexander’s “Don’t Start Me on White […]

 Devastation after the Rochester, Minnesota super tornado of 1883. It was a hot, muggy day in southeast Minnesota on August 31, 1883.   Joseph Lenard an eyewitness to events that day would later recall in the History of Olmsted County, Minnesota: At Rochester the day had been hot with a strong southeast wind, the air was smoky and oppressive, the heavens were overcast with clouds of a dull leaden line, and there were, apparently, three strata, all moving in different directions. In other words, conditions were ripe for violent weather. At 3:30 in the afternoon a tornado estimated as an F3 in the modern rating system touched down near Pleasant Grove, about 16 miles southwest of Rochester.   Two people were killed and hurt.   It was th...

Please join us this Sunday (21 August  2022) at 11:00 AM for “No, We Are Not a Christian Nation:  The Rise of Christian Nationalism and What the Founders Had to Say About it” with Susan Caldwell and Barbara Deger. We will be meeting in the sanctuary for this worship service.  Please join us in person … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (21 August 2022)"

Join us next Sunday (28 August 2022) at 11:00 AM for our annual water communion worship service. We will have more details on this service next week as we mark the end of summer in our church community.

On Sunday (28 August 2022), join us from 12:30 PM to 3:30 PM for our annual end of summer swim party and potluck. Bring a dish to pass and join us at the home of Kathy Osuch and Mike Roberts (their address will be available on the All Souls Caring Connection Facebook  Group, on the … Continue reading "End of Summer Swim Party (28 August 2022)"

Join us on Sunday (11 September 2022) at 11:00 AM for the annual presentation of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award. The Emerson Award is given annually by our congregation to the individual or organization in the wider community whose life and work best exemplify the values and principles of liberal religion. In 2022, we are … Continue reading "2022 Emerson Award Honoree"

There will be no adult religious education class this Sunday (21 August 2022). Join us next Sunday (28 August 2022) at 9:00 AM as we begin a two-part exploration of the movement for LGBTQ+ rights within the Unitarian Universalist Association.  We will be meeting via Zoom.

Summer religious education is more art and activity-based. All children and youth are with us in the 11:00 AM service for the first 20 minutes or so and then are dismissed to their activities. On Sunday (21 August 2022), Maggie Molisee will be back to work on the mural with the group.

Please join us next Tuesday (23 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.

As a gay man who has enjoyed a rich and varied sex life, I can tell you that this was certainly not the first time that someone has tried to slut-shame me, but it was the first to do so in a book review. (So, give them points for creativity, I suppose.) Continue reading Opinion: Sex Magic and Collective Shame at The Wild Hunt.

Rabbi Yonatan Neril, founder of the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development and co-author of the Eco-Bible, adds another reason why electric cars won’t solve the ecological crisis: “The ecological crisis is a spiritual crisis. It’s not just about nature and bees and the birds and the trees and the toads. It’s also about human beings … Continue reading "More on electric cars"

  Fort Laramie a few years before the Grattan Massacre painted by Alfred Jacob Miller. Note —Yesterday we saw how badly foolish grandstanding resulted in the disastrous last battle of the American Revolution at Blue Licks.   Today we see the same fatal arrogance produce comparable results sparking the First Sioux War and decades of warfare and tragedy culminating if the Massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890. John Lawrence Grattan was less than two months out of West Point and was rumoredto have made the acquaintance of a razoron one or two occasions .   He had newly arrived at Fort Laramie on the Oregon and Mormon Trails to join the small detachment of the 6th Infantry Regiment which had been posted there to protect the emigrant wagon tr...

      Fortune favors the bold. Great line, that. Comes from the Latin, where it was a sturdy proverb. Possibly distilled from a line from the Pre-Socratic philosopher Democritus. It has a couple of variations, but with the same meaning. The line appears in Virgil’s Aeneid and Terence’s Phormio. Ovid gives it a twist […]

Please join us on Saturday (20 August 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 (20 August 2022)"

Science fiction author and Scottish nationalist Charles Stross opines: “I’m going to suggest that American automobile culture is fundamentally toxic and aggressively hegemonizing and evangelical towards other cultures, and needs to be heavily regulated and rolled back.” Not to belabor the point, but while electric cars may help us address climate change, they still emit … Continue reading "Electric cars are not the solution to the world’s problems"

Looking back, although as a child I loved the stories of the Greek gods, although my mother told me about the Egyptian myths, although in my adolescence I leaned towards the Celts, I found my place among La Llorona, El Silbón, Los Momoyes, Juan Hilario, El Hachador Perdido, María Lionza, La Sayona, and many more. Continue reading Column: Four Years Looking Back at The Wild Hunt.

Viendo hacia atrás, aunque de niño me encantaban las historias de los dioses griegos, aunque mi madre me contaba sobre los mitos egipcios, aunque en mi adolescencia me incliné por los celtas, encontré mi lugar entre la Llorona, el Silbón, los Momoyes, Juan Hilario, el Hachador Perdido, María Lionza, La Sayona, y muchos más. Continue reading Columna: “Los años no pasan en vano” – Cuatro años mirando hacia atrás at The Wild Hunt.

The UUA Board of Trustees will soon be appointing members to a five to seven person Bylaws Renewal Team. This team will lead the work in reimagining and rewriting the UUA Bylaws. Continue reading "UUA Board Calls for Volunteers for Bylaws Renewal Team"

Sunday, August 21, 10:30 a.m. sUUmmer Sunday Spirit Circle   “I am resilient I trust the movement I negate the chaos Uplift the negative I’ll show up at the table Again and again and again I’ll close my mouth and learn to listen “These times are poignant The winds have shifted It’s all we can do To   [ … ] The post Sunday, August 21 ~ Spirit Circle ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

The Battle of Blue Lick as depicted in a display by the Kentucky National Guard, the descendant of the routed Militia. School children in those quaint days when they were supposed to memorize important events and dates in history, could tell you with certainty that the American Revolution was won on October 19, 1781 when Lord Charles Cornwallis surrendered his army to George Washington ’s Continentals and a large French force.   Certainly, with the main British Army in the bag as prisoners of war , it effectively put an end to most fighting in the settled eastern coastal regions.   General Washington took the Continental Army into camp at Newport .   By tacit gentlemen’s agreement garrisons leftisolated were allowed to remain un-m...

Prayer for Teachers Beloved, grant courage and heart to all who teach this season, to enter classrooms, to meet new and returning students, to imagine and develop lessons, and to invite others to greater learning, knowledge, and wisdom. Bless those who are educators, drawing out the skills and strengths of...

A recent case regarding an improperly handled burial on private property in Wales highlights the laws governing such burials and procedures required. Continue reading Pagan-style burial causes legal problems in Wales at The Wild Hunt.

By Ricky Tucker | On July 29, 2022, our lordt and save-her, Beyoncé, released “Renaissance,” her long-awaited seventh studio album that, coming off its lead single, “Break My Soul,” promised to be redemptive to all of us who, in the past few years, have felt cast aside, if not full-on antagonized, by the powers that be, including that relentless microscopic militia known as covid. That jerk . . . Anyhow, Beyoncé delivered. Us.

 I have recently discovered that since I changed my email address, all the comments you've made over the past many months, even years, have not been forwarded on to me for moderation.  I have now changed my settings and you should be able to send a comment on any of the recent posts, so that I can approve them and post them on the blog. Thanks to those of you who have read the blog faithfully and have even tried to leave a comment---if I have time soon, I will attempt to tackle the backlog and approve the pending comments. Sincerely, Ms. Kitty

I'm in Indianapolis this week with the Central Indiana Woodworkers https://ciww.org We had great attendance last night for my presentation. It is an amazing group, very dedicated to education and service to the communities and kids in the Indianapolis area.  Among their various activities is making thousands of toys for holiday distribution to kids. At the Indianapolis State Fair this week, they've sold thousands of dollars worth of toys and had hundreds of kids making and decorating tops. Today and tomorrow I'll be teaching box making techniques. Make, fix and create...

Yesterday morning, I was sitting next to the pond, writing in my journal. After I’d been there, and quiet for a long time, this chipmunk approached the other side of the pond, climbed down the rocks and took long drinks of water. After a couple minutes, it quickly climbed back up the rocks and ran […]

  This popular and widely circulated 19th Century print purports to depict the christening of Virginia Dare.  Wrong on several counts.  She may have been christened, but there was no clergyman or deacon among the colonists.  And no structure in the struggling colony was was grand and spacious as this timbered Tudor home.  Colonists were living in huts and hovels.  On August 18, 1587 Virginia Dare was born on Roanoke Island , one of the Outer Bank Islands off the coastof what is now North Carolina in a fledglingcolony underwritten by adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh.  Her mother Eleanor was one of 17 women who had made the hazardous Atlantic crossing and was the daughter of the man assigned by Raleigh to establish the colony, John Whi...

I don’t take advice. I listen and I evaluate, and if something makes sense to me and for me, I’ll try it. If it doesn’t I ignore it – and I ignore a lot. This is the worst advice I’ve received over the course of my life.

Sharon Dittmar Any time someone enters online or in-person congregational space, there are several opportunities for multiple connection points from which a long-term relationship can continue and grow. Continue reading "Make “A Warm Welcome” Part of your “New Normal”"

The issues of plagiarism continue to impact authors and publishers alike and are compounded by so many books being available in digital format. Continue reading “Stealing from others:” The continuing plagiarism of Pagan books at The Wild Hunt.

The last time I went to Israel, the world was evidently ending. It was near to the end of 1999, and people were feeling frantic about the arrival of Y2K and start of the second millennium in the common era. … Continue reading →

Summer convening brings together Pacific Island partners to discuss climate change.

                                               Mae West as we remember her best--blonde and brazen. She was a tiny lady, barely five foot tall.  It was more than her trademark Gay 90’s plumed hats that made her seem much bigger.  It was a bold, brassy, and irreverent persona that challenged everything puritanical America valued in submissive, virtuous, sexless, and dependent womanhood.  It took decades, but by the time she died the culture had caught up with her .  Yet the feminists of those later days were hardly grateful.  They could only see a woman who marketed herself as a sex object.  Those feminists had more in common with the Puritans than they would ever like to admit. Mary Jane West was born ...

The reviews from our second day at the Fringe.

I first came to Woody Guthrie (1912-1967) by way of Bob Dylan (1941-). Regarding Guthrie’s influence on him, Dylan said, “You could listen to his songs and actually learn how to live” (Seymour, 21).  The two singer-songwriters only met once. In 1961, when Dylan was 19 years old, he visited Guthrie in the hospital. Guthrie […]

Our Co-ministers, the Rev. Lynn Gardner and the Rev. Wendy Bartel are on study leave. As the UUA describes it, “In recognition that Ministers need extended time away from the stresses and demands of daily congregational life to deepen their calling and develop their skills, ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Aug. 16th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Religious Education classes will resume Sunday, 9/25! Please register your child(ren) by clicking HERE . Below is a list of this year’s awesome Religious Education (RE) offerings…</p> OWL!  (Our Whole Lives sexuality education): Sexuality education programs change lives. Honest, accurate information about sexuality changes lives. It ... read more . The post Religious Education News – Aug. 16th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

By Catherine Ceniza Choy | Since 2020, Asian Americans in the United States have experienced dual existential crises: anti-Asian violence and COVID-19. According to Stop AAPI Hate, nearly 11,500 hate incidents were reported to its organization between March 19, 2020 and March 31, 2022. While the uptick in this violence has been connected to present-day coronavirus-related racism and xenophobia, anti-Asian violence and the association of Asian bodies with disease are not new.

Research into Norse occupation and influence in Ireland highlights the creation of the major cities and how Irish medieval manuscripts reflected the shifts in culture. Continue reading Irish Medieval manuscripts and Viking settlements at The Wild Hunt.

Climate change is a complex problem. There are no easy answers and often more questions. Holding complexity is part of the work we must do to realize a healthy and resilient future where all can thrive. The Inflation Reduction Act puts forth the most ambitious climate action to ever pass US Congress. With significant investments in clean energy, transportation, and environmental justice, the IRA is projected to reduce emissions 40% by 2030. It’s historic. It’s exciting. It’s getting us closer to our climate goals. YES! This legislation will have wide scale and lasting impacts for generations to come. Sadly, those impacts are not all positive or just. The Inflation Reduction Act is an example of the ways advocates and legislators ne...

                                                         Chang and Eng as young men on exhibition in Asia. On August 16, 1829 two young immigrant brothers arrived in Boston.   Nothing much unusual in that, except that instead of being Europeans they were from the Kingdom of Siam.   And, by the way, they were co-joined twins, linked at the sternum by a sliver of cartilage and a bit of liver, although each man had a completeand fully functioning organ.   They came to America, like so many other immigrants, to seek their fortune.   They did better than most.   Their story says a lot about 19th Century America, class, and race. Chang and Eng were born to a village fisherman and his wife, both of Chinese...

I leave by air on Wednesday to spend 3 days with the Central Indiana Woodworkers teaching short classes. I begin with an evening session with their monthly meeting. Coffee and Cookies begin at 6:30 PM August 17 with presentation and club meeting to follow. The program is described as follows:  "Author and unique boxmaker Doug Stowe will be our guest presenter for the Wednesday, August 17, 2022 monthly meeting at the Carpenters Union 301 Hall, 3530 S Rural St., Indianapolis, IN, starting at 7:00 PM. The topic of hs presentation will be the Personal Satisfaction of Working with our Hands. Based on his most recent book, The Wisdom of our Hands, he will share his life-long journey of finding meaning and satisfaction in the woodworking craft...

A review of my first day at the Edinburgh Fringe.

      Thomas Edward Lawrence was born today, the 16th of August, in 1888, in Wales. The family situation was, well, complicate. He read, as they say, history at Jesus College, Oxford. Taking his degree he received a scholarship to travel to the Middle East. he quickly learned Arabic and worked as an archeologist […]

Gatekeeping the divine is not just a Christian problem. But you need no one’s permission to approach the Gods, or to approach any God. What happens after that is between you and Them and no one else.

In this week's Pagan Community Notes: Rushdie attacked, Woman allegedly starts fire using "Wiccan spell book", Nemi Italy celebrates Nemoralia, the supermoon, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of August 15, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

This summer, we've explored our Peace Practices through our monthly themes. Enjoy this selection of services from the summer, as we look forward to Homecoming Sunday on September 11. The post Reflecting on the Summer of Peace appeared first on BeyondBelief.

THE EVOLUTION OF SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE Rev. Kit Ketcham, PUUF, Aug. 14, 2022             As a junior high school teacher and counselor for 25 years in suburban Denver, I had plenty of stressful moments, hilarious moments, frustrating moments, confused moments, moments when I knew I would have to take some disciplinary action toward a kid or a parent, moments when I simply cried out at the pain in a child’s life.             Many of these moments in that career were kinda humdrum, just doing my job moments.  But others of those moments still linger in my memory:             That time when 9 th  grader Gail came into the main office when I was there, looked at me, said “my boyfriend just committed ...

                                   The clipping that jarred a memory. It didn’t take much to jar the memory.   Stored long ago and jammed tightly in the closet of a dusty recess of my mind, it fell to the floor and rolled to my feet when shaken by a mild tremor.   I picked it, popped the twine, and peeled back the layers of yellowed newsprint that had wrapped it.   There it was.   60 some odd years old and only somewhat dinged and nicked, a small part snapped off here and there, but whole and hefty in my hands. What shook it loose was of photo posted on a Facebook page for nostalgic old denizens of Cheyenne, Wyoming, the place where I grew up.   It was a .jpeg of a newspaper clipping with the grainy image of a...

      In the Eastern Christian churches today, the 15th of August, is marked as the Dormition of the Theotokos. In the Roman calendar today is called the feast of the Assumption of Mary. In the Anglican calendar this day is traditionally marked as the “falling asleep of the blessed virgin Mary,” although there […]

Joshua Pederson, professor at Boston University, makes a good point in today’s Boston Globe. Several years ago, Pederson began all his classes by having students introduce themselves by saying their names and pronouns. But, Pederson says, at the end of that first class: “As my students began filing out of the classroom, one lagged behind, … Continue reading "Mandatory pronouns"

If you’ve ever referred to the “Axial Age,” Jack Tsonis, lecturer at the Graduate REsearch School, Western Sydney Univ., suggests you might want to stop. “Axial Age” is a term coined by Karl Jaspers to describe a time about two and a half millennia ago when several key religio-philosophic texts emerged: the Dao de Jing, … Continue reading "Don’t call it the “Axial Age,” please"

The future of Haiti must be decided by the people of Haiti.

The Getty Museum in Los Angeles will be returning illegally excavated artwork and other treasures to Italy, among them one of the museum's most prized pieces. Continue reading Getty Museum will return Orpheus and the Sirens to Italy at The Wild Hunt.

Sometimes fog will obscure a view and you hope it will burn away. Other times you feel it as a blessing, cooling you off as you climb uphill on a trail with little shade. I don’t have a lot of wisdom, but I do know that most blessings are mixed, and that even in tragic […]

        THE GOD OF DIRTA Reflection on the Spirituality of Mary Oliver James Ishmael Ford I. Something came up out of the dark. It wasn’t anything I had ever seen before. It wasn’t an animal or a flower, unless it was both. Something came up out of the water, a head the […]

What kind of place is a Unitarian Universalist church? What does it mean to call one's self a Unitarian Universalist?

Yesterday I had a pleasant book signing and talk at the Fayetteville Public Library, and as is usually the case when speaking to the public, there were things afterwards that I wish I had said, but did not. I was very pleased that a few old friends showed up, and new ones as well. There is a difference in the market place between fiction and non-fiction. Fiction can change lives, but most often does not. We read fiction, not to get closer to reality, but to escape from it or to gain insight into it by seeing things from a different point of view— that of the fictional characters in the book. We often read non-fiction to gain a better understanding of things, but I think you will find it true that a better understanding does not always ...

A color enhanced central section of the Native American buffalo hide paintings showing the last stand of the Spanish.  Historians call it a remarkably accurate depiction. Long ago and far away two empires and their native allies clashed in the middle of nowhere and things were never quite the same again although the story of what happened was nearly lost.   Sounds like the opening lines of some sword and sorcery novel or the voice-over narration of a new video game.   But it really happened along the banksof a river in what is now Nebraska.   The year was 1720.   This is what happened. In Santa Fe Governor Valverde of Nuevo México heard that Apaches of his province who often ranged far north and east along the western slope of the ...

Please join us this Sunday (14 August  2022) at 11:00 AM for “Body and Spirit, United as One” 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 … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (14 August 2022)"

Please join us on Sunday (14 August 2022) at 9:00 AM for our adult religious education class via Zoom. Recent news events have seen repetition of the mistaken notion that the United States is “a Christian nation.” We will take a look at the troubling rise of Christian Nationalism in American politics and examine some … Continue reading "Online Adult Religious Education — 14 August 2022"

Summer religious education is more art and activity-based. All children and youth are with us in the 11:00 AM service for the first 20 minutes or so and then are dismissed to their activities. On Sunday (14 August 2022), Maggie Molisee will be back to work on the mural with the group.

Please join us next Tuesday (16 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.

TWH weekend editor Eric O. Scott considers the good and the disappointing aspects of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) Continue reading Editorial: The Inflation Reduction Act passed, and I wish I were happier about that at The Wild Hunt.