REMEMBERING AND HEALING FROM TRAUMA Sept. 11, 2022          Where were you when the planes crashed into the World Trade Center, into the Pentagon, and into an empty Pennsylvania field?  Speak that place into the silence as we listen.        It was a Tuesday.  It was 5:14 a.m. here in the PNW.  It was the first or second week of school for many children and youths.    And teachers.  It was a week after the celebrations of Labor Day.  It was a perfectly ordinary sort of day---until the news reports came rolling in, the TV screens flashing horrifying photos of people jumping out of the World Trade Center, planes obliterating parts of the Pentagon and two of the towers,  brave passengers cooperating to divert their hi...

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services. This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats. For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook … Continue reading "29 May 2022 Worship Livestreaming Video"

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services. This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats. For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook … Continue reading "22 May 2022 Worship Livestreaming Video"

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services. This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats. For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook … Continue reading "15 May 2022 Worship Livestreaming Video"

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services. This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats. For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook … Continue reading "8 May 2022 Worship Livestreaming Video"

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services. This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats. For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook … Continue reading "1 May 2022 Worship Livestreaming Video"

Our capacity to adapt to change is awe-inspiring. We are faced with seemingly impossible odds, and we find a way to overcome them over and over again. Stronger than ever before. -JeKaren Olaoya (CLF) What is a time you’ve faced the need to adapt to changing circumstances?

as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, September 11, 2022 It is good to be back in the pulpit. It is good to share this morning with you. It is a special morning for me. It is my first Sunday back from sabbatical. And it is my first time preaching to you […]

Join us as we kick off the new church year with our traditional Ingathering service. We begin this year at the beginning - what does it mean to belong?

We had some serious heat this week in California. It was so hot I stayed off the trails for most of last week. It is cooler now, so we’ll get going again soon. We were lucky to have A/C and solar with battery storage so we ran on the battery in the evening. It felt […]

Staff Writer Our hearts are still heavy on the anniversary of September 11, 2001.

    All I have is a voiceTo undo the folded lie,The romantic lie in the brainOf the sensual man-in-the-streetAnd the lie of AuthorityWhose buildings grope the sky: There is no such thing as the StateAnd no one exists alone;Hunger allows no choiceTo the citizen or the police;We must love one another or die. W.H. […]

Two beacons shone from the site of the World Trade Center Towers in New York City on anniversaries before the new towers were finally built. Note —Last year, twenty years after America’s most traumatic experience the memory of the 8/11 attacks was everywhere—news specials and documentaries all over broadcast and cable, newspaper front pages, special commemorative magazines at the grocery check-out, made-for-TV movies, new books both serious and refloating conspiracy theories.  This year, not so much, although it will be noted on your evening news and the annual observances at the Twin Towers site, Pentagon, and that Pennsylvania field where a passenger uprising against hijackers brought down a potential flying bomb.  The death of...

A witch is a person who practices witchcraft, as they understand it. You need no one’s permission, no one’s blessing, no one’s investiture to claim the title with power and pride.

Please join us this Sunday (11 September 2022) at 11:00 AM for the presentation of the 2022 Emerson Award to Kathaleen Pittman (Executive Director — Hope Medical Group for Women). We honor Kathaleen for her years of service and unyielding dedication to the rights of all people to plan their families as they choose and to … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (11 September 2022)"

Please join us on Sunday (11 September 2022) at 9:00 AM for “WhUU Dat (yeah, we did that . . . join us anyway)” via Zoom and facilitated by  Susan Caldwell and Barbara Deger. This Sunday we will try and answer the question “WhUU Dat?” as an introductory session to Unitarian Universalist theology along with … Continue reading "Online Adult Religious Education — 11 September 2022"

As the church year begins, our classes will be meeting separately for activities and discussion around our Unitarian Universalist principles and how they fit into our history and our daily lives. For most weeks, they will be joining together for part of the hour to continue work on the updated mural in the middle and … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education for 11 September 2022"

Please join us next Tuesday (13 September 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.

"I think we have a problem." I held up two identical wooden blocks, each stamped with an image of a man bent low under the weight of a massive boulder. “We’ve got two Sisyphuses and no Graces.” Continue reading “Sisyphuses and no Graces”: Telling Myths to Babies at The Wild Hunt.

The moment you acknowledge your survival of something you once thought beyond your ability is one of the purest forms of Awe in the human condition. -Rev. Dr. Erien Babcock (CLF) Think about a time when you survived something you thought impossible.

For the last 30 years, Republican lawmakers have insisted that   1.Global warming is a hoax. 2. That if it is real, man is not the cause of it. 3. That tackling if it was real would be too costly and disruptive. 4. That the fossil fuel industry that helps also to fuel their conservative candidacies is not to blame for global warming.  Are we finally at the point of clear understanding that our use of fossil fuels is fueling planetary destruction and disruption? An are we finally at the point where we can call out those obstructionists in politics and replace them in congress with folks capable of understanding science and willing to guide us (and the planet) toward a more sustainable future? Jimmy Carter, when he was president, was moc...

To see, to touch, and to believe. It seems that most human beings live in fantasies devised by others. I do so myself. I grew up within a Christian mythology. Christ could heal the lame, setting them on their feet again. That he could walk on water and feed the multitudes on only a few loaves of bread, was said and taught. He offered a means of altering the laws of Karma, that most chose to ignore, going instead for the perpetual motion of eye for eye. And within that there was at least enough confusion to plant seeds of doubt, for which I'm grateful. I write this as I sit on the front porch, Rosie at my feet, observing the sun coming through the leaves and feeling the cool air against my skin. The subject of belief is a curious one. We ...

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— As we all know, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, died on the afternoon of the 8th September and as a small, liberal religious community in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, this morning we collectively give thanks for her long life of service to the nation and send our condolences to her family. But as we begin to process what her life and death meant, and still means, to us, we need to be absolutely clear that during her reign a major change occurred in our society that her own, extraordinary, indiv...

Please join us at our table at this year’s Pride in the Park (sponsored by PACE Shreveport). Pride in the Park will be at Betty Virginia Park on Saturday (10 September 2022) from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. All Souls is scheduled for unloading and set-up at 9:45 AM at the parking lot on the … Continue reading "Pride in the Park (10 September 2022)"

Please join us on Saturday (10 September 2022) from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM for our monthly building and grounds work day. Since some of our church members will be staffing our table at Pride in the Park, we’re calling all hands to help with our monthly building and grounds work day. We will prepare … Continue reading "Building and Grounds Work Day (10 September 2022)"

Please join us on Saturday (10 September 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 (10 September 2022)"

We left our rental in San Mateo, California, on June 20. From then until September 1, we didn’t have a permanent address. We were living out of our car from June 20 to July 17. Then we had a short-term and very inexpensive rental ($500 a month, plus work barter) on the south coast of … Continue reading "Living out of your car"

"How,” I asked my partner, at last, “do you have a home you can’t take care of?” Continue reading Column: Stewardship, or Building the Hearth-Fire at The Wild Hunt.

I am in awe of the hummingbirds in my yard.  They are so tiny and move so fast and are so beautiful.  Truly awe inspiring.  I am in amazed that they spend hours at the discount-store feeder I got.   One of the smallest creatures in nature is so awe inspiring. -Judy DiCristofaro (CLF), photo by … Continue reading Hummingbirds

Sunday, September 11, 10:30 a.m. Water Communion Ingathering Service     Honor the waters that touch our lives: rivers, oceans, lakes, and tears of joy and sorrow. In this family worship service we will celebrate our coming together after the summer months. Bring water from a source that you visited this summer or find sacred and together   [ … ] The post Sunday, September 11 ~ Water Communion Ingathering Service ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

      I am not especially fond of the institution of monarchy. The reasons for this are many. I’m never not aware the whole institutions of monarchs, each and every one of them, are founded upon someone who killed and maimed their way to the top of a violent heap sometime in the past. […]

Prayer for Week of September 12, 2022 - Prayer for Homeschoolers Lover of Wisdom support those who homeschool and unschool, who seek to learn and teach and grow in ways outside schools and for the specific needs of some families and children. May there be abundant community resources and abundant...

Growing up in a church gave me a sense of belonging both to the congregation and to their beliefs. Our family life revolved around Sunday school, Sunday worship services, Wednesday suppers, choir practices, and revivals. At eight, I was baptized … Continue reading →

In two earlier posts (one and two), I wrote about preaching gowns. Personally I’m not a fan of preaching gowns, but I understand why they can be of use. Now I’d like to think out loud about clerical stoles. Stoles are those long pieces of cloth that clergy drape around their necks. The stole comes … Continue reading "Clerical stoles"

A proposed avocado farm in Spain led to one the world's largest megalithic sites being fully explored and studied by archaeologists. Continue reading Megalithic complex revealed in Spain at The Wild Hunt.

When I hear Gabriel Faure’s famous “Requiem” I cannot help but recall the time I sang it with a choir. I am transported to a place and time of transcendent wonder and beauty—a sense of awe that went beyond me, and connected me to the people around me singing, to the people listening, to something … Continue reading Transcendence

I feel such delight in all the small birds that love to be in our yard. Yesterday morning, the gold finches were all over the evening primrose stalks, eating seeds. Native self-seeded wildflowers for the win! Then I saw a few little brown ones–maybe sparrows–taking a bath in a puddle in the driveway, after the […]

Homilía del 7 de Mayo, 2022 para la Primera Iglesia Unitaria Universalista de Houston Es probable que algunos de ustedes recuerden que el Día de las Madres es un día feriado muy Unitario Universalista. Tuvo su origen gracias a los esfuerzos de Julia Ward Howe, una mujer unitaria, feminista, activista, y escritora. Ella se imaginó […]

The McLeod Ganj Psalter RSV, Week 3 Ken Ireland (Ken was Ivy League and Jesuit trained, and for some years a member of the Society of Jesus. He currently lives in Dharamshala. Ken’s a long time Zen practitioner and a friend. He’s taken an interest in my current deep dive into the Psalms project, and […]

Like most other people in the industry, I’m here because I love books! I love words and how they can be combined to reveal a new way of knowing the world. For a while, my dream was to become a writer, but over time, I grew less interested in telling my stories and more interested in helping others tell theirs. I found Beacon through the amazing We Need Diverse Books internship grant and was immediately drawn to its progressive catalog and justice-oriented mission.

“I am you, you are me, and we are all together.”  ~ John Lennon  I want to belong, to be part of! A large part of this need to belong is about survival. We come into physical existence totally dependent … Continue reading →

For 300 years, people in the West lived in an era of near-continuous progress. Everyone – Pagans included – expected things would continue getting better. People who expect things will keep getting better don’t issue prophecies of decline and demise.

The UUA's nonpartisan civic engagement initiative is focused on states where UU congregations and individuals can make a tremendous difference in democratic engagement this year. Continue reading "UU the Vote Announces 12 States Focus for 2022 Elections: Nonpartisan Civic Engagement Initiative Strengthening Democracy, Organizing for Justice and Accountability"

Priscilla Shumway It's my actions and choices that determine my connection to others. Continue reading "Choosing to Connect"

The Wild Hunt speaks with the Josh and Cat Heath about the decision to shut down their Open Halls Project. Continue reading The Heathen Open Halls Project shuts down at The Wild Hunt.

It is good to sing praises to you, Mother of all creation. And to recognize the touch of your love… We are in awe of your power. When the seasons turn, the growing warmth reminds us of your warmth The flowing waters remind us of the life which comes from you. Thank you, Mother of … Continue reading Mother of Creation

A Q&A with Remica Bingham-Risher | I actually never contemplated writing a book of nonfiction. When I started interviewing Black poets I admired, I did imagine that one day, I’d compile all those interviews. But those would be testaments to the things they were doing in the craft; it wouldn’t have much to do with me. So, it’s interesting that, over time, all the things they taught me kind of melded into this hybrid text, but I couldn’t have imagined it for myself. I’m very grateful.

I began my Kindergarten wood working class this morning and had a great time. The kids asked, "What are we making today?" And the great thing about working with this age of student is that they're excited about making any thing... So we made note holders for them to take home and used to convey messages to each other. It is a simple project but involved sawing, hammering, and decorating. Three things that all kids love. Make, fix and create... Assist others in learning likewise.

On the International Day of Clean Air for blue skies, we ask how governments can secure the human right to clear skies and a livable climate.

Chipper mills in the US have been destroying southern hardwood forests in the US and are now doing the same thing to old growth forests in Europe according to this article in the New York Times: Europe Is Sacrificing Its Ancient Forests for Energy.  The energy monsters claim that burning ancient forests is a form of green energy, but nothing could be further from the truth. It takes hundreds of years to grow a mature forest, and the burning of them is more costly to the environment than burning coal or natural gas. In the meantime, today is my first day teaching woodworking to the Kindergarten class at the Clear Spring School. And yesterday I received copies of my Guide to Woodworking with Kids, translated into German.  Make, fix and c...

There are times that you find yourself belonging to a group that you feared. A group that would change your life forever. All you see are the tears of suffering and death. You never see the smiles and the laughter … Continue reading →

      It was on this day, the 7th of September, in 1911 that Guillaume Apollinaire was arrested under suspicion of stealing the Mona Lisa. A classic example of the dangers of being an ironist in literalist times. Apollinaire was a renowned critic, poet, pornographer and the man who coined the term “surrealism” as well […]

In this week's Pagan Community Notes: Pagan Pride events starting up, Gaea Retreat Center changes visitor policy, Parliament of the World’s Religions, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of September 6, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

The Rev. Kathleen McTigue wrote that we gather in community for worship, “to remind one another to rest for a moment on the forming edge of our lives, to resist the headlong tumble into the next moment, until we claim for ourselves awareness and gratitude.” ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Sept 6th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

RE classes begin 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 be ... read more . The post Religious Education News – Sept 6th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

The Co-ministers have been in conversation with several other ministers across the country about the start of the new year. There are so many factors to consider in each location when striving to care for one another in the best ways we know how. Rev. ... read more . The post COVID 19 Update – September 6, 2022 appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

“Covenant … is a vision that says we are most human when we bind ourselves in relationship. But not just any relationship – relationships of trust, mutual accountability and continual return. This is not what our culture teaches us. Our culture teaches us that what ... read more . The post September Theme: Covenantal Community appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

The blackberries in my garden have finished their abundant season. Until next year, there will be no more purple-stained fingers, no more tart cobbler, no more daily hunt for the ripest berries in the thicket. Their brief annual presence in my life is a marvel of summer, and a reminder that all things have their … Continue reading Blackberries

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post. The post Protected: The Fountain is a healing place & ours is fully restored appeared first on BeyondBelief.

Heretic, Rebel, a Thing to Flout is going on hiatus for a few days while the proprietor and Chief Blowhard takes some R&R in Door County, Wisconsin with Kathy Brady-Murfin.  Will post pictures from new cell phone camera on Facebook.  Your regular programing should resume Sunday, September 11.  

My 9-year-old granddaughter is homeschooled, but on Thursdays she goes to a “hybrid” school program with other homeschooled kids. This year she is in a class with mostly kids she didn’t know before. After the second week, I picked her … Continue reading →

Four questions on three topics: the purpose of art in Paganism, restarting a spiritual practice after a period of inactivity, and Paganism in interfaith work. Good questions that should stimulate some good discussion.

      This is the anniversary of Zen teacher Issan Dorsey’s death on the 6th of September, 1990. I’ve written appreciations a number of times, often expanding over the years on something started a long time ago. Here, after my brief bio, I include Ken Ireland’s appreciation of Issan first delivered at Maitri Hospice, […]

“It is in the small things we see it. The child’s first step, as awesome as an earthquake. The first time you rode a bike, wallowing up the sidewalk.” -From “Courage,” by Anne Sexton When has an act of courage awed you?

If you agree with anything I've written thus far, you need to read this article about cartoonist and creator Lynda Barry from the New York Times.  Make, fix and create... Assist others in learning likewise.

Happy Labor Day from The Wild Hunt! Continue reading Happy Labor Day! at The Wild Hunt.

Today we celebrate Labor Day. Ever wonder why there's no federal holiday for Management Day? There are 364 days remaining  in the year dedicated to that.  Woodrow Wilson, as president of Princeton University had said: "We want one class of persons to have a liberal education, and we want another class of persons, a very much larger class, of necessity, in every society, to forgo the privileges of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks."— Woodrow Wilson  He was talking about class and divide and the need to sustain it through a two tier educational system. Haven't we had fun with that?  Today I'm managing my own labor, as I do most days. I'm preparing boxes for assembly by milling slots for...

Note —This is an updated version of an almost annual holiday blog post. Today is officially Labor Day in the United States, a Federal Holiday celebrated on the first Monday of September since 1894.  For most people it is just the last hurrahof summer, an occasion for one last cookout and the gatewayto fall and football season.  In most cities and towns, the labor movement is not even perfunctorily acknowledged.  The press mostly uses the occasion to annually either write the obituary of unions or to denounce them as powerful and greedy bullies, depending on the political inclinationof the outlet. While most of us working schlumps are grateful for the day off (if we get one), I for one, wish I could officially celebrate Labor Day wit...

We hold this power in our hearts: the ability to accept or reject. Young human beings move from one group to another wondering–will they let me in? The playground. The athletic team. The lunch table. The new classroom. The return … Continue reading →

    A Definition of the Koan Zhongfeng Mingben Translated by Ruth Fuller Sasaki The koans [kungans] may be compared to the case records of the public law court. Whether or not the ruler succeeds in bringing order to his realm depends in essence upon the existence of law. Kung (ko), or “public,” is the […]

      A Fervent and Necessary Arrangement.A Dharma talk Case 29, Blue Cliff Record   James Ishmael Ford The Case A monk said to Dasui, “When the thousands of universes are altogether and utterly destroyed in the kalpa fire — I wonder whether this perishes or not.” “This perishes,” said Dasui. “If so,” persisted the […]

Chileans vote today on a new national constitution, one that enshrines Indigenous rights under the banner of plurinationalism. Continue reading Editorial: Indigenous rights come into relief in Chile’s constitutional vote at The Wild Hunt.

We breathe in.  And we breathe out. With our breaths, we focus our minds. With our breaths, we renew our intentions toward all of creation. With our breaths, we give life to our bodies. With our breaths, we spark our thoughts, we make possible our songs, we share substance with those around us, we connect … Continue reading Breath

My daughter has been hiking the Pacific Crest trail (PCT) this summer. She started at Lone Pine, CA near Mt Whitney and just crossed over to Washington State on the Bridge of the Gods. It has been quite a journey for her with months on the trail, and too many detours because of all the […]

A sermon for Labor Day.

With the planet being overpopulated as it is, I'm fully aware of the gifts of living where I do in the forest of Northwest Arkansas. What you see in the photo is what I see on my first brief dog walk in the AM— The sun's first light coming from behind a hill and slicing through the woods. I have an app to recommend that's provided by National Geographic. It is called "Seek" and can be found online for your phone, too. It allows you to accurately identify individual plants from among thousands of species, and it's like walking with an expert through the forest.  Once a plant is identified, it will provide access to a database giving additional information about that plant. And it's 100% free.  Knowing more about each plant species all...

White rioters attack a car of people who attended a heavily guarded Paul Robeson concert in Peekskill, New York in 1949. Note:  The riot in Peekskill, New York to protest the appearance of Paul Robeson was organized by the Ku Klux Klan in cahoots with the American Legion and local police.  Think it can’t happen again?  Maybe you haven’t been paying attention. It should have been a pleasant Sunday in the country.  But on September 4, 1949 the residents of up-scale,White suburban Westchester County New York got together for a well-planned riot.  It was the second one in a week.  It was inflamed by headlines in a respectable local newspaper. It was largely organized by the local Posts of the American Legion and the Veterans of For...

We need not have a robust theory of divination to use it effectively. But I’m eternally curious, and I’ve given this some thought over the years. Here are some likely possibilities that are worth exploring.

Names are doorways. They are an introduction and a way to get to an honest place about a person. Continue reading Column: How Do You Get Your Name? at The Wild Hunt.

Science, by its very nature, includes mystery and wonder.  I know this—I have experienced it myself.  Many times as a graduate student, I holed myself up in a small, dark room with a very large microscope for hours as I experimented on immune cells taken from lungs.  My experiments centered on the movement of those … Continue reading Science

Those of you who perhaps followed my peach tree saga last year might remember that after hours and hours of tending–including several organic sprays, thinning the small green peaches, putting little mesh bags on the remaining ones–the squirrels ran off with every single green peach, or knocked them off the branches as they tried to […]

    Thinking of my brother. He would have been seventy-three today. Instead he never saw fifty. We grew up cheek by jowl. Our family was always on the move. In our formative years we only had each other. As we grew up I wanted to be a priest. Christian, Buddhist, that was a matter […]

John Charles Daly with the What's My Line? panel in 1950 after poet Louis Uttermeyer was ousted by the sponsor and replaced with publisher Bennett Cerf.  Gossip columnist Dorothy Kilgallen had been with the show from the start.  Broadway actress Arlene Frances--soon to become a blonde--stayed with the show through the entire run and on the 1970s syndication run.  Comedy writer Hal Block would depart in 1953 and the "comics seat" would be occupied by Steve Allen and then radio star Fred Allen. On September 3, 1967  What’s My Line , the longest running game showin the history of prime time television, ended a 17 year run on CBS, all but the first few months in the same familiar Sunday nighttime slot.  And for all 17 years the ...

The New York Times has been running a series of editorials exploring "what is school for?" And this is a favorite. "School is for connecting with Nature." What a sad and sorry place we create for future generations if we fail to connect our children with the nature that surrounds us. I am sitting on my front porch as is common for me these days in the early morning. Dog Rosie is at my feet, her eyes, nose and ears attuned to the life that surrounds us. She assists me by calling my attention to things I would have missed.  In the wood shop I've been inlaying box lids, finishing 33 yesterday, and preparing to assemble boxes. Yesterday friends and I were discussing our own personal overloads of things we've made. A simple solution is to ma...

The Cambridge Unitarian Church on 19th July 2022, the hottest day recorded in the UK  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— In the last piece I wrote for you before going away for the summer I encouraged you seriously to consider adopting a philosophy or theology that understands movement, change and process as being fundamental to everything, including God.  Like many people involved with the Unitarian, Free Christian and Universalist tradition, I first came to know about this way of understanding the world through the highly influential process theologian ...

Please join us this Sunday (4 September 2022) at 11:00 AM for “For the Life of Our Living Tradition” by Rev. Barbara Jarrell. It is the beginning of the church year and a time to turn our focus to our Unitarian Universalist identity, history, and heritage. We will be meeting in the sanctuary for this … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (4 September 2022)"

As the church year begins, our classes will be meeting separately for activities and discussion around our Unitarian Universalist principles and how they fit into our history and our daily lives. For most weeks, they will be joining together for part of the hour to continue work on the updated mural in the middle and … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education for 4 September 2022"

Please join us on Sunday (4 September 2022) at 9:00 AM for our adult religious education class via Zoom. On this Sunday, we will continue our two-part exploration of the movement for LGBTQ+ rights within the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Join us on Sunday (18 September 2022) at 11:00 AM for our 2022 Homecoming worship service. We will recognize member milestones and include a memorial tribute to those we have lost since our last in-person homecoming. We will have a blessing of the backpacks (sports bags, dance bags, briefcases, gym bags, diaper bags, etc) for … Continue reading "Homecoming 2022 (18 September 2022)"

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 September 2022, we choose Highland Center Ministries — a partnership of congregations that includes All Souls along with many congregations. Along with the Highland Blessing Dinner, the … Continue reading "Highland Center Ministries — September 2022 Give-Away-The-Plate Recipient"

Join us on Sunday (11 September 2022) at 11:00 AM for the annual presentation of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award to Kathaleen Pittman (Director of Hope Medical Group for Women). We honor Kathaleen for her years of service and unyielding dedication to the rights of all people to plan their families as they choose and … Continue reading "Kathaleen Pittman — 2022 Emerson Award Honoree"

Back in July, Carol and I drove to the Cumberland County Fairgrounds in Maine. We sang Sacred Harp, in a pulling shed, with forty other Sacred Harp singers. There were horses trotting around the race track next to the pulling shed. The pandemic shut down in person singing for a long time. It felt really … Continue reading "What I did on my summer vacation"

Please join us on Saturday (3 September 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 (3 September 2022)"