Please join us this Sunday (18 September 2022) at 11:00 AM for our annual Homecoming Service with Rev. Barbara Jarrell. We will recognize member milestones and include a memorial tribute to those we’ve lost since our last in-person homecoming. We will also have a blessing of the backpacks for all ages.  Kids and grownups — … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (18 September 2022)"

Please join us on Sunday (18 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 continue our exploration of Unitarian Universalist theology and take a look back to the early Christian Church to … Continue reading "Online Adult Religious Education — 18 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 18 September 2022"

Please join us next Tuesday (20 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.

Please join us on Saturday (17 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 (17 September 2022)"

                                   Charles Lewis Tiffany as a young man. 185 years ago today, September 18, 1837, Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B.Young opened a new establishment, a “stationery and fancy goods emporium.” That covered a lot of possibilities but was a sign that the merchants were aiming squarely for the deep pockets of the carriage trade.  They set up shop in Lower Manhattan and after some initial struggles were soon doing very well, thank you.  After picking up another partner were operating successfully as Tiffany, Young and Ellis and expanded their line to include such luxury items as Bohemian glass and porcelain, fine clocks, cutlery, and, oh, Jewelry. Charles Tiffany was born on February 12...

      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 monk, “does it follow the other?” “It follows the other,” said Dasui. Blue Cliff Record, Case 29 […]

Loving intra-actions between humans, a dog, and some fish swimming in the River Cam    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— Last week, I had reason to cite Jesus’ so-called “new commandment” found in the Gospel of John (13:34) that we “love one another.” Whilst I have never had an issue with the commandment itself — indeed, it remains absolutely central to my own religious faith, phenomenally hard though it always is to fulfil — I was, for many years, baffled, put-off even, by the claim made, perhaps by the gospel’s author rather than by Jesu...

The times I have found myself experiencing awe are when I witness people coming to the aid of other people without hesitation. Back when I spent my summers working at a boat launch, an intense storm hit the lake, and suddenly every boat was trying to exit the water at once, creating traffic and mayhem. … Continue reading Helping

Storm Faerywolf reviews books by Ivo Dominguez Jr., Mhara Starling, anf Vincent Higginbotham. Continue reading Three books on my nightstand: Ivo Dominguez Jr, Mhara Starling, Vincent Higginbotham at The Wild Hunt.

Sunday, September 18, 10:30 a.m. The Values of the Newport Folk Festival   The Newport Folk Festival’s unofficial motto is “Be Present. Be Kind. Be Open. Be Together”. These are words we live by for a weekend while enjoying incredible music in beautiful Fort Adams, RI and words we should carry with us the rest of   [ … ] The post Sunday, September 18 ~ The Values of the Newport Folk Festival ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

When our daughter, Amy, died in an automobile accident, I became a lifelong member of a group no one wants to be a part of, grieving parents. For months, I attended meetings of The Compassionate Friends, where membership consisted of … Continue reading →

Mattie Bergström warned that those who's hands are left untrained will be left "values damaged," and what he meant by that is that they will be left without the full and normal range of human values, and incapable of perceiving the deeper meaning of things. Values like care for the natural environment, historic preservation, art, craftsmanship and real love for each other will ring hollow for those who've been sequestered from engagement in life though failure to develop skills hands-on.  I am reminded of the Bonwit-Teller Building in New York, that was torn down to build the Trump Tower. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4XWoirFToYn John Baron (really Donald Trump with his voice disguised) claimed that the Art Deco sculptures Donald Tr...

Prayer for Week of September 19, 2022 - Prayer for Peace Lover of Peace teach us to grow out of inequity into greater equity, to move from co-creating injustice to co-creating justice, to shine boldly with gladness to be together and to cultivate the trust that underlies that. Lover of...

      The 16th of September, 1885, is the birthday of the noted Neo-Freudian psychoanalyst Karen Horney. I’ve noted this a few times over the years and taken advantage of the moment to reflect a bit on her and her connections to Zen Buddhism. It’s been a couple of years and I thought I’d […]

Back in 2015 Lisa Haderlein, the McHenry County environmental maven, preserver and restorer of wild places, and currently a Democratic candidate for Congress in the Illinois 16th Congressional District posted the accompanying photo on Facebook.  It was taken outside the Starline Gallery in Harvard.  It got me to thinking and I posted this seven years ago on this date. The Lovely Corpse Monarchs, they say, are a dying breed. Not the superfluous Royals of Windsor             or oil rich Arabs. They will disappear, too, in their own good time but are not our business here today.   I am talking about those golden orange and black             zephyr riding marvels that by the millions             us...

Rev. James Ishmael Ford returns to the First Unitarian Church in Los Angeles in a big way for the 2022-23 church year with Second Thursdays with James starting tonight at 7pm PDT!  This season he’ll be exploring practical spirituality and covering a wide spectrum of spiritual topics. His first topic “Finding the Spiritual In and […]

Awe is the result of seeing the beauty in the average. We exist in a space of consuming so many things, but when we take a moment to really take in something as simple as a leaf, we can appreciate all that it takes to create it. -JeKaren Olaoya (CLF) Notice the beauty in something … Continue reading Beauty

The South African Pagan Rights Alliance raises concerns regarding the Witchcraft Suppression Act which has been under legal review since 2010. Continue reading The Witchcraft Suppression Act at The Wild Hunt.

The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU) is now defunct, another victim of COVID. According to Inga Brandes, ICUU President in 2021, “With the Covid Pandemic, the climate Emergency, and underlying funding issues, ICUU is facing major problems of sustainability and impact.” And so we now have the International U/U Collaboration. This is sad, … Continue reading "Global chalice lightings"

Goddess,May the air I breathe be touched by magicMay I be filled with loving kindnessMay I be of service to myself and othersMay I choose my thoughts and words with intentionMay I cultivate inner peaceMay I be a loving and present partner, parent, and friendMay I forgive myself for being humanMay I offer others the […]

“There is a place where the sidewalk ends, and before the street begins.” ~ Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends (p.64) Belonging is a hard theme to grasp. Welcoming, even harder.  There are people I need to welcome and show … Continue reading →

On the International Day of Democracy, U.S. must get out of the way of the Haitian people’s struggle for a free and inclusive government

Revolution and religion mix in this homage to Padre  Miguel Hidalgo with the banner of the Virgen de Guadalupe and an angel bending to kiss his brow. Note:   Versions of this have run previously in this blog, I’m posting it again as a public service.  Mexico has a real history and tradition that is deeper than a taco and tequila festival favored by Gringos.  Quick, what’s Mexican Independence Day?  If you answered Cinco de Mayo, you’d be wrong.  That is a minor provincial holiday in Mexico that has become a celebration of Mexican pride in the United States.  It celebrates the victory of the Mexican Army over the French Empire at the Battle of Pueblain 1862, during the French invasion of Mexico.   The correct answer is Diez ...

Robust and meaningful theology is never the product of any one person. It’s always the product of a group of people in conversation with each other. Contemporary polytheism needs dialogue among its practitioners and thinkers.

      I’ve been thinking about ministry of late. In the Christian tradition there are two general views of ministry, the technical terms are ontological and functional. The ontological view is the high view, it is seen as a shift in the nature of a person conferred by ancient rites. The functional view is […]

The U.K.'s Ministry of Defence and archaeologists are working together to learn as much as they can from Flower’s Barrow hillfort before the site is lost to the sea. And many residents and visitors to some of the U.K.'s historical and notable sites relate their unearthly experiences. Continue reading Flower’s Barrow and spectral legions at The Wild Hunt.

How does one address a mystery? Reverently—let us go with a sense of awe, a feeling of approaching the powerful holy whose lightning slashes the sky, whose persistence splits concrete with green sprouts, whose miracles are present in every place and moment. -Excerpted from “How Does One Address a Mystery,” by Gordon B. McKeeman How … Continue reading Reverence

Glen Thomas Rideout I rise on the shoulders of ancestors whose names I can not know. Continue reading "Retracing My Steps"

Adolf Diesterweg was a 19th century German educator and friend of Friedrich Frobel. I was reminded of him as I was perusing my recently published book Holtzwerken mit Kindern, translated from English and in which only a few words from all that German are decipherable by me.  Diesterweg was responsible for a part of the theory Otto Salomon's Theory of Educational Sloyd in its recognition that learning must move from the known to the unknown, from the easy to more difficult, from the simple to the complex and from the concrete to the abstract. What he was describing would later become known as "scaffolding." In building knowledge in this manner, it would be essential for the teacher to understand the needs and interests of the child. And ...

We had an appointment with a professional who was helping us do some estate planning. They sent us an email the day before reminding us of the appointment and included a helpful message: give yourself some extra time.  Our building … Continue reading →

A Butterfield Overland Stage departing San Francisco in 1858. On September 15, 1858 two new Concord Coaches, one in Saint Louis,Missouri and one in San Francisco,California set off in opposite directions two cross more than 2/3s of the continent.  They were inaugurating a new contract with the Post Office for transcontinental mail service operated by the Butterfield Overland Mail.  It would take 23 days for the California service to arrive at its eastern terminal—two whole days before its projected time.  The west bound routewould make similar time.  Both traveled the indirect Ox bow route that dipped south to cross Indian Territory and kitty-angle across Texas before heading west along the Rio Grande River and through the rugged m...

    In the broad middle of the Twentieth century there were a number of writers exploring a synthesis of Eastern and Western approaches to the spiritual life. I would hazard the best known of these was Alan Watts. For good and ill have to count him among my teachers, if some of that was […]

Abigail Eliot was a member of the Unitarian Universalist church I grew up in. I have only vague memories of her, but somehow knew she was someone important. I didn’t realize just how important she was until I read No Silent Witness: The Eliot Parsonage Women and Their Unitarian World by Cynthia Grant Tucker. It … Continue reading "Thinking about Abigail Eliot"

We did not have an in-person worship service on Sunday, 26 June 2022. Since church staff and church members were attending the 2022 Unitarian Universalist General Assembly (GA) in Portland, Oregon, we had an all-ages potluck and watched the livestream video of the Sunday GA worship from Portland instead. You can watch the GA worship … Continue reading "26 June 2022 UUA General Assembly Sunday Worship"

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 "19 June 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 "12 June 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 "5 June 2022 Worship Livestreaming Video"

Taken with a Fujifilm X-T2 Just click on the photo to enlarge it   This photo was taken on the August Bank Holiday whilst visiting my parents who live just a couple of miles outside Harwich. At the surface level, it simply shows a very familiar, happy and peaceful, sunny Bank Holiday scene centred on a family picnic-cum-fishing trip to the seaside. Although, strictly speaking, this view shows the riverside at the confluence of the Stour and Orwell rivers just before they run out into the North Sea to the right of the frame.  But, firstly, take a look at those cranes across the river in Felixstowe Port (the busiest container port in the UK) . . . they are all upright and there are no ships to be seen. This is because, for the first ti...

Like the cosmic dust following after a great Perseid meteor, we are the living remnants of time and all that has come to pass in its wake—briefly shining lights on the way to eternity. We are only visible to the naked eye for an instant. Take this moment to shine like the stardust you are. … Continue reading Shining

An update on yet another twist in the case to protect and preserve Chi’chil Bildagoteel in Arizona as the 9th Circuit considers whether to rehear the case, en banc. Continue reading Fate of Chi’chil Bildagoteel and Apache Stronghold await decision on case being reheard at The Wild Hunt.

It was a busy weekend at UUSS! After lots of activities on Saturday, it was good to hear the choir rehearsing as we prepared for worship, and then to see all the folks in the circle, and those who attended online. We are grateful for ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Sept. 13th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

The 9/11 Children’s Chapel was such a delight! Our first Children’s Chapel in 2.5 years. A great big THANK YOU to Stephanie Maslanka for joining us to share her time and storytelling talents with Juliana Post-Good, me, and 9 Children! Turns out, we have a ... read more . The post Religious Education News – Sept. 13th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Canadian Unitarian Universalists Honour Death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II – September 8, 2022 – It is with a momentous sense of an era passing that the Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC) and Unitarian Universalist Ministers of Canada (UUMOC) acknowledge the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September […] The post Canadian Unitarian Universalists Honour Death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II appeared first on Canadian Unitarian Council Conseil unitarien du Canada.

The McLeod Ganj Psalter RSV, Week 4 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 […]

The Queen is dead – now what? Whether we are Americans, Britons, or otherwise, electing better people to run the governments we have is far simpler and more likely than changing our form of government.

Several years ago, I published a blog, “Rev. Prep” as my personal, public statement affirming that one can be religious and gay and sexual and engaged in promoting safer sex.  Although I use a different medication now (Descovy), I am still on and committed to PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis i.e. anti-HIV medication) as a non-gendered, non-political, […]

Niles West High School in the 1960s. I was a senior that fall at Niles Township West High School in 1966.   It was a good year for me.   I was finding myself.   After arriving from Cheyenne, where I was something of a pariah as a bookish kid, the year before, I had discovered that at least in some circles my interests were valued and shared.   I had friends.   I was active in drama and was cast in good parts.   I had my own allegedly humorous column The Wind from the West in the school newspaper and my short stories and poems had been published in the literary journal Apotheosis .   I competed in Forensics. Outside of school I was part of a circle of kids from all three schools in the district who were interested in things like ci...

I was born into a non-practicing Baptist family. We did celebrate Easter and Christmas but not much else. That was my religious upbringing. I had to go on my spiritual journey alone.  When I was a teenager, I was an … Continue reading →

In this week's Pagan Community Notes: a legal challenge for choice in Indiana includes Paganism, the Native Polish Church announces the passing of Mazur Kazimierz, Egyptian artifacts scheduled for return, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of September 12, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

Realizing that you are a tiny speck in a universe with no end strikes our sense of wonder and awe. The perspective that follows can make you feel holy. What gives you a perspective that feels holy?

A few photos from an early autumn walk by the River Cam through Grantchester Meadows All photos taken with a Fuji X100V and are straight out of camera Just click on a photo to enlarge

Restaurant and market reviews from Spain.

Would you give a dozen 8th graders $10,000? Seriously?? That’s exactly what happened last year at Monroe Demonstration Academy! The Ed Darby Foundation and Tulsa Changemakers teamed up to offer hands-on experience for twelve 8th graders with $10 grand. Subsequently, the adults were blown away. Identifying the Needs The novice philanthropists started by identifying six topics most important to the Monroe community: Basic needs, menstrual products, classroom supplies and décor, youth voice, special events and mental health. Then they cleaned out a school closet and organized it into a pantry for food, clothing and hygiene products. They held a drive […] The post PIE ala Mode appeared first on BeyondBelief.

“Hey, we’re making music twice as good.By playing what we’ve got!” ~ Shel Silverstein, Ourchestra, Where the Sidewalk Ends (p. 23) In this century we are all connected somehow, and for many of us, those connections are everything. We can’t … Continue reading →

  Horses in the Lascaux Cave complex. On September 12, 1940 four teenage boys chasing their dog Robot into a partially obscured cave mouth came upon something extraordinary.   Marcel Ravidat, Jacques Marsal, Georges Agnel, and Simon Coencas stumbled upon a vast trove of paintings on the walls of the cave complex near the village of Montignac, in the Department of Dordogne , France. The dog Robot who sniffed out the hidden entrance to Lascaux, with two of the human-co-discoverers The Lascaux Cave complex was eventually found to include several rooms or galleries including those designated as the Great Hall of the Bulls , the Lateral Passage , the Shaft of the Dead Man , the Chamber of Engravings , the Painted Gallery , and the Chamber o...

  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 […]