I love going to the movies. When I was a child and I assure you I used to be one many moons ago, movies were rare. I only remember going to the movies around 7 times in my childhood. Yes, … Continue reading →

“Inspired by the beauty and holiness of the Earth, we become more willing to relinquish material desires. We recognize the need for sacrifice as we build a world that is both just and sustainable. We are called to be good stewards, restoring the Earth and protecting all beings.” -UUA Commission on Appraisal, on the 7th … Continue reading Sustainability

This post is a companion piece to a post I wrote in February 2015, “A Conversation Begins with a Lie…” Like a lot of moments in my life, I recently realized something important while listening to the Indigo Girls.   Carri … Continue reading →

Yesterday I visited with woodworking and trades students at North Arkansas Community College and did a book talk and signing in their library. The students were very attentive. Today I taught our Clear Spring School kids how to make flip cars, a tradition at the Clear Spring School. The kids were very excited, and recognizing my age asked if it is OK to call me "Grandpa." I think, being the age that I am, it's OK. The photo is a silly one. Make, fix, and create. Assist others in learning likewise.

How the consumption and production of chocolate impacts the environment in a variety of ways, and the possible changes that could make it more sustainable. Continue reading Honoring Quetzalcoatl’s gift: chocolate and it’s impacts at The Wild Hunt.

Jeff Milchen UU the Vote organized in-person events in two states where voting and human rights are most threatened: Michigan and Georgia.

RSVP to the Auction and Trunk or Treat here.

A memorandum of understanding building on the historic partnership between EqUUal Access and the UUA ensures more resources and staff to address ableism within Unitarian Universalism and to support equity in the engagement of disabled people in society as a whole. Continue reading "Unitarian Universalists Commit to Addressing Ableism: Memorandum of Understanding Between UUA and EqUUal Access Continues Efforts to Promote Disability Justice"

Laura Shay Witnessing the lifecycle of a monarch butterfly has made me a better chaplain. Continue reading "Part of the Mystery"

  John Turnbull's famous 1820 painting of the surrender at Yorktown.  General Benjamin Lincoln accepted the sword from Brigadier Charles O'Hara as Washington looked on.  The French army was on the left and the Continental Army on the right.  The band played  The World Turned Upside Down. The English musicianshad it right when they played The World Turned Upside Down on October 19, 1781.   On that day British forces commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis marched out of their fortifications at Yorktown , Virginia between ranks of Continental Army and French troops. Cornwallis, feigning illness, dispatched Irish born Brigadier General Charles O’Hara to do the distasteful duty.   O’Hara attempted to offer the sword of sur...

Courageous people almost never feel that they are courageous. It’s one of the oddities of human experience. We can all probably identify people in our lives whom we consider to be courageous. We know what they have been up against. … Continue reading →

In the context of a theologically diverse audience, and with the coming harvest weighing heavily on my mind, I offered this prayer as part of last Sunday’s service at Denton UU.

As a child, I loved learning how to keep score at baseball games, and my father loved explaining the intricacies of baseball scoring. One of my favorite things to score was the “sacrifice fly,” in which a batter hits a long fly ball knowing that it would be caught, but allowing the runner on third … Continue reading Sacrifice Fly

  A Story             Long ago and far away, there was a girl named Vasilisa.   Sometimes she was called Vasilisa the wise.   She was never called Vasilisa the sad, even though her mother died when she was just eight years old.   Of course, she was sad about her mother’s passing.   But she had fond memories of her, too.             Before she died, her mother called her daughter to her bedside and place a doll in Vasilisa’s hands.   It was one she had carved especially for her.   Vasilisa’s mother said, “Take good care of this little doll and she will take good care of you.”             Vasilisa put the little doll in her pocket.   On the day her mother died, despite her tears she rememb...

I went to the September meeting of the Miami-Dade County School Board along with two of our members, Martha Harrison and Cam McFrederick.    We were concerned about the school board voting down a resolution to: “Recognize and observe October 2022 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) History Month and direct the Superintendent to support policies and practices…that respect and support LGBTQ students and their families throughout the school year.”   In case you didn’t know, this history month did not require anyone in the public schools to participate, did not have any curricula associated with it, and would not have been discussed in the classroom.   The resolution would have simply given the LGBTQ student...

          “There is no such thing as a heartbeat at six weeks,” said Stacey Abrams, who is running a campaign centered on abortion access to unseat Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R). “It is a manufactured sound designed to convince people that men have the right to take control of a woman’s body away from her.” According to obstetrics and gynecology experts, Abrams is correct in saying there is no heartbeat at six weeks. At that stage of the embryo’s development, the chambers and valves of the heart ― the opening and closing of which create the heartbeat sound ― don’t exist yet.   Abrams was arguing against the use of “fetal heartbeat” rhetoric in anti-abortion legislation. The term is used to contest abortion r...

 Story An old woman is nearing the end of her life. As she closes her eyes one night, she sees a bright light and is transported to another realm. She doesn’t pass away just then, instead, she returns to the living world to find her family gathered at her bedside. She smiles and whispers to her children, “I have seen the great hereafter.” “The great whereafter?” Her son asks. “Heaven and hell. I have seen them both.”   The old woman goes on to explain, “I came upon a door, and behind it was hell. What I saw there confounded me. There was a dining hall filled with rows of tables, each table bearing a magnificent stew. It looked and smelled delicious, yet the people seated around the tables were emaciated and sickly, moan...

                   Generally, I am okay being alone.   I have become more aware in the 20 years I’ve been since a Unitarian Universalist minister, that I need time with people and time without people. I am not a fan of multitasking, and yet ministry often is multitasking: preaching, pastoring, teaching, studying, learning, sometimes all at once.   And so alone time is needed to sort through it all, to be quiet, to reflect, to write, to read, to try to understand all that is taking place around and within me.   But there are times, whether I’m with people or taking some alone time, when I feel lonely. Have you felt lonely?    I am going to assume the answer is yes for all of us gathered here.   Perhaps it was whe...

By Helene Atwan | Gayl Jones, the highly acclaimed author who was first “discovered" and mentored by Toni Morrison has twice disappeared from our sight. The first time was after a stellar launch as one of America’s most daring and distinctive literary lights, after two brilliant novels (“Corregidora” and “Eva’s Man”) brought out by Morrison at Random House, and one slim but oh-so-astonishing story collection (“White Rat”), when she went into a self-imposed exile in France, from the late 1970s until the late 1990s. She and her husband had rejected the racism that surrounded them, and Gayl had made the decision to leave her job in academia and her very promising career as a writer, as well as her friends and supporters in...

The Frederick Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (FCUUPS) gears up for its annual Samhain ritual on Saturday. Continue reading A Samhain journey in Western Maryland at The Wild Hunt.

        When I was planning my stopover in Bangkok on a trip to Bhutan I wanted to visit the Mahayana Buddhist monastery where the English Buddhist John Blofeld’s ashes were interred. My friend the scholar Justin Whitaker connected me to Will Yaryan. Will was a mostly retired professor of religious studies keeping […]

Last year activists lobbied the Illinois General Assembly to end money bail requirements that penalize poverty. Tree of Life Unitarian Universalist Congregation , 5603 Bull Valley Road in McHenry, will host an on-line forum to discuss the truth about the Pretrial Fairness provisions of the SAFE-T Act this Saturday, October 22 at 5pm on Zoom.   “Much misinformation and fear mongering has been spread,” according to Tree of Life Social Justice Chair Patrick Murfin.  “We want to let our community this important criminal justice reform.” Tree of Life is partnering with the UU Prison Ministry of Illinois (UUPMI) and their allies at Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice ( INPJ ) who argue that pre-trial detention for the inability to ...

I tell people that my daughter, Jalila, is my angel on earth. She took care of me while I was battling breast cancer. She became my rock. She was the first one I told that I had breast cancer. She … Continue reading →

“Spirit of life and love; spirit of holding on; spirit of letting go: help us to attune to what our lives whisper to us—both the sweet words of commitment and the sweet words of release. Help us to know whether it’s a time to hold tightly, or a time to let go. Help us to … Continue reading Letting Go

Rodney Kennedy, in an opinion piece on Baptist News Global, says: “I’m attempting to wrap my mind around the idea of a former Army general telling me I should preach from the U.S. Constitution. I mention this only because Michael Flynn has been occupying American pulpits, recommending the Constitution as a second holy book for … Continue reading "Yet another holy book"

TWH – October is in full swing and so is the annual deluge of stories in the news about Witches and occult practices. The closer the wheel turns to Samhain, the Days of the Dead, and secular Halloween celebrations, the flow of stories and articles will likely increase. The current popularity of magical practices continues to permeate the mainstream pop culture of movies and series on television and streaming services. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of October 17, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

On the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, we renew our call for urgent action to combat extreme deprivation and inequality around the globe.

A few autumn views of Logan’s Meadow nature reserve and the Cambridge Museum of Technology Taken with a Fujifilm X100V Just click on the photo to enlarge it Straight out of camera using the  C201   and Acros Dark  recipe by Marcel Fraij

      I first heard of John the Dwarf when reading Thomas Merton’s Wisdom of the Desert Fathers. This book was enormously important to me, and remains so. Merton’s selection and his translation of the texts emphasize the echoes of a spirituality akin to the early Chan masters of China. Later I would read […]

In reel life and in real life--women were the heroes of the mid-20th Century Southwestern mine strike made famous in the film  Salt of the Earth . When workers went on strike against the Empire Zinc Corporation in Grant County , New Mexico on October 17, 1950 it may have seemed like just another action in almost 60 years of struggle by hard rock minersand allied workers in the West.   But the bitter strike, which dragged on for 14 more months took place against a backdrop of anti-communist hysteria, government suppression, racism, and gender discrimination would likely be forgotten today except that it was documented in a classic film that had its own epic battle to see the light of day. Almost everyone called the strikers Mexicans and...

I have read or listened to several books by Margaret Atwood about futuristics societies where the decisions for many are made by a very few. Opinions are not allowed and those who are brave enough to have a thought and … Continue reading →

In the Torah reading known as the Akedah, G-d calls on Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac upon an altar. This story is troublesome for many Unitarian Universalists, because of our uneasy relationship with the concept of sacrifice as a demonstration of devotion to a higher power, which is often how the story is … Continue reading Drawing Nearer to the Divine

New report confirms UUSC research on in-country refugee processing program.

Archeologists have uncovered the foundations of a temple to Poseidon attested to in Strabo's Geography. Continue reading Archeologists may have found legendary temple to Poseidon at The Wild Hunt.

I think I broke my bike. It has been making weird clunking sounds that get louder every time I use it. Today I heard something fall inside below the pedals. No worries, I ordered another bike from Costco which should be here within the week. This one still works, but given how loud it is […]

2021 marked the 500th anniversary of the Conquest of Mexico and the fall of the Aztec Empire. Its capital, Tenochtitlan, was a spectacular city, a jewel in the center of Mexico that Hernán Cortés claimed to have conquered easily. Since those who win wars usually write history, it has taken centuries to unearth the truth about that conquest, and to reveal the complex array of human ambitions, greed, and sacrifice on both sides. Join us on Sunday, October 16, for a glimpse into the past and a greater understanding of the human desire for wealth and power, and the bravery of those who resist it. Sherry Hardage was a long time member of the Unitarian Church of Los Alamos. Over two decades she gave numerous sermons and Forum presentations. ...

        I was a High School dropout. When I worked at Wahrenbrock’s Bookstore in San Diego, I spent several years taking classes at San Diego’s Evening College. While I was really only following my nose and taking what seemed interesting, somehow it mapped pretty nicely the lower division courses for an English […]

For the last 15 months I had to pleasure to serve as one of your ministers in an intern and resident capacity. The Board of Trustees, All Souls Ministry Team, and I had hoped we might receive special permission from the UUA to continue my tenure here beyond what current nationwide denominational policy guidelines allow. This exception, sadly, was not granted. The post Cory Lovell: A fond farewell appeared first on BeyondBelief.

Voltaire said “common sense is not so common.” But another problem with common sense is taking something that’s generally true and assuming it’s universally true – and then using that to force people into boxes where they don’t fit.

  By an astonishing coincidence a professional photographer just happened to be on hand when the Giant was raised from the ground in Cardiff, New York. Americans have always loved and fallen for hoaxes , fakes , and frauds.   They are an enduring part of our culture and folklore.   It was all pretty harmless until one ran for President and went off the rails.   Take the inventions of Parson Weems in his alleged biography of George Washington that gave us the cherry tree story, tossing the dollar across the Potomac, and the vision at Valley Forge—all entirely fictitious but amazingly still taught in American elementary schools. There were literary hoaxes as crude as Davey Crocket ’ s boasting or as bold as Edgar Allan Poe ’ s Ba...

Sometimes I find myself feeling confused and burdened by the word sacrifice, especially when it comes to family. The lines between enabling my children and setting loving boundaries are blurry. -Beth Murray (CLF) When have you sacrificed or compromised your own personal needs to do something that might be helpful for another family member? When … Continue reading Resentment

Please join us this Sunday at 11:00 AM for “Sharing Our Experience of This Religious Movement” with Gale Gucker, Steve Caldwell, and Bennett Upton. Join us to hear two former congregational board presidents and a trainer of teachers in the UUA/UCC Our Whole Lives Comprehensive Sexuality Education Curriculum speak on their experience with Unitarian Universalism … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (16 October 2022)"

There will be no adult religious education class this Sunday (16 October 2022). We will return at 9:00 AM on Sunday, 23 October 2022 continuing our WhUU Dat? series by exploring and discussing readings from the Unitarian Universalist Pocket Guide.

For 16 October 2022, both classes will have a regular classroom session. The Pre K – 5th Grade Class will continue Toolbox of Faith discussing power, represented by the hammer, which can be used to build or to destroy. The Middle and High School Class will play a game of UU Jeopardy and also plan … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education for 16 October 2022"

Please join us next Tuesday (18 October 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 (15 October 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 (15 October 2022)"

This might seem like a no-brainer, but the simple art of having a schedule can make the difference between a Witch-Craft and merely a Witch-Interest. Continue reading Column: Bite-Sized Witchcraft at The Wild Hunt.

      As I understand it within the Japanese tradition today, the 15th of October, is marked as the day in the year 606, when Jianzhi Sengcan returned to that mystery from which all of us come and, as with that ancient venerable, to which all of us return. In our Zen traditions Sengcan […]

                                     Montgolfier Brothers hot air balloon with specifications after the demonstration flight for Louis XVI. On October 15, 1783 Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier became the first human being to leave the surface of the Earth and rise in the air in a man-made contraption.  And what a contraption!  The enormous hot air balloon that Étienne and his brother Joseph-Michel Montgolfier constructed was seventy-five feet tall and about fifty feet in diameter with a 60,000 cubic foot capacity.  It was elaborately decorated in gold and deep blue with Fleur-de-lis , signs of the Zodiac, and suns emblazoned with the face of Louis XVI interlaced with the royal monogram.  The balloon rose in the mor...

Are there ways we limit ourselves by assuming that sacrifice is necessary? Can we see mutual flourishing as our sacred goal, instead of believing that we must suffer to be righteous? -Rose Gallogly (CLF) How can you center mutual flourishing over sacrifice today?

We are so excited to organize with Unitarian Universalists like you who are committed to promoting LGBTQIA+, Gender, and Reproductive Justice.  With the sacred right to bodily autonomy being attacked on multiple fronts, our presence as people of faith is critical to lives all around the country.  Fueled by the joy that is this prophetic and powerful community, it’s time for all of us to take action together!  You can find more opportunities to learn & act together at the Side With Love Action Center, but here are some highlights from our launch party from October 13, 2022. View the webinar View the slides Don’t forget to sign up for the UPLIFT Action Newsletter so you can continue to get more updates about ways to connect and take...

“Love him and let him love you. Do you think anything else under heaven really matters?” – James Baldwin   Sunday, October 16, 2022, 10:30 a.m. Courage To Love Led by Rev. Alice Anacheka-Nasemann   In honor of LGBTQIA+ History Month, join us this Sunday, Oct. 16, as Rev. Alice reflects on both historic and current   [ … ] The post Sunday, October 16 ~ Courage to Love ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

        Today, on the 14th of October, in 1965, Dr B. R. Ambedkar shook India when he converted to Buddhism. I try to note this occasion as it rolls by in the calendar. Partially because he deserves to be celebrated. But, also to let people who might not otherwise be aware of […]

A rare photo of the Sobibór camp--a vest pocket operation compared to the industrial scale of the Auschwitz camps, but ruthlessly efficient. It has always chapped my ass to hear people who don’t know what the hell they are talking aboutwonder aloud about why “there was no resistance” when the Nazis rounded up Jews and other “undesirables” or in the labor and extermination camps.  First, it is another example of blaming the victim, that always popular parlor game.  And secondly it doesn’t take into account the information that Jews had—early on even they could not imagine industrial scale murder and genocide, a term that had not yet even been conceived—or the overwhelming, highly organized force arrayed against them.  ...

The Heart as the seat of feelings is the root etymology of the word Courage. That is to have a deep feeling that moves us to protect someone or something. Who or what the someone or something is sometimes conditioned … Continue reading →

Prayer for Artists - Week of October 17, 2022 Lover of Creativity, receive a few words for the artists: offer inspiration in every day and every twist and turn of life, opportunities to create and to be compensated fairly for creating, to imagine and to live from one’s imagination. Open...

Click here for Mary Rose Muti's personal story of "Music Memories"

Have you ever given up something you wanted for the idea of something better? When we set goals, we can’t see all of the possibilities of ways it will not go as planned. It’s hard to let go, but often times it is because there are better options we never dreamed of. We have a … Continue reading Goals and Dreams

      CHRISTIAN ZEN TEACHERS  A List in Progress October 13, 2022 The following is a list of people who I have identified at least tentatively as authorized Zen teachers in some generally acknowledged lineage who also in some significant way consider themselves Christian. I am soliciting corrections and additions to this list. For […]

Pagans share their magical experiences that folklore would describe as being "fairy-led." Continue reading Reports of being “fairy led” from Pagans at The Wild Hunt.

UUSC President Mary Katherine Morn attended three UUSC-sponsored side events during the United Nations’ General Assembly week in New York City in mid-September. Below is her account of the panel discussions.

The Gorton's Fisherman is the most famous Mac model in the U.S. On October 12, 1823 Charles Macintosh, a 53 year old Scott, sold the first of his breakthrough new raincoats, sure to be a hitin the soggy British Isles.  He was a clerk as a young man who dabbled with science on the side.  By the age of twenty, he set himself up in business as a manufacturer of chemicals.  His inventive mind developed dozens of new products and processesmaking him a very successful man.  But Macintosh really hit pay dirt with his experiments with naphtha, a volatile light weight by product of tar manufactured from coal.  He discovered that India rubber could be made soluble in naphtha.  This led to the application on coat fabrics with the rubbe...

Because our high school principal detested boring speeches at graduations, the valedictorian and salutatorian did not automatically deliver graduation speeches. Instead everyone in the National Honor Society wrote a speech. Once submitted, speeches were  assigned a number to remove any … Continue reading →

“The word sacrifice might be too much mess for some of us, too tainted by oppression and coercion. What matters more is that we are willing to live our lives in the shape of what is being asked, not hope that what we are asked to do will fit the shape of our lives.” -Elizabeth … Continue reading Shape

For the past month and a half, I’ve been looking for flowers in the aster tribe (Tribe Astereae). I’ve always liked asters. I don’t know why. There’s something about the off-white and pale lavender colors that gets to me. I guess it’s a kind of spiritual experience when I see asters in bloom. Whatever “spiritual” … Continue reading "Asters"

Thanks to everyone who joined us for the amazing presentation on Engaging Marginalized Communities with Rev. Ranwa Hammamy at the last Green Sanctuary Team Meeting. If you missed it, you can watch the video of the meeting here and download the slides here . Green Sanctuary Team Meetings Come together for shared learning and mutual support with other UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice on the third Wednesday of the month at 8PM ET. Each meeting includes a short presentation on a climate justice topic, followed by open discussion. 10/19/22 - Congregational Engagement on Climate Justice with Michael Hughes, UU Fellowship of Corvallis, OR 11/16/22 -  Blueprint for Climate Action Teams - Mary Rodgers, Phil We...

The New-York History Museum & Library to host "Reckoning with History: Queer Witchcraft Today" this Friday. Continue reading New-York Historical Society to host program on Queer Witchcraft at The Wild Hunt.

A worship video collection about living faithfully during in-between times Continue reading "Embracing Possibility in Times of Change"

Ndidi Achebe My vet said, “She's telling you thank you for letting her go.” Continue reading "Letting Go in Love"

Reserve your spot for the Trunk or Treat today!

Elaine McArdle Wrapped in a simple linen shroud, the outline of her body obvious to family gathered at the cemetery, the Rev. Judy Welles was placed on a pine board, gently lowered into a hole in the ground, and covered with straw and soil. No casket, no embalming, no cement vault. Just the natural return of her body to the earth at River View Cemetery in Portland, Oregon, which—like a growing number of cemeteries around the United States—is offering the option of “green” burials.

I resumed my weekly  Kindergarten classes this morning and we made tops. I started the lesson with teaching the difference between clockwise and counter-clockwise, a bit of information essential to understanding the use of a hand crank drill for decorating the tops with colored pencil and markers. Turn the crank clockwise while holding the  chuck and the chuck tightens to hold the stem of the top. Turn the crank counter-clockwise while holding the chuck and the chuck loosens so the stem of the top can be removed.  Is that too advanced a concept for Kindergarten students to understand? Not when it's called to their attention and they can observe it for themselves. If the concept is over their heads at this point in time, they'll have a...

The many-colored transformations of autumn plants remind me of the beauty in the spiritual practice of letting go. As the leaves let go of their green chlorophyl, so their deep colors are revealed. When I feel encumbered by heavy memories, mistakes, failures. When I feel regret for things undone, unsung, I pray in this way. […]

The Pathway of Courage Bob Patrick October 2022 The Courage of Relationships Relation is the essence of everything that exists.  Meister Ekhart Individualism is embedded in the American psyche. We want our own space, our own time, our hamburgers our … Continue reading →

The Navy's super carrier  USS Kitty Hawk  at sea in the early '70's. Note —It seems like Navy week here at the blog. Fifty years ago on October 12, 1972 less than two days after the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk sailed from the U.S. Naval Base at Subic Bay in the Philippines and just hours before the ship was set to launch air operations against North Vietnam as part of Operation Linebacker, a race riot broke out on board the ship.  As many as half of the Black sailors on board rampagedthrough parts of the ship assaulting White shipmates after a confrontation with on board Marine Corps guards.  The disturbance died down by morning after the personal intervention of Captain Marland Townsend and Executive Officer (XO) Commander Ben...

A new report from Pew says that in 50 years, the religiously unaffiliated may outnumber Christians in the United States. What does that mean for us as Pagans, now and in the future?

        Edith Louisa Cavell was a British nurse. When the First World War began she already had an illustrious career and a nurse and educator, principally working in Belgium. At that time she was matron of a hospital in Saint-Gilles. She served all without regard to their nationality or status. But Cavell […]

During October, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, aromantic (LGBTQIAA+) communities celebrate Pride Month. On October 11, we specifically celebrate Coming Out Day as a way to honor those who are able to be true to themselves, their families, friends, and co-workers about who they are and whom they love. -Lori Stone (CLF) Today, … Continue reading Coming Out

Keeping Heart on Pine Ridge by Vic Glover (Native Voices, 2004) is one of the best American spiritual memoirs I’ve read. In a series of linked essays, Glover talks about what it’s like to live on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, covering everything from commodity foods to reservations roads to the cars … Continue reading "Reading list: Keeping Heart on Pine Ridge"

  Taken with a Fujifilm X-T2 Just click on the photo to enlarge it   This photo was taken in August during this year’s crazily hot summer. It shows the spire of the now redundant  All Saints’ Church on Jesus Lane in Cambridge. The church is a remarkable building that was built in the 1860s according to the plans of George Frederick Bodley (1827-1907), and the excellent Churches Conservation Trust website describes it, rightly I think, as being “a triumph of Victorian art and design.” For those interested, you can read a pdf copy of the guidebook at this link. Whenever I see such a fine religious building as this no longer in use it does set me wondering once again about the future of formal forms of the Christian religion in ...

This morning we put a pack of postcards in the mail to voters in Georgia. We know that some of you have written letters and postcards, too… hundreds, maybe thousands of them. One of the powerful things about #UUtheVote is that there are lots of ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Oct 11th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Options for reducing the impact of holidays and seasonal celebrations requires a bit of thought and planning but a variety options exist. Continue reading Greening Halloween at The Wild Hunt.

K-3 Wonderful Welcome: will meet on Sunday, 10/16! K-3rd grade Children will begin in the Great Hall with their families and stay through the Story for All Ages, when they will join their teachers and head to their classroom in the church hallway, next to ... read more . The post Religious Education – Oct 11th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

The Adult Faith Development Team is proud to announce the exhibit Creativity in Quarantine: UUSS Art and Craftwork from the COVID 19 Pandemic. The exhibit opens Sunday, September 25th, following the worship service. Nearly 20 members of the congregation will share their artwork, photography, textiles and ... read more . The post Creativity in Quarantine: UUSS Art and Craftwork from the COVID 19 Pandemic appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

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I was born in 1964. I’m the last of the baby boomers. Times were different back then. There was no such thing as being woke. No one was politically correct. Man hadn’t even walked on the moon yet and there … Continue reading →

      Death and I are old friends. Okay, maybe not friends. Or, only in our contemporary sense that has become so attenuated that it has little practical meaning. We’re more acquaintances, a sturdy term, for that much larger circle of people we know, but aren’t friends in the increasingly intimate sense that word […]

Two autumn views of  Cambridge Both taken with a Fuji X100V and are straight out of camera using the  C201   recipe by Marcel Fraij  Just click on a photo to enlarge Christ’s Pieces Midsummer Common

U.S.S. Constitution  in 1803 and the wars against the Barbary Pirates. Note —From the better late than never file…<p> As of October 6, 2015 the U.S.S. Constitution became the only commissioned war ship in the U.S. Navy ever to have sunk an enemy craftin combat.  That’s right, the 228 year old 44 gun, square rigged frigate is the only member of the fleet with such a distinction. The Constitution actually did it twice during the War of 1812.  In addition to taking other British warships and merchantmen as prizes she engaged and sank the H.M.S. Guerriere in a famous engagement on August 19, 1812.  In that engagement the two ships’ riggingbecame ensnared as they exchanged fire at point blank range.  The Guerriere was demasted an...

It was February 1990, when the South African president Frederick Willem de Klerk made a shocking announcement: he would be releasing Nelson Mandela after 27 years in prison, and he would legalize Mandela’s political party and all other opposition parties for … Continue reading →

We celebrate indigenous people today in order to reject a worldview that centers and normalizes the European colonization of much of the world. And yet, most of us cannot escape a life deeply rooted in that colonization. Even as we seek to decolonize our minds and our lives, many of us live on stolen lands. … Continue reading Colonization

By request — and for the 15th year! — I am renewing the Sunday-only calendar, useful for church planning. Get it, and the background, at the original post from 2008.

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, Indigenous People's Day in the US, a statue of Éiriu destroyed in Ireland, Moai damaged on Rapa Nui and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of October 10, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.