I’ve only been to King’s Chapel in Boston twice. They are a delightful anachronism. Arguably the oldest Episcopal church in the United States, they became Unitarian in the years following the Revolution. They’ve kept a version of the Book of Common Prayer which is the basis of their corporate and individual worship. The […]

At last week’s conference we spent several days of the topic of “Mindful Dying.” The reflections were deep and important and one of our conversations was a wondering about what happens to our spirits, our souls after we die. Different religious traditions have different answers to that question, but Unitarian Universalists do not have a […]

I'm home from Minneapolis and earned a bad cold in my travels. The stress of travel can take a toll. The ISACS conference was great. I got great feedback from several who attended my three presentations. To be with thousands of dedicated teachers is a remarkable experience. And yet, education in America seems in a state of disarray. I explained to those in my presentations that as a beginning teacher, I knew very little of what I was doing, and was lucky enough to seek help. I did so by attending the first organizational meeting of the New England Association of Woodworking Teachers in the fall of 2001.  While on my trip to New England, I visited North Benet St. School in Boston, and Buckingham, Brown and Nichols School in Cambridge. At...

                                                  Lord Dunmore in Highland regalia. John Murray , Earl of Dunmore, Royal Governor of the Colony of Virginia was in deep trouble the fall of 1775.  Even though the main theater of the damnable armed rebellion against King and Parliament was far to the north around besieged Boston and along the frontier with Canada, angry Virginians had driven him out of his capital at Williamsburg and he had been forced to seek refuge the frigate  HMS   Fowey  at Yorktown on June 8, 1775.  With British forces tied up elsewhere the Governor Dunmore had about 300 men—Royal Marines, sailors, and a small loyal Guard with which to harass the local r...

I grew up in a small town that consisted of mostly families and the breadwinners either commuted elsewhere for work or worked in some capacity supporting our community.  I’d say the common goal for the majority of my town’s residents was to create and maintain a place that was safe and conducive to the enrichment … Continue reading Small Town

What do you do when you find yourself clinging to a familiarity that has become mediocre, unwilling to step out into a new possibility that is promising but uncertain? It begins with accepting reality, and remembering that we have the power to create change.

Each of us bears the symbol of life's progress and transition through the scars we bear on our physical bodies, as well as the scars that dot our emotional, spiritual, and mental beings. Continue reading Column: The Scars of November at The Wild Hunt.

The University is also committed to free expression. Speech not specifically directed against individuals in a harassing way may be protected by traditional safeguards of free speech, even though the comments may cause considerable discomfort or concern to others in the community. (Source: University's Non-Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation Policy available at www.sewanee.edu/media/provost/Non-Discrimination-Policy.pdf) http://www.discoveruu.com/images/logo.png

Please join us this Sunday (6 November 2022) at 11:00 AM for “Slave State” featuring special guest speaker Curtis Ray Davis II. Wrongly imprisoned for 25 years in Angola, Curtis Davis got a firsthand look at what it means to be the property of the State of Louisiana. He has worked tirelessly ever since to … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (6 November 2022)"

For 6 November 2022, the PreK- 5th Grade class will have a regular classroom session. PreK – 5th Grade will continue Toolbox of Faith exploring humor which is represented by sandpaper. Middle and High School will remain in the sanctuary to hear Curtis Davis.

Please join us on Sunday (6 November 2022) as we resume our adult religious education class at 9:00 AM for “WhUU Dat” via Zoom and facilitated by Susan Caldwell and Barbara Deger continuing our discussion of the Unitarian Universalist Pocket Guide. This week’s readings continue in the section entitled “Our Faith” and include “Not the … Continue reading "Online Adult Religious Education — 6 November 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 November 2022, we choose the The Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana. The Food Bank is the primary resource for fighting hunger in Northwest Louisiana. The Highland Blessing … Continue reading "The Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana — November 2022 Give-Away-The-Plate Recipient"

Please join us next Tuesday (8 November 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.

On November 5, 1968 a slender and bespectacled early childhood educator became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress.  It would not be the last of Shirley Chisholm’s political firsts. Shirley Anita St . Hill was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 30, 1924 the oldest of four daughters to immigrant parents Charles St.Hill, a factory worker from Guyana, and Ruby Seale St. Hill, a seamstress from Barbados.  When her mother struggled to raise her children while working, Shirley and two sisters were sent to live with their grandmother in Barbados in 1921.  They lived on her grandmother’s farm in the Vauxhall village in Christ Church where they attended a one room school.  She later wrote of the experience: Ye...

The front page of the Cambridge Unitarian Church website 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— Thanks to three key nineteenth-century Hindu thinkers, Rāja Rammohan Roy (1772-1833), Pratap Chundra Mozoomdar (1840-1905) and Svāmī Vivekānanda (1868-1902) — the first two of whom were very, very closely connected to the Unitarian movement — we here in the west came to know about the four religious or spiritual tendencies (saṃskāras), paths (mārgas) or disciplines (yogas) often referred to in the Hindu tradition. They are:            1) the intellectu...

I’m not a good cook at all, so I’m always thrilled when friends and/or family join me in the kitchen. I love that they know where I keep my spatula, and where the pans are located. I love the slow build of chaos, while distracted with conversation and another sip of wine. -Beth Murray (CLF) … Continue reading In the Kitchen

A decade ago, a small software company called XtraNormal allowed you to make free animated videos online. You’d choose a character, input some text, pick a few gestures, and the software would do the rest, posting the final video on Youtube. I thought this was a great idea. I started out with a video of … Continue reading "Robot tells the story of the Rich Young Man"

Please join us on Saturday (5 November 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 (5 November 2022)"

"Many people think of Paganism as belonging to the past," says Magnús Jenssen, architect of the still in construction Ásatrú temple in Reykjavík. "But this is wrong. Paganism is not the past, Paganism is the present.” Continue reading Freeing Paganism from the past: a talk with Magnús Jensson, architect of Iceland’s heathen temple at The Wild Hunt.

Four out of five tsunamis occur in the Pacific Ocean. As small island nations continue to have their communities destroyed, we need to understand the full context and impact of climate change.

Susan Frederick-Gray Unitarian Universalists commit to defend voting rights as sacred.

Five Indigenous tribes in Louisiana and Alaska partnered with UUSC and EarthRights International to highlight U.S. government mistreatment and neglect in the face of climate disaster.

The IWW circulated this "silent agitator" sticker throughout the Pacific Northwest timber industry country in the wake of the ambush an murder.  A version was also used as a special assessment stamp to raise money for the Wobblies held on murder charges. On November 5, 1916 two boatloads of Wobbly militants approached the dock of a Washington State lumber town.  They were coming to support a bitter strike by another and competing labor union.  For the IWW militants singing on the decksolidarity with fellow workers was more important than the union card in the overalls or dues button on a cap.  Before they could tie up, they were met by a hail of gun fire.  At least five were killed—others fell overboard and were never found—and ...

Prayer for the Week of November 7, 2022 - A Prayer for Elections Lover of Justice and Equity, Compassion and Care invite us to conduct free and fair, equitable and just elections. May we put aside bullying and threats of violence, pause and cease plans to allow people to vote,...

This Covid thing.  It has rearranged our human landscape in life and death terms. It has rattled our formal and informal ways of being together. It has required “business as usual” in all forms of human business to rethink itself … Continue reading →

Community is an opportunity to deepen our capacity for love. We come together with our traumas and pain, and when we are in loving community, we are held while we heal through it. That collective healing knits us together and reminds us we are never alone. -JeKaren Olaoya (CLF) What has deepened your capacity for … Continue reading Capacity for Love

I first noticed the doll leaning up against a child’s grave back in August. The doll was a bit faded and weather-beaten even then, so it has been standing at the grave for some time now. The child died in 1862, so the doll could not have been left by someone who knew her. I … Continue reading "Cohasset Central Cemetery"

You are a teacher for a time like this— you who claim more than one home, navigating each season by the compass of yearning planted within your DNA You know your destinations, no stranger —I have heard it said—you return always to the very sedges from which you depart. You are a teacher for a […]

Amid rising dangers of extremism and Christian Nationalism, a new PEW Research Center survey shows nearly half of Americans in favor of U.S. being a Christian nation. Continue reading With rising dangers of Christian nationalism, 45% of Americans polled believe U.S. should be a Christian nation at The Wild Hunt.

The Burmese military’s recent act of mass murder highlights the pressing need for international sanctions.

“No clear impressions, either from above or from without, can be received by a mind turbid with excitement and agitated by a crowd of distractions. The stillness needed for the clear shining of light within is incompatible with hurry.” ~ Caroline Stephen Sunday, November 6, 10:30 a.m. Weathering the Winds of Change Quaker-Style Worship Sharing with    [ … ] The post Sunday, November 6 ~ Weathering the Winds of Change ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

A congregant said to me recently, “Many of us would like to love our neighbors without exception, but we know there are people who regularly deal in bad faith.” And with election denial continuing as Election Day rapidly approaches on Tuesday, November 8, it can be especially consequential when anti-democratic, authoritarian politicians act in bad […]

I leave this afternoon for Minneapolis/St. Paul where I'll present at the ISACS annual conference and then fly home tomorrow night. It's a quick trip as on Saturday afternoon I'll be selling my work at a show at Suzanne Reed's studio/gallery. I'm a bit less nervous about my trip, realizing that time passes and that I'll be glad that I went. Join me at Suzanne's. You'll find original glasswork by Suzanne, photography by Megan Kirk and pottery by Pat Sullivan in addition to my boxes and books. It will be a lovely afternoon event. Make, fix and create.... Assist others in learning likewise.

Congressional elections are almost upon us. What should human rights-conscious voters be looking for?

There are patterns in chaos. These patterns are fractals, which repeat endlessly like the roots and branches of trees, blood vessels, branching rivers, lightning, seashells, hurricanes, and galaxies!  Most of us,  through the random events of our lives, perceive emotional … Continue reading →

  Fouier-Major Augustin de La Balme of the Gendarmerie de France, a personal Guard Regiment of the King, was decorated and respected cavalry officer despite his low birth. Col. Augustin de La Balme was a French cavalry officer who came to the American shores as an early volunteer with the Continental Army in 1777.   The veteran officer had dreams of glory and advancement that were not realized.   Three years later he died in a desperate fightafter being ambushed and besieged in a makeshift mud fort on the banks of an obscure creek in what is now Indiana.   How he got there and just what the hell he thought he was going to accomplish are matters of some considerable mystery and dispute. He was born as Augustin Mottin on August 28, 17...

Languages are the heart of community. Indigenous languages are being taught and reclaimed in order to preserve the cultures they describe. Sign language knits together the deaf community in ways that hearing people cannot understand. The ways in which we describe relationships are grounded in the language(s) of our hearts. How have the languages you … Continue reading Language

Although I haven’t been writing much this year, I couldn’t let All Souls Day pass unrecognized. I thought to look at the All Souls’ Day service in the 1878 Order of Services for the Days of the Christian Year: Specially Observed by the Universalist Church of the extinct Church of the Redeemer, Chelsea, Massachusetts. Much … Continue reading "Reading for All Souls Day service"

The Adocentyn Research Library is on track to open before the end of 2022 with new additions and an expanded space. Continue reading The Adocentyn Research Library to open by end of 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

  Today is All Soul’s day. In the Western Christian calendar its the conclusion of Allhallowtide. It is a day to pray for the dead. For Christians its usually for the Christian dead. The Roman Catholic church has a developed theory of the afterlife and speaks of a place between death and paradise for believers […]

So we're lowering the starting bids on several.

Elaine McArdle Congresswoman Judy Chu on climate change, being a UU, and more

Melissa Jeter Love is reaching through the generations with expectations that I live through challenging times. Continue reading "Called to Heal"

presented at the Unitarian Church of Quincy, Illinois October 30, 2022 Opening words “We no longer claim that a genuinely religious government can be democratic, but that it cannot be otherwise.” - Abdolkarim Soroush Responsive reading  #594 “Principles and Purposes for All of Us” Readings I thought I’d start by reading you some criticisms of democracy and party politics from other times and places. The first known usage of the phrase “Vox populi, vox dei” (The voice of the people is the voice of God.) comes from a letter the Saxon scholar Alcuin of York wrote to the Emperor Charlemagne in 800 AD, “And those people should not be listened to who keep saying the voice of the people is the voice of God, since the tumult of ...

Change is coming. Do I let it in?  I don’t know. Change is coming.  Do I hide? Maybe, I will. Change is coming.  Do I fear it? Sometimes, I do. Change is coming.  Will it be bad? I hope it … Continue reading →

  Cheer leading was already a well established tradition at Yale when this 1916 photo was taken before a game with rival Princeton.  The World Series is still going on , the holiest and most important of all American sports championships—shut up and sit down, it’s my Blog and I won’t put up with silly pleas for other contests.   Although we baseball purists may be bereft until Spring Training, the average sports fan is still as happy as a pig in shit.   College football is going full force and still dominates Saturdays.   Basketball and hockey are in the early throws of their interminable seasons.   The NFL owns Sundays and has staked claimto some weeknights for good measure. A sports fanatic ’ s wet dream come true.   Tha...

Brendan Myers’ new book is the philosophy of climate change: the thinking that got us here, why the thinking that many expected to correct the problem failed (thinking many still advocate today), and the kind of thinking required to heal the Circle of Life.

Community is understood differently in different cultural contexts. In my Italian-American upbringing, who was and was not a member of our “family” had little to do with genetics, and everything to do with generosity, reciprocity, and love. Hawai’ians speak of ohana as the center of community. -Rev. Dr. Michael Tino (CLF) How does your culture … Continue reading Culture

Taken with a Fujifilm X100V Just click on the photo to enlarge it    This photo is straight out of camera using the  Acros Dark   recipe by Marcel Fraij I took this photo on a day when the temperature was closer to that of a normal summer’s day than one at the end of the third week in October (the 22nd, to be exact). So, although this photo looks like an everyday, picture postcard, view of Cambridge, it feels uncanny to me.  This feeling served to remind me that at the end of August there appeared in The Guardian newspaper a thoughtful editorial which reflected on the uncanny beauty of this summer’s “false autumn,” one that was “mysteriously suggestive of evil or danger” and also, perhaps, “an assertion of moral fail...

  WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? GLEANINGS FROM THE OCTOBER COFFEE KLATCHES   It’s been interesting to compile my notes of the September and October coffee klatches, the discussions, the complaints, even a few mild warnings about losing people because of the intensity level of our conversations about trauma and how it might affect PUUF’s ability to thrive because of the trauma that is endemic in our 21 st century world. I have done a lot of thinking about this.  I understand our resistance to hearing more and more about trauma; it was difficult for me to hear about the many traumatic experiences that folks in our Fellowship have endured and are still enduring.  We all are still enduring the trauma of the pandemic, its limitations, the...

Help Get Out The Vote for the November 8th election! Please join our 4 textbanks set up for next week! We have two on Wednesday, 11/2 from noon to 1pm or later that day from 7-8pm, one on Thursday, 11/3 from 7-8pm and one on Friday ... read more . The post UU the VOTE textbank opportunities! appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

The American Psychological Association says, “Resilience is the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands.” How resilient we feel is impacted by how connected we are ... read more . The post November Theme: Resilience appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

We write this on the cusp of October into November… with our monthly themes of Democracy and Interdependence tumbling into Resilience. On this day, we encourage you to participate in Sunday’s Open Question conversations, to share your ideas and perspective, and maybe even more importantly, to ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Nov. 1st appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Sunday November 6th is a multigenerational worship service, so I hope children in grades K-6 will join me and Rev. Wendy there! The 9-12 Coming of Age (COA) class will meet in their classroom from 10-12, and will be visited by Rev. Lynn. (COA meets in ... read more . The post Religious Education News – Nov. 1st appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Begins January 2023. Now that a multiplatform world is here for good, how do we steward a multiple-form congregation? Continue reading "Cornerstones of Effective Stewardship Webinar Series"

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, a round of up of witch articles in the mainstream, new US stamps, another book burning, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of November 1, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

Rachel Myslivy Environmental degradation is exacerbating existing inequities; we have a moral obligation to center solutions on those most impacted.

    The Reverend Doctor DAVID P. KEYES (1945-2022) The Ministries and Faith Development staff of the Unitarian Universalist Association offer our condolences to the family and colleagues of the Rev. David P. Keyes, who died on September 13, 2022, at the age of 77. David was born on January 21, 1945, in Kansas City, […]

I'm getting ready to do two presentations at the annual ISACS conference, this year to be held in Minneapolis/St. Paul. ISACS stands for the Independent Schools Association of the Central States, and it is the membership organization through which the Clear Spring School receives its accreditation.  One of my presentations is about the Wisdom of our hands, and how the strategic use of the hand benefits learning at all ages. The other presentation is about woodworking with kids. Both of these subjects are well known to me, but that doesn't relieve me of the nervousness about making these presentations. I'm in the midst of organizing my thoughts and wish I'd started months ago. Yesterday I received pdfs of two articles I've written for Fi...

Gaily hand painted skulls on sale in a Mexican shop for  Día de Los Muertos. Note —Another blog perennial. Despite sharing some key common imagery—skulls and skeletons—and some cultural and religious DNA, Día de los Muertos, the two day festival from Mexico, is not just aLatino Halloween.  The two observations reflect two entirely different views of death—one reflecting terrorand horror and the other welcoming acceptance.  That’s the shorthand for it anyway.  It is, of course, more complicated.  The Mexican holiday owes its unique vitalityto the merging and mutual corruption of two cultures so aliento each other that at first the seemed totally incompatible. The Aztecs were the new kids on the block.  Just the latest in...

One of the most ancient ways that human beings have sought direction and guidance is through reading the clouds. We have all probably participated in some form of cloud reading. Especially on a day with some sky showing and some … Continue reading →

This month, we look at community–with a bilingual twist! What does it mean to form and maintain a community? How can community be the source of our collective liberation? How is community understood differently by different peoples and cultures? What are the communities that you consider yourself a part of?

    Going back to a year that might have changed my life Yes and . . . A Zen Jesuit Response to my blog posting Best Read on Jesus and His Message Dear James, Your “Best Read on Jesus and His Message” was more than quick summation of the Jesus sayings, miracle stories, resurrection […]

We are grateful to your readers who shared their ancestor altars and bovedas this year. TWH wishes its northern hemisphere readers a blessed Samhaintide and a merry Beltaine in the southern hemisphere. Continue reading Samhain Blessings at The Wild Hunt.

We've raised over half our auction goal already!

The New York Times has an interesting article about the pandemic buying of cheap furniture to fill homes and the quick return of all that cheap stuff to fill our landfills. 'Fast Furniture is Cheap and Americans are Throwing it out in the Trash.'  We have choices. We can make what we need while harvesting the benefits of our own growth. We can simply live without so much stuff and lean toward simplicity in our lives. And we can do both. Today for me is a day of rest and reorganization, as I put away the various tools and materials used in my weekend class, and savor having watched my student's growth. The photo shows a few of my veneered boxes made a few years back. Where they are now, I have no way of knowing. Make, fix and create.  A...

In my spiritual exploration, I’m reading Smile at Fear: Awakening the True Heart of Bravery by Chögyam Trungpa. In the few first pages he offers ideas about what fear is and where it comes from:  “Fear is nervousness; fear is … Continue reading →

Shopping for Halloween decorations at the five and dime store in the 1950's. Note —Our annual Halloween post. Halloween traces its origin to the Celtic harvest festival Samhain.  It was one of the four festivals that fell between the Solstices and Equinoxes and which celebrated the natural turning of the seasons.  Samhain was particularly important because it was the gate in time to the death and starvation season of winter, as well a time to celebrate the recent harvest.  This association with the death of winter also extended to the spirit world, which was considered to be closer to the mortal plane than at any other time of the year.  The Celtic priests—the Druids—marked the occasion with the lighting of bonfires and with gi...

I had the honor and privilege of spending the better part of a week this October in Alabama with close to 150 of my fellow Unitarian Universalist Religious Educators from across the continent. During this spacious and intentional time together, we spoke of the many different places from which we come and the obstacles we each face. We talked about what it was like to serve our congregations as we struggle to come out of the pandemic. We shared best practices and learned from each other’s mistakes. We traveled together to the Legacy Museum… (A collection of videos may be […] The post A Liberal Religious Educator’s Fall Conference appeared first on BeyondBelief.

We honor today that the veil between the worlds of the living and dead is at its thinnest. Many different customs and rituals honor that thinness at this time of year. What is something you’d like to say to a beloved who has died?

“You have been paid for. Each of you, Black, White, Brown, Yellow, Red—whatever pigment you use to describe yourselves—has been paid for. But for the sacrifices made by some of your ancestors, you would not be here; they have paid for you. So, when you enter a challenging situation, bring them on the stage with … Continue reading Ancestors

        Today is the 31st of October, in our Western calendar Halloween. In my corner of the world Halloween is basically about small children, and sometimes not so small putting on disguises and hoping to extort candy from the neighbors. And, yes, for some adults costumes, as well. And for a subset […]

Fear is a word we all are all accustomed to in some degree or another. For me, it is something I know far too well. The Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair, New Jersey’s recent service “Courage to Grow” dealt with fear. The whole month the congregation focused on courage as part of the Soul Matters […] The post Don’t let Fear control you — conquer and destroy it appeared first on Nature's Sacred Journey.

Noelle K. Bowles examines the Pagan themes in the fourth season of the detective series The Sinner, now streaming on Netflix. Continue reading Review: Suspicion and Solace in The Sinner’s Eclectic Paganism at The Wild Hunt.

I just finished a three day class at ESSA with my students making lovely veneered boxes. It was a great group of  students including old friends. It was a delightful way to spend a three day weekend. All the students ended up with first class, beautiful boxes and some parts to take home to make more. My thanks to all and to ESSA for a good time. Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning likewise.

Join us on All Souls Sunday for a special service of memory, grief, and celebration of the dear souls we've lost throughout the pandemic and beyond.

My trip to Yosemite National Part was as much a pilgrimage as my trips to Brú Na Bóinne and Orkney. There was a call, a journey, and a spiritual experience.

I wore one of my clerical robes last Sunday. It had been a long time. I have 4 robes of different colors including a lavender, a royal blue, a wine, and a black. The black one is the only one I could wear as it was the shortest. Because of my weight loss, all the […]

  Rosa Parks' mug shot in Birmingham.  I echoed this frequently cited quote in slightly different wording, in my poem. Rosa Parks died onOctober 24, 2005 in Detroit , Michiganat the age of 93.   She is revered as the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement for sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott by refusing to give her seat to a white man.   A young ministernamed Martin Luther King , Jr . was selected to lead the long campaign that led to one of the first great victories in for the Civil Rights Movement in the South. After her death that year, she was widely celebratedincluding the then unheard of honor for a woman and private citizen who never held high civil or military office of being laid in state in the Rotunda of the United States...

“We call in our elders. The pioneers and pilgrims whose shoulders we stand on. We call you in not to rest and bask in your glow of bygone days. But to be held accountable to the struggles and challenges and sacrifices you offered with love. May we love you enough, love us enough, love those … Continue reading Elders

        It was today, the 30th of October, 1938 that Orson Welles broadcast a radio adaptation of H. G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds, causing panic among some of the audiences across the United States. I understand it, the narrative of the panic in the country has generally been overstated. But […]

        I’ve been thinking a lot about what we can know about Jesus and what he was about. Apparently the scholarly consensus is that Jesus lived, he was at one time a follower of an apocalyptic prophet named John, he said things that captured hearts, and he died horribly at the hands […]

How can city-dwelling Heathens bring back the old sense of wonder when gazing upwards? How can we reenchant the post-post-postmodern skies in this third decade of the 21st century? Continue reading Column: Look Up to the Skies and See at The Wild Hunt.

          There’s a saying: “Cheer up, things could be worse; so I cheered up and sure enough—things got worse.’ Bobby McFerrin’s decades-old ditty, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” won’t work now, if it ever did.           There’s plenty of fright left over from Halloween–and in biblical proportions: war, famine, earthquake, pestilence, fires and either too much […]

        We were riding through frozen fields in a wagon at dawn. A red wing rose in the darkness. And suddenly a hare ran across the road. One of us pointed to it with his hand. That was long ago. Today neither of them is alive, Not the hare, nor the man […]

Sgt. Bill Mauldin on the job in Italy covering the war from the front lines for  Stars and Stripes .  He looked younger than his 22 years. When I was a boy I was obsessed with the great event of my parents’ lifetime—World War II.  It was hard not to be.  Almost every house I ever visited had at least one framed photo of a handsome young man in uniform proudly displayed.  Sometimes more.  Husbands, brothers, fathers.  Most came home.  Some did not. The survivors of those photos were still mostly youngish men in the prime of their lives—my father and the fathers of almost all my friends.  They were serious, hard working men.  They were very busy doing things, sometimes big things.  To a man those I knew best, my father and...

The sanctuary of the Cambridge Unitarian Church 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— A perennial question for a small, free religious church such as the one where I am minister , especially in a time where more and more people are no longer inclined to come to any kind of church, is: What’s the point of coming? Now there are, of course, certain theological and philosophical reasons for coming to church that centre on answering the big question of “the meaning of life” in general, and the meaning of a person’s own individual life in particular.  However,...

“Sacrifice is a word that evokes feelings ranging from horror to noble aspiration. It is hailed as a necessary ingredient of religion, success, and community, on the one hand, and it is deeply mistrusted, on the other.” – UU Church of Palo Alto, CA What are the feelings that the notion of “sacrifice” evokes in … Continue reading Feelings

Please join us this Sunday (30 October 2022) at 11:00 AM for “Answer in the Form of a Question” featuring special guest Michael Servetus. It’s the format for one of the world’s most popular game shows and it’s also the way that we Unitarian Universalists often look at the Big Questions before us — with … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (30 October 2022)"

On this Sunday (30 October 2022), the children and youth will stay with the adults in the sanctuary for a multigenerational service and religious education for all ages.

Please join us on Sunday (23 October 2022) as we resume our adult religious education class at 9:00 AM for “WhUU Dat” via Zoom and facilitated by Susan Caldwell and Barbara Deger. This week’s readings continue in the section entitled “Our Faith” and include: “Bringing My Whole Self” by Dr. Takiyah Amin, pages 8-10 “Saving … Continue reading "Online Adult Religious Education — 30 October 2022"

Save the Date — 12 November  2022 — 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM The Not-Too-Early-For-a-Holiday-Market Park-It Market For Vendors:  $25.00 gets you a parking space to set up as you like you keep all proceeds of your sales.  Register and pay online here. Or if you prefer old school — download and print out a … Continue reading "Park-It Market (12 November 2022)"

Please join us next Tuesday (1 November 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.

Here in the wilderness of October, there are no veils, no doorways, and no thresholds for those who are willing and able to walk between the worlds. Continue reading Column: Wild October at The Wild Hunt.