I wrote this song in 1986 when Bob and I were serving a small Methodist church in Alabama. Even then I was questioning the divine ‘ness’ of this Christian holiday. All over the world there are religions and philosophies that … Continue reading →

When I was a kid, every fall my parents would engage in a perennial argument. Dad managed the grain elevator, and during the harvest season, the farmers relied on him to be open late to take their loads for the day.  He would then stay even later to get the grain into the bins where … Continue reading Richest Guy in the Graveyard

“Yeah, and that book was literally just the first Harry Potter, you idiot,” chimed Melanie from somewhere under the pile. “The world only ended ten seconds ago, we all know what you’re talking about.”

On Monday I made two beer bottle openers, a meat turner, and a practice piece of hardware for a rustic box. The pull for the lid of a box will take some additional refinement. It was easy to make under the guidance of an experienced blacksmith, and now that I've made one, I can make more. And as I practice, they'll get better and easier to make. There's some speculation these days that the United States will return to the glory days of American manufacturing. The thing that leaders had failed to note in the past is that making beautiful and useful things, builds character in the maker as well as value in the product. Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning lifewise.

I'll Be Home for Christmas , Bing Crosby's war time hit, was re-released on the LP version of his classic holiday album in 1949. Eighty-one years ago today the Japanese launched their devastating surprise attack on Pearl Harbor thrusting the United States into a bloody worldwide conflagration and forever altering the lives and destinies of millions.  It also cast a somber pall over Christmas festivities getting underway statesidejust as the last vestiges of the Great Depression were being shaken off and folks had money to spend for a change. The  USS Arizona  going down after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1949. With a long war ahead with families and sweethearts wrenched by separation and fear, people turned to musi...

Taken with a Fujifilm X100V   Just click on the photo to enlarge it   Straight out of camera (though cropped to 4:3) I took this photo of a gravestone in the Ascension Parish Burial Ground off the Huntingdon Road in Cambridge in June 2022. Its base, where I presume I’d find a name, some dates and perhaps a line or two of text, is now so overgrown that it’s no longer possible to see over whose body it is raised. I’m certain I could find out but I have not yet done so and, I suspect, I never will but, every time I pass it, I wish the person well and often find myself recalling the following words I nearly always use when conducting funerals: When a wo/man’s life is over, it remains true that he/she has lived; it remains true that...

Spiritual and mystical experiences happen in their own time – they cannot be programmed or commanded. But there are things we can do to facilitate these experiences: to put ourselves in a position where they can happen and are more likely to happen.

God is everywhere - The Great Whatever-The-Fuck-Keeps-Us-Going Doesn’t care what you call it.

By Edward McClelland | The heat wave begins on the Great Plains, in the Dust Bowl, that dead, dry land whose barren fields have transformed it into a furnace. The summer of 1936 is the hottest anyone can remember. After killing the meager yield of crops in the farm states, the dome of heat spreads north and east, smothering the Great Lakes. In the second week of July, every afternoon, workers preparing for second shift at the General Motors plants in Flint, Michigan, look out the kitchen windows of their company-built Cape Cods and slope-roofed bungalows, at the thermometers bolted to the walls.

This month our theme is Risking Joy. How can joy be risky? Well, if we believe that we aren’t worthy of joy, and/or if we have experienced huge losses, it can feel like a huge risk to allow our hearts to be happy. Is joy ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Dec. 6th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

There will be holiday crafts workshops for all the children and youth. Pre-k through 6th grade will be in the pre-k-3rd grade room in the main building 7th – high school will be in the dining room. And the Nursery will be open Many hearty thanks those who have ... read more . The post This Week in Religious Education (Sun. Dec. 11th) appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

The Music Team is hosting a Holiday Sing-Along on December 18th after the service. There will be singing ‘round the piano at the back of the Great Hall, and cookies, mulled cider and punch in the dining room. Stay after the service to join the festivities! ... read more . The post Holiday Sing-Along & Snacks on December 18th! appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

This past Sunday we explored grief, loss, and depression during the holidays. Here are some resources to learn more for yourself, a loved one, a neighbor…</p> National Institute of Mental Health www.seizetheawkward.org friend support www.adaa.org Anxiety & Depression Assoc. of ... read more . The post Emotional and Mental Well-being Resources appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

New discoveries of more mummies with golden tongue amulets; and a new theory regarding the purpose of mummification explained in a new exhibit at the Manchester Museum. Continue reading Golden tongue amulets found in mummies at The Wild Hunt.

Come sing! Rev. Erika Hewitt and Paul Vasile, Executive Director of Music That Makes Community, invite you to come play and learn with us on Tuesday, January 10, 2023 for a live webinar beginning at 1:00 p.m. Eastern (noon Central; 11 a.m. Mountain; 10 a.m. Pacific). In this Zoom event, we'll... Continue reading "Special Event: Singing for Liberation"

Sunday, December 11, 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon Sharing Circle sUUndays! (This circle will be held monthly in lieu of or following our traditional worship services; please join us in our beautiful sanctuary the rest of the month for regularly-scheduled worship!) Sunday Dec. 11, 2022 10:30am – Noon Unitarian Church of Marlborough & Hudson 80 Main   [ … ] The post Sunday, December 11 ~ Sharing Circle sUUnday ~10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

Looking at these gives me the same feeling in my gut as the feeling I’m trying to express. That tells me I’m going in the direction I want to go.

Yesterday in the iron studio at ESSA I had the privilege of making two beer bottle openers and a meat turner for the grill, all while learning basic blacksmithing skills. Dale Custer was our guide, and the important thing to learn was to strike while the iron is hot. Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning likewise.

A person needs to be rested to be at peace with themselves and with the world around them.  Rest helps a person think more clearly.  Someone may feel a need to be busy all the time to be “productive” but a rested mind is a clearer mind. -Judy DiCristofaro (CLF) Take a moment today to … Continue reading At Peace

One year after the historic election of Honduras’ first female president, there are signs of progress. But grave human rights challenges persist.

                                                                                   Jolly Old St. Nicholas  by the Ames Brothers. This is St. Nicholas Day, a day when childrenin the Netherlands and across much of Northern Europe awake to find their stockings or shoes filled with candy, nuts, oranges, and small toys left behind in the night by the sanctifiedBishop.  It is also still observed in some American families, though the practice seems to be fading.  Our three daughters always found their stockings filled until they were adults.  It is also a good day to trot out Jolly Old St. Nicholas , America’s oldest secular Christmas song—if you discount Jingle Bells which was not inten...

My daughter lives in Arizona. She loves the dry, hot desert climate and its prickly landscape. The first year I went to visit her beloved habitat, I was skeptical. How could the desert compete with all our lush southern greenery? … Continue reading →

        The incomparable Evelyn Underhill was born on this day, the 6th of December, 1875, in Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands, England. Her father Sir Arthur Underhill was a successful barrister with a practice in London. Her mother, Lucy, was the daughter of a justice of the peace. An only child, Evelyn […]

I said I wasn’t going to post most of the art I was doing because I didn’t want the performance pressure. It turns out that the lure of publishing works-in-progress is important. It keeps me accountable to someone besides myself, without which I can go weeks without making art. So I’ll start posting daily again, […]

John Kaag is a philosophy professor who published a book a few years ago with the intriguing title, How William James Can Save Your Life. It’s not my favorite book on James, but Kaag is onto something with that title.  William James was born in 1842 and died in 1910. He has been called the […]

There’s a growing movement to get people to wear masks at public events. The motivation? Maskless events post a risk to people with certain disabilities, and/or with chronic illnesses, and to their caregivers. In other words, this is an issue of disabilities rights. Of course, it’s not just masks. Ideally, all the events that we … Continue reading "Masks redux"

Roger Santodomingo The religious scholar argues that religion has fueled humanity’s denial of climate change and that—even in knowing ours may be a finite future—there are still places to find hope.

Gruß vom Krampus! Tuscumbia Yule celebration, more solstice and Yule events, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of December 5, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, December 4, 2022 In the Jewish tradition there is a midrash, an interpretation, of the Torah, the sacred text, about twilight. It points to a spiritual practice that is essential for many Unitarian Universalists. The midrash has to do with what once happened at the […]

Information, updated regularly, on the 2023 election for UUA President. UUs, through their congregational delegates, elect the UUA President. Voting begins in June and culminates at our General Assembly. Continue reading "2023 UUA Presidential Election"

as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, November 6, 2022 We are in the midst of one of liberal democracy’s great civic rituals: the country’s biennial elections. Their stakes seem to be much higher than usual. In the past weeks, I have talked with more than few of you who have reported […]

as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, October 30, 2022 From age to ageOh! I have slipped the surly bonds of EarthLove ends. But what if it doesn’t?Be Thou with us, now and alwaysI have only one picture with him.We will not see it, none of us.Behold, peace shall extend to thee […]

Researching Wilde Nights & Robber Barons gave me the opportunity to play historic detective. Now that the book is available, I thought I would share a few of my favorites with you. This image of Fred Atkins Fred Atkins was a young sex worker who had a close relationship with Maurice Schwabe. Rupert Croft-Cooke said […]

I woke up this morning thinking about Curly from the 1991 movie City Slickers with Billy Crystal and Jack Palance. If you haven’t seen it, Crystal and his friends go to a Dude Ranch (I don’t remember why) and end up facing mortality under the tutelage of the rugged old trailhand, Curly Washburn, played by … Continue reading One thing

  (After a mindfulness eating exercise with a strawberry, I begin) What I wonder is what is wonder. The word has many definitions and I would guess means different things to different people.   As we explore wonder today take a few seconds to choose which definition you will ground yourself in.   The definition I’m using for myself today—and this may or may not be change on other days are these: wonder is curiosity—“a strong desire to learn more” (Oxford Dictionary), wonder is mystery—“ something that is difficult or impossible to understand or explain” (Oxford Dictionary) and wonder is awe-- “…the feeling we get in the presence of something vast that challenges our understanding of the world.” (researchers at Be...

“Level Two is where you become privy to the giant mystery, the fabulous conspiracy that is Santa. You are entrusted with the secret, that Santa is SO much bigger than you imagined, that you, in fact, get to be Santa, too.” —Rev. Joanna Fontaine Crawford One year—but not the year the Christmas tree fell on me at midnight, causing me to weep with self-pity and exhaustion—I was so happy with how the tree looked, with all the presents underneath it, including the ones that “Santa brought” in their different-than-the-others’-wrapping-paper, that I took a photo before going to bed, wanting to […] The post Leveling Up appeared first on BeyondBelief.

There is always time to rest. To acknowledge that every waking moment does not have to be filled with activities and striving. We need to be able to rest often. We need to be able to take a step back before things are overwhelming. Rest is how we grow. Rest is how we learn. Rest … Continue reading How We Grow

Today we raise awareness for the importance of maintaining healthy ecosystems and the humans that defend our lands.

When I was around 10 or 11 years old, December always brought a sense of wonder. A magical tree was lit, Christmas songs and carols played, gifts and decorations were displayed on the oriental rug in the living room, and … Continue reading →

                                                                           The Merry Christmas Polka --The Andrews Sisters with Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians. You won’t find The Merry Christmas Polka on the short playlists of those radio stations that switch to holiday music for the season.  You certainly won’t hear it pipedinto the remaining brick-and-mortar mallsand big box stores.  But it is just the kind of stuff that we thrive on at the Murfin Winter Holidays Music Festival.  We aim to find holiday music across styles and cultures.  And for modern Americans, especially the hipsters, no music is more alien than the polka. In the post-World War II era, Americans were searchin...

    WHAT DO YOU SAY AFTER YOU RUN OUT OF SERMONS ON LOVE?The Vision of the Liberal Church James Ishmael Ford When two individuals meet, so do two private worlds. None of our private worlds is big enough for us to live a wholesome life in. We need the wider world of joy and […]

The 2023 Pirelli calendar has much Pagan imagery while highlighting women's empowerment. Continue reading The 2023 Pirelli Calendar tarot-like, Pagan imagery at The Wild Hunt.

What hope isn't, what it is, and where to find it. A sermon drawn from MaryAnn McKibben Dana's new book of the same title.

I'm making some small walnut book holders to display a collection of small volumes printed by a good friend who is a letterpress artist. It will be a great place to display our growing collection of his works. I had done similar sliding book racks years ago with my students at the Clear Spring School and for an article in Woodwork Magazine. Those, being for full sized books would have been way too large for these tiny printed volumes. In the meantime, I'm working on the table of contents for a new book about designing boxes. That means also that a variety of new designs are floating through my mind. Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning likewise.  

I am noticing the madrones lately. Maybe it is the time of year. They have lost most of their leaves and the bark has peeled leaving that gorgeous red-orange color. But it is their trunks that are drawing my attention. Gnarly and battered though they are, they keep sprouting new growth. I am feeling my […]

“It takes courage to say yes to rest and play in a culture where exhaustion is seen as a status symbol.” -Brene Brown   Say yes to rest today.

I’ve been trying to find out if the Quonahassit people, when they were pushed out of Cohasset, Mass., joined up with the Wampanoags or the Massachusett, or some went to each. I started out assuming that since they were Massachusett, they would have joined up with that nation. But I can’t find a definitive answer. … Continue reading "Land acknowledgements"

                                 Come Thou Long Expected Jesus  performed by the Geneva International Christian Choir and Orchestra.   Today is the second Sunday of Advent and we celebrate with one of the loveliest of the Advent carols, Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus featuring words by the hymnist Charles Wesley. Today’s song is one of the oldest in the English Protestant tradition.   It was one of literally thousands of hymn lyrics written by Charles Wesley (1707-1788), the brother of John Wesley, founder of Methodism.   The prolific hymnist almost single handedly established the tradition of congregational singing among Methodists and by osmosis much of the rest of English languageProtestantism.   Prolific hy...

The last full moon of the year is this coming Wednesday, December 7. If you have any 2022 goals or projects that need an extra magical push to get them over the finish line, here’s your chance.

Please join us this Sunday (4 December 2022) at 11:00 AM for “Would You Believe?” by Rev. Barbara Jarrell. We will be meeting in the sanctuary for this worship service.  Please join us in person at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA  71106 if you are able to do so. Our service … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (4 December 2022)"

This Sunday (4 December 2022) — “Understanding the Bible” Adapted for this age group from a curriculum based on the book by John Buehrens (Understanding the Bible: An Introduction for Skeptics, Seekers, and Religious Liberals). This week — Session 2 — “The Akedah” We will discussion the story of the Binding of Isaac. What does … Continue reading "Middle and High School Youth Religious Education (4 December 2022)"

This Sunday (4 December 2022) — Moses and the 10 Commandments This week, the class will hear the story of Moses and the 10 Commandments. They will talk about the Commandments as a covenant and work on a “translation” of the commandments that works for their classroom.

Please join us on Sunday (4 December 2022) as we continue our adult religious education class at 9:00 AM for “WhUU Dat” via Zoom and facilitated by Susan Caldwell and Barbara Deger and continuing our discussion of the Unitarian Universalist Pocket Guide. This week’s reading will be the final chapter of the pocket guide — “Our … Continue reading "Online Adult Religious Education — 4 December 2022"

Please join us next Tuesday (6 December 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.

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 December 2022, we choose North Louisiana Interfaith. Interfaith is a non-partisan political organization made up of member institutions of which All Souls is one of many institutions. … Continue reading "North Louisiana Interfaith — December 2022 Give-Away-The-Plate Recipient"

I love December because it is a fresh way to stop being shackled to the past. Choosing to have difficult conversations with yourself allows a freedom to reassess a true sense of  who you are and your own memories. Continue reading The Importance of December at The Wild Hunt.

It’s okay to rest before you are tired. Rest is a necessary precursor to action. -Jess Hunt (CLF)   Rest before you are tired today.

James Wybrandt wrote and performed Homeless This Christmas in 2013 to benefit the National Coalition for the homeless. Yesterday was the first Friday of December.  Here in McHenry County, Illinois that meant that it was one of the Community Resource Days serving the homeless and housing insecure at Willow Crystal Lake, 100 S. Main Street in Crystal Lake.  Compassion for Campers, Tree of Life Unitarian Universalist Congregation’s long-time ministry, was on hand to distribute essential camping gear and equipment including tents, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, tarps, camp stoves, propane fuel tanks, flashlightsplus personal hygiene items, and non-perishable food. The need was great.  The past few days were the coldest, yet this season a...

Please join us on Saturday (3 December 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. Please note that this group is still meeting via Zoom.  You will need … Continue reading "Meditation with Larry Androes (3 December 2022)"

It is like living in a lighthouse, surrounded by nothing but the wild, often unwelcoming nature. You merely need to take three steps outside the door to remember where you are. Locals have a saying about that: “Vi vet kor vi bor” ("We know where we live") and it is often in November that you start hearing it out loud. Continue reading Stepping into the Polar Night at The Wild Hunt.

The 27th annual Conference of Parties (COP27) was held from November 6 to 1 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Seven UUSC partners attended the conference to advocate durable solutions to climate change adaptation and mitigation.

In undergrad, when I started working on my creative writing minor, I spotted a course on book publishing in the English department’s catalog. I’d always been “interested” in publishing, and I suppose the books and films I consumed growing up that glamorized the industry fascinated me as someone on the outside looking in—same with my other educational pursuits in film, journalism, art history, creative writing, advertising . . . I owe a tremendous debt to that class, as it made learning about the industry more accessible to those who couldn’t afford an elite summer publishing course or graduate program.

LeeValley.com has copies of my book, Making Classic Toys that Teachhttps://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/books-and-dvds/75487-making-classic-toys-that-teach?item=49L2743 in stock and ready to ship, even though Amazon only has it at a greatly inflated price. To get free shipping from Lee Valley you'll need to buy one other small item to push you over their $35.00 threshold. I highly recommend this small whittling knife.  https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/hand-tools/carving-tools/knives/112439-number-8-german-chip-carving-knife?item=06D0408 It is exactly like the one I used in the book, and that I carried with me to Paris where I whittled spheres on a park bench in the Tuileries. https://en.parisinfo.com/paris-museum-monu...

A century before there was the Tinder Swindler, Ana Delvy or Elizabeth Holmes there was Baron von Koenig, and Count Adalbert de la Ramee and Maurice Schwabe. The period in which they operated was considered to be the golden age of the con. These figures, like their modern counterparts, made use of the fact that […]

We were created not for labor, but for rest. For ease and leisure. To enjoy the wind in the trees, the smell of honeysuckle while sitting on the front porch. Taking in the beauty we didn’t have a hand in creating. -JeKaren Olaoya (CLF)   When have you stopped to experience life around you?

Even as we celebrate the demise of one cruel anti-asylum policy, new threats to migrant justice emerge to take its place.

In 2020, during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, I re-worked an earlier version of the piece you’ll find below. (Looking back at my blogger stats, I see that I published the first version of the piece in June 2018). But, for various reasons, I eventually decided to take it down in order to rework it. It was whilst reworking it yet again a couple of weeks ago that I realised its opening insight, gratefully borrowed (and slightly adapted) from a piece by Thomas Sheehan, had a place in my short “Thought for the Day” of last week.    Anyway, having avoided catching COVID-19 throughout the official period of the pandemic, I have now been laid low by it along with Susanna, my wife, and there is no way I’m going to b...

I started writing my own music sometime in high school. I wish I held  on to those starters. My pattern was to write something and then let go of it soon after thinking it was good enough to keep. I … Continue reading →

Prayer for the Week of December 6, 2022 - Prayer for Generosity Gracious Wonderment, may we find ourselves amid life’s abundant worries, cares, and griefs aware of the choices we have in those moments for generosity to others, to listen or attend deeply to another’s worries, to lessen another’s cares,...

                                                                      Frosty the Snowman  performed by Ella Fitzgerald. Frosty the Snowman, today’s entry into our Holidays Music Festival, touches several seasonal sub-genres—Winter songs not actually holiday related, children ’ s songs, and in this version by the inimitable Ella Fitzgerald, jazz . The tune about a plucky snowman who comes to life when crowned with an old top hat was written by Walter “ Jack ” Rollins and Steve Nelson on a hot summer day in the Westchester County suburbs of New York .   The composers said that it was set in Armonk near White Plains which had the village green mentioned in the song. Rollins had already w...

By Christian Coleman | Have you ever watched a Beacon book before? Grab your popcorn and your favorite seat for binge viewing because a handful of them have or will be taking to the screen as narrative films, documentaries, and TV miniseries! Here are five adaptations to cue up on your streaming accounts.

The 2021 Census for England and Wales while showing a decline in those who identify as Christian, saw an increase in all other faiths, including Paganism. Continue reading 2021 Census for England and Wales shows declines in Christian faith, increases in Paganism and other beliefs at The Wild Hunt.

I wonder about this word, “wonder.” Do we mean the action of wondering about something? Or do we mean being taken completely in by a thing, as in “the wonder of it all?” I think about experiences that I had … Continue reading →

“Alt tet”Alt text” is text that you add to images on your website, so that people who are blind or have impaired vision can use their screen reader to tell them what the image is. I’ve been very bad about adding alt text to images on this blog, partly because I was unsure how much … Continue reading "Alt text"

Wear your red ribbon, it’s World AIDS Day. (Actually, I always forget to get a red ribbon for World AIDS Day. But that’s because I’m the kind of person who forgets their spouse’s birthday.) Founded in 1998, World AIDS Day was a response to the big pandemic before the COVID-19 pandemic. World AIDS Day is … Continue reading "World AIDS Day"

This month, we will explore rest. Rest as a spiritual gift. Rest as a divine right. Rest as something we need to approach with reverence. Rest as something we have been taught to avoid, even when we need it most. What is your relationship with rest?  

                                                                      The Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles in their 2013 Christmas Spectacular Concert. December 1 is World AIDS Day.   In honor of that we feature the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles (GMCLA), the oldest, largest, and most prestigious Gay Chorus in the United States.   It was formed in 1979 at Plummer Park Community Center in Los Angeles, with 99 members .   Its first public performance was at the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights that October and they also performed at n the first ever national LGBT concert at the Washington Memorial . As GMCLA continued to grow throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s th...

  King’s Chapel and its Prayer Book John Harcourt Members of Saint John’s visiting Boston may have discovered King’s Chapel on Tremont Street at the foot of Beacon Hill. Those who have ventured inside for a service may have been vaguely disconcerted. The text in their hands was entitled The Book of Common Prayer; its […]

(updated September 23, 2022; November 20, 2022) Friends, Given the county’s current “green” status and the CDC’s current recommendations, the board has approved changes to our COVID safety policy as proposed by the COVID safety team. Here are the most important points salient to our members and friends: Now that our status is green, the …<p> Live In-person Worship Resumes! Read More »

Recently, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair, New Jersey’s Mental Health Task Force held a Creative Arts Wellness Day. This was perfect timing for me. For the past two months my mom has been in the hospital and rehab interchangeably. The task force held three workshops — Sound Rejuvenation, Fiber Fun and Soulful Collage simultaneously. […] The post A sound bath can help ground you deeply when meditation is not enough appeared first on Nature's Sacred Journey.

COP27 concluded earlier this month, and while it accomplished reaching an agreement on "loss and damage," how the plan will calculate those issues remains complicated. Continue reading U.N. Climate Change Conference makes a breakthrough agreement at The Wild Hunt.

Sometimes you just have to be cute, especially if you are a part of the rainbow group at the Clear Spring School. To clarify,  I'd just instructed the students in my Kindergarten class to take an easier approach to sawing by allowing the saw to do the work. One must pay attention to getting the saw started on the right line and with attention to one's own body and its smooth motion, the saw does the work.  Done right, there's time to be cute, even when there are several cuts to be made. We were making Froebel block sets number 4. La-de-da... Make, fix and create

Sunday, December 4, 10:30 a.m. Our Own Seven Wonders   Are you enraptured by snails, fascinated by a scientific discovery, or filled with awe by a particular place? Out of all of the marvels in the world, who got to choose the seven wonders? And why are there only seven, anyway? Join us on December 4   [ … ] The post Sunday, December 4 ~ Our Own Seven Wonders ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

“You do not need to be already perfect—or even half-way—to belong in this circle where grace meets us where we are but does not leave us as it found us” -Gretchen Haley (inspired by Anne Lamott) How have you experienced grace in community? “No es necesario que ya seas perfecto, ni siquiera que estés a … Continue reading Grace

      I’ve just learned that Sister Elaine MacInnis, Catholic nun and Zen master died yesterday, November 29th, 2022. If I did the calculations correctly, she was 99 years old. A number of years ago I served on the membership committee of the American Zen Teachers Association. It had been formed largely out of […]

Perry Como had the first hit version of It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas by Meredith Willson. There are many subsets in the category of the Golden Age of American Popular Christmas Song .   One might be called the secular Advent songs—tunes that conjure up the growing excitement of the Holiday season invoking winter scenes, decorations, shopping, and general merriment.   At their best they deftly mixed daubs of nostalgia, with a snappy, jazzy modernity.   They could evoke the rustic past but were most at home in bustling urban streets.                                         Meredith Willson in his radio days. Perhaps the most beloved of the genre was It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas ...

The new Christmas movie this season, Spirited, starring Will Farrell, Ryan Reynolds, and Octavia Spencer, is a new musical comedy take on the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol. At the core of every version of this story is the question, … Continue reading →

“Wednesday” isn’t “The Addams Family” – if you expect “all together ooky” you’re going to be disappointed. But if you like dark fantasy about someone who has her act together in ways I could only dream about when I was 16, give it a try.

      I’ve just learned that Sister Elaine McInnis, Catholic nun and Zen master died yesterday, November 29th, 2023. If I did the calculations correctly, she was 99 years old. A number of years ago I served on the membership committee of the American Zen Teachers Association. It had been formed largely out of […]

Taken with a Fujifilm X100V   Just click on the photo to enlarge it   Straight out of camera (though cropped to 4:3) using Øyvind Nordhagen’s “OWH Night” recipe   It’s Advent once again and, as we have done for many, many years now, on the first Sunday of the season we put up our Herrnhut Star in the window of The Manse next door to the Cambridge Unitarian Church. As this photo (taken on Monday evening) shows, because of the double glazing and because we have a round mirror with a convex mirror in the middle, the star is repeated many times across our small front room. Walking into the room of an evening it’s like walking into a little solar system . . .

On November 2, the evergreen tree that will grace the west lawn of the White House at U.S. capitol was harvested from Pisgah Forest. Tonight, Ruby, the red spruce was lit up for the first time. Continue reading The People’s Tree at The Wild Hunt.

It’s almost December! And with it comes the whole wide range of expectations, spoken and not, along with the panoply of emotions tied to the past and even the future. Depending on our own life’s experience, we might have the blues, express more of a ... read more . The post December Theme: Risking Joy appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

As we breathe deeply on a chilly gray day, we share a poem for resilience from our retired colleague, the Rev. Mark Belletini: Late Fall Less light. A time of rest for eyes weary of bright lights competing for our attention. Less light. A time to focus carefully on things that the ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – November 29th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.